John Lisle 2nd Baron Lisle 1318-1355

On 23rd April 1344 King Edward III of England [aged 31] created the Order of the Garter. The date nominal as there are different accounts; some sources say 1348.

1 Edward "Black Prince".

2 Henry of Grosmont 1st Duke Lancaster.

3 Thomas Beauchamp 11th Earl Warwick.

4 Jean Grailly.

5 Ralph Stafford 1st Earl Stafford.

6 William Montagu 2nd Earl Salisbury.

7 Roger Mortimer 2nd Earl March.

8 John Lisle 2nd Baron Lisle.

9 Bartholomew "The Younger" Burghesh 2nd Baron Burghesh.

10 John Beauchamp 1st Baron Beauchamp Warwick.

11 John Mohun 2nd Baron Mohun of Dunster.

12 Hugh Courtenay.

13 Thomas Holland 1st Earl Kent.

14 John Grey 1st Baron Grey.

15 Richard Fitzsimon.

16 Miles Stapleton.

17 Thomas Wale.

18 Hugh Wrottesley.

19 Neil Loring.

20 John Chandos.

21 James Audley.

22 Otho Holland.

23 Henry Eam.

24 Sanchet Abrichecourt.

25 Walter Paveley 4th Baron Burghesh.

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. In this year,¹ on the feast day of Saint George [23rd April 1350], the king held a great banquet at Windsor Castle [Map], where he established a chantry of twelve priests, and founded a hospital, in which impoverished knights, whose means were insufficient, could, in the service of the Lord, receive suitable support from the perpetual alms of the founders of that college. Besides the king, other nobles contributed to the foundation of this hospital, namely: the king's eldest son, the Earl of Northampton [aged 40], the Earl of Warwick [aged 37], the Earl of Suffolk [aged 51], the Earl of Salisbury [aged 21], and other barons. Also included were simple knights, such as: Roger de Mortimer [aged 21], now Earl of March, Lord Walter de Mauny [aged 40], Lord William FitzWarin [aged 34], John de Lisle [aged 14], John de Mohun [aged 30], John de Beauchamp [aged 31], Walter de Pavely [aged 31], Thomas Wale [aged 47] and Hugh de Wrottesley [aged 16]. Men whose proven virtue ranked them among the wealthiest earls. Together with the king, all these men were clothed in robes of powdered russet, with garters of Indian colour, also wearing garters on their right legs, and mantles of blue, adorned with the shield of Saint George. In such attire, bareheaded, they devoutly attended a solemn Mass, sung by the bishops of Canterbury, Winchester, and Exeter. They then sat together at a common table, in honour of the holy martyr, to whom they dedicated this noble brotherhood, calling their company "The Knights of Saint George of the Garter."

Isto anno, in die sancti Georgii, rex celebravit grande convivium apud Wyndesore in castro, ubi instituit cantariam xij. sacerdotum, et fundavit zenodochium, in quo milites depauperati, quibus sua non sufficerent, possent in Domini servitute de perpetuis elemosinis fundatorum illius collegii sustentacionem competentem habere. Preter regem fuerunt alii compromittentes in fundacionem istius zenodochii, scilicet regis primogenitus, comes Norhamptonie, comes Warewici, comes Suthfolchie, comes Salisbiriensis, et alii barones; simplices quoque milites, scilicet Rogerus de Mortuo mari, nunc comes Marchie, dominus Walterus de Magne, dominus Willelmus filius Garini, Iohannes de Insula, Iohannes de Mohun, Iohannes de Bealchampe, Walterus de Pavely, Thomas Wale, et Hughe de Wrotesley, quos probitas experta ditissimis comitibus associavit. Una cum rege fuerunt omnes isti vestiti togis de russeto pulverizato cum garteriis Indie coloris, habentes eciam tales garterias in tibiis dextris, et mantella de blueto cum scutulis armorum sancti Georgii. Tali apparatu nudi capita audierunt devote missam celebrem per antistites Cantuariensem, Wintoniensem, et Exoniensem decantatam, et conformiter sederunt in mensa communi ob honourem sancti martiris, cui tam nobilem fraternitatem specialiter intitularunt, appellantes istorum comitivam sancti Georgii de la gartiere.

Note 1. Stow Annales 390: "This yeere, on Saint Georges day [23rd April 1350], the king held a great and solemne feast at his castle of Windsor, where he had augmented the chappel which Henry the first and other his progenitors, kings of England, had before erected, of eight chanons. He added to those eight chanons a deane and fifteene chanons more, and 24 poore and impotent knights, with other ministers and servants, as appeareth in his charter dated the two and twentieth of his reigne. Besides the king, there were other also that were contributors to the foundation of this colledge, as followeth: i. The sovereigne king Edward the third, 2. Edward, his eldest sonne, prince of Wales, 3. Henry, duke of Lancaster, 4. the earle of Warwicke, 5. Captaine de Bouch [aged 19], 6. Ralph, earle of Stafford [aged 48], 7. William Montacute, earle of Salisburie, 8. Roger, lorde Mortimer, earle of March, 9. sir John de Lisle [aged 31], 10. sir .

It will be seen that Stow here alters the names to tally with the list of the original knights or First Founders of the order of the Garter. Baker seems to be anticipating. William Bohun, 1st earl of Northampton, and Robert Ufford, 1st earl of Suffolk, and sir William Fitz-Warine became knights of the order at an early date; but Roger Mortimer, here styled 'now Earl of March,' did not have that title before 1352, and sir Walter Manny did not receive the garter till the end of 1359.

The date of the foundation of the order of the Garter has never been exactly determined. Froissart 203.

Adam Murimuth Continuation

The Brute chronicle (Egerton MS. 650) has this description, although under a wrong year: "And in the XIX yere of his regne, anone aftre, in Jannuere, before Lenten, the same kyng Edward lete make fulle noble iustice and grete festes in the place of hys byrth, at Wyndsore, that ther were never none suche seyne before that tyme, ne I trowe sythene. At whech iustice, festis and ryalte weryn II kinges, II quenys, and the prince of Wales and the duke of Cornewale, ten erles, nine countesse, many barons, knyghttes, and worthy burgesse, the whech myght not lyghtly be nombrede; and also of dyverse londes as byyonde the see were many strangers. And at that tyme, whene the iustes had done, the kyng Edward made a grete souper, in the wheche he begone fyrst hys round table, and ordayned stedfastly the day of the forsayd table to be holde ther at Wyndessore in the Whytesonwyke evermore yerely."

Relying on the date given in the statutes of the order and on this passage in Baker, writers on the subject have adopted 1349 or 1350 as the year of foundation. But an entry in the household-book of the Black Prince affords a reason for dating the event a year earlier, payment having been made on the 18th November 1348, for twenty-four garters which were given by the prince "militibus de societate garterias" i.e. "garters [were given] to the knights of the society"; Beltz, Memorials of the Order of the Garter, pp. XXXII, 385. Proof however is not conclusive, as the ministers' accounts in the household-book were rendered between 1352 and 1365, and there is therefore room for error; moreover, the garters in question may have been prepared in anticipation. The date of 1349, which is given in the preamble to the earliest copies of the statutes, although it is true that those copies are not contemporary, is not to be lightly set aside. It is, indeed, most probable that the order was never solemnly instituted at an early period, but that it was gradually taking shape during the years following the foundation of the Round Table. Edward's patent, bearing date of 22nd August 1348, whereby he instituted a chapel at Windsor, with a fraternity of eight secular canons and a warden, fifteen other canons, and four-and-twenty poor knights, appears to be the first formal document which can be quoted as a foundation-deed of the order. After this there is no direct reference to it until 1350, when robes were issued for the King against the coming Feast of St. George, together with a Garter containing the King's motto, "Hony soyt qui mal y pense!" Nicolas, History of Orders of Knighthood, 1.24.