The History of the Most Noble Order of the Garter

by Elias Ashmole

It was appointed by King Henry VIII’s Statutes, that this Collar should be compos’d of Pieces of Gold in Fashion of Garters, the Ground enamelled Blue, and the Letters of the Motto Gold; in the midst of each Garter, Two Roses plac’d, the innermost enamelled Red, and the outermost White, contrarily in the next Garter, the innermost Rose enamelled White, and the outermost Red, and so alternately; but of later Times these Roses are wholly Red.

The Number of these Garters are so many as be the ordain’d Number of the Sovereign and Knights-Companions; at the Institution they were Twenty-six, being fasten’d together with as many Knots of Gold, and this Mode hitherto has continu’d invariable; nor ought the Collar to be adorn’d or enrich’d with precious Stones, (as the George may be) such being prohibited by the Law of the Order.

At the Middle of the Collar before pendant, at the Table of one of the Garters in the Collar is to be fix’d the Image of St. George arm’d sitting on Horseback, who having thrown the Dragon on his Back encounters him with a Tilting-Spear. This Jewel is not encompass’d with a Garter or Row of Diamonds, as in the lesser George; but in round Relief. It is allow’d to be beautified and sett off with Diamonds and other Enrichments, at the Pleasure of the Knight-Companion who possessed it, and upon that Score it hath been frequently adorn’d with Variety of costly Work, whereon the Diamonds, and other precious Stones, being set to that Advantage as might, upon its Motion and Agitation, dart forth a resplendent Lustre.

Before the Establishment of this Article by King Henry VIII. it appears that the Knights-Companions were invested with Collars at their Installations, for the Black Book makes mention of a Collar among the Ensigns of the Garter, wherewith Philip King of Castile was invested, Anno 22 Henry VII. but whether a Collar of SS’s, or of another Model, is not specifi’d: Nevertheless this Scruple is in part clear’d up by an old Memorial of the Ceremonies, at the Creating Henry Lord Stafford Earl of Wiltshire, 1 Henry VIII. where it is said in the Annals, that after he was invested with the Robes of his State and Dignity, the Collar of the Garter was put about his Neck at constituting him a Knight of the Order. And to make it more conspicuous in a Vellum Book of the Statutes sent to Maximilian the Emperor, sign’d 1508. by the Register T. Rowthale, and in another of Edward Stanley Lord Monteagle, elected ann. 6. Hen. VIII. the Forty First Article, enjoins a Collar to be worn by each Knight-Companion expresly called the Collar of the Order, which tho’ it be not in all Respects consentient to that prescribed by King Henry VIII’s Statutes, yet there is not much Variation, and ’tis reported to be a Gold Collar coupled together by several Pieces of Links, in Fashion of Garters, with a Vermilion Rose, and the Image of St. George hung thereat. The Reason of the Knights-Companions wearing it at the Times appointed, the License for putting it to mending, the Command not to enrich the Collar, but the George only; and under a Penalty not to sell, pawn or alienate it upon any Necessity whatsoever, are wholly the same as was afterwards enjoyn’d by King Henry VIII. So that he did but only annex to his Body of Statutes a Decree, which for the greatest part had been put in practise before. In the 11th Hen. VIII. upon Interpretation of the Eleventh Article of the Statutes, the Collar is there enumerated as part of the entire Robes that a Knight-Companion is oblig’d to wear, for a more convincing Proof, That the Collar of Garters was used before King Henry VIII’s Reign, the Monument of Sir Giles Daubeny plainly Delineates (who departed 22 Henry VII.) in Westminster-Abbey, where his Portraicture in the Robes of the Order is adorned with such a Collar as King Henry VIII’s Statutes do afterwards describe.

As the Garter sent to Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden, so the great George (pendant at his Collar weighing Seven Ounces) was set with large and resplendent Diamonds, to the Number of Eighty-Four.

In what Regard this Noble Ensign of Honour the Collar, hath been with the Sovereigns and Knights-Companions, not only of the Order of the Garter, but other Military Orders, may be collected from the Pictures of some of them, as well as from their Seals, Coins, and Medals, for in these they have been pleased to exhibit their Effigies and Escutcheons of Arms; and omitting Foreign Examples, the Collars, both of the Garter and Thistle, were express’d in the Coronation Medal of King Charles I. in Scotland, 1633. tho’ in that of his Coronation at Westminster, and afterwards in that of King Charles II. 1661. the Collar of the Order of the Garter are only put over their Royal Robes.

These Ornaments of the Collars, have been affix’d sometimes encircling the Shields of their Arms; and in a Seal of Charles the Bold Duke of Burgundy, Sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece, plac’d to an Instrument dated, 1470. it is worthy of Remark, that Collar adorns the Neck of the Lyon of Flanders; but the Sovereigns of the Garter usually encompass’d their Arms, not within the Collar of the Order, but the Royal Garter, that being its principal Ensign; and sometimes, having no Shield of Arms, the void Space within the Garter, exhibits their Arms.

Observable is the Seal of Charles Count Palatine of the Rhine, wherein is a Shield quarterly of the Palatinate and Bavaria, obscuring the Lyon Guardant its Supporter, his Four SS’s only appearing quadrangularly, and his Head a top ensign’d with an Electoral Crown; this Shield is encircled both within the Garter and Collar of the Order, and is the first Example wherein both these Ensigns are jointly together. It is very frequent to express the Collars of different Orders together: Thus I have seen the Arms of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, entour’d within the Garter, and a Collar of the Order of St. Michael, having been Knight of these Orders, and the Funeral Atchievement of the late James Hamilton Douglas Duke of Hamilton, had the Garter and a Collar of the Thistle about it. And in a Plate under the Effigies of the Duke of Aspernons, a Shield of his Arms quarter’d, is encompass’d with the chiefest Ensigns of those Three Orders, whereof he was a Brother and Companion, viz. with the Garter and the Collars of St. Michael and the Holy Ghost. And the older the Order is in the Roll of Antiquity, whose chief Ensign is there represented, the nearer ought it to be plac’d to the Escutcheon of Arms, being the more Honourable Post. A Mistake was committed in the marshalling these Collars, when the Duke of Chevereux affixed it over his Stall at Windsor, the Collars of St. Mithael and the Holy Ghost are plac’d nearer to his Escutcheon than that of the Garter.

§ 8. And whereas we have spoke of another kind of Collar, call’d a Collar of SS’s, worn as Badges of lower and inferior Honour, it will not be amiss to inform our Judgment in other Affairs concerning them. Wicelius informs us from a Book in the Library of Fulda, where (in the Life of the Two Brothers Simplicius and Faustinus, both Senators, and suffer’d Martyrdom under Dioclesian) there is a Description of the Society of St. Simplicius, consisting of Noble Personages in their own Families, and describing the Collar wore as the Badge of it says, thus: It was the Custom of those Persons to wear about their Necks Silver Collars, compos’d of double SS’s, which denote the Name of Saint Simplicius, between these double SS’s. The Collar consisted of Twelve small Plates of Silver, in which were engraven the Twelve Articles of the Creed, together with a single Trefoil: The Image of St. Simplicius hung at the Collar, and from it Seven Plates, representing the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost. As to the manner of their Martyrdom, they were bound together by the Neck to a Stone, and thrown over the Bridge into the River Tyber.

At what Time the Collar of SS’s came into England is not fully determin’d, but it will appear at least Three Hundred Years since, and worn as an Ornament for Women, as well as Men; for on a Monument in the Collegiate Church of Warwick, the Figure of Margaret, Wife to Sir William Peito (said to be interr’d Temp. Edw. III.) hath a Collar of SS’s drawn about, and set close to her Neck, which the Sculpture in The Antiquities of Warwickshire, by mistake, represented like a Ruff. There was also a Collar of SS’s about the Neck of Sir Simon Burley’s Statue in St. Paul’s London.