The History of the Most Noble Order of the Garter

by Elias Ashmole

When a Deputy-Chancellor hath been admitted to Officiate in the Chancellor’s absence, he, and not the Prelate, hath taken the Scrutiny, (tho’ present) as at the Election of Charles Prince of Wales, the 20th of May, 14 Car. I. and at another taken the 22d of May following, and the same when the Suffrages were collected for the Election of the Duke of York and Prince Rupert at York, Anno 17 Car. I.

But there is one Passage more (upon taking a Scrutiny Anno 22 Jac. I.) which seems Advantageous to the Chancellor in this Point, where it is said, That when the Knights-Companions had given their Votes (as say the Annals) THE CHANCELLOR WHO, ACCORDING TO HIS OFFICE, was to receive them, presented them to the Sovereign. Howbeit, in truth there is no sufficient Foundation for the Register to insert this as done by the Chancellor, by Virtue of his Office, or any one Act or Chapter that hath suspended or made void, the Right of the Prelate, which is reserved by him, even by the Patent, for erecting the Office of Chancellor; especially in those Affairs, which, respecting the Order, ought by the Statute of the Institution to appertain to him. But since the stated Time of performing this Ceremony in the Chapel, the Prelate (if present) is presumed to be Officiating at the Altar, in discharge of another part of his Duty, upon this consideration hath the Service been then imposed upon the Chancellor, and others.

Lastly, We find the Scrutiny to be once taken by Garter, Ann. 16. Car. I. at the Election of Thomas Earl of Strafford. But this was at a Time, when not only the Prelate, but all the other Officers of the Order, excepting Sir John Burrough, Garter, were absent, and consequently this Service so executed, ought rather to be judged to have been done in the Prelate’s than Chancellor’s Right.

§. 9. But whosoever gather’d the Suffrages, the Time when they enter’d upon this Duty (in the Intervals of Feasts, where the Occasion requir’d a peculiar Chapter for an Election) was usually after the Chapter had been open’d, and the Matter of Election proposed by the Sovereign; after which he proceeded with all possible Reverence and Respect.

Howbeit upon an extraordinary Occasion (in the Interval of the Grand Feasts) the Sovereign hath sometimes called an Assembly of the Knights Companions, to be convened at the Castle of Windsor, who in the Choire of St. George’s Chapel (not Chapter-House) after the more solemn Manner, have deliver’d in their Nominations, and returning thence into the Chapter-House, he there continu’d the Election. Thus did King Henry VIII. upon the 7th of June in the 17th Year of his Reign, in reference to the Election of the Lord Henry Fitz Roy, (so stil’d in the Scrutiny, and rank’d among the Barons; for as yet he was not created Duke of Somerset and Richmond) and Ralph Nevil, Earl of Westmorland.

On the 20th of May, Anno 14 Car. I. being Trinity-Sunday, the Sovereign caus’d a Chapter to be held that Afternoon in the Chapter-House at Windsor, for the Nomination and Election of Charles Prince of Wales; at the Breaking up whereof, the Sovereign and Knights-Companions proceeded immediately to St. Georges’s Chapel, where at Evening-Prayer, (which was not within the Compass of the Feast, for that began not ’till next Day) the Scrutiny was taken.

And besides those Examples which shew the Nominations have been collected (upon peculiar Occasions) in the Choire at Windsor, there are one or two Instances they have been also taken in the Chapel at Whitehall, as on the 15th of May, Ann. 1 Car. I. at the Choice of Edmund Earl of Dorset, Henry Earl of Holland, and Thomas Viscount Andover, as on the 4th of July the same Year, whereat the Duke of Chevereux was pitch’d upon.

The Suffrages have commonly been collected at the Second Vespers, or in the Time of Evening-Prayer on St. George’s Day, or on that Day whereon the Feast of St. George hath been celebrated by Prorogation; and with this Distinction of Time, the taking of divers Scrutinies are mark’d.

However, there occurs one Scrutiny gather’d in the Chapter-House at Windsor on the Eve of the Grand-Feast, at which the person immediately elected, was sent for in, and had the Ensigns of the Order conferr’d upon him, when immediately the Sovereign made his Progression to the Chapel, and after some small Interval, the Elect proceeded to his Installation. And this was the Case of James Marquess Hamilton, Ann. 6 Car. I. who lying under an Obligation to commence his Voyage next Morning towards Germany (whither he had the Commission of General of 6000 Foot in Assistance of the King of Sweden) occasion’d this his Sovereign’s Indulgence, and quick dispatch.

When the Scrutiny first began to be collected in the Chapel, is treated of somewhat general and indefinite. Ann. 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 Eliz. it was during the time of Evening-Prayer. And in like manner, Ann. 4 Jac. I. and 13 Car. I. And when the Feast of St. George was solemniz’d at Whitehall, the 18th of April, 13 Car. I. the Annals say, That the Sovereign recreated himself with the Melody of Evensong, during which the Chancellor collected the Votes of the Knights-Companions.