_Elizabeth_, who in the First Year of her Reign appointed the Dean and
Canons to convert the Rents of these New Lands to such Uses and Intents
as she had set down in a Book signed with her Sign manual, and annexed
to an Indenture made between her and the Dean and Canons; by which
Indenture they were obliged to apply the Rents and Profits of these
Lands, as was prescribed in the Book, and to observe the Ordinances
therein, and upon Default, to abide such Orders as the Crown, or any
Knight-Companion, deputed by the Sovereign, shall set forth.
_l._ _s._ _d._
In this Book the Total of the Revenue}
reckon’d at the ancient Value } 661 06 08
The Annual Charge and Disbursements }
therein set down } 430 19 06
And so Remains 230 07 02
Which Remainder has been and is assigned for Payment of Tenths to the
Crown, Vicars, Curates, Annual Stipends, Officers Fees, Reparation of
the Premisses, and for the Relief of the Dean and Canons, in
Maintenance and Defence of the said Lands.
AND to the End the Queen might know how the Revenue was disposed of,
she gave charge that her Lieutenant and the Knights-Companions should
annually (at the Feast of the Order held at _Windsor_) state the
Accompt, and see how the Income was expended, and that her Lieutenant
should yearly be put in mind of it by one of the Officers of the Order.
This Ordinance was renewed, 21 _Jac._ I. and the Chancellor of the
Order was appointed to be the Remembrancer, and in Obedience thereunto,
the Account of these new Lands (which begins at _Lady-Day_, as that of
the old Lands doth at _Michaelmas_) was afterwards exhibited in
Chapter, and in particular that Account, 9 _Car._ I. which was
submitted to the Sovereign and Knights-Companion’s Consideration, who
referred the Inspection thereof to the Knights-Commissaries, who were
to consult over the Affairs of the Order.
§. 8. THE Privileges of the Chapel and College are Ecclesiastical and
Temporal: As to the first, Pope _Clement_ VI. exempted the Chapel,
College, Canons, Priests, Clerks, Alms-Knights and Officers, from all
ordinary Jurisdiction of Archbishops, Bishops, Archdeacons, and all
Judges and Officers, and received them within the Protection of the
Papal-See; and granted a farther Privilege, That the Custos should have
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over the Canons, Priests, _&c._ as also the
Cure of their Souls, notwithstanding any Papal Constitution,
Provincial, or Synodical, yet allowing that the Custos should receive
that Cure from the Diocesan of the Place. In Consideration of this
Exemption, the Custos was to pay annually, on St. _George_’s Day, a
Mark in Silver, to the Pope’s Chamber. Two Years preceding, the Chapel
was called the King’s Free Chapel, which Title it still enjoys; for it
owes Subjection to none but the Sovereign of _England_, the Supream of
the Church, as heretofore it stood divided between the King and See of
_Rome_. The Privilege of Exemption included in the Confirmation of
Liberties, made by the Founder in his Charter, dated _Anno Regni sui_
47. and all other Emoluments granted by him, are confirmed by Act of
Parliament, 8 _Hen._ VI. As the College has its sole Dependance on the
Crown, it is visitable only by the Lord-Chancellor, whose Visitations
and Power are reserved to him by the Statutes of the College, and
himself called in the King’s Commission for Visitation, 2 _Rich._ II.
Governor of the said Chapel, as well in Spirituals as Temporals, and,
under the King, immediate Custos. And so jealous were the Dean and
Canons, lest the Power of the said Exemption should be infringed, that
when _Sixtus_ IV. had granted the Bishop of _Salisbury_, and
themselves, to make new and interpret the ancient Statutes, they soon
obtained a Revocation of that Authority, lest the said Bishop (in whose
Diocess the College is situate) being so unpowered, might by Degrees
bring them under his Jurisdiction, in prejudice to their Exemption.
And, _A. D._ 1485. to prevent such design, the Archbishop of
_Canterbury_, &c. were commission’d to see the Bull revoked, and
_Salisbury_ enjoyned not to intermeddle further in the College Affairs.
Moreover other Bishops, and the Chancellor of _England_, were to renew,
alter, or new make such Statutes as might accrue to the Advantage of
the College.
IF the Archbishop of _Canterbury_ be present in the Chapel, he sits
below the Dean, nor can he consecrate there, without his License. And
this is very remarkable, that at the ratifying the Peace between King
_Charles_ I. and _Lewis_ XIII. _A. D._ 1629. in the Chapel at
_Windsor_, Dr. _Wren_, then Dean of the College, gave the Oath to the
_French_ Ambassador, and not the Archbishop of _Canterbury_, tho’ he
was then present.
THE Dean and Chapter are to weigh well and debate at their yearly
Chapters all things fit to be dispatched in reference to the College
Affairs, and whatsoever Determination they come to, not repugnant to
their Statutes, all Persons are firmly obliged to observe.
THE Deans have no Institution from any Bishop, but his Institution,
Investiture, and Installation into the Custos-ship, Canonship, and
Prebendship, is conferred from such of the Canons Resident, to whom the
King (who collates) doth recommend him. Other Marks of Exemption appear
in the constant proving of Wills before him, or in his Absence before
his Lieutenant. In using the Power of Excommunication within their
Jurisdiction (the Precincts of the College) granting a Dispensation for
eating Flesh in _Lent_, a farther Mark of their Privilege appears, that
the Ordination for the Chantry Priests were confirmed by the Dean and
Chapter, and not the Bishop of the Diocess, as were the Statutes of the
new Commons. The Dean is exempt from paying all Synodals, or
Procurations, nor can any of the King’s Chaplains preach in the Chapel
of St. _George_, unless he be a Canon there, or have License from the
King, or from the Dean and Canons. They send no Delegates to the Synod,
and when the Point was debated, 1640. it was carried in the Negative,
as being against their Liberties, and might intitle them to the Payment
of Subsidies; nor are they intitled to any Share in the Government of
the Church, more than the Colleges in the Universities, where there are
many nominal Deans. In short, when by the Act of _Uniformity_, 14
_Car._ II. every Clergyman was bound to subscribe before the Archbishop
or his Ordinary, the Canons subscribed before the Dean; and tho’ some
of them subscribed before the Bishop, yet was it with a Salvo, saving
the Rights and Privileges of this Free Chapel.
THEIR Temporal Immunities and Privileges are these, as granted them by
Charter, 6 _Mar._ 27 _Edw._ III. and confirmed by several of his
Successors.
THE Custos and Canons were free from paying Aid upon making the King’s
eldest Son a Knight, and marrying his eldest Daughter, and exempt of
all Aids to the King’s Contributions and Tallages.
WHENSOEVER the Clergy should give a Tenth, or other Imposition, out of
their Spiritualties, or the Commons give a Tenth, Fifteenth, or other,
out of their Temporalties, Subsidy, or the King tax his own Demean, or
the Pope impose any Money to be raised upon the Clergy, to give it the
King, this College and their Possessions were to stand freed thereof.
THEY were discharged from any Contributions of arraying Soldiers, and
from sending them to guard the Sea-Coasts, and from every Fine and
Composition of the like Nature. Their Houses within the Castle of
_Windsor_, as elsewhere, are quit from any Livery of the King’s and
Queen’s Stewards, Marshals, Purveyors, Officers, and Servants, and from
the like Officers of the Peers or Nobles, and the said Officers were
not to intermeddle there, without Leave of the Custos and Canons.
NO Duke, _&c._ or Nobleman, nor any Stewards, Marshals, Escheators,
Sheriffs, Coroners, Bailiffs, or Officers, nor other Person of what
Condition soever, upon any Pretence, were not to lodge or remain in
their Houses without their Consent.
THE Custos, Canons, and their Tenants, were not to pay any Toll,
Paviage, Piccage, Barbicanage, Terrage, Pontage, Murage, Passage,
Payage, Lestage, Stallage, Tallage, Carriage, Pesage, and from Scot and
Geld, Hidage, Scutage, working about Castles, Parks, Bridges, Walls for
the King’s Houses; and from Suits to the County, or Hundred Courts, and
Wapentakes, or Court Leets, Murder, and common Amerciaments, before
either King, Justices of the Bench, or Itinerant, and from every like
Custom had an Immunity.
WITHIN their Lands, Fees, and Precincts, the Chattels of all Felons and
Fugitives were seized to their own Use. All Fines for Trespasses, and
all other Contempts and Misdemeanors, _Fines pro licentia concordandi_,
and for all other Causes, Amerciaments, Redemptions, Issues, and
Forfeitures whatsoever, _Annum Diem Vastum & Streppum_, and all Things
which might belong to the King and his Heirs, and all Wrecks, Waifs,
and Strays, were granted them.
NO Purveyance of Corn, Hay, Horses, Carts, Carriages, Victuals, or any
Goods, Chattels, or any thing whatsoever, should be carried off by any
of the King’s Officers, upon their or their Tenants Land.
THEY were to be free from paying any Pension, Corrody, or other
Sustentation to be granted to the Crown.
THEY were to have free Warren in all their Demain Lands wheresoever,
and that altho’ they lay within the Bounds of the King’s Forest.
THAT they should enjoy for their Conveniency a weekly Market on
_Wednesday_, at their Mannor of _Ever_ in _Bucks_, and Two Fairs to
last Eight Days, one on the Eve and Feast of St. _Peter_ and St.
_Paul_, and Two Days after the other, upon the Eve and Feast of St.
_Peter ad Vincula_, and Two Days following.
THAT they should, in all their Lands have Socage and Sackage,
Infangthef, Utfangthef, and View of Frankpledge, with Thewe, Pillory,
and Tumbrel for punishing Malefactors, and Power to erect Gallows upon
their own Soil for executing those apprehended in their Jurisdiction.
THEY were to be exempt of all Suits and Pleas of the Forest, and of all
Charges or Fees which the Officers of the Forest might demand, and from
the Expeditation of their Dogs and Suits of Court there; as likewise
all from Gelds, _Dane_ Gelds, Knights Fees, Payments for Murder and
Robbery, Building or Repairing of Bridges, Castles, Parks, Pools,
Walls, Sea Banks, Causeways, and Inclosures; and of all Assizes,
Summonses, Sheriffs Aids, their Bailiffs, or Officers, bearing of
Treasure, and all other Aids whatever; as also from the common
Assessments and Amerciaments of the County, and Hundred, and all
Actions relating to them; they were discharged from the Payment of
Ward-penny, Aver-penny, Tithing-penny, and Hundred-penny, and quit from
Grithbreck, Forestal, Homesoken, Blodwite, Wardwite, Hangwite,
Fightwite, Leyrwite, Lastage, Pannage, Assurt, and Waste of the Forest;
so that such Waste be not committed in the Forests, Parks, and Woods
belonging to the Crown, and then reasonable Satisfaction, without
Imprisonment, should be accepted.
ALL Writs and Attachments were returnable to them, as well relating to
the Pleas of the Crown as other, thro’ all their Lands and Fees, and no
Sheriff, Bailiff, or Officer, should execute any such there, unless in
Default of the Custos and Canons, and they to have and hold Leets, and
Lawdays, and Cognizance of all Pleas betwixt their Tenants, as well of
Trespasses and Contracts, as others. And lastly, They were to have and
hold Wards, Reliefs, Escheats, Forfeitures, and other Profits, Issues,
and Emoluments whatsoever, within their own Fees, from all their
Tenants, which might appertain to the Crown, as if the Tenants did hold
of the Crown or others _in Capite_.
CAP. V.
WE come now to treat of the most Noble and Illustrious _Order of the
Garter_; which, if we consider either its Antiquity, or the Nobleness
of the Personages, that have been enroll’d, it excels and outvies all
other Institutions of Honour in the whole World. It owes its Original,
as is confessed on all Hands, to _Edward_ III. King of _England_ and
_France_; yet as to the Occasion, there are several Opinions which we
shall rectifie. The vulgar and more general is, that the Garter of
_Joan_, Countess of _Salisbury_, dropping casually off as she danced in
a solemn Ball, King _Edward_ stooping took it up from the Ground,
whereupon some of his Nobles smiling, as at an amorous Action, and he
observing their sportive Humour, turned it off with a Reply in
_French_, _Honi soit qui mal y pense_; but withal added, in disdain of
their Laughter, _That shortly they should see that Garter advanced to
so high an Honour and Renown as to account themselves happy to wear it_.
BUT upon Examination of this Tradition, let others judge what Credit it
bears to establish its Belief; for Sir _John Froissart_, the only
Writer of the Age that treats of this Institution, assigns no such
Original, nor for 200 Years after is there any thing to the Purpose in
our other Historians, till _Polydore Virgil_ took occasion to say
something of it; but had it been Fact, some _French_ Historian or
other, would not have neglected to register it at a convenient Time
with a Scoff and Ridicule, since that Nation was so ready to deride
King _Henry_ V’s Design of invading them with a Return of Tennis Balls.
IN the Original Statutes of this Order, there is not the least
Conjecture to countenance the Conceit of such a Feminine Institution,
no not so much as laying an Obligation on the Knights-Companions to
defend the Quarrels of Ladies (as some Orders then in being enjoyned;)
nor doth the Author of that Tract entitled _Institutio clarissimi
Ordinis Militaris a prænobili subligaculo nuncupati_, prefaced to the
Black Book of the _Garter_, let fall the manifest Passage to ground it
on.
AS to what _Polydore_ says, he is not so confident to ascertain the
Person whose Garter it was; but cautiously declining that, says, it was
either the Queen’s, or the King’s Mistress’s; and if it were the
latter, yet doth he omit her Name and Title, both which (on what
Authority we find not) are supplied by modern Historians, who call her
_Joan_ Countess of _Salisbury_, the same elsewhere celebrated by the
Name of the _Fair Maid_ of _Kent_, (whom _Edward_ the Black Prince,
afterward married) whereas no Historian ever gave the least Inuendo
that King _Edward_ III. ever courted her as a Mistress. _Selden_ points
at her when he calls the Lady, from whom the Garter slipp’d, Countess
of _Kent_ and _Salisbury_: But about the Time when this Order was
founded she in truth was dignified with neither Honour; for altho’ she
was Daughter to _Tho._ of _Woodstock_, Earl of _Kent_, and had been
sometime the reputed Wife of _William Mountague_, second Earl of
_Salisbury_, yet then she cou’d not properly be accounted Countess of
_Salisbury_. She was actually Wife to Sir _Thomas Holland_, (one of the
First Founders of the Order.) Nor was she yet (tho’ afterwards)
Countess of Kent, because her Brother _John_ Earl of _Kent_, at the
Institution of this Order, survived, and died not till 26 _Edw._ III.
THAT there was a Countess of _Salisbury_ with whom King _Edward_ III.
became greatly enamour’d, _Froissart_ reports after this manner, _That
this King having relieved a Castle of that Earl’s in the North, wherein
his Countess had been besieged by the_ Scots (_the Earl himself being
at that time Prisoner in_ France;) _upon sight of her extraordinary
Beauty he fell in love with her; but she so virtuously demeaned her
self, during his Abode there, that he declined further Solicitation_.
However, some time after, the King out of Desire to see her, proclaim’d
solemn Justs in _London_, whither this Countess and other Ladies being
invited, came up. This Castle it seems was _Wark_ upon _Tweed_ in
_Northumberland_, which King _Edward_ had formerly bestowed on her
Husband, for his good Service past, when he first espoused her, being
then but a Knight.
ALTHO’ it should be admitted that this Countess of _Salisbury_ was the
King’s Mistress, yet must it be remark’d, That she was Wife to _William
Mountague_, Kt. created Earl of _Salisbury_, _Anno_ 11 _Edw._ III.
Mother to _William_ the before-mention’d second Earl, that her
Christian Name was _Catherine_, not _Alice_, as _Froissart_, not
_Joan_, as others call her, Daughter to _William_ Lord _Granston_, and
that she expired 28 _Edw._ III. But that the whole may appear, what
indeed it is, a meer Fable, we shall insert the Judgment of Dr.
_Heylin_, who took great Pains in this Particular. _This_, says he, _I
take to be a vain and idle Romance, derogatory both to the Founder and
the Order first published by_ Pol. Virgil, _a Stranger to the Affairs
of_ England, _and by him taken upon no better ground than_ Fama Vulgi,
_the Tradition of the common People, too trifling a Foundation to so
great a Building_.
OF the same Contexture with the former is another Tradition in _Andrew
du Chesne_, _That the Queen departing from the King to her own
Apartments, and he following soon after, chanced to espy a Blue Garter
lying on the Ground (supposed to have slipp’d from her Leg) whilst some
of his Attendants carelesly passed by it, as disdaining to stoop at
such a Trifle; but he knowing the Owner, commanded it to be given him;
at the Receipt of which he said, You make but small account of this
Garter; but within few Months, I’ll cause the best of you all to
reverence it alike_. Some suppose that the Motto was the Queen’s
Answer, when the King asked her, _What Men would conjecture of her,
upon her losing her Garter in such a manner?_
BOTH Relations are far distant from Fact; nevertheless it has thus
far’d with other Orders of Sovereign Foundation, and an amorous,
instead of an honourable Account, has been falsly render’d of their
Institution; as for Instance, _The Order of the_ Annunciade, and that
of _The Golden Fleece_.
THERE is a third Opinion grounded on a Relation made of King _Rich._ I.
who, whilst his Forces were employ’d against _Cyprus_ and _Acon_, and
extremely tir’d and harrass’d with the Siege, he, by the Assistance and
Mediation of St. _George_ (as imagin’d) was inspir’d with fresh
Courage, and bethought himself of a new Device, which was to tie about
the Legs of a Number of Knights, a Leathern Thong Garter, for such had
he then at hand, whereby they being emulated to future Glory, with
Assurance of Reward if they prov’d victorious, they might be excited to
behave themselves intrepidly and well, much after the Examples of the
old _Romans_, among whom were distributed various Crowns for several
Causes, to adorn the Soldiers: But if King _Richard_ I. did make use of
this Device in the _Holy Land_, as a Signal or Mark of Distinction of a
Party, upon some warlike Exploit, yet that he took Occasion to create a
distinct Order of Knighthood thereupon, there is not sufficient warrant
to believe; (for it is only put down in the Preface of the _Black
Book_, but not in any Part of the Annals of the Order; nor can it plead
higher Antiquity than the Reign of King _Hen._ VIII. when written.) All
the Advantage that can be made of it, is, to heighten the Reputation of
that Saint among the _English_, by which Means the Garter came to be
dedicated to him, and not that it contributed to its Institution.
§ 2. THE true Motive was therefore, neither the Ladies Garter, or King
_Richard_’s Leathern Thong, that it owes it Original to: But King
_Edward_, being a Person of consummate Vertue, gave himself up to
military Affairs; and being engag’d in War for recovering his Right to
_France_, made use of the best Martialists of the Age, did thereupon
first design (induc’d by its ancient Fame) the Restoration of King
_Arthur_’s _Round Table_, to invite hither the Gallant Spirits from
abroad, and endear them to himself; and adjudging no Place more
requisite than _Windsor_, upon _New-Year’s-Day_, _A. D._ 1344. he
issu’d out Letters of Protection for the safe going and return of
Foreign Knights, to try their Valour at the Solemn Justs to be held
there on _Monday_ after the Feast of St. _Hilary_ following (which
happen’d _Jan._ 19.) And these Letters of Safe-Conduct continu’d in
force until the _Octaves_ of the Purification of our blessed Virgin
ensuing, being the 18th Year of his Reign. At the Time appointed, he
provided a great Supper to begin the Solemnity, and then ordain’d this
Festival to be annually at _Whitsontide_; and immediately after these
first Exercises were over, for a future and better Accommodation, he
impress’d Workmen and Carriages for erecting a particular Building in
the Castle, and therein plac’d a Table of Two Hundred Foot Diameter,
where the Knights should have their Entertainment of Diet, at his
Expence of 100 _l._ _per_ Week; to which Building he gave the Name of
_The Round Table_. And as at these great Conventions the Days were
spent in all Kinds of noble Feats of Arms, Justs and Turnaments, so
were a great Part of the Nights consum’d in publick Balls and dancing
with the Ladies that attended the Queen thither; and perhaps it was
hence conjectur’d, that at some of these Balls the Queen’s Garter, or
the Garter of _Catherine_, Countess of _Salisbury_, might slip off, and
the King’s taking it up occasion Smiles in the Bystanders; and
afterwards, when the King had modell’d his intended Order, a Garter
offering it self for its chief Ensign, might add to the Conjecture; but
that it was the principal Cause, is a groundless Imagination. And tho’
King _Edward_ advanc’d the Honour of the Garter, as to denominate the
Order, yet was it not to enhance Reputation to, or perpetuate an
effeminate Occasion, but to adorn Martial Prowess, with Honours,
Rewards and Splendor; to increase Vertue and Valour in the Hearts of
his Nobility, that so true Worth, after long and hazardous Exploits,
should not enviously be depriv’d of that Glory which it hath
intrinsically deserv’d, and that active and hardy Youths might not want
a Spur in their Progression in the Paths of Vertue, which is to be
esteem’d glorious and eternal.
IT is further observable, that the _French_ King, _Philip de Valoys_,
in Emulation of this Seminary at _Windsor_, set up a _Round Table_ at
his Court, and invited Knights and valiant Men of Arms out of _Italy_
and _Almaine_ thither, lest they should repair to our King _Edward_
III. which meeting with Success, prov’d a Countermine to his main
Design; who perceiving that his Hospitality towards strange Knights,
upon Account of reviving King _Arthur_’s _Round Table_ was too general,
nor did sufficiently ingratiate them to his Person, but being
unconstrain’d and at Liberty, did after their Departure take what Side
they pleas’d in the ensuing Wars, he at length resolv’d upon a
Projection more particular and select, and such as might oblige those
whom he thought fit to make his Associates, in a lasting Bond of
Friendship and Honour: And having issu’d forth his own Garter for the
Signal of a Battle, that was crown’d with Success, (which is conceiv’d
to be the Battle of _Cressy_, fought about Three Years after his
erecting the _Round Table_;) upon so remarkable a Victory, he thence
took Occasion to institute this Order, and gave the Garter Preheminence
among the Ensigns of it, whence that select Number, whom he
incorporated into a Fraternity, are styl’d _Equites Aureæ
Periscelidis_, and vulgarly _Knights of the Garter_. By this Symbol he
design’d to bind the Knights and Fellows of it mutually unto one
another, and all of them joyntly to himself, as Sovereign of the Order;
nor was his Expectation frustrated, for it did not serve only as a
vehement Spur and Incentive to Honour and martial Vertue, but also as a
golden Bond of Unity and internal Society; and for this Consideration
_Cambden_ aptly calls it a Badge of Unity and Concord.