Banners in the Quire, with the Chrysanthemum of Hirohito 3rd on the left, after its restoration in 1971

When Edward III founded the Order of the Garter, the oldest surviving order of chivalry in the world, in or about 1348, there is evidence to suggest that he originally intended it to comprise twenty-four Knights. However, by 1349/50 membership of the Order became fixed at twenty-six:  the Monarch and twenty-five Knights appointed by him as his Companions. This number remained unchanged until 1786, when King George III brought in a new category of ‘Supernumerary’ membership to enable his sons (he had nine) and those of his successors to be appointed Garter Knights in addition to the twenty-six.

Amongst the original Founder Knights were some who owed their allegiance to Edward as Lord of Gascony rather than as King of England. They became known as Stranger Knights, to distinguish them from the Subject Knights who were direct subjects of the English Crown. Over the years additional foreign magnates were appointed Stranger Knights in line with the growing prestige of the Order. Until 1813, they formed part of the Companionship of twenty-six. However, in that year George III, wishing to install Alexander I of Russia as an additional Garter Knight, declared that all Stranger Knights should be henceforth classed as Supernumerary.   Since no limit was set on the number of Supernumerary Knights appointed at any one time, George III and his successors could reward and honour as many overseas princes and rulers as they chose. Between 1435 and 2001 one hundred and four Stranger Knights were elected to the Order (whose total membership from 1348 to date has been one thousand and one).  Not all installations took place in person at St George’s Chapel – some were undertaken in England by proxy or were celebrated abroad in the presence of Garter officials.

Sadly Supernumeraries, and indeed any Knight or Lady Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, may be degraded for various reasons. During the First World War, Monarchs of enemy nations, such as Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, had their membership revoked. One of four Japanese Stranger Knights, Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989) had his Garter banner removed from St Georges’ Chapel in 1941, when his allegiance was questioned after Japan joined the Second World War. However, it is also possible for Companions to be restored to the Order, and Emperor Hirohito welcomed his reinstatement by Elizabeth II and the restoration of his banner to the Chapel in 1971. The three other Japanese Stranger Knights elected to the Order of the Garter were Emperors Mutsuhito (installed in 1906 in recognition of the Anglo-Japanese alliance), Yoshihito (installed in 1912) and Akihito (in 1998).

Stefanos Koutroumanidis (Archives volunteer)

King Henry VI was born at Windsor on 6 December 1421 and succeeded to the throne at the age of nine months as King of England.   Henry was crowned 6 November 1429 at Westminster Abbey a month before his eighth birthday.  He was imprisoned and died in the Tower of London on 21 May 1471.   His body was taken to Chertsey Abbey for burial.

In the Treasurers’ accounts of the College of St George for 1483-84 an entry refers to the payment of £5 10s 2d ‘for expenses about the removal of King Henry VI from Chertsey’.   According to the contemporary account of John Rous, ‘the King’s body was taken out of his grave in the abbey church of Chertsey in August 1484, and honourably received in the new collegiate church of the Castle at Windsor where it was again buried with the greatest solemnity to the south of the high alter’.

The tomb of Henry VI became the object of veneration and the scene of miracles of healing attracted many pilgrims.  Miracles attributed to the King included those connected with one of his treasured relics – an old hat – the King’s Medicine against Headache.   Relics were kept at Windsor until the Reformation.  The metal collecting box for alms still stands beside the tomb.

On 4th November 1910 a formal investigation was made to establish exactly where King Henry’s body had been placed.   Within the second arch on the south side of the Quire, the marble step was removed and space opened.  The shrine appears to have been in the same area as the present slab which had been placed in the centre of the South Quire Aisle in 1790 and was moved to its present position in 1927.

Henry VI was not considered a successful king but rather a good and holy man widely regarded as a saint.   His one lasting achievement was in education, founding Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge.  At Windsor we commemorate his birthday with the ceremony of the Lilies and Roses.  Boys from Eton College attend an obit service together with representatives from Eton and King’s to lay lilies and roses on the tomb of Henry VI while special prayers are said.

“Let Thy blessing O Lord, be upon the Colleges of Thy servant King Henry VI and as Thou has appointed unto them diversities of gifts, grant then also the same spirit, so that they may together serve Thee to the welfare of Thy realm, the benefit of all men, and Thy Honour and Glory; through Jesus Christ Our Lord”.

Enid Davies (Assistant Archivist)

A new research guide has been added on the Guide to Holdings pages of our website. The latest in the series is on the Naval Knights of Windsor.

Set up to provide support to retired seamen, the institution was intended to operate along the lines of the already established Military Knights of Windsor. In 1799, land was purchased in Datchet Lane for the construction of living quarters for the Naval Knights, and Travers College was built.

However, by the 1860s it was clear that the ideal of devout men living in common was not being achieved. The records reveal many instances of fighting, drunkenness and profane language among the Naval Knights, along with their complaints about compulsory attendance in chapel and their enforced bachelorhood. In 1892, the institution was formally disbanded and the buildings became St George’s School.

Further information on the Naval Knights, including what records we hold, can be found in the new research guide.

Eleanor Cracknell (Assistant Archivist)

Monument to Field Marshall William Harcourt

Field Marshall William Harcourt (1743-1830) was a soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War. Serving with the 16th Light Dragoons, Harcourt was scouting in enemy territory on the 13th December 1776, when he came across a messenger bearing a letter from General Lee to General Washington. This subsequently led to the capture of General Charles Lee, regarded as one of the most talented American military leaders, and Harcourt’s recognition as a national hero.

William Harcourt’s monument can now be seen in the North Quire Aisle of St George’s Chapel. It stands 76 inches high on a stone base, representing the Field Marshall in his Coronation robes. However, the figure, sculpted by Sievier in 1832, was originally intended for Stanton Harcourt Church in Oxfordshire, but was moved to its current location on the orders of the King after he took a liking to the ‘splendid statue’. Where the original statue was to be placed in the south transept of Stanton Harcourt, now stands a plaster model, identical to the white marble figure at Windsor.

Despite Britain’s defeat in the American War of Independence, William Harcourt continued to be viewed as a hero, the monument commemorating the honour and bravery demonstrated by him. It was therefore appropriate that his statue would be placed in the Chapel, flanking Deans and Canons, Military Knights, and members of the English Royal Family.

Stefanos Koutroumanidis (Archives volunteer)

The Sisters of the Scabards

The Sisters of the Scabards Holiday is the title of a short pamphlet which was published in 1641 [SGC RBK S.372]. It was one of several satirical pamphlets which circulated in the summer of 1641 after Dr William Roane was disgraced and exiled from Doctors’ Commons (a college of lawyers who practised civil law). The charges of corruption and extortion brought by the Long Parliament against Roane and his fellow civil lawyers, John Lambe, John Farmery, Edmund Peirce and Clement Corbett, destroyed not only their own reputations but also undermined the authority of Doctors’ Commons itself.

The title employs a catchphrase, ‘Sister of the Scabard’, taken from a popular contemporary comedic play about a lawless gang self-styled the ‘Brothers and Sisters of…The Blade and the Scabberd’. The term quickly became a euphemism for a prostitute.

The pamphlet features two brothel-keepers named after areas of London – Mrs Bloomsbury and Mrs Long-acre. They are portrayed as good-humoured characters who tease one another about the size of their bellies after drinking lots of “fat-feeding ale”. They complain about the treatment they have received at the hands of the ‘Gentlemen Clarkes’. Mrs Long-acre describes how these men would get drunk, throw the brothel’s residents out on the street, leave without paying and then summon her  “to appeare in Pauls the next Court day, to answere for keeping a common bawdy-house”.  Forced to pay the officer of the court and the ‘Gentlemen Clarkes’ a hefty fine, she suggests that these actions were merely a money-making scam for the Doctors’ Commons lawyers in the long vacation.

The women conclude their conversation by planning to build a “Hospitall for all of our societie that are old and not able to keepe up trade” with the money they have saved now that they are no longer paying fines to corrupt lawyers.

Kelda Roe (Archives Assistant)

This was the verdict of the people of Saltash in Cornwall on their vicar, John Crewkerne. In a letter to the Dean and Canons dating from around 1404 [SGC XI.K.6], they complained that he was “deaf and cannot hear confessions except to the scandal of the person confessing. He is a revealer of confessions because he is a drunkard and publicly discloses the confessions of parishioners…he has caused some of his parishioners to be outlawed and some to be deported overseas…[he] has sold the sacraments to his parishioners and would not minister the viaticum to those at the point of death when he was asked…”. They begged the Dean and Canons to “appoint another suitable and learned priest who can instruct us according to God’s law and exonerate you from this responsibility”.

The church of Saltash was one of the endowments which gave the College its income. Given by the Black Prince, Edward, Prince of Wales, on 9 May 1351, it was one of the earliest properties given to the Dean and Canons, and part of their role as rector involved the appointment of the vicar. John Crewkerne had been appointed to the vicarage of Saltash in 1398, but within a few months problems arose surrounding the non-payment to the Dean of £100. This would appear to have been a sweetener to have allowed Crewkerne to exchange his living with another, but did not appear specifically as such in the bond of appointment. On being instituted as vicar, Crewkerne simply refused to pay.

This began a long series of legal action that continued for the next 9 years. Although their exact reasons are unknown, it is clear that the Dean and Canons wanted him gone. However, the living of Saltash was a rich one that Crewkerne did not intend to give up without a fight. Attempts were made several times to remove him through the Court of Common Pleas, the Husting Court, County Courts, King’s Court and ecclesiastical courts. In addition, the Pope was petitioned on a number of occasions to act in favour of the Dean and Canons. Finally, on 18 January 1408, the case was decided. Crewkerne was to resign the vicarage, but the Dean and Canons were to pay him an annual pension of £20 for life. As this represented the annual vicar’s income from Saltash anyway, Crewkerne was amply compensated for the loss of his position, and he received this money for the next 12 years until ultimately the King was petitioned and ruled in favour of the Dean and Canons.

The complaint of his parishioners is a small part of the whole quarrel. The fact that the people of Saltash took 6 years to make a complaint, refusing to pay tithes until the matter was sorted, suggests that it was an attempt to take advantage of the dispute. When threatened with excommunication, it would seem that they chose to make their peace with the winning side, blackening Crewkerne’s character and giving the Dean and Canons a bit of extra ammunition in the protracted legal battle for the income of a rich living.

Eleanor Cracknell (Assistant Archivist)

This blog was taken from a chapter by A.K.B. Evans in St George’s Chapel Windsor in the Fourteenth Century edited by N Saul (2005)

“We promise that there shall be no damage to
            the Turf or undue noise.”
Surely the daughters of our Windsor Choir
Must to angelic perfectness aspire,
What mortal e’er played croquet without tattle
Without – of tongues and balls th’united rattle?
            Who do not stamp upon the Turf and knock it
            Indignant, when they’re made a miss at Croquet
            Still to your suit the indulgent Chapter give
            Condition’d and revocable leave,
First to the Horse Shoe’s inmates we confine,
Those who in this exciting game may join,
None but the children of St. George’s troop,
Shall wield the mallet there, or fix the hoop.
            The Cloister is the pledge of care and quiet,
            The Town would bring in trespassing and riot,
            Next Croquet only we allow, not Cricket,
            The single peg and not the double wicket.
By balls that into areas descend
The windows broken he that owns must mend,
No dogs must henceforth on the lawn be seen,
No refuse vile disgrace the well-kept green.
            Lastly, our leave will on experience cease,
            If spoiled our grass become, or spoil’d our Peace,
            To your own promise be yourselves but true
            “No damage to the Turf or noise undue”

The letter entitled ‘The Dean’s answer to the Daughters of the Choir’ is a lyrical response to the daughters of the lay clerks by Dean G. Wellesley on May 8 1874 [SGC ACC/2006/044]. Previously in the possession of Rosemary Marciniak, the letter was written during the period her great grandfather Thomas Hunt was a lay clerk (1865-1908). One of Thomas Hunt’s daughters wrote the initial letter to Dean Wellesley, asking whether she and others (daughters of other lay clerks) could play on the lawns.  Lay clerks (choirmen) had been living in the Horseshoe Cloister since the 15th century, when the present houses were constructed to the west of St George’s Chapel.

In this humorous rhyme, Dean Wellesley lays out specific rules on who plays what and when on the green turf, and also states that ‘no undue noise’ should be heard in the Cloister. Croquet is to be played not cricket, and dogs are forbidden on the ‘well-kept green’. The fact that Dean Wellesley has outlined his responses in a witty and courteous poem shows that he is astute and, whilst cheery, blunt and to the point.

Stefanos Koutroumanidis (Archives volunteer)

Stall plate of Richard Neville

Richard Neville was born in 1400 into one of England’s great noble families.  The Nevilles held sway in the far north-west of the country, whilst the Percys were the dominant force in the far north-east.  There was little love lost, and much rivalry between the two noble dynasties.  Richard was able, ambitious, very well-connected (being a nephew of Henry IV), and blessed with the financial and military resources to further his aims.  He made a good marriage too, wedding Alice Montagu, the earl of Salisbury’s daughter, in 1422.  She gave him ten children, whilst her inheritance was a useful source of cash for him to spend up north.

At first he was solidly loyal to the House of Lancaster and was suitably rewarded.  In 1428 he was created earl of Salisbury, and in 1438, was nominated a knight of the Garter.  He campaigned in France too during the later stages of the Hundred Years War.  But his family’s feud with the Percys was edging England towards civil conflict.  When war came in 1455, Richard threw in his lot with Richard, duke of York, the Yorkist pretender.  Indeed, without Richard Neville’s support, it seems unlikely York could have made a realistic bid for the crown.

By 1456, he was York’s principal lieutenant, and the fortunes of the two men were now intertwined.  If York could succeed in toppling Henry VI and be crowned as Richard III, then Richard Neville could expect lavish reward and high office.  It was not to be.  The two men spent Christmas 1460 at a castle near Wakefield, and intended to dig in for the winter as the Yorkist position in the north was now weak.  But a few days later, on 30 December, they engaged a superior Lancastrian force, a clear tactical error.  York was hacked to death in the fighting, and Neville was captured soon after.  He was taken to Pontefract, where he was lynched by a mob, and his head was later displayed on one of the gates of York.  It was a gruesome nemesis for the man who rebelled against the dynasty which nurtured him, and whose support for the pretender sparked the Wars of the Roses.  It was left to York’s son, Edward, to carry on the fight, and seize the crown as Edward IV in 1461.

Simon Harrison (Archives volunteer)

This Autumn saw the welcome return of the Adopt a Book Open Days, an occasion to thank those people who have generously supported the scheme to help conserve the Chapter Library, and an opportunity for them to see “their” book.

The visit began with a chance to see where the books had been kept from the 17th century until 1999, with an introductory talk in the Vicars’ Hall. It then moved to their new accommodation in the Undercroft, where adopters’ books were on display for them to see, read and ask questions about. Included in the visit was time to see the exhibition of some of the highlights in the archive collections, and a display of other rare books from the Chapter Library. For those who wished to join us, lunch was served in the Dungeon.

The 2 days were a huge success, and we would like to extend our thanks again to our wonderful adopters, without whom we would not be able to ensure the future survival of the splendid collection of rare books in our care.

Eleanor (Assistant Archivist)

Robert Knox, an English sailor and trader, worked for the British East India Company in the 17th century. Sailing to Persia in 1658, a heavy storm forced his ship to land at Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) where he and some of his men were seized by the locals. It would not be until Knox’s daring escape, some nineteen years later, that he was able to return to England. Whilst detained, Knox surveyed the nature and customs of his captors as well as the flora and fauna of the island and, on his return, recorded his observations and experiences. The account was published in 1681 to a rapturous response leading to French, German and Dutch translations being produced. Housed in the Chapter Library, Robert Knox’s An historical relation of the Island of Ceylon (SGC RBK K.57) remains the earliest detailed account of the natural history and customs of the Sri Lankans written in English.

Illustration from An historical relation of the Island of Ceylon

One illustration, entitled ‘An Execution by an Elephant’, particularly catches the eye, showing an elephant tearing a man (literally) limb from limb. An arm lays strewn in the foreground while a bound man, presumably the next victim, looks on his fate in sheer terror.

In his work, Knox refers to the intelligence and strength of the creatures as well as their remarkable obedience towards their keepers and devotion to their young. The main employment for the captured animal was the public executing of criminals as a warning to other potential offenders.

The severity of the crime determined which mode of despatch was selected. The mood of the presiding King also appears to have been a factor since a certain sense of sadistic pleasure can be detected in the accounts. The victim could be killed instantly, with the elephant stepping on the individual’s head, or the agony of the person could be prolonged since the elephant was trained to crush or wrench limbs from the body.

 Alternatively, blades could be attached to the teeth of the beast: ‘they will run their teeth through the body, and then taer [sic] it in pieces, and throw it limb from limb. They have sharp iron with a socket with three edges, which they put on their teeth at such times.’

Execution by elephant was a common mode of capital punishment in South and South-East Asia for thousands of years and it was not until the 17th and 18th Century that the practice began to die out with the expansion of the European empires.

Liz Moody (Archives volunteer)