The History of the Most Noble Order of the Garter

by Elias Ashmole

And there are two Instances where the Mantle was delivered to the Proctor at the Chapter-House Door; from whence some may infer, that the Practice of those Times was also agreeable to the aforesaid direction; namely, that of the Proctor of the French King, Francis I. 19 Hen. VIII. where Garter stood at the Chapter-House Door, with the Mantle, and as the Proceeding passed by, presented it to the two Senior Knights-Companions, who placed it upon the Proctor’s right Arm; and so of the Proctor of Emanuel, Duke of Savoy, 1 and 2 Phil. and Mar. who entered not into the Chapter-House, but had the Mantle discussed at the Door.

But these Instances, if duly weighed, cannot properly, or with any Advantage, be alledged to prove the Assertion; because the Affairs relating to both, receiv’d dispatch in the Proctors Lodging a little before, and where the Proctor himself was present, where the meeting of the Commissioners and Proctor cannot be deemed less than a Chapter, tho’ not held in the Chapter-House, from the Transactions that passed there, viz. producing the Sovereign’s Warrant, and the Proctor’s Instrument of Deputation, which were both read before them by the Register, and the Proctor accordingly admitted, which being finished, nothing relating to the present purpose required their passing into the Chapter-House, or remained to be done till they came into the Choir.

But the general Practice runs strong on the contrary side; for we find that the Proctor for Charles IX. King of France, 8 Eliz. was met at the Chapter-House Door, by the Earls of Sussex and Leicester, who took him in thither between them, where, after the Register had read, as well the Sovereign’s Commission for Installation, as his Letters of Procuration, and the Commissioners had admitted him Deputy for the said King, they all came forth, and laid his Principal’s Mantle on his right Arm and Shoulder, the Train whereof was born by the Earl of Southampton, assisted by the Lord Herbert of Cardiff.

Again it is remarkable, 25 Eliz. that Garter conducted the Proxy of Frederick II. King of Denmark, to the Chapter-House, and at that Place the Earl of Leicester, and the Lord Hunsdon, received and led him in: So also was Christian IVth’s Proxy led thither, by the Earls of Nottingham and Dorset. And in Jac. I. Lodowick, Count Nassau, Proctor to Maurice, Prince of Orange, was called into the Chapter-House, and there left, while the Sovereign, and Knights-Companions, proceeded into the Choir: Also in like manner was Sir George Cartaret, Proctor to Christian, Prince of Denmark, 15 Car. II. and the Proctors to the King of Sweden, and Duke of Saxony, 23 Car. II.

Nor are these Instances, and the Practice in this latter case, really derogatory to the Statutes, which, though they prohibit the Proxies Entrance into the Chapter-House, yet do not extend to any thing previous to the Installation, but what may happen after; for the Article of the Statutes having first directed the delivery of the Mantle to the Proxy, and next the assumption of his Principal’s Stall, in these Words, Dictus Procurator Installatus, it immediately subjoins, that from thenceforth, that is, from the time of Installation, he shall neither wear the Mantle, nor enter into the Chapter, nor have Voice there, by virtue of any Power granted him. All which are Prohibitions, plainly relating to future Examples, and arising after the Ceremonies of Installation are past, and not at all refering to what preceeds it.

And it seems the Law hath been thus understood, in regard the greater prevalence of Practice hath generally attended it; for not only the Proxies of Strangers, as is observed, but generally Knights-Subjects, have been called into the Chapter-House, and there received the Mantle, before they proceeded into the Choir.

The Ceremony of delivering the Mantle to the Proctor, is performed by the Sovereign, his Deputy, or the Commissioners, Garter presenting it to them; and the manner of it was anciently, by putting it on the Proxies right Arm or Shoulder, in the Name of his Lord and Master, there to hold it till the End of Divine Service.

But as there hath arisen some dispute, touching the Proctor’s entry into the Chapter-House before Installation, so it hath happened in this Point of receiving the Mantle, viz. whether in the Chapter, or Stall allotted their Principal, of which there are Examples.

That part of the Article in the Statutes of Institution, relating to this Point, runs thus:——That the Mantle, tempore Installationis Procuratoris, shall be laid on his Arm, &c. but whether this shall be construed to that instant of time, when the Proctor is brought to the Stall of his Principal, or to some greater Latitude, as during the time of Installation, including the very first Action, or beginning of the Ceremony, namely, the being called to the Chapter-House Door, and entrance into it, is the Question; because there are Instances in both, but the latter is most warrantable by the Statutes and general Practice.

The Article in Henry VIIIth’s Statutes being much more clear in describing and explaining the Ceremonies of Installation, than any of the former; (the particulars of which in every Point seems to be excellently regulated,) having mentioned the Sovereign, or his Deputies, laying the Mantle on the Proxies Arm, it immediately follows, as the very next thing to be performed in course of time; That afterwards he shall be led by two Knights, from the Chapter-House Door to the Stall, and there being, shall make his Oath, and be installed; it gives no Account of laying the Mantle on the Arm of the Proctor at the instant of Installation in the Choir, that being directed to be done before. It is also recorded in the Black-Book, where this Ceremony is more fully treated; That Garter shall take the Mantle upon his Arms, and deliver it to both the Knights-Commissioners, and that they (according to the Tenour of the Statutes,) shall lay it on the Proctor’s right Shoulder, in the Porch of the Chapter-House.