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Thefe Inftances already afferted, are fufficient to tnant-feft the Ulage and Pra&ice, how the Knights -Compani.ons have fucceeded in the Stalls of their immediate p re ,decelfors, down to the Reign of Henry V111. and wasconfon^nt and agreeable to the ancient Law of the Order,
But we are to obferve, that tho’ each Knight was, bythe before-mentioned Article, conftttuted to fucceed'hisimmediate Predeceffor, in the Stall void by his Deathyet there’s an excep:ion as to that of the Prince of fVale’,This Stall is the firft on the left Hand, at the entranceinto the Choir of St. George’s Cbappel at Wrndfor , and 'wheresn Edward the Black Prince was inftalled ; from thisStall does the whole range of Stalls on the fame fide taketheir Denomination, and to which the Prince of Wales,as foon as he is eletfted into the Order, hath a due Title.Though this Stall de Jure appertains to that Prince, yetheretofore, when the Sovereign had no Heir, then was itfor thejnrefent difpnfed to fome other Knight, otherwifea defetft in the full Number of Knights-Companions wouldhave enfued.
The firft that obtained that Honour, (befides the Prince ofWales,) was John of Gaum, Dukeot'Lancafter, decreed himby K. Richard II. who never had Iffue, and removed fromthe leventh Stall thither. But the firft Companion thathappened to be inftal'ed in it, was Sir Philip la Vache juftmentioned, which was a great Honour done to one of hisRank: But it fell to him by the then Law of .the Order,being eletfted into the Room of the faid Duke, who diedpoffdTed of it. But King Henry IV. coming to the Crown,and his eldeft Son being created Prince of Wales, laid claimto the Stall by Virtue of that Statute, and had it af-figned to him. Neverthelefs, that the former Poffelformight fufifer as little diminution as might be in the Ho-nour of his Seffion, he was removed no lower than to theStall which King Henry IV. lately held, when he was Earlof Derby.
Upon the Death of Henry IV. Henry V. being So-vereign, Sit John Dabrichcourt fupphed the vacancy, andwas inftalled therein; and he dying in the fifth Year of thatKing poflefs’d thereof, his Plate continues in that Stall tothis Day, and the Emperor Sigifmond iucceedsSir JohnDabrichcourt in the Prince's Stall.
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