CHAP. IX. (continued 2)

But the Law yet remains in force, that all Nominations and Votes of the Knights-Companions ought to be enter’d among the Annals, whether Election be made or not, unless it shall please the Sovereign, upon some Emergency, to forbid it: As appears but by one Example of such a Prohibition, viz. Anno 40 Eliz. where, by the Queen’s special Command, the Scrutiny then taken was not recorded among the Acts of this most Noble Order. But then it is declared, That the Register took care to set down all the Passages as they happened, the Names only excepted. And why the Scrutiny is not inserted in the Registry, An. 44 of Eliz. gives this Account: That upon assembling the Knights-Companions, it seemed good to the Sovereign, for several urgent Reasons, best known to her self, to give Commandment, That for that time, they would wholly forbear all Scrutiny of Votes, and Nominations of Persons; except which, there was nothing wanting to heighten the Solemnity of that Assembly: But this in the Annals is said to be præter morem, contrary to the usual Custom.

§ 16. Anno 27 of Eliz. there is a remarkable Occurrence, not to be passed over; for the Earls of Rutland and Derby, the morrow after St. George’s Day, were desirous to have seen the Scrutiny, which was committed into the Custody of the Dean of Windsor, to be registred, in pursuance of the before-mentioned Decree, Anno 5 Eliz. but he returned a modest denial, and said, It ought not to be seen before it was register’d. The Earls, not satisfied with this Answer, requested the Opinions of the Knights-Companions, present at the Feast, on this Affair; who, upon mature Deliberation, adjudged the Point against them; and since it has been a standing Rule, that no Knight-Companion ought to see whom the other hath named.

§ 17. It hath chanced, that tho’ the Nominations for Election have been received, presented and perused, yet the Sovereign hath thought expedient to defer it, upon several Considerations, and principally where an intent was to keep an open Stall; but we must understand this of such Scrutinies as are taken of Course, at the Vespers on the Feast-day.

And the most memorable Example of this Kind, is that of the Emperor Sigismond, who expired in the 16th Year of K. Henry VI. whose Stall was reserved Twenty One Years, and then determined, that Prince Edward, the Sovereign’s only Son, should fill it up, being at that time about Six Years of Age. This is the first Emperor, whose Election we find register’d in the Annals, being about the 7th of May, in the 4th Year of Henry V. styled Sigismundus Imperator Almanicus.

And keeping a vacant Stall was sometimes given as a Reason by the Sovereign for his deferring an Election, as is plain from An. 13. Car. I. when the Scrutiny taken the Day before was read over in the Chapter-House, the Sovereign declared, That he would receive no Man into the Order before his Son Charles. Whereupon all the Knights-Companions gave their Opinions, That this Resolution was rather the effect of Justice, than Fatherly Indulgence; since they all acknowledged him, to be more a Prince by Merit, and towardliness of his Youth, than by the Fortune of his Birth. At which the Sovereign expressed his Satisfaction no otherwise than by Silence.

And in like manner, Anno 15 Charles I. when the Chancellor of the Order gave up the Scrutiny to the Sovereign, he declared——That he had a purpose to have Chosen Prince Rupert, his Nephew, a Knight of the Order; but being then a Prisoner with the Emperor, he would not Elect any at that Time; whereupon, a vacancy of a Stall was reserved. It has sometimes been the Sovereign’s Pleasure to defer Elections, without expressing the Cause, as in the 13 of Elizabeth; though she perused the Scrutiny in Chapter, yet the Blue Book informs us; That the said Sovereign made no Election, though two Stalls were vacant. Thus was it in the 2, 3, 11, and 12, of K. James I. where no other mention is made than this; none were admitted into the Order this Year.

Sometimes we find these Prorogations of Elections recorded, as solely done by the Will of the Sovereign; and at other Times by the Sovereign, and the approbation of the Knights-Companions; to the first of these we find a Memorial, in the 22 of Elizabeth, on the 24 of April; that the Knights-Companions had a Message sent to their Chapter, held before Morning-Prayer; That it was the Pleasure of the Sovereign to prorogue the Election to the following Year. And so it was, in the 10th of Charles I. though the Nomination was taken by the Chancellor, and presented to the Sovereign in Chapter, the Sovereign did not think fit to make any Election at all. And for a Testimony of the second, we meet with this Instance, in the 27th of Elizabeth; that with the concurrent Approbation and Assent of all the Knights-Companions then assisting, the Sovereign thought fit to put off the Election to another Time. As to the seeming difference of the Sovereign’s absolute Authority, and yet the Knights-Companions Approbation, we have cleared up that Point in the Act of Election; for though it is his unquestionable Authority and Prerogative, to Prorogue Elections ad libitum, yet out of Respect, and Honour to the Knights-Companions, their Approbation hath been sometimes exprest.

§ 18. When any Knight-Companion hath received a Summons, to appear at a Chapter of Election, and doth wilfully refuse, or withdraw himself, he was to be mulct a Mark for his Disobedience, which King Henry VIII’s Statutes inlarged to twenty Shillings, payable to the Dean and College of Windsor, to pray for defunct Souls. And at his next appearance in Chapter, he was to remain kneeling in the midst of them, before the Sovereign, or Deputy, till he was restor’d to their Favour: Yet upon a just Cause signified to the Sovereign some time before, under the Seal of his Arms, he was excused, if it was found just and feasible; if not, it was rejected, and he remained Punishable.

And for greater Caution, this Clause was formerly inserted, in the Letters of Summons; where, after the Time and Place for Election was certified, and command given to observe both, the Letter concludes thus, et se estre ny poues nous Signifies soubz, &c. and if it cannot be accomplished, that is, if the Knight-Companion could not meet at the time assigned, to perform what the Statutes oblige, he should then signify to the Sovereign, under his Seal, the cause of his Impediment; so that he might perceive by his Excuse, whether it was worthy of Acceptance, or he in Fault or not.