Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/131

KNIGHTHOOD 119 what else was used in the church at or before the re ceiving of the dignity, whence also consecrare militem was to make a knight. Those of the first kind are various in the memories that preserve them, and yet they were rarely or never without the girding with a sword until in the later ages wherein only the stroke on the neck or shoulder according to the use at this day hath most commonly supplied it," l Of these " ceremonies and circumstances " Selden gives several examples, especially those of the knighting of Geoffrey of Anjou by Henry I., of Alexander III. of Scotland by Henry III. of England, and of Edward Prince of Wales (afterwards Edward II.) by his father Edward I. But the leading authority on the subject is an ancient tract written in French, which will be found at length either in the original or translated by Segar, Dugdale, Byshe, and Nicolas, among other English writers. 2 Daniel explains his reasons for transcribing it, " tant a cause du detail que de la naivete du stile et encore plus de la bisarrerie des ceremonies que se faisoient pourtant alors fort serieusement," while he adds that these ceremonies were essentially identical in England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. The process of inauguration was commenced in the evening by the placing of the candidate under the care of two "esquires of honour grave and well seen in courtship and nurture and also in the feats of chivalry," who were to be "governors in all things relating to him." Under their direction, to begin with, a barber shaved him and cut his hair. He was then conducted by them to I his appointed chamber, where a bath was prepared hung within and without with linen and covered with rich cloths, into which after they had undressed him he entered. While he was in the bath two "ancient and grave knights" attended him "to inform, instruct, ! and counsel him touching the order and feats of chivalry," and j when they had fulfilled their mission they poured some of the water of the bath over his shoulders, signing the left shoulder with the cross, and retired. 3 He was then taken from the batli and put into a plain bed without hangings, in which he remained until his body was dry, when the two esquires put on him a white shirt and over that " a robe of russet with long sleeves having a hood thereto like unto that of an hermit." Then the "two ancient and grave knights" returned and led him to the chapel, the esquires going before them "sporting and dancing" with "the minstrels making melody." And when they had been served with wines and spices they went away leaving only the candidate, the esquires, "the priest, the chandler, and the watch " who kept the vigil of arms until sunrise, the candidate passing the night " bestowing himself in orisons and prayers." At daybreak he confessed to the priest, heard matins, and communicated in the mass, offering a taper and a piece of money stuck in it as near the lighted end as possible, the first " to the honour of God " and the second "to the honour of the person that makes him a knight." Afterwards he was taken back to his chamber, and remained in bed until the knights, esquires, 1 Selden, Titles of Honor, 639. - Daniel, Histoire de la Milice Framboise, vol. i. pp. 99-104; Byshe s Upton, De Studio Militari, pp. 21-24 ; Dugdale, Warwick shire, vol. ii. pp. 708-710; Segar, Honor Civil and Military, p. 69 sq.; and Nicolas, Orders of Kniyhthood, vol. ii. (Order of the Bath ), p. 19 57. It is given as " the order and manner of creating Knights of the Bath in time of peace according to the custom of England," and consequently dates from a period when the full ceremony of creating knights bachelors generally had gone out of fashion. But as Ashmole, peaking of Knights of the Bath, says, " if the ceremonies and circum stances of their creation be well considered, it will appear that this king [Henry IV.] did not institute but rather restore the ancient manner of making knights, and consequently that the Knights of the Bath are in truth no other than knights bachelors, that is to say, such as are created with those ceremonies wherewith knights bachelors were formerly created" (Ashmole, Order of the Garter, p. 15). It is singular that Dugdale in his translation of this ancient formulary has accidentally omitted the actual dubbing or accolade. See also Selden, Titles of Honor, p. 673 ; and the Archteoloyical Journal, vol. v. p. 258 sq. 3 In another formulary in the Cotton MSS. (Tib. E. viii. f. 72 whirh is printed in full in the Archaeological Journal, vol. v. p. 267 sq. , the shoulders of the candidate are to be signed with the sign of the cross, and in still another formulary among the Astley MSS. the cross was to be signed on the candidate s left shoulder only by the senior of the ancient and grave knights "in nomine patris," &c. In both, however, the cross is to be kissed by the officiating knight after he had signed it with the water. and minstrels went to him and aroused him. The knights then dressed him in distinctive garments, and they then mounted their horses and rode to the hall where the candidate was to receive knighthood ; his future squire was to ride before him ban-headed bearing his sword by the point in its scabbard with his spurs hang ing from its hilt. And when everything was prepared the prince or subject who was to knight him came into the hall, and, the candidate s sword and spurs having been presented to him, he delivered the right spur to the "most noble and gentle" knight present, and directed him to fasten it on the candidate s right heel, which he kneeling on one knee and putting the candidate s right foot on his knee accordingly did, signing the candidate s knee with the cross, and in like manner by another "noble and gentle" knight the left spur was fastened to his left heel. And then lie who was to create the knight took the sword and girded him with it, and then embracing him he lifted his right hand and smote him on the neck or shoulder, saying, " Be thou a good knight," and kissed him. When this was done they all went to the chapel with much music, and the new knight laying his right hand on the altar pro mised to support and defend the church, and ungirding his sword oiFered it on the altar. And as he came out from the chapel the master cook awaited him at the door and claimed his spurs as his fee, and said, "If you do anything contrary to the order of chivalry (which God forbid), I shall hack the spurs from your heels." As may be gathered from Selden, Favyn, La Colombiers, Menestrier, and Sainte Palaye, there were several differ ences of detail in the ceremony at different times and in different places. But in the main it was everywhere the same both in its military and its ecclesiastical elements. In the Pontifical* Romamim, the old Ordo Romantis, and the manual or Common Prayer Book in use in England before the Reformation forms for the blessing or consecra tion of new knights are included, and of these the first and the last are quoted by Selden. 4 But the full solemnities for conferring knighthood seem to have been so largely and so early superseded by the practice of dubbing or giving the accolade alone that in England it became at last restricted to such knights as were made at coronations and some other occasions of state. And to them the particular name of knights of the bath was assigned, while knights made in the ordinary way were called in distinction from them knights of the sword, as they were also called knights bachelors in distinction from knights banneret. 5 It is usually supposed that the first creation of Knights of the Bath under that designation was at the coronation of Henry IV. ; and before the Order of the Bath as a com panionship or capitular body was instituted the last creation of them was at the coronation of Charles II. But all knights were also knights of the spur or " equites aurati," because their spurs were golden or gilt, the spurs of squires being of silver or white metal, and these became their peculiar badge in popular estimation and proverbial speech. In the form of their solemn inauguration too, as we have noticed, the spurs together with the sword were always employed as the leading and most characteristic ensigns of knighthood. 6 With regard to knights banneret various opinions have been entertained as to both the nature of their dignity and the qualifications they were required to possess for receiv ing it at different periods and in different countries. On the Continent the distinction which is commonly but in correctly made by us between the nobility and the gentry has never arisen, and it was unknown here while chivalry existed and heraldry was understood. Here, as elsewhere in the old time, a nobleman and :i gentleman meant the 4 Titles of Honor, pp. 369 and 648. See also p. 367 for the ceremonies observed at the knighting of William, count of Holland, when he was elected king of the Romans in 1247, and Selden s remarks and authorities with respect to the disuse of the ancient form of investiture with arms in the empire. 5 Selden, Titles of Honor, p. 678 ; Ashmole, Order of the Garter, p. 15 ; Favyn, Theatre d JJonneur. vol. ii. p. 1035. 6 " If we sum xip the principal ensigns of knighthood, ancient and modern, we shall find they have been or are a horse, gold ring, shield and lance, a belt and sword, gilt spurs, and a gold chain or collar." Ashmole, Order of (he Garter, pp. 12, 13.