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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

afterwards by meanes of friends and upon good excuse and reason by him alleaged in his defence as certainly he was a wise and valiant Captaine however in the stage they haue beene pleased to make merry with him he was restored unto his honour The third and last meanes of avoydance is by Cession Surrendrie the examples hereof also are but few This I am sure of not to make further search into it that Philip King of Spaine beeing offended with Qu. Elizabeth about the altering of Religion and thereby alienated from the English delivered backe to the Lord Vicount Mountague the robes and habit of the Order wherewith he was invested on his marriage with Qu. Mary By which his Act as the Historian hath observed Cum Anglis amicitiam visus est prorsus eiurare he seemed to breake off utterly all amitie and friendship with the realme of England 'T is true indeed King Philip being once resolved to renounce his Order was of necessitie to send backe the habit For so it is ordained amongst them that even such of them as depart this life are to take care especially that the Garter bee restored unto the Soveraigne by him and by the Company of the said Order to be disposed of to some other Examples in which kinde are infinite to bee related Windsore the fairest and most stately of our English Pallaces was by King Edward who adorned and beautified it conceived most fit to bee the Seate of that most excellent Order which he had established An house indeed worthie of such inhabitants and therefore worthily honoured by them For here they alwayes leave in readinesse the mantle of their Order to be layed up for them for any suddaine chances which might happen to require their presence at Saint GEORGES Chappell or in the Chapter-house Here doe they solemnize the Installations of their Brethren and performe their obsequies And lastly such a reverend regard they owe the place that if they come within two miles of it except that they be hindered by some weighty and important businesse they alwayes doe repaire thereto and putting on their mantles which are there in readinesse proceed unto the Chappell and there make their Offerings Nor doe they go at any time from out the Castle if their occasions bring them thither till they have offered in like manner I should now from the Knights and from the Order proceed unto the Patron of it but that I first must meet an errour by some reputed as a Law and Statute of the Order and so delivered by tradition from hand to hand viz. that those of this Heroicke Order are by their Order bound Vt mutuo se iuvent that they defend each other at all extremities and assaies But doubtlesse there is no such matter Onely the Knights are bound not to ingage themselves in the service of a forreine Prince without licence from the Soveraigne nor to beare Armes on one side if any of their Fellowes bee already entertained upon the other This is the ground of the report for Omnis fabula as the Mythologists affirme fundatur in Historia Yet hereupon Alphonso Duke of Calabria sonne unto Ferdinand King of Naples knowing that Charles the eighth of France threatned the conquest of that Kingdome did with great importunitie request to be elected of this Order as accordingly hee was Conceiving that if once he were Companion of that Order the King of England as the Soveraigne thereof would be obliged to countenance and aide him in his Warres against the French Which hopes as they were built upon a false and ruinous ground so is it not to bee admired if they deceived him Polydore Virgil who before accounted mutuall defence to be a Statute of this Order doth in this passage overthrow his owne building Concluding this relation of Alphonsus and his investiture with this note Iampridem ea consuetudo ferendi auxilij obsoleverat that long agoe that custome had beene out of use He might as well have said and more agreeable unto the truth it had never beene 10 Having thus spoken of the Statutes of this most noble Order whereby they are and beene govern'd wee will descend in the next place to give you notice of their Patron which after the opinion of those times they chose unto themselves Of which thus Pol. Virgil in his English Historie Ord● verò est D. Georgio ut bellatorum praesidi dicatus quare equites quotannis diem ei sacrum multis ceremonijs colunt This Order is saith hee dedicated unto Saint George as the chiefe Saint and Patron of the men of Warre whose Festivall they therefore solemnely observe with many noble Ceremonies But what need Polydore have beene produced unto this purpose since from the Charter of the Institution we have a testimony more authenticall For there King Edward tells us that to the honour of Almighty GOD and of the blessed Virgin our Ladie St. Mary and of the glorious Martyr Saint GEORGE Patron of the right noble Realme of England and to the exaltation of the holy Catholicke Faith hee had ordained established created and founded within his Castle of Windsore a Company of twenty sixe noble Knights to bee of the said most noble Order of Saint GEORGE named the Garter 'T is true indeed that Polydore hath well observed with how great Ceremonie and solemnitie the Knights doe celebrate this Feast Attending both on the Vespers and the day it selfe at divine Service attired in the most rich and stately Mantles of the Order and gallantly adorned with their most rich sumptuous Collars which wee call of S. S. the Image of Saint GEORGE garnished with pearles and precious stones appendant to them In which their going to the Church and in their setting at the Table they goe and set by two and two every one with his fellow which is foreagainst him in his stall And if by chance it happen that his fellow be not present he doth both goe and set alone I say if so it chance to happen for all the fellowes are obliged to be there personally present without a just and reasonable cause acceptable to the Soveraigne or his Deputie and signified by speciall Letters of excuse Other the pompe and rich magnificence of this Feast I forbeare to mention as utterly unable to expresse it The minde is then best satisfied in such things as this when the eye hath seene them But I proceed unto St. George Of which their Patron and of the noble Order it selfe the Marriage of the Tame and Isis a Poeme written some yeeres past doth thus descant Auratos thalmos regum praeclara sepulchra Et quaecunque refers nunc Windesora referre Desine Cappadocis quamvis sis clara Georgi Militia procerumque cohors chlamydata intenti Cincta periscelidi suras te lumine tanto Illustret tantis radijs perstringet orbem Vt nunc Phrix●um spernat Burgundia vellus Contemnat cochleis variatos Gallia torques Et cruce

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

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

is done according to the newest Cut So that were Martial now alive he might with good applause correct himselfe in that one passage of his Epigram to Regulus where he complaine's how much the latter wits were disrespected compar'd unto the former he might I say correct himselfe and reade it thus Hi sunt invidiae nimirum Regule mores Praeferat antiquis semper ut illa nova Such is the envie of the present dayes That onely new conceits are worthy praise 3 That so it is is more than manifest how justly and with what disadvantage to reverend and sacred truth might soone be made apparant by looking over the particulars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the words of Aristotle To scanne them over all as it were infinite in it selfe so were it nothing to the businesse now in hand unlesse to shew how much the truth hath suffered not onely in our present Argument but in those also Let those whose full abilities in all the rarities of Learning h●ue fitted them for undertakings of this noble nature adventure in this worke to make those ancient friends Antiquitie and V●ritie shake hands and live againe together It is a burden worthy of their shoulders onely and to them I leave it For me it is inough if in the least degree I may bee serviceable in this kind to free one onely captivated truth out of the Dungeons where of late it was imprison'd if forth ' incouragement of others I make it evident in this quàm magna veritas how great the truth is and how mightily it will prevaile Not to stand longer in the entrance my purpose is to write in briefe the Storie of that most blessed Saint and Soldier of CHRIST IESUS St. George of Cappadocia and to produce such testimonies in defence thereof as all the Ages of the Church successively have given him No Saint in all the Calendar the glorious Company of the Apostles excepted onely scarce any of the Noble Armie of the Martyrs able to shew a cleerer title to the Crowne of Martyrdome or to produce more evidence to justifie his right vnto that honour and yet not any of that goodly Fellowship more ignobly handled more shamefully discarded For having in the generall vouche and confession of the Church beene reckoned with the Saints departed a Festivall allotted to his memory and Temples consecrated by his name for having in the latter Ages of the world beene honour'd as a Patron of Christianitie and of speciall credit and opinion with us here in England wee now are taught a Lesson so exactly contrary that fire and water cannot be at greater difference St. George if they may bee beleeved which say it must now no longer bee conceiv'd as one that ever liv'd or mov'd or had any being or if a man at all a wicked man an Arian This they affirme for certaine and they affirme it with such confidence as if they meant to leav● us nothing but this miserable choyce of two such fatall mischiefes both dangerous and extreame to choose the least Pudet haec opprobria nobis Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli Foule shame it were should they St. George defie And we stand mute not able to replie 4 A thing as I conceive it dishonorable unto God that those of his retinue in the Heaven of Heavens should at the suite of Curious and unquiet men bee thus put under an Arrest and so laid up for ever in the Gaole of utter dark●nesse or at the best bound over to eternall silence oblivion A thing as I conceive it injurious to the new Ierusalem made poorer by the losse of such a great glorious Citizen to that blessed Corporation of the Saints themselves so to be baffled of their rights and ancient liberties Nor is it lesse to the dishonour of the holy Church which hitherto hath reckon'd him among the Saints and as a Saint given him the honour due unto his name nor to the Princes of this Kingdome which haue elected him the Patron of their most noble Order of the Garter or to those famous Peeres his Knights which every yeare doe solemnize his Festivall with many noble Ceremonies nor lastly is it lesse to the dishonour of that High Court of Parliament who since the Reformation hath thought it no impiety to entitle him S. George the Martyr For in the first of Edward the 6. Cap. 14. c. wee find a mention of the free Chappell of S. George the Martyr scituate in the Castle of Windsore and in the 5. of Queene Elizabeth Cap. 2. the Feast of S. George the Martyr is expressely mention'd to inquire no further Quod itaque felix faustumque sit c. In the feare therefore of Almighty God and to the honour of the Saints his blessed Courtiers I have adventur'd to restore this glorious Martyr to his place not in the Heavens from whence the powers of man were never able to remove him but in the good opinions of us men from which we have of late displac'd him And as my duty binds mee next in honour of the Holy Church throughout the World and to the glorie of my gracious Lord and Master the service of my Countrie the satisfaction of my Brethren and for the full content of that most noble Order which I am sure hate nothing more than Superstitious Vanities I have endeavour'd that neither wee become asham'd of our St. George nor he of us Dij coepris aspirate meis 5 I know that in the prosecution of this Argument I cannot choose but meet with many prejudices the names and dictates c. of those reverend and famous men which have affirm'd the contrary the censures and rebukes of such who would have all things passe for currant which are found extant in their Writings But in the search of truth wee must not be afraid of names or censures Luther had never ventured on the reformation of Religion had hee beene eyther frighted by the Names of Schole-men or terrified by any of the Bulls from Rome or otherwise affraid of Opinion Nor can I thinke it more unpardonable in mee to dissent from them than first it was in them to differ from Antiquitie It was a noble saying of the great Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That when wee make a search for truth wee must have no respect of persons and thereupon wee use it for a Proverbe Amicus Socrates amicus Plato magis amica veritas Truth is the maine of my enquirie I haue Antiquitie to friend and the tradition of the Church my Sanctuarie What should I feare in such a cause and so well seconded Besides I cannot thinke that ever those most blessed Spirits now with GOD to whom wee stand indebted for so many helpes in Pietie and Learning did ever hope to have their writings reckoned as unquestionable Sic institu●re maiores posteri imitantur This only was a priviledge of the Apostles that as they Preached so we also should