That power of compelling those who refused to take upon themselves the order of knighthood, or rather of distraining them till they received knighthood, or compounded with the king by way of fine, which originally was a means of en forcing the performance of a duty to the crown, by persons holding a certain pro perty in the country, was perverted into a process for extorting money from those who would have been exempt at common law, which regulated the amount of a knight's fee by the sufficiency of the land to support a knight, and not by its fluc tuating nominal value in a debased cur rency. This oppressive, dishonest pro ceeding, which was occasionally resorted to in the reigns of Edward VI. and Eliza beth, was reduced into a system by the advisers of Charles I., and was adopted by him as one of the modes of raising money without resorting to a parliament.
The manner in which this antient prero gative was abused led to its total abolition. By 16 & 17 Car. I. c. 20, it is enacted that none shall be compelled, by writ or otherwise, to take upon him the order of knighthood, and that all proceedings con cerning the same shall be void.
Persons have been required to take upon themselves the order of knighthood as a qualification for the performance of honourable services at coronations, in re spect of the lands which they held by grand serjeanty.
Knighthood in England is now con ferred by the king (or queen when the throne is filled by a female) by simple verbal declaration, attended with a slight form, without any patent or other written instrument. Sometimes, but rarely, knighthood is conferred on persons who do not come into the presence of royalty. This is occasionally done to governors of colonies, and other persons in prominent stations abroad. The lord-lieutenant of Ireland has a delegated authority of con ferring this honour, which is very spar ingly exercised.
Knighthood gives to the party prece dence over esquires and other untitled gentlemen. " Sir " is prefixed to the baptismal name of knights and baronets, and their wives have the legal designa tion of " Dame," which is ordinarily con verted into " Lady." A rank correspondent to our rank of knighthood has existed in all Christian countries. The eleventh and twelfth centuries have been named as the period to which the order of knighthood as now existing may be traced. But in such an in quiry there are two difficulties: first, to state with sufficient precision what is the thing to be proved ; and, secondly, to ob tain evidence of the commencement of an institution which probably grew, almost insensibly, out of a state of society com mon to the whole of civilized Europe. It
was a military institution, but there ap pears to have been something of a reli gions character belonging to it, and the order of knighthood, like the orders of the clergy, could be conferred only by persons who were themselves members of the order.
In early times some knights undertook the protection of pilgrims ; others were vowed to the defence or recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. Some, knights-errant, roved about " seeking adventures," a phrase not confined to books of romance, of which there are many on this subject, but found in serious and authentic docu ments.
Besides those who are simply knights, there are knights who are members of particular orders or classes. These or ders exist in most of the kingdoms of Europe, and have had generally for their founder a sovereign prince. Such are the order of the Golden Fleece, instituted by Philip duke of Burgundy ; the order of the Holy Ghost, instituted by Henry the Third of France ; the order of St. Michael, instituted by Louis the Eleventh of France. Of the foreign orders, which are very numerous, a full account may be found in a work in two volumes oc tavo, entitled An Accurate Historical Account of all the Orders of Knighthood at present existing in Europe,' a work printed abroad, the author of which was Sir Levet Hanson, an Englishman. Each of these orders has its peculiar badge, ribbons, and other decorations of the per son. The three great British orders, the Garter, the Thistle, and Saint Patrick, belong to this class [GARTER, ORDER order of the Thistle was instituted in 1540 by James the Fifth, king of Scotland ; but it fell into decay, till in the reign of Queen Anne, 1703, it was revived. The number of knights was limited to thirteen, but in 1627 the num ber was increased to sixteen, all of whom are nobility of Scotland.
The order of St. Patrick was instituted in 1783. The knights were fifteen, in creased in 1833 to twenty-two, who are peers of Ireland.
The order of the Bath differs in some respects from those just spoken of [BATE, ORDER OF.] There are also knights of the Guelphic order, and knights of the Ionian order of Saint Michael and Saint George.