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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03144	The historie of that most famous saint and souldier of Christ Iesus; St. George of Cappadocia asserted from the fictions, in the middle ages of the Church; and opposition, of the present. The institution of the most noble Order of St. George, named the Garter. A catalogue of all the knights thereof untill this present. By Pet. Heylyn.	Heylyn, Peter, 1600-1662.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650, engraver.	1631 (1631)	STC 13272; ESTC S104019	168,694	376

made the tutelarie Saint of Soldiers at what time he first began to be accounted so principall a Patron of Christianitie before we can descend unto particulars And first if we demand how our Saint George became to bee accounted the chiefe Saint of Soldiers we answere that he was himselfe a Soldier of chiefe ranke and qualitie and therefore in the superstitious times before us conceived to be most worthy to countenance that calling For which cause also it pleased the Church of Rome who then did what she listed to joyne with him in commission although perhaps not with equall power St. Maurice and St. Sebastian So witnesseth Baronius out of the Roman Ceremoniall De divinis officijs Romanam ipsam Ecclesiam ad expugnandos fidei hostes hos praecipuè martyres invocare consuevisse Mauritium Sebastianum Georgium Which Maurice and Sebastian also were both of them Soldiers of the same time with our St. George and both of eminent place in their severall Armies MAVRITIUS being one of the Chiefetaines of the Theban Legion slaughtered by MAXIMINIANUS in his expedition towards Brittaine SEBASTIAN a Commander of the first ranke Princeps primae cohortis under DIOCLETIAN This was the reason why they were first selected to take upon them the defence of militarie men Saint GEORGE as chiefe upon the earth in birth and honours so also generally reckoned by the men of Warre to bee of greater power than eyther of the other and therefore most devoutly prayed to Hence is it that the Poet MANTVAN calls him the MARS of Christians MARS being at the first some notable swash-buckler himselfe and afterwards the GOD of Soldiers in the opinion of the Gentiles Vt Martem Latij sic nos te Dive Georgi Nunc colimus As Rome did MARS so wee St. GEORGE doe honour thee And in another place Inclyte bellorum rector quem nostra Inventu● Pro Mavorte colit Thou famous President of Wars Whom we adore instead of MARS 2 Nor was St. George only reckoned as a chiefe Saint of soldiers but after and before the English tooke him to themselves esteemed a principall patron of the affaire of Christendome For as before I noted the Christians used to call upon him being so lessoned by their superstitious teachers as an advocate of victory and did implore his helpe ad expugnandos fidei hostes in all their Warres against the enemies of our religion as they did also pray unto St. Maurice and St. Sebastian though not so generally Hence is it that St. Marke St. Iames St. Davis St. Andrew and the rest being once chosen the Protectors of particular States and Countries were never importuned to take upon them the tuition and defence of any others It may be they were fastned unto those imployments as once the Tyrians chained the statua of Hercules their especiall Guardian to their Altars for feare he might be wonne to take part against them and give succour to their enemies But of St. George we finde not any such sufficient bond by which he is obliged either unto particular places or designes as one whom they thought good to leave at large that so hee might the better succour the afflicted parts of Christendome For which cause howsoever in the latter dayes hee was conceived to be a speciall fautor of the English yet have the Georgians and the Genoese alwayes esteem'd him as their Patron and by the German Emperours he hath beene made Protectour also of their military orders of which more hereafter How and on what occasion he came to have the generall patronage of Christianitie conferred upon him at the least as I conceive it I am next to shew first making roome for that which followes by a short but necessarie digression 3 After the yeare 600. the affaires of Christendome began in all places to decline the Westerne parts beginning to be over-spread by superstition the Easterne made a prey unto the Saracens who in their conquests laboured what they could to advance the sect of Mahomet By this meanes as they inlarged their Empire so did they also propagate the infinite impieties of that Impostour whose irreligion had the fortune not onely to be entertained by those poore wretches whom the Saracens had conquered but also to inveigle them by whom they were subdued For when the Turkes under the conduct of Tangrolipix had made themselves masters of the Persian Empire then in possession of the Saracens they tooke upon them presently the Law of that seducer as if Mahometanisme had beene annexed inseparably unto the Diademe Proud of this victory and litle able to conteine their active spirits in an obedient Peace at home they were employed in severall Armies and to severall purposes one of them under Cutlu-Moses who turned his forces on the Christian Empire the other under Ducat and Melech two kinsmen of the Persian Sultan who bent their strength against the Saracens of Syria and Damascus In this designe the issue prooved so answerable to their hopes that quickly they became possessed of almost all Armenia Media and the Lesser Asia inhabited in most parts of them then by Christians as of all Syria the Holy Land and therein of Hierusalem So that in all the East the Gospell of our Saviour was eyther utterly extinguished or his name celebrated onely in obscure and private places Religion being in this state the Christian Princes of the West most of them then in peace and amitie with one another joyntly and joyfully resolve upon the freeing of the miserable East from thraldome Perswaded thereunto piously by a Reverend Hermit whose name was Peter who had beene witnesse of those miseries which the Christians there endured and cunningly by Vrban of that name the second Pope of Rome who by employing such so many Princes in those remote Countries fore-saw a way to bring the Roman Prelates to their so-much-expected greatnesse The Princes of most note which put themselves into the action were Robert Duke of Normandie brother to Will. Rufus King of England Hugh brother to the King of France Godfrey of Bouillon Duke of Lorreine with his two brethren Baldwin and Eustace Tancred and Beomond two noble Normans of the Kingdome of Naples and he which for his spirit and magnanimity might have beene reckoned with the first Ademar Byshop of La Puy en Velay a litle territorie neere unto Auvergne in France the Popes Legate The Armie which attended them amounted to no lesse than 30000. fighting men the time of this their expedition an 1096. or thereabouts their fortune so succesful that they expell'd the Turks out of all Asia the lesse compelling them into the Easterne parts of their dominions Having no enemy at their backs they passed the streights of Taurus entring into Syria which they quickly mastered they sate them downe at last before the famous City of Antiochia A place of chiefe importance for the assurance of their new conquests and therefore very much desired 4 This famous City after a long

be amisse to note that notwithstanding all the opposition made against him both heere among our selves and abroad with others St. George doth still retaine his place in our common Calendars Not in those onely made for the state of every yeare where commonly he shines in Festivall red letters as doe no other of the Saints but those whose Feasts are by the Church observed as Holy but also in the Calendar prefixed before the publike Liturgie of our most blessed Church of England where he is specially honoured with the name of Saint as is not any of the rest excepting those which saw our Saviour in the flesh Excellent evidence that as the state of England is much devoted to Saint GEORGE'S honour so he doth still preserve his place and reputation in the opinion of the Church An argument to me so powerfull and prevailing that in Morbonium the meere word or bare conjecture of every one of what especiall fame soever which guided by his private spirit shall resolve the contrary 8 I said the state of England is much devoted to Saint GEORGE'S honour and if we looke upon the Institution of the most noble Order of the Garter wee shall see cause inough to say it An Order of that excellencie that the mightiest Princes of Christendome have reputed it among their greatest honours to bee chosen and admitted to it the names and dignities of whom we shall see presently in our Catalogue of this Order A founder it had of a most accomplish'd vertue the Thunderbolt of Warre as some call Antiochus and in the times of Peace nothing inferiour to any of the Law-makers of the best ages so much celebrated Briefly wee may affirme of him as the Historian of Augustus the fittest paralell that I can finde for him amongst famous Princes Homo omnibus omnium gentium viris magnitudine sua inducturus caliginem This most excellent Prince the glorie of his times and a chiefe ornament of Europe having exceedingly prevail'd both against the French and Scottish Kings discomfited their Armies and taken one of them in person ordained this most noble Order and societie of Knights so to adorne their valour manifested in the Warres with honour the reward of vertue Their number 26. no more Vt pretium faciat raritas lest being else communicated unto many it might at last become despicable nor ever have our Kings exceeded in the number but still confined themselves unto the first intention of the Founder COVVELL in his Interpreter printed at Cambridge Anno 1607. relates the Institution of it thus EDVVARD the third after he had obtain'd many great victories King IOHN of France King IAMES of Scotland being both Prisoners in the Tower of London at one time and King HENRY of Castile the Bastard being expulsed and DON PEDRO restored by the Prince of Wales did on no weighty occasion first erect this Order Anno 1350. Of the occasion afterwards ob●erving for the present how ill his Historie agrees with his Chronologie For true it is that this most noble Order was instituted on the 23. of this King which falls out rightly with the yeare 350. But then King IOHN of France was but newly entred on his Kingdome and the expulsion of King HENRY was the last act almost of that tryumphant Prince of Wales Don Pedro not comming into England till the thirty ninth of King Edward As much is he mistaken also in the name of the King of Scotland who was then Prisoner in the Tower which was not Iames but David there being no Iames King of that Country in more than fiftie yeares after For the occasion of it it is received generally that it tooke beginning from a Garter of the Queene or rather of Ioane Countesse of Salisburie a Ladie of incomparable beauty which fell from her as she danced and the King tooke up from the ground For when a number of Nobles and Gentlemen standing by laughed thereat he made answere againe that shortly it should come to passe that Garter should be in high honour and estimation adding withall these words in French Hony Soit qui maly pense Id est Shame bee to him that evill thinks which after was the Motto or Impresse of the Garter Which were it so saith Master Camden it need not seeme to be a base originall thereof considering as one saith nobilitas sub amore iacet He addes withall that some report how from his owne Garter given forth as a signall of a battaile which sped so fortunately hee call'd them Knights of the Garter But whatsoever the occasion of it was likely it is that it tooke this name from the blew Garter which the Fellowes of it weare on their left Leg carrying the foresaid impresse wrought with golden Letters and enchased with precious Stones and fastned with a buckle of Gold as with the Bond of most inward societie in token of unitie and Concord that so there might be a Communion as it were of vertues and good will amongst them Doctor Cowell reports in his Interpreter that he hath seene an ancient monument wherein it doth appeare that this most noble Order is a Colledge or Corporation having a Common seale consisting of the Kings of England as Soveraignes thereof or chiefe Guardians of it 25. Knights fellowes as they call them or Companions of the Garter 14. Canons resident beeing secular Preists 13. Vicars or Chorall Preists and 26. of the inferiour sort of gentrie militarie men call'd commonly Poore Knights of Windsore whereof indeed there are but twelve There belongs also unto this Heroicke Order the Prelate of the Garter which is the Lord Byshop of Winton for the time being a Chancellour a Register thereof which alwayes is the Deane of Windsore an Vsher which is one of the Vshers of the Kings Chamber called Black-rod and last of all a chiefe Herald even the most principall of all GARTER first King of Armes instituted by that victorious Prince King Henry the fifth to attend chiefly on this Order and doe them service at their Funerals 9 The Kings of England are as I said before the Soveraignes of this noble Order and either doe in person or by their lawfull Deputie by them nominated and appointed elect the fellowes of the Order and solemnize the Festivals and hold the Chapters To them it also appertaines to have the declaration reformation and disposition of the Lawes and Statutes of the said most noble Order Which Lawes and Statutes were first instituted and devised by the victorious Prince King Edward of that name the third after revised and ratified by many the succeeding Kings And on the Reformation of Religion much altered by King Edward of that name the sixt About this time saith Sir Iohn Hayward in his Historie of that Prince the Order was almost wholly altered as by the Statutes thereof then made it doth appeare A thing not to bee wondred at For even the Lawes of the most setled States and Kingdomes have beene

Iesuita agnoscit hanc fuisse Calvini mentem in Larvarum nomine quum ait Nobilissimo Martyri Georgio Lutherus Calvinus Melancthon alijque Sectarij nec inter homines nec in rerum natura locum reliquum faciunt So farre the Doctours Commentarie upon Calvins text 3 But here I must digresse a litle to remove a blocke which else would trouble me For if that Luther and Melancthon as by Canisius it appeares and Bellarmine doth also say were of this opinion then have wee done them wrong to cast the honour of their voyage and discoverie upon another A thing in which I thinke the Iesu●tes misreport them of set purpose that so their victory in case they could obtaine it might bee thought the greater In Luther I can meet with nothing in this Argument at all and in Melancthon as good as nothing to the purpose All hee affirmes is this that they the Papists have in an imitation of the Gentiles assign'd unto particular Saints particular imployments making St. Anne she was the Mother of our Ladie the Patronesse of Riches and St. George the GOD of Soldiers Haeret hic error apud doctos these are his words quòd singulis Sanctis certae procurationes commissae sunt ita ut Anna divitias largiatur Georgius tu●atur equites c. Haepersuasiones planè ortae sunt ex ethnicis exemplis This is all and this I verily beleeve the learned Papists will not sticke at sure I am the Church of England no enemie unto St. George hath said as much and was never quarell'd for it in the most excellent Homily against the perill of Idolatrie What saith the Homily I pray you be such Saints with us to whom wee attribute the defence of certaine Countries but dij tutelares of the Gentiles c. Yea every Artificer and Profession hath his speciall Saint as a particular God as for example Schollers have St. Nicholas and St. Gregorie Painters St. Luke c. Neither lacke Soldiers their Mars and so forth Thus are the Romanists affected towards Luther and Melancthon as old Rome was to Carthage apt to beleeve what ever gulls were rais'd upon them though in themselves unworthy credit Idque magis quia volebant Romani quicquid de Carthaginiensibus diceretur credere quàm quia credenda afferebantur So the Historian 4 But to proceed the next of speciall note which hath rejected this our Martyr is Chemnitius by birth a German by profession a Lutheran who in his examination of the Trent doctrine writ in the yeare 1565. and in his scanning of the 25. Session of that Councell entituled de veneratione Sanctorum thus hath it Quin etiam multos Pontificij Sanctos venerantur qui nunquam vel vixerunt vel in rerum natura fuerunt ut Georgium c. viz that those of Rome doe worship many Saints which never liv'd upon the Earth as George and others So he and so Chamier a French man in his first Tome of Controversies lately publish'd Who in his Index points us unto his second booke and sixteenth Chapter with these words Georgius Cappadox fictitius St. George of Cappadocia a fained person And in his text he tells us that the Papists have transform'd the faith of CHRIST into the superstitions of the Gentiles appointing Catharine in the roome of Pallas St. Christopher for Atlas and St. George for Perseus Papistas Christianam pietatem in Ethnicam Idololatriam transformasse remque ipsam servasse mutatis nominibus Catharinam viz. pro Pallade Christophorum pro Atlante Georgium pro Perseo nominantes To which three forreigners we will adjoyne three of our owne all of them able men and of great credit in their severall ages And first I will begin with Mr. Perkins who affirmes it thus St. George on Horsebacke was in former times a representation of our Saviour who vanquished the Divell for the deliverie of his Church Now this and the like pictures of mysteries were in processe of time reputed pictures of Saints and are worshipped at this day of many as they have formerly beene for the Images of Saints indeed To which assertion of our Perkins it may bee Stephanus alludeth saying Theologi nonnulli existimant fictitium esse nomen Georgium sub quo veteres Christi Ecclesiam à Satanae tyranide liberantis imaginem passionis meritum proposuerunt The next in course of time for so I have of purpose rank'd them is the Reverend Doctor Boys late Deane of Canterbury The Romish Church saith he hath Canoniz'd many for Saints who can be no better than Divels c. So the Papists adore Papias a Millenarian Hereticke Becket a great traytor Sanders an open Rebell and others who were neither Saints in Heaven nor men on earth as St. Christopher St. George c. And in another place For it is doubted and by Papists of best note whether there were any St. George St. Christoper St. Catharine Cardinall Bellarmine confessing that the Legends of these three Saints are uncertaine and Apocryphall according to the censure of Pope Gelasius And last of all in a Sermon of his on the fifth day of November An Idol as St. Paul affirmes 1. Cor. 8. is nothing ergo the Papists in worshipping St. George which is nothing cōmit abhominable Idolatry To make an end we will conclude and shut up all with that of Dr. Cracanthorpe in his defence of the Church of England against the calūnies of that desperate Renegado M. Antonio de Dominis who speaking of the grosse and palpable idolatries of Rome agreeth in this particular with those that went before him though in a different language Nihil de eo dico quòd pro Sanctis figmenta saepenumero vestra colitis invocatis S. Georgium S. Christophorum Mihi vide Non Sancti non vel homines isti fuere sed allegoriae symbola They were not men saith he but allegories as it were and symbols Which last he labours to confirme out of the testimonie of Baronius where he defends against Iacobus de Voragine that our St. George as he is commonly described in picture is to be counted rather Symbolicall than Historicall Picturam illam S. Georgij qua eques armatus effingitur c. symboli potius quam Historiae alicuius opinor esse expressam imaginem Thus the Cardinall 5 Thus have wee shewed how and by whom St. George whom for so many Ages the whole Church reckon'd for a Saint is accounted no body And well it were had not the Church more shamefully deceiv'd her selfe and hers than in the placing of an Idoll in their Rood-lofts for the people to fall downe and worship But in the next place we shall see it layd unto her charge that she hath made them worship not an Idoll not a vaine fiction but even a wicked Tyrant a most damnable and bloudy Heretique Calvin at first tooke an occasion to except against St. George and there was presently inough of those

Master de Bellay hath recorded that IOANE of Orleans so much commemorated in our common Chronicles was not what shee appeared but onely so disguised and prepared before hand Pour faire revenir le courage aux Francoys for to revive the drooping spirits of the French so falne and broken that they were not to bee raised but by a miracle Somewhat to this purpose is related by PLUTARCH of AGESILAUS Who to embolden his Soldiers to the fight wrote with a certaine juyce the word Victorie in the palme of his hand and after being at the Sacrifice hee layed his hand cunningly upon the heart of it so leaving the word Victorie imprinted on it which presently he shewed unto those about him as if it had beene there written by the Gods I cannot say for certaine that this apparition to King Richard was by him set on foot for the same purpose and that it was no other than a Kingly fraud to quicken and revive the spirits of his Soldiers but I perswade my selfe if I did say so having no other testimony than an opinatum est against me I might be pardoned for my boldnesse 6 This notwithstanding the fame of such his apparition to that King did as before I said exceedingly promote the reputation of that Saint among the English so farre that the most excellent Prince King EDVVARD the third made choyce of him for his Patron So Master CAMDEN witnesseth in his Remaines that GEORGE hath beene a name of speciall respect in England since the victorious King EDVVARD the third chose Saint GEORGE for his Patron and the English in all Encounters and Battailes have used the name of Saint George in their cries as the French did Montioy Saint Denis The more immediate occasion was that this Edward at the battaile of Callice Anno 1349. being much troubled with griefe and anger drawing his Sword call'd earnestly upon Saint Edward and Saint George whereupon many of his Soldiers flocking presently unto him they fell upon the enemie and put many of them at that instant to the sword Rex Edwardus providè frendens more apri ab ira dolore turbatus evaginato gladio S. Edwardum S. Georgium invocavit dicens Ha Saint Edward Ha Saint George Quibus auditis visis milites confestim Anglici confluebant ad Regem suum Es facto impetu contra hostes tam animose institerunt quòd ducenti ex illis ceciderunt interfecti c. The next yeare after followed the Institution of that noble Order of the Garter dedicated unto Saint George also by which he came possessed alone of that speciall patronage as the more military Saint which in the former Invocation might seeme to be divided betweene St. Edward and himselfe Nor did the King stay here but having chose St. George to bee the tutelarie Saint and Patron of his Soldierie hee caused him to be painted as upon a lusty Courser holding a white Sheild with a red Crosse on it in his hand and gave unto his Soldiers to every one a white Coat or Cassock with two red Crosses on each side of them one to weare upon their armour Edwardus item saith Pol. Virgil. cum D. Georgium militia praesidem optasset postea ei armato equo insidenti dedit scutum album rubra a cruce perinsigne dedit militibus suis saga alba utrimque binis crucibus item rubris munita quae illi super armaturam induerent So that saith he it is a seemely and magnificent thing to see the Armies of the English to sparkle like the rising Sunne the Soldierie of other Countries having no habit eyther to distinguish or adorne them From henceforth therefore we must not looke upon St. GEORGE as a Saint in generall but as conceived such was the superstition of those times the speciall Patron of the English of which the Pilgrim in the Poet thus prophecieth unto his Red-crosse Knight as hee there calls him Then seeke this path which I to thee presage Which after all to Heaven shall thee send Then peaceably thy painefull Pilgrimage To yonder same Hierusalem doe bend Where is for thee ordain'd a blessed end For thou amongst those Saints which thou dost see Shalt be a saint and thine owne Nations friend And Patron thou St. George shalt called bee St. George of merry England the signe of victorie And hereunto alludes Mich. Draiton in his Poly-Olbion in a great controversie questionlesse which was then hot among some Nymphes of his in that Poem And humbly to St. George their Countries Patrō pray To prosper their designes now in that mighty day 7 Of other honours done by the English to St. GEORGE more than they call'd upon him as their Advocate of victory it may perhaps seeme litle necessary to dilate But since our Invocation of God and St. GEORGE is by some men conceived to bee rather Turkish than truely Christian wee will produce such evidence as may be lesse liable unto offence Of which kinde I perswade my selfe was that honour done unto him in a peece of gold currant in those times in this Kingdome called The George-noble which on the one side had the picture of Saint GEORGE upon it with this Impresse Tali dicata signo mens fluctuare nescit Nor can it be offence that many noble families in this Realme had the name of Saint GEORGE an ancient family of Saint George out of which flourished many Knights since the time of King Henry the first at Hatley which is of them call'd Hatley Saint George as I have found in learned Camden another of them as I conceive it at Hinton Saint GEORGE in Com. Sommerset the Baronie at this present of the right honourable the Lord Pawlet But this I leave unto Clarentieux one of the Kings of Armes as most interessed in it I will not heere observe that CHARLES of Burgundie one of the fellowes of the Gareer beeing in discontent with EDVVARD the fourth for his Peace with France brake out into this Passion Oh LORD Oh Saint GEORGE have you done thus indeed c or that the English used his name as an ordinary oath among them Par St. George dirent les Angloys vous dites vray c. as Froissart notes it These things I say I will not speake of lest they may give offence to our nicer eares nor of more honours of this lesser ranke or qualitie afforded him in England and therefore though the Sea bee very troublesome and unruly we will passe over Saint GEORGE'S Chanell into Ireland And here I shall observe that onely which I finde in Master Seldens notes on the Poly-Olbion as viz. that under Henry 8. it was enacted that the Irish should leave their Cramaboo and Butleraboo words of unlawfull Patronage and name themselves as under St. George and the Kings of England Which noted since I must returne againe for England there to behold the solemne institution of the Garter it will not