The History of the Most Noble Order of the Garter

by Elias Ashmole

Syr Gilbert Halsall.

“Item, My Lord the Duc of Bedford beseecheth the Kyng Soveraign of the Order to have also for recommendyd to his good grace and highnesse other of his Subjects and Servants now being in hys Service in the Realme of France, whych hath done and yet doth take great payne by their knyghtly labour dayly to serve the merite of worthyness and prowess, as Syr Robert Hungerford, Syr Thomas Beamont, Syr John Popeham, Syr Nicholas Burdet, Syr Rauff Nevill, Syr Edward Wyver, Syr John Robesart, Syr Tyre Robesart, Syr William Bretton, Syr Thomas Kyngston, Syr Richard Hankford, and dyverse other.”

But lest it may be suppos’d by some, that the Knights-Companions present in Chapter, can at their pleasures nominate or propose to elect such Persons as they deem meet, so they be qualify’d according to the Statutes, this Privilege is to be understood of Knights Subjects only: For in all Cases concerning Strangers, the Sovereign doth but barely grant them Sufferance, and may direct and confine the Knights-Companions to the Nomination of such as he at any time intends to Honour with Election, which Prerogative was particularly Asserted, 31 Eliz. and 3 Car. I.

In the First of these Instances, the Blue Book, of the Order recordeth, That at a Chapter held immediately before Vespers on St. George’s Day, the Earl of Huntingdon, then Lieutenant for the Sovereign, made known to the Knights-Companions, That the Sovereign did permit them, or leave it to their Pleasure to chuse into the Order whatsoever Foreign Prince they should by their Votes approve of.

Here we have two Points that offer themselves to our Consideration. First, That the Knights-Companions have not the Liberty to nominate what Foreign Prince they please, but the same is derivative from the Sovereign, and only by his Permission. Secondly, To weigh the Paragraph well, that Nominare ought to be render’d or understood here by the Word Eligere, and that the Power delegated to the Knights-Companions from the Sovereign, was only to nominate, not elect; For it immediately follows, That the Knights-Companions went from the Chapter to the Second Vespers; and while the Divine Offices were celebrating, the Prelate receiv’d their Nominations, and that very Evening the Lieutenant presented them to the Sovereign for her to consider of; which had been insignificant and useless, if the Knights-Companions had been impower’d by her Licence to have made the Choice themselves. But the contrary is evident; for the next Morning, all the Knights-Companions attending the Sovereign in Chapter, she herself confirm’d there the Election not of any Foreign Prince, but of the Earl of Sussex, and the Lord Buckhurst.

In the other Instance, Anno 3 Car. I. the Sovereign in a Chapter held before Vespers on St. George’s Day, signify’d it to be his Pleasure (Three Stalls being then vacant) that out of Foreign Princes, the Nomination of whom, (saith the Annals in that very Place) belongs only to the Sovereign, i. e. The Sovereign has the Prerogative to direct the Knights-Companions to name, or impose upon them the Nomination of such Foreign Prince he pleaseth they, the Knights-Companions, should pitch upon; which must undoubtedly be understood to Nominate, or enter down into the Scrutiny, (not elect) Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, and Henry Prince of Orange. For a little after, it is evident, when the Scrutiny was presented to the Sovereign, that himself, not the Knights-Companions, made Election of them.

And it is further manifest, by the Scrutiny there inserted, that both those Princes were named by every of the Knights-Companions then present, according to the Sovereign’s signification (which has been usually done at all other Times upon the like Occasions.) But concerning the third Person then to be Elected, the Sovereign, (intending him to be a Knight-Subject) left it entirely to their Pleasure to Nominate whomsoever they thought worthy of their Votes. Since this Time, the Nominations in like Cases, have been sufficiently acknowledg’d by the Knights-Companions themselves, to be a Prerogative belonging solely to the Sovereign. For to the End they might more expeditiously and clearly shew their Compliance, it was moved in a Chapter held at Oxford, March the 2d. 19 Car. I. That it might become a Custom for the Sovereign to declare before-hand, whether he would elect any Foreign Prince, and whom, that so the Knights-Companions might be there to name him in the Scrutiny.

§. 7. Another Consideration in our Progress towards the Act of Election, is appertaining to the Number, Qualifications and Dignities of the Persons nominated, which may be more conspicuously resolved from another Branch of the before-mention’d Article, viz. That every one of the Knights-Companions present at the Election should nominate for himself nine very sufficient Persons, whom he should judge free from all Reproach and Scandal, whether Subjects to the Sovereign, or Foreigners, Provided they are known not to Favour or Abet any Party at enmity with him; that is to say, three Earls, or others of higher Degree, three Barons, and three Knights. Wherein the Things chiefly observable, we rank under five Heads.

For the First of these, their Number. Every Knight-Companion assembl’d in Chapter, is injoin’d to name Nine, neither more nor less. So also saith King Henry V’s Statutes. Nor are King Henry VIIIth’s. any ways dissonant. And in this particular, the Statutes have been hitherto inviolably observed, except in one Case. As to Numbers, and the Mysteries wrapt up in them, we shall not further insist upon. But why our Royal Founder selected this particular Number above all other, unless he had some Eye, and tacit Reflection on the Nine Worthies, or a treble threefold Cord and Symbol of perfect Stability and solid Amity, the Number Nine is accounted to signifie, can with no great Facility or Certainty be decypher’d.

As to the Second Point, they ought to be of unspotted Character. The Injunction in the Statutes of Institution takes Order, that the Persons designed for Election, should be free from all Reproach, and of untaintted Reputation; and according to those of King Henry V. are to be the best and most sufficient Knights, and freest from Reproach. To the same purpose the Exemplar in the Black-Book, Such as are fittest, and whom they who Nominate believe to be free from Ignominy and Dishonour. And to this Act of Nomination belongs part of the Second Article in Henry VIIIth’s Statutes, That no Knight-Companion should name any Person whom he thinks or esteems in his Conscience to have upon him any Spot of Reproach. But on the Contrary in another Place of the same Statutes it is Provided, That they be nominated and proposed out of the Number of the most worthy and select Knights.