in Bretagne past through that Country to Angoulesme where the Prince lay with 3000 men and entred the Country of Piergort and over-ran it He sent also a Letter to the Nobility of Gascoigne wherein he acquainted them with the reasons why he re-assumed the Name and Title to the Kingdom of France as he used it before the Treaty of Peace to which he condescended not without a manifest diminution of his right Iohn Duke of Lancaster and several others of the English Nobility were sent with another Army into France about Midsummer who landed at Calais of which the French King receiving advertisement called back his Forces designed for the Sea to invade England to meet with whom as also to secure Southampton the Isle of Wight and Garnsey King Edward had set forth a considerable Fleet and sent them under the Command of the Duke of Burgoigne to oppose the Duke of Lancaster but upon report of the Earl of Warwick's coming by Sea to the Duke of Lancaster's assistance the French withdrew The following year the French King raised two Armies and sent them into Aquitaine one under the Command of the Duke of Anjou to enter Guyen by Reol and Bergerac and the other under the Duke of Berry to enter that Country by Lymoges and Quercy and both Armies to meet at Angoulisme to besiege the Prince then in those parts King Edward considering the unsetledness of these Countries raised likewise two Armies That for Aquitaine was Commanded by the Duke of Lancaster of which we shall make further mention when we speak of the Prince and the other designed for Picardie by Sir Robert Knowles In relation to which latter expedition Proclamation was sent forth That all Souldiers designed for Normandy and other parts of France under Sir Robert's Command being constituted the Kings Lieutenant in those parts of France should be at Southampton in the Octaves of St. Iohn Baptist following ready fitted to take Shiping there with him Nor was the King slack in strengthning himself by Allies from abroad and therefore Sir Iohn atte Wode and Mr. Robert de Wykford Archdeacon of Winchester and Doctor of Laws were sent beyond Sea having power to treat with Wenceslaus Duke Brabant and Lorraine Marquess of the Empire about furnishing the King with Men and Arms to serve him in these Wars He also secured the back Door to wit Scotland by a Treaty of Peace for 9. years in which nevertheless the Scots were at liberty to serve either English or French without breaking the Peace and lastly confirmed the Treaty with the Earl of Flanders and the Towns of Gaunt Bruges and Ipres Sir Robert Knowles with 12000. Men being landed at Calais and resting there 7. days forthwith took the Field and marching through the Country of Guynes and Fauconbridge came to Turwin and thence into Artois drawing near Arras and so to Vermandois wasting the Country all the way he went He thence marched to the City of Noyen and into Champaigne and turned to Bry and so on the 24. of September to Paris before which he stayed a day and two Nights After this Sir Bertrand de Guesclin having defeated a stragling party of his he marched to Dorvel Castle in Bretagne This Army so long as it submitted to their General prospered but towards Winter some of them growing disobedient and slighting his Commands became a prey to the French whilst his policy and prudence preserved those safe who stuck to him in his march into Bretagne This year the Flemmings set upon part of the Kings Navy under the Command of Sir Guy de Bryen at la Bay in Bretagne but he got the Victory and took 25. of their Ships with their Captain Sir Iohn Peterson and many other Prisoners whom he brought with him into England which caused the King to set forth a Navy against the Flemmings but the Towns of Bruges Ipres and Gaunt hearing of his preparations made such applications to the King that they obtained Peace The Fortune of the War in Aquitaine at this time standing fair on the English side the following Winter the King designed two fresh Armies to enter France yet indeavoured before upon the Popes request both by Letters and Messages to lay hold of an honourable Peace to which end power was given to treat thereon to Simon Bishop of London Guy de Bryene Roger de Beauchamp Bannerets Sir Arnold Savage Knight Iohn Appleby Dean of London and Iohn de Branketre Treasurer of York and the next day he granted Letters of safe conduct for the Ambassadors of France to come and treat about that Affair One of the foresaid Armies were designed for the defence of Aquitaine and the other to land at Calais whence the Duke of Lancaster and Earl of Cambridge were appointed to enter France by the Plains of Picardy But Iohn Earl of Penbroke constituted the Kings Lieutenant in Aquitaine was ordered to go into Poictou and in pursuance of that design took Sea and arrived at Rochell the 22. of Iune 1372. where he found the Spanish Fleet who fought him two days and at last took him Prisoner the Rochellers having refused to assist him and in that ingagement the Ship which carried a great Treasure to pay the English Army was unfortunately sunk The King designing also the relief of Thoâ—ars raised an Army of 3000. Men of Arms and 1000. Archers and with the Prince took Shipping at Sandwich on Monday the 30. of August about nine a Clock in a Ship called the Grace de Dieu directions having been given for making publick Prayers in all Churches for good success in this Voyage and so sailing towards Rochell the Winds and Tempests kept him at Sea 9. Weeks and when he saw he could not arrive in France by Michaelmas being the time limitted for relief or otherwise surrender of the Town he returned to England and had the Wind at will The consequence of this improsperous Voyage with the miscarriage of the Earl of Penbroke was the loss of all the Country of Poictou Xantoigne and Rochell After these misfortunes a Treaty of Peace was again set on foot and Simon Bishop of London Edmond Earl of March Richard de Stafford Roger de Beauchamp Rauf de Ferrieres Bannerets Simon de Molton Doctor of Law and Ioâ—n de Branketre Treasurer of York were constituted the Kings Commissioners for the management of this Affair and Letters of safe conduct granted the same day to the Cardinal of Beauvez and other Agents from France who with the Cardinal of Canterbury were by the Pope commissionated to be the chief managers of this Treaty The Duke of Lancaster publick Prayers having been made also for his good success arrived at Calais in Iuly an 47. E. 3. with 3000 men of Arms and 10000 Archers which he divided into three Battels and marched by Land
attending upon the Soveraign in Normandy whence it may be collected that Sir William Philipp was installed if not in the 5. yet in the 6. year of King Henry the Fifth at the farthest And that this Procuration made by Sir William Philipp became a President in that Age appears from the Deputation given by Sir Iohn Fastolf to Sir Henry Inghouse and Sir William Breton under his Hand and Seal of Arms which is little different from Sir Philipp's Procuration in French unless in the alteration of the Persons Names SECT III. Qualifications of a Proxie AS touching the Qualifications of a Proctor nominated by a Knight-Subject they are the same with those wherewith the Proxie of a Stranger is to be endowed and of which we shall discourse anon that permissive clause in the Statutes affording the same favour to a Knight-Subject as to Strangers and is the ground whence he derives like Priviledges We shall only add here that not any Deputy or Proxy for a Knight-Subject hath at any time been admitted to be Installed for an Elect-Knight under the degree of a Knight it being thought fit as in other essentials and circumstantials so especially and chiefly in this that a Knight-Subject should exactly observe the Rule which the Statutes have imposed on a Stranger And in this respect the case is very observable where Sir William Lysle though one of the Alms-Knights of Windesor yet in Degree a Knight was not refused but allowed Proctor to Sir Iohn Grey an 7. H. 5. It appears by the Characters given to the Proctors nominated by Sir William Philipp and Sir Iohn Fastolf that the Qualifications required in a Proctor viz. to be 1. a sufficient Proctor of 2. unblamable Reputation and at least 3. a Knight were to be found in them for when the Soveraign was induced by reason that the Employments of Sir Philipp's in his service detained him beyond Sea to give him leave to nominate his Proctor it may be observed that this License was not granted but under this Proviso That his Procuration should be executed by a Knight at least in degree ennobled with Arms and of an honest and untainted reputation And when the said Sir William did make choice of and depute his Proctors they were Knights and such and so nobly qualified That there was nothing wanting in them which belonged to true valiant Knights and the like Character is bestowed upon those two Knights nominated by Sir Iohn Fastolf to take the possession of his Stall to wit That in them there could be found no defect of ought that should belong to magnanimous and couragious Knights SECT IV. Preparations for Installation THE day for Installation of a Knight-Subject by Proxie being by the Soveraign appointed there are to be provided for him and got ready against the Solemnity these things following First a Commission for Installation is to be drawn up and by the Chancellor of the Order presented to the Soveraign for his Sign manual to which is after affixt the great Seal of the Order The substance of the ancient Commissions may be found in that directed to Sir Iohn Robessart an 5. H. 6. to accept of Sir Henry Inghouse one of the two Knights which Sir Iohn Fastolf had constituted for his Proxie himself being at that season employed in the Wars of France the powers granted by the Soveraign to the said Sir Iohn Robessart were these 1. To conduct Sir Henry Inghouse to Windesor Castle 2. To put him in possession as from the Soveraign of the Stall assigned to his Principal 3. To invest him with all the Benefits Honors Prerogatives Franchises and Liberties thereunto appertaining 4. To receive his Mantle Helm and Sword and set them up where the Earl of Westmerland's stood in whose room he was Elected 5. To ad thereunto all usual Solemnities 6. Lastly this Commission contained an Injuction to all the Knights-Companions to suffer and permit the said Sir Iohn Fastolf fully and peaceably to possess the said Stall Places Honors Franchises Prerogatives and Liberties in the same manner as the Statutes import without any contradiction or scruple There is another Precedent almost as ancient in a Commission granted to the Earl of Essex the Lords Berners and Wenlock for Installation of the Earl of Worcester and other Elect-Knights by their Proxies an 2. E. 4. in regard they for the present were and for some time would be so far employed about the Soveraign's Person and in his Service that they could not receive a Personal Installation but the Commissioners Authority in this is comprised in fewer particulars than the former namely to admit receive and establish with all convenient speed the Elect-Knights by their Proctors into their Stalls at Windesor in the same manner as if one and all of them had been present in their own persons any Ordinance or Statute to the contrary notwithstanding Of later times the Commissions granted upon such occasions differ from those made for the Personal Installations of the Knights themselves only be premising the cause of their Principals absence and the Employment or Negotiation he is then ingaged in and then authorising the Commissioners to admit the Proxie into his Stall a Precedent of which kind is added in the Appendix to the former In the next place where the Installation by Proxie is performed by two or more Commissioners the Soveraign directs Letters to each of them giving notice of the intended Solemnity and requiring them to make their repair to his Castle of Windesor by a certain day therein prefixt to the end the Proxie may proceed to take possession of his Principal 's Stall Of such a Letter see also a form in the Appendix And as there is upon admission of an Elect-Knight installed by Proxie the same ground for removal of Stalls in the Choire as for one who receives a Personal Installation and in like cases So is it usual to issue out the like Warrants from the Soveraign to Garter some time before the Solemnity to remove the Atchievements and Plates and place them in the order as his Warrant directs Anciently the Stall for the Elect-Knight was assigned in the body of the Commission which issueth out for his Installation as it appears in the before mentioned Commission for admitting Sir Henry Inghouse Proctor to Sir Iohn Fastols to whom the Stall which the Earl of Westmerland held while living was thereby appointed for him The rest of the particulars to be prepared against the day of Installation are provided at the Knight's own charge and they are first his Mantle of the Order which according to the injunction of the Statutes the Proctor is obliged to bring along with him to Windesor at the day appointed for Installation Garter is also to be consulted with as to the preparing the Elect-Knight's Atchievements namely his Helm Crest Mantlings Sword and Banner of Arms and to
Duke Ferdinand Arch-Duke of Austria George de Halwyn Baron of Gomyns An. 16. H. 8. Dukes Peter Duke of Conimbero Iohn Lord Typtost An. 6. H. 6. Dukes Guido Vbaldus Duke of Vrbin Sir Balthasar de Castilian Knight An. 22. H. 7. Dukes Emanuel Duke of Savoy Iohan Thomas Langusts des Contes de Stropiane An. 1. 2. Ph. Mar. Dukes Adolph Duke of Holstein Walter Devereux Viscount Hereford An. 3. Eliz. Dukes Henry Prince of Orange Dudley Carleton Viscount Dorchester An. 4. Car. 1. Dukes Iohn George Duke of Saxony Heneage Finch Earl of Winchelsey An. 23. Car. 2. Earls Anne Montmorency Earl of Beaumont Sir Amye de Courteney Knight Sier de Villert An. 25. H. 8. Earls Philip Chabot Earl of Newblank Sir Iames Deschateners Knight Sier de Beaulion An. 25. H. 8. Thirdly it is provided that he be a Knight and without any manner of Reproach and if it so happen that he have not received the degree of Knighthood the Soveraign is to bestow that honor before he be allowed to take upon him the execution of his deputative power for none but Knights are capable of this Honor or permitted to bear the Ensigns of so great an Order Hereupon the Lord Willoughby of Ersbie Proctor for Frederick the Second King of Denmark and Sir Philip Sidney for Iohn Count Palatine of the Rhyne were both Knighted by the Soveraign at Windesor Castle the morning before they proceeded to take possession of their Principals Stalls Notwithstanding there was a reason why this particular was not strictly stood upon though moved in the case and it is the single case of Henry Ramell Deputy for Christian the Fourth King of Denmark an 3. Iac. R. for it being taken notice of that he was not a Knight certain persons were sent from the Soveraign to signifie his pleasure that he should be advanced to the honor of Knighthood before he took upon him the Ensigns of the Order in his Kings behalf to which he made answer that he appeared here not in his own but in the name of the King of Denmark and that such a Degree of honor was unusual in his own Country being born in Pomerania and therefore humbly desired that he might be excused for receiving the honor Upon which answer the Soveraign was pleased to dispence with him and forthwith the said Deputy but no Knight received the Ornaments of the Order and was admitted to take the Stall assigned to the said King his Principal SECT III. His Letters of Procuration THE authority wherewith an Elect-Stranger invests his Proxie is chiefly deduceable from the words in his Letters of Procuration or Deputation which ought to pass under the Hand and Seal of his Principal and do generally contain these particulars First he premiseth the Soveraign's Election of him into the Order of the Garter and his Receipt of the Habit and Ensigns thereof then takes notice of the obligation which the Statutes of the Order put upon him for sending a Proxie to take possession of his Stall in regard the dignity whereunto he is advanced in his own Country will not permit him to repair personally to Windesor and being not only desirous that the Election and Investiture should obtain its due effect but to fulfil as far as in him lies the Injunctions of the Statutes in what concerns the assuming of his Stall and taking the Oath appointed He therefore ordains authorises and deputes a person fitly qualified named in the Deputation his sufficient Proctor and special Deputy to appear at the Castle of Windesor on his behalf and in his Name at the next Solemnity that should be held there to supply his room and receive possession of the Stall assigned him according to the usual form and to perform in all respects those Ceremonies and things in his behalf due and accustomed or should appear to belong any way to the splendor or ornament of the Order As also to take the accustomed Oath with those qualifications and in that form as had been or should be agreed upon and further to fulfill all other things which he should think necessary to be performed on this occasion or whatsoever thing might require a more special command than was contained in the Letters of Procuration and as fully as the Stranger should be obliged unto and would do if he were there present in his own person Lastly there is usually added a Clause of Ratification and Confirmation of all such things as the Proctor should say or do in reference to the Solemnity of Installation SECT IV. Of the Proctor's Reception SOon after the arrival of the Proxie and that the Soveraign is acquainted with the occasion of his coming he at some convenient time giveth him Audience after which a day for Installation is assigned where the Soveraign or his Lieutenant are present the Soveraign nominates some of the Knights-Companions his Commissioners to perform the Ceremonies Heretofore the Soveraign hath caused the Proctor to be received with very great state for so was Sir Balthasar Castilian sent hither from the Duke of Vrbin an 22. H. 7. whom Sir Thomas Brandon with a goodly company of his own Servants well horst met at the Sea side and thence continually kept company with him till they came neer Deptsord in Kent where by the Soveraign's command he was met by Sir Thomas Dokara Lord of St. Iohns and Sir Thomas Wriothesley Garter The said Sir Thomas Dokara had attending him 30 of his Servants all in new Liveries well horsed every Gentleman bearing a Javelin in his hand and every Yeoman a Bow and a Sheaf of Arrows and so they conveyed him to his Lodging The next day they conducted him to London and by the way there met him divers Italians and Paulus de Gygeles the Popes Vice-Collector to whose house he was conveyed and there lodged The Reception also of Iames Lord Rambouillet Proctor for the French King Charles the Ninth was very noble to whom as soon as the Soveraign heard of his arrival at Gravesend being Tuesday the â—8 of Ianuary an 8. Eliz. she sent thither Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton Mr. Midlemore and other Gentlemen who the next day landed him at the Tower-Wharf where all taking Horse they conducted him to his Lodgings neer St. Maries Spittle without Bishops-Gate within which place lay the Ambassador Leiger of France SECT V. The Preparations for Installation THE Preparations for the Installation of a Stranger by Proxie are the same as for the Proxie of a Knight-Subject and mentioned as before namely the 1. Commission for Installation 2. Letters of notice to the Commissioners 3. Warrants for removal of Stalls 4. for the Strangers Atchievements and 5. some other particulars of less note All which are to be obtained by the Chancellor of the Order under the Soveraign's Sign Manual to which the Signet of the Order is to be affixt The form of the Commission is
into England P. Priest Cardinal of St. Praxid and B. Deacon Cardinal of St. Mary in Aquiro to use their best endeavours to compose the differences now growing high between the two Kings Upon whose mediation with King Edward though Peace could not be obtained yet that things relating to Peace might the better be effected a Truce was agreed on to the Morrow after Candlemas day an 12. E. 3. and thence prorogued to the first of March and lastly a further enlargement of it to Midsummer following in case the King of France should consent to it and give Security that it should be observed but he it seems refusing the King was advised to revoke this later cessation which he did the 6. of May and to take a Journey into Flanders personally to confer with his Allies in pursuance of his design against France and thereupon he took shipping at the Port of Orewell the 16. of Iuly and went to Antwerp But before he went upon the Cardinals further importunity a Commission issued to I. Archbishop of Canterbury R. Bishop of Durham R. de Vfford Earl of Suffolk Sir Geoffry le Scrop Knight and Mr. Iohn Vfford Archdeacon of Ely with power to treat and agree touching all things in difference between them in reference to a full and final Peace And by another Commission bearing the same date the Duke of Brabant Earl of Hanow and Gueldres the Marquess of Iuliers and Sir William Dunort Lord of Oustrehout Knight are added to them These Commissions were double and of two several Stiles in the one the King calls Philip de Valoys Consanguineus noster Franciae only and in the other Excellentissimus Princeps Dominus Philippus Rex Franciae illustris Consanguineus noster charissimus At Antwerp the confederate Princes gave the King a meeting and here he expresly revoked all the powers he had given the forementioned Commissioners to treat with Philip de Valois as King of France At length it was resolved that the Duke of Iuliers should be sent Ambassador from the King to the Emperor which Embassy obtained a promise to the King of the Vicar-generalship of the Empire whereupon about the beginning of September he took a Journey to Colen where the Emperor publickly defied the King of France and constituted King Edward his Vicar-General who at his return into Flanders entred upon the execution of that Office In the 13. year of this Kings Reign at the instance of the foresaid Cardinals Iohn Archbishop of Canterbury Richard Bishop of Durham Henry Bishop of Lincolne the Earls of Derby Salisbury and Suffolk and some others were impowered to treat with Philip de Valois or his Deputies upon the Dignities Honors Lands and Rights belonging to King Edward and all other controversies whatsoever The Deputies on the other part were the Archbishop of Rouen the Bishops of Langres and Beauvais and the place for treaty Arras but nothing of Peace being thereby effected the King prepared effectually for War having some time before made an alliance with Albert and Otho Dukes of Austria Stiria and Karinthia and received Homage as King of France from Reiginald Duke of Gueldres and Earl of Zutphen for which he afterwards granted him 1000 l. sterling per Annum for his life He likewise made alliances with other Princes who were to furnish him with men to be imployed in his intended expedition into France as also with Lewis the Emperour after which he sent a Letter from Antwerp to the Pope asserting his claim to the Crown of France which is to be seen in Walsingham's History of England All things for War being now in readiness the King with the assistance of his Allies first besieged Cambray an Imperial City and then in the hands of the French but it being too well fortified and provided to be suddenly taken he raised his Siege and passed into France first sending his defiance to Philip de Valois then at Paris by the Bishop of Lincoln Sir Walter Many was the first who after the defiance made entred France with 40. Horse burnt Mortaigne took the Castle of Thyne garrisoned it and returned to the King at Mechlin The King having passed the River Skell entred France upon St. Matthews Day and burnt the Country before him And not long after at the request of the Duke of Brabant to admit of a Treaty of Peace the King at Markoyne grants the said Duke power in his name to give safe conduct to such persons as he should think fit to meet at any place within two or three Leagues from his Camp to treat of Peace the same to continue till Friday following and all that day but nothing was effected The Saturday before St. Lukes Day the King with his Army passed the River Oyze and marching forward till he came between Vyronfoss and Flamengery the two Armies drew near each other where the Day of Battel was agreed on to be the Friday after But in the interim a Letter of advice was brought to the French King from Robert King of Sicily a famous Astrologer to disswade him from fighting since he had by his Science found that if he fought with the King of England he should be vanquished and loose the day This Letter so prevailed with the King of France that though he had the greater power and that both Armies stood ranged for Battel yet was there not a blow struck on the appointed Day The Munday following intelligence was brought to the King that the French were dispersed and returning homewards whereupon he withdrew his Army and marched back into Brabant At his return to Antwerp he issued out another Commission to Iohn Archbishop of Canterbury R. Bishop of Durham H. Bishop of Lincoln W. Earl of Salisbury Sir Bartholomew Burghersh and Sir Geoffry le Scrop Knights and Iohn de Offord Archdeacon of Ely to treat of Peace with Philip de Valois or with Commissioners from him and a month after this Commission was renued upon adding Robert de Vfford Earl of Suffolk to the before-named Commissioners Here also the King was advised to ingage the Flemmings to his further Assistance who were willing enough for by the means of Iaques D'artuell he had gained a great influence upon them but considering they stood ingaged in the Pope's Chamber in two Millions of Florens not to make War against the King of France they proposed that the King would quarter the Arms of France with those of England and call himself King of France as he ought of right to do and then they would take him to be the rightful King of France and receive from him a discharge of that Obligation and afford him their assistance To this proposal the King agreed and solemnly assumed both the Arms of the Kingdom and Title of King of France He also caused his Great Seal to be changed and brought it with him at his return to
through France to Bourdeux and there he arrived about Christmas in which Voyage though the French durst not fight him and all the way avoided the hazard of a Battel yet through the scarcity of Victuals many dyed not to mention the loss of 30000 Horse About the beginning of the following Summer at the Pope's instance a Truce was made by this Duke and the Duke of Anjou to continue till the last of August wherein it was agreed that in the beginning of September there should meet in Picardy on the English part the Duke of Lancaster and other Commissioners to treat of Peace with the Duke of Anjou and others on the French part where also the Popes Legate should appear as Mediatour and in pursuance thereof the Duke of Lancaster took Shipping the 8. of Iuly an 48 E. 3. after whose departure all Poictou and Aquitaine fell from their Allegiance except Bourdeux and Bajon In this year the Earl of Cambridge and the Duke of Bretagne were constituted the Kings Lieutenants in France after which Commands were sent forth to arrest Ships for their passage thither to be at Dertmouth and Plimouth with all speed But notwithstanding these preparations yet they went not till the following Spring having then in their retinue many of the English Nobility and for whose good success publick Prayers were appointed to be made In this Expedition the Duke recovered many of his Towns but being included in the Truce made by the Duke of Lancaster he was thereby obliged to lay down his Arms. For upon the mediation of the Bishops of Roan and Carpentras the Pope's Nuncios there had been a Treaty set on Foot at Bruges in Flanders this Year managed chiefly by Iohn Duke of Lancaster who with Simon Bishop of London William Earl of Salisbury Sir Iohn Cobham Sir Franke de Hale Sir Arnold Savage Mr. Iohn de Shepeye and Mr. Simon de Molton were commissionated to carry on that Affair on King Edwards part and by Philip Duke of Burgundy on the behalf of his Brother Charles the French King which though it brought not forth a compleat Peace yet in effect it put an end to the present War for it produced a Truce to hold for a year viz. to the last of Iune an 50 E. 3. to give notice of which to the English Subjects a Proclamation was set forth And a quarter of a year before its expiration at another meeting at the same place this Truce was inlarged to the first of April an 51 E. 3. and thereupon another Proclamation issued to make it known But it appears that the French were gotten to Sea sometime before the expiration of this latter Truce and had done much hurt upon the Sea-Coasts Of this design of theirs the King had timely intelligence and therefore he endeavoured to enlarge the Truce to which end he empowred Iohn Bishop of Hereford Sir Iohn de Cobham of Kent Iohn Monteacute Bannerets and Iohn Shepeye Doctor of the Laws to Treat with the Earl of Salebruch Monsieur Chatillon and Philebert le Spoit where the Pope's Legats were also present as Mediators But nothing was done thereupon only the Legate proposed a Marriage between Richard Prince of Wales and the Lady Mary Daughter to the French King which begot a private meeting shortly after at Montrevile by the Sea and there Sir Richard Dangle Sir Richard Stan and Sir Geoffry Chaucer Commissioners for King Edward with the Lord Coucy and other Commissioners for the French King spent the time chiefly to found one anothers intentions and so departed without any other effect saving that of Proroguing the Truce to May day following The 26 of April another Commission was made for the same purpose to Adam Bishop of St. Davids Iohn Bishop of Hereford William Earl of Salisbury Robert de Ashton the Kings Chamberlain Guichard Dangle Banneret Aubrey de Vere Hugh de Segrave Knights Walter Skirlow Dean of St. Martins le Grand and the foresaid Iohn Shepeye which gave them power to treat and compose all differences Wars and contentions They thereupon came to Calais and the Lord Coucy and Sir William Dormer Chancellor of France came to Montrevile but by reason of the suspicion the Commissioners had of each other they could not agree of an indifferent place to meet at and so the time limitted by the Truce spinning on absolutely expired And in this posture the Affairs relating to France stood to wit in open hostility till the Death of King Edward Thus we see that from the breach of the Treaty and Entry upon King Edwards Territories to the time of his Death he all along steered against the Tide of adverse Fortune and what with Invasions Revolts and disastrous accidents though no pitch'd Battel was fought nothing of his great Conquests remained to him but only Calais and the small Territory adjoining But of the strange unsuccessfulness of these subsequent years there might be three main causes First the loss of so many stout and well disciplin'd Souldiers as upon their disbanding after the Peace made near Chartres joyned themselves to the Companions and marcht into Spain Italy and Germany to which number may be added those who perished in the Princes expedition into Spain of whom scarce the fifth man returned a sort of people so inur'd to War and such as had gained so great experience therein that the very Common Souldiers among them were men of good conduct The French King knew well enough how much King Edwards power was weakned through the want of those men and that as to such as might be raised a-new few of them having been trained up in the former Wars he thought he might the better deal with them in regard that many of his own disbanded Souldiers were still within his Kingdom and lay ready at his service A second cause might be that the King declining in years and the Prince of Wales growing daily worse and worse of a lingering sickness without hope of Recovery the French King took the more heart and began now not to fear either them or their Fortunes which before had proved so terrible to France And therefore he supposed if he could make a shift but to keep his Forces on Foot against their declining power he might deal well enough with those who should succeed them none of King Edwards other Sons having given such proof of their success in martial affairs as to be feared by him and much less was any such thing to be expected when an Infant King was likely to succeed Lastly His supplies of Money from his Subjects who before had freely enough opened their Purses to carry on the War began to fail him For being tyred out with the prosecution of it they complained of Poverty and thence it came that the Forces raised to recover what was lost were inconsiderable in comparison of the former Royal Armies levied
Lancaster in Chief Command behind him to whom they did fealty and Homage in the Princes presence and kist his mouth The Affairs of these Countries being thus Ordered the Prince and Princess their young Son Richard the Earls of Cambridge and Penbroke took Shipping for England and arrived at Plimouth about the beginning of Ianuary whence they rode to the King at Windesor where after some stay he took his leave and retired to his own House and about two years after surrendred the Dignity of Prince of Guynne and his whole right therein to his Father King Edward While he was yet in Minority there were several matches designed for him as first being but a year old a Commission was given to Iohn Darcy and William Trussell Knights to treat and agree with Philip King of France or his Deputies upon espousals and Matrimony between this young Prince and King Philips Daughter but the quarrel breaking out afterwards with that King there was no further progress made in his Affair The next proposal was for Margaret one of the Daughters of Iohn Duke of Brabant and Lorraine to which purpose a Commission was made out to Henry Bishop of Lincoln and William de Bohun Earl of Northampton to treaâ— with the said Duke or his Deputies upon this matter and for which in regard they were both within the third Degree of Consanguinity the Popes Dispensations was several times endeavoured to be obtained by Letters sent from the King but he could not be induced to do any thing therein Another match was proposed with a Daughter of the King of Portugal and thereupon the King Commissionated Mr. Andrew Offord Richard de Soham and Philip de Barton to treat of a Marriage not only between the Prince but any other of his Sons and any one of the Daughters of the said King That also taking no effect there was another Commission issued to Robert de Stratton Canon of Chichester and Richard de Soham to treat with the said King concerning a marriage between the Prince and his Daughter Leonora But none of these which were of others providing took effect but at length an 35. E. 3. he married with a Lady of his own choice namely Ioan Countels of Kent Sister and Heir to Iohn Plantagenet Earl of Kent and the Relict of Sir Thomas Holland one of the first Founders of this most Noble Order commonly called for her Excellent Beauty the fair Maid of Kent And because the Prince had married her notwithstanding nearness of Kindred between them and of his Christning her eldest Son it was thought requisite to have a Papal Absolution from Excommunication and Dispensation for Marriage both which were obtained from Pope Innocent the Sixth in the 9. year of his Popedom By her he had two Sons namely Edward the Eldest born at Angoulesme in Feb. 1365. Leland saith 1364. who dyed in Gascoigne at 7. years of Age and Richard the second Son born at Bordeaux on Twelfth-Day being Wednesday at three a Clock in the Afternoon 1366. and had three Kings to his Godfathers viz. of Spain Navarre and Portugal Besides these he had two Natural Sons Iohn Sounder and Sir Roger de Clarendon to the latter of these he gave by his Will a Silk Bed with all thereunto belonging This Roger was after made one of the Knights of the Chamber to King Richard the Second to whom the said King the first of October 13. R. 2. gave for life 100 l. per annum out of the Issues of his Subsidies in the Counties of Bristol Gloucester Somerset Dorset and Cornwall His Disease contracted in Spain grown now uncurable and he drawing near to his end made his Will in the Kings great Chamber at Westminster the 7. of Iune an 50. E. 3. and disposed of his Body to be buried in the Cathedral Church of the Trinity in Canterbury And such was his care of those who had done him service that he charged his Son Richard by his Will to continue the payment of those Pensions which he had given them The Executors nominated therein were his Brother of Spain the Duke of Lancaster William Bishop of Winchester Iohn Bishop of Bath William Bishop of St. Asaph Robert de Walsham his Confessor Hugh de Segrave Steward of his Lands Aleyn de Stokes and Iohn de Fordham The next day after his Will was made being Trinity Sunday this Noble Prince the Flower of Chevalry and delight of the English Nation departed the World his body being imbalmed was wrapt in Lead and kept till Michaelmas the Parliament being then to meet to be interred with greater Solemnity which was performed at Canterbury near the Shrine of Thomas Becket over whose Grave a stately Monument was erected for him which yet remains undefaced 3 Henry Earl of Lancaster THE second Stall on the Soveraign's side was assigned to Henry then Earl of Lancaster and Derby Son to Henry Earl of Lancaster Brother and Heir of Thomas Earl of Lancaster Beheaded at Pontefract on Monday before our Lady-Day an 15. E. 2. and Maude Daughter and Heir to Sir Patrick Cadurces or Chaworth Knight Lord of Kidwelly and Ogmore in Wales The first considerable Military Honor conferred on him was that of Commander in Chief of all the King's Forces sent into Scotland an 10. E. 3. for the Truce with the Scots having been upon the request both of the Pope and King of France and earnest sollicitation of their Ambassadors several times prorogued between the 23. of Nov. an 9. E. 3. and the Sunday next after Ascension day following it then expired before which the King had intelligence of their confederacies abroad and great preparations for War and being engaged to assist and defend Edward Baliol King of Scots who had done him Homage for that Kingdom he thereupon raised an Army for that purpose and gave this noble Knight command thereof by the name of Henry de Lancaster only though I find him in another place relative to this employment called Henry de Lancastre Banneret And by another Commission he gave him power to receive to Faith and Peace the Scots or their adherents and to grant them pardon Shortly after he aâ—â— Tho. Beauchamp Earl of Warwick Henry de Bellomont Earl of Bogham and William de Bohun had Commission given them to treat with Sir Andrew Murrese a Scotch Knight about a Truce between the King and his Subjects in Scotland and the said Sir Andrew and other the Scots to hold till Midsummer following Towards the latter end of this year David Bruys then in France had obtained that Kings assistance and gotten together a great Navy with which he did much mischief to the Merchants about the Isle of Wight besides he had entred the Isles of Gerusey and Iarsey and killed divers of the Inhabitants The King therefore gave Commission to the Archbishop of Canterbury and others
parallel it with that of Knighthood among us in England which is the next in dignity to the Baronage and generally persons of their rank and quality are made choice of to ascend unto that Honor. It was a Constitution as ancient as the Reign of Tiberius the Emperour that no man should be admitted into the Equestrian Order nor have given unto him the right of a Gold Ring unless he was free-born or a Gentleman and his Father and Grandfather had been so and indeed for a long time none were elected Knights but the best sort of Gentlemen and Persons of noble nay sometimes Kingly Extraction as was the illustrious Mecaenas concerning whom Vell. Paterculus gives this Character That he aspired no higher than the Equestrian Order not out of an incapacity of attaining greater matters but that he desired them not Yet at length through the corruption of times Plebeians and Freed-men were too frequently received into this Degree the Equestrian Cense alone to wit their attaining to such a degree of Wealth as reached the valuation of a Knight was that which gained them this Honor which Salmaâ—ius thus affirms in his Exposition of a piece of Polybius Whomsoever the Censor did elect into the Equestrian Order he considered nothing in him but the Equestrian Cense which for the general will likewise find but too near a parallel among the Knights of this Age. To add to the lustre of the Equestrian Order let us next consider that the civil affairs of the Roman Common-wealth were sometimes put under their management and the chiefest of the Knights made Iudges which Cicero thus confirms Before the Knights Judges at Rome the Causes were pleaded and debated And what esteem was generally set upon their uprightness and justice Turnebus sets forth who explicating some Pieces of Cicero wherein several of their excellent Judgments are reported saith There was then a great opinion of the Vertue of the Roman Knights from the integrity of their Iudgments Nor was there any other cause as Budaeus notes wherefore they were called Iudges Then that the Decuriae of the Iudges were chosen from amongst those of the Equestrian Order And though by assuming this additional dignity they bore the Title of Iudges and not of Knights for in those times The Title of Knights continued appropriate to the Troops of those who served with Publick Horses yet nevertheless without all doubt saith Alexander ab Alexandro The Iudges continued still of the Equestrian Order and were reckoned among the Knights for that they used the Gold Ring as Knights and had the same Ensigns of Honor and executed the said Offices Though it was otherwise where a Knight was elected into the Senate for then having assumed the Name of the more noble Order the Title of his former degree was extinguished albeit he still retained the Ensigns thereof Gracchus Brother to Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus being Tribune of the Commons and studying how to curry favour with the People concluded it would best be brought about by abating or clipping the authority of the Sâ—nate He thereupon preferred amongst others a Law that 〈◊〉 shâ—uld be chosen out of the Equestrian Order into the Senate which then 〈◊〉 but oâ— three hundred out of design to make the â—otes of the Knights double to thosâ— of the Senators by which means he took away from the Senate their authority of â—itting in judgment and appropriated it to the Equestrian Order But 〈◊〉 notes withal that this proved a means to corrupt the Knights between whoâ— and the Senate there was at that time a good correspondence For it seems those who were hereupon chosen into the Senate did so misbehave themselves in the execution of their powers at least so kept under the Senators authority that they gave very great distast unto them insomuch as not long after by the assistance of M. Lucius Drusus then Tribune of the Pâ—oplâ— their former prerogative was again translated from the â—questrian Order to themselves for he made Legem Iudiciariam whereby not only an equal number of Judges should be elected out of both Orders but that all Judgments should pass indifferently and equally by the Senate and Equestrian Order Hereupon the power of the Knights grew less and less until it shrunk to nothing so that at length the Iudges places which they before had executed became conferrable upon the Publicans But half a Century of years pass'd not e're M. Cicero when Consul which was Anno ab Vrbe Conditâ— 690 re-established the Equestrian Order and reconciled the Senate to it And from hence the Knights were a second time estâ—blished the third degree in Rome and all Acts pâ—ssed in the nâ—me of the Senate 〈◊〉 People of Rome and the Equestrian Order the same Pliny giving the reason why the Knights were then so placed after the People in all publick instruments because they were last of all incorporated into the body of the Common-wealth As to the Dignities and Honors the Ordo â—quesiris enjoyed abroad we find that many Provinces were governed by some of the Equestrian Order â—lone instâ—ad of Presidents for in Cappadocia Egypt and other Countries those of the Equestrians Order did for a long time rule among whom Egypt had this peculiar and proper to it self that none of the Senators were admitted to be her Presidents but only those of the Equestrian Order Whose Decrees Augustus commanded to be had in like esteem as if the Magistrates of Rome or Kings or Consuls or Praetors had pronounced them As a note of Eminence to their Names and Honors they had the Titles of Splendidi and Illustres bestowed upon them both which are equivalent to that of Nobiles For Oppius calls them Splendidi Illustres Tacitus describing the affairs of Claudius stiles them also Illustres Pliny gives them the Title of Splendidi and so doth Cicero There is an inscription neer Praeneste which puts it in the superlative for so Scaligâ—r reads it in his Index to Ianus Gruterus Insâ—riptions A. MUNIO A. F. MIN. EVARISTO SPL. E Q. R. PAT COL OMNIBUS HONOR NITIDE FUNCTO c. And in the Oration of Caius Claudius the Consul touching a Sedition raised by Caeso Quintius they are called most sacred Knights But besides other priviledges belonging to the Equestrian Orâ—er whereby it was advanced above the â—lebeian there is yet this one to be here remembred to wit that of their Seâ—ts in the Theatre Of this priviledge the chiefest Author is thought to be Iulius Caesar or Auâ—ustus that Law being called Iulia. But it is more probably affirmed by others that long before them L. Roseius being Tribune of the People brought in a law that the fourteen next seats i. e. next to those of the Senators should be assigned to the Roman Knights which is further confirmed by
called Legionary Knights from being annexed and joined to the Legions by such donation and likewise to distinguish them from the rest of the Equestrian Order who had only received the honor of a Gold Ring though they had not as yet taken upon them any martial employment Hence we may observe that all those who were of the Equestrian Order were not employed in military service or rather very few in respect of the whole Body but only such of them to whom a publick Horse was assigned and had the peculiar Title given them of Legionary Knights as aforesaid being chosen from the entire body of the Ordo Equestris to the end they might forthwith serve in the Legions Nor was every Citizen whose wealth could entitle him to the Equestrian Cense received into the Equestrian Order for doubtless many concealed the just value of their Estates from the Censor and so escaped the admission and inrollment but whosoever were found possess'd of such a proportion of Riches and Substance as would reach the Equestrian Cense were constrain'd if debauchery and vitiousness hindred not to enroll themselves within that Order and thereby become capable of receiving a publick Horse as is evident from Livy in that which he relateth concerning P. Aebutius the Son of a Roman Knight where in favour to him and recompence of his service by whose together with Hispalo Fessenia's means the abominable Ceremonies used in the nocturnal Feasts of Bacchus were first discovered the Senate decreed that the Consul should mind the Tribunes of the Commons to prefer a Bill to the people for his exemption from all military service and notwithstanding to aâ—ow him his Pension as if the time of service which the Law required had been accomplished and moreover to prohibit the Censor from assigning to him a publick Horse or compelling him to serve in the Wars against his will By which it is manifest that the Censor might force any man in that time who had the Equestrian Cense to accept of a Horse and constrain him to serve out in the Legions the time appointed by the Law otherwise what needed so great endeavour to obtain such a prohibition Howbeit Salmasius adds that in the more ancient method of Election constrainâ— was not used This Horse which first gave name to the Knights as hath been before noted out of Pliny was in relation to his service called Equus Militaâ—s and from the annual allowance to keep him Equus publicus And after such time as the Office of Censor was instituted which was in the 310. year after the foundation of the City this Horse was bestowed by the Censor which also is apparent from the case of P. Aebutius cited by Livy and mentioned a little before and not as yet by the Emperors who it is true in succeeding times gave the same which ought nevertheless to be distinguished from the Horse that the said Emperors gave among the Praemia militaria and by and by touched upon And it was so assigned by the Censors as they were Judges of manners as is well observed by Lipsius for it was part of the Censors duty to observe the lives and manners of every man even of those who were of the Senatorian and Equestrian Order and to brand if they saw cause any Citizen whatsoever with infamy And therefore were neither all persons or those unadvisedly inrolled for a publick Horse but such only as could endure the test and examination of their reputation and good behaviour and whose fair conversation and carriage had given proof of their good and commendable life Wherefore as the aforesaid Salmasius observes Polybius useth in this kind of Election the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to be in good repute and esteem and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to prove to examine to enquire c. because they chose from the Equestrian Order and from all the number of Knights those of known virtue and of approved life who might take Horsemans pay and serve with publick Horses and be inrolled in the Legions And as this power in judging of mens manners and behaviour in general was placed in the Censors so also did they of censuring in particular the Knights debaucheries and miscarriages if they were chargeable with any such after their Election into the Ordâ— Equestris for if they observed any thing in their lives contrary to hoâ—esty and good report they took away from them both Horse and Ring than which a greater disgrace and dishonor could not befall them The Knights were not only to be circumspect as to their own demeanour but also obliged to be careful of their Horses for if upon the Censors review of the publick Horses any were found poor and lean or that the Knight kept him not well drest and in good order he who owned him was noted for negligence and carelesness and if the Censors saw any blemish or impediment in them they forthwith took them away But such might be their Crime that withdrawing the Horse was not thought an agreeable punishment for we read in Livy that the Censors did not only take away the publick Horses from the Knights who came off safe after the defeat at Cannae but they removed them all from their own Tribes and wholly dis-franchised them The like did the Emperors when in succeeding times they took upon them to bestow the publick Horses in such manner as the Censors had formerly used among whom we find that Augustus after he had obtained his ten Coadjutors exercised at one time several of the powers belonging to the Censors for be compelled every Knight to give an account of his life and of those whose manners be approved not be punished some and noted others with reproach and infamy and many with admonition but after various kinds So also Caius Caligula who not only reviewed with some severity the Musters of the Equestrian Order but openly took from them their Horses in whom was found any foul reproach or infamy And those who were less guilty and culpable but of smaller faults lost also their dignity together with their Horses albeit they avoided that publick note of disgrace which the former underwent from whom as it is shewn he openly and in the face of all took away their Horses for concerning these the said Suetonius adds He only passed over their Names in reading the Roll. Now Rosinus in laying down the manner and order used in ejecting such Knights saith it was thus A recital being made by the Censor of all the Knights that were inrolled in the Ordo Equestris those whose names he omitted were thereby understood to be deprived of that dignity In the last place where any of this Order had consumed their Patrimony and had not an Estate left answerable to the Equestrian Cense they were reduced to the same condition with those who
even height for defence of the breast and shoulders but growing narrower and narrower towards the bottom finished in a point Another Ensign and Ornament of Knightly Honor is the Cingulum militare or Military Belt called also Balteus or Baltheus which Varro saith is a Tusâ—an word and signifies a Military Girdle That which the Roman Soldiers wore was made of Leather and adorn'd with Studs or Bosses from whom it devolv'd to the Germans and Franks and is in like manner described by Favin to be made of a large Thong of white Leather having the ends pure Gold covered and fastened with Studs of the same metall to which the Sword was made fast on the left side With him doth another French Writer concur saying that the Incincture was made of a large Thong of Leather and was termed Balteus and by the French a Baudrier which Favin affirms to be so called of the old French also Rudolphus Abbot of St. Trudon in Germany speaking concerning the finding of the Body of St. Gereon Knight and Martyr at Colen in the Monastery of St. Pantaleon saith that his Military Girdle was found to that time whole and entire and that it was of black Leather almost an Ell long But his Sword was consumed and only the pomel of the form of an Egg almost eaten up with rust was likewise found at his left side nigh to his Belt This Ensign of Honor came in time to be richly adorned both with Gold and precious Stones as Favin also notes in another place of his Theatre of Honor out of St. Gregory Victor Arch-Bishop of Tours as also that it was not the common wearing Girdle inasmuch as the French in general used golden Girdles but that the Knights wore such as were garnished with great Buckles Studs and Rings of pure Gold being of great price and value to shew their dignity and power in Military Commands and with such a Belt set with Pearls and precious Stones was young Athelstan afterwards one of our Saxon Kings girded when he received Knighthood from his Grandfather Alfred It is to be fâ—rther noted that by this Badge of Knighthood were our Knights anciently known no less than by their gilt Swords Spurs and golden Collars of Sâ— howbeit it hath not for a long time been used with us at the creation of a Knight save only of the Bath but instead thereof the dubbing with a naked Sword sufficeth To this Belt was also added a Sword and such a one as in the esteem of some was different from the ordinary use and therefore is by Favin termed the Sword of a Knight In time of Christianity this Sword came to be hallowed with great Ceremony either by some great Prelate or other Ecclesiastical Person the form of the Benediction is to be found in the Titles of Honor and in Favins Theatre of Honor. This among the Ensigns of Knightly Honor hath obtained the principal place and regard for it is chiefly the Sword with which Knights are now created and hath become so far ennobled that the Red Cross assumed by the Knights of St. Iames in Spain for their Badge of Honor is drawn in the fashion of a Sword And the Collar of the Order of the Sword and Belt in Sweden is composed of Swords bloody at the point and encompassed about with Leathern Belts the manner and order whereof may be seen in the Plate prefixt to the third Chapter ensuing Another eminent Badge of Knighthood which succeeded in the place of the Gold Ring is the Golden Spurs wherewith at the time of their Creation Knights were wont to be adorn'd and these a little after the Conquest were added to the other Ensigns for more and greater Ornament and are usually carried by a Nobleman at the Coronation of our Kings to signifie their Knighthood Those Spurs appointed to be made against Christmas Anno Domini 1252. and sent to York to be used there at the Knighthood of Alexander the Third King of Scots were of Silver gilt over and the Straps curiously wrought of Silk instead of Leather They were usually put on after the person had been conducted and presented to the King or Prince who gave the Honor beginning with the right Heel and given to signifie that the new made Knight should not only declare his valour by his Sword but also by the management of his Horse which he should encourage and excite with his Spurs to the carrying on of his valiant designs Of so great an esteem hath the Knightly Spurs been that from thence Knights Batchellors are generally called in Latin Equites Aurâ—ti among the Germans Ritterdess Gulden Sporns and with us heretofore Knights of the Spur. Nay one of the Military Orders was instituted under this Title and the Collar of the Order of the Elephant in Denmark is according to Franciscus Mennenius composed of Elephants and Spurs It was conceived so proper and sutable a Badge of Knighthood that it has been thought fit to be given for Coat Armour to some Families here in England who bear the Sur-name of Knight as namely to Knight of Shrewsbury I. Knight of Charwelton in the County of Northampton II. and Knight of St. Dennis in Hampshire III We further have it certified by the Kings and Heralds of Arms Anno 10. Iac. Regis among other rights belonging to the Degree of a Knight Baneret that he upon the account of his Knighthood might wear gilt Spurs as well as a gilt sword and that they have been accounted an Essential Badge of Knighthood may be collected from the Ceremony of the degradation of a Knight where his gilt Spurs are first cut off with a Hatchet In the last place although the use of wearing Collars of Gold hath been most ancient and one of the usual causes for which they were bestowed was to honor Military Virtue and though among the Romans the Collar gave a Sur-name to one of their chiefest Families and consequently became of much esteem among them yet do we no where find it reckoned among the Ensigns of their Equestrian Order But among some other Nations it was accounted a Badge and Mark of Knighthood Iohn Schefser from a passage out of Pancirollus which tells us that Golden Collars were reckon'd among the Ornaments worn by the Roman Presidents of Provinces would likewise have it an Ensign of Knightly Dignity among the Germans affirming withall that the more ancient Statues and Images of their Knights were adorned with Collars He also notes as a thing observable that this custom of bestowing Collars upon Martialists was very much practised by the Germans especially as to their Knights and that in ancient times such as were in repute for their gallantry and valour were adorned therewith It may be safely presumed that Collars were Badges of Knighthood among the ancient Gauls since they were bestowed
such to those who were Vassals to another the bestowing thereof was accounted illegal and they that took upon them to give it were liable to censure because by this action they took anothers Villain or Bondman from him which was a manifest wrong and ought not to be done As in the case of the two Sons of Philip de Bourbon one whereof was Knighted by the Earl of Flanders the other by the Earl of Nevers Whereupon by an Order dated on All-Saints day Anno Domini 1279. and another at Whitsontide following both the said Earls were fined and the two Brethren condemned to pay one thousand pounds apiece though by the Kings grace and favour they kept their Knighthoods And to shew that this Law was elsewhere observed more strictly and the breach thereof liable to more severe sentences those among the Aragonians that descended from Knights in a direct line by the Fathers side which were called Infançones and accounted Gentlemen whether legitimate or illegitimate were capable of being Knights and no other So that if one not an Infançon were promoted to Knighthood by a Rico Hombre which seems to be a higher Degree of Nobility both the Rico Hombre was to lose the Honor he had and the person whom he pretended to promote remained still a Villain or Plebeian But it was otherwise where a Nobleman Knighted his own Vassal as in the case reported by Philip de Beau-manoir in his Customary of the Year 1283. where the Son of a Gentleman and a Woman-Servant was Knighted by him whose Servant the Woman was and his condition being afterwards discovered the Nobleman would have challenged him for his Slave but in regard his Knightly Dignity had vindicated him from servitude and vassallage though his Lord was deceived in conferring the Honor he was adjudged to remain free and a Knight which he could not have done if any other but his Lord had Knighted him for which this reason is there given because no other person had sufficient power to infranchise him The third and last of those Qualifications which we have thought fit to take notice of here is that of Estate or Wealth which serves to support the Dignity of Knighthood for we find that in all Times and Countries when men were grown wealthy they thereby as by Merit or Birth became capable of Honors Thus Wealth was so much regarded among the Chalcedonians as Herodotus tells us that those who were rich bore the name of Knights It was Estate that intitled a man to this Honor among the Romans for the Censor as hath been before observed out of Livy might compel any Citizen who had an Estate equal to the Equestrian Cense to enter into the Equestrian Order and this old Roman Cense consisted of 400000 Sesterces which according to our learned Seldens computation amounts to 3025. l. of our Money And as anciently in old Rome so not long after the Conquest here in England as Cambden observes were Knights dignified for their wealth and state of living For they who had a Knights Fee to wit saith he six hundred and fourscore Acres of Land might claim as their right the Ornaments and Badges of Knighthood But by the way it appears from Mr. Selden that not any certain number or extent of Acres made a Knights Fee and by several Writs directed to the Shâ—riffs of all Counties in England to make Proclamation for receiving the Honor of Knighthood in the Reigns of Hen. 3. Ed. 1. as also by the Act de Militibus anno 1. Ed. 2. it appears that the Census Militis or valuation of the Estate of a Knight was measured by Twenty Pounds Land by the year and sometimes more and this was counted the most reasonable way of Estimation because one Acre might be more or less in value thâ—n another And the Parallel yet held as to the matter of enforcement and compulsion to take this Honor for by an ancient Prerogative several of our Kings have at their pleasures compell'd such persons who held a whole Knights Fee or so much Land whose annual value as aforesaid answered thereto to take this Dignity upon them and to that purpose sent forth their Mandates in Writs directed to the Sheriffs of each County to make Proclamation That all those within their several Bailiwicks who were of full age and had one whole Knights Fee and were not Knighted should appear before the King on a certain day in the Writ set down ready fitted and prepared to receive the Honor of Knighthood Sometimes these Writs included both such as were possest of Lands worth Twenty pounds per annum and such as held a whole Knights Fee valued at that annual sum but the yearly value set by the King was not always certain for sometimes we find it to be fifteen pounds then twenty pounds at other times thirty pounds then forty pounds and sometimes fifty pounds Anno 40. Hen. 3. The Sheriffs in England were amerced because they had not distrained all those who had such Estates in Land as the Law limited to take the Order of Knighthood or otherwise to pay their Fines and we observe the Command in the Kings Writ to be now and then accompanied with much severity in case the Sheriff should be negligent in the discharge of his duty or connive with any for lucre of a Bribe as appears in that directed to the Sheriff of Northamptonshire the words whereof are Rex Vicecom Northt salutem Praecipimus tibi quod sicut teipsum omnia tua diligis omnes illos in Rallivatua qui habeant viginti libratas terrae distringas quod se Milites faciendos citra Nativitatem Sancti Iohannis Baptistae proximè futur Sciturus pro certo quod si pro munere vel aliqua occasione aliquam relaxationem eis feceris vel aliquem respectum dederis Nos ita graviter ad te capiemus quod omnibus diebus vitae tuae te senties esse gravatum T. R. apud Wyndesor decimo quarto die Aprilis Where upon appearance after such Proclamation a reasonable or lawful excuse hath been alledged as old age irrecoverable weakness loss of Limbs being in holy Orders or the like whereby the Body was wholly disabled to perform personal service there the allegations have been admitted by the King the persons acquitted and by Letters Patents exempted from taking this Military Order during life But there were many other causes and reasons which usually obtained a suspension for some certain time besides those set down in the Act of Parliament Anno 1. E. 2. as where a man was at present greatly indebted or bound to attend some necessary employment as a Serjeant at Law in the Common Pleas Court for which nevertheless the party suing for such favour paid a Fine and therefore in some Writs we have seen a clause added to give
who confers this Honor before we leave this Section It hath been thought by divers that no man can make a Knight unless himself be first Knighted and because that some have not given this Honor before they received it they thence would imply that no man ought for so Prince Edward of Carnarvan having been first Knighted by his Father King Edward the First forthwith Knighted a great number more in Westminster Abbey So Anno 20. E. 3. the King being landed at Hoggs in Normandy Knighted Edward his eldest Son and immediately the said Prince made Mortimer Monteacute Ros and others Knights And King Edward the Sixth being Knighted by the â—arl of Hertford in the Tower of London assoon as the Ceremony was over Knighted Henry Hoblethorn Lord Mayor of London with the same Sword wherewith himself received this Military Honor. But it is apparent enough that they who never were and others who never could be Knights have conferr'd this Dignity and we are to understand that necessity and custom hath in this case the force of a Law for anciently Bishops and Priests made Knights so also do the Popes and some Common-wealths nay Women in whom the supream Power is vested may and have done the like witness our Queens Mary and Elizabeth and we find it to be the ancient Law in Spain That the King or his Son and Heir though they be no Knights may nevertheless make Knights by reason that they possess the Kingdom and are therefore the Head and Chief of Chivalry and consequently all the power thereof is closed up and contained in the Kings command To conclude in all the instances and examples where the creation of a Knight hath been performed either with Ceremony or by Diploma of which we shall speak in the next Section it may be observed that the Dignity was always given by and received from the hands of another Person except only the Kings of Spain who time out of mind have made themselves Knights and this by virtue of an old Law written in the Aragonian Tongue as Ambrosius Morales reports which saith thus The whole night preceding the Ceremony viz. of Knighting the King shall watch in the Church in the morning he shall hear Mass and offer both Purple and some of his Money and after he shall receive the Sacrament And when they are going to raise him he shall ascend upon his Shield the Noblemen holding and supporting him Then shall all cry with a loud voice three times Real Real Real This done he shall command to scatter more of his Money to the quantity of one hundred shillings among the People and to shew that no man upon earth hath any power over him he shall gird himself with the Sword made after the form of a Cross and that day can no other man be Knighted One Example of this ancient Rite is remembred by the said Chiffletius at the Coronation of King Ferdinando the Third who took from the high Altar the regal Sword and with his own hand girt himself therewith to the end being so girded he might shew himself openly to the People and declare that he received the power of Governing and making War from none but God alone and that he owed not his Kingdoms to the gift of any mortal man And it seems this manner of Knighting was a thing of such remarque that it was sometime taken notice of and entred for a memorable note of time as for instance in the Teste of a Charter which this Don Ferdinando made to the Monastery of De solos alvos in the third year of his Reign and is reported by the said Chiffletius out of Colmenars History of Segovia c. 20. as also by another Charter wherein the Knighting Prince Edward eldest Son to our King Henry the Third by Alphonso King of Castile at Bruges anno Domini 1255. is remembred after the same manner SECT IX The various Ceremonies used at the conferring of Knighthood BEsides the donation of the before-mentioned honorary Ensigns there were several Ceremonies and Formalities begun to be used in the middle Ages at the investiture of Knights some of which we shall here set down by way of Instance The most ancient of these is the investing of the Knight with a Belt and Sword and this was performed either by putting the Belt loose over the shoulder or girding it close about the waste the Bend in Armory represents the one and the Fess the other Of this kind of Honor we have spoken before The first Christian Kings and Princes saith Favin at the giving of the Cingulum militare kissed the new Knight on the left cheek and used these words In the honor of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost I make you a Knight And this was called Osculum pacis the kiss of Favour or Brotherhood Some think this to be the same with the Accollade or Ceremony of imbracing which was performed by Charles the Great who before his expedition against the Hungarians Knighted his Son Lewis the debonair at the City of Ratisbone for upon the girding him with the Military Belt and Sword he gave him the Accollade that is he imbraced him though it be rendred for kissing by the Translator of Favin and this was the first time we observe the Ceremony of the Accollade to have been used It was in the time of the same Emperor that the way of Knighting by the Colaphum or giving a blow on the Ear was used in sign of sustaining future hardships and indurances which is thought to have been derived from the manner of manumission of a Slave among the Romans where first the Praetor gently struck him on the head with the Vindicta a Rod so called after which the Lictor did the like and moreover struck him on the Face and Back with his hand in token of full liberty and freedom This Custom was retained long after both in Germany and France much like the Pescosada or blow on the neck given in Spain at the Creation of the Cavalleros de Espuela d' orada or Knights of the Golden Spur as appears from a clause in the Instrument of the Frizons Infranchisment to this effect That the â—otestate or Governor of the Country should gird the Sword about him who was to be Knighted and then give him a Box on the Ear with his hand with which Ceremony he was made a Knight he also gave him special charge and command that thenceforth he should go armed after the manner of Knights of the sacred Empire or of the Kingdom of France It is also said this Emperor ordain'd that no King should succeed to the Empire if he were not Knighted as aforesaid before his Coronation And there is an eminent example of this formality in William Earl of Holland who when he came to be chosen King of the Romans Anno Domini 1247. preparation was
Favin and Petrus Blessensis there is particular mention made of consecrating the Sword offering it at the Altar and receiving it again from thence which manner of reception from the Altar was an implicite kind of taking an Oath as may be deduced from the said Petrus Blessensis who saith That Candidates in his time received their Swords from the Altar that they might profess themselves the Sons of the Church and that they received the Sword to the honor of the Priesthood defence of the poor punishment of Malefactors and deliverance of their Country Lastly at the institution of those Christian Orders of Knighthood erected for the defence of the Holy-Land which we shall in the next Chapter discourse of the Knights entred into a solemn Vow and Oath chiefly to propagate and sight in defence of the Christian Faith and to repel the violence and cruelties of Pagans and Saracens In fine among the various Ceremonies performed at the admission of Knights in all the several Orders and Societies of Knighthood whether Religious or Secular which have been erected there are none esteemed greater or ought more solemnly to be observed than the taking of an Oath It was in the times of Peace and great leisure that the before-mentioned solemn and tedious Ceremonies used at the making of Knights were observed whether by great Princes in their own Courts or by Ecclesiasticks in the Church but much otherwise in times of War or on a day of Battel where the hurry and throng of Affairs gave not time for so long and troublesome Ceremonies And therefore aswell before the joining of Battel as after Victory obtain'd the one to encourage and stir up the Valor and Virtue of gallant men to overcome or if they dyed in fight to give their bodies the Honor of Knightly Enterment the other to reward the eminent prowess and valiant performances of those that hapned to survive it was usual for the Prince or General in the Field and sight of the whole Army to give those whom he thought fit to advance to the Honor of Knighthood they humbly kneeling before him a stroke with a naked Sword flat-wise upon their shoulders or else to touch their heads or shoulders lightly as aforesaid without any other Ceremony except pronouncing the words of Creation which latter kind of Ceremony is used in Europe at this day it supplying all the rest and this we commonly call Dubbing the old English word used for creating of a Knight As touching those Ceremonies used at the making of a Knight in Scotland which are chiefly dubbing with a Sword and putting on â—â—urs together with the particulars which the Knights Oath contains see our learned Seldens Titles of Honor they being for substance much the same with what the Knights of former Ages either swore or profest The Benediction of a new Knight at the time of his Creation by the Pope or those whose power in this particular is derivative from him as it is set down in the Pontificale Romanum may be found there or in the said Titles of Honor whither it is transcribed But there is another manner of creating of Knights abroad namely by Royal Codicils or Letters Patents these the Spaniards call Privilegios de Cavelleria and thereupon such Knights are intituled Equites Codicillares and this without any actual Ceremony or Solemnity for the Codicils were chiefly design'd to supply the ordinary way of Dubbing to those who dwelt in remote Countries yet under the Dominion of the Prince that bestowed the Honor. In these Instruments the Emperor or King is said thereby to make and create them Knights willing and intending that thence-forward they should be held and reputed for such and moreover grants that they shall in all their acts and affairs enjoy all the Rights Liberties and Franchises accustomably due to all other Knights throughout all his Dominions aswell also in the same form and manner as if the person had been actually Knighted by his own hand Of this manner of Creation two Presidents are exhibited by the Author of the Iurisprudentia Heroica the one granted by Philip the Fourth King of Spain to Sir Philip Ryckewaert Councellor of his Council of Brabant dated at Madrid the twenty seventh of October 1663. and the other by the present King namely Charles the First and Mary Anne Queen Regent to Leon Iean de Pape Councellor also and Advocate of the Exchequer of his said Council of Brabant dated likewise at Madrid the sixteenth day of December Anno Domini 1665. These Royal Codicils have sometimes though very rarely extended so far as to make this Knightly Degree hereditary which being unknown among us in the Dignity of Knighthood though that of Baronet comes something neer it a few Examples may be worth mentioning We have met with two of these Diplomas in the time of Charles the Fifth Emperor of Germany whereby this Dignity or the Degree of Knight of the Roman Empire as therein it is called is granted by him 20. Nov. 1553. to Sir Stephen Prats of Barcelon and made to reach to his posterity which then or afterwards should be born As also another of the same Emperors made to Lucas de Broyart the twenty fourth day of September 1540. that extends much farther to wit not only to himself and Children born or to be born their Successors and Heirs and the Successors and Heirs of their Children born in lawful Matrimony and carrying the Surname of Broyart but also to all those who should marry any of the Daughters of the said Luke or the Daughters of his Sons their Successors or Heirs There are besides Examples of Grants in this nature which take in the Collateral Lines as in that ancient Diploma which Sir Edward Bysshe Knight Clarenceux King of Arms hath transferr'd to his Notes upon Vpton where it appears that Raymond Viscount of Turine anno 1219. granted to Rodolph de Bessa that he and his Nephews Sons to his Brother Ademar and their Successors should be Knights and enjoy all the Priviledges and Honors of Knights This is the ancientest that I have met with of this sort to which there is another in that place adjoined whereby Maximilian the Emperor granted the Dignity of Knighthood to Thomas Salernitana President of the Council of Naples and to his seven Brothers therein named and their Sons born or to be born and their Male descendants in infinitum But there is one Example of greater rarity in relation to the creating of Knights than any yet remembred viz. by the bare signification of a Kingly Letter without using either any of the afore-mentioned Ceremonies or granting Letters Patents under Seal to that purpose Of which kind the Author of the Iurisprudentia Heroica gives an instance worthy taking notice of where Philip the Fourth King of Spain the fifteenth of Ianuary 1633. conferr'd upon all the Captains that had behaved themselves valiantly in the
to Marriage whilst in other things they made no alteration but lest them whole and entire And therefore since we observe those Knights who vow absolute Chastity and those who profess Conjugal have alike received their approbation from the Papal See and that some Knights have not been accounted Religious before such time and until their rule of living hath been confirm'd to them from thence as is noted by those of St. Lazarus after which Confirmation all that enter into any Order are subject to the particular Rule so approved of unless for good cause they be dispensed with For these reasons we shall place both under the Title of Religious or Ecclesiastical Knights in the following Discourse SECT IV. Of Ecclesiastical Foundations dependant upon Military Orders BUT the Institutions of those Orders purely Military were after a while thought too weak to continue long if not sustained by Religion and Piety and too defective without adjoining Ecclesiastical persons thereunto Therefore the Founders considering that in all Councils and Affairs there should be a concurrence of Divine assistance and Military industry began to dedicate them principally to the Honor and Worship of God or to our Saviour or to the blessed Virgin or some other of the Saints thereby to gain no less the protection and favour of the Divine goodness on the behalf of the Founders and Knights Companions of such Orders in general than its especial assistance in their Councils Affairs or particular Enterprises And this they supposed more easily obtainable by the interposition of men eminent for their sincerity piety humility and devotion set apart and appointed to say Prayers sing Psalms and perform other Ecclesiastical Duties the efficacy of Religion consisting in the Offices of the Priests for the glory fidelity peace and safety of their Kingdoms and Subjects and the good success of their Military Undertakings Hereupon some of them at their first Institutions joined sacred Orders to their Militia and made provision for Ecclesiastical persons whose assigned Duty was to undertake the spiritual warfare and spend their time in Divine Offices and Devotions at home in their several Foundations for the prosperity of those undertakings wherein the Knights Companions themselves were engaged abroad either as to the defence of Christian Religion their Prince or Country THE Severall ENSIGNES of the RELIGIOVS ORDERS of KNIGHTHOOD mentioned in the second Chapter SECT V. A brief account of the Religious Orders of Knighthood NOw come we to deliver a short account of the Religious or Sacred Orders of Knighthood to which shall succeed those that are purely and compleatly Military in both which we shall principally take notice 1. Of the Time of their Institution 2. By whom founded and 3. The Habit and Ensigns bestowed upon each of them proceeding according to the antiquity of each Order's Foundation as we can best discover it and allowing their Precedency here for that cause rather than any other But forasmuch as the Institutions of some of these Orders of Knighthood are endeavoured to be made more ancient than there is good ground to believe we have therefore thought it needless having for the most part confin'd our Discourse to the three particulars now mentioned to engage our Pen too far where 't is almost impossible to set the Chronological part right and may very possibly give an occasion of Offence We have taken in all the Orders that we could meet with though some were obscure and but short-liv'd and others for other reasons may be thought inconsiderable judging them worthy of a place here with the most famous and known seeing once they had such in the Register of Honor. Lastly where the occasion is inserted whence as is affirmed some of them took their Original and this lookt upon as fabulous and romantick We must inform our Reader that we take not upon us to justifie all that is spoken to this point but suppose we have dealt fairly and candidly with him in placing our Authorities in the Margent and there lest them to be considered of where we hope they will be of strength at least sufficient to support the Text and justifie our integrity The Order of the Knights of the Holy Sâ—pulchre in Ierusalem 1. This Order of Knighthood though not so ancient as some would make it who refer the Original to St. Iames Bishop of Ierusalem to Constantine the Great and to Charles the Great nor so late as others would have it who say this Order was founded in the year of our Lord 1110. yet is it accounted the most ancient of all those Orders which took beginning in the Holy Land and as a judicious Divine of our Nation reports was instituted in the year 1099. at such time as the Temple of Ierusalem was regained from the Saracens which account perhaps he grounded upon the date given to the ancient Statutes of this Order established at Ierusalem on New-years-day in the year aforesaid and published by Mennenius As to the person by whom this Order was founded he refers it to Philip King of France but Andrew Favin will have it to be Baldwin the First King of Ierusalem For there having been while the Saracens possest that City certain Canons regular of the Order of St. Augustine to whom they permitted the Custody of the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord and whose Convent adjoined thereunto These Canons saith he did King Baldwin make men of Arms and Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and ordained that they should nevertheless retain their White Habit and on the breast thereof bear his own Arms which were Argent a Cross Potent Or between four Crossetts of the same commonly called the Ierusalem Cross. Their Great Master was the Patriarch of Ierusalem who had power granted from the Founder to confer the Order and to receive the three Vows of Poverty Chastity and Obedience The chief Duty whereunto these Knights were obliged by their profession was to guard the Holy Sepulchre the custody whereof was peculiarly committed to them to â—ight against the Saracens and Infidels with all their power to relieve and protect Pilgrims to redeem Christian Captives to hear Mass every day to recite the hours of the Cross and to bear the five red Crosses in memory of the five wounds of our Saviour They had their Rule confirm'd to them by Pope Innocent the Third When the Christians were driven out of the Holy Land these Knights retired into Europe and seated themselves at Perugia in Italy after which by consent and permission of the Soldan the custody of the Holy Sepulchre was committed to the Franciscan Fryars The Knights then in being retained yet their white Habit but changed their ancient Arms to a double red Cross. By the Bull of Pope Innocent the Eighth dated the 28. of March 1484. they and all their Goods were annexed and incorporated to the Knights Hospitalars of St. Iohn of
Ierusalem then remaining in the Isle of Rhodes since more commonly known by the Title of Knights of Malta as being under the same Vow and Rule But it was not long e're his Successor Pope Alexander the Sixth anno 1496. transferr'd to the Papal See all power of conferring this Order of Knighthood publishing himself and his Successors to be the Great Masters thereof He further empowred the Guardian of the Holy Sepulchre his Vicar-general to bestow the same upon Pilgrims and Travellers to the Holy Land the Formulary for receiving of which is set down at large by Mennenius and Favin Afterwards Philip the Second King of Spain used his endeavours to restore this Order in some of his Dominions to which end several of these Knights assembled in the Church of St. Catharine at Hochstraten in Brabant in Cameracensi Diocesi and by their Diploma dated the 26. of March 1558. exhibited by Mennenius elected the said King Grand Master of the Order but this design took no effect Of latter times there was another attempt to the like purpose made by Charles Gonzâ—go of Cleve Duke of Nevers in the year 1615. and this also upon the application of the Great Master of Malta to Lewis the Thirteenth of France came to nothing The Order of Hospitalars of St. Iohn Baptist in Ierusalem 2. Before the Latin Christians had taken the City of Ierusalem from the Saracens certain Christian Merchants of the Kingdom of Naples who traded into Syria and the Holy Land with Commodities most acceptable because most rare and strange to the Inhabitants of those Countries obtained leave from the Caliph of Aegypt who then had the Dominion thereof to erect a small and convenient House for the entertainment of themselves and their Country-men which they built before the Patriarchal Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Ierusalem together with as small an Oratory dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary To them repaired certain Canons of the Order of St. Augustine conducted by an Abbot from Naples who in a short time built another Oratory in honor of St. Mary Magdalen that of the Virgin Mary being appointed for the entertainment of Men and that other of St. Mary Magdalen for the reception of Women And not long after to wit in the year of our Lord 1048. they restored the Church of the Holy Sepulchre But the confluence of Pilgrims and Travellers growing very great and these places already built too narrow for their reception they erected a large Hospital in that very place where our Saviour celebrated the last Supper with his Disciples for the better entertainment of Strangers that travelled thither upon the account of Devotion who for want of a place to lodge in did usually in the night time fall into the hands of the Saracens that rob'd and murder'd them as also to relieve and cure the diseased among them So that at length in regard of their great Charity and friendly Hospitality as also for that these religious persons took St. Iohn Baptist for their Patron to the honor of whose Name a Chappel or Oratory was built there also they obtained the Title of Brethren Hospitalars of St. Iohn Baptist of Ierusalem But some are of opinion that this Hospital was dedicated to the memory of St. Iohn of Cyprus who in the Reign of Phocas the Emperor was Bishop of Alexandria and so charitable and liberal in bestowing Alms that he obtained the name of Iohannes Eleemosynarius Calvisius in his Chronology sets down the Institution of this Order to be in the year 1092. Others refer it to the year 1099. when one Gerard a Native of the Province of Tholouse and a man of holy life and piety came to Ierusalem in the time of Godfrey of Bouillon and out of zeal upon sight of the places trodden by the feet of our Saviour and sprinkled with his blood built this Hospital which became the first and chief Seat of this ancient Order and devoutly ministred to the necessities of the poor After a while he adjoined to himself some honest and religious men and received the regular Habit of Black wearing on the outside thereof a White Cross. King Baldwin the First conferr'd on them large Priviledges and Franchises permitting them to manage Arms as did the Canons Regulars Guardians of the Holy Sepulchre and anno 1104. instituted them to be Knights So that they who before were pious and liberal towards Pilgrims and diseased persons became at length the examples of true and Christian generosity Their duty now engaging them personally to fight against the Saraâ—ens and Insidels in defence of the Christian Faith These Knights then acknowledged obedience to the Patriarch of Ierusalem who first approved their Order but afterwards when their Revenues increased it begat a neglect of their former religious and humble carriage and forthwith they laboured with the Pope to be absolved from their obedience to the Patriarch which they obtain'd though he and several other Bishops of Palestine travelled to Rome to oppose them and manifest the injuries they sustained from the Knights This Order had its second approbation and rule of living confirmed from Pope Gelasius the Second but Andr. Mendo saith from Calixtus the Second anno 1120. and was by Adrian the Fourth received under the protection of the Papal See being likewise endowed with ample Priviledges and exemption from payment of Tythes by succeeding Popes chiefly by Pius the Fourth The Knights of this Order then took the black Habit of Hermits of St. Augustine and lived under his rule by the grant of Honorius the Second anno 1125. vowing Obedience Poverty and Chastity and on the Breast of this Habit wore at first a plain Cross of white Cloth since changed to one with eight points but in the time of War they used a Red Cassock bearing the White Cross upon it After the death of Gerard the Founder of this Hospital having increased in Men and Revenues elected out of their own Body another Governor or Head namely Raimund de Podio or Poggio a Florentine who digested and enlarged their Laws and Institutions and divided the Body of the Order into three Classes viz. Knights Servants and Ecclesiasticks which hath since received from the succeeeding Great Masters many additions This Body of Laws was confirmed by Pope Boniface the Ninth 7. Idus Apr. in the sixth year of his Popedom the Composers style in it runs thus Ego Ramundus Dei gratia servus pauperum Iesu Christi Custos Hospitalis Ierusolymitani But afterwards he had the Title of Great Master of the Order given him which continued to his Successors the Adjective Great being added to denote his power and authority the Government and Administration of the whole Militia being lodged in him for the time being This great Master is a free
Clement the Eighth in the fifth year of the Reign of this King Iames as is manifest from several authentick testimonies collected and alledged by Alphonsus Remon in his History of this Order The end of its Institution and the Profession and Obligation of the Knights was in effect the same with that vowed by King Iames in his Captivity to wit to gather Alms and to go in person to redeem Christian Slaves who either by Piracy the chance of War or other sad accident had fallen into the hands of the Moors This work prospered so well that Pedro Nolasco being first sent into the Kingdom of Valentia to make redemption of Captives redeemed four hundred within the space of six years after the Foundation of the Order This Pedro Nolasco was by the Founder constituted the first General or Head of the Order but as concerning the person that gave the Habit to him there are these three opinions First That it was by the hands of King Iames the Founder Secondly That Rerengario Pallovasino Bishop of Barcelona gave it Thirdly That he received it from Raymond de Penafort all which our Author sets down but there determines nothing only seems inclinable to the first opinion as most rational because the King was Founder and was so called by the blessed Virgin in the Vision and for that the Order it self was at first composed meerly of Laymen and wholly military and so declared by the Popes Boniface the Eighth and Clement the Fifth Besides their Laws are in favour of those that are of this opinion and exclude out of this Act judicially Kingly all Ecclesiastical ones and by the same reason the Bishop for saith the Canon of their Law A Priest ought not to make Knights But afterwards in another place he absolutely concludes that the King himself gave the Habit to Nolasco from the evidence he exhibits out of a Letter which King Don Pedro the Fourth sent to Pope Innocent the Sixth Such a like Habit as was given to Nolasco was also prescribed to the first Knights viz. a Coat and Scapular of a common sort of coarse White Cloth Their Coat was garnished with Cordons and Ribbons wherewith they fastned it about their necks and from the upper end thereof issued a Cap that covered half their head The Monks wore their Coats and Scapulars reaching down to their feet but those of the Knights were much shorter and the form of their Coat or rather Mantle and Cap was the same as they now wear When the Government of the Order became both spiritual and temporal as well the Knights as Monks were commanded by order of Chapter to keep the manner and form of their Habit apart according to the intention of the first appointment In the time and upon request of Gulielmo de Bas the second General of this Order King Iames the Founder by his Diploma dated at Saragosa the 15. of Iuly anno 1251. granted unto him and all the Fraternity of the Order That they should wear upon their Scapulars an Escotcheon of Aragon viz. Or four Pales Gules and above that the White Cross of the Church of Barcelona in a Red Field which two Coats being joined together per Fess in one shield were so born for sometime but afterwards came to be encompassed with a Border The Knights wore their Escotcheon of Arms sixt on their Scapulars but the Monks on their Mantles and both before upon their Breasts The Founder by his Diploma dated at Valentia the 14. of March anno Dom. 1254. granted particular Priviledges to the Order which he confirmed by another royal Instrument dated at Lirida the third of March anno 1275. Besides these Royal Grants this Order received approbation from the Papal See namely from Pope Gregory the Ninth in the eighth year of his Papacy on the day of St. Anthony the Abbot who prescribed to the Master and Fraternity the Rule of St. Augustine It was afterwards confirmed by Alexander the Fourth as appears by a Bull of his wherein he granted them several Indulgences and dated at Naples the 10. of April in the first year of his Papacy These Knights professed conjugal Chastity and Obedience to their Superiors In time this Order also which was at first solely under the Government of Knights came to be as well Spiritual as Temporal and at length fell into the power of the Monks and Priests For the Knights and Priests falling at variance about the election of a General of their Order upon the death of Arnoldo Rosiniol their seventh General who died anno 1317. the Knights having chosen Berengario Hostales and the Priests Raimundo Alberto they appealed to the Pope Iohn the 22. then holding the Chair who it seems the 17. of November in the year aforesaid declared That the Order seeming inclinable to be governed after the manner of Monks he thought it convenient for them to have a Master General which should be a Priest and that for the future no Lay-man should be elected General and so determined the controversie on the behalf of the Priests This Judgment gave the Knights so great discontent that one of them being Kinsman to the Governor of the new erected Order of Montesa offered to bring over to that Society all the Knights of Merced being then threescore in number which being accepted of he did so and from henceforth they became incorporated with the Knights of Montesa So that ever since the whole Fraternity have been only Priests and no Lay or Military person among them and therefore Andr. Mendo reckons this Order among those that are extinct The Master General is also a Priest and hath his residence at Barcelona by the Decrees of Popes Clement the Fifth and Iohn the 22. Raymond de Penasort the Founder's Confessor called also Raymond of Barcelona because it was the place of his Birth who had a powerful hand in the Institution of this Order and devised the Statutes lived neer to the age of an hundred years he was canonized for a Saint and the 7. of Ianuary appointed for his Anniversary by the Bull of Pope Clement the Eighth On the 12. of Iuly anno 1664. the approbation of the Colledge passed for making the 29. of Ianuary the Anniversary of Petro Nolasco Confessor the other great assister and first General of the Order The Office appointed for that day may be seen in the Missale Romamum printed lately at Paris in the large Volume This way of Canonizing holy men by the Popes is said to have been first used by Leo the Third anno Dom. 803. who then solemnly Canonized Suibert Bishop of Werden To conclude the charitable and pious work for which this Order was erected hath been carried on from the time of its Institution and managed by the Fraternity thereof with all religious care and faithfulness very great sums of Money being
which came across the body over the right shoulder and so under the left arm And was the Ensign from whence the Knights took their denomination This Order was instituted chiefly to honor the Nobility and therefore at first none were admitted but the younger Sons of Noblemen excluding elder Brothers or persons descended of the most noble Families in Spain or else Esquires who had served in the Court or Camp ten years at the least and to the end that greater honor might the more inflame them to valiant Exploits Kings themselves sometimes vouchsafed to take the Ensign of this Order upon them It was anciently of very great esteem but such is the vicissitude of humane Affairs at length it grew out of use The Laws and Constitutions are recorded by Anth. de Guevera who also gives a Catalogue of the first Knights Ios. Micheli Sansovin Favin and Segar to whom we refer those that are desirous to be informed of them The Order de la Calza in Venice 18 From the example of the Knights de la Banda in Castile and about the year 1400. was instituted a Society at Venice bearing the Title de la Calza in honor of the Inauguration of Duke Michele Steno Meeting with but a slender account hereof among those Authors who have handled Military Orders and some confounding it with that of St. Mark I was at length by the friendship of the deservedly honored Sir Charles Cotterel Knight Master of the Ceremonies to his Majesty furnished with better satisfaction which he obtained for me from Signóre Pietro Moccinigo the late Venetian Ambassador at his Residence here in England and from Signóre Aberti the present Resident for that State This Order consisted of a Society of particular Noblemen and Gentlemen who at their voluntary choice met together and entred into a Fellowship among whom some person of Eminence was elected their Chief Nevertheless upon the recommendation of their intention and design to the Council of Ten who confirmed their Institution and granted them Priviledges It hath appeared with so much the more reputation to the world by having had the honor to receive into it several Princes of Italy especially the Family of Este Dukes of Ferara of Gonzaga then Marquesses now Dukes of Mantua of the Rovere Vrbino Mirandula and others of the most conspicuous Families of that Country namely Colonna Vrsini Sanseverini Visconti and others They were distinguished by wearing a Stocking quartered into different colours embroidered with gold and enriched with Jewels which they at pleasure altered from the right to the left Leg and in particular it is remembred that an 1529. the right Stocking then worn was half the inside of Scarlet and half the outside of Purple and the other half gray but the left Stocking was all green and as were the Husbands Stockings such were the Wives Sleeves in all particulars On their solemn days they first went to Church and at Mass took an Oath to observe the Articles of their Order Among other things which this Society for the honor of the City was obliged to splendid and noble Entertainments were part at which were exhibited Musick Dancings and Theatral Representations And with such magnificent and sumptuous Divertisements have they given reception to divers foreign Princes in particular to Henry the Third of France when he past by Venice in his way from Poland to France They wore for their Habit a Crimson Senators Vest appearing therein very splendid and reserved for solemn days at which times the Foreign Princes that had been admitted into this Order appeared clad after the same manner These Knights had for their Ensign a Sun on a Shield painted in their Banners which they used also for a Seal perhaps as a happy Omen and Presage that the Order being laid aside about the year 1590. for the excess it was growing into should like the Sun from under a Cloud rise again in after times when better opportunity offered it self in greater splendor than ever The Order of St. Mark in Venice 19. In this Seigniory there is another Degree or Dignity of Knighthood commonly called the Order of St. Mark and because it is generally reckoned among the Orders of Knighthood and differs from the Milites Simplices by wearing a peculiar Title and being invested with a particular Ensign of Honor at their Creation we have thought good rather to discourse of it here though the Ceremony of Creation is performed after the manner of Knights Batchellors viz. by Dubbing with a Sword and their Title a bare mark of Honor only being by our Learned Selden affirmed to be the known Degree of Knighthood given by Supreme Princes or such as have a like power with them Besides we have been informed thence that those Knights are not governed by any Laws or Statutes and are without any Revenue or Indowment of Lands That they are not under any particular obligation or tye except what is common to them with other Subjects namely that of Fidelity to the Prince being in all things else left to their own liberty To this we add that the Honor is also bestowed on absent persons by Letters Patent or Codicils as is the Knightly Dignity sometimes among some of which that to the learned Sir Daniel Heinsius is given us by Mr. Selden It had its Title from St. Mark the Evangelist whose Body was translated to Venice from Alexandria in Aegypt in the year of our Lord 828. in the time of Iustinianus Patritius Duke of Venice ever since which time this Saint hath been assumed and taken for the titular Angel and Guardian of this noble City and his Picture very anciently painted upon their Banners and Ensigns but as to the Institution it is not certainly determined when or by whom it was first brought in use The Badge of Honor wherewith these Knights are adorned is a Gold Chain put over their shoulders at the instant of their Creation whereat depends a Medal on the one side is represented the Symbol of St. Mark to wit the Figure of a Lyon having wings holding in his right Paw a drawn Sword and in his left a Book spread open in which this Motto Pax tibi Marce Evangelista mens on the other the name of the Duke then living beautified with a particular Impress but in the other he is represented on his Knee receiving a Standard from the hands of St. Mark and sometimes this Medal is worn on a Cross enamel'd blue I was further informed from the hand of the noble Signóre Pietro Moccinigo that the Duke of Venice bestows this Honor either privately in his Chamber or publickly in a full Colledge Some also are made Knights by the Senate and those of the Venetian Nobility at least persons of very eminent Quality and Character who have merited well of this Common-wealth by some extraordinary piece of service either at home or abroad or upon whatever occasion
the Third who brought into use the great Mantle of Crimson Velvet his own being fur'd with Ermins but the rest of the Knights with Miniver fringed and bordered with Knots to wit of the fashion of those that adorn the Collar in fine Gold Under this Mantle is worn a Surcoat of white Damask Duke Emanuel Philibert his Son changed afterwards the colour of the Mantle to Azure and lined it with White Taffaty of which Silk he also made the Surcoats But Charles Emanuel altered the Mantle unto an Amaranthus or Purple Colour seeded with Roses and Flames in embroidery of Gold and Silver bordered throughout with the Symbols of the Order fringed with Gold and lined with Cloth of Silver tissued Blue which continues hitherto in use Under which instead of the White Taffaty Surcoat is now worn a White Satin suit embroidered with Silk the Hose gathered upwards in the fashion of Trouses Concerning the Statutes of this Order the most ancient are those of Ame the Eighth for there are none of the Founders extant made at Chastilion the 30. of May in the year of our Lord 1410. the original whereof is lodg'd in the Archives at Turin which he augmented in the year 1434. and both are printed by Sansovin Duke Charles the Third made new Statutes at Chambery the 11. of Sept. anno 1518. these were enlarged by Duke Emanuel Philibert anno 1568. and published in the year 1577. The Order of the Thistle of Bourbon in France 24. At the solemnity of the marriage of Lewis the Second Duke of Bourbon with Anne Daughter to the Count Daulphine of Auvergne celebrated in the Town of Arde on New-years day 1370. this Duke instituted the Order of Knights of our Lady otherwise called the Thistle and the first solemnities thereof were performed at Nostre Dame de Maulins in Bourbonnois where he founded a Colledge of twelve Canons in honor of the blessed Virgin The ground of the Institution was to strengthen this Dukes power and interest for the aid of Charles Duke of Orleans and of his two Brothers Philip and Iohn against the Faction of the House of Burgundy And by joining of Flowers de Lis and Thistles the Symbols of hope and courage emblematically to express the nobleness of his Spirit against all power of Fortune He ordained a set number of Knights of this Society to wit 26 therein comprehending himself and Successors Dukes of Bourbon as Chiefs and obliged these to wear daily a Belt or Girdle made of watchet colour Velvet lined with Crimson Sattin embroidered with Gold in the midst of which embroidery was curiously wrought the word ESPERANCE This Girdle was fastned with a Buckle and a Tongue of Gold bearded and checquered with green enamel in form like to the head of a Thistle On the Anniversary of the Festival namely the day of the Conception of our Lady in December the Knights wore Cassocks or Surcâ—ats of Carnation Damask with wide sleeves girded with the Girdle before described The Mantle of this Order was of Skie-coloured Damask having broad weltâ— of Gold embroidered on the Collar and lined with red Sattin but the Mantlet of green Velvet The Bonnet was also of green Velvet at the point of the band hung a saiâ— Tassel of Crimson Silk and threds of Gold the lining of Crimson Tassaty and turned up after the antique manner whereon they had embroidered the Golden Shield with the word Allen. Whoso considers in this Constitution the number of Knights the principal colours of the Mantle Surcoat and Girdle with the injunction for wearing thereof shall plainly see that this Founder took an exact pattern from the Order of the Garter which he had observed in England and acquainted himself with its Constitutions while he was Prisoner in Windsor Castle for here is little change or alteration and only a Belt or Girdle made the chief Ensign of this as the Garter was of that Order The great Collar was of Gold of the weight of ten Marks enamelled with Green opened like Network which was fill'd with Flowers de Lis of Gold and each of them together with the Letters of the Impress placed in a Lozenge of red enamel At the bottom of the Collar in an Oval of Gold the Circle whereof was enamelled with Green and Red appeared the Figure of the Patroness the blessed Virgin Mary surrounded with rays of the Sun crowned with twelve Silver Stars a Crescent of the same under her feet enamelled with Purple and Skie colour lastly at the end of the Oval depended the head of a Thistle enamelled Green but bearded White Some little difference is put by others in the fashion and composition of this Collar namely that it was made either of Gold or Silver and framed of Flowers de Lis and four leaves or Flowers of a Thistle set in the form of a Cross. The Order of the Dove in Castile 25. Was instituted by Iohn the First of that name King of Castile in the City of Segovia Anno Dom. 1390. so saith Mennenius and Miraeus but Favin placeth it 1379. and proposed to his Nobles as a reward to encourage them to prosecute the noble acts of his Grandfather King Henry the Second The Collar of this Order was linked or enchained with the resplendent beams of the Sun both waved and pointed at which hung a golden Dove enamelled White and encompassed with rays the Eyes and Beak Red. Herewith the Founder saith Favin adorned himself on Whitsonday yet Mennenius and Miraeus will have it the Feast-day of St. Iames and at the Altar of the great Church in Segovia distributed other the like Collars to his intimate Favourites together with a Book containing the Statutes of the Order But he dying the very same year before the Order had taken sufficient root it became of small continuance The Order of the Argonautes of St. Nicholas in Naples 26. Charles the Third King of Naples instituted this Order in the year of our Lord 1382. and with the Ensign thereof invested several of the Nobility of that Kingdom with which as by a Bond he designed to tye them one to another in a brotherly obligation The end of its Institution was to preserve amity among the Nobles to compose enmities and suppress seditions Insomuch as if any of the Knights of this Order were at variance one with another and refused to be reconciled the Ensigns were then to be taken from him but some say the ground and cause was to advance Navigation which the Neopolitans stood in need of To which the principal Ensign of this Order seems rather to allude it being a Ship floating upon the waters in the midst of a storm having this Motto Non credo tempori In the Convent of that sumptuous Church which St. Nicholas Bishop of Smyrna caused to be built was the grand Feast held on the Anniversary of
dwelling of five 〈◊〉 Knights did thereupon design the said 1500 l. towards that use and added 〈◊〉 money of his own to make up the rest charging his Executor Sir Richard Crane his Brother afterwards created Baronet by his Will dated the 27. of August anno 1635. to see the buildings which himself had begun finished He also bequeathed for ever two hundred pounds per annum to be setled in Lands by his Executor according to the advice and direction of Thomas then Earl of Arundel and Surrey and Henry Lord Maâ—revers his eldest Son to serve for the perpetual maintenance of five Alms-Knights after the rate of forty pounds per annum to every one of them But his Executor growing slack in the performance of this the work being rather exposed to ruine than any way forwarded by him by whom the same was only expected to be finished and complaints thereof several times made to the Soveraign and Knights-Companions in Chapter Orders were issued thereupon to quicken him and a peremptory Letter sent him dated the 7. of March 1639. to go on with the work forthwith which commands he evading and bad times growing on the building was wholly neglected Sir Richard Crane afterwards dying by his Will dated the 20. of Sept. 1645. appointed that his Mannor of Carbrooke in Norfolk should for ever stand bound for the payment of the said 200 l. per annum whereupon by an Inquisition taken at Windesor 4. Mar. 1652. by virtue of a Commission upon the Statute anno 43. Eliz. for charitable uses the Mannors of Woodrising and Wesfield with other Lands in the County of Norfolk were found liable to satisfie for building and finishing the said five Houses and payment of the 200 l. yearly and further that the Arrears thereof from Sir Crane's death came at that time to 3200 l. Some contest then ensued in the Court of Chancery between Ralph Mabb with other Prosecutors on the Alms-Knights behalf and William Crane Esquire to whom the Estate of Sir Richard Crane fell nevertheless the 200 l. per annum was 19. Iuly 1655. Decreed to be paid out of all the Lands which were Sir Richard Cranes and the building of the Houses out of his personal Estate And upon this about two years after that fair pile of Building erected between the Chancellor's and Garter's Towers against the West wall in the lower Ward of the Castle was taken again in hand and finished in the following year the charge whereof amounted to 1700 l. But for a final end of the Sute it was Decreed the 27. of Ianuary 1659. That the before mentioned Mannor of Carbrook should for ever stand charged with 200 l. per annum to be paid half yearly at Michaelmas and our Lady-day or within thirty days after for the perpetual maintenance of five Alms-Knights together with 30 l. yearly for repairs payable at the foresaid times and an assurance thereof to be made accordingly towards the recovery and setling of which the care and assistance of Sir Bulstrode Whiteloke then Constable of the Castle of Windesor was not wanting The setlement being perfected the present Soveraign in a Chapter held at Whitehall the 14. of Ianuary anno 12. Car. 2. Decreed That the Chancellor of the Order for the time being should receive the said annual sum of 230 l. and dispose thereof thus 200 l. per annum among the five new-instituted alms-Alms-Knights quarterly by even and equal portions at the four usual Feasts of the year and to employ the residue being 30 l. per annum upon repair of the new buildings erected for their Lodgings which powers were inserted into the Patenâ—â—or his Office bearing date the 20. of the same Month. And it was further decreed at the same Chapter That these five Alms-Knights should be subject to the same Rules and Government under which the other thirteen were established by Queen Elizabeth's Foundation and made equal partakers of the same Priviledges and have the like Habit assigned to them The number of Alms-Knights being by the donation of Sir Francis Crane increased to eighteen King Charles the First of ever blessed memory taking notice thereof though they were not yet setled intended to make them up six and twenty as they were at the Institution of the Order to which end in a Chapter held at Whitehall the 18. of April 1637. it was Ordered That the Knights-Companions Commissioners for other affairs of the Order should consider of the best way how the same might be effected and report their opinions to the then Soveraign But nothing being done thereupon this Affair yet waits a more propitious season for the compleating thereof SECT VI. Of other Ministers of the Colledge IN the last place the Ministri or Officers of the Colledge and Chappel of St. George bring up the rear in the Patent of Foundation under which Title are comprehended first the Superior Officers namely the Chantor Steward and Treasurer The Chantor is ordained to be chosen from among the Canons the chief part of whose Office is to govern those that sing in the Choire and such as are employed about Divine Service Before the Reformation in Religion he appointed who of them should begin the Antiphones celebrate the Masses and read the Lessons Epistles and Gospels with these to his care was committed the custody of the Books Crosses Chalices Vestments and all the sacred Ornaments of the Chappel He receives the Offerings there made and accompts for them for all which service an annual Pension of 5 l. is allowed him The Steward and Treasurer are annually chosen on the morrow after Michael-mas-day from out of the Canon-Residents To the Stewards Office belongs the Government of all the Revenue of the Colledge the Rents and Profits arising thence he is to pay to the Treasurer To his keeping is delivered all the Ornaments Jewels and other Treasure of the Chappel not committed to the Chantor under the obligation of rendring an account and his yearly Pension is 5 l. The Treasurer is appointed to distribute to the Custos Canons Vicars and every other Minister of the Chappel the Pensions and Allowances assigned to them of which if he fail eight days after the expiration of their set times of payment he is debar'd of his own Quotidians as Canon-Resident until such Arrears be discharged so also the Steward if he be faulty herein The Pension allowed him is also 5 l. per annum As there is one Treasurer who receives the Rents of the Old Lands so was there appointed another distinct from the former and chosen from among the Canons to receive the Rent of the New within few years after they were setled on the Colledge to whom the like annual Pension of 5 l. hath been also allowed The Title of the former being Senescallus veteris Dotationis and of the latter Senescallus novae Dotationis There is also the Steward of the Courts and Clerk of the Lands which
attempted something towards their reformation and in reference thereto the 14. of May in the 9. year of his Reign Decreed That Commissionary Letters should be made forth to the Earls of Nottingham Worcester Pembroke and Northampton whereby power should be given them to examine the Registers and other Monuments which pertained to the Order and where any thing should be found obscure to make it cleer where contrariety appeared fitly to reconcile it yet with no endeavour of innovating any thing but an intention of renewing all things as neer as might be to the first and most ancient Institution of the Order Saving always power to himself as Soveraign of the Order to add or change any thing according to the occasion as it should seem agreeable to his prudence for the honor of this most Noble Order What was done hereupon appears not but some few years after this Affair was revived and the following Commission issued forth Iames R. JAmes by the grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and Soveraign of the most Noble Order of the Garter To our Right trusty and Right well beloved Cousiâ—s and Councellors Charles Earl of Nottingham and Edward Earl of Worcester and to our right trusty and right well beloved Cousin Henry Earl of Southampton and to our right trusty and right well beloved Cousin and Councellor Thomas Earl of Arundel and to our right trusty and right well beloved Cousins Philip Earl of Montgomery and Robert Viscount Lisle Knights and Companions of our said Order Greeting Whereas ever since our coming to the Crown of this our Realm of England We have had a special care to maintain and uphold the dignity and honor of our most Noble Order of the Garter whereof we are Soveraign as to the world hath well appeared both by our careful observation at all due times of all the Ceremonies and Solemnities belonging to the same and also by the choice we have made of Noble and Worthy persons whether Princes of Forreign Nations or Subjects of our own Kingdoms to supply the places which have been void of that Society Now forasmuch as We are not ignorant that in all humane Constitutions there may be not only Ambiguity suffering doubtful Interpretation but also defect for which addition is requisite the same best appearing in time which is the producer and tryer of truth We have therefore thought fit out of the knowledge and experience we have of your understanding and wisdom and the confidence we repose in your faithfulness and sincerity being men of honor and Knights and Companions of our said Order to nominate you six and to appoint you or any four of you to take an exact view of all the ancient Statutes and Articles of our said Order And do give unto you or any four of you full power and authority to call before you all such persons whether Officers of our said Order or others as can give you light or information concerning the same and after a serious consideration thereof had by you all or four of you We will and require that you set down in writing what in the said ancient Statutes and Articles you shall conceive meet to be explained and what to be added whereby our said Noble Order may be made more famous and illustrious that the same being presented to us the Soveraign and the Society at a Chapter holden may be resolved on in part or in all to be put in execution if to us it shall seem so good Given under the Seal of our said Order at our Palace of Westminster the 26. day of April in the sixteenth year of our Reign c. Notwithstanding the powers and directions given by this Commission the progress in this business was very slow paced but towards the later end of his Reign the Earls of Worcester Montgomery Arundel Surry and Leicester four of the six Commissioners above-named having had divers meetings and debated several things represented to them did at a Chapter holden at Whitehall the 19. of May anno Iac. Regis 20. present to the Soveraign certain Articles subscribed with their hands which for the Honor of the Order they thought necessary to be observed By the first of which they endeavoured to provide for a further progress and advance of the same in proposing that every year a Commission from the Soveraign should be given or continued to such Knights of the Order as in Chapter should be thought fit to consider of all things to the Order belonging and that the year following an account by the Knights in Chapter should be given of their proceedings by virtue of the said Commission This with 8 other Articles were confirmed by the Soveraign and twelve of the Knights-Companions the 22. of May following in a Chapter held at Whitehall And so happily and effectually went this work forward that on the Feast-day of St. George held at Windesor in the ensuing year the said Earl of Worcester being then the Soveraign's Deputy for that Feast with ten Knights-Companions more did agree to eight other Articles most of them concerning the Alms-Knights which the next morning were approved of by the Soveraign and that day before the celebration of Divine Service by the Soveraign's Deputy and Companions assembled in the Chapter-house the observation thereof was also Decreed And now to come neerer even to the Reign of his late sacred Majesty King Charles the First of ever blessed and glorious memory who while it lay in his power was and much more would have been had not the angry Fate of our late times opposed the greatest Increaser of the Honor and Renown of this most Illustrious Order He I say taking into his princely thoughts all things whatsoever which carried any shew or probability of adding lustre thereunto designed and endeavoured the most compleat and absolute Reformation of any of his Predecessors And first at the Solemnity of St. George held at Windesor the 6. day of October in the 6. year of his Reign He commissionated nine of the Knights-Companions namely the Earls of Molgrave Pembroke and Montgomery Arundel and Surry Salisbury Carlisle Dorset Holland Berkshire and Suffolk with command to assemble four times in a year to consult and handle the Affairs of the Order All these but the Earls of Molgrave and Dorset met at Whitehall the 2. of Ianuary following where some few things were considered of This Commission was seconded by one more ample about three Months after and directed to the before-named Knights-Companions or to any 8 7 6 5 or 4 of them thereby impowring them to meet consult and take an exact view and to peruse all the Statutes and Ordinances of the Order as well such as were established in the beginning as such as had been since made by Explanation or Addition and to consider advisedly whether any thing had been Ordered that had brought Doubt or Ambiguity or did stand in need
for Cloth and Colour but his proportion of Cloth far less having allowed him but 5 yards when the Prelate had 24. nor but 3 Timber of Miniver gross where the Prelate had 19. beside a large quantity of other Furs Nor was the Colour setled to one kind until the Constitutions of his Office appointed it to be the same with the Prelates Crimson for no doubt it was before annually changed as was the Prelates to the Colour of the Knights-Companions Surcoats Howbeit by the Plate of the ancient Habits of the Officers it is visible to have wanted the Royal Badges wherewith the Prelate's Robe was then embroidered When the Colour of the Prelate's Robe was changed to Murrey then was the Chancellors so also and made alike in all other particulars The proportion allowed to Sir Thomas Smith for his Livery an 14. Eliz. was 18 yards of Murrey Velvet 12 yards of Sarcenet for the Lining one Garter wrought with Pearls of Damask Gold for the shoulder one Lace or Cordon with Buttons and Tassels of Blue Silk and Venice Gold And the same materials and proportions were afterwards given out of the Soveraign's great Wardrobe to the succeeding Chancellors But an 13. Car. 1. the Prelate and Chancellor endeavoured a Reformation of their Robes and upon meeting of some of the Knights-Commissioners at Whitehall the first of February in the foresaid year who heard and debated several things relating to the Order it was determined That the said Knights should move the Soveraign for a new Robe for the Chancellor notice having been given to the Knights-Companions about a week before to provide for themselves new Mantles of Celestial Blue and the Colour being in question upon the Reformation of the Knights Robes it being alledged but without ground that the Prelate and Chancellor for their upper Robe had from the Foundation the same Stuff and Colour that was worn by the Knights it was referr'd to the Soveraign But herein nothing was done till an 13. Car. 2. when the Colour both of the Prelate and this Officers Robe was changed to Purple Besides this Robe the Chancellor of the Order hath an honorable Badge assigned him to wear first granted to Sir William Peters and his Successors the 9. of October an 1. 2. â—hil Mar. viz. a Rose Gold enclosed within a Garter which he and the succeeding Chancellors of the Order have ever since worn daily about their necks at first in a Gold Chain but since in a Purple Ribband The Figure of which with those Badges worn by Garter and Black-Rod are to be seen at the beginning of this Chapter It seems something to this purpose had been in design a little before so soon as the Chancellorship became vested in a Lay-man for King Edward the Sixth's Statutes did Ordain That the Chancellor should wear about his neck a Cross of the Order with a Red Rose in a White of Gold all compassed within a Garland of Red and White Roses And because it was suggested to the late Soveraign King Charles the First That there were differences and uncertainties in some Books remaining with the Chancellor touching the wearing his Badge He thereupon gave out the following Warrant under His Royal Hand and Signet of the Order to ascertain the form therein described and manner of wearing it Charles R. CHarles by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and Soveraign of the most Noble Order of the Garter c. To all and singular to whom these presents shall come Greeting Whereas there are differences and uncertainties in Books of our most Noble Order of the Garter remaining in the custody of the Chancellor of our said Order about his wearing of his Badge or Token about his Neck And because our pleasure is that the same might be certain and constant We do therefore of our Soveraign Power and Authority to whom in any ambiguities arising the Interpretation decision correction solution and dispensation of all Statutes only belongs and with the knowledge and consent of our Companions of our said Order at this time remaining with us Decree and Ordain that our trusty and well beloved Servant Sir James Palmer Knight and Baronet Chancellor of our said Order and his Successors shall wear about his neck at all times in honor of his said place that thereby he may be known to be of that Office and Dignity as hath been accustomed a Medal or Iewel of Gold enamelled with a Red Rose within a Garter of Blue enamel with this sentence inscribed Hony soit qui mal y pense or such a one as We or the rest of the Knights-Companions of the said most Noble Order of the Garter do or shall from time to time hereafter wear in our Collars of the said Order in particular reference unto us and them And in the reverse thereof he shall bear the Scutcheon of St. George enamelled within a Garter also in reference to the Order it self which he only shall wear hanging by a light Purple Ribband or in a Gold Chain as hath been accustomed Given at our Court at Oxenford under the Signet of our Order the 16. day of December in the twentieth and one year of our Reign 1645. Among the Officers of the Order the Chancellor hath place next beneath the Prelate and in all Proceedings and Sessions goeth and sitteth on his left hand And as it was provided by the Constitutions of the Officers That if the Chancellor hapned to be a Lay-man he should be also a Knight and have other personal endowments before set down So did the late Soveraign King Charles the First conceive it requisite to confer some further note of honor and estimation upon this Officer in relation to place and precedence without the Order to which effect there past the following Decree At a Chapter of the most Noble Order of the Garter held by the Soveraign at Whitehall the 23. of April 1629. present the Right honorable the Earls of Mullgrave Montgomery Rutland Carlisle Holland Suffolk Pembroke Arundel and Surrey Salisbury Dorset Barkshire Northampton Charles R. THE Chancellor of the Order being by the Institution a place of honour and so disposed of that the same hath ever been possessed by persons of great worth and virtue yet because it appears not that any declaration hath been made of the Rank and right of Place belonging to that Office His Majesty hath therefore by the advice of all the Knights present at the Chapter held upon the day and Feast of St. George Ordered and Decreed that Sir Francis Crane the present Chancellor and all others that shall succeed him in that place hereafter shall in right of that place in all assemblies and upon all occasions be ranked and placed immediately after Knights Privy Councellors and before the Chancellor of the Exchequer the persons holding both places being in pari gradu and consequently before all others whom
fore-mentioned Embassy into Germany Sir Iames Palmer Knight one of the Gentlemen-Ushers of the Privy Chamber was deputed by the Soveraign to the execution of the Chancellorship during his absence having the Purse with the Seals delivered unto him by the Soveraign the 4. of May 14. Car. 1. He first entred upon this Employment at the Installation of the present Soveraign being sworn by the Register of the Order the 22. of the said Moneth durante deputatione beneplacito Regis which Clause was likewise added in the Deputy Chancellors Oath an 12. Car. 2. After Sir Rowe's return into England being sick and not able to officiate at the Feast of St. George held at Whitehall the first of March an 16. Car. 1. Sir Iames Palmer was again deputed Chancellor to supply his place in that particular Ceremony As also a third time when the Feast was kept at York the 18. of April an 18. Car. 1. and thence-forward he continued Deputy-Chancellor unto the death of Sir Thomas Rowe of which the Soveraign having notice given him at Oxford in November an 1644. was graciously pleased to reserve the gift of this Office till Sir Palmer's return to Court out of Wales where he was employed in his Service and then gave him permission to wear the Badge and Ribband about his neck till a Chapter of the Order should be called to compleat his admittance in token of his due acknowledgment for so high a favour he humbly upon his knees gave the Soveraign thanks and received the honor of kissing his hand In the vacancy of the Registership an 2. H. 8. Thomas Ruthall Bishop of Durham supplied it and an 18. 19. Eliz. Doctor Day Dean of Windesor executed the Office and attended at the Feasts of St. George as Deputy Register Doctor George Carew then Register having license by his Patent to exercise it by himself or Deputy with allowance of the Queen or Soveraign of the Order in case of sickness or other impediment â— After his death Dean Day was commanded still to execute the Office during its vacancy being 14 years which he did until advanced to the Bishoprick of Winchester an 38. Eliz. upon which Doctor Robert Bennet who succeeded him in his Deanry was the same year admitted Register Afterwards towards the later end of Doctor Beaumont's time he being much broken with age and sickness Doctor Iohn King the junior Canon supplied the place The Office of Garter hath likewise been supplied by Deputy for in those Embassies with the Ensigns or whole Habit of the Order to Forreign Princes where special occasions detained Garter at home some of the Kings or Heralds of Arms have been sent upon those Employments nevertheless upon Garter's recommendation of them to the Soveraign of which several instances shall be hereafter inserted So also in case of vacancy for we find that Clarenceux King of Arms executed this Office after Sir Dethick's death in Ianuary an 27. Eliz. being then sent in the Embassy with the Earl of Derby to carry the Habit of the Order to the French King Henry the Third As also in reference to the preparations made for his Installation the 15. of April following and service performed thereat and at the Feast of St. George ensuing And lastly the Constitutions of the Office of Black Rod admit of a Deputy to bear the Rod before the Soveraign which is to be understood where a lawful occasion hinders his personal service And Sir Peter Young chief Gentleman Usher executed this Office at the Feast of St. George held at Windesor an 6. Car. 1. Iames Maxwell Esq Black Rod being then in France upon the Soveraign's service He being also sent by the King into Scotland Peter Newton Esquire was appointed to wait in his place at the Feast held at Windesor the 8.9 and 10. of October anno 15. Car. 1. CHAP. IX THE Election of a Knight INTO THE Order SECT I. Of Summons to the Election THE Statutes of Institution Ordained That whensoever any of the Knights-Companions happened to depart this life the Soveraign or his Deputy after certain notice had thereof should forthwith by his Letters Summon all the Knights-Companions then within the Realm who were able to come to meet him within six weeks after such notice in what convenient place soever be pleased to assign for the Electing a new Companion into the Society Thus did the Law of this most Noble Order in case of Death and to avoid long Vacancies at first provide wherewith we observe the practice of elder times did punctually concur and among other Testimonies they are not the least which may be collected from the ancient Letters of Summons issued out upon this occasion For assoon as Garter in discharge of his Oath and pursuance of the duty of his place had made Certificate to the Soveraign of a Knight-Companion's decease or otherwise to the Register of the Order care was taken thereupon to fill up the vacant Stall within the time limited by this Article of the Statutes or shortly after in order whereunto Letters of Summons were sent to the Knights-Companions to appear at the Election which hath induced us to exhibit two of these ancient Letters in the Appendix The first contains several particulars no less pursuant to the Statutes than worthy observation and especially these 1. First the day whereon the defunct Knights-Companion died is therein set down and is a note useful in Story 2. Direction is given for celebrating Masses according to the tenor of the Statutes of which more shall be spoken in its due place 3. Intimation that a Stall is become void by the Knights decease 4. The Law of the Order vouched which appoints an Election of another Knight within six weeks after Certificate made of the death of the former to avoid as much as might be an interval in succession by a speedy filling up the number of Knight-Companions 5. The Soveraign's power asserted where he sees cause to prorogue the Election 6. An Injunction to attend personally at the Election under a penalty exprest in the Statutes of which more hereafter 7. The Day Place and Hour for appearance is with certainty appointed and set down to the end the Knights-Companions might so accommodate themselves as to be present at the time prefixed 8. The end of coming is mentioned with full disposition and preparation to perform what the Statutes in this case required 9. Lastly direction is there given to the Knight summoned that in case any accident obstructed his Journey or hinder'd him from coming to the Chapter he should certifie the reason of his default against the day and time of his appearance of the sufficiency whereof the Soveraign was to be sole Judge And generally of these heads and to this purpose were the Letters of Summons in succeeding times framed The before mentioned branch of the Statutes of
Windesor 6. Aug. 1. 2. Ph. M. Emanuel Duke of Savoy 11. Whitehall 8. Febr. 20. Eliz. Iohn Casimire Count Palatine of the Rhyne 12. York 12. Sept. 16. Car. 1. Thomas Earl of Strafford But for the most part since the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign Whitehall the Soveraign's usual Court of Residence hath been the place whereunto the Knights-Companions have been specially summoned and peculiar Chapters held for Election of Knights in the interval between the vacancy and St. George's Feast Howbeit of late while the present Soveraign was abroad beyond the Seas and wanted the full number of Knights-Companions to constitute a compleat Chapter He hath been necessitated to make use of his supream power not only in dispencing with the Ceremony of Election in Chapter but also in supplying thâ— defect of a Scrutiny by making his own choice nevertheless since his most happy return to the Throne of his Ancestors Whitehall hath also recovered her accustomed Honors and beheld again a most worthy advancement of Knights into this most Noble Order at a Chapter specially called and held in the Bed-chamber there the first day of April an 13. Car. 2. in the Election of the Duke of Richmond the Earls of Lindsey Manchester and Strafford SECT III. The Number of Knights that constitute a Chapter IN the next place we are to consider what number of Knights-Companions ought to assemble for constituting a compleat Chapter of Election By the Statutes it is appointed there should be â—ix at the least besides the Soveraign or his Deputy the due observation of which hath been so strictly stood upon heretofore that Elections were ordinarily deferr'd where the Chapters consisted not of so many For proof of which we find that the Duke of Gloucester anno 9. H. 6. then Deputy to the Soveraign at that time in France for celebrating the Feast of St. George at Windesor forbore to proceed to Election because the Number of Knights-Companions there assembled was less than the Statutes required to constitute a Chapter We likewise take notice that anno 10. H. 5. no Election was made the Feast being also celebrated at Windesor though one Stall was void by the death of the Lord Clifford and probably the reason though not exprest might be for want of that full number of Knights-Companions the Statutes required For the Duke of Bedford then the Soveraign's Deputy had but three Knights present with him But in this case we need not fly to conjectures there are direct and cleer instances enough wherein if we abound we hope the satisfaction they will give the concern'd Reader beside the antiquity of the Precedent may obtain our pardon In the 22. year of King Henry the Sixth or rather 23. for so the Registrum Chartaceum hath it in the hand of that very Age Humfry Duke of Buckingham being deputed to celebrate the Feast of St. George at Windesor although there were at that time four Stalls vacant yet did no Nomination pass one reason being because there was not present a sufficient Number to make Election So when the same King celebrated the Grand Feast personally at Windesor in the 31. year of his Reign having but three Knights-Companions attending him thereat and two Stalls void the Election was prorogued for the very same reason In like manner the want of a sufficient Number of Knights-Companions hapning at the Feasts held the 32.33 and 34. of Henry the Sixth hindred the Election at those times for at the first of them there were but two Knights-Companions beside the Soveraign's Deputy and at the two last but four besides the Soveraign though the Registrum Chartaceum anno 33. names five by adding the Duke of Somerset At the Feast of St. George celebrated at Windesor anno 1471. which answers to the 11. year of King Edward the Fourth although from what is spoken concurrent with the following circumstances both out of the Black Book of the Order and the Registrum Chartaceum we suppose it should more rightly be transferr'd to the twelfth of this King's Reign and therefore this passage throughout may fitly be corrected by those Authorities the Soveraign intending to make an Election and having but five Knights-Companions present with him Calys Pursivant at Arms was sent to London for Sir Iohn Astley to come and furnish the Chapter in which saith this Fragment there were chosen seven Knights namely the Prince the King of Portugal the Duke of Norfolk the Earl of Wiltshire the Lord Ferrers the Lord Montjoy and the Lord Howard But here are some other mistakes for the Prince was not elected until anno 15. E. 4. and the King of Portugal not until the 22. year of the same King As for the rest we not finding the true time of their Election elsewhere shall let them stand having been loth to make use of so imperfect an authority but that the circumstance of sending for Sir Iohn Astley to make up a Chapter rather than violate the Laws of the Order may be faithfully enough related and well worth observing through the other false lights cast in from the inadvertency of the Relator Lastly the 31. of Ianuary anno 21. Car. 2. being designed for the Election of Christopher Duke of Albemarle and there appearing but five Knights at the Chapter the Election was put off till the 3. of February following at which time a statutable number of Knights being present his Election past SECT IV. Dispensation for want of a full Number AND whereas some may suppose that the Soveraigns of this Order in later times have appeared less careful in the due observation of its Statutes and Laws than were their Predecessors by making use of Dispensations where the number of six Knights-Companions have been wanting they are to consider the License herein is no other than an advantage to be laid hold on in cases of necessity only for necessity can bring a sufficient plea where the infringement of a Decree is objected in the Law of this Order and withal to shew that the power and prerogative of Dispensation is reserved to the Soveraigns of this most Noble Order in all cases of exigency albeit not to be made use of where there is a possibility to perform the Rules and Injunctions of the Statutes The Soveraigns therefore in succeeding times for sundry reasons and upon important and urgent occasions have been induced to dispence with this branch of the Statute as to a full Number of Knights-Companions in case so many were not in readiness as the Law appointed to make a compleat Chapter And the first liberty we observe to have been taken herein was by King Henry the Eighth in the 26. year of his Reign who after he had received intelligence of the death of the Lord Montjoy immediately called a Chapter at Whitehall where no more than five Knights-Companions being present the absence of the rest were excused
Thomas Wriothesley Garter was sent to the Earls of Arundel and Westmerland with the Garter and George an 17. H. 8. So also was Sir Gilbert Dethick Garter sent upon the like employment to the Earl of Westmerland an 6. Ed. 6. to the Earl of Sussex an 1 2. Ph. M. to the Lord Grey of Wilton an 3. 4. Ph. M. to the Earl of Shrewsbury an 3. Eliz. to the Earl of Bedford an 6. Eliz. to the Earl of Warwick an 5. Eliz. being then at Newhaven in France to William Earl of Worcester an 12. Eliz. to William Lord Cobham an 26. Eliz. and to the Lord Scroop the same year who then was at Carlisle in Cumberland This Investiture of the Lord Scroop was the last action in this kind which Sir Gilbert Dethick performed who had served four Soveraigns of this Order an Officer of Arms the space of 65. years whereof he had been Garter 38. years and having most worthily and faithfully accomplished his service upon his return to London from Carlisle aforesaid he languished by the space of ten weeks or thereabouts and dyed the 3. day of October an Dom. 1584. in the 81. year of his age The Letters heretofore sent from the Soveraign along with these Ensigns of the Order to the Elect-Knights have for the most part been drawn after the form of those certifying Election only instead of the last Clause which therein requires the Elect Knights repair to the Soveraign for receiving the Garter and George from him in these was an allowance to use them as to their Election appertain And these were the two general forms of Letters sent upon the foresaid occasions all further difference lay not in the body but direction of the Letters which were evermore worded according to the quality of the person to whom sent as to a Knight Batchellor the direction was To our trusty and wellbeloved c. to a Baron Right trusty and wellbeloved c. to an Earl Right trusty and right wellbeloved Cousin c. and to a Duke Right trusty and right entirely beloved Cousin c. But we observe the forms of those Letters sent upon like occasion to Knights-Subjects when the present Soveraign was beyond the Seas were pen'd after another manner and the necessity of those times requiring contained some other particulars namely besides a large preamble relative to the Election of Knights eminent for noble birth and heroick virtue additional clauses of 1. Power to wear the Star of Silver about St. George's Cross 2. The great Collar of the Order And 3. to stile themselves Knights and Companions of the Order of the Garter in as ample manner as if they had been Installed at Windesor with an assurance of receiving the whole Habit there when the Soveraign was restored to the possession thereof And it appears from some of these Letters that by reason Sir Edward Walker Garter was otherwise employed in the Soveraign's service when they were sent therefore the Soveraign made choice of other persons to carry both the said Letters and Ensigns of the Order nevertheless reserving unto him as Garter the rights of hâ—s Office Howbeit the said Sir Edward looking on the disposing this employment to others as an invasion upon the rights of his Office and having a just regard to the preservation of the interest of his Successors no less than his own humbly petitioned the present Soveraign for redress and obtained his gracious Reference thereupon to several Knights-Companions of the Order to examine the matter and make report both what they found and what they thought fit to be done therein upon whose Report the Soveraign did him full right by his gracious Declaration All which Proceedings we think necessary to insert here for cleering and setling the interest of so ancient an Office To his sacred Majesty Soveraign of the most Noble Order of the Garter The most humble Petition of Sir Edward Walker Knight Garter principal King of Arms and Officer of the said Order In all humility representing THat by the especial favour of his late Majestly your Royal Father of ever glorious and blessed memory he was created Garter Principal King of Arms and was thereby to enjoy all immunities and advantages thereunto belonging as amply as any of his Predecessors That since your Majesties accession to the Crown he hath by right continued in the said Office it being granted during life by Letters-Patent Notwithstanding which there have lately some disputes arisen about the execution of that part of his Office wherein he conceives himself most concerned and for which his Office was at first erected He therefore in all humility appeals to your Majesty as Soveraign of the said Order and Protector of the Officers thereof for the vindication of his just rights which were never questioned until this time of general Invasion hoping clearly to make it appear First when any Foreign Prince is chosen that the Ensigns of the Order are sent and delivered him by an Ambassador and Garter joined with him in the presenting thereof Secondly that until this time of Rebellion wherein your Majesty cannot formally either Elect or Install any subject the Garter hath rarely been sent to any of them but according to the Statutes was always delivered them in the Chapterhouse Garter and the rest of the Officers of the Order assisting To prove the first he refers himself to the Statutes and to the constant practice As for example the Garter was delivered by the Earl of Arundel and Garter King of Arms to Philip the second King of Spain in the time of Queen Mary By the Lord Spencer and Sir William Dethick Garter in joint commission with him to the Duke of Westemberg in the first year of King James By the Lord Carleton and Sir William Seagar to Maurice Prince of Orange By Mr. Peter Young Gentleman Vsher and Mr. Henry St. George Richmond Herald Deputy to Sir William Seagar Garter to the King of Sweden by whom they were both Knighted and as he remembers by Sir William Boswell and Mr. Philpot Deputy to Sir John Burrough Garter to the now Prince of Orange from all which Garter and his Deputies received large and honorary rewards To the second by the Statutes no Knight chosen or elect shall be installed by Attorney except he be a Stranger or busâ—ed without the Realm for the affairs of the Soveraign nor receive the Garter but in Chapter so that the sending of the Garter to any subject rarely happens The only example he remembers is of that sent by Garter to the Lord Scroop President of the North in Queen Elizabeth's time As for the other alledged of that sent to the Earl of Holland into France it is subsequent in time and was only the delivery of the Garter and no compleating of the Order and may if it were so for ought appears to the contrary have been done by Garter's
consent Besides he is in the affirmative and so to be believed touching the rights of his own Office and Profession before others that understand them not By all which he hopes it is evident That Garter is the proper Office to be sent with an Ambassador to present the Order to a Foreign Prince and that your Majesty sends not Embassadors to your own Subjects So then it follows when any such cases happen as of late have done that Garter only or his Deputies and none other ought of right to be employed therein Wherefore not to mention at large how that your Majesty hath by your Royal Letters with dispensation fully invested eight most noble and eminent persons with the Order and all the rights and honorary advantages thereof and his preparing the Letters and setling the manner and form without any notice taken of him for doing thereof as yet and that a great advantage hath been made by another be performing that which he hopes fully to evidence is the right of his Office He doth therefore in all humility appeal unto your Majesty Soveraign of the said most Noble Order beseeching that he may be heard to make the particulars appear either before your Majesty alone or attended by as many of the Companions of the Order Peers and Council as your Majesty shall please to call to that purpose or by any other way that shall seem best to your Majesty And that he who hath disputed it may be present and then if it shall appear that the right is his that he may have your Majesty's Declaration to fortifie it with direction that the same be entred in the Register Book of the said Order that so the Precedents that have been of late made may not for the future be brought in example against him or his Successors to the prejudice of his right and the loss of the greatest honor and advantage of his Office The which will more reflect on him than any that have held that Office formerly He having had the extraordinary happiness to enjoy more of his Soveraign's favours and employments than any of his Predecessors And as in duty bound he shall ever pray c. At the Court at Breda the 21. of April 1650. His majesty is graciously pleased to refer the consideration of this Petition to the most honorable Lords the Dukes of Buckingham and Hamilton and the Marquess of Newcastle Companions of the most Noble Order of the Garter to examine the Allegations of this Petition and such other proofs as the Petitioner shall produce for the justifying of his right and thereupon to make report unto his Majesty what they find and think fit to be done therein Rob. Long. Breda 27. May 1650. WE George Duke of Buckingham William Duke of Hamilton and William Marquess of Newcastle Knights of the most Noble Order of the Garter having read and considered the within written Petition do find the Allegations therein mentioned to agree with the Statutes and ancient practice of the said Order And that Garter King of Arms and his Deputies ought to bear all Letters-Patents appertaining to the Brethren of the said Order and all Elections to the Knights-Elect And we do therefore make this Report to your Majesty to the end you may be pleased to maintain the Petitioner in his just rights And that no examples lately made may be brought in Precedent against him or his Successors in the said Office G. Buckingham Hamilton W. New-Castle His Majesties Declaration of the Rights of Garter King of Arms to Sir Edward Walker Charles R. CHARLES the Second of that name by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. And Soveraign of the most Noble Order of Saint George called the Garter To all and singular the Princes and Peers Knights and Companions of the said most Noble Order Greeting Whereas we have for the continuation and honor of the said most Noble Order in this time of general Rebellion in our Dominions by our power as Soveraign of the said Order lately Elected into the Fellowship thereof divers eminent persons whom for their great Nobility Courage and Fidelity we have esteemed worthy of the same and have by our necessary dispensations fully invested them with all the honorary priviledges and advantages thereof and have employed divers of our Servants and others unto them with Letters missive declaring the same And whereas we have been by the humble Petition of our trusty and well beloved Servant Sir Edward Walker Knight Garter principal King of Arms and Officer of the said Order informed That by the Statutes and ancient practice of the Order when any of our Predecessors have Elected any Foreign Prince thereinto that the Ensigns thereof were always sent and delivered by an Ambassador and Garter King of Arms joined with him in the doing thereof And that when any of our Subjects was Elected the Garter was delivered him in the Chapter-house or being employed abroad was sent unto him by Garter King of Arms Officer of the said Order All which we having taken into our consideration were graciously pleased for the preservation of the rights of the Officers of the said Order to refer the examination of the particulars unto our right trusty and entirely beloved Cosens and Counsellors George Duke of Buckingham William Duke of Hamilton and William Marquess of New-Castle Knights and Companions of the said most Noble Order who upon due examination of the particulars have made their Report That they find all the allegations above-mentioned to agree with the Statutes and ancient practice of the said Order And that Garter King of Arms and his Deputies ought to bear all Letters Patents appertaining to the Brethren of the said Order and all Elections to the Knights Elect Wherefore to the end that the rights and priviledges of the Officers of the said Order may be fully preserved and established We are graciously pleased by the advice of the said most Noble Companions hereby to declare that although we have in regard of the other employments of the said Sir Edward Walker Garter in our service sent the said declaratory Letters with the Garter by others unto the persons Elect yet that the doing thereof shall not be brought in example against him the said Sir Edward Walker Garter or his Successors in the said Office to the prejudice of his right We being fully satisfied that it is his right and properly belongs unto his Office as Garter King of Arms to perform the same And we do therefore hereby command that an Entry be made hereof in the Book of the said most Noble Order by the Register thereof assoon as conveniently it may be done To the end it may appear we have preserved the said Garter King of Arms and his Successors in their just rights and that he hath not failed to prove the same Given at the Castle at Breda this 28. day of May in the second year of our Reign Anno
of the possession thereof by the Rebels and no other memory but your Election and this Commission remains upon Record But his Soveraign Majesty is so desirous to invest you and the Prince his Son in the full priviledges of the said Order and society that assoon as a competent number of Knights can be assembled to make a Chapter his Majesty determines to consult of a course how the Instalment at Windesor may if possibly it can be dispensed with that rather than you should be deprived longer of the full enjoyment of all rights of Installation his Majesty is fully determined to make ordinary rules of Ceremony and Order to give place to extraordinary Examples of merit and fidelity already so amply performed by your Highness to his Crown and dignity which is the sum of what his Majesty hath commanded me to present unto your Highness which he desires you to take in good part till the rest can be performed At the ending of this Speech Sir Iames Palmer presented the Commission to the Prince who gave this Majesty many humble thanks for this gracious Message and acknowledged his Majesties favours far beyond his desert but promised he would study to be more worthy by his actions than in return of words with many thanks to the Chancellor and the other Officers of the Order for their pains whereupon they took their leave and the Chancellor went immediately to his Majesty and rendered him an account of this Employment SECT V. The Manner of a Knight's Investiture IN ancient time it was part of the Ceremony belonging to the Investiture with the Garter of an Elect-Knight whether a Stranger or Knight Subject to give him an Oath which we find called The Oath in such cases accustomed to be taken and was to this effect that the Knight should well and faithfully keep and observe so far as God should enable him all that was contained in the Statutes of the Order But we find not of late that the taking such an Oath at performing this Ceremony hath been imposed upon any but Foreign Princes of which anon It is also observable that an 4. H. 6. a particular Commission issued to the Earls of Warwick Salisbury and Suffolk with power to any two or one of them to receive this Oath from Sir Iohn Fastols upon his Investiture And this was besides the Oath which his Proctor was afterwards to take at Installation as is manifest out of the Letters of Procuration whereby the said Sir Iohn Fastols gave to his Procter license to take on his behalf such Oath as should be required at the time of his Installation As to the Ceremony and manner of Investing a Knight-Elect with the Garter and George albeit we have discourst thereof before we nevertheless think it necessary to subjoin two or three considerable Instances as most proper to this place When Philip Prince of Spain an 1. Mariae had these Ensigns of the Order sent him the Soveraign joined Garter King of Arms with the Earl of Arundel to perform the Investiture who upon notice of his arrival on the Coast of England set forward on their journey to Southampton where on Friday the 20. of Iuly they took Water and meeting the Prince before he landed entred his Barge and gave him notice of his Election in a short speech which being ended Garter having the Garter in his hand kissed it and so presented it to the Earl who forthwith fastned it about the Princes Leg in like manner Garter presented the Earl with the George hanging at a Chain of Gold who put it also about the Princes neck The Ceremony of Investiture being thus performed the Prince came on shore at Southampton and on the uppermost stair there were ready attending his landing the Marques of Winchester Lord high Treasurer of England with divers other Lords the Prince gave the Lord Williams his White Staff and made him Lord Chamberlain of his Houshold and Sir Anthony Brown Master of his Horse presented him from the Queen a Horse with a Footcloth of Crimson Velvet richly embroidered with Gold and Pearls having the Bridle and all other Furniture sutable whereon he rode to the Cathedral and after Prayers to the Lodgings prepared for him Touching Garter's Investiture of the Earl of Warwich at Newhaven in France the first of May an 5. Eliz. it was as followeth First Garter repairing to the Earls Lodgings put on his Mantle in the next Chamber to the Earls and thence proceeded into the Earls Chamber where having made three Reverences he buckled the Garter about his left leg and next put on the George and Ribband about his neck reading to the Earl the words of Signification appointed to be pronounced at the Investiture which done Garter retired into the Room where he had put on his Mantle and there disrobed himself and so the Ceremony ended And it seems to have been a custom about these times for the Nobility and others the Allyes or Friends to the Elect-Knight to send unto him by Garter several Garters and Georges as tokens of congratulation for the Honor he was at this time to receive which so soon as the Investiture was finished and Garter returned from putting off his Robe he delivered unto him with the particular services and respects of those his Friends who had so bestowed them for such we find to have been sent by Garter and presented to the aforesaid Earl of Warwick at New-haven and to the Lord Scroop at Carlisle an 26. Eliz. At Garter's return to Court he is obliged to deliver an account to the Soveraign how he hath discharged his employment and therewith by special directions from the Elect-Knight also present the highest thanks he can express as well to the Soveraign as the rest of the Knights-Companions for honoring him with a reception into so illustrious an Order We shall close this Section with a brief account of the Investiture of his Highness the late Duke of Gloucester at the Hague on Easter-day in the morning being the 14. day of April 1653. in reference to which Ceremony there was provided 1. A Garter with the Motto to be tyed about his left Leg. 2. A George in a Ribband to put about his Neck 3. An embroidered Cross of St. George within a Garter and Star to be sowed on the left shoulder of the Dukes Cloak 4. A Velvet Cushion whereon the Ensigns and Ornaments of the Order as also the Letter signifying his Election were to be laid Moreover for the honor of the Order and his said Highness Sir Edward Walker Garter humbly proposed as followeth That he might be assisted by two or four Knights in performing his duty That his Highness the Duke might receive the Ensigns of the Order in the Presence Chamber of the Princess Royal or in his own accompanied with the Queen of Bohemia her Highness Royal and some other persons of Honor and Quality That his
9. Eliz. nevertheless the Feast of Installation was therein excepted and appointed to be solemnized at that place And this was again provided for among the before mentioned Orders an Iac. Regis 21. to wit That after an Election made of a Knight of the Order his Installation should be performed at Windesor according to the ancient Custom and Statutes of the Order When therefore the Soveraign hath been pleased to prefix a certain day for Installation in order to this great Solemnity several things are necessarily to be prepared as namely 1. a Commission to admit and install the Elect-Knight 2. Letters to each of the Commissioners and the Elect-Knight for their repair to Windesor 3. Warrants for the Soveraign's Livery 4. a Bill or Warrant for the removal of Stalls and Atchievements all which are to be obtained from the Soveraign under his Sign manual by the Chancellor of the Order and 5. lastly the Knights own Preparations among which his Atchievements are to be got in readiness for setting up so soon as he is Installed SECT III. Of Commissions for Installation IN the first place we are to note that no Elect-Knight can be Installed unless by the Soveraign of the Order himself or being present by such of the Knights-Companions whom he shall verbally authorize or if absent by his Commission drawn up in writing and past under the great Seal of the Order directed either to his Lieutenant or Knights-Commissioners We have met with but one Instance where the Soveraignâ—ath â—ath been pleased to honor a Knight by performing the Ceremony of Installation himself and that was in the case Philip King of Castile and Leon an 22 H. 7. yet it is probable enough that Sigismond the Emperor and anciently some other Foreign Princess of eminence and dignity might receive Installation from other of the Soveraigns though no memorial thereof hath been transmitted to us As to the Soveraign's verbal appointment we shall mention it by and by But in reference to Installation by Commission we shall speak of it here For it was Ordained by the Statutes of Institution That in case the Soveraign should be absent out of the Kingdom at the time of Installation of any of the Knights so that he could not personally perform those things his Office obliged him to it should be lawful for him to constitute as his Deputy in this affair whomsoever of the Society he should think fit and he to have power and authority in the Soveraign's name to perform and execute those things which it would have been his own part to have done had he been present By virtue of this Article the Soveraign's Deputy or Lieutenant in his absence performed the Ceremony before the Reign of King Henry the Eighth which was usually done at the Feast of St. George for the Celebration of which he had another Commission but in the Commission given out for Installation formerly the Lieutenant was first named and the Knights-Companions appointed for his Assistants at the said Feast were joined with him in the Commission for Installation to assist in that Ceremony also but of later times the Commission hath pass'd to the Lieutenant alone King Henry the Eight enlarged the powers given by the former Statutes to a Deputy to two or more of the Knights-Companions that should exercise the same by the Soveraign's Letters of Commission And therefore by the liberty and priviledge of this Article whensoever after the Soveraigns did appoint an Installation at other times of the year than at the Feast of St. George they then delegated their authority to such of the Knights-Companions as were thought most fit to perform this great Ceremony And the very next year after making this Statute we find such a Commission issued to the Marquess Dorset and Earls of Devonshire and Kent to Instal the Lord Ferrars of Chartley the substance of which hath been ever since and is yet retained though the form hath received some little Variation as may be seen by two other Commissions immediately following in the Appendix The particular powers granted by the Commissioiners are these to accept and admit the Knight Elect into the Order to receive his Oath and to Instal him and the general power is to do and accomplish every thing which belongeth to his due Admittance and full Installation as to the Statutes and laudable Usageâ— Rules and Customs of this Order appertaineth We shall only add this observation out of the Commission given to the Marquess Dorset and the Lord Cobham an 5. E. 6. for Installation of the Lord Darâ—y which else is the same verbatim with former Commissions that in the last clause of general power the word Vsage is put down instead of the words Statutes and laudable Customs which were generally inserted in the more ancient Commissions perhaps as restraining the Ceremonies of Installation to such as were in use about that time when many Ceremonies accustomably used were forborn not what the Statutes and laudable Customs of formerly days had appointed and pracâ—ised Howbeit shortly after these words were restored to the Commissions of Installation as appears from a and Lord Clynton an 2. 3. Ph. Mar. for the Installation of Anthony Brown Viscount Mountague SECT IV. Letters of Summons BEsides the Commission impowering the Soveraign's Lieutenant or Knights-Commissioners therein named to Instal the Elect-Knight it hath been usual for the Soveraign upon the Chancellors motion to issue out Letters of Summons under his privy Signet but of late under the Signet of the Order both to the Commissioners for Installation and to the Elect Knights Those to the Commissioners are directed severally to each nominated in the Commission the effect whereof is to give them notice of the Installation and to require their repair to Windesor against the day therein assigned to the end the Elect Knight might proceed to his Installation a Precedent whereof is also added in the Appendix But at the Installation of Algernon Earl of Northumberland an 11. Car. 1. a Clause to this purpose is inserted into the Commission it self Those directed to the Elect Knight pass likewise under the Soveraign's Sign manual and Signet of the Order by which he is required to repair to Windesor Castle at a certain day therein prefixt to proceed to his Installation according to the Statutes of the Order and of this kind we have also inserted a Form in the Appendix Where note that if there be two or more Knights appointed to be Installed on the same day the like Letter is sent to each of them the difference being only in the direction Besides these Letters sent from the Soveraign the Chancellor in case the Soveraign afford his presence in his Circular Letters to the Knights-Companions for their repair to the Feast of St. George gives them also intimation of the designed Installation And if the said Feast be held either by the Soveraign or his
early after the Institution in the case of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster who as is before noted was removed from the seventh Stall on the Princes side wherein he was first placed to the Princes Stall it self this act is said to be done by the decree of the Soveraign and Knights-Companions and no doubt but as this was done by so good authority so upon no less inducements to the Soveraign and whole Society But there are few of these extraordinary cases which taking up little time we will remember here William of Henalt Earl of Ostervant was advanced by King Richard the Second from the eleventh Stall on the Soveraign's side to the Duke of Britains Stall it being the second on the Princes side Next Humfry Duke of Gloucester in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth having been first installed in the eleventh Stall on the Soveraign's side was when he came to be Lord Protector removed to the second Stall on the same side Afterward Richard Nevill Earl of Warwick by the consent of the Knights-Companions in Chapter an 39. H. 6. was translated to the Duke of Buckingham's Stall the Lord Bonvill to the Lord Scales his Seat Sir Thomas Kyriell to the place of the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Lord Wenlock to the Stall of Viscount Beaumont And lastly Ferdinand King of Naples and Sicily was removed to the third Stall on the Soveraign's side after he had been installed in the third on the Princes side yet this was an advance of so little honor as it is scarce worth taking notice of being but the very next above that wherein he was first Installed But King Henry the Eighth thinking it requisite for the Soveraigns of this most Noble Order to be impowered by a general Law to do that at pleasure which the former Soveraign's did not but by the power of particular Acts or Orders in Chapter after he had confirmed the ancient Law of succeeding in the Stall of the immediate Predecessor not to be changed without the Soveraign's License nevertheless excepting Strangers he in the next succeeding Article established this Priviledge upon Himself and Successors That if there were any Place or Stall void the Soveraign at his own pleasure might advance and translate any Knight of the Society into the void Stall so that it were higher than that wherein he sat before This in effect did vacat the ancient Law of succeeding in Stalls by him seemingly confirm'd to Knights-Subjects for afterward Translations preceding to Installations became so frequent that the right an elect-Elect-Knight had to his Predecessors Stall was seldom enjoyed Howbeit hereby he setled a power to gratifie and oblige such of the Knights-Companions as should be thought worthy the honor of advancing without recourse had to a Chapter for a special and particular allowance and from hence the Custom began to issue out Warrants under the Soveraign's Sign manual for the Translation of Stalls some convenient time before the day of Installation approched and consequently the alteration and removal of such of the Knights-Companions Helms Crests Banners and Plates who should receive the honor of a higher Place their Atchievements being by virtue of such Warrants set up over the Stalls to which they were advanced there to remain during the time their owners continued therein And now that we may see in what manner King Henry the Eighth made use of the powers and priviledges setled by the foresaid Articles both as to the removal of Stalls and doing it by special Warrant which is Garters discharge we shall exhibit a few Examples first shewing in what order the Stalls were ranked shortly after passing this Law that by comparing some following years with these Schemes the alteration may with greater readiness be discerned Knights of the Order of the Garter as they stood ranked in their Stalls Anno 17. H. 8. The Soveraign's side The Princes side 1. The Soveraign 1. The Emperor Charles the Fifth 2. Duke of Richmond 2. Archduke of Austria 3. Marquess Dorset 3. Duke of Norfolk 4. Marquess of Exceter 4. Earl of Northumberland 5. Earl of Shrewsbury 5. Duke of Suffolk 6. Earl of Essex 6. Earl of Arundel 7. Earl of Worcester 7. Viscount Lisle 8. Viscount Fitz Walter 8. Lord Bergaveny 9. Lord Dacre 9. Lord Ferrars 10. Lord Dudley 10. Lord Darcy 11. Earl of Westmerland 11. Lord La Ware 12. Earl of Rutland 12. Lord Sandys 13. Viscount Rocheford 13. Sir Richard Wingfield Knights of the Order of the Garter as they stood ranked in their Stalls Anno 18. H. 8. 1. The Soveraign 1. The Emperor Charles the Fifth 2. Duke of Richmond 2. Archduke of Austria 3. Marquess Dorset 3. Duke of Norfolk 4. Marquess of Exceter 4. Earl of Northumberland 5. Earl of Shrewsbury 5. Duke of Suffolk 6. Earl of â—ssex 6. Earl of Arundel 7. Earl of Westmerland 7. Viscount Lisle 8. Viscount Fitz-Walter 8. Lord Bergaveny 9. Earl of Rutland 9. Lord Ferrars 10. Lord Dudley 10. Lord Darcy 11. Void 11. Viscount Rochford 12. Lord Mountjoy 12. Lord Sandys 13. Sir William Fitz Williams 13. Sir Henry Guldeford In the latter of these two Schemes drawn for the Translation of Stalls an 18. H. 8. it may be observ'd first that on the Soveraign's side the Earl of Westmerland was advanced from the eleventh Stall to the seventh being void by the death of the Earl of Worcester The Earl of Rutland from the twelfth to the ninth that being also void by the Lord Dacres death then Viscount Rochford from the thirteenth Stall to the eleventh on the Princess side where the Lord La Ware lately sat but then also deceased And lastly the three newly Elect Knights were thus disposed of at their Installation first the Lord Montjoy into the twelfth Stall then lately void by the removal of the Earl of Rutland next Sir William Fitz Williams into the thirteenth Stall from whence Viscount Rochford was removed and lastly Sir Henry Guldeford into that void by the death of Sir Richard Wingfield viz. the thirteenth on the Princes side but the Stall from whence the Earl of Westmerland was removed remained yet void An appointment for the Translation of Stalls upon admission of Francis the French King An. 19. H. 8. 1. The Soveraign 1. The Emperor 2. The French King 2. The King of Bohemia 3. Duke of Richmond 3. Duke of Norfolk 4. Marquess of Exceter 4. Marquess Dorset 5. Earl of Shrewsbury 5. Duke of Suffolk 6. Earl of Essex 6. Earl of Arundel 7. Earl of Westmerland 7. Viscount Lisle 8. Viscount Fitz Walter 8. Lord Bergaveny 9. Earl of Rutland 9. Lord Ferrars 10. Lord Dudley 10. Lord Darcy 11. Earl of Oxenford 11. Viscount Rochford 12. Lord Mountjoy 12. Lord Sandys 13. Sir William Fitz Williams 13. Sir Henry Guildford The setlement of Stalls made the 26. of Ianuary in the following year affords us these observations First by reason of the French King Election which past the
Mountagu 11. The Lord Robert Dudley 12. The Earl of Northumberland 12. The Earl of Warwick 13. Void 13. The Lord Hunsdon The 14. of May following being appointed for the Installation of Francis Earl of Bedford and Sir Henry Sidney Elected at the same time with the French King the Stalls were removed by the Soveraign's appointment and setled in the following order Elizabeth R. Â 1. The Soveraign 1. The Emperor Ferdinand 2. The King of Spain 2. Void 3. The Duke of Savoy 3. The Constable of France 4. The Earl of Arundel 4. The Duke of Holstein 5. The Marquess of Winchester 5. The Earl of Derby 6. The Earl of Penbroke 6. The Duke of Norfolk 7. The Lord Clynton 7. The Marquess of Northampton 8. The Lord Effingham 8. The Earl of Sussex 9. The Earl of Shrewsbury 9. The Lord Hastings 10. The Viscount Mountagu 10. The Lord Robert Dudley 11. The Earl of Northumberland 11. The Earl of Warwick 12. The Lord Hunsdon 12. The Earl of Bedford 13. Void 13. Sir Henry Sidney Where beside the translation of the Stranger Princes whom we shall mention a little below we see the Marquess of Winchester the Earls of Derby and Penbroke the Duke of Norfolk and the Lord Clynton were each of them seated in the next lower Stall to that they enjoyed before And by the advancement of the Lord Effingham Earl of Shrewsbury Viscount Mountagu and Earl of Northumberland each a Stall higher on the Soveraign's side and the like advance of the Earl of Sussex Lord Hastings Lord Dudley and Earl of Warwick on the Princes side the eighth Stall on the Soveraign's side and that opposite thereunto on the Princes were now filled up The Lord Hunsdon was likewise advanced from the lowest Stall on the Princes side to the twelfth on the Soveraign's and lastly the two elect-Elect-Knights were installed in the twelfth and thirteenth Stall on the Prince's side Beside the power established upon the Soveraign's of this most Noble Order of translating Stalls when a vacancy hapned King Henry the Eighth further added this larger Prerogative That the Soveraign once in his life might if it pleased him make a general Translation of all the Stalls at his pleasure except of Emperors Kings Princes and Dukes who being setled in Stalls agreeable to their Dignities should keep their Stalls and Places if such a general Translation happened unless advanced to a higher Room and Stall In which Translation the long continuance in the Order and the praises worthiness and merits of the Knights-Companions were to be considered and remembred But this branch of the Soveraign's Prerogative in the Order was never yet made use of as we can find though that Translation an 27. H. 8. came somthing neer it perhaps lest it might raise too great animosities among the Knights Subjects forasmuch as that of translating only when there hapned a vacancy Begot great emulations which at length introduced an alteration and to which we shall pass after we have taken notice of a Clause added in the 22. Article of King Henry the Eighth's Statutes relating to Stranger Princes Here therefore it is to be observed that the ancient Law of succeeding in Stalls was also in relation to them whollyaltered For King Henry the Eighth upon the establishment of his Body of Statutes not only appointed those Strangers then present of the Order to be seated next himself but that all Emperors Kings and Princes should hold their Stalls after their Estates and the very next unto the Soveraign though Knights-Subjects upon vacancy became removeable at pleasure Hereupon the Emperor Maximilian the Second and after him Rudolph the Second his Son had the Princes Stall assigned them after their Election into the Order The French Kings Francis the First Henry the Second Charles the Ninth Henry the Third and Henry the Fourth were Installed in the next below being the second on the Soveraign's side And when there were more then one King at a time in the Order the second Stall on the Prince's side was assigned to him of whom the former had precedency allowed him in relation to his State and Dignity not of antiquity in the Order as it was by the King of Bohemia an 19. H. 8. The King of Spain an 8. Eliz. So also upon the same Rule and for the same Reason was somtimes the third Stall on the Soveraign's side possest by Kings as in the cases of Iames the Fifth King of Scotland an 27. H. 8. and Frederick the Third King of Denmark an 25. Eliz. And lastly we find that Princes Strangers were placed next to Kings according to their state as were the Dukes of Savoy Montmorency and Holstein an 3. Eliz. Iohn Casimire Count Palatine of the Rhine an 25. Eliz. and Frederick Prince Palatine and Maurice Prince of Orange an 11. Iac. Regis But notwithstanding these Assignments of Stalls to Strangers they were nevertheless subject to removal somtime to Stalls higher than their own upon the death of a Stranger who died possest of a superior Stall and somtimes again to others lower for the advancing a Knight of greater dignity where the upper Stalls were already fill'd else could they not be placed or hold their Stalls according to their respective States as the Statute doth enjoin nor indeed would any Stranger King since the ancient manner of succeeding in Stalls received alteration have accepted of Election into the Order unless room had been made to seat him in a Stall sutable to his Dignity Instances of Advancement in translation of Stalls are of Ferdinand Emperor of Germany who after the death of the Emperor Charles the Fifth his Brother was advanced from the second Stall on the Prince's side into the Prince's Stall an 1. Eliz. Of Philip the Second King of Spain advanced from the second on the Prince's side to the second on the Soveraign's an 2. Eliz. after the death of the French King Henry the Second Of Henry the Fourth of France advanced from the second on the Soveraign's side to the Prince's Stall an 1. Iac. R. Of Christerne the Fourth King of Denmark an 9. Iac. R. from the second on the Soveraign's side to the said Princes Stall after the death of the French King Henry the Fourth And of Christierne the Fifth King of Denmark advanced from the fourth Stall on the Prince's side to the second on the Soveraign's an 22. Car. 2. Among the Princes Strangers we find Emanuel Duke of Savoy advanced from the third on the Prince's side to the second of the same side an 2. Eliz. Iohn Casimire Count Palatine from the fourth on the Soveraign's side to the third on the â—rince's an 32. Eliz. four years after the Duke of Holstein's death Frederick Prince Palatine an 1. Car. 1. was advanced from the second on the Prince's to the second on the Soveraign's side And Henry Frederick Prince
what occasion it received addition and enlargement First then the form of the ancient Oath which the Statutes of Institution appointed to be taken by the elect-Elect-Knight was very short but comprehensive and was That he should well and faithfully observe to the uttermost of his power all the Statutes of the Order This was the full content of the Oath taken by the first Founders and to which they also affixt their Seals and so it continued without alteration or addition till towards the end of King Edward the Fourth's Reign But at a Chapter held at the Kings Wardrobe in London the 10. of February in the 19. year of the same King it was Decreed That all the Knights-Companions then alive and all such as were afterwards admitted into the Order and that before they took possession of their Stalls should be obliged to take this Oath also That they would aid support and defend with all their power the Royal Colledge of St. George within the Castle of Windesor as well in its possessions as all other things whatsoever In pursuance of which Decree there was a form drawn up wherein both Oaths were joined together and entred in the Black Book the Transcript whereof we have placed in the Appendix But when the Register of the Order pronounced the Oath he premising such compellation as was due to every Elect Knight by name it was altered to the form there likewise following This Clause relating to the maintenance and defence of the liberties of the Colledge we also find retained in the Oath drawn up for the Prince of Wales and entred for a Precedent in the Annals of the Order which we have also thought fit to subjoin to the former But when King Henry the Eighth new modelled the Statutes we observe this Clause to be omitted and some other particulars of another nature added to the general Oath for due observation of the Statutes as first instead of maintaining and defending the Colledge in its rights and possessions there is adjoin'd a Clause to defend the Honors Quarrels Rights Dominions and Cause of the Soveraign to augment the Honor and accomplish all the Statutes Points and Ordinances of the Order as may be seen at large in his Body of Statutes all which we find sum'd up together in that form of the Oath taken by the Earl of Cumberland at his Installation an 29. H. 8. In the third year of King Edward the Sixth at the Installation of the Earl of Huntington and other Elect Knights a new form was agreed on by consent of the Earl of Derby then the Soveraign's Lieutenant and the Knights-Assistants appointed for that Solemnity the alteration being such as the Reformation in Religion and the Soveraign's Interest thought fit to make and to the end the difference between this and former Oaths may be observed it is also inserted in the Appendix But an 1. Eliz. the Blue Book affords us a notable instance of a dispensation for taking the Oath at the Installation of the Duke of Norfolk and others in regard the Rites and Ceremonies of Religion were then altered and no new form of an Oath yet setled for which cause the Earl of Penbroke then the Soveraign's Lieutenant dispensed with their taking any Oath at that time upon promise they would observe such Statutes and Orders as the Soveraign and Knights-Companions should decree to be observed and kept in the next Council of the Order And accordingly within a short time after another Form was Ordained wherein the words of Obligation were put in the Negative And this is the form of the Oath taken by a Knight-Subject at this day it being recorded at the end of the Red Book of the Order both in Latin and English and thence transcribed into the Appendix As soon as the Knight-Elect hath taken the usual Oath he is led by the Knights-Commissioners or Knights-Assistants or Knights-Companions up to the Stall appointed for him through that entrance next beneath it and by them placed before it In the mean time Garter advanceth into the lower row of Stalls to the place where the Elect Knight stood when he took his Oath and from thence he presenteth to them with due Reverence the Mantle Collar and Book of Statutes who invest the Elect Knight first with the Mantle by putting it upon his shoulders But we have met with some Examples where Garter hath delivered the Mantle while the Elect-Knight remained in the lower row of Stalls and wherewith he was invested before he went up to his Stall and these were in the cases of the Earl of Northumberland an 5. Eliz. of Francis Duke of Montmorency and others an 14. Eliz. the Earls of Dunbar and Montgomery an 6. Iac. R. and the present Soveraign an 14. Car. 1. Whereto may be added that those Elect-Knights installed at the Grand Feast of St. George most happily celebrated an 13. Car. 2. were constrained to receive their Investiture below in the Câ—oire yâ—t direâ—tly under their proper Stalls But this hapned through the great câ—â—course of people which at that time had flockt to Windesor greedy to behold the glory of that Solemnity which for many years had been intermitted and rudely forced not only into and fill'd the lower row of Stalls but taken up almost the whole Choire But it is noted in the Red Book that the Investiture with the Mantle and Collar hath been sometimes performed by the Black Rod as at the Installation of the Earl of Northampton an 5. Car. 1. and of the Lord Treasurer Weston the Earls of Exiter and Lindsey and Iames Marquess Hamilton an 6. Car. 1. Nevertheless this is to be understood of this Officers asistance given to the Knights-Companions whose Office it only is and no otherwise Whilst the Ceremony of Investiture with the Mantle is performing the words of Admonition proper thereunto are pronounced and are these that follow Take this Mantle of Heavenly Colour in sign and token of the most honorable Order you have received and to the increase of your honor signed and marked as you see with a red Scutcheon of our Lords Cross to the intent that you being always defended by the virtue and strength thereof may pâ—sâ— through your Enemies and then also overcome and vanquish so that at the last for your worthy and approved acts you may after this temporal Chivalry come to eternal triumphant joys in Heaven But at the Installation of the present Soveraign the received some alteration and were put into this form Receive this Robe of Heavenly Colour the Livery of this most excellent Order in augmentation of thy honor enobled with the Shield and Red Cross of our Lord by whose power thou mayest safely pierce Troops of thy Enemies and be over them ever victorious and being in this temporal warfare glorious in egregious and heroick actions thou mayest obtain eternal and triumphant joy In the
13. Car. 1. for Prorogation of the Grand Feast from the 25. of September then neer at hand unto the 2.3 and 4. of October following And as all the preceding Adjournments of the Grand Feast have been either Decreed in Chapter or directed immediately from the Soveraign So have we also seen a Precedent that hath impowered a Lieutenant to prorogue the same nevertheless to the time and place before appointed by the Soveraign and mentioned in the Commission of Lieutenancy And this was a Commission directed to Charles Earl of Nottingham an 1. Iac. R. wherein after the Soveraign had premised the impediments which hindred him from his personal observation of the said Feast upon the prefixed day then neer approaching he thereby made choice of the said Earl to be his Lieutenant and impowered him to assemble in Chapter upon the Vigil of St. George such of the Knights-Companions as might be conveniently gotten together and then and there to intimate unto them the great causes that withheld him from keeping the Feast at the set time and by virtue of the said Commission to defer the same until the 3. of Iuly following Furthermore charging and requiring all the Knights-Companions not to fail to be present at that day wheresoever the same should happen to be to perform and celebrate with him the said Feast according to the laudable Orders and Institutions of the Order And lastly he required the said Lieutenant to give warning of his pleasure to all other Knights-Companions who should not be present at the Chapter by him assembled SECT X. That the Grand Feast ought to be celebrated once every Year AND though Prorogations of the Grand Feast have been occasionally made use of upon the several and important reasons above discoursed of and sometimes a necessity hath fallen out to appoint two three or four of them in a year by proroguing the Prorogations yet is no such Adjournment legally to be enlarged beyond the next St. George's day ensuing because that every year that is once before the revolution of the year determine the year in this case entring upon St. George's day the Grand Feast ought to be solemnized For so we see it was not only ordained at the Institution of the Order but confirmed by the succeeding Statutes And where our Historians take notice of the Grand Feast they speak the same thing to wit That it ought annually to be observed Hence it is frequently called in the Registers Annua Festivitas Solennitas annua Celebritas annua Epulum quotannis Convivium quotannis and the like Of late times an occasion hapned which brâ—â—ght this Clause of the Statutes into a solemn debate in Chapter which for the result thereof became very remarkable And the Order thereupon drawn up being full and positive not only as to the occasion but also as to the circumstances and determination may not unfitly come in here At a Chapter held in Whitehall the 26. day of February 1640. Present The Soveraign The Earl of Penbroke and Montgomery The Earl of Salisbury The Earl of Holland The Earl of Lindesey The Prince The Earl of Arundel and Surrey The Earl of Dorset The Earl of Berkshire The Lord Marquess Hamilton The Duke of Lenox The Chancellor Garter The Soveraign proposed unto the Knights of the Order that having prorogued the Celebration of the Feast of St. George from time to time unto the first second and third of March so near unto Lent that if the Feast were not held on those days it could not be held within the year because the 23. of April for the next year did fall upon Good-Friday and so consequently must have been kept in Lent for this Year or not at all And considering the great and important Affairs of the Parliament he moved this Question Whether if there were no Feast kept this year it would be any blemish unto the Honor of the Order or not And whether he might not dispence with the Statute and defer it until the next Year requiring the Knights and Companions to consult and to give their opinions therein The result whereof was that though they did all confess an absolute power to dispence in the Soveraign yet some of the Knights proposed unto him that seeing from the Institution until this day there was not found any year wherein the Feast was wholly omitted but that some of his Ancestors though engaged in War beyond the Seas either solemnized the Feast in their own presence or by Commission in England which was averr'd by the Chancellor to be both the fundamental Statute and constant practice They humbly besought the Soveraign not to begin to make a breach in that constant order which hath been so long and uninterruptedly continued whereupon it was resolved by general Vote that the Feast should be celebrated upon those afore appointed days in the last Prorogation By which determination it sufficiently appears of what concernment the then Soveraign and Knights-Companions conceived it to the Honor of the Order and observation of the Statutes for the Grand Feast to be celebrated once within the year Besides we may observe that it was not thought expedient to be dispensed with albeit the weight of important Affairs were justly alledged to ballance the Law and ground a further Prorogation Nay rather than the Statutes should suffer violation the said Feast was accordingly solemnized on the said first second and third days of March although so straitned in time that there was not above two days space to make preparation and provision for the doing of it But within a few years after the unhappy distractions had prevailed so far that the Soveraign was necessitated to assume his power of dispensation in this particular and by continued annual Prorogations from the 22.23 and 24. days of April an 18. of his Reign being then at York to defer the Solemnity from year to year so that during the remainder of his Reign this Grand Celebration had never the fortune to be again observed And here the glory of this solemn Feast began first to set with us unto which succeeded a long night But blessed be God we have lived to behold it rise again and seen the Royal Soveraign and most Illustrious Knights-Companions fill those too long vacant Stalls and late languishing Fabrick with wonted lustre CHAP. XIX OF Preparations FOR THE Grand Feast OF THE ORDER SECT I. Of Letters giving notice of the Time and Place TOwards the setting forth and celebration of this Grand Festival there are several things to be prepared beforehand chiefly such as are usual and of course nevertheless among these we shall have opportunity now and then to touch upon some things extraordinary where the occasion hath invited the Soveraign to give any additional lustre to the state and glory of the Feast The things therefore to be prepared of course are 1. Letters directed to all the Knights-Companions and Officers of the Order resident within the Kingdom to
the Registers and from the Commissions themselves For instance The before recited Deputations made to Iohn Duke of Bedford an 4. H. 6. is said to be done by a sufficient Commission delivered unto him under the Common Seal of the Order So an 8. H. 6. Humfry Duke of Gloucester c. was deputed by a certain Commission signed by the Soveraign under the Common Seal And for holding the Feast an 1. E. 4. Viscount Bourghier was also Deputed by the Soveraign By a fit and suâ—â—icient Commission So also the Earl of Essex an 14. E. 4. by the authority of the Soveraigns Commission In like manner an 18. E. 4. The Lord Dudley was assigned by vertue of the Soveraigns Commission to observe the yearly Feast of St. George and to perform all things according to custom It may be further observed that the Commissions of Lieutenancy as ancient as the Reign of King Henry the Eighth are said in the close to issue forth under the Seal of this most Noble Order So was that to the Duke of Norfolk an 17. H. 8. And also that other to the Marquess of Exceter an 20. H. 8. which runneth thus Yeoven under the Seal of Our Garter c. and according to the Modern expression Given under the Seal c. These Commissions of Lieutenancy an 14. Eliz. and the six following years run under the title of Letters Patent and are so called in the Blue Book but how justly is to be questioned For in one of these Commissions made to the Earl of Lincoln an 15. of the said Queen the conclusion is the same with those other Commissions of like nature of former years viz. Yeoven under the Seal of Our Order at c. and wanteth that Clause or conclusive period from which such instruments as we are informed derive the name of Letters Patent to wit In cujus rei testimonium has liter as nostras fieri fecimus Patentes Again an 12. Eliz. and for seven years after we observe from the said Blue Book that this Officer was made with the consent of all the Knights-Companions a Phrase much like that used elswhere touching the Election of Knights as hath been before taken notice of But if duely examined we shall find this expression of no more strength to entitle the Knights-Companions to a joynt power with the Soveraign for the constituting of a Lieutenant than the other is to make them Coelectors where though something requisite to the obtaining of their consent may seem to be implied in the aforesaid words yet we conceive those expressions were used by the Register as of his own choice rather than such as the Law of the Order will allow of The Dignity of this Officer as he represents the Soveraign's person and supplies his place is very great Which that we may the better set forth we shall distinguish the Honors annexed to this eminent Place as they are essential and necessarily consequent thereto or personal that is such as may additionally be conferred upon him at the pleasure of the Soveraign That this Officer as an essential Honor to his Place hath from ancient time had some of the Knights-Companions assigned him for his Assistants during the whole Feast is evident enough throughout the Registers yet the first mention of Assistants as to the Title particularly given unto such persons we find in the Registrum Chartaceum in the Decree made at a Chapter called at Eltham on St. George's day an 8. H. 8. wherein after the Anniversary of the Grand Feast had been appointed to be observed at Windsor upon the 25. of May then next ensuing and the Marquess of Dorset nominated the Soveraign's Lieutenant the Earl of Essex the Lord de la Ware the Lord Monteagle and Sir Thomas Lovell were appointed Assistants to the said Marquess Another instance in the same Register concerning the celebration of the Grand Feast at Windesor the following year upon the 10. day of May the Earl of Arundel being appointed Lieutenant affirms that the Lords de la Ware and Monteagle and Sir Thomas Lovell and Sir Henry Marney were also appointed Assistants to the said Earl The number of Assistants were in those times uncertain here above we see they were four Anno 21. H. 8. we find but three and afterwards an 32. H. 8. they were reduced unto two which number following times exceeded not except once and that was the last year of the aforesaid King when there were three appointed These Assistants were always appointed in Chapter when the Lieutenant himself was Nominated and afterwards had Letters of notice sent to each of them from the Soveraign requiring their repair to Windesor a Transcript whereof see in the Appendix of which form have we seen several other Letters sent upon the same occasion to each of the Assistants after they had been appointed to the said Service And as before we have noted in the case of Lieutenants themselves it hath sometimes chanced that others were afterwards upon occasion put in the places of those first named so here amongst the Assistants it hath in like manner hapned for the Lord Poynings an 8. H. 8. by the Soveraign's Commission was appointed Assistant to the Lieutenant in the room of the Earl of Essex who had been before nominated And the Earl of Rutland being named one of the Assistants an 22. H. 8. was afterwards excused by the Kings Letters whose place the Lord Montjoy executed So an 29. H. 8. the aforesaid Earl of Rutland falling sick after the time of his nomination and before the approach of the Feast day the Earl of Sussex was substituted Assistant in his place And sometimes a Quorum of Assistants have been nominated as an 3. 4. Ph. Mar. in case some of them should be absent for the Lord Pagit the Lord Clynton the Lord Howard of Effingham and Sir Edward Hastings having been appointed Assistants to attend the Lieutenant at the following Feast it is added that at least any two of them who at that time were neerest to the Kings Court should be there present to assist the Soveraign's Deputy according to his Majesties pleasure as the Custom and their duty obliged Another Honor essential to the Dignity of the Lieutenant is that the Soveraign layes an Injunction upon the rest of the Knights-Companions then present to yield Assistance and Obedience to him in all things as if himself were personally present For so is it enjoyned by the Commission to the aforesaid Iohn Duke of Bedford And generally all Forms of Commissions since close with such like Injunctions of Obedience in the execution of the Soveraign's Authority To these Honors before spoken of we might add some other of the like nature viz. that this great Officer possesseth the Soveraigns Place in all Proceedings and at the Table that he hath his Train carried up that a Reverence is given
Homage of the Dutchy of Britagne and Earldom and Country of Flanders and all other demands that King Edward made or might make to the King of France for what cause soever except such things as by the said Treaty ought to be delivered to him and his Heirs It was also agreed that the King of France should be brought to Calais within three weeks after Midsummer following and should pay for his Ransom three Millions of Escuts of Gold two of which should be worth one Noble English And that there should be paid to King Edward 600000 Escuts of Gold within four Months accounting from the time of the King of France's arrival at Calais and within one year ensuing 400000 Escuts more and from that year every year following 400000 Escuts till the said three Millions were paid And it after appears in the same Roll that King Edward had received 400000 Escuts part of the first 600000 the 24. of October 1360. and for payment of the other 200000 he gave time till Christmas and Lady-day following Furthermore that certain of the Nobility of France aswel of those who were made Prisoners at Poictiers as others should remain Hostages in England for the King of France namely Lewis Earl of Anjou Iohn Earl of Poictiers both Sons to King Iohn the Duke of Orliens his Brother the Duke of Burbon the Earl of Bloys or his Brother the Earl of Alanson or the Lord Peter of Alanson his Brother the Earls of St. Pol Harecourt Pontieu Valentynois Brene Vandemont and Forest the Viscount Beaumont the Lords of Cousy Fienles Preaux St. Venaunt and Garenciers the Dauphin of Auvergne the Lords of Hangest and Montmorency Sir William of Craon Sir Lewis of Harecourt and Sir Iohn Ligny And the Names of the Prisoners were these Lord Philip of France the Earls of Eu Longuevil Pontieu Tankarvile Ieigny Sanceurre Dampmartin Ventadour Salebruche D'auceurre and Vendosme the Lords of Craon and Deruale the Marshal Dodenham and the Lord Daubyny Besides these the King of France was obliged to deliver at Calais within three Months after he departed thence in further pledge for the accomplishment of this Treaty four Persons of Paris two of each of the Towns here named to wit St. Omer Aras Amyens Beauves Lisle Douay Tournay Reyms Chaalons Troies Chartres Thoulouse Lyons Orliens Compeigne Rouen Caen Tours and Bourges and these to be of the most sufficient and best Burgesses of these Towns It was moreover agreed That the King of France and his Heirs Kings of France should quit the Alliances they had with the Scots and never give to that King Kingdom or Subjects present or to come any aid or assistance against the King of England his Heirs or Successors his Realm or Subjects nor make any alliance with the Scots in time to come against the King and Realm of England And the like Article was agreed to by the King of England in reference to his Alliance with the Flemmings There were divers other particulars agreed to on the behalf of both Kings and set down in this Treaty of Peace which we designing brevity do omit but these are the main and principal to our present purpose All things thus finished King Edward immediately left France and landed at Rye the 18. of May following in the Evening and thence the next day came to Westminster And shortly a Writ issued to Sir Iohn Beauchamp then Constable of Dover forthwith to arrest and fit up a sufficient number of Ships to carry over King Iohn and his Family to Calais within the time agreed on and whither he was conducted the 8. of Iuly after The 9. of October King Edward followed where the foresaid Treaty with some few alterations was there ratified and confirmed by Oath of both Kings and several Instruments relating to the full accomplishment of the several Articles thereof were drawn up and sealed with the Great Seals of both Kings all bearing date at Calais the 24. day of October an Dom. 1360. Here also were the Renunciations on either side both absolute and conditional to all the Towns Castles Countries c. to the Resort and Soveraignty c. comprehended in the Articles of Peace drawn up sworn to and sealed at the same time but not exchanged because the King of France was as yet in Calais and Prisoner to King Edward and the Towns c. not as yet delivered But it was then nevertheless agreed and promised that they should be surrendred to the special Deputies on both sides by Midsummer following if it might be and the Renunciations sent at the Assumption of our Lady next ensuing to the Church of the Augustine Fryars at Bruges to be delivered to those Deputed to receive them Or if they were not surrendred till Alhollantide after then the Renunciations were to be delivered in the said Church on St. Andrews day following at which time and place both Kings engaged to send thither and cause to be delivered to the Deputies on both sides theirs and their eldest Sons Renunciations likewise but if they were not accordingly mutually delivered then not any thing agreed on was to take effect But it seems things were not made ready against Midsummer the first of the appointed times for compleating these matters for the 15. of November following King Edward constituted Sir Thomas Vnedale Knight and Thomas de Dunclent Licenciate in the Laws his Agents whom he sent to Bruges with power to make request to the King of France for the effectual accomplishment of all things concluded on as aforesaid and to require that He and his Son should make the Renunciations and Transports according to all the foresaid Agreements made at Calais and upon reception of which he was thereby enabled to give Acquittance in King Edwards name But there was another Instrument dated at Calais the said 24. of Oct. 1360. whereby King Edward was obliged to deliver up to the French King on this side Candlemas an 35. E. 3. the Castles and Fortresses which he held in other parts of France than in those surrendred to him by the French King viz. as they are written in the Record In Champaigne and in Brie Bursant and Ioinville upon the Marn Bourt in Champaigne Ochie Sye upon the Seine the Mote de Triesreine Brugelemens and all other Fortresses taken in these Countries In Nivernois Cornallour Gueillons Anlesy Villers and Mont Epny In Anceurrois and Burgoigne Regennes Legny Malecorne and the Mote de Chauloye In Aurelenoys and Gastinoys The New Castle upon Loire and Mereau au Boys and all other Fortresses in Orlenois in Gastinois in Messien in Beause and in Wenguesin le Francois Within a month following the County of Ponthieu was to be surrendred to King Edward or else Hostages King Edward was also to deliver up the New Castle in Tynerois Beaumont le Choistif Nogent le Rotron and the Ferte de Ville Nevill and all other Fortresses in France and in the Country of Perche and
pardon and restore their Lands The 3. of April in the following year he and 6 other whereof he was to be one were commissionated to treat with David Brus and other Scotchmen his Adherents upon a final Peace or Truce as also upon all debates and differences whatsoever between the King and them and amicably to compose them And the same day he had power likewise given him to grant to Adam Bishop of Brechin to Patrick Earl of March Sir William de Douglas and Sir Thomas de Caruato Knights and William Bullock and other Scotch Men as he should see cause the the King 's special Letters of safe Conduct and Protection for so long time as this Earl thought fit to come into England with as many Horse as he should appoint to treat either of a Truce or Peace with this Earl and others deputed thereto by the King Having in this expedition undertaken upon certain conditions the Custody of the Marches of Scotland the King gave him in reward the 1000. Marks which Io. de Wesenham stood engaged to pay the King for Wooll He went over with the King in his Voyage into Bretagne having under his Command 5. Bannerets 50. Knights 144. Esquires and 200. Archers on Horseback The daily Wages allowed him for himself was 8 s. for each Banneret 4 s. each Knight 2 s. each Esquire 1 s. and each Archer 6 d. At the Siege of Vannes he was constituted one of the Kings Commissioners the other being the Earls of Northampton and Salisbury the Lord Stafford Burghershe Cantelowe Cobham Manneys and Berkley and Mr. Iohn Vfford Archdeacon of Ely where a Truce was concluded for three years The 24. of March an 18. E. 3. The King by his Letters Patent constituted this Noble Earl and Richard Earl of Arundel his Lieutenants in the Dukedom of Aquitaine and the Countries adjoining to govern and defend those Territories to demand and receive the possession of the Castles Places and Rights unjustly detained from him to recover and retain the same by force of Arms if need should be and to receive such as should return to their Obedience to the grace and favour of the King as also the Homage and Fidelity from whomsoever in those parts due and generally to do all things for defence and recovery of the Kings Rights and good Government of those Countries and his Subjects with Command to the Archbishops c. to yield Obedience to them And whereas the King upon false suggestions had been deceived in many of his Grants and Donations in that Dukedom He by other Letters Patents of the same date gave him power to seize into his hands all the Castles Lands Liberties and Profits formerly granted by him and those that should appear to have been obtained upon untrue suggestions to retain without Restitution but upon true to restore entirely A like Commission was given them which extended to the grants made by his Father King Edward the Second upon like pretences as well as by himself They also had a General Commission to treat and conclude with all persons of whatsoever state or condition Kingdom or Nation for the setling of Alliances and mutual Assistance between the King and them to retain men for the Kings Service and to agree about Fees Wages and Rewards to be paid unto them By other Commissions of the same date these two Earls had power to treat and conclude with Alphonsus King of Castile there stiled Alphonsus Rex Castiliae Legionis Toleti Galiciae Siviliae Cordubiae Murciae Gyennii Algarbiae Comes Molmae or his Deputies upon all differences arising between their Subjects especially Mariners and amicably to compose them as also of a perpetual League of Friendship between them c. their Subjects and to afford each other their mutual assistance with Power to make Substitutes in their stead The said Earls had like Commissions with the same Power to treat with the King of Portugal therein stiled Alphonsus Rex Portugaliae Algarbiae And with the King of Aragon stiled therein Petrus Rex Aragoniae Valenciae Majorcae Sardinii Corsicae Comes Barthon Sir Iohn Froissard tells us that some of the Gascoigne Lords came hither about this time to acquaint the King with the weak condition of that Country and City of Bordeaux and to desire relief and that in this Earls company went also the Earls of Penbroke and Oxford the Lord Stafford Sir Walter Manney the Lord Frank de la Hall and divers others of note being about 500 Knights and Esquires and 2000 Archers and having landed at Bayon the 6. of Iune 1344. went thence to Bordeaux His first attempt was upon the Town of Bergerac which surrendred to him and next Longo Castle and le Lake Mandurant he took by assault so also the Castle of Mountgyse Punache and the Castle de la Lewe Forsathe and Pondayre he won with little opposition and the great Town of Laylloyes after three days the chief Town appertaining to the Earl of Laylle who lived as King in those parts of Gascoigne was delivered to him after some dispute After this success he marched to Bonu this he assaulted and took he also took the Castle of Auberoche and the Town of Libourne yielded themselves to him Auberoche being presently after besieged by 12000 French this Earl on St. Laurence Eve assaulted the Enemy in their Tents with 300 Spears and 600 Archers and took the Earl of Laylle and 8 other Earls and Viscounts and 200 Knights and so many Esquires and other Soldiers that each Englishman had 2 or 3 Prisoners many of whom they let go upon their paroll to return to Bergerac or to Bordeaux on a certain day and others they carried with them to Bourdeaux and by this valiant Exploit having relieved the Castle he afterwards disposed of his Army into Winter Quarters and returned into England Upon these great successes the King made him his sole Lieutenant and Captain in the Dutchy of Aquitaine and the parts adjacent with power to do and execute all things that belonged to that Command and gave command to all Archbishops Earls Barons Viscounts Castellans and other persons throughout that Dukedom and adjacent Countries to yield obedience to him as the Kings Lieutenant Five days before the King gave him Commission with power to treat and conclude with all persons of whatsoever state or condition Kingdom or Nation for setling firm alliances and mutual assistance between the King and them as also to retain men for the King's Service and to agree about their Fees Wages and other Rewards The 11 of Iune following Command was sent to the Sheriff of London that forasmuch as the Earl had shipt most of his Horse at Southampton and was ready to depart to make proclamation that all the men at Arms Archers and others who were to go with him should march to Southampton with all possible
to pay into the Exchequer for the Fee Farm of the Mannor of Bollestrade Next he granted him a Pension of 20 Marks per annum for his life out of his Exchequer until Lands of the yearly value of 10 l. should be setled on him The following year he granted him all the Lands and Tenements belonging to Iohn the Son of Henry de Morff in Alnetheley in Shropshire which by forfeiture of the said Iohn Escheated to the King to hold to him and his Heirs for ever Besides these the Prince having retained him in his service as well in Peace as for War granted to him for life a Pension of 50 l. per annum and that it might be more certainly paid he after granted to him his Mannors of Neuyn and Purchely in North Wales for life which the King confirmed Afterwards Henry Earl of Lancaster the Kings Lieutenant in Aquitaine for the good service this Knight had formerly done the King in England Scotland and elsewhere and also to himself in Gascoigne by Letters Patent dated the 12. of November an Dom. 1346. gave him for his life Pedalium Sancti Macharii with all the profits thereto belonging which grant the King confirmed to him an 22. E. 3. This noble Knight was Son and Heir of Roger Loring and Cassandrae Daughter of Reginald Perot He married Margaret Daughter and Heir of Sir Ralph Beauple of Cnubeston in Devonshire by Elizabeth his Wife Daughter and Heir of Alan Bloyho the relict of Stephen Tinterne Esq by whom he had Issue two Daughters and Heirs namely Isabel Wife to Robert Lord Harington and Margaret Wife to Iohn Peyvre of Tuddington in the County of Bedford He died an 9. R. 2. and was buried in the Priory of Dunstable to which he had been a great Benefactor 21. Sir Iohn Chandos THE first Martial Action of his was at St. Quintins for while King Edward in the 13. year of his Reign lay at siege before Cambray being the first Town he sate down before upon his first entrance into France the Earl of Henault made an assault upon St. Quintins where this Esquire so then called by Sir Iohn Froissard fought valiantly with Iohn de St. Dager an Esquire of Vermandois between the Bars and the Gate both manifesting great Courage and Gallantry And in this Expedition he was ranged in the third Battel led by the King which was pitch'd between Vironfosse and Flamengery to encounter the French For his Valour shewn in this Expedition the King bestowed on him the honor of Knighthood and at his return to Antwerpe granted him 20 Marks per annum out of his Exchequer to support that Dignity till he should settle on him Lands to that yearly value for his life When the King led another Army into Flanders designed also against the French he attended him and fought valiantly in the Naval Engagement before Sluce He was in the Voyage Royal made into Normandy an 20. E. 3. and in its march at Poisy he and Sir Basset preserved two of the Lord of Poisy's Daughters from violation and brought them to the King who caused them to be safely conducted to Corbe whither they desired to go At the Battel of Cressy he commanded in the Van led by the Prince of Wales and when this Prince was constituted the Kings Lieutenant in Aquitaine he attended him in that Expedition and by his command summon'd the Castle of Romorentine which held out a while but was at length forced to surrender Marching on with the Prince the Battel of Poictiers approached and on the day before a Truce for that day being obtained by the endeavours of the Cardinal of Piergort this valiant Knight coasted about to make discovery of the French Army as did also the Lord Clerèmont one of the French Marshals and as they returned they met and observed that both of them bore the same device to wit a Lady in blue irradiated with the Sun-beams Cleremont demanded how long he had born his device Chandos answered you bear mine I deny that replied Cleremont and did not the Truce hinder I would make it good To morrow said Chandos you shall find me ready to justifie it to be mine as well as yours and so they parted The next day the Fight begun during which St. Iohn never parted from the Princes side and when he perceived that the French Marshals was discomfited he advised the Prince to advance towards the Kings Battel telling him there was all the hazard and the glory which he accordingly did At the end of this famous Battel when no more French Banners were left in the field he prevailed with the Prince to set up his Standard in a Bush near him to give a signal to his dispersed Army to rally while he took some refreshment An. 33. E. 3. he attended the King in his Expedition into France and being at the siege of Rheyms he and Sir Iames Audeley and the Lord Mucident a Gascoigne with their Troops rode near to Chalons in Champaigne and drawing near to Chargny in Dormois where was a strong Castle they gave an assault to it at which the Lord Mucident being slain they in revenge made a resolution to take it ere they went away which they did putting all to the Sword and demolishing the Castle He was constituted Captain and the Kings Lieutenant in the Dukedom of Normandy and the parts of France and had power given him to grant Pardons for Treason Murder c. and whatsoever he did in this case the King promised to ratifie under his Great Seal After the Peace near Chartres Sir Iohn Chandos was constituted one of King Edward's Commissioners to take possession of the Dutchy of Aquitaine where Sir Iames de Bourbon delivered him the possession of divers Lands Towns Cities Castles and Fortresses whereupon he received the Fealty and Homage of all the Nobility and others Shortly after he was made Captain and Commander in chief of the Castle and Town of Rochel and all the Country of Xâ—ntonge and a command was therewithall sent to Iohn de Monte Ferandi Custos of the said Castle and Town to deliver them up to him with all the Arms Provisions and other the King's Stores in his possession And the following year when the Prince of Wales now created Prince of Guyenne took a Voyage thither he was made Constable of Aquitaine and Sir Guischard d' Angle Marshal When the King of Cyprus came into Aquitaine upon a visit to the Prince he was sent to receive and conduct him to Angolesme where the Prince kept his Court He also waited on him through Xantonge and Poictou to Rochell to view the Country whence he returned to Angolesme where having taken leave of the Prince he yet attended him to the confines of the Principality Charles de Bloys having gained new strength from
aut ab ipso designati ceterorum Commilitonum in suscepto tentóque manifesto Concilio XXXVIII Deâ—iquè quò Discrimen Equitum hujus Ordinis à caeteris cui non sunt â—jusdem tantò clariùs eluceat Supremus ex consensâ—â— Commilitonum omnium vult Ordinâ—t instituit ut abbinc imperpetuum quicuâ—que fuerit Eques istius Ordinis circum cervicem utatur â—ureo Torque triginta unciarum Trojani Ponderis nihil suprà Conficietur autem ille Torques è laminis in formam Subligaris una laminarum duas intùs rosas habebit alteram rubram superiorem albâ—m altera inferiorem albam superiorem rubram In fine verò Torquis illius pendebit Imago Divi Georgii Quo Supremus omnes Ordinis hujus Equites uti tenebuntur praesertim in maximis praecipuis Anni solennitatibus Aliis autem diebus Cathenula utantur Aurea quae Divi Georgii gestabit imaginem in fine nisi gerâ—tur bellum aut gerendum ingruat aegritudo urgeat aut longum iter ineundum sit Tunc etenim sufficiat uti Fibulâ sericâ quae Divi Georgii duntaxat imaginem in fine pendulâ—m habebit Si vero Torques resarciendus sit tradi poterit â—â—rifici ut emendetur Nec debet ille Torques stipari gemmis aut ditari nisi forsan id Imagini fiat quae benè poterit ex arbitratu illius Equitis gemmis aut alitèr exornari Cavendum autem ne Torques hujusmodi vendatur mutuò tradatur aut alienetur ullo modo seu donetur ex ullâ causâ vel necessitudine sed ad cohonest amentum Ordinis Equitis Ordinati conservari debet Here follow the same Statutes as they were put into English shortly after their Establishment wherein some of the Articles are transposed and the 18. Article wholly changed But in all the Copies of them given forth since the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign King Henry's Title of Supream head of the Church of England in Earth under Christ is omitted and some few words noted with an Asterisk altered to those inserted at the foot of the Page whither the Asterisk directs The Statutes and Ordinances of the most Noble Ordre of Saint George named the Gartier Reformed explained declared and renewed by the moost High moste excellent and mooste puissant Prince Henry the viii by the Grace of God Kyng of England and of Fraunce Defensor of the Faith Lorde of Irland c. WHereas the moost famous moost happiest and victorious Prynce Edwarde the thirde of that name his Noble Progenitour somtyme Kyng of England and of Fraunce and Lorde of Irland c. To th' onnoâ—re of almighti God and of the blessed and immaculate Virgyn Marie and the blessid Martir Sainte George Patron of the right noble Roialme of England and of Saynt Edwarde Kyng and Confessauâ— To the exaltation of the holy Faith Catholique Drdeyned Established created and founded within the Castel of Wyndesore a company of xxvi Noble and Worthi Knyghtes for to be of the said moost Noble Drdre of Saynt George named the Gartier and for the honorable continuance augmentation and interteyning of the same The seid moost victorious Kyng did devyse and institute divers honorable Estatuts and laudable Ordinances for to be observed and kept by the cobrethern and confreres Knightes and Compaynons of the said moost Noble Order amonge the which Estatutis been certeyne doubtis and ambiguities which to be more playnly declared interpreted and extended it is thought right necessary and expedient And that certeyne other new Ordinances and Articles be to the said Statutes added and adjoyned Wherefore the said moost excellent and victorious Prynce Henry the viii Kynge of England and of France Defensor of the Faith and Lord of Irland and Soveragne of the said moost Noble Order and for the right singular love good zeal ardent and intier affection that his royall Majestie hath and bearith to the said moost Noble Order and to the estate of Chivalrie and Knyghthod And for the honorablâ— contynuance and encreasing of the same And also at the humble requeste and instante destre of the Knyghts and Companyons of the said Noble Order And by their advyse councell and assent the xxiii day of April in the year of grace M.D.XXII and of his moost noble reigh the viii yere made interpretacion and declaracion of the Obscurities doubtis and ambiguities of the said Estatutes Ordinances Interpretacions declaracions reformacions with their additions aforesaid after the â—rew intencion of them shall be from hensforth observed kept and ensued by the Soverayne and the Knyghtes Confreres and Companyons of the said Noble Order in manner and fourme followyng I. Firste It is Ordened and accorded that the Kyng and his Heires and Successors Kyngs of England shall be for evermore Soveraynes of the saide moost Noble Order and amiable Companye of Saynt George named the Gartier to the which Soverayn and to his Heires and Successours shall apperteine the declaracion solucion determinacion interpretacion Reformacion and disposition of all causes concernyng and towchyng any thyng of obscuritie or dowbte conteyned in the Statutes of the said moost Noble Order II. Item it is accorded that none shall be elected and chosen for to be Felow or Companion of the said moost Noble Order excepte that he be a Gentilman of blood and that he be a Knyghte and without roproche And that the Knyghtes of the said Noble Order from hensforth shall not name any person in their Election to be Felow or Companyon of the said Noble Order in whome thei shall thynke or extiem in their conscience to have spotte of Reprâ—che And as towchyng the declaration of a Gentilman of blode it is declared and determined that he shall be decended of three decentis of Noblesse that is to say of name and of armes bothe of his Father's side and also of his Mother's side and as towchyng or concernyng any maner of reproche forasmoche as there be divers and many sundri pâ—yntis of reproche there shall be here declared but three poyntis of them oonly as is declared in manner and fourme folowying The first poynt of Reproche ys that if any Knyght os God defende be convaynqued or attaynted of errour against the Cristen Faith Catholique or had for any suche Offence suffred any payne or punicion publique The second poynt of Reproche is that if any Knyght as God defende had bene ararayned convicted or attainted or High Treason The third poynt of Reproache is that if any Knyght departe or flee away from batayle or journei beyng with his Soverayne Lord his Lieutenant or Deputie or other Capetayne bavyng the Kyng's power Royal and auâ—toritie and whereas Banners Estandatz or Pennons have bene displaied and that thei preceded to fight he that then renioufly and cowardly flieth or departith away from thens ought to be estiemeâ— and judged to have reproche and never worthi to be electe Knyght or Felow of the said Company And if it fortune that any Knyght of the
sone after his election the Garter in signyfyeng that he ys one of the Knyghtes and Felowes of th' Ordre of the Garter and his Robe and Node shall be delivered hym in the Chapter-howse incontinently after that his Commission hath bene red before the Soverayne or his Deputie and the Company and after that shall be led by two Knyghtes of the said Order accompaned with the other noble-men And the Officers of the Order shall also be present and his Mantell shall be borne before hym by one of the Knyghtis of the said Order or by the Kyng at Armes of the Order The which Mantell shall be delyvered to hym for his habit after that he shall have made his othe before his Stall and not before And this done he shall retorne unto the Chapter howse where he shall reseyve by the Soverayne or his Deputie The coler and soo he shall have the full possession of his habit holely except great Prynces straungers the which may receyve their habit holely within the Chapter howse as it hath been used and accustomed in tymes past for the shortenyng of tyme. And if he die before he have Receyved hys habit he shall not be named one of the Founders seyng that he lacketh to have full possession of his astate But he shall have the one halfe of the Masses above-named for the delyverance of the Garter and none other thynge above it And if he soo chosen come not in all good diligence after the recepcion of the said Garter in the said place for to be stalled and in specyally within the yere of his Election if he be a Knyght dwellyng within the Realme and hathe none excuse reasonable allowable and acceptable to the said Soverayn or to his Deputie and the Company Then the Election shall bee voyde of hym and the Soverayne or his Deputie and the Company shall goo and make another new election and neyther the Banner the Sworde nor the Helmet nor Crest of hym so chosen be put upon his Stall within the Castell before his commyng To th' ende that if he come not his said Hachementis as Banner Sworde Helmet be not taken down nor abaled but honestly put oute of the Qâ—yer and the reast of other thyngs shall abyde to the profitt and use of the saide Order XXII Item it is agreed that if any of the Dukes Marques Erles Vizcontes Barons Banerettis or Bachelers die That he that shall come after and succede in his place and rome be he Duke Merques Erle Vizcounte Baron Baneret Bacheler or any of the astates above-named he shall have the selffe same stalle that his Predecessor had and shall not chaunge it without he have especiall lycense or Warrant of the said Soverayne allweyes all Emperours Kyngs and Prynces be excepted the which shall kepe and holde theyr Stalles after theyr astate and very nexte unto the Soverayne And then by thys meane a Duke shall take the stall of a Bacheler and a Bacheler the stall of a Duke in signe and knowlege of the fyrst Founders XXIII Item if there be eny place or stall voyde the Soverayn at his pleasure may aâ—vance and translate by his speciall license any Knyght of the said Company in the said stall so be it that it be more hyer then the stall that he was in afore Alsoe the Soverayne ouys in his lyffe may if it please hym make a general translation of all the states at his pleasure excepte of Emperours Kyngs Prynces and Dâ—kes The which allwey shall kepe ther places and stalles if not that they be translated in more hyer rome and stall in the whiche translacion the long contynuance in th' Ordre and the prayses worthynes and merites of the Knyghtes ought to be considered and remembred The which Knyghtes from hensforth in goyng and syttyng at all tymes that they shall were their Mantels shall kepe their places after the Order of their stallis and not after their astatis as is aforesaid XXIV Item it is agreed that all the Felowis abovesaid at their first commyng in shall gyve every of them a certayne somme after their astate for the entertaynyng and mayntenance of the Canons and Poor Knyghtes dwellyng in the seid place and for the almes dedes that is there perpetualli ordenyd That is to wytt the Soverayne xl markes a straunger Kyng xxl. The Prince xx markes every Duke xl every Marques viii l. vi s. viii d. every Erle x. markes every Vizcounte exvi s. viii d. every Baron and Baneret c s. every Bacheler v. markes and their Baners Helmetts Crestis and Swordis shalle not be sett over their stalles untyll the tyme that they have payed at their entryng the foresaid sommes every one after his astate and degree whereof he is And it ys to witt that the Soverayne is bounde to pay for every straunger that shall be chosen and electe whan he shall be stalled in his propre parson or by procurement or attornay and these gyftes be gieven to th'entent that every one of them that shall entre into th' Ordre be more worthy to have the name title and privilege of one of the Founders of the said Order XXV Item it ys agreed that every Knyght within the yere of his stallation shall cause to be made a Scouchon of his armes and hachementis in a plate of metall suche as shall please hym and that it be merly sett upon the backe of his stall And the other that shall come after shall have their Scochons and Hachements in like maner but their Plats of metall nor there hachements shall not be soo large nor soo greatte as they of the first Founders were excepte strangers which may use their plates and fashions at their pleasure XXVI Item it ys aggreed that no Knyght chosen and electe for to be Felow of of the said Noble Order shall nott be stalled by procurement or attorney excepte he be a straunger and may not well come hyther in his propre parson for to be stalled or other that is busied withoute the Realme for the affaires of the Soverayn or by his commaundement and lycence as it is above declared XXVII Item that every Knyght entryng in the said Order shall promes and swere faithfully to observe and kepe the poyntis and articles that here followeth That is to witt that to his trew powre he shall helpe duryng his lyffe and duryng the tyme that he shall be Felow of the said Order for to kepe defende and sustayne the honor quarrelles rightes and lordshippes of the Soverayne of the said Order Item that with all his powre he shall enforce hymselffe and take payne honorably to entertayne and augment the said Order And if it happen hym for to knowe any thynge that were ymagyned or procured to the contrarye of the defence and resistence of this with all his trew power he shall put hymself in more gretter endevorment Item that well and trewly he shall accomplishe and entertayne all the Statuts poyntis and ordynances of the
Chapter held at York the twentieth day of April in the eighteenth year of our Reign elected and chosen Companions of our said most Noble Order but by reason of the succeeding distractions and Râ—â—ellions in this our Kingdom their Installations at our said Castle of Windesor could not according to the Statutes aforesaid be celebrated and performed by reason the same hath been ever sithence and still is in the possession of the Rebels Know ye that we as Soveraign of the said most Noble Order unto whom the power of dispensing with any of the said Statutes is reserved have thought fit to dispence in regard the not performance of the Statutes hath not been by the default of these elected Knights and by these presents do accordingly dispence with the Installations of our aforesaid Son and Nephew both for time and place when and where those Installations are and ought to be made willing and ordaining that they and either of them shall by virtue of this our Dispensation at all times hereafter be held reputed and taken to be Companions of our said most Noble Order And shall have possess and enjoy all manner of Titles places preheminencies Votes Ornaments and Priviledges of the same as if they or either of them had been formally and actually installed at our said Castle of Windesor any Law Statute or Ordinâ—â—ce made to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding Provided always and we do hâ—râ—by declare that our said most dear Son and our entirely beloved Nephew shall notwithstanding these our Letters of Dispensation first take the Oath usually taken by the Knights at thâ—â—r Installation and hereafter act and perform all such Rights and Ceremonies as are accustomed at the Installations of the Companions of our said most Noble Order of the Garter when it shall be thought fit and pâ—ssible for them to perform the same at our Castle of Windesor aforesaid And that this our Dispensation made upon such most weighty and urgent necessities shall not be drawn into consequence or example in time to come Given under the Great Seal of our Order and our hand first superscribed thereunto at our Palace at Oxford this seventeenth of January in the twentieth year of our Reign 1644. NUM XVI A Dispensation for want of a full number of Knights to constitute a Chapter of Election and their entring the Chapter without Mantles Palmer's large Iournal Charles R. CHARLES by the Grace of God c. Soveraign of the most Noble Order of the Garter To all the Knights and Companions of our most Noble Order Greeting Whereas we have determined upon the death of divers of our Knights and vacancy of their Stalls to hâ—ld a Chapter of Election here in our city of York and because there are not now attending on our person a sufficient number of 6 Knights and being now in our Army they have not their Mantles ready in which case by the ancient Statutes of our Order there could be no Election nor any Knight ought to enter into the Chapter so without our Royal Dispensation We of our supream power and authority as Soveraign of our Order do by these our Letters dispence with both the said Statutes of want of Number and entring the Chapter without Mantles and do hereby give leave to all our Knights attending our presence to hold a Chapter of Election by giving their Votes according to Custom in other Scruteniâ—s Given under the Great Seal of our Order the 12. of September in the sixteenth year of our Reign 1640. NUM XVII A Dispensation for the not appearing of the Knights with their Robes at the three Chapters held before the 15. of April 1661. and want of a competent and usual Number of Knights Ex Collect. E. W. G. Charles R. WHereas by the ancient and evermore observed Statutes of the most Noble Order of the Garter it is expresly provided that no less than the Number of six Knights or Companions of the same besides the Soveraign or his Lieutenant should make up a compleat Chapter and that none of the said Knights and Companions should enter into the said Chapter without having on their long Mantles or upper Robes of the Order We having designed the 15.16 and 17. days of April next for the Instalment of divers Elect Knights in the place of the deceased and for the celebration of the Feast of St. George at our Castle of Windesor upon which occasion and for the resolving upon sundry preparatories to the same being to deliberate with the ancient Knights of the Order who are neither in number sufficient to make up a Chapter or all of them provided with Robes by reason of the late troubles to supply both defects both in the present and other subsequent Chapters which we may have occasion to assemble before the said Instalment and Festival We as Soveraign of the said Order have and do dispence with the Statutes of it as to those particulars and are graciously pleased that those two defects notwithstanding the aforesaid present and ensuing Chapters shall be as legal and of as much force and validity as if the number of the Companions required by the Statutes were full and compleat and the Companions that do or are to compose them had their Mantles or upper Robes on them Given under our Signet of the Order at Whitehall the 29. day of March 1661. NUM XVIII A Letter signifying Election and a Summons to receive Investiture with the Garter and George MS. penes W. le N. Cl. RIght trusty and well beloved we greet you well Ascertaining you that in consideration as well of your approved truth and fidelity as also of your couragious and valiant acts of Knighthood with other your probable merits experientially known in sundry parties and behalf We with the Companions of the Noble Order of the Garter assembled at Election holden this day within this our Mannor of Greenwich have elected and chosen you amongst others to be one of the Companions of the said Order as your said merits condignly require And therefore we will that with convenient diligence upon the sight thereof ye address you unto our presence to receive such things as to the said Order appertaineth Given under our Signet at the Mannor of Greenwich the 24. day of April NUM XIX A Letter signifying Election sent with the Garter and George MS. 4. penes Arthur Com. Anglesey p. 131. b. RIght trusty and well-beloved we greet you well giving you to understand that in consideration as well of your approved fidelity in the service of Us and our Realm at all times shewed and for the increase of Honor and Virtue in you We with the Companions of our Noble Order of the Garter assembled at the Election holden the 24. day of April last past within our Palace at Westminster have Elected and Chosen you among others to be one of the Companions of our said Order as your merits condignly do require Wherefore we have sent unto you by our trusty and
Walter Devereux Lord Ferrers into the said Ordre and receive his Othe and install him but also further to do therein as to the Statutes and laudable usages of the said Noble Order it appertaineth And these our Letters shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge in that behalf Yeven undre our Seale of our said Gartier at our Castell of Windesore the xxi day of August the xv year of our Reign NUM XXVII Another Ex Collect. I. V. Elizabeth R. ELIZABETH by the Grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland and Soveraign of the most Noble Order of the Garter To our right trustly and right well-beloved Câ—zen and Counsellor Francis Earl of Bâ—dford and to our right trusty and right well-beloved Anthony Viscount Mountague Companions â—f our Noble Order of the Garter Forasâ—uâ—h as we for divers reasonable causes cannot be present at our Castell of Windesor on the 19. of June next ensuing where we have determined to have installed our right trusty and right well-beloved Cozens William Earl of Worcester and Henry Earl of Huntingdon as Knights of ouâ— said Order of the Garter We therefâ—re by these presents name constitute appoint and ordain you to be our Deputies giving you full power and authority to admit and install our said Cozens of Worcester and Huntingdon and to do and accomplish every thing which thereunto belongeth and hath been accustomed for the due admittance and installing of the said Earls of Worcester and Huntingdon willing and commanding by the tenor hereof all and every the Companions and Officers of the said Order to be to you in the executing of this our authority obeying and attending as shall appertain Given under the Seal of our saâ—d Order at our honor of Hampton-Court the 12. of June 1570. in the 12. year of our Reign NUM XXVIII Another Ex ipso Autogr. Aerar Coll. Wind. Charles R. CHARLES by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and Soveraign of the most Noble Order of the Garter To our right trusty and right well well-beloved Cosens and Councellors William Earl of Salisbury and Henry Earl of Holland Knights and Companions of our said Order Greeting Whereas we with you and others the Knights and Companions of our said Order assembled in a Chapter holden at our Palace of Westminster the 24. day of April being the morrow after the day of St. George last past did elect and chuse our right trusty and right well-beloved Cousen Algernon Earle of Northumberland to be a Knight and Companion of our said Order And whereas we have appointed the 13. day of this present Month of May for the time of his Installation at Windesor We do therefore let you know that we have named and assigned you the said Earls of Salisbury and Holland and by these presents do name assign and appoint you two to be Commissioners for the Inâ—tallation of our said Cousin the Earl of Northumberland as aforesaid And accordingly we do hereby give unto you full power and authority not only to accept and admit him into our said Order and to take his Oath but also to do and accomplish whatsoever else is needful to be done for his full Installation according to the Statutes Rules and Customs of our said Order For which purpose it is our pleasure that you make your repair to our Castle of Windesor so as you may be there on Wednesday at night being the 13. of this present May to the end that you may then proceed to the said Installation according to this our Commission Given under the Seal of our said Order at our Palace of Westminster the 11. day of May 1635. and in the 11. year of our Raign NUM XXIX Another Ex Collect. W. le N. Cl. PHilip and Mary c. To our right trusty and right well-beloved Cosen the Earl of Huntington and to our right trusty and well-beloved the Lord Clynton Companions and Knights of the Noble Order of the Garter Greeting Forasmuch as we with other Companions of the said Noble Order assembled at a Chapter holden at our Honour of Hampton Court the 24. of April last past have elected and chosen our right trusty and right well-beloved the Viscount Mountague to be Knight and Companion of the said Noble Order We therefore will and by the presents authorise and license you not only to accept and admit the said Viscount Mountague into the said Order and to receive his Oath and install him accordingly but also further to do therein as to the Statutes and laudable Customs of the said Noble Order appertaineth And these our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and discharge in this behalf Yeoven under the Seal of our said Order the 12. of October the 2. and 3. year of our Raigns NUM XXX A Letter of Summons to the Commissioners appointed for Installation Ex Collect. I. V. By the Queen RIght trusty and well-beloved we greet you well and whereas we have appointed you together with our right trusty and right well-beloved Cosen and Councellor the Earl of Lincoln to be in Commission for the Installation in our Castle of Windesor of our right trusty and right well-beloved Cosens Henry Earl of Derby and Henry Earl of Penbroke being lately chosen Knights of our Order of the Garter We have thought it good not only to give you knowledge hereof by these our Letters but also to require you to make your repair to our said Castle of Windesor so as you may be there on Wednesday the 19. day of this Moneth to the end that upon Thursday the 20. day of this present Moneth of May they may proceed to their Installations accordingly Yeven under our Signet at our Palais of Westminster the 17. day of May in the 16. year of our Reign To our right trusty and well-beloved the Viscount Mountague one of the Companions of our Order The like Letter mutatis mutandis was under the same date directed to the Earl of Lincoln joined in Commission with him NUM XXXI A Letter of Summons to an Elect-Knight for his repair to Windesor to be Installed Ex ipso Autogr. Charles R. RIght trusty and well-beloved Cousen We greet you well Whereas in consideration of your approved fidelity and extraordinary services performed by you for us We lately elected and chose you to be one of the Companions of our most Noble Order of the Garter and in token thereof did send unto you the George and Ribband part of the Ensigns of our said Order and having at a Chapter held at White-hall the 14. day of January last past appointed to celebrate the Feast of St. George at our Castle of Windesor upon the 15.16 and 17. days of April next ensuing We do hereby require you to make your repair to our Castle of Windesor so as you be there on Monday the 15. of April next by Noon that in the Afternoon of the said day you may proceed to your Installation according
other Ceremonies whereunto by the Statutes of the said Order he is bounden and for that cause hath by our special license appointed our trusty and well-beloved Sir Henry Sidney Knight sufficiently authorized as his deputy and procurer to be installed in his name and to receive his Oath and to perform all other such things and Ceremonies for him as by the Statutes and Ordinances of the said Order be requisite We therefore in consideration of the premisses will and by these presents give unto you full power licence and authority not only to accept and admit the said Sir Henry Sidney to be Deputy and procurer for our said well-beloved Cousen the said Earl of Warwick and to install him in the behalf of the said Earl but also further to do therein as to the Statutes and laudable usages of the said Noble Order in this case appertaineth And these our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and discharge in this behalf Yeven under the Seal of our said Order at our Palleys of Westminster the 20. day of May in the fifth Year of our Reign NUM LIV. A Letter giving notice to the Soveraign's Commissioners of the day of Installation of a Knight-Subject by his Proxy Ibidem By the Queen RIght trusty and right well-beloved Cousen we greet you well And whereas we have appointed you together with our right trusty and well-beloved Counsellor the Lord Hastinges of Loughborow our Lord Chamberlen to be in Commission for the stallment in our Castell of Windesore of our right trusty and well-beloved the Lord Grey of Wilton being lately chosen to be of the Fellowship and a Companion of our Noble Order of the Garter And forasmuch as the same Lord Grey is presently Prisoner with the French King and therefore cannot be installed in his own person Our pleasure is that he shall be installed by Sir Humfry Radclysse Knight whom we have appointed to be his Deputy in that behalf And therefore have thought good not only to give you knowledge thereof by these our Letters but also to require you to make your repair to our said Castell of Windesore so as you may be there by Tuesday at night being the 19. of this present moneth to the end that upon Wednesday next being the xx of this same moneth he may proceed to the said Installation accordingly Yeven under the Seal of our said Order at our Mannor of Greenwich the xvi of April the fourth and fifth years of our Reigns To our right trusty and right well-beloved Cousen Th'Erle of Huntington Compaignion and Knight of our Noble Order of the Garter NUM LV. The Oath given to Sir Robesart's Proxy Ex Regist. Chartac fol. 5. a. MOY Thomas Barr Chivaler procureur a mon Maister Sire John Robesart eslieux d'èstre de l'honourable compaignie du Garter promete jure en lalme en nomme de mon dite Maister de loialment garder observer les pointes queconquez de lez estatutz du dite Ordre en cea que a luy pertiendra selonc le forme effecte dez estatuz susditz selonc son loial povoir NUM LVI The Oath given to the Lord Scroope's Proxy Ex Collect. I. V. YOV being Deputy and Procurer for the Lord Scroope of Bolton named and chosen to be one of the Companions of the most honourable Order of the Garter shall in the said Lords name promise and swear by the holy Evangelists by you here touched that the said Lord wittingly and willingly shall not break any Statutes of the said Order or any Article in them contained the same being agreeable and not repugnant to the Laws of Almighty God and the Laws of this Realm as for forth as unto him belongeth and appertaineth As God you help and his holy Word NUM LVII The Certificate of Election to the French King Henry the Second MS. quart penes W. le N. f. 109. b. TReshault trespuissant Prince trescher tresaymé bon frere Cousin tant si affectueusement que faire pouvons a vous nous recommendons Comme par la tresgrande noblesse prouesse aultres grandes vertus merites de vostre tresnoble personne tant approuvés que justement la fame en est par tout cognue oultre ce pour tant plus augmenter faire accroistre la bonne fraternelle amitié consederation d'entre vous nous nos Royaumes Subjects avons assemblé en deué Collegialle ancienne maniere avec les Chevaliers de nostre Ordre du Jarretiere an Chapitre tenu celebrè en nostre manoir de Greenwich le xxiv jour D'avril derniere passè avons tous ensemble d'un Commun unanime consentiment vouloir esleu choisi nommé vostre tresnoble personne au nombre de nostre dit amiable Compagnie Ordre du Jarretiere de la quelle Election il nous a semble bon vous advertir par cestes vous priant trescordiallement treshault trespuissant Prince trescher tresamé bon frere Cousin de faire cest boneur a nous toute la dite Compaignie de consentir a la dite Election en acceptant pour l'amour de nous comme par ce vous nous feres chose tres-agreable ainsi nous estimerons nostre dit Ordre d'autant plus garni decoré come entendres plus amplement par nos Ambassadeurs qui pour ceste cause sont prests a partir par devers vous Parquoy nous ne vous tiendrons ny plus long propos Ains prions le Createur treshaut trespuissant Prince trescher tresaime bon frere Cousin vous avoir en sa tressainte digne garde Excript a nostre Manoir de Greenwich le jour de May 1551. NUM LVIII A Credential Letter sent to Emanuel Duke of Savoy with the Habit and Ensigns of the Order Ex MS. 4. penes W. le N. Cl. fol. 110. TResbault tresexcellent Prince trescher bien aimé Cousin a vous bien affectucusement nous nous recommendons Comme sur l'advertissement que nous vous feismes de vostre Election icy au nombre amiable Compaignie de nos confreres Chevaliers Compaignons de nostre Ordre de la Jarretiere vous avez signifié depuis vostre bonne pronte acceptation singulier contentement de la dite Election si desirant affectueusement qu'elle pregne son den effect Nous avons prontement à ce despeché devers vous nostre tresseal bien aimé le Sieur de Clinton Say Chevalier Compagnon du dit Ordre nostre seal bien aimé Gartiere Roy d' Armes de l'Ordre avec ample pouvoir Commission non seullement pour vous presenter bailler donner de par nous la Jarretiete manteau aultres ensignes appartenantes au dit Ordre mais aussi faire tout aultre chose en tel cas accoustumé requise come ferious si nous y fussions en
si praesentes essemus In cujus rei testimonium bas Literas nostras manu nostrâ subscriptas Sigillo dicti Ordinis Garterii communiri fecimus Datae è Regiâ nostrâ Grenewici 27. die Mensis Junii anno salutis Humanae supra millesimum quingentesimum octuagesimo secundo regni verò nostri vicesimo quarto ELIZABETHA NUM LXVIII Another for delivery of them to Henry the Third of France MS. 4. penes Arthur Com. Anglesey p. 63. b. ELizabeth by the grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To all those to whom these presents shall come Greeting Forasmuch as the right high right excellent and right mighty Prince our right dear and right well-beloved Brother and Cozen the most Christian King Henry of France as well for his right great Nobility gifts and virtues singular wherewith God had endued him the renown whereof is dispersed and divulged throughout and that the more to augment and establish the good amity and intelligence which is between us and our said good Brother he hath been not long since by us and our felow Brethren the Knights and Companions of our Order of the Garter in our Castell of Windesore assembled chosen Knight and Companion of the same Order in place there vacant We willing and desiring affectiously the same Election to take its due effect and perfection give to understand that We trusting in the fidelities discretions and diligence of our right dear and well-beloved Cozen the Earl of Darby Knight and Companion of our said Order and of our faithful and well-beloved Sir Edward Stafford Knight our Embassador resident with our said good Brother have ordained committed and deputed and do ordain commit and depute them by these presents our Embassadors Procurators and Messengers especial And we give them power authority and especial charge to go unto our said good Brother and to present and give him from us the Garter the Mantle and other Ensigns by us presently sent unto him with all the Ceremonies and Solemnities due and accustomed to be presented given and delivered in such case And furthermore to do and dispatch all other things which unto them shall be thought necessary in that behalf even so as we our selves ought and might do if we were there in our own proper person In witness whereof we have subscribed these presents with our own proper hand and thereunto caused the Seal of our said Order of the Garter to be put Dated at our Mannor of Greenwich the xx day of January the year of our Lord 1584. and of our Reign the 27. ELIZABETH NUM LXIX Another for Delivery of them to Henry the Fourth of France Ex Collect. W. le N. Cl. ELizabeth par la grace de Dieu Royne d' Angleterre France Irlande Defenseur de la Foy c. A tous ceux qui ces presents verront salut Comme le treshault tresexcellent trespuissant Prince nostre treseber tresamè frere Cousin le Roy tresebrestien Henry de France de Navarre tant pour sa treshaulte noblesse dons vertus singuliers dont Dieu l'a orné l'a renommé s'en est par tout divulguée esparse que pour tant plus augmenter establir la bonne amitié intelligence qui est entre nous nostre dit bon frere ait este n'aguares par nous nos Confreres Compagnons de nostre Ordre de la Jartiere en nostre Chasteau de Windsore assembles esteâ— Chevalier Compagnon d'icelluy Ordre en lieu là vacant voulans desirans affectucusement la dite Election sortir son deu effect perfection Sâ—â—voir faisons que Nous confians es feautes disâ—retions diligences de nostre tresâ—her bien aimé Cousin le Comie de Shrewsbury Chevalier Compagnon de nostre dit Ordre de nostre feal bien aimé Guillaume Dethick Iartier nostre premier Roy d' Armes c. d'icelluy Ordre les avons Ordonne Commis Deputé Ordonnons Commettons Deputons par ces presentes Nos Ambassadeurs procureurs messagiers especials leur donnons pouvoir authorité mandement especial d'eux trouver vers nostre dit bon frere de luy presenter donner de par nous la Jarretiâ—re Robe Manteau Collier les autres ensâ—ignes par nous presentement a luy envoyées avecques toutes les Ceremonies Solennités deuës accoustumées d'â—stre presentées baillées données en tel cas Et oultre ce faire expedier toutes autres choses que à iccux sembleront necessaires en â—â—st endroit tout ainsi que faire deburions pourrions si y estions en nostre propre personne En tesmoign de ce avons soubseserit de nostre propre main ces presentes y fait mettre le Seel du dit Ordre de la Jartiere Donné a nostre maison de Greenwich le 6. jour de Septembre L'an de grace Mil cinque cens quatre vingts seize de nostre Reigne le trente huitiâ—sme ELIZABETH NUM LXX Another for their Delivery to Christian the Fourth King of Denmark Ex Collect. W. le N. Cl. JAcobus Dei gratiá Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor c. Vniversis singulis Patentes hasce litteras nostras lecturis inspecturis salutem Cum multae justissime sint causae cur nos serenissimo Principi fratri consanguinco nostro charissimo Christiano Dei gratiá Daniae Norvegiae Gothorum Vandalorumque Regi Omnia benevolentie atque amicitiae Officia praestare atque honores quantum in nobis est maximos atque amplissimos tribuere debeamus ob cas causas more institutóque Majorum qui maximis principibus nobilissimis atque exemiá virtute praeditis hominibus hunc honorem semper habuerunt Regem illum propinquitate atque amicitiâ nobis conjunctissimum in corum numerum asciverimus totiusque societatis consensu elegerimus qui celeberrimo atque illustrissimo Garterii ut appellatur Ordine apud nos honorantur ideirco notum atq testatum omnibus esse volumus nos pro fide prudentiá diligentiâ Nobilissimi viri Cognati nostri Rogeri Comitis Rutlandiae itemque spectabilis viri Gulielmi Segar armigeri Regis Armorum Ordinis nobis spectatâ atque exploratâ illos assignâsse fecisse constituisse perque hasce litteras assignare facere constituere certos indubitatos Ambasciatorés procuratores Oratores nostros iisque potestatem autboritatem speciale mandatum dedisse ad praefatum Regem fratrem consanguineum nostrum proficiscendi eâ—que nostro nomine pro nobis Subligaculum Trabeam reliqua illustrissimi Ordinis nostri Garterii insignia hoc tempore à nobis ad illum transmissa deferendi tradendi atque donandi ad omnia deniquè quà m poterunt officiosissime ac religiosissime praestanda
and brotherly amity between us and our said good Sister to chuse and associate us into the Company of Knights of the same Order and for that effect hath deputed towards us our dear and well-beloved Cousin the Earl of Derby Knight and Companion of the same Order to whom and Sir Edward Stafford Knight her Ambassador resident with us she hath given power by her Letters Patents of the 20. day of January last past to present and give unto us on her behalf the Garter the Mantel and other Ensigns of the same Order which she hath sent us which they have done with the Ceremonies and Solemnities in such case requisite and accustomed For these causes liking the said Election and Association We have accepted and do accept the said Order of the Garter with honor and do promise to keep the Statutes thereof which also have been given us in writing upon the same assurance that the said Lady the Queen our good Sister hath them given Vs and the Declaration and Protestation which we have made that we be not constrained and bound unto things contrary and derogatory to our Religion Catholick Greatness and Majesty Royal and to the Statutes and Ordinances of our two Orders of the blessed Holy Spirit and of St. Michael as it is contained in the Act of our Oath which thereof we have made and given In witness whereof we have signed these presents with our hand and thereunto caused to be put our Seal Given at Paris the 12. day of March in the year of our Lord 1585. and of our Reign the 11. Henry NUM CXIX Another from Gustaâ—us Adolphus King of Sweden Sir Tho. Rowe's Iournal p. 208. GUstavus Adolphus Dei gratiâ Suecorum Gothorum Vandalorum Rex Magnus Princeps Finlandiae Dux Esthoniae Careliae Ingraeque Dominus c. Omnibus hasce literas lecturis vel audituris Salutem Quandoquidem complacuit seremissimo ac potentissimo Principi Domino Carolo Dei gratiâ Magnae Britanniae Franciae Hiberniae Regi Fidei Defensori fratri consanguineo amico nostro charissimo nobilissimi Ordinis Aureae Periscelidis Magistro reliquóque inclyto caetui Equitum ac Commilitonum illustrissmi bujus Ordinis in expressissimam amoris tesseram ac mutuam inter nos initam amicitiam arctioribus necessitudinis vinculis devinciendaem confirmandam Nos etiam eligere associare in Collegium Equitum bujus Ordinis atque in hunc finem Oratores Procuratores indubitatos Legatos suos constituere atque ablegare ad nos Nobilissimum virum de conclavi suo Dominum Jacohum Spens de Wormeston Equitem auraetum spectabiles viros Petrum Young Armigerum ex Nobilibus in Cubiculo presentiae suae ministrantibus unum Henricum Saintgeorgium Armigerum ex Heraldis suis ad Arma unum plenariá ipsis potestate concessâ— ac diplomate suo abunde ipsis fide adstructa munitá publico Sigillo Ordinis dato vigesimâ quartâ— Junii jam elapsi deferendi donandi atque tradendi nobis ipsum auream Periscelidem Torquem rosatum Sancti Georgii Imagunculas reliquasque vestes trabeatas in solenni harum Ceremoniarum celebratione debite requisitas a suá serenitate ad nos transmissas Idcircò haec omnia ab ipsis ritè administrata peracta agnoscimus fatemur ac praesentium Literarum tenore omnibus testatum volumus nostri electionem assumptionem in â—ujus Collegit sodalitium nobis gratissima fuisse ac fore Nosâ— Insignia Ordinis decenti cum honore suscepisse ac sancte in lâ—ges ac Statuta ejus per procuratores nostros loco ac tempore praeâ—â—itulis juraturos ea ipsâ cautione quae à suae serenitatis deputatis nobis scripto exhibita fuit videlicet Nos religioâ—è observaturos Articulos hujus Ordinis in omnibus quae Religioni à nobis professae dignitati ac Majestati nostrae Regiae nullatenus derogarent aut aliis Articulis ordinibus quos antebac suscepimus adversarentur atque hanc ipsissimam juramenti nostri sormulam esse cupimus quando solennis contestatio per procuratores nostros nostro nomine futura est quando ejus exemplar in acta referri contigerit In cujus rei testimonium praesentes propria nostrâ manu subscriptas Sigilli Regii appositione communiri jussimus Actum in Castris nostris ad Wormdit die sextá Mensis Octobris Anno supra Millesimum sexcentisimo vigesimo septimo Gustavus Adolphus NUM CXX Another from Charles King of Sweden Ex ipso Autographo CArolus Dei Gratiá Succorum Gothorum Vandalorumque Rex Princeps haereditarius Magnus Princeps Finlandiae Dux Scaviae Esthoniae Livoniae Careliae Bremae Verdae Stetini Pomeraniae Cassubiae Vandaliae Princeps Rugiae Dominus Ingriae Vismariae nèc nòn Comes Palatinus Rheâ—i Bavariae Juliaci Cliviae Montium Dux Omnibus hasce lecturis vel audituris salutem Quandoquidem complacuit serenissimo ac potentissimo Principi Consanguineo Amico Faederato nostro charissimo Domino Carolo ejus nominis secundo câdem gratiâ Magnae Britanniae Franciae Hiberniae Regi Fidei Defensori Nobilissimi Ordinis Aureae Periscelidis Magistro reliquoque inclyto caetui Equitum ac Commilitonum illustrissimi hujus Ordinis in expressissimam Amoris Tesseram mutuam inter nos initam amicitiam arctioribus necessitudinis vinculis devinciendam confirmandam Nos etiam eligere associare in collegium Equitum hujus Ordinis atque in hunc finem Oratores indubitatos Procuratores suos constituere oblegare Legatum suum extraordinarium Conciliarumque suum Illustrem nobis sincerè dilectum Dominum Carolum Comitem Carliolensem Vice-Comitem Howard de Morpeth Baronem Dacre de Gilisland loeum tenentem generalem in Comitatibus Westmorlandiae Cumbriae spectabilem virum Dominum Henricum St. George è primariis officialibus suis ad Arma unum vulgò Richmond Herald plenariâ ipsis potestate concessâ ac fide ipsis abunde astructâ Diplomate publico Sigillo Ordinis datoque in Palatio Alb-aulae apud Westmonasterium vicesimo nono die Mensis Novembris Anno Domini nuper praeterito Millesimo sexcentesimo sexagesimo octavo deferendi donandi atque tradendi Nobis ipsam auream Periscelidem torquem rosatum Sancti Georgii imagunculas reliquasque vestes trabeatas in solenni harum ceremoniarum celebratione debite requisitas à Majestate suâ ad nos transmissas ldcircò haec omnia ab ipsis ritè administrata peracta agnoscimus fatemur ac praesentium literarum tenore omnibus testatum volumus nosti Electionem Assumptionem in hujus Collegii sodalitium Nobis gratissimum fuisse ac fore Nosque insignia Ordinis decenti cum honore suscepisse ac sancte in Leges Statuta ejus per procuratores nostros loco ac tempore praestitutis juraturos eâ videlicet cautione Nos religiosè observaturos articulos hujus Ordinis in omnibus quae Religioni
reception de la dicte Jartiere du Collier Habit que leur est envoié par la Souverain du dit Order qu'ils auront certifié avoir le dit Jartiere Collier Habit un sufficient Depuâ—é Procureur selon l'estat de son Seigneur Maistre moyennâ—ns qu'il soit Chevalier sans reproche pour estre miâ— en sa place y estant faire son serment y estre admis par au nom de son dit Seigneur Maistre Scavoir vous faisons que nous desirans pour le respect â—ue nous portons a la Royne nostre dicte Soeur Cousine l'estime que nous faisons du dict Ordre satisfaire qu'a nous est au contenu des dits Statutes en ce que touche la dite prise de possesion prestation de serment recognoissance que pouâ— cest effect nous ne pourrons saire melleur ou plus convenable election que de vostre personne pour les bonnes louables qualitiés qui sont en vons les tesmoignages que vous avez rendus en divers occasions de vostre affection au bien avantage de nos affaires service vous avons Commis Deputé Commettons Deputons par ces presentes signées de nostre main pour vous trausporter en Angleterre vous trouver a la prochain ceremonie qui se fera du dicti Ordre pour prendre possession de nostre place en iceluy selon la forme ordinaire si besoigne est faire le serment en nostre Nom ainsi que l'ou à accoustumé de fairé gardant au surplus les solemnites en tel cas requises generalment faire tout ce que vous adviserés necessaire pour l'effect dessus ores qu'il y eust chose qui requist mandement plus special qu'il n'est contenu en ces dits presents par lesquelles de ce faire vous avons donné donnoâ—s plain pouvoir puissance authorité commission mandement special Cartel est nostre plaisir Donné a Paris le vingtiesme jour de Avrill l'an de grace mil six cent de nostre Reigne le onziesme Henry Duneuville NUM CXXIV A Precedent of a Commission for Installation of an Elect-Knight Ex lib. Nig. p. 315. HENRICUS Dei gratiâ invictissimus Rex Angliae Franciae Fidei Defensor Dominus Hiberniae Ordinis Divi Georgii supremus fidelibus ac praedilectis Cognatis nostris N. S. D. P. Quoniam intelligimus quod illustrissimus ac potentissimus Princeps N. vel Dominus aut vir inclytus N quem nuper in Socium nostri Ordinis elegimus non possit ipse commodè advenire ut in â—ollegio nostro de more in sedem suam introducatur alias ibi Ceremonias ritè perimpleat juxta quod ex Statutis ipsis obligatur ob id virum bene nobilem ac honorandum N. misit ut sedem nomine suo possideat juramentum praestet caeteraque perficiat quae Statuta requirunt Nos ideò noâ—iscum ista reputantes Volumus virtute praesentium eam vobis authoritatem addimus ut hunc procuratorem ejus ac deputatum non solùm admittere sed caetera quaeque facere valeates quae ad Statuta consuetudinesque laudabiles attinere videbuntur Et hae literae nostrae vos tuebuntur Sub Sigillo nostri Ordinis N. die Mensis N. Anno regni nostri N. NUM CXXV A Commission for the Installation of Guido Vbaldus Duke of Vrbin Ex Collect. W. D. N. HEnry by the grace of God King of England and of France and Lord of Ireland Soveraign of the Noble Ordre of the Garter To our right trusty and right well-beloved Cousins the Marquess of Dorset The Earl of Surrey our Treasurer of England and the Earl of Shrewsbury Steward of our Household Companions of the said Order greeting Forasmuch as we understand that the right noble Prince Gwe de Ubaldis Duke of Urbin who was heretofore elected to be one of the Companions of the said Noble Order cannot conveniently repair into this our Realm personally to be installed in the Collegial Church of that Order and to perform other Ceremonies whereunto by the Statutz of the said Order he is bound But for that intent and purpose hath sent a right honorable personage Balthasar de Castilione Knight sufficiently authorised as his Proctor to be installed in his name and to perform all other things for him to the Statutes and Ordinances of the said Order requisite and appertaining We therefore in consideration of the premisses will and by these presents give unto you license full power and authority not only to accept and admit the said Balthasar as Proctor for the same Duke and to receive his Oath and install him in the lieu and place and for the said Duke but also farther to do therein as to the Statutes and laudable usages of the said Order it appertaineth and this our writing shall be to you and every of you sufficient discharge in that behalf Given under the Seal of the said Noble Order of the Garter at our Mannor of Grenewiche the vii day of Novembre the xxii year of our Reign NUM CXXVI Another for the Installation of Emanuel Duke of Savoy Ex Collect. A. V. W. PHilip and Mary by the grace of God King and Queen of England France Naples Hierusalem and Ireland Defenders of the Faith Princes of Spain and Cicily Archdukes of Austria Dukes of Millayne Burgundy and Braband Counts of Haspurge Flaunders and Tyroll and Soveraigns of the Noble Order of the Garter To our right trusty and well-beloved the Lord Clynton and the Lord Paget Knights and Companions of the said Noble Order Greeting Forasmuch as we understand that the right high and mighty Prince and our entirely beloved Cousin Emanuel Philibert Duke of Savoy and Prince of Piemont c. and our right trusty and well-beloved Counsellor the Lord William Howard of Effingham high Admiral of England were heretofore elected to be Knights and Companions of the said Noble Order of the Garter which Emanuel Duke of Savoy Prince of Piemont c. cannot conveniently repair unto our Castle of Windesore personally to be installed in the Collegiate Chappel of that Order and to perform other Ceremonies whereunto by the Statutes of the said Order he is bounden and for that cause hath sent a right noble personage Johan Thomas L'angusto des Contes de Stropiane sufficiently authorised as his Deputy and Proctor to be installed in his name and to receive his Oath and to perform all other such things and Ceremonies for him as to the Statutes and Ordinances of the said Order be requisite and appertain We therefore in consideration of the premises will and by these presents give unto you full power license and authority not only to accept and admit the said Johan Thomas L'angusto des Contes de Stropiane to be Deputy and Proctor for our said