THE MANNER OF Electing and Enstalling the Knights of the most Noble Order of St. GEORGE called the GARTER. Which is to be performed on the 16. and 17. of April next, at the Castle of windsor.  
With, A Catalogue of the present Knights of that ORDER.  
LONDON, Printed for James thrall, and are to be sold at the 〈…〉 the across keys at Pauls gate 1661.   

The Names of those Honourable Persons, Companions of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.  

THe Kings Most Excellent Majesty, sovereign.  
The King of Denmark.  
His Royal Highness, James Duke of York.  
The Duke of Newburgh.  
Prince Elector Palatine.  
Prince Rupert.  
Prince of Aurange.  
Algernon Earl of Northumberland, Lord High Counstable at the Coronation day.  
Thomas Earl of berkshire.  
William Earl of Salisbury.  
Charles Duke of Lenox and Richmond.  
Thomas Earl of Southampton, Lord High Treasurer of England.  
George Duke of Albemarle, General of all his Majesties Forces.  
Aubery Earl of Oxford.  
James Duke of Ormond, Lord Steward of his Majesties household.  
William Earl of Newcastle.  
Montagu Earl of Lindsey.  
Edward Earl of Manchester.  
William Earl of Strafford.  
Edward Earl of Sandwich.  
General Marcin.    

A Relation of the manner of the Election and Installation of the Noble Order of St. George, at windsor, &c.  
BEfore I Come to speak of the Statutes of this noble Order, it will be necessary to acquaint the Reader with it's Founder, and the occasion of it's Institution. The Founder of it was Edward the third King of England, a person of a most accomplished Virtue, the Thunderbolt of War, and in times of Peace nothing inferior to any Lawmaker of the best ages so much celebrated. This most excellent Prince, the Glory of his times, and a chief Ornament of Europe, having exceedingly prevailed both against the French and Scottish Kings, discomforted their Armies and taken one of them in Person, ordained this most Noble Order and society of Knights, so to adorn their Valour, manifested in the Warres with honor the reward of Virtue. There number 26. no more ut pretium faciat raritas, least being else communicated unto many it might at last become despicable, nor ever have our Kings exceeded the number, but still confined themselves unto the first intention of the Founder. For the occasion of its Institution it is generally received that it took beginning from a Garter of the Queen, or rather of Joan Countess of Salisbury, a Lady of Incomparable Beauty which fell from her as she danced, and the King taking it up from the ground, a number of Nobles and Gentlemen standing by laughing at it, The King said that shortly it should come to pass that Garter should be in high Honor, and estimation: adding withall these words in French Hony So it qui maly pense,( i.e.) shane be to him that evil thinks. Which after was the Motto, or Impress of the Garter. Which were it so( saith Mr. Cambden) it needs not seem to be a base original thereof, considering as one saith Nobilitas sub amore jacet, He adds withall that some report how from his own Garter, given forth as a signal of a battle which speed so fortunately, he called them Knights of the Garter. But whatsoever the occasion was, likely it is that it took this name from the blew Garter, which the Fellows of it wear on their left leg: carrying the aforesaid Impress wrought with Golden Letters, and enchased with precious stones and fastened with a Buckle of Gold, as with the bond of most inward society in token of Unity and Concord, that so there might be a Communion as it were of Virtues and good will among them. Dr. Cowel reports in his Interpreter that he hath seen an ancient Monument wherein it doth appear that this most Noble Order is a college or Corporation, having a Common Seal consisting of the Kings of England as sovereigns thereof or chief Guardians of it 25 Knight fellows( as they call them or Companions) of the Garter 14 Canons Resident being Secular Priests, 13 Vicars or Chorall Priests, and 26 of the inferior sort of Gentry, Military men commonly called Poor Knights of windsor( whereof indeed there are but twelve) There belongs also to this heroic Order the Prelate of the Garter which is the Lord Bishop of Winton for the time being; a Chancellor, a Register thereof which always is the Dean of windsor, An Usher which is one of the Ushers of the Kings Chamber called the Black rod, and last of all a Chief herald, even the most principal of all; Garter first King at Arms, Instituted by that Victorious Prince King Henry the fifth, to attend Chiefly on this Order, and to do them service at their Funerals.  
A brief View of some of the Statutes of this Order, The Kings of England are( as I said before) the sovereigns of this Noble Order, and either do in person or by their lawful Deputies by them nominated and appointed, elect the Fellows of the Order, and Solemnize the Festivals, and hold the Chapters. To them it also appertains to have the declaration, reformation, and disposition of the Laws and statutes of the said most Noble Order. Which Laws and statutes were first Instituted and devised by the Victorious Prince King Edward, of that name the third; after revised and ratified by many of the succeeding Kings. And on the Reformation of Religion much altered by King Edward the sixth. About this time( saith Sir John Hayward in his History of this Prince) the Order was almost wholly altered as by the statutes thereof then made doth appear. A thing not to be wondered at, for even the Laws of the most settled States and Kingdoms have been often changed and varied according to occasion and the Princes pleasure. Unto them also to the sovereigns, I mean, or to their Deputies, it appertains to choose and nominate into the Order whom they esteem to be most worthy of that Honor, and like to be the greatest Ornaments unto it. Yet so that six at least of the said Fellows do convene at the Election, and concur in it, the residue of them being all warned to be there present, and such as fail of their attendance without just cause, such as the sovereign shall approve, to be amerced. In their Elections two things there are which they especially observe.  
First, that the Party nominated, be a Gentleman of Name, and Arms; for three descents both by the Fathers side, and the Mothers side. For which cause when the Garter was reproachfully taken from the Lord William Pagit, by dudley of Northumberland to give to John his Eldest son, the Earl of Warwick: he used this colour to disguise that foul dishonour; that the said Lord,( as the first raiser of his house) was said to be no Gentleman of blood, neither by father nor mother, as Sir John Heyward tells the story.  
The second thing to be observed is that the party nominated be without spot or foul reproach: as viz: not convict of Heresy; nor attaint of Treason; nor by his Prodigality and Riot decayed in his Estate, by means whereof he is not able to conserve the Honor of his Order; nor such a one as ever fled in the day of battle; his sovereign Lord, or his Lieutenant being in the field. In all which cases a Knight Elected, and Installed may also if it please the sovereign, be degraded.  
The Party chosen by the Prince, if he be a stranger, is certified thereof soon after by letters from the sovereign: and many times the Statutes of that Order have been sent unto him to consider of them, whether or no he will accept of this Election. But this is a matter merely formal; for commonly our Kings are first well assured of the Parties good affection to them, before they choose him: and as for sovereign Princes it is a true note of Mr. Cambdens, that the most mighty of them have reputed it their chiefest Honour to be chosen and admitted into this Company. If he accept it( as no question but he will) then doth the sovereign forth with sand unto him by his ambassador and the chief Herald( commonly) the whole Habit of the Order, with the Garter and the Collar wherewith they do invest him. And on the other side, the Prince or Stranger so invested, within convenient time, sand their sufficient Deputy with a Mantle of blew Velvet, to be installed in their room at St. GEORGE'S Church in Winsore. But if the party chosen be a Subject of the Kingdom, the Garter is delivered to him presently upon his Election, to signify that he is choose into the Order. Afterwards in the Chapter-house, upon the reading of his Commission before the sovereign or his Deputy, he is invested with the rob and with the Hood. Then follows the instalment, performed with many grave and magnificent Ceremonies: which done, he doth receive the Collar of the Order. This at their Installations have alwayses an Oath administrated, that to their power, during the time they shall be fellows of the Order, they shall defend the Honour, Quarrels, Rights and Lordships, of the sovereign, and that they shall endeavour to preserve the Honour of the said Order: and all the Statutes of it they shall well observe, without fraud or covin. Which Oath is by the Natives of the Kingdom taken absolutely, and in terms; but many times by Strangers relatively and by halves, in reference to some former Order.  
So when King Henry the third of France, was by the Earl of derby invested with the Garter, Anno 1585. he took his Oath to keep the Statutes of the Order in all points, wherein they were not opposite to the Order of St. Michael, and the Holy Ghost, to which he had been sworn before. Upon which reason also Frederick King of Denmark, though he did joyfully accept the habit of the Order, refused to take the Oath at all, because he had been sworn before( at his Installation in the Order of St. Michael) to the King of France. Being thus solemnly installed and seated in the place belonging to them in the chapel, their next care is to fasten an Escotcheon of their Arms and Hachments, in a plate of mettal, upon the back of their said Stalls, which they remove according as themselves in Order are advanced higher. And in that order they do also change the places of their Banners, Swords and Helmets, which are continually set over their said Stalls, during their being of the Order. This only is the difference, that at the death of any of the Knights of this most Noble Order, their plate of Arms is left for ever to that Stall, where last they sat, to preserve their memory: whereas the Banner, Sword and Helmet, are all taken down, and offered with all due solemnities, the Offerings made by such of the surviving Knights, as by the sovereign shall be destinated to that service. I said before that they remove their Plates, and Hachments, according as themselves in order are advanced higher in this Order, they take place according to the antiquity of their Creation, and not according to their Dignities, Titles, and Estates, so that sometimes a Knight bachelor hath place before an Earl or Baron, as not long since we had example in Sir Harry Lea Knight, keeper of the armoury. Only in Honour unto Strangers which be Dukes, or sons and brethren unto foreign Kings and Princes, it is permitted that they take their rooms and places according to their quality.  
Hitherto we have spoken of the Election of Saint GEORGE's Knights and their admission to the Order. A little would be said now of the means and ways whereby their rooms are voided, and their places destitute: and they are three: For either they are voided by Death, or by Degradation, or by session and surrendry. The second of these( for we will not speak of Death) is Degradation, a piece of Justice more to be commended where it may not, than where it may be spared. The Cases wherein Degradation is allowed of, I have already shown, but the examples are but few. William Lord Pages which was so scornfully degraded by Northumberland, was by Queen Mary with great Honour restored again unto his Order. And Sir John Fastolfe, which for his valiantness had been elected of the Order, was by the Duke of Bedford, under whom he served, and unto whom he was great Master of the household, divested in great anger, of his George and Garter: because he had departed from a battle( which the English lost) without stroke strike: but afterwards by means of his friends, and upon good excuse and reason by him alleged in his defence( for certainly he was a wise and valiant Captain, however on the Stage they have been pleased to make merry with him) was restored to his Honour. The third and last means of avoidance, is by session or surrendry, and here of the examples are also very few. This I am sure of( not to make further search into it) that Philip King of Spain being offended with Queen Elizabath about her altering of Religion, and thereby alienated from the English, delivered back unto the Lord viscount Mountaque the Robes and Habit of the Order wherewith he was invested on his Marriage with Queen Mary. By which his Act, as the Historian hath observed, he seemed to break off utterly all amity and friendship with the Realm of England: It is true indeed, King Philip being once resolved to renounce his Order; was of necessity to sand back the Habit; for so it is ordained amongst them, that even such of them as depart this life, are to take care especially, that the Garter be restored to the sovereign; by him, and by the company of the said Order, to be disposed of to some other: examples in which kind are infinite to relate.  
windsor, the fairest and most stately of our English Palaces, was by King Edward who adorned and beautified it, conceived most fit to be the seat of this most excellent Order which he had established. An house indeed worthy of such Inhabitants; and therefore worthily honoured by them: For here they always leave in readiness the Mantle of their Order, to be laid up for them, for any sudden chances which might happen to require their presence at St: GEORGE'S chapel, or in the Chapter-house: Here do they solemnize the Installations of their brethren, and perform their obsequies. And lastly, such a reverend regard they owe the place, that if they come within two miles of it( except that they be hindered by some weighty and important business) they always do repair thereto, and putting on their Mantles, which are their in readiness, proceed unto the chapel, and there make their offerings. Nor do they go at any time from out the Castle, if their occasions bring them thither, till they have offered in like manner.  
Having thus spoken of the statutes of this most Noble Order whereby they are and have been governed, we will descend in the next place to give you notice of their Patron, which after the opinions of those times, they choose unto themselves. Of which this Polydore Virgil. This order is( saith he) dedicated unto St GEORGE as the chief Saint, and Patron of the men of War; whose festival they therefore solemnly observe with many noble Ceremonies. But what need Polidore have been produced unto this purpose, since from the Charter of the Institution we have a testimony more authentical. For there King Edward tells us that to the Honor of Almighty God, and of the Blessed Virgin St. Mary, and of the Glorious Martyr St. GEORGE, Patron of the Right Noble Realm of England, and to the Exaltation of the Holy catholic Faith, he had ordained, established, created and founded within his Castle of windsor, a Company of twenty six Noble Knights to be of the said most Noble Order of St. GEORGE, name the Garter. It is true indeed what Polidor hath well observed, with how great Ceremony and Solemnity the Knights do Celebrate this Feast: Attending both on the Vesper, and the day itself at Divine Service, attired in the most rich and stately mantles of the Order: and gallantly adorned with their most rich and sumptuous Collars( which we call of SS.) The Image of St. GEORGE, garnished with pearls and precious stones, appendent to them. In which their going to the Church, and in their sitting at the Table, they go and set by two and two, every one with his fellow which is fore against him in his stall. And if by chance it happen that his Fellow be not present he doth both go and set alone, I say if it chance to happen: for all the Fellows are obliged to be there personally present, without a just and reasonable cause acceptable to the sovereign or his Deputy, and signified by special letters of Excuse. Other pomp and Rich magnificence of this Feast I forbear to mention, as being unable to express it. The mind is then best satisfied in such things as this, when the eye hath seen them. But I proceed unto St. GEORGE, of which their Patron, and the Noble Order itself, the Marriage of the Thame, and Isis, and Poem written some years since, doth thus descant. 
windsor relate no more the glorious things  
In thee, thy guilded roofs, and Tombs of Kings.  
Or that thou art so honoured in the rites  
Of George, the Cappedocians Martyrs, Knights.  
Who clad in mantles rich, and circuled round  
The leg, with that the Garter so renowned.  
Doth so advance thy name, and with its raise  
splendent and glorious, so the world amaze:  
That Burgandy her Golden Fleece neglects  
And France St Michaels Collar disrespects.  
And Spain and Malta both esteem but small.  
Their Crossed robes. Thy Order dims them all.   
Hence it is, that the Knights of this most honourable Order, are called in latin Equites Georgiani, St. GEORGES Knights, and sometimes also in English, as in that passage noted out of Poly Albion. 
The Temple of St. George, where his honoured Knights  
Upon the hallowed day observe their ancient rites.   
The other Ornaments and Habits belonging to this Order, besides the Garter; are a Gown, a Kirtle, a Chaperon, a Cloak, a Girdle, and a Collar: all Stately and Magnificent, both for stuff and fashion, but worn only upon daies of Extraordinary Solemnity for ordinary use, besides the Garter which is for every daies wearing, and their Cloak with the Sun on the left shoulder of it in his full Glory, which last was added by his late Majesty of ever Blessed Memory, they have a Blew Ribbon which they wear about their necks; with the picture or rather portraiture of the GEORGE, appendent to it.  
FINIS.