GARTER, Order of the, a military order of knighthood, the most noble and ancient of any lay-order in the world, instituted by Edward III. The knights companions are generally princes and peers; and the king of England is the sovereign or chief of the order. The number of knights was originally twenty-six; but six were added in 1786, on account of the increase of the royal family. They are a college or corporation, having a great and little seal.

Their officers are a prelate, chancellor, registrar, king-at-arms, and usher of the black rod. They have also a dean, and twelve canons and petty canons, vergers, and twenty-six pensioners or poor knights. The prelate is the head. This office is vested in the Bishop of Winchester, and has ever been so. Next to the prelate is the chancellor, which office is vested in the Bishop of Salisbury, who keeps the seals. The next is the registrar, wlκ> by his oath is to enter upon the registry, the scrutinies, elections, penalties, and other acts of the order, with all fidelity. The Dean of Windsor is always registrar ex officio. The fourth officer is Garter and king-at-arms, being two distinct offices united in one person. The Garter carries the rod and sceptre [7:10:346]at the feast of St George, the protector of this order, when the sovereign is present; he notifies the election of new knights, attends the solemnity of their installation, carries the garter to foreign princes, and others; and he is the principal officer within the college of arms, and chief of the heralds. (See King-at-abms.) All these officers except the prelate have fees and pensions. The college of the order is seated in the castle of Windsor, within the chapel of St George, and the charter-house, erected by the founder for that purpose. The habit and ensign of the order are, a garter, mantle, cape, george, and collar. The three first were assigned the knights companions by the founder, and the george and collar by Henry VIII.

The Garter challenges pre-eminence over all the other parts of the dress, by reason that from it the noble order is denominated; that it is the first part of the habit presented to foreign princes and absent knights, who, as well as all other knights-elect, are therewith first adorned; and it is of so great honour, that by the bare investiture with this noble ensign, the knights are esteemed companions of the greatest military order in the world. It is worn on the left leg, between the knee and calf, and is enamelled with this motto, Hani soit qui mal y pense; the meaning of which is, that King Edward having laid claim to the kingdom of France, retorted shame and defiance upon those who should dare to think amiss of the justen-terprise he had undertaken for recovering his lawful right to that crown; and that the bravery of those knights whom he had elected into this order was such as would enable him to maintain the quarrel against those who thought ill of it.

The mantle is the chief of the vestments made use of upon all solemn occasions. The colour of the mantle is by the statutes appointed to be blue. The length of the train of the mantle alone distinguishes the sovereign from the knights companions. To the collar of the mantle is fixed a pair of long strings, anciently woven with blue silk only, but now twisted round, and made of Venice gold and silk, of the colour of the robes, with knobs or buttons, and tassels at the end. The left shoulder of the mantle has from the institution been adorned with a large garter, with the device. Within this is the cross of the order, which was ordained to be worn at all times by King Charles I. At length the star was introduced, being a sort of cross irradiated with beams of silver. The collar is appointed to be composed of pieces of gold in fashion of garters, the ground enamelled blue, and the motto gold. When the knights wear not their robes, they are to have a silver star on the left side; and they commonly bear the picture of St George, enamelled on gold, and set with diamonds, at the end of a blue ribbon, crossing the body from the left shoulder. They are not to appear abroad without the garter, on penalty of six shillings and eightpence paid to the registrar.

The manner of electing a knight companion into this most noble order, and the ceremonies of investiture, are as follows: When the sovereign designs to elect a companion of the Garter, the chancellor belonging to this 0 ±L∙ r8 * 8 “P e lett . ers > which > P a *≡g both under the 8 th/äľrt]' 8 ?, m JÍ. ,lual an d signet of the order, are sent in " b? θ arter principal king-at-arms; and are

7’ ° r t ° the 8ame effee ‘ : “We > with the XTn Xmr° u I TT ° f th θ g arter > as8em -

λ ιτ∙; p ∙ i’ . 0 den this present day at our castle at and 1 th^ r hnnn 81de M ng virtuous fidelity you have shown, by v⅛di⅛ ± e ^ 101t8 y° u have d °" a i " ° 8r 8ervic ^ by vindicating and maintaining our right, &c. have elect- ⅛e 0 rrfi 08e w n e y r 0 e “ou 0 l’ °' th ≡ -mpa^io'as of our oX Ä as ≡x s" k ∙ r r ,∙r di ľŕ your installation.” g " 8 thereo, * and be read * for The garter, which is of blue velvet bordered with fine gold wire, having commonly the letters of the motto of the same, is, at the time of election, buckled upon the left leg by two of the senior companions, who receive it from the sovereign, to whom it was presented upon a velvet cushion, by the Garter king-at-arms, with the usual reverence, whilst the chancellor reads the following admonition, enjoined by the statutes: “To the honour of God omnipotent, and in memorial of the blessed martyr St George, tie about thy leg, for thy renown, this noble garter; wear it as the symbol of the most illustrious order, never to be forgotten or laid aside; that thereby thou mayest be admonished to be courageous; and having undertaken a just war, in which thou shalt be engaged, thou mayest stand firm, valiantly fight, and successfully conquer.” The princely garter being then buckled on, and the word of its signification pronounced, the knight-elect is brought before the sovereign, who puts about his neck, kneeling, a dark blue ribbon, whercunto is appended, wrought in gold within the garter, the image of St George on horseback, with his sword drawn, encountering the dragon. In the mean time, the chancellor reads the following admonition: “Wear this ribbon about thy neck, adorned with the image of the blessed martyr and soldier of Christ, St George, by whose imitation provoked, thou mayest so overpass both prosperous and adverse adventures, that having stoutly vanquished thy enemies both of body and soul, thou mayest not only receive the praise of this transient combat, but be crowned with the palm of eternal victory.” Then the knight elected kisses the sovereign’s hand; thanks his majesty for the great honour done him; and rises up and salutes all the companions severally, who return their congratulations.

Since the institution of this order there have been eight emperors and twenty-eight kings, besides numerous sovereign princes, enrolled as companions thereof. Its origin is somewhat differently related. The common account is, that the Countess of Salisbury at a ball happening to drop her garter, the king took it up and presented it to her with these words, Honi soit qui mal y pense, evil to him who evil thinks. This accident, it is said, gave rise to the order and the motto, it being the spirit of the times to mix love and war together; but as in the original statutes of this order there is not the least conjecture to countenance such a feminine institution, credit cannot be given to such tradition. Camden, Fern, and others, take it to have been instituted on occasion of the victory obtained by Edward over the French at the battle of Crescy. That prince, say some historians, ordered his garter to be displayed as a signal of battle; and in commemoration thereof, he made a garter the principal ornament of the order, erected in memory of this signal victory, and a symbol of the indissoluble union of the knights.

It appears from Rastel’s Chronicle, that this order was devised by Richard I. at the siege of the city of Acre, when he caused twenty-six knights to wear thongs of blue leather about their legs, and that it was perfected in the nineteenth year of Edward III. In 1551 Edward VI. made some alterations in the ritual of this order, which he composed in Latin, the original being still extant in his own hand-writing. He there ordained that the order should no longer be called the order of St George, but that of the garter; and, instead of the george, hung at the collar, he substituted a cavalier bearing a book on the point of his sword, with the word protectio graven on the sword, and verbum Dei on the book.

Gahtex principal Kiny-at-Arms. This office was instituted by Henry V. Garter, and principal king-at arms, are two distinct offices united in one person. Garter’s employment is to attend the service of the order of the garter, for which he is allowed a mantle and badge, a [7:10:347]house in Windsor Castle, and pensions both from the sovereign and knights, and, lastly, fees. He also carries the rod and sceptre at every feast of St George, when the sovereign is present, and notifies the election of such as are newly chosen; attends the solemnity of their installations, takes care of placing their arms over their seats, and carries the garter to foreign kings and princes; for which services it has been usual to join him in commission with some peer, or other person of distinction. The Garter’s oath relates only to services being performed within the order, and is taken in chapter before the sovereign knights.

Garter is also a term in heraldry, signifying the moiety or half of a bend.