The History of the Most Noble Order of the Garter

The Grand Feast appointed to be celebrated Annually on
St. George’s Day.

§ 1.

By the Statutes of Institution, it’s ordain’d, That a solemn Festival should be Annually celebrated on the 23d Day of April, or St. George’s Day, in Honour of the Patron of the Order, as is observed in other military Orders, erected since this of the Garter, to which this seems to give Rules of holding their Festivals on the Anniversary of their Patrons. Thus Philip, Duke of Burgundy, on his erecting the Order of the Golden Fleece, taking St. Andrew for its Patron, appointed the Festival on St. Andrew’s Day. Lewis XI. King of France, appointed Michaelmas Day for holding the Feast of the Order of St. Michael. And so the Festival of the Duke of Savoy’s Order of the Annunciade, on Lady Day. The Duke of Bourbon’s Order of the Knights of our Lady, on the Conception of our Lady (8th December;) and other instances might likewise be given if it were necessary.

The Anniversary of St. George fixed by the Church,
to the twenty third of April.

§ 2. That the 23d of April was the Day whereon St. George suffered Martyrdom by Beheading, appears from the Greek Hexamiter before his Commemoration; which was the Day observed both by the Greek and Latin Church; as also by our Predecessors, the Saxons.

St. George’s Day made Festum duplex.

§ 3. After the Sovereign and Knights-Companions had encreased the Honour of their Patron’s Festival, our Church began to take greater notice of it, being now also esteemed among us as the Patron of the Nation; and therefore they bestowed an addition of Honour upon it, by making it Festum duplex, ad Modum Majorum Duplicis. 3 Hen. V.

The Place for celebrating the Grand Feast, assigned to Windsor-Castle.

§ 4. The Founder of this most Noble Order having fixed on this Day, for performing its Solemnities, he made Choice of that of his Nativity, the Castle of Windsor, which for a long time after was inviolably observed there, either upon the very Day, or some other appointed by Prorogation, not long after: For which way of Prorogation, allowance was given by the Statutes of the Order, and of which the Registers are full of instances.

St. George’s Day kept apart from the Grand Feast,
and how then observed.

§ 5. How this Noble Order flourished from its Foundation to the time of Henry V. no Account can be given, since the Annals thereof are wanting to his Reign; but then it appears to have been in considerable Splendor; but the Civil Wars toward the end of Henry VIth’s Reign, eclipsed it for a while. Under King Edward IV. when things were a little settled, it seem’d to recover; and in King Henry VIIIth’s time, was at a greater heighth than ever. However, though the several Branches of the Order receiv’d some Augmentation from the influence of this Monarch, yet the Grand Feast began to decline, by a removal of the observation of St. George’s Day from Windsor, and a prorogatory Celebration of the Grand Feast to other times.

The Article of the Statutes, causing this great alteration from the original design of the first Institution, gives the Sovereign Power to prorogue the Grand Feast at his Pleasure; but then ’tis evident from the same Statute, that St. George’s Day was nevertheless ordained to be duly observed by it self, in what Place soever the Sovereign (if within the Realm) should then reside; Windsor hereby being not excluded.

It farther implies, the sacred Rites and Offices to be performed, with other Matters concerning the Order; for besides the particulars therein enumerated, this general Clause is observable: That what other urgent Affair soever, relating to the Order, should offer it self to be performed, the same might be treated of, and receive dispatches, in the Chapter held where the Sovereign then should be, as fully as if he were at Windsor Castle.

So that henceforward, all things began to be ordered, both on the Eve the Day of St. George, and the Morrow after, with as great State; all Affairs as legally dispatched, and all Ceremonies as magnificently performed, except that of offering up of Atchievements, which is peculiar to the Chappel of St. George at Windsor only, as could be observed at the Grand Festival it self.

And how, by Virtue of this Article, and with what Ceremonies St. George’s Day was held, when the Grand Feast was prorogued, is evident from a full and ample Precedent, 22 Hen. VIII. now remaining in the Office of Arms.

For though the Sovereign with 13 Knights-Companions were at Windsor that Year, upon the 22, 23 and 24 of April, yet at that time they observed only the Feast Day of St. George, with the Eve and Morrow after, but deferred, by Order in Chapter, the Celebration of the Grand Feast, to the 8th of May ensuing.

The Grand Feast neglected by King Edward VI.

§ 6. From the Accession of this Prince, the Sovereignty of this Order became more neglected, so that during his Reign, no Anniversary of St. George was kept at Windsor, by a Grand Festival.

This is supposed to be owing to the common Calamity of that Age, wherein most Ceremonies, solemn or splendid, especially such as related to Divine Services, came under the denomination of being either Superstitious or Idolatrous. Insomuch, that at a Chapter held at Greenwich, 2 Edw. VI. an Abolition being intended for such Ceremonies as were not consonant to the King’s Injunctions, lately prescribed, it was then decreed, that then, and for ever from thenceforth, at the Feast of this most Noble Order, no other Ceremonies should be observed than such as were appointed by his Majesties Letter.

That no Procession should be made with going about the Church, or Church-yard, but the King’s Majesty’s Procession, lately set forth in English to be used. His Majesty and other Knights-Companions sitting in their Stalls, at the Entry, such Reverences to be made to the King’s Majesty only as was heretofore. The Offering to be in the Box for the Poor, without any other Reverence, or kissing any Paten, or other thing; but only at the return, due Reverence to the King, as was used before. The Mass of Requiem to be left undone, but yet, both on St. George’s Day, and for next Day, a Mass to be Sung with great Reverence; in which, immediately after the Words of Consecration is said, the Priest shall say the Pater Noster, and so turn and Communicate to all, or so many of the Order, or other, after they have done, as shall be disposed to receive the Communion, according to the Order prescribed by his Majesty’s Book of Communion, and without any other Rite or Ceremony after the said Communion to be used; except some godly Psalm or Hymn to be Sung in English, and so to end the said Service. All Chapters, and other Rites concerning the Order, not being contrary to these, to remain as they have been used.

This Decree seemed to mean nothing less than a Prohibition to the holding the Grand Feast at Windsor, at least the neglect of its Celebration there, whilst King Edw. VI. lived: And though toward the End of his Reign, some care was taken for a Permission to hold the said Feast, either on St. George’s Day, or some other appointed by Prorogation; yet it was without any regard to the ancient and usual Place; for when the Act passed, commanding the Days therein mentioned to be kept Holy, and no other, whereby this was involved among many other Saints Days then prohibited to be kept, as not being found among the Feasts then Establish’d; it was considered, that a Proviso and Allowance should be entered in the aforesaid Act, for the Celebration of this Feast, particularly by the Knights-Companions; which Act, though it suffered a Repeal by Queen Mary, yet stands in force at this Day, being revived by King James I. his repealing that Statute of 1 Mar. Cap. 2.

Removed from Windsor by Queen Elizabeth.

§ 7. But the most fatal Blow given to the growing Honour of the Castle of Windsor, was a Decree in Chapter held 9 Eliz. with the consent of the Knights-Companions then present, viz.

That if on the Vigil and Day of St. George, the Feast was not held at Windsor, according to the usual Custom, it should nevertheless be sufficient, if the Observation thereof were kept at the same Place where the Sovereign should then happen to be, where also the rest of the Knights-Companions were obliged to be present, no less than if the Feast had been held at Windsor.

And so severe was the latter part of this Decree against the flourishing condition of that Place, that it commanded also,

That no other Solemnity, under the notion of St. George’s Feast, should thenceforth be celebrated at Windsor, except upon occasion of the Installation of some illustrious Person, and then also, not without express leave of the Sovereign.

And to say truth, this Statute was but too strictly observed during her Reign; for we meet but with one Feast of St. George held there, till 1 Jac. I. (unless we mistake the Feasts of Installation for those of St. George,) but then the Sovereign, who was yet in Scotland, lent his Commission, dated 5 April, to the Earl of Nottingham, his Lieutenant, to prorogue the Festival to the 3d July following, and after constituted him to hold the Feast, which was performed the 2, 3 and 4 Days of the said Month, with all Pomp and Ceremony. The King himself, being then at Windsor, was prevented from being present by some occasion not mentioned.

Thus, after a long Interval, the Honour of the Feast was restored, which had this effect, toward the End of King James I. Reign, and that of his Son and Successor, King Charles I. that it begat a Re-union of the Feast and Place, whereby the Castle of Windsor, famous for the Institution of this most Noble Order, retrieved its ancient Honour, of having its Solemnities celebrated there.

Of Prorogation of the Grand Feast.

§ 8. Having thus noted, that from the beginning of King Henry VIIIth’s Reign, till of late Years, the Grand Feast was seldom observed upon the precise Day of St. George; and that the occasion how both Day and Feast came to be celebrated apart, took its rise from the indulgence of the Statutes in point of Prorogation: ’Tis necessary farther to observe, that this Prorogation is of two sorts, either Absolute, as being enjoined by the Statutes; or else Arbitrary, at the Sovereign’s Pleasure, upon intervening Reasons.

In the first of these the Founder’s Statutes enjoin, That if the Feast of St. George shall happen within fifteen Days next after Easter Day, it shall be prorogued to the Sunday Fortnight, or fifteen Days after Easter Day. And the reason is there given, That every of the Knights-Companions might have opportunity of coming thereto, without being constrained to ride upon any of those three Holy Days preceeding Easter Day. The same Rule for Prorogation, where there is a concurrence of these two Feasts, is likewise enjoin’d by the Statutes of King Henry V. and King Henry VIII.

And when the Grand Feast, in this case of Easter, has been kept before the expiration of the said fifteen Days, the Knights-Companions then absent, to avoid the Penalty for their not appearing, have made Excuse; that the ancient Statutes of the Order were violated in keeping the Feast within fifteen Days after Easter, as was alledged when Sir John Denham, Lord Treasurer, as President, held the Feast of St. George at Windsor, 24 April, 8 Henry VII.

Anciently, where the Register mentions the Grand Feast to be held at Windsor, beyond the Day of St. George, ’tis observable upon Calculation, that Easter Day, in those times, fell too near the 23d of April, to celebrate the Feast on, without breaking the Law, which was the real cause of those Prorogations, of which there are many Instances.

And as the Knights-Companions had Prohibitions put upon the Solemnization of their Feast, in case of its interfering with Easter, so had the Church of England, in their Observation of St. George’s Day, in reference to several other Festivals; and this continued till the time of the Reformation begun by King Edward VI. but since the Grand Feast has been celebrated upon any of them indifferently the Feast of Easter only excepted.

The second sort of Prorogations, which are meerly Arbitrary, and wholly dependent on the Sovereign’s Pleasure, yet warranted sufficiently from the Words, Causa postulante, mentioned in King Henry VIII’s Statutes; as likewise the great Latitude given the Sovereigns of this most Noble Order, in reference to their Affairs, in the same Statutes: The first Precedent of which was, Anno 5 Hen. V. when about August, four Months after St. George’s Day, that King being engaged in the Wars of France, ordered the Feast to be celebrated at Caen in Normandy, and with great Solemnity created fifteen Knights into the Order.

There are several other Examples, particularly one 8 Hen. VIII. when the King being at Eltham on St. George’s Day, it was in a Chapter there held, Decreed, That the accustomed Feast of St. George should be observed at Windsor 25th of May ensuing. And from this time it became Annually customary, to keep the Day of St. George where the Sovereign at that time made his Abode: On which Day, and the Day after, the usual Solemnities were observed. But as to the Solemnization of the Grand Feast itself, that was in one of the Chapters then held, adjourned to some farther time, and then solemnized at Windsor by Prorogation, not by the Sovereigns themselves, but by their Lieutenants and their Assistants appointed for that purpose.

But to proceed with the Causes of Prorogation, which were either for some weighty reasons, or upon emergent Occasions; Anno 1 Mariæ, the Sovereign celebrating the Feast of St. George at St. James’s, Philip, Prince of Spain, and the Earl of Sussex, were on the Morrow after elected into the Order; whereupon it was likewise Decreed, that the Inauguration of these two elect Knights, till the Prince came to England, which happening 21st July following, the Grand Feast, together with that of the elect Knights Installations, were appointed to be celebrated at the same time.

Again 3 and 4 Phil. and Mar. at a Chapter held 22d April, the Feast of St. George, together with the Installation of three elect Knights, was appointed to be held at Windsor the 9th of May ensuing; and by a Chapter summon’d the 3d of May, before the appointed Day for holding the Feast, the same was prorogued to the 15th of December following, upon the pressing Affairs of the King and Queen. But before that design’d time came, another Chapter was held on the 31st of October, wherein it was again prorogu’d to the first Sunday after Twelfth-day, viz. 9 January, if by that time the King, who was then in Flanders, should return to England: But that not happening, it was farther prorogu’d to the 20th of February; and thence, by another Decree, to St. George’s Day. Of which there are many other Examples, and sometimes upon other Occasions; but still at the Sovereign’s Pleasure.

Of Commissions of Prorogation.

§ 9. There is no Precedent of Commissions for Prorogation, ancienter than 12 Car. I. left by Sir Thomas Rowe, wherein Notice is taken of all the Adjournments of the Grand Feasts, from St. George’s Day preceeding, till that Time, with the Reasons thereof, and chiefly upon Consideration of the spreading Sickness, together with a Command to the Knights-Companions, and the Officers of the Order, to attend the Sovereign on the new assign’d Days for celebrating the Feast.

As to the Substance hereof, the succeeding Commissions very near agree, yet with some little Difference; as first, the Preambles are general, and run thus: Whereas, upon special Reasons, and other important Affairs, &c. except the Commission issu’d 25th February, 1637. where the Preamble was fitted to a special Occasion, and runs thus,——Whereas we have determined to create the Prince, our eldest Son, a Knight, and to propose him in Election as a Companion of our most Noble Order, for the more Conveniency of his Installation, We have thought fit to defer the Feast of St. George, &c.

But in the Commissions of Prorogation of the Grand Feast, 25th February, 19 Car. I. the Place appointed for Celebration is omitted, which Defect we find in the above-mentioned Precedent also; yet afterwards that material Part came to be inserted, and first of all in that Commission of the 26th February, 14 Car. I. where the Place, being the City of York, is put into the Body of the Commission. And when the Civil War drew on, and the Sovereign could not well ascertain any Place, then the Grand Feast was appointed to be kept at any such Place as, on a nearer View, should seem convenient; afterwards it vary’d something, and came to be inserted thus,—Wheresoever We shall then be; or thus, at such Places as We shall timely appoint.

The most ordinary course, preparatory to the issuing such Commissions of Prorogation, has been by the Sovereign’s Declaration in Chapter, or otherwise the Signification of his Pleasure to the Chancellor of the Order at any other Time, who thereupon drew up the Commission, and presented it to the Sovereign for his Sign Manual, and then affixed thereto the great Seal of the Order. But where the Chancellor was not at Hand to receive the Sovereign’s Commands, in this Case it was convey’d to him by some other Hand, with command to summon the Knights-Companions and Officers accordingly. For so it was done to Sir Francis Windebank, Knt. Secretary of State, by his Letter to Sir Thomas Rowe, 13 Car. I. for Prorogation of the Grand Feast.

And as all the preceeding Adjournments of the Grand Feast have been either decreed in Chapter, or directed immediately from the Sovereign; so there is a Precedent where the Lieutenant has been impowered to prorogue the same; yet to the Time and Place appointed by the Sovereign, and inserted in the Commission of Lieutenancy: And this was in a Commission, 1 Jac. I. directed to Charles, Earl of Nottingham.

§ 10. Though the Prorogations of the Grand Feast have been occasionally made use of on the aforesaid important Reasons, yet no such Adjournment or Prorogation is legally to be inlarged beyond St. George’s Day ensuing; because once within the compass of every Year, the Grand Feast ought to be solemniz’d; for so it was ordained by the Statutes at the Institution of the Order, and confirmed likewise by the succeeding Statutes. And when our Historians take notice of the Grand Feast, they speak of the same thing, that it ought Annually to be performed; whence it is frequently called in the Registers, Annua Festivitatis, solemnitas annua, celebritas annua, and the like.