ORDER OF THE BATH.

19

“THE MANNER OF MAKING KNIGHTS AFTER THE CUSTOM OF ENGLAND, IN TIMEOF PEACE, AND AT THE CORONATION [OF THE KING], THAT IS, KNIGHTS OFTHE BATH . 1

“ When an Esquire cometh into the Court, for to receive the Order ofKnighthood, in time of peace, after the custom of England, he shall beworshipfully received of the Officers of the Court, as of the Steward, or Cham-berlain, if they be present, and else of the Marshals, and Ushers, in the absenceof the Steward, and Chamberlain. And then there shall be ordained twoworshipful Squires, wise, and well nourished in courtesy, and expert in the deedsof Knighthood: and they shall be governors to him, to serve, and ordain, whatshall long to him dor the time. And in case that the Squire come beforedinner, he shall serve the King of water, or of a dish only of the first course,and that is do for to take leave of service of Squires: then his Governors shalllead him into his Chamber, without any more to be seen [on 2 ] that day: and ateven, the Governors shall send after the Barber, and he shall make ready aBath, in the best wise that he can: the fat within, and without wrapped with

or proper marks of a more early composition: it corresponds exactly with the preparations in theaccounts of the Wardrobe; and it is observable, that in the article concerning the Fees due to theBarber, it specifies only such which are to be paid by an Earl, Baron, Banneret, or Knight. TheFees, indeed, as due from the degree of Dukes, are therein omitted; which omission, if it shouldnot he allowed, as a just consequence, that this instrument is more ancient than the erectionof the Ducal dignity in this Kingdom, yet we may reasonably conclude it was framed before the25th of Henry VI., when the Fees of the respective degrees were confirmed to the Barber, and theFees for a Duke particularly expressed, and determined to be in a duplicate proportion to those of anEarl; and in several later copies of this French Ceremonial, these Fees, due from a Duke, arementioned. Bysshe, and Dugdale, in his Warwickshire, have severally exhibited, in sculpture, themethod of conferring this degree; the original drawings, from whence these sculptures were taken,are now in the possession of his Grace the Duke of Montagu: in them several of the Esquires, asthere represented, have about their necks a Collar of white Roses, with a white Lion pendant to it,which I have observed in another place, was the Collar and Badge used by the domestics ofEdward IV. But if Henry VII. permitted his Queen-Consort to give her servants the Badge used byher father Edward IV., then this sculpture may be the picture referred to in the Appendix, whichrepresented the manner of creating Knights of the Bath at her Coronation.”

2 The words within brackets are inserted by Anstis from another copy. In the Regulationsordained for the Household of King Henry the Seventh, in 1494, the following article occurs :

“as for making of knights of the bath.

“ When it pleaseth the King to make any Knights of the Bath, then it is the Usher’s part to finda chamber and a room for every man, his Bath by himself. Also upon the even that they shall bemade Knights, at dinner every of them must bear the King a dish : then each of them must have two