Introduction.

The Knights of the Garter.

THE Order of the Garter dates from 1348. The opinion that the Order was founded in 1344 is demonstrably incorrect. What happened in 1344 was that Edward III., stirred to emulation by the formation at Lincoln of a voluntary association of knights, determined to found an Order himself. A great tournament was held at Windsor, and at its close, after a stately service in Windsor Chapel, Edward swore a solemn oath that he would at the expiry of a certain time found a Round Table like King Arthur's Table of 300 knights.

The account of Adam Murimuth (pp. 231-2) of which the above paragraph is a condensation is indubitably that of an eye witness, and completely disposes of all subsequent accounts like that of Froissart, etc. The outbreak of the French war prevented Edward from immediately carrying out his purpose, but in October, 1347, the king returned to England and at once set about fulfilling his oath. In the joustings which took place between October, 1347, and January, 1348, at Bury, Eltham, and Windsor, certain knights (possibly 12 in number) were chosen on the king's side and received garters and robes from the king's wardrobe. Certain other knights received similar gifts from the Black Prince and may therefore be presumed to have been chosen on his side for the jousting.

At the same time the king was engaged in extending the ecclesiastical foundation of Windsor Chapel. By letters patent of August, 1348, it was erected into a College consisting of a Warden, 23 Canons, and 24 Poor Knights. Whether the first feast of the Order had already taken place at the preceding Easter of 1348 or was deferred until the completion of the ecclesiastical foundation we cannot say. The earliest feast of which we have authentic record is that of Easter, 1350, of which the chronicle of Geoffrey Le Baker (p. 109) gives us so circumstancial an account.

Even in the days of Charles II. the original statutes of the order were no longer extant, and no transcript of them exists of an earlier date than the reign of Henry V. In his appendix to his "Institution, laws and ceremonies of the most noble order of the Garter" Ashmole has printed the earliest known form of these statutes. His text probably represents the ordinances observed by the Order with litt le change from the days of its institution to the time of Henry VIII. According to these ordinances there were to be 25 original knights together with the Sovereign who was to be the King of England for the time being. The knights were to wear the Garter and the mantle when in the Chapel of St. George, at Chapters, in processions and at feasts of the order. There were to be in addition 26 priests and 26 poor knights. The remaining ordinances concerned the election and installation of the knights, their succession in their stalls, the affixing their escutcheons to their stalls and the ensigns and habits of the Order, viz., the Garter, mantle, surcoat and hood.

To these ensigns was added in the reign of Henry VII. the collar of the order with the image of St. George pendant therefrom. A further addition was made in 1626 when it was ordained at a Chapter at Westminster that the knights should on ordinary occasions wear on the left side of their cloaks, coats and riding cassocks an escutcheon of the cross of St. George within the Garter. This badge was shortly after, in 1629, converted into a star by the addition of a glory or radii issuant from and surrounding the cross.

Additional statutes concerning election of knights, ceremonial, dress, etc., etc., were enacted in the reigns of Henry V. (1418), Henry VI. (1423) and Edward IV. (1477). In the ordinance made at a Chapter held at Windsor during the feast of 1488 it was prescribed that the annals of each Sovereign should be regularly kept and the elections and deaths of the knights duly registered. The reformation of the statutes of the order which was promulgated by Henry VII I. on the 29th May, 1519, was intended for the removal of a 1 ambiguities and doubts touching certain of the ancient statutes. Among other fresh provisions contained in this reformation were one concerning precedence (which was ordered to be according to te companions' seniority in their stalls and not according to their several ranks) and another prescribing the holding of a Chapter fr the purpose of filling a vacancy within six weeks of the notification f the death of a knight. The 38th Article of these statutes of Hen VIII. contains a clear prescription as to the weight and fashion

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the collar, which is to be of 30 oz. troy weight, and composed of pieces of the fashion of Garters with a double rose between alternately, the one red the other within white. A further reformation of the statutes projected and promulgated by Edward VI. in 1553 was not carried into effect owing to the king's death. Under Elizabeth no material change was made in the Order save for the discontinuance of the annual St. George's feast at Windsor. The subsequent reformations under Charles I. (1636) and Charles II. (1669) are of less importance, but the ordinance of November 19, 1682, concerning the wearing of the riband is worthy of note. This ordinance decreed 'that whereas King Charles I. had ordained that every knight companion not wearing the mantle should nevertheless wear upon the left side of his under habit or cassock the cross of St.

George encompassed with the Garter; and whereas it had also been customary to wear the George in a blue riband over the habit it was now agreed that the riband with the George should be worn over the upper habit beltways over the left shoulder and under the right arm in such a manner as that it might be best seen.'

With the exception of the appointment in 1704, December 20, of a 'formulary of ceremonies to be used at elections of knights' no further change of importance was made in the statutes of the Order until the close of the 18th century. Ever since the year 1567 the annual solemn convention of the knights on the 23rd April, the feast of St. George, had been discontinued. In addition to this Charles II. had obtained in August, 1680, an admission from the Chapter that the will of the Sovereign was the law of the Order an admission which ran counter to all the past history of the Order. The drastic changes which were made in the Order in 1786 were based upon these revolutionary ideas. George III. wished to accelerate the reception of his four younger sons into the Order and to bestow three other garters which happened not to be vacant. He therefore in a chapter held at St. James's 2nd June, 1786, promulgated a new statute dated 1786, May 31, decreeing that the sons of the Sovereign should be excepted from (and therefore should be additional to) the original number of 25 knights as decreed by the ancient statutes. The creation of these supernumerary knights necessitated an alteration in the arrangement of the stalls in St. George's Chapel. Nineteen years later a further enlargement of the Order took place. By a new statute dated 1805, January 10, and promulgated at a chapter held at St. James's 1805, January 17, it was decreed that the Order should consist of the

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Sovereign and 25 knights companions, together with such lineal descendants of George II. as had been elected or thereafter might be elected; the Prince of Wales always excepted as 'a constituent part of the original constitution, he having been included in the extending statute of 1786, May 31. This precedent was again followed in 1831 when a new statute dated 1831, June 28, and promulgated at a Chapter at Windsor on the 20th of August still further enlarged the Order by including in it as extra or supernumerary to the original 25 knights companions such lineal descendants of George I. as had been or might thereafter be elected into the order. In the following pages the extra knights created under these statutes will be found marked as supernumerary. Where any of the supernumerary knights were subsequently absorbed into the original number of 25 knights companions as any of the stalls of these latter fell vacant, the proper succession is stated in the list below. With regard to the marginal dates given in the following list they are to be understood as the date of election up to the middle of the 19th century and, unless otherwise stated, from the middle of the 19th century the dates are those of the letters patent dispensing with all ceremonies of installation. If the date of investiture and installation is identical with that of election it is in some cases not separately mentioned-otherwise the separate dates are given. As there is no record of the precise date of election existing prior to the reign of Henry VI. the dates prior to that reign are mostly based upon deduction and are not to be taken as precise. They represent the date of the ascertained death or the last historic mention of the predecessor in the stall of the elected knight. Theoretically, according to the 20th statute of the order, an election in the room of a deceased knight should take place within six weeks of the notification of such decease. The inference therefore would be that where the marginal date gives the time of decease of a predecessor knight, the actual election should be dated only a few weeks later. But this inference is by no means a safe one to follow as there are many recorded instances of stalls being kept vacant for a much longer period. Such doubtful dates will be found marked in the following list by the use of the word 'after' in the margin. Theoretically the decisive or distinctive date should be, throughout, the date of installation [or of letters patent dispensing with installation] not that of election [nomination] or investiture. The 13th statute of the Order prescribes that stranger [or foreign] knights shall within seven months of the reception of the insignia send a