The History of the Most Noble Order of the Garter

by Elias Ashmole

And of later Date, (as the Preambles for the carrying the Ensigns to Foreign Princes set forth) the Advantages the Sovereign has conceived to possess himself of, in the improving, confirming, and establishing, of a most strict and inviolable Bond of Friendship, and fair Correspondence, between him and Foreign Princes, their Realms and Subjects, hath been a grand Inducement to Elect such Princes into this most noble Order.

§ 14. Upon the vacancy of any of the Knights-Companions Stalls, the Election of others to supply those, is a Prerogative of the Sovereign, and in some Cases to his Lieutenant; for it’s recorded in the Black Book of the Order, in Henry VIII’s Statutes: That if any Stalls fall Vacant, it should belong to the Sovereign, to Elect new Knights, wheresoever he was Resident; upon Condition, the Chapter consisted of six compleat Knights-Companions; but if he chanced to be out of his Realms, and the Number was deficient, and that his Lieutenant held the Feast of St. George at Windsor; in such a Case the Election belongs to the Lieutenant, who is first to be certified of his Sovereign’s Pleasure, and what Esteem he has for the Candidates, to the intent such Information may guide, or direct his Election.

This Power of Election is fully acknowledged, by the Knights-Companions themselves, to be in the Sovereign; as the fragment of a Letter demonstrates, sent from the Chapter, convened at Windsor, upon the Feast of St. George, to Henry V. then in France; viz. That the Sovereign, in what Place soever residing, may, as is most fitting, Elect into a vacant Stall, (there being a sufficient Number of Knights called to this Election) such as he shall judge serviceable to his Crown, or do exceed others in deserts, and nobleness of descent: And at publishing the Election of Duke Emanuel of Savoy, in the Reign of Philip and Mary, who were joint Sovereigns of the Order; it’s styled, The Election of the King and the Queen.

This grand Prerogative of the Sovereign being not duly weighed by Polydore Virgil, occasioned his tripping in this Affair, and drew in Claudius Coteræus into the same palpable mistake; for writing of this Order, and the Succession of new Knights, reports in his History of England, That one Knight is received in the room of another deceased, by the Choice and Election of all the rest; and Erhard Celly in his Anglo-Wirtemb. does as falsely affirm, That no Person may be received into this Order, not so much as by the Sovereign, unless with the common Consent and Suffrage of all the Knights-Companions.

But these Passages are altogether erroneous, the Knights-Companions only nominate the Persons, but the right of Election remains solely in the Sovereign of the Order; for whosoever is honoured with his Choice, is immediately admitted; and pronouncing barely the Name of the Person in Chapter, constitutes the Election. After the Scrutiny hath been taken, and presented to the Sovereign, he peruseth it himself, or the Chancellor, or some other Officer of the Order that gathered it, reads it over to him; afterwards the Sovereign resolves forthwith, upon some one or more of the Knights, contained in the Scrutiny; and then publickly declareth the Name of him, or them, he does Elect; and by the bare Act of his Pronunciation, they Commence Elected Knights; except now and then the Sovereign is pleased to give his Reasons, why the Knight is Elected by him.

But though this Act of Election be solely in the Sovereign, yet the Consent of the Knights-Companions is frequently recorded in the Annals, and sometimes mentioned in the Commissions of Legations to Foreign Princes; not that the single Act of Election is, in truth, the Act of the whole Chapter, or is made invalid, without the joynt Consent of the Knights-Companions, present at the Election; but their Consent so expressed, is to be taken as an honorary Respect given them by the Register, intimating rather an Applause, or Commendation of their Sovereign’s Choice, as being in their Opinions Just and Right, according to the Merit of the Elected, than a material Circumstance, tending to the Ratification of the Election made by the Sovereign, as if defective without it.

§. 15. Among other Duties incumbent on the Register, and expressed in the Statutes of the Order, this is one: That the Register’s Office is to set down, and record for a Memorial, the Elections (or Scrutinies,) and Names of the Knights Elected: But in succeeding Times a Scruple arose, if this was not needless, when the Scrutiny should be taken, yet no Election made; to clear up which doubt, in a Chapter held in 5 Elizabeth, on St. George’s-Day, it’s recorded as the Sovereign’s Will and Pleasure, that thenceforward it should be Enacted, and received as the Sanction of a Law, within this Order; That if any Nominations were taken from the Knights-Companions, the same should be entered into the Annals, though there were no Election made of any Person into the Order at that Time: Which we presume was so Decreed, out of great deference to those Princes and noble Personages, who, in descending Times, should, by the glory of their Exploits, appear but worthy of a bare Nomination into so resplendent and illustrious an Order. And in pursuance of this Decree, there is frequent mention made of the delivery of the Scrutiny into the Hands of the Register, in order to be Recorded.

The Blue Book says, Anno 22 Elizabeth; That the Chancellor himself delivered the Knights-Companions Votes to the Register, to be committed to Writing, for a perpetual Memorial; and accordingly the Register, as his Duty obliged him, transcribed them, and put them in their proper Place, with all Care and Fidelity. Anno 34 of the same Queen, ’tis said, the Votes were delivered to the Register, who took care to Record them, according to usual Order. Yet maugre this Law, the Entry of Scrutinies hath been sometimes omitted, either by the Register’s forgetfulness of the Decree, or some accidental Miscarriages. In some Places of the Annals, in the room of Scrutinies, we find Excuses entered, as it’s said, Anno 28 Elizabeth; that the Prelate, immediately after Vespers, presented the Scrutiny to the Sovereign; but because there was no Election made of any new Knights, in regard of hurry, or weighty and pressing Affairs, it was laid aside, and through Neglect lost, or at least came not into the Register’s Hands, to be inserted in its proper Place. And when the Dean of Windsor collected the Scrutiny at Vespers, Anno 18 Elizabeth, it’s said, No Election was made, nor any thing else done: The like Excuse is made, Anno 5 Charles I. but the Fault is thrown upon the Chancellor; for though the Scrutiny had been taken by him, during the Vespers of the Feast-Day, yet would he not suffer it to be entered. In some Places we find, Anno 31 Elizabeth, the Votes being presented, they were left with her. And Anno 11 Charles I. the Scrutiny of Algernoon Earl of Northumberland never came to the Register’s Hands.

But the Law yet remains in force, that all Nominations and Votes of the Knights-Companions ought to be enter’d among the Annals, whether Election be made or not, unless it shall please the Sovereign, upon some Emergency, to forbid it: As appears but by one Example of such a Prohibition, viz. Anno 40 Eliz. where, by the Queen’s special Command, the Scrutiny then taken was not recorded among the Acts of this most Noble Order. But then it is declared, That the Register took care to set down all the Passages as they happened, the Names only excepted. And why the Scrutiny is not inserted in the Registry, An. 44 of Eliz. gives this Account: That upon assembling the Knights-Companions, it seemed good to the Sovereign, for several urgent Reasons, best known to her self, to give Commandment, That for that time, they would wholly forbear all Scrutiny of Votes, and Nominations of Persons; except which, there was nothing wanting to heighten the Solemnity of that Assembly: But this in the Annals is said to be præter morem, contrary to the usual Custom.

§ 16. Anno 27 of Eliz. there is a remarkable Occurrence, not to be passed over; for the Earls of Rutland and Derby, the morrow after St. George’s Day, were desirous to have seen the Scrutiny, which was committed into the Custody of the Dean of Windsor, to be registred, in pursuance of the before-mentioned Decree, Anno 5 Eliz. but he returned a modest denial, and said, It ought not to be seen before it was register’d. The Earls, not satisfied with this Answer, requested the Opinions of the Knights-Companions, present at the Feast, on this Affair; who, upon mature Deliberation, adjudged the Point against them; and since it has been a standing Rule, that no Knight-Companion ought to see whom the other hath named.