And doubtless, they proceeded in the same Order to the Chappel, on the next Morning, notwithstanding what is before said to the contrary, those Expressions being interwoven with the general Account given of the Ceremonies of the whole Festival, and more subject to mistake, where the relation of the Proceeding is carried on in a continued Discourse, than were ranked (as is before exhibited,) in particular Lines, and in the Order and Form of a Proceeding. Besides, we no where meet with any Order or Decree, nulling the foresaid Determination, made Anno 1 Jac. I. which placeth the Prebends before the Heralds. Finally, to give an end to the Disputes in this Point, we find, that upon the Eve of this Feast, held at Windsor, the 23, 24, and 25 of November, Anno 1 Car. I. the Prebends proceeded next before the Pursuivants, and the Pursuivants immediately before the Heralds and Provincial Kings; that is to say, all the Officers of Arms (except Garter, whose Place is elsewhere,) proceeded in one entire Body together, which Order we find to be the same in all Proceedings after, that we have met with, and was so observed at the Grand Feast held at Windsor, Anno 13 Car. II. and ever since. But to proceed.
All the before mentioned Attendants wait in their several Stations, till the Hour of Tierce, when the Sovereign (having the Knights-Companions and Officers of the Order before him, and his Train carried up,) passeth towards the Presence Chamber, notice of whose coming being given, the Band of Pensioners make the accustomed Guard and Passage along the Presence Chamber, the Seniors standing towards the Lobby Door, within which Guard, on the other side, the Officers of Arms place themselves: Upon the same warning, the Yeomen of the Guard clear a like Passage from the Presence Chamber Door, along the Guard Chamber, unto its outward Door, for the Proceeding to pass through.
At the Sovereign’s approach, one of the Gentlemen Ushers attended with the Sword of State, (the Point resting upon the Ground,) delivereth to such one of the Nobility, (not being a Knight of the Order,) whom the Sovereign, as an honorary Favour, hath before nominated, to bear it from thence, before him in all the Proceedings of the Feast; during which Action, the Knights-Companions proceed forwards, and being entred the Presence Chamber, Flank on each side the State, with some small distance between them, and there make a stand: The Sovereign being also entred, passeth to the Step before the State, (the Nobleman who beareth the Sword, and the five Officers of the Order, retiring a little on his right Hand,) and then turning himself towards the Knights-Companions, standeth there a while, until they have made their Reverences unto him; which being performed, he resaluteth the Knights-Companions by putting off his Cap: This done, the Sovereign putteth his Cap on again; whereupon every of the Knights Companions putteth on theirs, and immediately Rank themselves, according to their due Place, on both sides the State.
For the right understanding whereof, we are in the fifth place to Note, that in the Order and Method wherein the Knights-Companions are ranked, (if they be all present,) is two and two together, the Junior foremost on the left Hand, for that is his Place in all Proceedings; but where any of them be absent, the rule is different from that appropriate to the before-mentioned Degrees; for though it be recorded, that upon the Eve of the Grand Feast held at Windsor, Anno 7 Hen. V. the Knights-Companions went in Order to the Chapter-House and Choir; yet this being exprest but in general terms, how it ought to be understood, will more fully appear, from the particular Directions given for the Order of the Knights-Companions Proceeding in King Henry VIII’s Statutes; where the Law directs each Knight-Companion to proceed alone, at such time as his Fellow (who possesseth the Stall opposite unto him) is absent, but the Order of such Proceeding will by a Scheme be made more evident.
The Proceeding of the Knights-Companions, present on the Eve of
St. George, to the Closet at White-Hall, Anno 3 Eliz.
| The Lord Hunsdon. | Void. |
| The Lord Robert Dudley. | The Viscount Mountague. |
| The Lord Loughborow. | The Earl of Shrewsbury. |
| The Earl of Sussex. | The Lord Howard of Effing. |
| Void. | The Earl of Westmorland. |
| The Marquiss of North. | Void. |
| The Lord Clynton. | The Duke of Norfolk. |
| Void. | The Earl of Pembrook. |
Thus four Knights-Companions proceeded alone, in regard the Stalls opposite to them were void, the three first being absent, and the last void by the Death of the Earl of Huntington; and to avoid all disputes in relation to Precedency, King Henry VIII. Decreed, in the sixteenth Year of his Reign; That each Knight-Companion should take Place, in Procession, Station, or sitting at the Table, thence forward, as he had his Seat or Stall in the Choir, and not according to the Degree of his Birth or Condition, unless the Sovereign was pleased that any should be made Choice of, according to the Nobility of his Family, to sit at the end of his own Table, or perform any other thing by the by.
The Proceeding among the Officers of the Order differeth from all before spoken of; for, being five in Number, the three inferior Officers (when all present,) March in a breast, and (of later Times,) the Register in the middle, Garter on his right Hand, and the Usher of the Black-Rod on his left.
After these three Officers, the two superior proceed together, the Prelate on the Right, and the Chancellor on the left; and after, the Officers of the Order follow the Sword, which is carried immediately before the Sovereign. In the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s Reign, it was born by some of the Barons, but of later Times it hath been conferr’d on Persons of higher Rank, as Anno 4 Car. I. on the Earl of Dover; Anno 9 Car. I. on the Earl of Danby; and Anno 13 Car. II. on the Lord Viscount Mordant, then Constable of the Castle of Windsor; and at this Time ’tis usually born by none under the Degree of an Earl.