INTRODUCTION.

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Earl of Surrey “ thanked God with humble heart, and called *to him certain Lords and other Gentlemen, and then madethem Knights, as Sir Edmond Howard, his son, and theLord Scrope, Sir William Percy, and many other; ” that in1522, “ when the Lord Admiral had won the town of Morlaix,he called to him certain Squires, whom for their hardiness andnoble courage he made Knights; first, Sir Francis Bryan, SirAnthony Browne, Sir Richard Cornwall, &c. and divers othersand that, in the following year, the Duke of Suffolk havingdefeated the French, and taken the town of Mondidier, “ onthe feast of All Saints the Duke, in the chief church of Roye,made Knights, the Lord Herbert, the Lord Powys, OliverManners, Arthur Pole,” and ten others. 3 The custom ofKnighting persons after a battle, and of giving them pensionsor lands to support their dignity, is thus alluded to by Shakes-peare :

“ Bow your knees;

Arise, my Knights o’ th’ Battle. I create youCompanions to our person, and will fit you soWith dignities becoming your estates.” 4

Some light is thrown on this subject by a letter from HenryAlgernon Earl of Northumberland to the King in 1532, inwhich he said that his letters patent of the Office of Wardenof the Marches, recited that he was “ to use the said office ashath been accustomed in your most noble Progenitor’s days;by reason whereof the most part of the exercise of mineauthority runneth upon a custom, in which custom, as all thewhole country here doth confirm, that Wardens in their rodeshath advanced the Order of Knighthood to them that so

3 Ed. 1809, pp. 564, 643, 670.

4 Cymbeline, Act v. sc. 5.