# Chelengk > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Chelengk > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Chelengk.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelengk > Source revision: 1304211952 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Military decoration of the Ottoman Empire}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} {{infobox award | name = Chelengk of the Ottoman Empire | image = Diamond chelengk of Ottoman Empire.jpg | image_size = 270px | caption = Replica of [Lord Nelson](/source/Lord_Nelson)'s diamond chelengk | presenter =
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[Ottoman Sultan](/source/Ottoman_Sultan) | country = [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire) | type = Jewellery | eligibility = Civilians and military | awarded_for = Outstanding services to the state | campaign = | status = No longer awarded | description = | motto = | clasps = | post-nominals = | established = 1798 | firstawarded = | lastawarded = | total_awarded = | total_awarded_posthumously = | total_recipients = | precedence_label = | individual = | higher = [Order of Osmanieh](/source/Order_of_Osmanieh) | same = | lower = [Gallipoli Star](/source/Gallipoli_Star) | related = | image2 = | caption2 = }} A '''chelengk''' ({{langx|ota|چـلنك}};{{cite web |url=http://www.imanveislam.com/kitaplar/turkce/oku/osmanlicalugat/index.html?page=001/c92.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905213120/http://www.imanveislam.com/kitaplar/turkce/oku/osmanlicalugat/index.html?page=001%2Fc92.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 September 2014 |title=Osmanlica Lûgât |trans-title=Ottoman Glossary |language=Turkish |accessdate=11 November 2012 }} {{langx|tr|çelenk}}, {{IPA|tr|tʃeˈlæɲc|pron}}) was a military decoration of the [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire). ==Turkish military award== Originally a ''çelenk'' was "a bird's feather which one attaches to the turban as a sign of bravery"{{cite book |quote=''{{lang|fr|Plume d'oiseau qu'on attache sur le bonnet en signe de vaillance}}'' |author=Abel Pavet de Courteille |author-link=Abel Pavet de Courteille |author2=Mahdī Khān Astarābādī |author3=Muḥammed Khuweyyi |name-list-style=amp |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001006232 |title=Dictionnaire Turk-Oriental |publisher=Imprimerie impériale |location=Paris |year=1870 }} but by the end of the 18th century, the ''{{lang|tr|çelenk}}'' had become institutionalized in Ottoman military practice and continued to be awarded for military merit up to the 1820s.{{cite web |url=http://www.obarsiv.com/english/Ottoman_Orders_and_Decorations.html |title=Ottoman Orders and Decorations as Forms of Honor |publisher=Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501104355/http://www.obarsiv.com/english/Ottoman_Orders_and_Decorations.html |archivedate=1 May 2012 }} It was a jewelled [aigrette](/source/aigrette) consisting of a central flower with leaves and buds, and upward-facing rays. In modern Turkish, a ''{{lang|tr|çelenk}}'' is a wreath or garland, a circular decoration made from flowers and leaves, usually arranged as an ornament. ==Gifts to non-Turkish naval heroes== [[File:HoratioNelson1.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[Nelson](/source/Horatio_Nelson%2C_1st_Viscount_Nelson), by [Lemuel Francis Abbott](/source/Lemuel_Francis_Abbott), with a chelengk in his hat. Abbott seems to have painted this portrait without seeing Nelson's chelengk.]] A specially-made chelengk was awarded to [Horatio Nelson](/source/Horatio_Nelson%2C_1st_Viscount_Nelson) by Sultan [Selim III](/source/Selim_III) in honour of the [Battle of the Nile](/source/Battle_of_the_Nile) in 1798. This was the first time that a chelengk was conferred on a non-Ottoman. The usual seven rays were augmented to thirteen, as described in a contemporary letter: {{blockquote |text=The Aigrette is a kind of feather; it represents a hand with thirteen fingers, which are of diamonds, and allusive to the thirteen ships taken and destroyed at Alexandria, the size that of a child's hand about six years old when opened; the center diamond and the four round it may be worth about £1000 each, and there are about 300 others well set.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7BWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA340 |title=The Naval chronicle |volume=1 |editor=James Stanier Clarke |editor-link=James Stanier Clarke |editor2=Stephen Jones |editor3=John Jones |publisher=J. Gold |year=1799 |page=340 }} }} Nelson's chelengk was bought by the [Society for Nautical Research](/source/Society_for_Nautical_Research) in 1929 following a national appeal{{cite news |title=The Chelengk of Nelson – Proposed Purchase for the Nation |work=[The Times](/source/The_Times) |location=London |date=8 November 1929 |page=10 (with photograph) }} and placed in the [National Maritime Museum](/source/National_Maritime_Museum). It was stolen in 1951 by [Taters Chatham](/source/Taters_Chatham) and never recovered.{{cite web |url=http://www.artfund.org/what-we-do/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/780/the-chelengk |title=The Chelengk |publisher=[The Art Fund](/source/The_Art_Fund) |accessdate=11 November 2012 |archive-date=5 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905191111/http://www.artfund.org/what-we-do/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/780/the-chelengk |url-status=dead }} [Selim III](/source/Selim_III) also gave a chelengk to [Russian](/source/Russian_Empire) [Admiral](/source/Admiral) [Fyodor Ushakov](/source/Fyodor_Ushakov) after the [capture of Corfu](/source/Siege_of_Corfu_(1798%E2%80%931799)) from the French in 1799.{{cn|date=February 2025}} == See also == * [Wreath](/source/Wreath) * [Sarpech](/source/Sarpech) == References == {{Reflist}} ==Sources== * {{cite book |author=Roy Adkins |author2=Lesley Adkins |name-list-style=amp |title=The War for All Oceans: From Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo |publisher=Abacus |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-349-11916-8 |page=38 }} * {{cite web |url=http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/36519.html |title=Replica of Nelson's chelengk |publisher=[National Maritime Museum](/source/National_Maritime_Museum) }} Category:Military awards and decorations of the Ottoman Empire Category:Turkish words and phrases Category:Horatio Nelson Category:Award items Category:Turbans Category:Orders, decorations, and medals of the Ottoman Empire --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Chelengk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelengk) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelengk?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.