In the heart of Windsor Castle stands St George's Chapel, a masterpiece of Perpendicular Gothic architecture and the spiritual home of England's oldest and most exclusive chivalric order. Above the carved choir stalls, known as the Garter stalls, hang the heraldic insignia of its members: crested helms, carved coronets, and painted swords, all surmounted by vibrant banners displaying coats of arms that read like a roll-call of English history. This is the Chapel of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, an institution founded around 1348 by King Edward III. In an age defined by the brutal realities of war, plague, and political strife, the creation of this order was a masterstroke of royal propaganda and a profound statement about the nature of power, loyalty, and elite identity in medieval England.
To understand the Order of the Garter is to understand the mind of its founder and the world he sought to shape. It was far more than a mere club for the kingdom's elite; it was an embodiment of a new, assertive English identity, a military brotherhood forged in the fires of the Hundred Years' War, and a mechanism for binding the country's most powerful men to the person of the king with an almost sacred oath. Membership was not just an honour; it became, as the original brief suggests, a definitive "marker of excellence and loyalty," a symbol whose resonance would be felt from the corridors of Westminster to the great estates and castles of shires like Lincolnshire.
The Chivalric King and the Round Table Ideal
Edward III (r. 1327–1377) ascended to the throne in the shadow-sm of his father's disastrous reign. The deposition and murder of Edward II had left a legacy of factionalism and baronial opposition that the young king was determined to overcome. A warrior by nature and temperament, Edward saw the path to restoring royal authority and national pride not through abstract constitutionalism, but through the unifying crucible of war and the potent ideology of chivalry.
From his youth, Edward was steeped in the Arthurian legends, tales of a golden age when a noble king and his peerless Knights of the Round Table embodied the pinnacle of martial virtue and courtly grace. This was not mere romantic fancy; for the fourteenth-century aristocracy, the world of Arthur was a tangible ideal, a blueprint for a perfect Christian society governed by a warrior-king. Edward sought to make this ideal a reality.
His first major effort came in 1344. Flush with early successes in his claim to the French throne, Edward hosted a spectacular tournament at Windsor, proclaiming his intention to found a new "Round Table" of 300 knights in imitation of his legendary predecessor. The chronicler Adam Murimuth records that the king began the construction of a vast circular building at Windsor to house this fellowship. The project, however, faltered. A truce in the war with France dampened the celebratory mood, and perhaps the sheer scale of the undertaking proved impractical. Yet the ambition remained.
The opportunity to realise this vision in a more refined form came with the extraordinary English victories at the Battle of Crécy in August 1346 and the successful Siege of Calais, which concluded in August 1347. Edward and his commanders, particularly his son, Edward the Black Prince, and his cousin, Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster, had achieved what many considered impossible, shattering the flower of French chivalry. The king returned to England not just as a conqueror, but as the living embodiment of the chivalric ideal. It was in this atmosphere of triumphalism and heightened prestige that the Order of the Garter was formally born, most likely on St George's Day, 23rd April 1348.
`Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense`: The Symbolism of the Order
The Order's precise origins are famously shrouded in a romantic, though likely apocryphal, tale. The story, first recorded in detail by the Tudor historian Polydore Vergil over a century later, tells of a court ball where a lady—often identified as Joan of Kent, Countess of Salisbury—lost her garter while dancing. As courtiers sniggered at her embarrassment, King Edward retrieved the item, gallantly strapping it to his own leg and silencing the gossipers with the phrase, "Honi soit qui mal y pense"—"Shame on him who thinks evil of it."
While a delightful anecdote, modern historians largely dismiss this story as a later invention. Its charm lies in its courtly gallantry, but the political context of the 1340s points to a far more serious and defiant meaning. The "it" in the motto most likely referred not to a lady's wardrobe malfunction, but to Edward III's audacious claim to the throne of France. Since 1340, he had styled himself "King of England and France," a claim viewed with derision by his Valois rival, Philip VI, and with scepticism by other European powers, including the Papacy.
The motto, therefore, was a public challenge. "Shame on him who thinks evil of this enterprise." The Garter itself, a simple buckled strap of dark blue cloth, became the physical emblem of this audacious project. By wearing it, the knights were not just joining a club; they were publicly and personally committing themselves to the king's great cause. The Order was a "band of brothers," as Shakespeare would later phrase it, bound together in a shared, high-stakes venture.
The choice of St George as the Order's patron was equally significant. St George, the mythical dragon-slaying soldier-saint, was the ideal patron for a military brotherhood. Under Edward III, he was actively promoted from a relatively minor saint in the English calendar to become the nation's primary protector, supplanting the more pacific Anglo-Saxon king, Edward the Confessor. The adoption of St George was a deliberate rebranding of the English monarchy and nation—no longer just pious and ancient, but martial, dynamic, and divinely sanctioned in its military ambitions.
The Order was deliberately exclusive, consisting of the Sovereign and just twenty-five companions, an echo of Christ and his apostles, but more practically mirroring the structure of a knightly tournament team. Their vestments were lavish: a dark blue woollen mantle embroidered with garters, a hood, and a surcoat, all lined with pristine white miniver fur. The spiritual home at Windsor was refurbished at great expense, becoming a shrine to this new nationalistic chivalry. Each knight was assigned a stall in the chapel, where his 'achievements'—helm, crest, and sword—would be permanently displayed, and a Garter plate, an enamelled plaque bearing his arms and titles, would be affixed. Even in death, a knight's presence and honour remained.
The Founder Knights: A Brotherhood of War and Power
The identities of the twenty-five founder knights reveal the Order's true purpose. They were not simply the highest-ranking nobles, but the king's most proven and trusted military commanders, the veterans of Crécy and Calais. The list includes legends of the age: Edward the Black Prince, the paragon of chivalry; Sir John Chandos, the brilliant strategist; Sir Walter Manny, a Hainaulter who had served the English crown with distinction for decades; and Sir James Audley, renowned for his reckless bravery.
For the heritage of Lincolnshire, the most significant founder knight was Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Lancaster and Derby, who in 1351 would be elevated to become the first Duke of Lancaster. Henry was Edward III’s second cousin and one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in England. His connection to Lincolnshire was profound. Through his vast Lancastrian inheritance, he was the lord of Bolingbroke Castle—birthplace of the future King Henry IV—and held the Honour of Lancaster which included extensive lands and rights across the county, including control of Lincoln Castle itself.
Henry embodied the ideal Garter knight. He was a hugely successful commander, leading campaigns in Gascony and serving as the king's lieutenant. His capture of the French town of Bergerac in 1345 was a major triumph. Yet he was also famously pious, a patron of religious houses, a crusader in Prussia and the Holy Land, and the author of a devotional treatise, the Livre de Seyntz Medicines ("Book of Holy Medicines"). He was the complete medieval magnate: a fearsome warrior, a skilled diplomat, a vast landowner, and a devout Christian.
By including Henry in this innermost circle, Edward III was doing more than just honouring a successful general. He was binding the immense power of the Duchy of Lancaster—a state-within-a-state that dominated much of northern and midland England—directly to his personal authority. The loyalty of a man like Henry, whose lands in Lincolnshire and beyond could furnish thousands of soldiers, was essential to the stability of the realm and the prosecution of the French war. His Garter stall at Windsor was a permanent testament to the fact that the might of Lancaster was pledged to the cult of St George and the cause of the Plantagenet king.
While the barony of Brattleby itself was a minor holding, its lords would have existed within this Lancastrian sphere of influence. The political and military life of Lincolnshire in the mid-fourteenth century was dominated by these great magnates. The Beaumonts, lords of Folkingham Castle, the Umfravilles of Kyme, and the Percy affinity were all part of the military landscape. For a local knight holding a modest fee like Brattleby, the path to advancement and royal favour lay in service to one of these great Garter lords. The Order created a clear hierarchy of prestige. To be a knight in the retinue of Henry of Grosmont was to be connected, however distantly, to the glamour and power radiating from Windsor. It defined the aspirations of the entire knightly class.
When Henry of Grosmont died of the plague in 1361, his titles and immense estates, including those in Lincolnshire, passed via his daughter Blanche to his son-in-law: John of Gaunt, Edward III's fourth son. Gaunt, already a Garter knight himself (elected c. 1361), became the new Duke of Lancaster and the dominant figure in English politics for the rest of the century. His presence at Lincoln, where he frequently held court at the castle and at his palace of the Savoy just outside the city walls, ensured that the county remained at the heart of national affairs and deeply connected to the chivalric culture promoted by the Order.
Ritual, Politics, and Legacy
The Order of the Garter was sustained by elaborate annual ritual. Each year on the eve of St George's Day, the companions would assemble at Windsor for a magnificent festival. Dressed in their robes, they would process to the chapel for a solemn mass, conduct the business of the Order, and, if a stall was vacant, elect and install a new knight. This was followed by a grand feast in the castle's great hall.
These gatherings were crucial. They reaffirmed the bonds of brotherhood, allowed the king to consult with his key magnates and commanders in a setting that blended piety with martial pride, and provided a dazzling spectacle of royal power for foreign ambassadors and other observers. The Order also functioned as a supreme court of honour. Disputes between knights over precedence or matters of chivalric conduct could be settled within the chapter.
Politically, the Garter was an instrument of both domestic management and foreign diplomacy. At home, the prospect of election to one of the twenty-five stalls was a powerful incentive for loyalty and distinguished service among the wider aristocracy. A Garter was the ultimate prize, a sign that one had reached the pinnacle of royal favour. This allure helped Edward III maintain a remarkable degree of unity among his nobles during his long reign.
Abroad, granting the Garter to foreign rulers became a key part of English diplomacy. By admitting a foreign prince into this exclusive brotherhood, the English king could forge a personal alliance that transcended formal treaties. This practice would continue for centuries, making the Garter a recognised mark of international standing.
The Order's influence continued long after the death of Edward III. It navigated the turbulent reign of Richard II, who used it to honour his own circle. When John of Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke (born at Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire), seized the throne in 1399 to become King Henry IV, he did so as a Garter knight, grounding his new Lancastrian dynasty in the traditions of chivalry and royal authority established by his grandfather. His son, the warrior-king Henry V, saw the Order as the perfect expression of the military fraternity that he led to victory at Agincourt. Indeed, after that famous battle, the Emperor Sigismund travelled to England and was ceremonially made a Knight of the Garter at Windsor, a diplomatic coup for the Lancastrian king.
Even through the dynastic strife of the Wars of the Roses, the Garter retained its prestige. The Yorkist king Edward IV, despite overthrowing the Lancastrians, embraced the Order wholeheartedly and was responsible for commissioning the magnificent new St George's Chapel that stands today. For him, as for Edward III, the Garter was a symbol of legitimate kingship and martial glory.
In conclusion, the Order of the Garter, founded in a blaze of mid-fourteenth-century triumphalism, was one of Edward III's most enduring creations. It was a brilliant fusion of romance and realpolitik, a vehicle for a new, aggressive English nationalism, and a powerful tool for securing the loyalty of the realm's most important men. Through figures like Henry of Grosmont and John of Gaunt, its influence was woven into the fabric of counties like Lincolnshire, defining the social and military structures within which local lords and knights operated. More than just a blue strap of cloth, the Garter was a symbol of inclusion in the great project of the nation, a promise of honour, and a visible sign that one belonged to the sovereign's most trusted circle. For nearly 700 years it has survived, a living link to the age of chivalry and a testament to the potent and lasting symbolism of elite fellowship.
Sources & Further Reading
Primary Sources:
Froissart, Jean. Chronicles. Translated by Geoffrey Brereton. Penguin Classics, 1968. (Provides unparalleled insight into the chivalric culture of the period). The Register of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, known as the Black Book (Statutes and early records). Ashmole, Elias. The Institution, Laws and Ceremonies of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. London, 1672. (A foundational, though early, history). Murimuth, Adam. Continuatio Chronicarum. Edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Rolls Series, 1889. (For the 1344 Round Table proposal).
Secondary Sources:
Barber, Richard. Edward III and the Triumph of England: The Battle of Crécy and the Company of the Garter. Allen Lane, 2013. Barker, Juliet. The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation. Windmill Books, 2009. Boulton, D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre. The Knights of the Crown: The Monarchical Orders of Knighthood in Later Medieval Europe, 1325–1520. Boydell Press, 2nd ed., 2000. Collins, Hugh E. L. The Order of the Garter, 1348-1461: Chivalry and Politics in Late Medieval England. Clarendon Press, 2000. (The definitive modern study). Given-Wilson, Chris. The Royal Household and the King's Affinity: Service, Politics and Finance in England 1360-1413. Yale University Press, 1986. Keen, Maurice. Chivalry. Yale University Press, 1984. Ormrod, W. Mark. Edward III. Yale University Press, 2011. (The most comprehensive modern biography of the king). Sumption, Jonathan. The Hundred Years War, Vol. I: Trial by Battle and Vol. II: Trial by Fire. Faber & Faber, 1990, 1999. Victoria County History: A History of the County of Lincoln*, Volume II. Edited by William Page. Archibald Constable & Co., 1906. (For general context on medieval Lincolnshire nobility and landholding).