INTRODUCTION.

lx vi

January of which year, he invited Knights of all Countries toJousts at Windsor, when he revived the Feast of the RoundTable, 5 yet that the details of the Order of the Garter were notsettled, (even if the Institution itself was contemplated,) theCompanions appointed, nor the Name or Ensign established,until the latter part of 1347, or early in 1348. Ashmole andthe Statutes of the Order, fix its date to Saint George’s Day,23 Edw. III. 1349, while Selden and Anstis follow Frois-sart, by assigning the Foundation to the 23rd of April, 18 Edw.III. 1344.

Another supporter of Froissart, Selden, and Anstis has nowappeared in Mr. Beltz, who considers not only that the Frater-nity was founded in 1344, but, that it was then so completelyorganized that all the Companions had been chosen, and thatthey attended the Feast of Saint George in that year. 6 Thisview of the subject is not, however, supported by any new

5 Qf « Th e R oun( J Table” it may be observed, first, that whatever may have been theoriginal signification of the term, it was certainly applied in the thirteenth century to theplace at which Jousts were held, and thence to the Jousts themselves. Matthew Parisrelates, that in 1252, certain Knights desirous of proving their skill and courage, unanimouslyagreed to meet “ Non ufc in hastiludio illo, quod communiter et vulgariter Torneamentumdicitur, sed potius in illo ludo militari, qui Mensa Rotunda dicitur, vires suas attentarent.”Walsingham asserts, that in 1280, Roger Mortimer “ apud Kelingworthe ludum militarem,quem vocant Rotundam Tabulam, 100 militum ac tot dominarum constituit;” and that in1344, King Edward the Third, “ fecit convocari plures artifices ad Castrum de Windesoreet cepit aedificare domum quae Rotunda Tabula vocaretur,” See. and, after giving its dimen-sions, he adds, that Philip King of France erected a similar Round Table, Vide pp. 7, 8, 9,postea, where other writers are quoted to shew that the “ Round Table” was a largebuilding, and not, as is commonly supposed, merely a Round Table at which guests sat atdinner. In a Patent of the 18 Edw. III. 1345,'(Vide p. 17, postea, and the AdditionalNotes) Jousts are mentioned as synonymous with a Round Table, “ pretextu Tabule Ro-tunde vel Justarum.'''’

6 “ Memorials,” pp. xxxiii. xl. and in the Memoirs of the First Knights Founders, pp.21, 29, 30, 37, 40, 43, 49, et passim.