Elias Ashmole

“ Order and Regularity is not only the Beauty and Symmetry of Government and Societies, but also greatly contributes to their Establishment and Perpetuity. Statutes and Rules are as well the Bounds to determine, as Bonds to unite Fellowship and Societies together ”

“ And tho’ King Edward advanc’d the Honour of the Garter, as to denominate the Order, yet was it not to enhance Reputation to, or perpetuate an effeminate Occasion, but to adorn Martial Prowess, with Honours, Rewards and Splendor; to increase Vertue and Valour in the Hearts of his Nobility, that so true Worth, after long and hazardous Exploits, should not enviously be depriv’d of that Glory which it hath intrinsically deserv’d, and that active and hardy Youths might not want a Spur in their Progression in the Paths of Vertue, which is to be esteem’d glorious and eternal. ”

“ When any Knight-Companion hath received a Summons, to appear at a Chapter of Election, and doth wilfully refuse, or withdraw himself, he was to be mulct a Mark for his Disobedience, which King Henry VIII’s Statutes inlarged to twenty Shillings, payable to the Dean and College of Windsor, to pray for defunct Souls. ”

“ The Ensigns of the Order are not to be withdrawn from a Knight, during Life, unless Guilty of some of those Marks of Reproach, set down in King Henry VIII’s Statutes, viz. Heresy, Treason, or Flying from Battle: It has sometimes been found, that Prodigality has been made a fourth Point, where a Knight has so wasted his Estate, as to be incapable of supporting his Dignity. ”

“ Any elected poor Knight, before he take any Commodity of his Room, shall take a corporal Oath before the Dean, to be faithful and true to the Crown, and that for the time of their tarrying there to truly observe the Statutes and Ordinances upon the Penalties contain’d in the said Statutes.
The 25th Article is a Dispensation for those poor Knights chosen before these Statutes, who were not certainly known Gentlemen, yet Men well reported for Honesty, and meet to be relieved; but with an Intent that none hereafter be admitted, unless a Gentleman born, agreeable to the first Order. ”

“ The Injunction in the Statutes of Institution takes Order, that the Persons designed for Election, should be free from all Reproach, and of untaintted Reputation; and according to those of King Henry V. are to be the best and most sufficient Knights, and freest from Reproach. To the same purpose the Exemplar in the Black-Book, Such as are fittest, and whom they who Nominate believe to be free from Ignominy and Dishonour. ”

“ To which all of them being well inclin’d, entertain’d the Motion with equal Joy and Applause, deeming it would prove a very great Advancement to Piety, Nobility and Vertue, and likewise an excellent Expedient for the uniting not only his Subjects one with another, but all Foreigners conjunctively with them, in the Bonds of Amity and Peace. And ’tis very improbable the prudent Founder should summon his Nobles to consult about the Grandeur of an Order, that had taken its Rise from so slight an Occasion as the dropping of a Garter from a Lady’s Leg. ”

“ When a Knight-Companion is found Guilty of any of the Offences mentioned in King Henry VIII’s Statutes, he is usually degraded at the next Chapter, of which the Sovereign gives the Knights-Companions previous notice; and then commands Garter to attend such of them as are appointed to go to the Convict Knight, who, in a solemn manner, first takes from him the George and Ribbond, and then his Garter. ”

“ Whereas it having anciently been the Office of Garter, King of Arms, to disperse and send Letters of Prorogation, Dispensation, and other Commands of the Sovereign, to the absent Knights, which in many Cases must be chargeable, it was this Day order’d, That if he should send any Act of Favour or Dispensation to any Knight, absent from his Majesty’s Court, or four Miles from the City of London, he to whom such Dispensation should be sent, should pay his Servant or Messenger, for every Day’s Travel, as much as is allow’d and paid any other Messengers of his Majesty’s House or Chamber. ”

“ Greater Respect is conferr’d upon foreign Princes, who receive their Election here, than abroad; because the Sovereign most usually performs the Investiture himself; as was solemniz’d upon Philip, King of Castile, when the Sovereign took the Garter from the King at Arms, and fixed it on his Leg, and Prince Henry fasten’d the Buckle.
Queen Elizabeth her self buckled the Garter about the Leg of John Casimier, Count Palatine of the Rhine, and hung about his Neck a Gold Chain with the George at it. ”

“ Not that an Order was actually erected at that Time: Besides, the Jollity of the Season, the Greatness of the Concourse, and the Splendidness of the Festivity, it was too busy a Time to suffer much Consultation tending thereunto; or at least to mould and model a Design so compleat and substantial, as it appears to have been even at first. If we joyn Fabian, he is plain, that tho’ the King design’d the Institution at the End of the Festival, (which he places between Candlemas and Lent, in the 19th, and not 18th Year of that King) Yet was it not then, saith he, but afterwards establish’d by him. ”

“ All Knights might carry Gold and Silver, be array’d in rich Cotton, have the use of painted and gilt Vessels, and wear Shoes; but the common People only the earthen sort; neither might they carry Shoes nor Attire themselves, but in a gross Stuff. Every Order had their Lodging assign’d them in the Palace, distinguish’d by their proper Ensigns: The first was the Lodging of the Prince, the second of Eagles, the third of Lyons and Tygers, and the fourth of Grey Knights. ”

“ For to whom, next to the Great Sovereign of the Garter, whose true Heir You are, in all manner of Virtue and Honour, could this Treatise have recourse for Protection, but to Your Royal Highness, who are the Premier Knight of this Most Noble Order, and the standing Grace and Ornament of it.
BUT far above all particular Views, are the unspeakable Blessings derived to these Kingdoms, by the SUCCESSION of Your Illustrious Royal House: Every Briton seems new Born, and to have borrow’d fresh influence from its Glorious Presence. ”

“ In the mean time the rest of the Degrees and Persons, which made up the Proceeding on the Eve of the Feast, take their several Stations then appointed them, to attend the Sovereign’s coming out of the Presence-Chamber.
When the Sovereign, having the Knights-Companions, and Officers of the Order before him, has entered the Presence, the Sword is delivered to the Nobleman appointed to bear it; and after the usual Salutations, the Proceeding sets forward to the Chappel in the same Order as on the Eve; the Knights-Companions having their Trains born by some of their own Gentlemen. ”

“ From an Hill (says he) that rises with a gentle Ascent, it enjoyeth a most delightful Prospect round about; foreright, in the Front, it overlooketh a Vale, lying out far and wide, garnished with Corn Fields, flourishing with Meadows, deck’d with Groves on either side, and watered with the most mild and calm River Thames. Behind it arise Hills every where, neither rough nor over high, attired, as it were with Woods, and even dedicated, as one would say, by Nature, to hunting Game. ”

“ Though the Prorogations of the Grand Feast have been occasionally made use of on the aforesaid important Reasons, yet no such Adjournment or Prorogation is legally to be inlarged beyond St. George’s Day ensuing; because once within the compass of every Year, the Grand Feast ought to be solemniz’d; for so it was ordained by the Statutes at the Institution of the Order, and confirmed likewise by the succeeding Statutes. And when our Historians take notice of the Grand Feast, they speak of the same thing, that it ought Annually to be performed ”

“ Selden observes Miles to be equivocal: and that in the old feodal Laws of the Empire it signify’d a Gentleman, as the Word Gentleman is signify’d in Nobilis; and with us it hath been frequently used to denote both Gentlemen, and Knights; for Milites denotes Gentlemen, or great Freeholders, and not dubbed Knights, viz. such who hold by Knights Service from a Lord of a Mannour, and such who are chosen from the several Counties to serve in the High Courts of Parliament.
Miles, even in the Saxon Times, denoted sometimes a Dignity. ”

“ When the Habit or part of it ought to be worn is the next thing we shall speak of.
The more solemn Days and Occasions which require a fuller conformity, and the wearing the whole Habit, i. e. the Garter, Mantle, Surcoat, Hood, Collar, Great George, and Cap, are first, The High Festival of the Order, commonly called St. George’s Feast, whether it be solemnized on the 22d, 23d or 24th of April, annually, or any other Days within the Year by Prorogation, as is apparent by all the Bodies of the Statutes. ”

“ Having shewn the Dignity and Honours of the Equestrian Order among the Romans, we shall now touch upon the Degrees of Knighthood which have been Personal, and may be comprehended under the Modern Title of Equites Aurati, or Milites Simplices, (as distinguish’d from the several Orders of Chivalry, instituted in Christendom.) In the Circumstance of whose Creation we confess, nothing in the Roman Ordo Equestris hath place, tho’ that might be the Ground and Original of the Dignity, and one common End in both, namely, the Pursuit of Military Exploits, and Service in the Wars. ”

“ The Clerk of the Closet stands at the Sovereign’s right Hand, but the young Noblemen, that carry up the Sovereign, and the Gentleman of the Robes, sometimes repose themselves on the Steps going to the Sovereign’s Stall. ”

“ The Dean and Chapter are to weigh well and debate at their yearly Chapters all things fit to be dispatched in reference to the College Affairs, and whatsoever Determination they come to, not repugnant to their Statutes, all Persons are firmly obliged to observe.
The Deans have no Institution from any Bishop, but his Institution, Investiture, and Installation into the Custos-ship, Canonship, and Prebendship, is conferred from such of the Canons Resident, to whom the King (who collates) doth recommend him. ”

“ Such like Considerations mov’d and excited the victorious King Edward III. (after he had determin’d the Erection of this most renown’d Order of the Garter) to devise and institute several laudable Statutes and Ordinances, to be duly observ’d and kept within the said Order; which being collected into one Body, are call’d The Statutes of Institution.
The Original of these was ordain’d to be kept within the Treasury of the College of Windsor, but hath long since wholly perish’d; yet a Transcript of them is recorded in the Reign of King Henry V. in an old Book call’d Registrum Ordinis Chartaceum. ”

“ The Offering of Atchievements. § 3. A third Honour paid to the defunct Knight, is a most solemn Offering up his Atchievements at the High Altar; namely, the Banner of his Arms, his Sword, Helmet, and Crest, with its Mantlings; all which had been set up over his Stall at his Installation. The Ceremony of Offering these Ensigns does not appear to have been regulated at the Institution of the Order, but rather added as an additional Honour, by King Henry V. and the manner thereof set down in the fourteenth Article of his Body of Statutes. ”

“ I shall now deliver a brief Account of the Religious Orders of Knighthood, proceeding according to their Antiquity.
1. The Knights of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem,
are accounted the most Ancient. Dr. Heylin reports this Order to be instituted A. D. 1099. at such Time as the Temple of Jerusalem was regain’d from the Saracens by Philip King of France. Yet Favin will have it to be by Baldwin the First, King of Jerusalem; for while the Saracens possess’d the City, there were certain Canons Regular of St. Augustin, to whom they permitted the Custody of the Holy Sepulchre. ”

“ The Queen and the King’s Mother rode in a Chair, covered with rich Cloth of Gold, drawn by six Coursers finely Harnass’d, and twenty one Ladies, habited in Crimson Velvet, rode on white Palfries: Sir Roger Cotton, Master of the Queen’s Horse, led her Horse of State, whereon was a Saddle of Cloth of Gold, and three Crowns of Silver gilt; as soon as they alighted, the Sovereign and Knights-Companions proceeded to the Chapter-House, and thence to Evening Song, which ended, they return’d in the Order they came. ”

“ Now for a Person to behave himself cowardly in the Fight, abandon his Colours, leave his Prince, Friends, and Companions, in hazard of Life, are undoubtedly Concerns of a very high and reproachful Nature, and draw down Dishonour upon the Order, the Sovereign, and Knights Companions, and a sufficient indication of a pusilanimous Mind; that prefers to drag an infamous Life, and makes his Honour a Sacrifice to a reproachful Safety ”

“ Our most dear and entirely beloved Son, having, to our great Comfort, seen and considered the ripeness of your Youth, and conceived joyful and pregnant Hopes of your manly Virtue, in which we are assured you will increase, to your own Honour, both in Prowess, Wisdom, Justice, and all Princely Endowments; and that the Emulation of Chevalry will, in your tender Years, provoke and encourage you, to pursue the Glory of Heroick Actions, befitting your Royal Birth, and our Care and Education. ”

“ There were to be Thirteen Canons Secular, who at the Time of their Institution, or within a Year, were to be Priests, and as many Vicars already Priests, or to be made so at the next Ordination, answerable to the number of the Knights-Companions; these religious Persons to be presented by the several Founders each one, and upon the Death or Vacancy of such presented, the Sovereign of the Order ever afterwards to have the Nomination of them, who were bound to pray for the good Estate of the Sovereign and his Kingdom, and particularly for this Order. ”