Order of the Garter
The Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III in 1348 and regarded as the most prestigious British order of chivalry in England and the United Kingdom. It is dedicated to the image and arms of England's patron saint. Appointments are made at the Sovereign's sole discretion. Membership of the Order is limited to the Sovereign, the Prince of Wales, no more than 24 living members, or Companions; the order includes supernumerary knights and ladies. New appointments to the Order of the Garter are announced on St George's Day, as Saint George is the order's patron saint; the order's emblem is a garter with the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense in gold lettering. Members of the order wear it on ceremonial occasions. King Edward III founded the Order of the Garter around the time of his claim to the French throne; the traditional year of foundation is given as 1348. However, the Complete Peerage, under "The Founders of the Order of the Garter", states the order was first instituted on 23 April 1344, listing each founding member as knighted in 1344.
The list includes Sir Sanchet D'Abrichecourt, who died on 20 October 1345. Other dates from 1344 to 1351 have been proposed; the King's wardrobe account shows Garter habits first issued in the autumn of 1348. Its original statutes required that each member of the Order be a knight and some of the initial members listed were only knighted that year; the foundation is to have been inspired by the Spanish Order of the Band, established in about 1330. The earliest written mention of the Order is found in Tirant lo Blanch, a chivalric romance written in Catalan by Valencian Joanot Martorell, it was first published in 1490. This book devotes a chapter to the description of the origin of the Order of the Garter. At the time of its foundation, the Order consisted of King Edward III, together with 25 Founder Knights, listed in ascending order of stall number in St George's Chapel: King Edward III Edward, the Black Prince, Prince of Wales Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Lancaster Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick Jean III de Grailly, Captal de Buch Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford William de Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March John de Lisle, 2nd Baron Lisle Bartholomew de Burghersh, 2nd Baron Burghersh John de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp John de Mohun, 2nd Baron Mohun Sir Hugh de Courtenay Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent John de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Rotherfield Sir Richard Fitz-Simon Sir Miles Stapleton Sir Thomas Wale Sir Hugh Wrottesley Sir Nele Loring Sir John Chandos Sir James Audley Sir Otho Holand Sir Henry Eam Sir Sanchet D'Abrichecourt Sir Walter Paveley They are all depicted in individual portraits in the Bruges Garter Book made c.
1431, now in the British Library. Various legends account for the origin of the Order; the most popular involves the "Countess of Salisbury", whose garter is said to have slipped from her leg while she was dancing at a court ball at Calais. When the surrounding courtiers sniggered, the king picked it up and returned it to her, exclaiming, "Honi soit qui mal y pense!", the phrase that has become the motto of the Order. However, the earliest written version of this story dates from the 1460s, it seems to have been conceived as a retrospective explanation for the adoption of what was seen as an item of female underclothing as the symbol of a band of knights. In fact, at the time of the Order's establishment in the mid-14th century, the garter was predominantly an item of male attire. According to another legend, King Richard I was inspired in the 12th century by St George the Martyr while fighting in the Crusades to tie garters around the legs of his knights, who subsequently won the battle. King Edward recalled the event in the 14th century when he founded the Order.
This story is recounted in a letter to the Annual Register in 1774: In Rastel's Chronicle, I. vi. under the life of Edward III is the following curious passage: "About the 19 yere of this kinge, he made a solempne feest at Wyndesore, a greate justes and turnament, where he devysed, perfyted substanegally, the order of the knyghtes of the garter. And afterwarde they were called the knyghtes of the blew thonge." I am obliged for this passage to Esq.. Hence some affirm, that the origin of the garter is to be dated from Richard I* and that it owes its pomp and splendor to Edward III. *Winstanley, in his Life of Edward III says that the original book of the institution deduces the invention from King Richard the First. The motto in fact refers to Edward's claim to the French throne, the Order of the Garter was created to help pursue this claim; the use of the garter as an emblem may have derived from straps used t
Stephen Gardiner
Stephen Gardiner was an English bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I and King Philip. Gardiner was born in Bury St Edmunds, his father is believed to have been John Gardiner, but could have been Wyllyam Gardiner, a substantial cloth merchant of the town where he was born, who took care to give him a good education. His mother was once thought to be Helen Tudor, an illegitimate daughter of Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford, but recent research suggests that this lady was the mother of a different cleric, Thomas Gardiner. In 1511, aged 28, met Erasmus in Paris, he had already begun his studies at Trinity Hall, where he distinguished himself in the classics in Greek. He devoted himself to canon and civil law, in which subjects he attained so great a proficiency that no one could dispute his pre-eminence, he received the degree of doctor of civil law in 1520, of canon law in the following year. Before long his abilities attracted the notice of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who made him his secretary, in this capacity he is said to have been with him at The More in Hertfordshire, when the conclusion of the celebrated Treaty of the More brought King Henry VIII and the French ambassadors there.
This was the occasion on which he first came to the king's notice, but he does not appear to have been engaged in Henry's service till three years later. He undoubtedly acquired a knowledge of foreign politics in the service of Wolsey. In 1527 he and Sir Thomas More were named commissioners on the part of England, in arranging a treaty with the French ambassadors for the support of an army in Italy against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor; as a canon lawyer, he was sent to Orvieto in 1527 to secure a decretal commission from Pope Clement VII to allow the king's divorce case to be tried in England. In 1535 he was appointed ambassador to France, where he remained for three years; that year he accompanied Wolsey on his important diplomatic mission to France, the splendour and magnificence of which have been graphically described by George Cavendish in his biography of Wolsey. Among the cardinal's retinue – including several noblemen and privy councillors – Gardiner alone seems to have understood the importance of this embassy.
Henry was anxious to cement his alliance with King Francis I of France, gain support for his plans to divorce Catherine of Aragon. In the course of his progress through France, Wolsey received orders from Henry to send back his secretary, for fresh instructions. Wolsey was obliged to reply that he positively could not spare Gardiner as he was the only instrument he had in advancing the king's "Great Matter"; the next year, Wolsey sent Gardiner and Edward Foxe, provost of King's College, Cambridge, to Italy to promote the same business with the pope. His dispatched messages have survived, illustrate the competence with which Gardiner performed his duties. Gardiner's familiarity with canon law gave him a great advantage, he was instructed to procure a decretal commission from the pope, intended to construct principles of law by which Wolsey might render a decision on the validity of the king's marriage without appeal. Though supported by plausible pretexts, the demand was received as inadmissible.
Pope Clement VII, imprisoned in Castel Sant'Angelo by mutinous soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire, had managed to escape to Orvieto. Now fearful of offending Charles V, nephew of Queen Catherine, Clement refused to issue a definitive ruling concerning Henry's annulment; the matter was instead referred with whom Gardiner held long debates. Gardiner's pleading was unsuccessful. Though the issue had not been resolved, a general commission was granted, enabling Wolsey, along with Papal Legate, Cardinal Campeggio, to try the case in England. While grateful to the pope for the small concession, Wolsey viewed this as inadequate for the purpose in view, he urged Gardiner to press Clement VII further to deliver the desired decretal if it were only to be shown to the king and himself and destroyed. Otherwise Wolsey feared he would lose his credit with Henry, who might be tempted to discard his allegiance to Rome. However, Clement VII made no further concessions at the time and Gardiner returned home; the two legates held their court under the guidelines of the general commission.
Gardiner was a conservative and an opponent of Cromwell and of any innovation in the Church, although he acquiesced grudgingly in the increasing influence of the Reformation on the royal counsels. A description of his character from George Cavendish declared him "a swarthy complexion, hooked nose, deep-set eyes, a permanent frown, huge hands and a vengeful wit, he was ambitious, sure of himself, irascible and worldly."In early August 1529 he was appointed the king's secretary. He had been archdeacon of Taunton for several years; the archdeaconries of Worcester and of Norfolk were added to a list of pluralities before November 1529 and in March 1530 respectively. In 1530 the King demanded a precedent from Cambridge to procure the decision of the university as to the unlawfulness of marriage with a deceased brother's wife: in accordance with the new plan devised for settling the question without the pope's intervention. In this Gardiner succeeded. In November 1531 the king rewarded him with the bishopric of Winchester, vacant since Wolsey's death.
The unexpected promotion was accompanied by expressions from the king which made it still more honourable, showing that if he had been subservient, it was not for
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England. The county town is the city of Winchester, its two largest cities and Portsmouth, are administered separately as unitary authorities. First settled about 14,000 years ago, Hampshire's history dates to Roman Britain, when its chief town was Winchester; when the Romans left Britain, the area was infiltrated by tribes from Scandinavia and mainland Europe, principally in the river valleys. The county was recorded in the 11th century Domesday Book, divided into 44 hundreds. From the 12th century, the ports grew in importance, fuelled by trade with the continent and cloth manufacture in the county, the fishing industry, a shipbuilding industry was established. By the 16th century, the population of Southampton had outstripped that of Winchester. By the mid-19th century, with the county's population at 219,210 in more than 86,000 dwellings, agriculture was the principal industry and 10 per cent of the county was still forest. Hampshire played a crucial military role in both World Wars.
The Isle of Wight left the county to form its own in 1974. The county's geography is varied, with upland to 286 metres and south-flowing rivers. There are areas of downland and marsh, two national parks: the New Forest, part of the South Downs, which together cover 45 per cent of Hampshire. Hampshire is one of the most affluent counties in the country, with an unemployment rate lower than the national average, its economy derived from major companies, maritime and tourism. Tourist attractions include the national parks and the Southampton Boat Show; the county is known as the home of writers Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, the childhood home of Florence Nightingale and the birthplace of engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Hampshire takes its name from the settlement, now the city of Southampton. Southampton was known in Old English as Hamtun meaning "village-town", so its surrounding area or scīr became known as Hamtunscīr; the old name was recorded in the Domesday book as Hantescire, from this spelling, the modern abbreviation "Hants" derives.
From 1889 until 1959, the administrative county was named the County of Southampton and has been known as Southamptonshire. Hampshire was the departure point of some of those who left England to settle on the east coast of North America during the 17th century, giving its name in particular to the state of New Hampshire; the towns of Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Portsmouth, Virginia take their names from Portsmouth in Hampshire. The region is believed to have been continuously occupied since the end of the last Ice Age about 12,000 BCE. At this time, Britain was still attached to the European continent and was predominantly covered with deciduous woodland; the first inhabitants were Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. The majority of the population would have been concentrated around the river valleys. Over several thousand years, the climate became progressively warmer, sea levels rose. Notable sites from this period include Bouldnor Cliff. Agriculture had arrived in southern Britain by 4000 BCE, with it a neolithic culture.
Some deforestation took place at that time, although during the Bronze Age, beginning in 2200 BCE, this became more widespread and systematic. Hampshire has few monuments to show from these early periods, although nearby Stonehenge was built in several phases at some time between 3100 and 2200 BCE. In the late Bronze Age, fortified hilltop settlements known as hillforts began to appear in large numbers in many parts of Britain including Hampshire, these became more and more important in the early and middle Iron Age. By this period, the people of Britain predominantly spoke a Celtic language, their culture shared much in common with the Celts described by classical writers. Hillforts declined in importance in the second half of the second century BCE, with many being abandoned. Around this period, the first recorded invasion of Britain took place, as southern Britain was conquered by warrior-elites from Belgic tribes of northeastern Gaul - whether these two events are linked to the decline of hillforts is unknown.
By the Roman conquest, the oppidum at Venta Belgarum, modern-day Winchester, was the de facto regional administrative centre. Julius Caesar invaded southeastern England in 55 and again in 54 BCE, but he never reached Hampshire. Notable sites from this period include Hengistbury Head, a major port; the Romans invaded Britain again in 43 CE, Hampshire was incorporated into the Roman province of Britannia quickly. It is believed their political leaders allowed themselves to be incorporated peacefully. Venta became the capital of the administrative polity of the Belgae, which included most of Hampshire and Wiltshire and reached as far as Bath. Whether the people of Hampshire played any role in Boudicca's rebellion of 60-61 CE is not recorded, but evidence of burning is seen in Winchester dated to around this period. For most of the next three centuries, southern Britain enjoyed relative peace; the part of th
Nicholas Heath
Nicholas Heath was the last Catholic archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor. Heath was born in London and graduated BA at Oxford in 1519, he migrated to Christ's College, where he graduated BA in 1520, MA in 1522, was elected fellow in 1524. After holding minor preferments he was appointed archdeacon of Stafford in 1534 and graduated DD in 1535, he accompanied Edward Fox, bishop of Hereford, on his mission to promote a theological and political understanding with the Lutheran princes of Germany. His selection for this duty implies a readiness on Heath's part to proceed some distance along the path of reform. In 1539, the year of the Six Articles, he was made bishop of Rochester, in 1543 he succeeded John Bell at Worcester, his Catholicism, was of a less rigid type than Gardiner's and Bonner's. He made no difficulty about carrying out the earlier reforms of Edward VI, he accepted the first book of common prayer after it had been modified by the House of Lords in a Catholic direction, his definite breach with the English Reformation occurred on the grounds, on which four centuries Leo XIII would claim that the Anglican priesthood was not valid.
The question was over the Ordinal drawn up in February 1550. Heath refused to accept it, was imprisoned, in 1551 deprived of his bishopric. On Mary's accession he was released and restored, made president of the Council of the Marches and Wales. In 1555 he was promoted to the archbishopric of York. After Gardiner's death he was appointed lord chancellor on Cardinal Reginald Pole's recommendation. Unlike Pole, however, he seems to have been averse from the excessive persecution of Mary's reign, no one was burnt in his diocese, he exercised, little influence on Mary's secular or ecclesiastical policy. On Mary's death Heath as chancellor at once proclaimed Elizabeth. Like Sir Thomas More he held that it was within the competence of the national state, represented by parliament, to determine questions of the succession to the throne, he refused to crown Elizabeth because she would not have the coronation service accompanied with the elevation of the Host. Hence he resisted Elizabeth's acts of supremacy and uniformity, although he had acquiesced in the acts of 1534 and 1549.
Like others of Henry's bishops, he had been convinced by the events of Edward VI's reign that Sir Thomas More was right and Henry VIII was wrong in their attitude towards the claims of the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church. He was therefore deprived of his archbishopric in 1559, but he remained loyal to Elizabeth; the queen visited him more than once at his house at Surrey. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Heath, Nicholas". Encyclopædia Britannica. 13. Cambridge University Press. P. 157. Letters and Papers of Henry VIII.. State Papers, Addenda and Venetian. Publications
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572. Albert Pollard says, "From 1558 for forty years the biography of Cecil is indistinguishable from that of Elizabeth and from the history of England."Cecil set as the main goal of English policy the creation of a united and Protestant British Isles. His methods were to complete the control of Ireland, to forge an alliance with Scotland. Protection from invasion required a powerful Royal Navy. While he was not successful, his successors agreed with his goals. Cecil was not an original thinker. In 1587, Cecil persuaded the Queen to order the execution of the Roman Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, after she was implicated in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth, he was the father of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury and founder of the Cecil dynasty which has produced many politicians including two prime ministers. Cecil was born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, in 1520, the son of Sir Richard Cecil, owner of the Burghley estate, his wife, Jane Heckington.
Pedigrees, elaborated by Cecil himself with the help of William Camden the antiquary, associated him with the Welsh Cecils or Seisyllts of Allt-Yr-Ynys, Walterstone, on the border of Herefordshire and Monmouthshire. Cecil is an anglicisation of the Welsh Seisyllt. Lord Burghley acknowledged that the family was from the Welsh Marches in a family pedigree painted at Theobalds; the Lord Treasurer's grandfather, David had moved to Stamford. David Cecil secured the favour of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, to whom he was yeoman of the chamber, he was elected Member of Parliament for Stamford five times, between 1504 and 1523. He was Sergeant-of-Arms to Henry VIII in 1526, Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1532, a Justice of the Peace for Rutland. He, according to Burghley's enemies, kept the best inn in Stamford, his eldest son, Yeoman of the Wardrobe, married Jane, daughter of William Heckington of Bourne, was father of three daughters and the future Lord Burghley. William, the only son, was put to school first at The King's School and Stamford School, which he saved and endowed.
In May 1535, at the age of fourteen, he went to St John's College, where he was brought into contact with the foremost scholars of the time, Roger Ascham and John Cheke, acquired an unusual knowledge of Greek. He acquired the affections of Cheke's sister and was in 1541 removed by his father to Gray's Inn, without having taken a degree, as was common at the time for those not intending to enter the Church; the precaution proved useless and four months Cecil committed one of the rare rash acts of his life in marrying Mary Cheke. The only child of this marriage, the future Earl of Exeter, was born in May 1542, in February 1543 Cecil's first wife died. Three years on 21 December 1546 he married Mildred Cooke, ranked by Ascham with Lady Jane Grey as one of the two most learned ladies in the kingdom, whose sister, was the wife of Sir Nicholas Bacon, the mother of Sir Francis Bacon. William Cecil's early career was spent in the service of the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector during the early years of the reign of his nephew, the young Edward VI.
Cecil accompanied Somerset on his Pinkie campaign of 1547, being one of the two Judges of the Marshalsea. The other was William Patten, who states that both he and Cecil began to write independent accounts of the campaign, that Cecil generously contributed his notes for Patten's narrative, The Expedition into Scotland. Cecil, according to his autobiographical notes, sat in Parliament in 1543. In 1548, he is described as the Protector's Master of Requests, which means that he was clerk or registrar of the court of requests which Somerset at Hugh Latimer's instigation, illegally set up in Somerset House to hear poor men's complaints, he seems to have acted as private secretary to the Protector, was in some danger at the time of the Protector's fall in October 1549. The lords opposed to Somerset ordered his detention on 10 October, in November he was in the Tower of London. Cecil ingratiated himself with John Dudley Earl of Warwick, after less than three months he was out of the Tower. On 5 September 1550 Cecil was sworn in as one of King Edward's two secretaries of state.
In April 1551, Cecil became chancellor of the Order of the Garter. But service under Warwick carried some risk, decades in his diary, Cecil recorded his release in the phrase "ex misero aulico factus liber et mei juris". To protect the Protestant government from the accession of a Catholic queen, Northumberland forced King Edward's lawyers to create an instrument setting aside the Third Succession Act on 15 June 1553. Cecil resisted for a while, in a letter to his wife, he wrote: "Seeing great perils threatened upon us by the likeness of the time, I do make choice to avoid the perils of God's d
Marquess of Winchester
Marquess of Winchester is a title in the Peerage of England, created in 1551 for the prominent statesman William Paulet, 1st Earl of Wiltshire. The Marquessate of Winchester is the oldest English Marquessate still in existence, as a result, the holder of the title is considered the Premier Marquess of England; the current holder is 18th Marquess of Winchester. It was created in 1551 for 1st Earl of Wiltshire, he had been created Baron St John in 1539 and Earl of Wiltshire in 1550 in the Peerage of England. The first Marquess was one of the most noted statesmen of his time, serving in high positions under King Henry VIII and all his children, served as Lord High Treasurer of England from 1550 to 1572, he was succeeded by his son, the second Marquess, summoned to the House of Lords in his father's lifetime through a writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron St John. His son, the third Marquess, was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration as Lord St John in 1572.
His grandson, the fifth Marquess, represented St Ives in the House of Commons. During the Civil War he was a strong supporter of King Charles I and became known as "the loyal Marquess"; the family seat of Basing House was burnt to the ground by the Parliamentarians during the conflict. During this period, the courtesy title for the heirs apparent of the Marquesses was Baron St John, he was succeeded by the sixth Marquess. The sixth Marquess was a supporter of King William III and Queen Mary II and was rewarded for his support after the Glorious Revolution when he was created Duke of Bolton, he was succeeded by his son, the second Duke, who, as heir apparent to the Marquessate in 1675, was the first to adopt the courtesy title of Earl of Wiltshire. The second Duke was a politician and notably served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household and as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. On his death the titles passed to his son, the third Duke, a politician, he served as Lord Lieutenant of several counties. In 1717 he was meant to be summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron St John.
However, he was mistakenly summoned as Lord Pawlett of Basing and this inadvertently created a new barony. However, the barony of Pawlett of Basing became extinct as he had no legitimate offspring while he was succeeded in the other titles by his younger brother, the fourth Duke, he notably served as a Lord of the Admiralty and as Lord Lieutenant of both Hampshire and Glamorganshire. His eldest son, the fifth Duke, was Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, he was succeeded by the sixth Duke. He was an Admiral of the White; the sixth Duke had no sons and on his death in 1794 the Dukedom became extinct. Most of the family estates passed to his niece Jean Mary Browne-Powlett, illegitimate daughter of the fifth Duke, she was the wife of Thomas Orde, who assumed the additional surname of Powlett and was created Baron Bolton in 1797. The late Duke was succeeded in the Barony of St John, the Earldom of Wiltshire and the Marquessate of Winchester by his distant relative George Paulet, who became the twelfth Marquess.
He was the great-grandson of third son of the fourth Marquess. He had earlier represented Winchester in Parliament, his son, the thirteenth Marquess, was a Member of Parliament for Truro and served as Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire. In 1839 Lord Winchester assumed the additional surname of Burroughs, he was succeeded by the fourteenth Marquess. He was Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, his son, the fifteenth Marquess, was a Major in the Coldstream Guards and was killed in action at the Battle of Magersfontein in 1899 during the Second Boer War. He was succeeded by the sixteenth Marquess, he was Lord Lieutenant of Chairman of the Hampshire County Council. On his death in 1962 at the age of 99 the line of the fourteenth Marquess failed, he was succeeded by his first cousin twice removed, the seventeenth Marquess. He was the great-grandson of the Reverend Lord Charles Paulet, second son of the thirteenth Marquess. On the seventeenth Marquess's death in 1968 this line of the family failed and the title passed to the late Marquess's first cousin once removed, the eighteenth and present holder of the titles.
He is the grandson of uncle of the seventeenth Marquess. Lord Winchester lives in South Africa; the surname of the Dukes of Bolton is spelled "Powlett" rather than "Paulet". This spelling continues to be used by the Orde-Powlett family, who are descended from the 5th Duke of Bolton's daughter; the Marquessate of Winchester is the oldest English Marquessate still in existence, as a result, the holder of the title is considered the Premier Marquess of England. The Marquess of Winchester, incidentally, is the only Marquess in the Peerage of England without a higher title; this makes the holder of the Marquessate paradoxically the Marquess with the highest precedence in theory yet the lowest in reality. Earl of Wiltshire is used as the courtesy title of heir. Lord Wiltshire's son and heir uses the courtesy title Lord St John. One of the main family seats was Basing House. Near Old Basing, Hampshire. William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester William Paulet, 3rd Ma
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