KNIGHTHOOD, 
7Q0 
little entitled to credit, and that time has thrown fo thick 
a veil upon the reality of his exploits, that we cannot 
feize hold of any thing fubftantial enough to lead us to 
liiltorical truth. We have however offered to our read¬ 
ers, under the name of that Britifli hero and king, (fee 
Arthur, vol. ii.) all that we could colledt about the order 
he is fuppofed to have created, together with an engraving 
of the table now extant at the caftle of Winchelter. 
The following obfervations are the raoft interefting and 
the lead doubtful we can gather from authors who have 
fearched carefully into the truth of the origin and cir- 
cumftances attending this knighthood. 
This fociety was eflablifhed, it feems, upon the mod 
extenfive and liberal principles; it prefcribed no exclu- 
fion to any one of the brave, and admitted into its bofom 
not only Britons, but alfo all forts of ftrangers, who, out 
of a noble defire of acquiring glory in arms, croffed the 
leas and came over to this renowned ifland for the very 
purpofe of proving their ability, or at lead fufficiency, in 
the exercife of the fword and lance, in competition with 
the Britifli knights, whofe valour had been proclaimed by 
fame, or perfonally known, all over the continent. The 
knowledge and ufe of arms were not the only requifites 
to be admitted into fo refpeftable a fociety ; the candi¬ 
dates were obliged to prove befides, as real and neceffary 
qualifications for election, that they were perfons of no¬ 
bility and didinftion ; not lefs commendable for their 
virtue than for their valour. 
Arthur was crowned king in the year of our Lord 516, and 
died in 542; within thefe dates we mud therefore look for 
the period when the order was indituted; for we cannot 
with certainty fix the year of its foundation. However, 
we have fomething more determined upon the place where 
it was fird ordained. Sir J. Froiflard tells us, (Chron. lib. i. 
c. 100,) that it was at Windfor that the gallant king 
Arthur called up to his prefence the brave of all countries ; 
and that, intending to give a greater and more general 
eclat to individual valour, he created them knights, and 
bade them fit at his round table, without: any didinftion 
of rank, nation, birth, or wealth, weighing their refpec- 
tive worth in the balance of mere undaunted courage. 
This place of ralliement was not the only one; and the 
round table was fpread alfo at Carleon in Monmouthftiire, 
at Wincheder in Hampfliire, and Carmelet in Somer- 
fetfhire, where the knights, upon proper and official fum- 
mons, affembled generally at Whitfuntide. 
The articles of their profeffion, which were twelve in 
number, are fet down by fir W. Segar, and contain the 
{lamina of nearly all the orders which have been founded 
fince that era. We read not of any fpecial badge or in- 
fignia affigned to thofe knights. It is reported, however, 
that Arthur wore a difthidlive fliield called Pridwen, 
whereon the image of the Virgin Mary was mod gaudily 
illuminated 5 for even at thofe early times religion and 
chivalry went hand in hand. His fword and lance were 
not without their refpedlive names ; the fird was called 
catiburn, the other irone or rone. (Aflimole.) The ety¬ 
mologies of thefe two denominations might become a fine 
theme for the fancy of commentators; but, as nothing- 
very intereding is likely to arife from our refearches on 
this fubjedl, we leave them to antiquaries and philolo- 
gilts to difcufs. 
We mud add to this, that Roger Mortimer, earl of 
March, held the celebration of the Round Table at Ke- 
nilworth-cadle, Warwicklhire, anno 7 Edw. I. with 
fumptuous pomp and codly magnificence; that, not con¬ 
tent with inviting a hundred knights of the order, and 
confcious that the fociety of men is always enlivened and 
often improved by the company of ladies, he gave each 
knight leave to bring a female friend ; and that the fete 
was compofed of two hundred perfons of rank and dif- 
tinCfion. Tilts and tournaments were exhibited on the 
occafion; and we leave to the imagination of our readers 
to conceive what an elegant entertainment this mud have 
been; what animated converfations were held, what lively 
defcriptions of fights and battles were heard, what gay 
fongs were echoed by the {lately hall in honour of the 
fair and of the brave. The hearing or reading of this 
great aflcmbly {truck the mighty mind of Edward III, 
his gallant heart glowed at the idea of reftoring the wa¬ 
ning fplend’our of the round table ; and in the eighteenth 
year of his reign he furrounded himfelf at Windfor with 
all the knights of renown at that time; and this meeting, 
which was to be held every year at Whitfuntide, occa- 
fioned in reality the foundation of the molt noble order 
of the Garter. 
VII. The Order of the Oak ofN.avarre. Theorigin 
of this order of knighthood was owing to a very curious 
anecdote, which, as it favours perhaps too much of fuper- 
ffcitious belief, may not be readily credited by all our 
readers ; but, as mere annalifts, we forbear to enter into 
any difcufiions upon the merits of the fail, and muft re¬ 
late it as it has been handed down to us by Spanifh his¬ 
torians. The peninfula of Spain, as it is well known,, 
had pafled into the pofieflion of the Moors. Long after 
the time when Chriftianity difplayed the ilandard of the 
crofs in Betica, thefe Mahometans infefted the provinces 
of which they had been bereft after the moll bloody drug¬ 
gies ; and the Iberian chieftains, proud of their genuine 
defcent from the aborigines of the land, were at times 
obliged to take arms againft them. It was in one of 
thofe circumftances that the order of the Oak in Navarre 
was inftituted. 
Garcias Xitnenes, about theyear 722,took upon himfelf 
the command of the army againft the Moors, in defence 
of the people who then inhabited the province of Na¬ 
varre. - He was on the point of attacking the enemy, 
and entreating his army to fight bravely for their religion 
and land, when, on a fudden, a crofs of the brightell co¬ 
lour appeared to him on the top of an oak tree. The 
miraculous vifion imprelfed his foldiers with courage ; he 
gave battle to the Moors, and gained a fignal victory. 
This relation bears fomething fo fimilar to the vifion of 
Conllantine before his battle with the tyrant Maxentius, 
that one might fuppofe this to have been a mere copy of 
the other; true it is, however, that this apparition, or at 
lead the belief of it, gave fuch a ftimulus to his foldiery, 
that the Moors could not Hand their brave onfet. 
The habit of the order was white, with a badge em¬ 
broidered on the bread. This badge, of courfe, was a 
memento of the famous apparition, and confifted in an 
oak-tree in its proper colour, with a crofs moline gules 
ifluingout of it. See Plate I. 
VIII. The Order of the Knights de la Calza, or 
of the Stocking, at Venice. The origin of this order was, 
according to forne authors, owing to the inauguration of the 
duke or doge of that republic, Michele Stenno, about the 
year 1400 ; but, as others pretend it was inftituted in 737, 
we, according to the chronological order, have thought 
fit to place it here. It is certain, however, that it ap¬ 
peared with great reputation and luftre in the world till the 
year 1590, reckoning among its numbers, the dukes of 
Ferrara, of Gonzaga, Mantua, Colonna, the Urfini, San- 
feverini, &c. and indeed, when, coming from Poland to 
Paris, Henry III. of France palfed through Venice, he 
was prefented with the habit and inlignia of the order ; 
and his inftallation, if we may ufe the word, was attended 
by fetes, joufts, and divertifements, as magnificent as 
they were expenfive. It does not appear that the knights 
of this order ever wore any badge ; the diftindlive infig- 
nia confiding merely in one docking, which was mod 
beautifully embroidered with filk interwoven with gold 
and filver threads, whilft the other {locking was a mere 
green one. This was generally worn on the left leg, and 
the embroidered one on the right; but the knights com¬ 
panions of the order did not always keep this rule, and 
they changed them from right to left, and vice verfa, at 
pleafure. They wore on lolemn days a fenator’s veil of 
crimfon; and foreign princes, belonging to the order, ap¬ 
peared in the fame drefs upon thofe appointed days. On 
their 
