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INTRODUCTION.

fore, that some of the original Companions were not Knighteduntil after June 1346.

That the Order was not founded between July 1346 andOctober 1347, may be inferred from the circumstance of KingEdward the Third, and many of the original Companions,haying been engaged in the wars in France during the wholeof that period; the King haying landed at La Hogue on the12th of July 1346, and not having returned to England untilthe 12th October 1347. 4

The next evidence on the subject are the Accounts of theKing’s Great Wardrobe, which contain notices of all articles ofwearing apparel made for the King’s use, or given by him tothe Peers, Knights, Officers, and Servants of his Court, and toother persons. Until the Author’s second investigation of thoseAccounts in August last, the only Records of this descriptionknown to be in existence between 1343 and 1353 were thosefrom the 25th November 15 Edw. III. 1341 to the 10th April18 Edw. III. 1344 ; 5 and the Accounts of the delivery of cloth,furs, mercery, &c. out of the King’s Great Wardrobe from the29th September 22 Edw. III. 1348 to the 31st January 23Edw. III. 1349, which include the Accounts of the King’s taylorcommencing on the 21st of December 19 Edw. III. 1345. 6

It is therefore, clear, that Records exist in which the Robesof the Order would certainly have been mentioned, had theybeen prepared for the Sovereign and Companions for theFeast of Saint George in the years 1344, 1345, and 1346.

4 Foedera, N. E. Vol. III. p. 139; Vide pp. 20, 21 postea.

5 Now in the Chapter House at Westminster ; Vide p. 9 postea.

6 Vide pp. 12 postea, and Appendix, pp. vi—viii. Roll marked “ F. L. H. 639.”