COURT CHIVALRY AND POLITICS: NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS TO THE ORDER OF THE GARTER: 1461-83 A Ph.D. Dissertation By T. Tolga GUMUS THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA APRIL 2007 To Ekrem, Taskin, Ovgu and Orkun COURT CHIVALRY AND POLITICS: NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS TO THE ORDER OF THE GARTER: 1461-83 The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University By T. Tolga GUMUS In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA APRIL 2007 I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Assist. Prof. David E. Thornton Supervisor I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Assist. Prof. Paul Latimer Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Assist. Prof. Edward Kohn Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Assist. Prof. Julian Bennett Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Assoc. Prof. Gümeç Karamuk Examining Committee Member Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences --------------------------------- Prof. Erdal Erel Director ABSTRACT Court, Chivalry and Politics: Nominations and Elections to the Order of the Garter: 1461-83 Gümüş, Tarık Tolga Department of History Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. David E. Thornton April 2007 This thesis discusses the probable causes behind the nominations and elections of the knights to the Order of the Garter during the reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV and Richard III. The Study argues that various considerations played role in the nominations of particular knights by different companions. The main concern of the Kings and the knights of the Order was the politics of the time in nominating a knight to the Order. Parental closeness and previous military success of the knight- candidates were also important in their decisions. This thesis also suggests that while Anstis’s edition of Liber Niger is constantly used by the historians as the main primary source for the Order, another important register, the so-called French Register must be also taken into account when constructing Order’s history. Chapter 1 is a general introduction to the history of the order, Chapter 2 discusses the main problems of the primary sources of the Order, Chapter 3 discusses the causes of the nominations and elections of the knights in Henry VI’s time, Chapter IV discusses the causes of the nominations and elections of the knights during Edward IV and Richard III’s time. Chapter V is conclusion. Keywords: Chivalry, England, Order of the Garter. iii ÖZET Dizbağı Şovalyeliğine Adaylık ve Seçilme 1461-83 Gümüş, Tarık Tolga Department of History Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. David E. Thornton April 2007 Bu çalışma VI. Henry IV. Edward ve III. Richard döneminde Dizbağı Şovalyeliğine aday gösterilen ve/veya seçilen şovalyelerin diğer üyeler tarafından aday gösterilmelerinin ve krallar tarafından seçilmelerinin ardında yatan nedenleri incelemektedir. Dönemin özel politik durumu, şovalyelerin birbirleriyle olan özel ve ailesel yakınlıkları, şovalyelerin geçmiş savaş kariyerlerindeki başarıları şeçilmeleri ve aday gösterilmeleri için en önemli nedenlerdir. Bu tez ayrıca bu zamana kadar tarihçiler için temel kaynak olarak kabul edilen Anstis in edisyonu Liber Niger in sağladığı bilginlerin zaman zaman yanlış olabileceği ve French Register isimli alernatif kaynağında da bundan sonraki Dizbağı şovalyeliği çalışmalarında dikkate alınması gerektiğini iddia etmektedir. Birinci ünite Dizbağı şovalyeliği tarihine kısa bir bakıştır. İkinci ünite tarihsel kaynak sorununu işlemektedir. Üçüncü ünite VI. Henry dönemindeki aday gösterilme ve seçilme nedenlerini işlemektedir. Dördüncü ünite IV. Edward ve III. Richard dönemindeki aday gösterilme ve seçilme nedenlerini işlemektedir son ünite sonuçtur. Anahtar Kelimeler: Şovalyelik İngiltere Dizbağı Şovalyeliği. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge David E. Thornton, Paul Latimer and Lisa Jefferson for their precious comments and suggestions for this study. I also owe special thanks to Catherine Keats-Rohan from Oxford University, Linacre College, unit for Prosopographical Research, and Eleanor Crancknell, Asistant Archivist in St. George Chapel and Chapter Library in Windsor. I would also like to thank to Nimet Kaya. All errors are mine. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ÖZET ................................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. v CHAPTER I: GENERAL INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1 I.1 Historical Background: .............................................................................................. 5 I.2 A Brief Outline of The Order of the Garter and its History: ................................... 12 I.3 Nomination Process: ................................................................................................ 18 I.4 Previous Studies of the Order of the Garter ............................................................. 23 CHAPTER II: EVALUATION OF THE PRIMARY SOURCES .................................... 34 II.1 The Registers of The Order of the Garter, 1422-85 ............................................... 38 II.2 The Types of Differences: ...................................................................................... 42 II.2.1 Ashmole 1128 and Liber Niger Compared: .................................................... 42 II.3 Edward IV .............................................................................................................. 60 II.3.1 Differences of Names in the Scrutinies: .......................................................... 60 CHAPTER III: NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS TO THE ORDER OF THE GARTER DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY VI .......................................................... 68 III.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 68 CHAPTER IV: THE ELECTIONS AND NOMINATIONS DURING THE REIGN OF EDWARD IV ............................................................................................................ 127 IV.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 127 IV.2 The First Reign of Edward IV ............................................................................ 128 vi IV.3 Edward’s Second Reign ...................................................................................... 138 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ....................................................................................... 217 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 225 APPENDIX: NOMINATIONS TO THE ORDER ......................................................... 240 vii CHAPTER I GENERAL INTRODUCTION The history of the Order of the Garter as well as its institutional structure has long been a topic of concern for historians. Nevertheless, recent scholarship especially in the medieval history of the fraternity has remained largely focused on explaining the politics behind the Order such as the sovereign’s motives for electing individual knight-companions, and the changing nature of the Order due to the character of the kings and their attitudes to the English nobility. However individual knight- companion’s regard of the nobility has been neglected; a detailed analysis of the process of nomination is thus still missing. This study aims to reverse this neglect: thus instead of the king’s purpose in choosing particular knights, it focuses on an analysis of the companions’ motives for nominating individual knights. By doing so, a fuller understanding of the inner dynamics of the Order and of the English peerage may be acquired. Probable repeating nomination patterns are classified during the reigns of Henry VI and Edward IV and change of attitudes between members in nominating new nominees are compared. Hence my focus will be on the possible changes originating from the differing attitudes of individual knights instead of the character of kings. 1 After giving a brief account of the Order and a survey of the former historiography in the Garter studies in the first chapter, the second chapter will analyze the problem(s) of Order’s own sources, which is to-date a neglected topic. Sometimes the differences between the Order’s registers are significant thus necessitating an elaborate analysis of