Serving-men who had their Lands with this condition that they should serve their Lords on Horseback and so by cuting off a piece of the name as our delight is to speak short this name of Knight remained with us But whence it came that our Country-men should in penning the Laws and all Writings since the Norman Conquest 's time term those Knights in Latin Milites that is Souldiers was transferred unto those that conversing near about the Princes person bare any of the great Offices in the Prince's Court or Train But with us I conceive those were first so called who held any Lands or Inheritances in Fee by this Tenure To serve in the War for those Lands were tearmed Knights Fees and those that elsewhere they named Feuditary that is Tenants in Fee were hete called Milites that is Knights as for example Milites Regis Milites Archiepiscopi Cantuar. Milites Comitis Rogerii Comitis Hugonis c. for that they received those Lands or Mannors of them with this condition to serve them in the Wars and to yield them fealty and homage whereas others who served for pay were simply called Solidarii from whence the word Soldier and Servientes This Title comming to be a reward or degree of Honor is thought to be in imitation of the Equestris Order in Rome to which men were onely advanced for extraordinary virtue and notable merit who onely were admitted to beautifie the Caparizons of their Horses their Armor with Gold from whence they were called Equites aurati In which time all sorts of men were distinguished in their degrees by some garb or habit as some by their clothes some by cutting their hair c. The Roman Knights also were allowed to wear a Chain of Gold and therefore called Torquati from Manlius Torquatus who wore the first obtained by him in a victory in France which is by us yet imitated in the collar of S S. by which it is easily collected that the true institution of it was a reward of Honor and Valour not Sloath and Riches And therefore all men thus ennobled ought either to be deserving by action before or by endeavour and good service after and to be else esteemed unlawfull possessors of that Honor at what rate soever purchased The first account of Ceremonies that we have at the creating a Knight is in the example of King Alfred Knighting his grandson Athelstan and after the continuance of them it seems grew more precise and customary by Feasts giving of Robes Arms Spurs and sometimes Horse and Arms untill our later times produced the new yet usuall Ceremony of a stroak over the shoulder with a Sword with these words Sois Chivaler au nom de Dieu by the King or some by his Commission though the Spur hath lately been observed also Another manner of Creation there hath been also among the Saxons before the Conquest which was by sacred Ceremonies shew'd by one Ingulphus that lived in the time of the Conquest by a solemn Confession a Vigil in the Church receiving of the Sacrament after an offering of the Sword on the Altar and redemption of it then the Bishop Abbot or Priest putting it on him made him a Knight with many prayers called Benedictiones Ensis To this Order or degree of Honor an Infant may be admitted though he be a Ward and then till a late Act of Parliament ordained otherwise his Wardship was free both of person and estate but now their lands are not And there were feudall Laws for and at the making the eldest son of a Lord a Knight as there was also for the marrying of the eldest daughter as in the Charter of King John which was mony raised on the Tenant But any man in the order of Priesthood is debarred the Honor of Knighthood of the Sword Cùm eorum militia sit 〈◊〉 mundum carnem diabolum So Sir John Fern. Though I find that antiently they have been allowed it but not without first laying aside their Spirituall Cures and applying themselves to a Secular life So Matthew Paris Dei natalis Johannem de Gatesden Clericum multis ditatum 〈◊〉 sed omnibus ante expectatum resignatis quia sic oportuit Baltheo cinxit militari And then the persons that gave this Honor were sometimes subjects without any superior authority granted to them as well as Soveraignes though long since it hath been an appropriated priviledge of the Crown Landfrank Archbishop of Canterbury made William the second a Knight in his Fathers life-time But the name of Bacheler added to it seems not to have been till the 33 of 〈◊〉 the third Sir John Fern also tells of Ensignes that anciently were marks of Knighthood as a Ring on the thumb a Chain of Gold and gilt Spurrs All which tokens of his Honor he was as carefully to preserve as a Captain his Banner which according to the rules of Arms then if he once lost basely in the field he was 〈◊〉 of flying any more again till he had regained the same or another from the Enemy To which end it was carefully to be provided that such men as were endowed with this Honor should have these Accomplishments He ought to be faithfull and religious just in his engagements valiant in his enterprises obedient to his Superiors expert in Military affairs watchfull and temperate charitable to the poor free from debauchery not a boaster with his tongue ready to help and defend Ladies especially Widows and Orphans and he ought to be ever in a readinesse with Horse and Arms and to attend the command of his Soveraign in all Wars both Civill and Forrain the neglect where of is a crime as great as to fight against him and merits at the least a shamefull degrading And formerly when the King hath been to make a Knight he sate gloriously in his State arrayed in cloth of Gold of the most precious and costly bodkin-work and crowned with his Crown of Gold and to every Knight he allowed or gave a hundred shillings for his Harnessements c. And Knights in this manner dubbed made this esteem thereof that in it consisted the guerdon of their Virtue and Valour the praise of their House and Family the memoriall of their Stock and Linage and lastly the glory of their Name There are many priviledges belonging to that Dignity and Mr. Selden speaks of a Law that a man was to be punished with the losse of a hand that should strike a Knight yet he sayes he remembers no example of the practise of it which I think is the greater honor to the Dignity as being a shame that any such Law should be the guard of a man so honored with Arms and appropriated to the Sword Against a Knight in the War runneth no prescription The Office of a Coroner in former times being honorable none were capable of it but a Knight By antient Custom none were admitted to the House of
they had no Vote which sate on Woolsacks that as the Clergy in Spiritualties so the Judges of the Law in things of the Law were to advise and determine when any difficulty did arise That what Laws should be Enacted might be answerable to the Will of God and not repugnable to the Customs of the Land And in our latter times all Acts of Parliament though made by the King have this style By the consent of Lords and Commons notwithstanding the Civill Law saith Quod Principi placuit Legis habet vigorem The will of the King is the power of the Law The End of Honor. The Analysis of Armory I Have with as much brevity as so copious a Theam would admit run through all the distinctions of Honor. In the next place I shall with as great a contraction lay down the emblems of those distinctions and atchievements due to Nobility and the reward of virtue in the methodicall rules of Armory Bearing of Arms at this time being the only externall distinction of degrees and qualities amongst all civill Societies and Common-wealths From whence we received this custom is uncertain if especially we look to the producing of it into rule and form As it is from imitation Sir John Fern is of opinion that we did borrow it from the Egyptians meaning from their Hieroglyphicks Others will have that the first institution of these honorable differences was amongst the Israelites but however it is not much material to this discourse to be too inquisitive of the originall in that kind since succession of time hath converted it into another custom which may be for ought I know in imitation of the Romans who were accustomed upon triumphs or festivalls to produce the Statues of their Ancestors as the pedigree of their Generous race Which Statues were not as some may imagine erected from the voluntary phansie of the parties represented as is the leaving our Pictures behind us when we dye to our progeny so might every phlegmatick mechanick do but they were such as were for some Heroick act allowed as a publick reward of virtue which was customary amongst them And truly although every good Subject ought to be alwayes prepared alike to offer his body and mind unto the service of the Common-wealth without hope or expectation of mercenary reward honor or glory yet is honor a necessary perquisite to a Crown and Common-wealth being in it self a true spur to generosity Out of which respect the Romans joyned the two Temples of Honor and Virtue in such a manner that no man could enter into that of Honor without first passing through the other of Virtue Sir John Ferns opinion is that the first that imployed these Ensignes in this nature was Alexander the Great so to distinguish those that had done any memorable Acts that they might urge an emulation in their fellow Souldiers It is said of Epaminondas and Othraydes that being ready to dye they wrote their glorious exployts upon their shields themselves to give 〈◊〉 to others to follow their 〈◊〉 when they were dead 〈◊〉 believes that Charls the Great was the first that put them into this methodicall order which doubtlesse could not be if as Sir John Fern saith also that Julius Caesar constituted an office of Feciales But I find it in another Author to be instituted by Numa when he made warre upon the Fidenates a people of Latium However it is a generall opinion amongst our most judicious Heralds that the bearing of Arms as a badge of honor amongst us was not till about the time of Henry the third although many coats have been 〈◊〉 in some Writers of much longer standing as that of Hugh Lupus Earl of Chester in the time of the Conqueror a Woolfs head errased of Gilbert de Gaunt Earl of Kime long before Barry of 6. Or Az. over all a bend Gule Which are 〈◊〉 of by Sir John Fern But how authentick his Authority might have been to him to cause his insertion or his to others I know not but I shall be bold to insert one which may chance carry some weight with it which I shall raise from a Noble Family in the North the family of the Hiltons whose antiquity not only by an ancient pedegree which I have seen taken out of the Office but by the Records of the Tower doth produce the noblest descent that I know any Family in England the pedegree is too large to be inserted in this place else I would do it however shall extract some notes from it that may signifie as much The first that I find recorded of the Family was Sir William Hilton Knight who marrying the daughter of Sir John Grisly Knight a Family long since I think extinct had issue Adam Hilton Which Adam living in the time of King Athelstan gave to the Monastery of Hartlepool a Pix or Crucifix which was in weight twenty five ounces of Silver and caused his Armes to be engraven on it Arg. two barres Azure which are yet seen upon the Gate of Hilton Castle in the Bishopr of Dur. where they lived with a Moses head for Creast the Gate and the Chappel which is very stately for its structure and bignesse are the only parts remaining of the ancient building He gave unto the same Monastery a Cope Vestment with the Stole and the like gift unto the two Monasteries of Whitby and Gisbrough with fifty seven ounces of silver to make Censors They were five descents before the Conquest and hath now the nine and twentieth descent surviving In which line were twenty four Knights eighteen whereof were in a continued succession But I leave this nicety to more criticall judgments to determine the thing having for authority custom sufficient to make it a law within it self without the derivation of any originall institution Former ages having esteemed the Laws of Heraldry with as great a veneration as any in the Nation as indeed it ought still to be and more especially in these and all such times as ours the Court of Heraldry being not onely the Law-giver to Honor but the best record of Families and Inheritances though the Gentry of this Land are too dull to know it since Coat-Armor hath been hereditary as it hath ever since the time of Lewis Le-grosse according to the account of Sir John Fern and Guillim As by one instance I shall declare If a man being an Orphan and by such times as ours have been the Records of what Estate did rightly belong to him and from his Ancestors may be burnt plundered or otherwise embeselled and by such spirits as such times do plentifully afford have been obtruded from his right and hath nothing to plead for it this Office being the just Record of his Pedigree would produce an Evidence sufficient though from many generations his misfortunes have descended More particularly of the Office in another place As for the progresse of Armory I have pitcht upon the most methodicall course I could disposing it into
by double descent and of Christian parents to wear a green Crosse in the manner of a Crosse Pattee fimbriated as Sir William Segar describes but Aubertus Maereus otherwise as is exemplified hereafter Of the Knights of the Bear called also of St. Gall. IN the year 1213. the Emperour Frederick the second going in Pilgrimage to the Abbey of St. Gall gave great priviledges in acknowledgment of their assistance in pulling down the Emperor 〈◊〉 and establishing him Whereupon also he established an Order of Knighthood called of the Bear which Knights were yearely to meet at the Abbey of St. Gall on the 16. of October where all new Knights were to receive the order from the Abbot This Order he called of the Bear in honor of St. Ursus that was martyred at Soleure Unto this Order he gave a collar and 〈◊〉 of gold at which hung a figure of a Bear enamelled Sable Of the Order of the Elephant IN Denmark is a Military order called of the Elephant and also of the blessed Virgin Mary who have for their Collar a chain of gold interwoven with Elephants and Spurs and at it hangeth a meddal of the Virgin Mary encompassed about with Rayes of the Sun at the neather part whereof hangeth another circle enclosing three nayles which 〈◊〉 term Symbola omnia Christianae 〈◊〉 Who was the Founder is left 〈◊〉 the Elephants are figured with Castles on theis backs which some doe suppose to be the 〈◊〉 or designment of Christernus 4. Of the Order of Mantua JN Mantua some Fryers doe report to be some of the bloud of our Saviour kept with a piece of the Spunge in which he received the Vinegar and Gall. Which Reliques they say doe daily work extraordinary miracles In honor of which bloud Vincentio de Gonzaga fourth Duke of Mantua did institute an Order of Knighthood calling them Knights of the bloud of our Saviour Jesus Christ making himself the Great Master of the Order which was confirmed by Pope Paul the fifth The originall of it was about the year 1608. when he created fifteen Knights giving them collars composed of Ovals of Gold some the length one way others another in one of which were these words Domine probâsti and in the other flames of fire flashing about a crucible or melting-pot full of sticks of Gold and at the same hangeth before another large Oval wherein are designed two Angels standing upright holding a Chalice and pix crowned on the table of it are seen enamelled 〈◊〉 drops of blood And about this Oval is this Inscription Nihil I sto triste recepto Knights of St. Stephano THis Order was erected in the year 1561. by Cosmo Duke of Florence ordaining amongst them such articles almost as those of the Order of Malta their residence is Pisa where the said Duke erected a Church to the honor of the Order and is himselfe the Great Master Other Orders of Knighthood there are and have been in the Holy Land and other parts As of St Thomas Apostle St. Katherine of Mount Sinai Of the white Eagle in Polonia Of the Swan in Cleveland The Brethren Sword-bearers in Livonia Of St. Blase in Armenia Of St. John of Acres and of St. Gerian which was instituted by Frederick 〈◊〉 to which order none were admitted but Germaine Gentlemen But these are all or most of them out of date and not so considerable as to trouble an ingenious brain with in this place Favin and others have discoursed enough of them to which if the reader be desirous of further knowledge I refer him There is also another Order called of the white Dragon in Germany erected by the Emperour Sigismond upon a resolution of extirpating heresie and schism throughout all his Dominions who had for their Ensign a white Dragon and in Swethen another which is called of the Seraphins who had at their institution appointed them collars of Seraphins heads intermixed with Crosses And now if I have not been too tedious in this discourse of Knighthood I have I hope said enough and conclude with the description of the severall forms of their Crosses before mentioned The first is of St. Esprit the second of St. Michael the third of Calatrava the fourth of St. John of Jerusalem the fifth of St. Lazarus the sixth of the Teutonicks the seventh of St. Andrew the eighth of the Sepulchre the ninth of Christus d' Avis And so I take leave of Knighthood and in the next place only cursorily run through the antiquity of Heralds and the Inns of Court and Chancery with their foundations for which last though not very pertinent to my businesse yet I may expect an excuse since it hath nor yet been any way done The End of Knighthood OF HERALDS THe word Herald saith Verstegan is derived from the Saxon 〈◊〉 and by abbreviation 〈◊〉 and Herald which in that language signifies the Champian of an Army and growing to be a name of Office it was given to him that in the Army had the 〈◊〉 charge of challenging to battail or combat Sir Henry Spelman cals him Nuncius sacer and speaking of the signification of the word says quidam enim Herault 〈◊〉 some doe write Herault that is Dominus celsus an eminent Lord some Herold which is an old Lord and some Heral hoc est says he ministrum 〈◊〉 an Officer of an Army which last he supposes the most proper These are Officers of great antiquity saith Dune mensis who writes that they are as ancien as Kings and were tearmed of the Romans 〈◊〉 Caduceatores And doubtlesse thee ection of our Heralds was in imitation of them though their authority be not so great with us as it seems theirs was whose Office was established by Numa Pompilius and a colledge or hostell erected of twenty wise and reverend men per quos fiebat ut Justum indiceretur Bellum ut Foedere fides pacis constitueretur ordering that it was and should be unlawfull to take armes against an enemy without their consent and appointment Which Fecialians when the popular Estate was changed into a Monarchy again wore the Coats of Arms of Purple and Scarlet fringed with gold and an Eagle of the same embroydered thereon and the Emperors name then reigning and they had one Principall which was called by the people Pater patratus whom they ever reverenced as sacred and it was a rule or law among them that Fecialium sacra violare nefas erat Since when as the Office now is they have been esteemed as Embassadors and sometimes have been made so however are the Messengers of Princes and great Monarchs and what ever their message have been priviledged in the same degree with Embassadors and not only in our parts but all over the world have been in being though not as now in regular Office ever since there have been Kings In every City of Greece as saith Ulpian the Interpreter of Demosthenes they were called Ceryces and had in