The History of the Most Noble Order of the Garter

by Elias Ashmole

[11]. Divine Service.

XIII. Item, It is agreed, That all Strangers that shall be electe Felowes of the seid Order, shall be certifyed by Letters of the Soverayne of their Election. The which Letters of Certification, with the Statutes of the seid Order, under the common Seal, shall be sent unto them, at the Coste and Charges of the seid Soverayne, in all diligence, and at the fardest thei shall be certifyed of this within foure Moneths after the seid Election, to the end that the seid Electe may advyse them by the seid Statutis, if they will receyve the seid Order or no. But if the seid Soverayne have greate and high Lettes and Busynes, that then he may deferre the Certification of the seid Election at his good Pleasure, unto tyme of opportunitie and convenient. After that the Certification have byn delivered, and that the Soverayne shall be certefied that the said Electe will receyve the said Order; Then the Soverayne shall sende unto the said Electe by his Ambassadours his hole Habit, with the Gartier and Coller; and that all such Strangers, of what Estate, Dignytie, or Condicion, that they be of, shall sende within seven Moneths after the reception of the said Gartier, Coller, and Habit, and that he have certified the Soverayne to have reseyved those thyngs, a sufficient Deputye or Attorney, after the Astate of his Lorde and Maister, so be that he be a Knyghte without Reproche, to be stalled in his place; the whiche shall bryng with him a Mantell of blew Velvett, of the Order of that which he shall send him, and also his Banner, Sworde, Helme, and Crest, for to be and abide within the said College duryng his Lyff. And that the Mantell, in the tyme that the said Deputye or Attorney shall be stalled by the Soverayne or his Deputye, put upon his right Arme, for to hold the said Mantell upon his Arme, and shall be accompanyed and ledd by two of the Knyghtes of the said Order, from the Dore of the Chapter unto the Stalle, and there beyng shall make his Oath, and shall be stalled for, and in the Name of his said Lorde and Maister, and the said Mantell abovesaid, the said Attorney or Deputye shall bere it upon his right Arme duryng the Devyne Servyce; beyng sett in the Stalle of his said Maister and Lorde without beryng of it at any tyme after: And to have no manner of Voyce in the Chaptre, or to come in it, in the absence of hym that hath sent hym. And if he send not his said Attorney within seven Moneths abovesaid, without havyng a reasonable Excuse, which shall be acceptable to the Soverayne or his Deputye, the Election shall be void of hym; except so be, that the said Knyghte be lett and distorbed by great Affaires; then he may send his Excuse to the said Soverayne, or to his Deputye, within a Moneth after; and after he is, as the Soverayne or his Deputye will allowe it, or accepte it, that then the said Soverayne or his Deputye, may geve unto hym four Moneths more of respite; and if he came not or sent not his Attorney, before that the tyme of the four Moneths be fynished, that then in this case the Election shall be hole voyde from hym for that tyme. And it is to be knowne, that this Favoure is done and shewed to the Strangers, the which may not well come in their proper Parsons, that they myght be stalled by Attourneys; to the ende that they may be parretakers of the [^[12]] Masses, and all the Prayers of the seid Order, for they shoulde fayle of the half, yf they were not stalled before their Deathe. And likewise it is ordened for them that be never Chosen and electe of the said Order, beyng in the Kyngs Warres by his Commaundement, for to enjoy of the Benefytes of the said Statutes, to that that shall appertayne allonly to their Stallacion.

[12]. Divine Service.

XIV. Item, There is also ordened a Dean and Warden, with twelve Cannons Seculers, the which shall be Pristz at their entryng in, or ells within a Yere nexte folowyng; and also eight Peticanons and twelve Vicars, also Prestes at their entryng in, or ells at the gyvyng of the next Orders, or at the furdest within a Yere after their Presentacion; also thirteen Clerkes and thirteen Queristers, for to syng and Pray unto God for the prosperity of the Soverayne and all the Knyghtes of the said Order lyving, and also for the Sowles of all the Knyghtes of the said Order departed, and for all Crysten Sowles; and the Presentation of the said Cannons shall belonge allway to the Soverayne of the said Order; and the said Cannons, when any Knyghte of the said Order is there present within the Quyer of the said Chappel, shall sitt in the lowermost Seates, where they be wonte to sitt at the Feastes of Saynt George; and in the absence of the said Knyghtes, the said Cannons may sitt in the high Seates nexte unto the Stalles of the said Knyghtes.

XV. Item, There be ordened five Officers appertaynyng to the said Order; that is to witt, Prelate, Chaunceler, Register, and Kyng of Armes, named Gartier, and an Huysher at Armes, named the Blacke-Rod; the which shall be receyved and Sworne to be of the Councell of the said Order; the Secretes, with alsoo their Charges and Privileges, shall expressely be declared in the Booke of the Ordenances of the said Officers.

XVI. Item, It is also ordened, That thirteen pore Knyghtes, that have not wherwithall to lyve, for to have in that Place their lyvyng and sustentacion conveniently, for their good Prayers in the Honor of God and Saynt George, of the which the Charges and Privileges hereafter shall be declared folowyng: The Ordynances of the Officers and of their Election is ordened, as of the Presentacion of the Cannons, so that allway the Election shall abyde to the said Soverayne; and it is agreed that the pore Knyghtes shall have their Mantells of Scarlett, and a Scuchion of the Armes of Saynt George, without a Gartier.

XVII. Item, It is agreed, That every Knyghte of the said Company shall leave his Mantell within the said College, for any sodayne Chaunses that myght happen, for to kepe, holde and observe, all suche Ordenances, Precepts and Commaundements, which may be advysed in Chapter by the said Sovereign. The which Soverayne, by the Consent and Agrement of six Knyghtes of the said Order, may at all Tymes and Places, at his Pleasure, Sommon and make to be kepte Chaptre for all suche Causes, as it shall please to the said Soverayne to name, towching the said Order.

XVIII. Item, It is agreed, That if it fortune, that any of the said Companye shulde come within eleven Myle of the Castell, that he shall goo in, if he may, for the Honor of the Place, if he be not busied or lett by some juste Cause, and that he take his Mantell before he entre within the said Chappell; and alsoo that he enter not in, but he have his Mantell upon hym; and the Cannons there beyng present for that tyme, shall come to receyve hym, and devotly shall bring hym into the said Chappel; and if it be in tyme of [^[13]] Masse, he shall tarry and heare Masse in the Honor of God and of Saynt George; and if it be at Afternone, he shall come in, in manner abovesaid; and there shall be said by the Cannons de Profundis, for all Cristen Sowles, and there shall offer and returne to his Stalle; and if any of the said Companye ride thorowgh the Town, and wyll not offer as agreed, that upon his Obedience for every tyme that he faileth, he shall goe one Myle a Fote from the said Chappell unto the said Place, in Honor of Saynt George; and also for every tyme that he shall so fayle, he shall gyve a Grote for his Offrynge; the which distance, for to come nygh unto the said Castell, is two Myles allonly and no more.

[13]. Divine Service.

XIX. Item, It is accorded the thirty second Yere of our Soverayne Lorde Kynge Henry VIII. by the Grace of God, Kynge of Englande and of Fraunce, Defensor of the Faithe, Lorde of Irland, &c. upon Saynt George’s Day, the twenty third Day of Aprill, at a Chapter holden at the Paleys of Westminster, by the Soverayne and the Companyons of the said Noble Order then there assembled; That as sone as the deth of any of the Company of the said Order shall be certeynly knowen, every of the rest, beyng no Strangiers, shall, accordyng to the rates of their Degrees hereafter specified, immediately, upon a demande to be made for the same by the Register and the Dean, or one of them, to be by one of them employed in Aulmes Deeds, as in mendyng of High Wayes, or such other Workes of Charitie, as the Kyng’s Majestie from tyme to tyme shall lymite and appoynte, the severall Somes of Money ensuyng. Furst, The Soverayne, eight Pounds six Shillings and eight Pence; a King of another Realme, six Pounds thirteen Shillings and four Pence; the Prince, five Pounds sixteen Shillings and eight Pence; a Duke, five Pounds; a Marquess, three Pounds fifteen Shillings; an Erle, fifty Shillings; a Visconte, forty one Shillings and eight Pence; a Baron, thirty three Shillings and four Pence; a Bacheler Knyghte, sixteen Shillings and eight Pence. Of all which Somes thus to be receyved, the said Dean and Regester, or eyther of them, shall yerely, at the Chapter, present his Accompte to the Kyng’s Majestie, with his true and juste declaracion of disbursyng agayne, and defraying of the same. In that Cause the Partie whose Porcyon shall apere to be unpayde, shall in the Name of a Payne add unto his former Dutye another thirde parte of the same, and so for every Yere that he shall be behynde, to pay a thirde parte more than he shuld pay if he shuld satisfye his Ordinary, accordyng to the rate before expressed; and if the Dean or Register, or any of them, shall not at every suche Chapter present the Certificate of the Receipts and Payments in fourme aforesaid, whereby the same may apere to the Soverayne and Companyons of the Order then present, or at the leest he in whome the defawlt shall rest, shall in the Name of a Payne contente and paye immediately, to be employed abowte like purpose as afore, the Some of ten Pounds for every such defaulte.