tended to the rest of Europe. The service of the infantry was degraded to the plebeians, the cavalry formed the strength of the armies, and the honourable name of miles or soldier was confined to the gentlemen who served on horseback and were invested with the character of knighthood. In perusing the very brief-too brief dissertation which is prefixed to these volumes upon the existing state of knighthood in Europe, we find that chivalry is considered as the offspring of the Crusades. It is true, indeed, that after the final reduction of the Holy Land the spirit of chivalry burned with the highest ardour among adventurers at home, but it was because they could not indulge their enterprising genius abroad. The spirit of chivalry sprung from the manners of the age, and notwithstanding the temporal honours and the advantages which the crusader enjoyed in this world, and the hopes of happiness which were held out to them as a remuneration of their pious toils in the next, so many thousand-so many million persons would not have assumed the cross had they not been already animated with that enthusiastic spirit of chivalry which in later times became more refined and more manageable. Perhaps the institutions of chivalry, though certainly not the spirit of it, originated in the customs of duelling, and judicial combat, which prevailed over Europe for so long a time. During the private wars which afflicted Europe for so many centuries, a considerable degree of personal emulation as well as resentment would arise in the bosom of those leaders, who had perhaps frequently struggled with each other in the field of battle. And as assassination died away from the cowardly spirit which it indicated, the challenge to single combat succeeded, where the skill and prowess of the contending parties had ample room to display themselves. The hero of these ages disdained to take his enemy by surprise: he fought for victory, but he also fought for glory, and this could not be attained unless his adversary commenced the combat upon equal terms. Each party vindicated his honour, and professed to be the champion of truth, virtue, and religion. These single combats were rather encouraged than restrained by the civil power, and indeed the more from those defects in judicial proceedings, those uncertainties of proof arising from the want of written documents, which prevail among a rude unlettered people. As these combats were appeals to heaven they were regulated with all the forma lities of a solemn judicial process, and would naturally keep alive that jealousy of honour which became a fundamental principle of knighthood, and which eve ry member of the order swore to maintain with his sword, when at his investment he received a slight touch on the cheek or shoulder, as the last blow he could suffer to be inflicted on him with impunity. It is needless to remark that the custom of duelling and the trial by judicial combat prevailed a considerable time in Europe, though not in England, before the Crusades. Selden does not allow of judicial com. bat in England before the Norman conquest: the old Saxon laws of Alfred, Edward, Athelstane, Edmund, Edgar, are silent on the subject; nor says he, as I remember, have the monkish stories of that age any authority for the proof of it. But in the laws of William the first it is decreed, that if a Frenchman appeal an Englishman of perjury, murther, theft, manslaughter, or robbery, Anglus se defendat per quod melius voluerit, aut judicio ferri aut duello. (Selden. Duello, chap. vi.) He considers the custom as having been derived from the Lombards, and quotes an old Italian historian (Carol. Sigon. de regno Italiæ, lib. ii.) to prove the prevalence of the custom: Longobardorum antiqua est consuetudo, ut crimina vel maxima singulari prælio purgarentur, quæ postea per leges translata per multa tempora observata est. Now if there was any thing chivalrous in these decisions as well as superstitious, although orders of knighthood might not be instituted till the period of the wars for the recovery of the Holy Land, yet, it is evident, that the spirit which gave birth to these institutions, the high spirit of chivalry prevailed long before, and arose out of the turbulent and ferocious manners of more early times. The oldest order of knighthood is that of St. John of Jerusalem, instituted in the year 1048; but we read of the creation of individual knights in much earlier periods of history. The dignity of Knights of the Spur, or Bachelors, is often mentioned in the Saxon times: in a charter of Kenulph, king of Merce land, of the year 806, to the Abbey of Crowland, he confirms to the Abbey, Eleemosynam quam Algarus miles etiam dudum meus dedit illis in Baston et in Repingale. The same knight is mentioned in a confirmation of Witlaf to the same monastery item donum Algari militis, silicet, Northland in Baston. Item donum ejusdem Algari militis in Repingale; and there is added in this of Witlaf, item donum Oswini militis in Draytona. [Vide Selden. Titles of Honor, Part II. Sect. xxx.] The ceremonies and circumstances, says Selden (ut sup. Sect. xxxiv.) at the giving this dignity in the elder times were of two kinds especially, which we may call courtly and sacred. The courtly were the feasts held at the creation, giving of robes, arms, spurs, and the like; whence as in the stories of other nations, so in those of ours, armis militaribus donare, or cingulo militari, and such more phrases are the same as militem facere. The sacred are the holy devotions, and what else was used in the church at or before the receiving of the dignity, whence also consecrare militem, was to make a knight. Those of the first kind are various in the memories that preserve them, and yet they are rarely or never without the girding with a sword, until in later ages, wherein only the stroke on the neck or shoulder, according to the use at this day, hath most commonly supplied it. The ancientest mention of any courtly ce remonies used at the creation of a knight with us is in that of King Alfred, his knighting his grandchild Athelstan, that was afterwards king. Nam et avus (saith William of Malmesbury, de gest. reg. lib. 2. cap. 6.) prosperum ei regnum olim imprecatus fuerat, videns et gratiose complexus speciei spectate puerum et gestium elegantiam; quem etiam et præmature militem fecerat, donatum chlamyde coccinea, gemmato baltheo, ense Saxonico cum vagina aurea. These instances, to which others might be added, are sufficient to shew that the chivalrous ceremony of knighthood long preceded the times of the Crusades, although incorporated fraternities of knights were not known till about that period. As a specimen of the manner in which the work which has called forth these observations is executed, we shall extract the account which is given of the Knights of the Holy Cross, or the Teutonic Order. "The commencement of its establishment, is to be ascribed to a devout German, ANN. REV. VOL. II. who, with the permission of the then existing patriarchs, built and endowed an hospital for the sick pilgrims, who were his counof the mother of our Saviour. In a short trymen; and likewise a chapel to the honour maintain so excellest an institution; the time many pious Germans were disposed to distinguished themselves to a most eminent men of Bremen and Lubeck, in particular, degree, and exhibited the utmost zeal for the good of this foundation. They not only courageously protected the pilgrims, during the siege of Acre, (the Ptolomaeus of the talers, and took care of the wounded and ancients,) but many of them became hospi sick. 66 tended on the hospital; and Pope Caelestin Many persons of high rank likewise atthe III. formerly instituted this society into a order, under the title of the Brothers of the German House, and of the Hospital of our blessed Lady of Jerusalem.` "His Holiness permitted them to elect a thereupon, they unanimously nominated chief from amongst their own members; and Henry de Wallpott, a person descended from in the year 1191, had become a professed a very ancient and noble family, and whe monk of the Order of St. Augustin. "The ensign of the order, is a black cross with a border of silver; and it is worn upon also bear this cross with their arms, upon a a white mantle, on the left side. The knights ed to Henry de Wallpott, in 1198, by the Pope white field, in the same manner as was grantabovementioned. They have likewise the same apparel; and round the neck, they usually c: oss upon the left breast of their daily outward wear a gold black enamelled cross, surmounted with a knightly helmet of massy gold, covered with a coating of dark blue enainel. and it is worn suspended from a rich watered This cross is somewhat of an oblong form; black ribbon of the breadth of three fingers. But this cross has been frequently altered and augmented; and John de Brienne, king of Jerusalem, in 1206, adorned the same with a cross of gold. "Herman de Salza, the fourth grand master of this order, having by his consummate prudence and superior abilities, found means to terminate the unhappy dissentions existthe Emperor Frederick the II. that prince ing between Pope Honorius the III. and being desirous of conferring upon the grand master a signal mark of his gratitude, he to that end, not only granted the dignity of Prince of the Empire, to him and his successors; but likewise gave him his especial permission, to charge the arms of the order with the Imperial Eagle. His holiness, as a proof of his esteem, presented him with a ring of great value; enjoining him to wear the same constantly. Since that epoch it has ever been customary, so soon as a new grand master is elected, to invest him with this ring, in memory of a transaction equally meritorious and remarkable. U u 66 Finally; in 1250, during the administer of that city, and the remainder of the tration of Conrad, Landgrave of Thuringia, knights were obliged to quit that country. the fifth grand master, Louis the IX. King of France, embellished the four points of the cross, with four fleurs-de-lis of gold, as a remembrance of the sense he entertained of the services rendered to him by the order. "The knights acquired so much reputation, and such great esteem, by their valour, as induced Conrad, Duke. of Massovia and Cujavia, to send an ambassador in 1229, to their grand master, Herman de Salza, demanding his friendship, and requesting that general, in case of need, to assist him with his forces against the Prussians. The order made no small progress like. wise in Livonia, where it became master of Courland and Semigalha; and in 1288, it Drought the whole province under its absolute dominion. This illustrious order being so powerful, the principal cares of the knights were turned towards the maintaining themselves in the possession of their conquests; and to repel the attacks of their hostile and formidable neighbours. Their territories were frequently invaded by them, and on that account they were compelled to wage heavy wars against the natives of Lithuania and Russia. Although they gained considerable advantages over these people; nevertheless, such successes were more than counterbalanced by the loss of their principal establishment, at Aere in Syria. This disaster happened during the administration of Conrad de Feuchtwangen, the XI. grand master. In 1991, Mulech Seraph, Sultan of Egypt, made himself mas Expelled from Syria, they formed a momentary establish ont at Venice. Soon af ter they chose Marburg in the country of Hesse, as the chief residence of their order; and even now a magnificent palace belonging thereto, still subsists in that city. Powerful considerations however, in 1306, induced Godfrey de Hohenlohe, the grand master, to transfer the seat of the order to Marienburg in Prussia; and since then no provincial grand master has existed in that country. "The order not only suffered on account of the burthensome wars in which it was engaged; it was convulsed and torn by intestine divisions, during a long series of years. Under the administration of the grand master Conrad de Jungingen, Uladislaus Jagellon, the then reigning king of Poland, endeavoured to profit by these internal feuds. With the assistance of Withold, Duke of Lithuania, he attacked Prussia; but the general of Livonia coming opportunely to the aid of the grand master, in the year 1403, peace was concluded between Poland and the order. This peace was of no long duration; it was broke by Ulrich de Jungingen. Such an infraction of treaties made it necessary for Uladislaus Jagellon to combine his whole forces with those of his father Withold. By these means, the king assembled an army of 150,000 men, with which he attacked the army of the grand master, amounting only to 83,000. The battle began near the village of Tonnenberg, on the 15th of July 1410, 0. S. and the Slaughter was prodigious on both sides. The most authente accounts of those times, maintain that the Poles lost 60,000 men, and the knights 40,000 men, in this memorable and well fought engagement. "The government of the order becoming extremely oppressive, several countries and cities formed an alliance against the knights. It was concluded at Marienwender; and in 1458 the greatest part of Prussia had detached itself from the order, and put itself under the protection of the king of Poland. This transaction gave rise to a war equally violent and bloody. In 1566 peace was concluded by the interposition of the Pope; and at Thorn the following treaty was made and ratified by the Polish monarch, Casimir the IV. and the grand master of the order: viz. that Pomerella and the territories of Culm and Michelan, and likewise the cities of Ermland, Marienburg, and Elbing, should be ceded to the crown of Poland: and, that the remainder of Prussia should appertain to the order; the grand master receiving the inves titure thereof; it being considered as a fief belonging to the kingdom of Poland, and held by military tenure. "At length, in the XV century, the knights were totally dispossessed of Prussia: Albert de Brandenburg, then grand master, having embraced the Lutheran religion, Sigismund, king of Poland, his cousin, solemnly invested him with the sovereignty of that country. This event took place at Cracow, on the 5th of April 1525; and thus Prussia became a possession of the house of Brandenburg. From that period it has been denominated Ducal Prussia: and Frederic the III. margrave of Brandenburg, and elector of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1701 procured the same to be erected into a kingdom, the Emperor Leopold the first, having granted an Imperial concession to that effect. "In the mean time, Walter de Kronberg, the new elected grand master, retired to Mergentheim in Franconia, and stiled himself administrator of the grand mastership in Prussia, and master of the Teutonic Equestrian order, in the countries of Germany, Italy, and their dependencies. As such he was recognised as a sovereign prince of the empire; was likewise received as a member of the circle of Franconia; and the order has enjoyed these dignities to this day. : In 1790 the possessions of this order were divided into 11 bailiwicks: viz. 1 Alsace; 2 Austria; 3 Tyrol; 4 Coblentz; 5 Franconia; 6 Biesen; 7 Westphalia; and 8 Lorraine; which are of the roman catholic communion and 9 Hesse; 10 Thuringia; and 11 Saxony; which three last are of the Lutheran faith. But such protestants as are admitted, must in all other respects conform to the statutes of the order; and attend the chapter at Mergentheim, whensoever it is held. is the only country wherein there is no established military order, as in the Hereditary Imperial States, in Russia, in France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Naples, Savoy, Prussia, Florence, the Duchy of Wirtemburg, Hesse Cassel, and several other states of the Empire: nor any for artists, as at Rome, in France, and in Sweden, where sciences and the liberal arts have not been overlooked." This is an unaccountable mistake to have made, since the Order of the Bath was instituted by Richard the second, as a military order, and the author himself says, in another part of the work, that "it is almost equally distributed amongst, or conferred upon, the most deserving members of the di plomatic corps: general officers who have served with reputation, and naval commanders, whose valour and achievements, independent of court intrigue, ministerial favour, or parliamentary preponderance, have obtained for them this mark of sovereign beneficence." In the united empire, no one who is an officer in the army or navy, or who enjoys any post under the crown, or in virtue of the king's commission under the sign manual, can accept any foreign order, without a royal warrant or permission being first obtained, and duly registered in his majesty's College of Arms. At present this favour is never refused, but in former times a more jealous conduct was pursued: our editor has related an anecdote of Elizabeth from the account of M. de Wic"Henry the fourth of France quefort. of having given the Order of St. Michael to Nicholas Clifford and Anthony Shirley, as a reward for the services they had done him during the war; these two gentlemen returning to England, the queen ordered them to be put in prison, and commanded them to send back the order, and to take proper steps that their names should be erased from the register." She said, "that as a chaste spouse should look only on her husband, so ought a subject to look up to that sovereign whom God has established to reign over him. I will not allow," said the queen, "that my sheep be marked with a stranger's mark, nor that they follow the whistle of a foreign shepherd!" See "L'Ambassaden et ses fonctions par M. de Wicquefort, p. 99. Sec. ix. Liv. 2. de l'edition de Cologne 1689. The Emperor Joseph II. diminished very considerably the possessions of the order, sítuated in his states: and the late treaty of Luneville must have deprived it of two principal bailiwicks; those of Alsace and Lorraine. "The present grand master, is his Royal Highness the Archduke Charles Louis, second brother of the reigning emperor Germany, born September the 5th, 1771. He succeeded to that dignity upon the death of his uncle the late elector of Cologne." It appears from the extract which we have just made, that the compiler of these volumes gives an account of the insignia of the different orders of knight. hood now existing in Europe, and the origin of them; the ceremonies of investiture are generally added, their constitution, and present state of decadence or splendour, &c. &c. &c. The number of orders now existing is sixty-six: three of them are chapteral, which elect their own grand masters; one papal; eight imperial; thirty-two royal'; five electoral and archiepiscopal; thirteen ducal or princely; and four destined particularly for the fair sex. "It is worthy of notice," says the editor, that "England In an advertisement prefixed to this work, it is stated to be compiled from various authentic pieces of manuscript: -“from the historical collections of Eichler, and M. Archenholtz, (late librarian to his Serene Highness Frederic II. Landgrave These volumes are dedicated to Lord Nelson, who is the patron of the work, and whose name, wherever it occurs, is mentioned in terms of the most odious, contemptible, and disgusting adulation. We understand that the author of this work, which is printed at Hamburg, is a German, M. Ruhl: to an anonymous editor we are indebted for the notes, many of which are very curious and amusing. In a note to the account of the order of the Bath, the editor says, that "this name was conferred upon it, and the knights were obliged to bathe themselves before they could receive the golden spurs." The editor cannot mean to imply, surely, that the ceremony of bathing was introduced by Henry the Fourth, when he created the forty-six knights on his coronation. The ceremony is much more ancient, but, perhaps, had been interrupted, and the Knights of the Bath might have been so denominated from the revival of it on this occasion. They certainly did bathe themselves on this occasion. Selden, whom we must refer to again, as we have not Froissart before us, thus gives the historian's words: "Celle nuict," says he, speaking of the Saturday before his coronation, "y veillerent tous les escuyers, qui devoient estre faitz chevaliers le lendemain, que fuerent le nombre de XLVI. et eurent tous ses escuyers, chacun sa chambre, et chacun sa baign, ou ils se baignerent celle nuict; et lend main le duc de Lancastre, les fit chevaliers a sa messe, et leur donne longues cottes verdes a estreits manches, fourres de menuver en guise de prelats, et avoint les dits chevaliers sur la senestre espaule, un double cordeau de soye blanche a blanches houpells pendans." The ancient Franks are supposed to have practised bathing before they conferred knighthood. "The custom of bathing, vigils, and such like," says Selden, “ were in some use in the elder times in France, at the giving this order of knighthood" (Knights Bachelors). And in an old book of chess-play, written by a Frenchman, and translated by P. Caxton into English, it is said "when the knights been made, they been bayned or bathed. That is the sign they should lead a new life and new manners. Also they w.ke all the night in prayers and orisons unto God, that he would give them grace that they may get that thing that they may not get by nature. The king or prince girdeth about them a sword in sign that they should abide and keepen him of whom they have taken their despences and dignity." But the custom of bathing on receiving knighthood, prevailed in England long before the Order of the Bath was instituted. Henry the First, purposing the marriage of his daughter Maud, the empress, to Geoffry of Anjou, to knight him at Roan, in the year 1127, on Whitsunday following desires the earl his father, ut filium suum nudum militem ad ipsam Pentecostem, rotoma. gum honorifice mitteret, ut ibidem cum coequævis suis arma suscepturus regalibus gaudiis interesset. This young gentleman, with five more of like qua lity, attended by twenty-five squires, were bathed (according, saith du Favin, to the custom of France; but I cannot doubt, is the remark which Selden makes, but that Henry the First used the customs that were agreeable to his own country also, though he gave the order in his duchy of Normandy) and then coming in robes proper for the ceremony, received the dignity by having horse and arms given them. Illuscente die altera, balneorum usus, uti ¡yrocinii suscipiendi consuetudo expostulat (saith John the monk of Maire-monstier, as du Favin cites him) paratus est. Comperto rege a cubiculariis quod Andegavensis, et qui cum eo venerant, ascendissent de lavacra jussit eos ad se vocari. Post corporis ablutionem, ascendens de balneorum lavacro comitis Andegavorum generosa proles |