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Charles I and the Order of the Garter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2013

Abstract

The reforms in the rites and ceremonies of the Order of the Garter that Charles I introduced during the 1620s and 1630s have traditionally been seen by historians as enhancing its high church, religious associations and downplaying its military traditions. This study, however, argues that the celebration of courage, martial achievement, and noble companionship remained central themes within the order during this period and that this tells us a good deal about how Charles understood his relationship with his nobles, and the honorific and chivalric values that lay at the heart of his kingship.

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Copyright © The North American Conference on British Studies 2013 

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References

1 Charles I letter to Charles, Prince of Wales, 20 May 1638, Ashmole MS 1108, f.117, Bodleian Library (Bod.), printed in Ashmole, Elias, The Institution, Laws and Ceremonies of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (1672), 297Google Scholar.

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14 Ibid. (1633 ed.), 313–20.

15 Ibid. (1633 ed.), 323–24.

16 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 182.

17 Report of Garter Feast, 21 May 1638, Ashmole MS 1108, f. 140, Bod.

18 Letter for the election of a Garter Knight, 1570, Ashmole MS 1108, f. 120, Bod.

19 Keen, Chivalry, 176; Heylyn, History of St George (1633 ed.), 337–38, 343–44.

20 Annals of the Order of the Garter 1603, MS X.7, ff. 103–04, Windsor Castle, St. George's Chapel Library and Archive (WCLA); Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 621–22.

21 Keen, Chivalry, 197.

22 Heylyn, History of St George (1633 ed.), 341.

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25 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 265–76, 290.

26 Ibid., 291–92.

27 Annals of the Order of the Garter, 1553–1638, MS X.7, WCLA; Reports of Garter Feasts, Ashmole MS 1108, Bod. On the status of the lieutenant and “auncientest knight,” see Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 533–38. The lieutenants prior to Pembroke and Montgomery were Edward Somerset, Earl of Worcester (to 1627) and William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (to 1630).

28 Garter chapter, March 1641, Ashmole MS 1111, f. 41r, Bod.; Ashmole MS 1108, f. 146v, Bod.

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32 Begent and Chesshyre, Order of the Garter, 157–70; Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 246–47.

33 Heylyn, History of St George (1633 ed.), 335.

34 The Wren brothers were particularly enthusiastic proponents of the “Beauty of Holiness.” Fincham, Kenneth and Tyacke, Nicholas, Altars Restored: The Changing Face of English Religious Worship, 1547–c.1700 (Oxford, 2007), 262–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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38 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 491–95; Wren letters to Roe, May–June 1637, Ashmole MS 1111, ff. 59–60; Garter Commission and chapter, July and October 1637, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 105,107, Bod.

39 Fincham and Tyacke, Altars Restored, 227–30.

40 Speech by Roe, 1637, VI.B.2, 248–49, WCLA. This was imagery that had also been used to describe the beautification of the chapels royal at Whitehall and Greenwich. McCullough, Peter, Sermons at Court: Politics and Religion in Elizabethan and Jacobean Preaching (Cambridge, 1998), chap. 1Google Scholar.

41 McCullough, Sermons at Court, 155–57.

42 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 549–50.

43 Proposals for Garter chapter, 22 September 1628, TNA, SP16/117/556.

44 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 583–84; Wren letter to Roe, November 1637, Ashmole MS 1111, f. 61, Bod.

45 Garter Commission, November 1637, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 111–12, Bod.; Sovereign's Order, 15 December 1637, VI.B.2, 252–53, WCLA.

46 Fincham, Kenneth and Lake, Peter, “The Ecclesiastical Policies of James I and Charles I,” in The Early Stuart Church, 1603–1642, ed. Fincham, Kenneth (Basingstoke, 1993), 44CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 496.

47 Wren letters to Roe, May–November 1637, Ashmole MS 1111, ff. 59–60 Bod.; Roe letters to Wren and bishop of Salisbury, November 1637, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 111–12, Bod.

48 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 195–96; Garter chapter, 19 May 1622, Ashmole MS 1132, f. 7, Bod.

49 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 258–59.

50 Ibid., 193, 196–97, 491; Commission to examine Garter Statutes, 13 February 1631, MS X.7, ff. 177–78, WCLA.

51 Michael Strachan, “Sir Thomas Roe, 1581–1644,” in Matthew and Harrison, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Roe's journal as Chancellor of the Order of the Garter, 1636–1638, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 95–122, Bod.

52 Garter Feast, 17–19 April 1637, and Roe letters to Wren and Garter Knights, November 1637, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 98–100, 111–12; Garter chapter, 17–19 April 1637, Ashmole MS 1113, ff. 176–77, Bod.; Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 198.

53 Heylyn, History of St George, 348–49; Calendar of State Papers Venetian, 1636–39, 557–58.

54 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 216.

55 Ibid., 216; Garter chapter, 27 April 1626, MS X.7, f. 156, WCLA; Begent and Chesshyre, Order of the Garter, 170–71.

56 Barnes et al., Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue, 475, 585.

57 Roe letters to Garter Knights, January 1638, Ashmole MS 1108, f. 113, Bod.

58 Cust, Charles I, 150, 262.

59 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 197–98; Garter Commissions, May and November 1637, February 1637/38, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 105, 111, 114, Bod.

60 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 210.

61 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 485–86; Garter chapters, 17–19 April and 2–4 October 1637, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 98–99, 106 Bod.; Letters for Dispensations, March 1638, Ashmole MS 1132, ff. 19–25, Bod.

62 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 247–48, 259; papers relating to the Poor Knights, 1637–38, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 99–100, 109, 114, 116, Bod.

63 Sharpe, Politics and Ideas, 106–09.

64 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 158–65; Begent and Chesshyre, Order of the Garter, 35–45.

65 Petitions of Poor Knights 1634–42, Ashmole MS 1132, ff. 186, 190–282, Bod.

66 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 164–65; papers relating to Poor Knights, 1637–38, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 95, 128, 131 Bod.; MS 1113, ff. 69, 176–77, Bod.

67 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 330; Garter Feasts 1610–12, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 85–87 Bod.; opinion on where the Duke of York was to sit in Garter Chapel, Ashmole MS 1132, ff. 5–6, Bod.; Calendar of State Papers Venetian, 1610–13, 153–54.

68 Garter Feast, 6 February 1613, Ashmole MS 1108, f. 88, Bod. He continued to act as the sovereign's lieutenant at the annual feast days and was ever present in his attendance, except in 1623 when he was in Spain. Garter Feasts, 1612–24, Asmole MS 1108, ff. 88–94, 174–75 Bod.

69 Strong, Roy, Henry Prince of Wales and England's Lost Renaissance (London, 1986), 9Google Scholar; Ferguson, Arthur B., The Chivalric Tradition in Renaissance England (London, 1986), 140Google Scholar.

70 Calendar of State Papers Venetian, 1610–13, 3, 115, 120.

71 Strong, Henry Prince of Wales, 41–43. For a painting of the young Charles in pike armor, see Government Art Collections, UK, A1.154 (I am grateful to Andrew Thrush for drawing this to my attention).

72 McLure, N. M., ed., The Letters of John Chamberlain, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1939)Google Scholar, I:403; Young, Alan, Tudor and Jacobean Tournaments (London, 1987), 3840, 207Google Scholar.

73 For the suffrage papers, see MS X.7, ff. 120, 122v, 123v, 124v, 127, WCLA. For the careers of these individuals, see Matthew and Harrison, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Young, Tudor and Jacobean Tournaments, 72–73; tournament lists 1613–16, Harleian MS 1368, 44–46; tournament lists 1610–11, Additional MS 14, 417, ff. 11, 23, British Library (BL).

74 Cogswell, Thomas, The Blessed Revolution: English Politics and the Coming of War, 1621–1624 (Cambridge, 1989), 194Google Scholar; Adamson, “Chivalry,” 167–69.

75 Adamson, “Chivalry,” 169–73.

76 Thomas, Ends of Life, chap. 2; Cust, Charles I, 159–60.

77 Calendar of State Papers Venetian, 1629–32, 331; The Earl of Straffordes Letters and Dispatches, 2 vols., ed. Knowler, William (1729), I:427Google Scholar.

78 Beltz, G. F., Memorials of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (London, 1841), clxxxiii–clxxxviiiGoogle Scholar; Euan Fernie, “Sir Henry Lee, 1533–1611,” in Matthew and Harrison, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

79 The majority of those elected over the reign as a whole were favored courtiers (like Buckingham's clients, Dorset, Holland, and Lord Andover, appointed in May 1625, or the Earl of Northumberland, the queen's favorite, chosen in April 1635) or distinguished civilian officeholders (like Lord Treasurer Portland elected in April 1630 or the president of the Council of Wales, the Earl of Northampton, elected in September 1628) or members of the royal family (like the king's fourteen-year-old nephew, Charles Louis, Elector Palatine, chosen in May 1633, or his twenty-one-year-old cousin, James Stuart, Duke of Lennox, chosen at the same time) or else foreign princes (such as Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and Frederick Henry Prince of Orange, both elected in April 1627 at a time when Charles was casting around for Protestant allies in the wars against France and Spain). For these elections, see Beltz, Memorials, clxxxvi–clxxxviii; for biographies of all these individuals (except Gustavus Adolphus, Frederick Henry, and the Earl of Northampton), see Matthew and Harrison, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

80 Andrew Thrush, “Robert Bertie, Earl of Lindsey, 1582–1642,” in Matthew and Harrison, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Donagan, Barbara, War in England, 1642–1649 (Oxford, 2008), 47CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

81 J. J. N. McGurk, “Henry Danvers, Earl of Danby, 1573–1644,” and James Sizer, “William Douglas, Earl of Morton, 1582–1648,” in Matthew and Harrison, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Walker's Annals, Ashmole MS 1110, f. 156, Bod.; Strafforde Letters, I:242.

82 James Scally, “James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, 1606–49,” in Matthew and Harrison, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; election of Hamilton to the Garter, 6 October 1630, Ashmole MS 1108, f. 179, Bod.; Garter Scrutiny, October 1630, MS X.7, f. 171, WCLA; Gardiner, S. R., The History of England, 1603–1642, 10 vols. (1883–84), 7:174–75Google Scholar; Calendar of State Papers Venetian, 1629–32, 432.

83 Drake, G. A., “Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, 1602–1668,” in Matthew and Harrison, Oxford Dictionary of National BiographyGoogle Scholar.

84 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 269–83.

85 For suffrage papers, 1625–39, see MS X.7, ff. 152, 157, 163, 169, 171, 185, 187, 192, 205, WCLA, and Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 101, 124–25, 130, 140, Bod. For the careers of these individuals, see Matthew and Harrison, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

86 Barnes et al., Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue, 436–37 (Arundel), 461–475 (Charles I), 483 (Prince Charles), 485 (Charles Louis), 517 (Hamilton), 535 (Holland), 566–67 (Northumberland), 569–72 (Pembroke and Montgomery), 585 (Lennox), 632 (Dorset), 633 (Hamilton), 639 (Weston).

87 Walker described him in his annals as “fitter for councell than action.” Ashmole MS 1110, f. 165, Bod. Beyond a visit to the European war zone in 1613 there is no mention of military involvement in his biography. David Smith, “Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset, 1590–1652,” in Matthew and Harrison, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

88 Millar, Oliver, Van Dyck in England (London, 1982), 6263Google Scholar.

89 Manning, Roger B., Swordsmen: The Martial Ethos in Three Kingdoms (Oxford, 2003), 1719Google Scholar.

90 Thomas, Ends of Life, 44–62; Donagan, War in England, 33–40.

91 Mettam, Roger, “The French Nobility, 1610–1715,” in The European Nobilities in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, ed. Scott, Hamish, 2 vols. (Harlow: Longman, 1995), I:114–20Google Scholar.

92 Manning, Swordsmen, 28–29. See, for example, Sir Naunton, Robert, Fragmenta Regalia, ed. Cerovski, J. S. (Washington, DC, 1985), 48, 52, 55, 61–62Google Scholar, written in the 1630s, which contrasted the “militia” and “togati” among Elizabeth's leading nobles to the advantage of the former.

93 The feast was sometimes prorogued to a later date because of plague or the sovereign's other commitments.

94 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 474–75; Strong, “Elizabeth I and the Order of the Garter,” 249.

95 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 475, 549; Garter Feast, 1603, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 64–65, Bod.

96 The traceable meetings in Charles's reign were April 1625 (Windsor), April 1627 (Whitehall), September 1628 (Windsor), April 1629 (Whitehall), October 1630 (Windsor), October 1631 (Windsor), April 1632 (Whitehall), April 1633 (Whitehall), April 1634 (Windsor), April 1635 (Whitehall), April 1637 (Whitehall), October 1637 (Windsor), May 1638 (Windsor), October 1639 (Windsor), March 1641 (Whitehall), April 1642 (York). Ashmole MS 1108, Bod.; MS X.7, WCLA.

97 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 508, 512–13, 516–20, 540–46, 629–30; Begent and Chesshyre, Order of the Garter, 262, 274–75.

98 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 548–50, 563, 576–87; Begent and Chesshyre, Order of the Garter, 260–61.

99 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 563–66, 570–72, 576. For illustrations of the processions in 1578 and c. 1672, see ibid., 514, 576. Van Dyck's famous sketch in oils of c.1638 probably represented not a drawing of an actual procession but an idealized reconstruction employing a certain amount of artistic licence as Sir Oliver Millar has pointed out. The classical architectural setting appears to be fictionalized, members of the procession were missed out, the companions march bareheaded, whereas they would have been wearing their elaborate feathered headdress, and there were only four canopy bearers. Millar, Van Dyck in England, 86–87. For the crowds, see Strong, “Elizabeth I and the Order of the Garter,” 251–52; Jefferson, L., “A Garter Installation Ceremony in 1606,” Court Historian 6 (2001): 148CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

100 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 589–92, 598; Begent and Chesshyre, Order of the Garter, 261–63.

101 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 599–602, 629–36.

102 Strong, “Elizabeth I and the Order of the Garter,” 249–52, 255.

103 Ibid., 266–67; Smuts, Malcolm, “Public Ceremony and Royal Charisma: The English Royal Entry in London, 1485–1642,” in The First Modern Society, ed. Beier, A. L., Cannadine, David, and Rosenheim, James (Cambridge, 1989), 8788Google Scholar.

104 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 338–40, 509–10; Strong, “Elizabeth I and the Order of the Garter,” 253.

105 Garter Feast, 22–24 April 1629, Ashmole MS 1110, f. 106, Bod.

106 For earlier noble entries see, Stone, Lawrence, The Crisis of the Aristocracy, 1558–1640 (Oxford, 1965), 211–14Google Scholar.

107 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 338–39; Strafforde Letters, I:242, 427; Calendar of State Papers Venetian, 1635, 389.

108 Strafforde Letters, I:242. For the Knollys/Fenton cavalcade, see Chamberlain, I:597.

109 Strafforde Letters, I:427; Garter Installation of Northumberland, 13 May 1635, Ashmole MS 1110, ff. 109–10, Bod.

110 Earl Marshal's Order of February 1638, Phillips MS 13084, vol. 14, unpaginated, College of Arms; Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 341–42.

111 Pembroke to peers, May 1638, Ashmole MS 1113, f. 212, Bod.

112 Earl Marshal's Orders, May 1638, Phillips MS 13084, vol. 14, unpaginated; Heralds VI, ff. 305–6, College of Arms. The reasons for the cancellation are unclear. Kevin Sharpe has suggested that it was due to the onset of the Scottish crisis (Personal Rule, 222), but this seems unlikely since the preparations to meet this were not yet having an impact on other areas of government.

113 Stone, Crisis of the Aristocracy, 209–14, 583–84; Smuts, “Public Ceremony and Royal Charisma,” 82–87.

114 Smuts, Malcolm, “Art and the Material Culture of Majesty in Early Stuart England,” in The Stuart Courts and Europe, ed. Smuts, Malcolm (Cambridge, 1996), 90, 9396Google Scholar.

115 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 509.

116 Jefferson, “A Garter Installation Ceremony in 1606,” 141–50; Garter Installations 1605–6, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 81–82, Bod.

117 Garter Installation, 5 July 1616, Ashmole 1108, f. 91, Bod; Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 339.

118 Garter Installation, 1629, Ashmole 1110, ff. 107–9, Bod.; Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 339–40; Garter Installation, 1629, MS X.7, f. 166, WCLA.

119 Ashmole, Order of the Garter, 589, 593, 596–97.

120 Ibid., 514; Peers attending Garter Feasts, 1632, 1638–40, Ashmole MS 1110, f. 35, Bod.; Ashmole MS 1112, ff. 63–64, Bod.

121 Smuts, “Art and the Material Culture of Majesty,” 88–89.

122 Ellis, H., Original Letters Illustrative of English History, 1st ser., 3 vols. (1894), III:290Google Scholar.

123 Smuts, “Public Ceremony and Royal Charisma,” 65–93; Richards, Judith, “‘His Nowe Majesty’ and the English Monarchy: The Kingship of Charles I before 1640,” Past and Present 113 (1986): 7786CrossRefGoogle Scholar. As Mark Kishlansky has demonstrated, the extent of Charles's shying away from ceremony has been exaggerated. Kishlansky, Mark, “Charles I: A Case of Mistaken Identity,” Past and Present 189 (2005): 6069CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

124 For the prominence of the leading spectators on such occasions, see the contemporary drawing of the procession accompanying the queen mother's entry into London in 1639. de la Serre, Jean Paget, Histoire de L'Entrée de la Reyne Mere du Roy . . . dans La Grande Bretagne (London, 1639)Google Scholar.

125 Adamson, “Chivalry,” 170–77.

126 Garter Feast, 18–20 April 1642, Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 146v, 148, 180, Bod. Two chapter meetings were held at the king's headquarters at Christchurch, Oxford, 17 January and 2 March 1645. Ashmole MS 1108, ff. 153–54, 156, 159–60, Bod.

127 These themes are discussed more fully in my forthcoming book, Charles I and the Aristocracy, 1625–1642 (Cambridge, 2013)Google Scholar.

128 For Charles's letter and the responses of many of the peers, January–March 1639, see TNA SO1/3, ff. 114–15; SP 16/413/117. The implications of the summons are dealt with more fully in Cust, Charles I and the Aristocracy, chap. 4, i.

129 For proceedings at the Great Council, see Hardwicke State Papers, 2 vols. (London, 1778), II:208–98Google Scholar; Cust, Charles and the Aristocracy, chap. 4, ii.

130 His Majestie's Declaration made the 13th of June 1642 to the Lords Attending his Majestie at York… (London, 1642)Google Scholar; Cust, Charles and the Aristocracy, chap. 5, ii.