Knight of the Garter

“ The Knights-Companions being all seated, the Prelate and Chancellor pass into the middle of the Choir, and having made double Reverences, return to their Forms, and sit down. And after them, in the same manner, the Register, Garter, and Black-Rod, proceed.
As to the Sovereign’s other Attendants, the Nobleman who carries the Sword retires before the Sovereign’s Stall, a little on the right Hand; and the Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold, if not a Knight of the Garter, and the Vice Chamberlain, on the left, till the Sovereign give them leave to sit down. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Further, every knight was bound to wear the Garter in public, wherever he might be, on pain of a mulct of half a mark. Equally obligatory was it on the knight, in whatever part of the world he was residing, or however he was engaged, to wear the sanguine mantle of the order from the eve of St. George till vesper-time on the morrow of the festival. Some of the chevaliers who were in distant lands must have caused as much surprise by their costume, as a Blue-coat boy does, wandering in his strangely-colored garb, in the streets of Paris. ”

“ I should uncommonly like to be a Knight of the Garter?" If such there be, let him forswear this column and pass on to the Cotton Market or the Education Bill. Here we cater for those in whom the historic instinct is combined with picturesque sensibility, and who love to trace the stream of the national life as it flows through long-descended rites. Lord Acton wrote finely of "Institutions which incorporate tradition and prolong the reign of the dead." No institution fulfils this ideal more absolutely than the Order of the Garter. One need not always "commence with the Deluge" ”

“ Overlooked, receiving no indemnity for his losses, promises had, indeed, been made him, but which remained unfulfilled; while his enemy and rival, skilled in all the arts of deception, sported also in all the lustre of a favourite, received fresh rewards, was decorated with the red riband, and installed a Knight of the Garter. ”

“ Henry VIIth’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey is the locality in which the installation of the different knights takes place. The statutes of the order authorize the degradation of a knight “convicted of heresy against the Articles of the Christian religion;” or who has been “attainted of high treason,” or of “cowardly flying from some field of battle.” It is rather curious that felony is not made a ground of degradation. The Duke of Ormond was the last Knight of the Garter who was degraded, for treason against George I. Addison, after the degradation, invariably speaks of him as “the late Duke.” ”

“ When a Knight dies or is degraded, his banner is removed and that of his successor is hoisted in its place, whilst a small brass plate is left as a lasting record of each succeeding Knight in each of the stalls.
The Garter itself is of blue ribbon edged with gold, and has a buckle and pendent of gold richly chased. Round the Garter in gold is the motto of the Order, “Honi soit qui mal y pense.” The Garter is worn below the left knee by a Knight, and round the left arm above the elbow by a Lady. ”

“ The black Velvet Cap before-mentioned and described, with the Helm, Crest, and Mantlings, together with a Sword and Girdle, are to be got in readiness by the care and direction of the Garter, but at the Expence of the Knights elect; all which are to be set over his Stall, as soon as his Installation Fees are paid.
This Honour, that every Knight-Companion shall have his Helm, Crest, and Sword, affixed over his Stall at the Chappel of St. George, is particularly provided for in all the several Bodies of Statutes ”

“ Howbeit, the Custom is otherwise as to wearing the Garter, the principal Ensign of the Order; for tho’ it be injoyned to be wore at the grand Festivals, &c. yet it does not imply that it might be left off: For indeed it ought daily to be worn both by the Sovereign and Knights Companions. And therefore was it decreed even in its Institution, That if any Knight-Companion should in publick be found without one buckled about his Leg, upon Challenge he should be mulct a Noble to the Dean and College of Windsor. ”

“ From that, not from my liege, I turn away.
The countess, naturally, has the best of the argument, and shames the king. In this pleasant light is she presented by both chronicler and poet, and the lady, chiefly to honor whom the Order of the Garter was constructed upon the basis of the Order of the Blue Thong, was worthy of all the distinctive homage that could be rendered to her by knight or king. ”

“ He was appointed master of the staghounds north of the Trent on 8 July 1738, and on 20 March 1741 was elected a knight of the Garter. On 17 April 1741 he became one of the lords of the bedchamber, a post, however, which he did not long retain. ”

“ We with the Companions of our most Noble Order of the Garter, assembled in Chapter, holden this present Day, at our Castle of Windsor; have Elected and Chosen you one of the Companions of our Order. In Signification whereof, we have sent unto you, by our Trusty and Well-Beloved Servant, Sir John Burrough Knight-Garter, and our principal King of Arms, these our Royal Letters, requiring you to make your speedy repair unto us, to receive the Ensigns of our most Noble Order, and to be ready for your Installation, upon the 21st Day of this present Month. ”

“ But to-day one chiefly sees it at dinners. A tradition of the Order requires a Knight dining with a brother-Knight to wear it, and after dinner one may meet it at an evening party. The disuse of knee-breeches, except in Royal company, makes it practically impossible to display the actual Garter; unless one chooses to follow the example of the seventh Duke of Bedford, who, being of a skinny habit and feeling the cold intensely, yet desiring to display his Garter, used to wear it buckled round the trouser of his left leg. ”

“ To all and singular as well nobles and gentills as others to whom these presents shall come, we, Sir Gilbert Dethicke, knight, alias Garter, principall kinge of armes for the Order of the Garter, Robte. ”

“ Partisans, not of his own faction, have censured his going publicly to mass soon after his accession; but it must be remembered that the Knights of the Garter, in the collar of their order, complacently accompanied him, and that the Duke of Norfolk was the only knight who left him at the door of the chapel.
He had little of the knight in him in his method of love, if one may so speak. He cared little for beauty; so little, that his brother Charles remarked that he believed James selected his mistresses by way of penance. ”

“ Right grave and honorable, that importeth much—
‘Evil be to him,’ it saith, ‘that evil thinks.’”
Elizabeth was distinguished for loving to hold newly-chosen knights in suspense, before she ratified their election by her approval. The anniversary banquets too fell into disuse during her reign, and she introduced the most unworthy knight that had ever stood upon the record of the order. This was Charles IX. of France. On the other hand she sent the Garter to Henri Quatre. ”

“ No elect Knight can be installed, unless by the Sovereign of the Order himself, or by his Commission drawn up in Writing, and passed under the Great-Seal of the Order, directed either to his Lieutenant or Knights-Commissioners. There is but one Instance to be found, where the Sovereign hath been pleased to Honour a Knight by installing of him himself ”

“ Next, the Register and Garter claim both Droits and Fees, for their Service and Attendance, having a greater share of Business than any other Officer of the Order. As to the first of these, it was ordained by the Constitutions of his Office; That as often as any Knight should happen to be installed, he might challenge for himself the Garments wore by him, immediately before his Investiture with the Surcoat of the Order. And the constant Practice hath interpreted this to be the Knight’s upper Garment, anciently a short Gown, of later times a Cloak, but now a Coat ”

“ But there are some remarkable differences between these Knights and Knights-Batchelors; as in the Occasions and Circumstances of their Creations, the Baneret being not Created, unless at a Time when the King’s Standard is erected, and that he bears his own Banner in the Field; whilst the Knight-Batchelor follows that which is anothers. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In Times of extraordinary Danger, and great Battles, they were to have another singular and solemn Banner; every Knight was to have his Esquire armed at all Points, a little Valet for his Lance and Helmet, a bigger to carry his Mail, and a third to lead his Sumpter; Five Horses, and Four Servants were to attend him in all Warlike Expeditions, and Two or Three Horses and Servants in all Times of Peace. The Number of these Knights of the Holy Chevalry was 1000 or 1100.
33. The Order of the Brician Knights in Sweden. ”

“ The King of England, his Heirs and Successors, are to be Sovereigns or Superiors of this Order.
2. None are to be admitted, unless he be a Gentleman of Blood, and that he be a Knight and without Reproach.
3. The Knights-Companions were to be Twenty Six, each to have at Windsor a Mantle and Garter for the better Splendor of the Order; to wear the said Habit whensoever they go to the Chapel of St. George or Chapter-House, to hold a Chapter, or do any thing relating to their Order. In like manner they are to wear the Habit upon the Vigils of St. ”

“ Knights-aldermen in the city claimed precedence of knights-commoners, and violent was the struggle when the question was agitated. Heralds stood forth and pleaded before “my lords,” as lawyers do, with reference to the party by which they were retained. One party considered it absurd that a knight who happened to be an alderman should take precedence of one who was only a knight. The civic dignitary, it was said, was no more above the chivalric, than a rushlight was superior to the sun. Such an idea, it was urged, by York against Garter, was an insult to God and man. ”

“ Although it has been made apparent, that the Knights-Companions, at their Election or Installation, succeeded the immediate defunct Knight in his Stall, yet we may observe, that sometimes after Installation, as an especial signal of Favour and Indulgence, the Sovereign hath been pleased, though very rarely, to advance a Knight-Companion to a higher Stall than that wherein he was first placed ”

“ THE Inauguration of a Knight of this most Noble Order, consists in a Conjunction of many Ceremonies, and contains the most solemn part of those, which compleateth all the rest; and till this great Solemnity be regularly and duly performed, the Person elected hath not the Honour to be enrolled among the Number of Founders, but barely passes for an elect Knight, and no other: For the Statute expresly says, That in Case a Knight elect die before his Installation, He shall not be named one of the Founders ”

“ At other times the Garter hath held it, as 5 Eliz. when the Earl of Northumberland took his Oath; and 10 Car. I. at the Installation of the Earl of Moreton: But when the Earl of Shrewsbury was Sworn, 34 Eliz. the Usher of the Black Rod performed this Office.
Whilst the Oath is administring, the elect Knight holds his right Hand on the Holy Evangelists; and when the Register hath pronounced the Words, he immediately Responses, I will, so help me God, and then takes off his Hand reverently, kissing the Book; and by this Ceremony seals his Obligation to the Statutes of this most Noble Order. ”

“ What made the recent Chapter of the Garter peculiarly exciting to such as have æsthetic as well as historic minds was the fact that, for once, the Knights might be seen in the full splendour of their magnificent costume. No other Order has so elaborate a paraphernalia, and every detail smacks deliciously of the antique world. The long, sweeping mantle of Garter-blue is worn over a surcoat and hood of crimson velvet. ”

“ George, Anno 13. which he confered not only among the new elect Knights, but upon the Earls of Salisbury, Barkshire, and Northumberland, that were three Senior Knights-Companions.
The Collar of the Order, and the great George, the elect Knight is to provide himself, unless where the Sovereign is pleased to bestow the Mantle, which is always accompanied with the Collar, and then a like Warrant issues to the Master of the Jewel-House, as was used for providing the seventeen Collars, Anno 13 Car. ”

“ The order of the Garter was established in 1349; and we should expect that more than half a century would elapse before it would be natural to refer to the Knights as old knights, who did worthily in their time. ”

“ In the portrait he appears in three-quarters length, clad in armour, with a lace cravat, and a long dark curling wig, the jewel of the Garter being suspended by its blue ribbon under his right arm. The figure is turned to the left, but the sallow, shaven face, with its dark eyes appearing from beneath bushy black eyebrows, looks in three-quarters to the right. His right hand is raised holding a baton, behind which is placed a helmet, the left rests on a gold-hilted sword; and there is a rocky background, disclosing a space of sky and sea with a ship and boats. ”