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26 Founder Knights of The Most Noble Order of the Garter











Founded by King Edward III Plantagenet in 1348, The Most Noble Order of the Garter is the oldest order of British chivalry.

Originally consisting of the Sovereign and twenty-five knights, The Order of the Garter today mainly honors those who have either held public office and/or contributed in a particularly outstanding way to the national welfare in personally serving the Sovereign. HRH Elizabeth II Windsor, Sovereign member ex officio, maintains sole prerogative to appoint new members.

The patron saint of the order is St George (patron saint of soldiers and also of England) and the spiritual home of the Order is St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Every knight is required to display his banner of arms, helmet, crest, sword, and enameled stall plate at his assigned stall in the Chapel. These ‘achievements’ are taken down on the knight’s death and the insignia are returned to the Sovereign. The stall plates remain as a memorial and form one of the finest collections of heraldry in the world.

The current insignia of the order developed over the centuries, starting with a garter and badge depicting St George and the Dragon. A collar was added in the 16th century, and the star and broad ribbon in the 17th century.

According to the legend, while dancing with her first cousin Edward III, Joan Plantagenet‘s (a.k.a. The Fair Maid of Kent) blue garter slipped off her leg. The king immediately picked it up off the ballroom floor. In response to the laughter of the crowd, he exclaimed in French, “Honi soit qui mal y pense” (Evil to him who evil thinks), and fastened it about his leg. So began the Order of the Garter and its motto. The Fair Maid was one of the first Ladies of the Garter.

Thirty-three years after the death of the last surviving Founder Knight (William de Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury), William Bruges (1375 – 1450) ordered the production of The Garter Book around 1430. The manuscript contains illustrations of the founder knights stationed alongside their stall plates. William was appointed the first Garter King of Arms in 1415. Today the position is held by the senior King of Arms, who’s also the senior Officer of Arms of the College of Arms.

Canon of Windsor Daniel Collins, DD, (died 29 March 1648), personal chaplain of King Charles I,  was appointed to the sixth stall in St George’s Chapel in 1631 and held the canonry until 1648.

Related blog articles

Founder Knights of The Most Noble Order of the Garter, 1348

Original Stall Assignments – St George’s Chapel

Sovereign No. 1
Edward III Plantagenet , Duke of Aquitaine, Count of Ponthieu, Pretender King of France, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Sovereign Founder of the Most Noble Order of the Garter
Birth 13 Nov 1312 in Windsor, Berkshire, England
Death 22 Jun 1377 in Richmond, Surrey, England


No. 2
Black Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, Son of Edward III Plantagenet


No. 3
Henry Grosmont Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Lancaster, 4th Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, agnatic descendant of Henry II Plantagenet (1133 – 1189) 1st Plantagenet King of England and Ireland
Birth 1300 in Grosmont Castle, Grosmont, Monmouthshire, England
Death 24 Mar 1360 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England


No. 4
Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, Marshal of England
Birth 14 Feb 1313 in Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, England
Death 16 Nov 1369 in Calais, Dordogne, Aquitaine, France


No. 5
Jean III de Grailly, Captal de Buch
Birth ABT 1353 in Pamplona, Navarra
Death 4 MAY 1436 in Paris, France


No. 6
Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford
Birth 1301 in Tunbridge, Stafford, England
Death 31 Aug 1372


No. 7
William de Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury
Birth 25 Jun 1328 in Somerset, England
Death 3 Jun 1397


No. 8
Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March
Birth 11 Nov 1328 in Ludlow, Shropshire, England
Death 26 Feb 1360 in Rouvray, Cote-D’or, Fr., France


No. 9
John de Lisle, 2nd Baron Lisle
Birth 3 May 1318 in West Riding, Yorkshire, England
Death 14 Oct 1355 in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, England


No. 10
Bartholomew Burghersh, 1st Baron Burghersh
Birth 1287 in Burghersh, Sussex, England
Death 1355-08-03 in Grey Friars, London, Middlesex, England


No. 11
John Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp de Warwick – brother of Thomas Beauchamp (Stall No. 4)
Birth 1307 in Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, England
Death 2 Dec 1360


No. 12
John Mohun, 2nd Baron Mohun
Birth 1320 in Dunster, Somerset, England
Death 15 Sep 1376 in Mohun-Ottery Manor, Devon, England


No. 13
Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon
Birth 22 Mar 1327 in Exeter, Devon, England
Death 1 Sep 1349


No. 14
Sir Thomas de Holland, KG , 1st Baron Holand
Birth 5 May 1314 in Upholland, Lancashire, England
Death 26 Dec 1360 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France


No. 15
John de Grey II, Baron Grey of Rotherfield
Birth 9 Oct 1300 in Rotherfield, Oxon, England
Death 1 Sep 1359 in Rotherfield, Oxon, England


No. 16
Richard Fitz-Simon
Birth 1295 in Dunmow, Essex, England
Death ABT 1350 in Dunmow, Essex, England


No. 17
Miles Stapleton of Bedale, Lord of the Manor of Ingham and Norfolk
Birth 1318 in Bedale, Yorkshire, England
Death 4 Dec 1364 in Norfolk, England


No. 18
Thomas Wale
Birth 1303 in Weedon Pinkney, Northamptonshire
Death 26 Oct 1352 in Gascony


No. 19
Hugh De Wrottesley, Lord of Wrottesley
Birth 1348 in Staffordshire, England
Death 1381 in Wrottesley, Staffordshire, England


No. 20
Nele Loring
Birth 1320 in Chalgrave, Bedfordshire, England
Death Mar 1386 in Chalgrove, Bedfordshire, England


No. 21
John de Chaundos, Viscount of Saint-Sauveur in the Cotentin, Constable of Aquitaine, Seneschal of Poitou
Birth 1336 in Radbourne Hall, Derbyshire
Death 31 Dec 1370 in Morthemer, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France


No. 22
James de Audley, Baron Audley
Birth 3 Jan 1316 in Heleigh Castle, Staffordshire, England
Death 22 Jul 1391 in Fontenay le Comte, Vendee, Pays de la Loire, France


No. 23
Otho Holland – brother of Thomas Holland (stall no. 14)
Birth 1316 in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England
Death 3 Sep 1359 in Bretagne, France


No. 24
Henry Eam
Birth in Brabant, Antwerp, Belgium
Death 1360


No. 25
Sanchet d’Abrichecourt
Birth 1330
Death


No. 26
Walter Paveley
Birth 1322 in England, United Kingdom
Death 28 JUN 1375

SOURCES

List of current members of the Order of the Garter Wiki 

FAB PEDIGREE: Knights of the Garter

St George’s Chapel Online 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Ceremoniale at the Installation of the Knights of the Garter, in the Chapel of St. George, Within the Castle of Windsor

The Order Of The Garter, 1348 1461: Chivalry And Politics In Late Medieval England

The Institution, Laws & Ceremonies Of The Most Noble Order Of The Garter

The History of the Most Noble Order of the Garter and the Several Orders of Knighthood in Europe

Memorials of the Order of the Garter, from Its Foundation to the Present Time: Including the History of the Order; Biographical Notices of the Knights in the Reigns of Edward III. and Richard II., the Chronological Succession of the Members

Order of the Garter

The Patricians, A Genealogical Study – Ebook Editions US$5.95

Author at Harrod’s Deli – London

Steven Wood Collins (1952 – ) Antiquarian, Genealogist, Novelist

By Steven Wood Collins

I spent most of my life unaware of my ancestral heritage. Sure, I knew of the personal history of my more immediate relatives; but beyond that, I never had any inkling as to my ancestral heritage. Then one day many years ago my sister said to me, “I sometimes wonder about our family background.” And so my quest to discover our genealogical roots commenced.

I started building my family tree with the very basic relationships, going back in time from my grandparents, one ancestor at a time. That initial effort proved to be the hardest part of the pursuit, mainly due to my lack of expertise as a novice genealogical researcher. As I gained familiarity with the databases and how to efficiently mine them, my progress gained ever-increasing momentum. Today, The Patricians! tree (Ancestry.com) contains nearly 120,000 individuals, stretching over 135 generations, 5,800 of which are my direct ancestors in a genealogical sense.

During this trek back in time, I encountered fascinating figures in both history and obscurity. This blog contains many stories about their genealogical relationship to me (and many of you). By far and away, as a student of history, the historically obscure individuals are of particular interest to me. I cite Baron “Blue Beard” Montmorency-Laval de Rais (1405 – 1440) as an example of a historically maligned personage whose real contribution to history, as both a playwright and hero of France, has yet to be properly recognized. Another example is Earl Edward de Vere (1550 – 1604), who’s yet to gain widespread recognition as the actual author of the body of literary work wrongly ascribed to William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).

My life-long interest in international economics and finance continues unabated. I primarily demonstrate this professional involvement as a contributor to the Long Room, the members-only international finance professionals' forum hosted by the Financial Times of London.

I'm an avid recreational scuba diver who enjoys traveling to exotic dive sites. My love of the sea and marine life gives me an unbounded appreciation and support of “green” issues, especially those devoted to the conservation of endangered species and coral reefs.

He continually posts results of his personal genealogical research to his Goodreads Authors Blog. Entitled The Patricians - The Ancestral Heritage of Steven Wood Collins, the work represents thousand of hours of his research efforts and related commentary.

18 replies on “26 Founder Knights of The Most Noble Order of the Garter”

Interesting but spoiled at the beginning by the reference to ‘HRH Elizabeth II Windsor’! The correct terminology is ‘HM Queen Elizabeth II’. HM = Her Majesty’ and ‘Windsor’ is never used. It is the name of the Royal House.

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[…] Frisian descendant Siward “The Warrior” de Longworth forebears came to England in the early 11th century, probably engaged as knight mercenaries by William the Conqueror. Sir Robert de Holland (1283 – 1328), his agnatic descendant, was created 1st Baron Holland. Sir Thomas de Holland, KG, 2nd Baron Holland & 1st Earl of Kent ( – 1360) and his brother Otho were founder knights of the Order of the Garter.  […]

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