diff --git a/cmd/mesh-host/main.go b/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
index 89cd8f0..fe74d88 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
@@ -457,10 +457,10 @@ func short(digest string) string {
 // them again — and everything the mesh declared read as no longer declared and removed. Even the
 // very declaration the mesh last sent, applied from a file, would plan to remove the foundation.
 // `apply FILE` is for a machine the mesh has not spoken to, and is refused saying so.
-func refuseStale(known store.State, kept store.Declared, keptErr error, digest string, from provenance) error {
+func refuseStale(known store.State, kept store.Declared, keptErr error, digest string, from provenance, sequence int64) error {
 	switch from {
 	case fromDeclared:
-		return nil
+		return refuseOlder(kept, keptErr, sequence)
 	case fromBundle:
 		if known.Genesis == nil || known.Genesis.Digest == digest {
 			return nil
@@ -557,7 +557,7 @@ func runApply(ctx context.Context, opts options, d *declaration.Declaration, raw
 	if err := apply.CheckMode(known, d); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if err := refuseStale(known, kept, keptErr, digest, from); err != nil {
+	if err := refuseStale(known, kept, keptErr, digest, from, d.Sequence); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -1594,3 +1594,32 @@ func adoptDeliveredMembership(identityPath string, mine *identity.Identity, say
 	say(fmt.Sprintf("moving to the %s bus at %s — restarting to dial it", next.Transport, next.Broker))
 	os.Exit(0)
 }
+
+// refuseOlder refuses a declaration from the mesh that is older than the one this node holds.
+//
+// **By sequence, not by arrival** (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/107). What the host kept is the last thing
+// the mesh said, signed; a declaration whose sequence is lower was composed before it, whatever
+// order they arrived in — a backlog drained after the node was away, or a broker that split a burst.
+// Applying it would make the machine into something the mesh had already moved past, which is the
+// incident of issue 104 by another door.
+//
+// Only when both sides claim an order. A declaration with no sequence is one an older controller
+// sent, and one kept with no sequence is one this host received before it understood them; in either
+// case there is no order to compare, and refusing on a guess would strand the node the moment the
+// controller is older than the host. Equal is the same declaration again, which reconciling is for.
+func refuseOlder(kept store.Declared, keptErr error, sequence int64) error {
+	if sequence == 0 || keptErr != nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	last, err := declaration.ParseTrusted(kept.Declaration)
+	if err != nil || last.Sequence == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if sequence < last.Sequence {
+		return fmt.Errorf("this declaration is older than what the mesh last said to this node: it "+
+			"is sequence %d, and the one kept here is %d. It arrived late — a backlog, or a broker "+
+			"that split a burst — and applying it would make this machine into something the mesh has "+
+			"already moved past. Refused whole; nothing was applied", sequence, last.Sequence)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-host/order_test.go b/cmd/mesh-host/order_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0380aa4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/mesh-host/order_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/store"
+)
+
+// A declaration carries no order, so a host cannot tell an older one from a newer (novox/hq
+// 04-ISSUES/107). Its only identity was the digest of its bytes: "not the last" could be said,
+// "older" could not.
+
+func keptWith(t *testing.T, sequence int64) store.Declared {
+	t.Helper()
+	body, err := json.Marshal(map[string]any{
+		"declaration": 1, "resources": []any{}, "owns_nothing": true, "sequence": sequence,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return store.Declared{Declaration: body, Signature: []byte("x")}
+}
+
+func TestAnOlderDeclarationFromTheMeshIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	err := refuseOlder(keptWith(t, 7), nil, 5)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("sequence 5 was accepted over a kept 7")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "older") || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "nothing was applied") {
+		t.Fatalf("the refusal does not say what it is: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestANewerOrEqualDeclarationIsNot(t *testing.T) {
+	if err := refuseOlder(keptWith(t, 7), nil, 8); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("sequence 8 was refused over a kept 7: %v", err)
+	}
+	// Equal is the same declaration again, which reconciling is for.
+	if err := refuseOlder(keptWith(t, 7), nil, 7); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the same sequence was refused: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNoOrderClaimedMeansNoOrderCompared(t *testing.T) {
+	// An older controller sends none; a host that received before it understood them kept none.
+	// Refusing on a guess would strand a node the moment the controller is older than the host.
+	if err := refuseOlder(keptWith(t, 7), nil, 0); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a declaration claiming no order was refused: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := refuseOlder(keptWith(t, 0), nil, 3); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a declaration was refused against a kept one that claimed no order: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := refuseOlder(store.Declared{}, store.ErrNothingDeclared, 3); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a first declaration was refused: %v", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/declaration/declaration.go b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
index d0c6e63..d665e7d 100644
--- a/internal/declaration/declaration.go
+++ b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
@@ -1137,6 +1137,19 @@ type Declaration struct {
 	// converged node — which is every node the mesh raised before adoption existed, and so the
 	// only form an older controller ever sends (novox/hq ADR 0100).
 	Adoption *Adoption
+
+	// Sequence orders this declaration against every other the mesh has sent this node: each
+	// send is one higher than the last, assigned under the control plane's hold on the node
+	// (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/107). Zero is a declaration that carries no order — every one an older
+	// controller sent, and the bundle genesis applies — and a host makes no ordering claim about
+	// one of those.
+	//
+	// **The one property a declaration needs that its signature does not give it.** A signature
+	// says the mesh sent this; it cannot say the mesh sent it AFTER the one the host is holding.
+	// Before this, "older" was inferred from arrival within a batch and a 750ms window, and a
+	// backlog longer than the batch, or a slow broker, applied a declaration the mesh had already
+	// superseded.
+	Sequence int64
 }
 
 // Adoption is a node's mode, as the controller records it: the node is adopted, and these are
@@ -1274,6 +1287,9 @@ type envelope struct {
 	// a bug quietly strip a machine.
 	OwnsNothing bool              `json:"owns_nothing,omitempty"`
 	Resources   []json.RawMessage `json:"resources"`
+	// Sequence is optional on the wire, so a controller that does not send one is still
+	// understood: absent reads as zero, which is "no ordering claimed" rather than "first".
+	Sequence int64 `json:"sequence,omitempty"`
 }
 
 func parse(raw []byte, allowActions bool) (*Declaration, error) {
@@ -1290,7 +1306,7 @@ func parse(raw []byte, allowActions bool) (*Declaration, error) {
 			env.Version, Version)}}
 	}
 
-	d := &Declaration{Version: env.Version, For: env.For, Adoption: env.Adoption}
+	d := &Declaration{Version: env.Version, For: env.For, Adoption: env.Adoption, Sequence: env.Sequence}
 	var problems []string
 
 	if len(env.Resources) == 0 && !env.OwnsNothing {
diff --git a/internal/link/order_test.go b/internal/link/order_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64df68a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/link/order_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+package link
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// The drain picked the last to arrive. A backlog longer than the batch, or a broker that split a
+// burst, delivered a superseded declaration last (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/107).
+
+func sequenced(t *testing.T, n int64) *said {
+	t.Helper()
+	inner, err := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"declaration": 1, "resources": []any{}, "sequence": n})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	body, err := json.Marshal(Signed{Declaration: inner, Signature: []byte("s")})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return &said{body: body}
+}
+
+func TestTheDrainKeepsTheHighestSequenceNotTheLastToArrive(t *testing.T) {
+	waiting := make(chan Declaration, 8)
+	waiting <- sequenced(t, 9)
+	waiting <- sequenced(t, 4) // arrived last, composed earlier
+	latest, aside := newest(waiting, sequenced(t, 8), 30*time.Millisecond)
+	if got := sequenceOf(latest.Body()); got != 9 {
+		t.Fatalf("the drain kept sequence %d, and 9 was waiting", got)
+	}
+	if len(aside) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("%d set aside, wanted 2 (the 8 and the late 4)", len(aside))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestWithoutSequencesTheLastToArriveStillWins(t *testing.T) {
+	// The behaviour this had before, kept for a controller that sends no order.
+	apply, aside := newest(arriving("two", "three"), &said{body: []byte("one")}, 30*time.Millisecond)
+	if string(apply.Body()) != "three" || len(aside) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("applied %q with %d set aside", apply.Body(), len(aside))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAnUnreadableBodyClaimsNoOrder(t *testing.T) {
+	if got := sequenceOf([]byte("not json")); got != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("garbage claimed sequence %d", got)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/link/run.go b/internal/link/run.go
index fb28c00..ae1f28f 100644
--- a/internal/link/run.go
+++ b/internal/link/run.go
@@ -300,6 +300,16 @@ func newest(arriving <-chan Declaration, first Declaration, window time.Duration
 			if !ok {
 				return latest, superseded
 			}
+			// **By sequence when both carry one, by arrival when either does not** (novox/hq
+			// 04-ISSUES/107). Arrival is what this window had to go on, and it is wrong exactly
+			// when it matters — a backlog drained out of order. A declaration that says where it
+			// stands is believed over when it turned up; one that does not is the older
+			// controller's, and arrival is all there is.
+			if sequenceOf(next.Body()) < sequenceOf(latest.Body()) &&
+				sequenceOf(next.Body()) > 0 && sequenceOf(latest.Body()) > 0 {
+				superseded = append(superseded, next)
+				continue
+			}
 			superseded = append(superseded, latest)
 			latest = next
 		case <-time.After(window):
@@ -308,6 +318,24 @@ func newest(arriving <-chan Declaration, first Declaration, window time.Duration
 	}
 }
 
+// sequenceOf is the order a signed declaration claims, or zero when it claims none or cannot be
+// read. Read from the envelope alone; the signature is verified later, when the winner is applied,
+// and a forged message that lied about its sequence would only set aside real ones — which are
+// reported as set aside, and the next push sends the current one again.
+func sequenceOf(body []byte) int64 {
+	var signed Signed
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(body, &signed); err != nil {
+		return 0
+	}
+	var d struct {
+		Sequence int64 `json:"sequence"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(signed.Declaration, &d); err != nil {
+		return 0
+	}
+	return d.Sequence
+}
+
 // declaredIn is the id a signed declaration carries, for a report about one that was not applied.
 // Empty if the message is not one — a forged or garbled message is refused by handleBody when its
 // turn comes; here it is only named.