The theater of honour and knight-hood. Or A compendious chronicle and historie of the whole Christian vvorld Containing the originall of all monarchies, kingdomes, and estates, with their emperours, kings, princes, and gouernours; their beginnings, continuance, and successions, to this present time. The first institution of armes, emblazons, kings, heralds, and pursuiuants of armes: with all the ancient and moderne military orders of knight-hood in euery kingdome. Of duelloes or single combates ... Likewise of ioustes, tourneyes, and tournaments, and orders belonging to them. Lastly of funerall pompe, for emperours, kings, princes, and meaner persons, with all the rites and ceremonies fitting for them. VVritten in French, by Andrew Fauine, Parisian: and aduocate in the High Court of Parliament. M.DC.XX.

Hallowing or blessing the Sworde vpon the Holy Sepulcher, and Creation of a Knight.

Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.

Qui fecit Coelum & terram.

Oremus.

EXaudi quaesumus Domine preces nostras, & hunc Ensem, quo se Famulus tuus hic cingi desiderat, Maiestatis tuae dextra dignare benedicere, quatenus possit esse defensor Eccle∣si••rum, Viduarum, Orphanorum, omniumque Deo seruientium, contra saeuitiam Paganorum, ••lusque sibi insiidantibus sitterror, atque formide, praestans ei equae persecutionis, & iustae de∣sensionis effectum. Per Christum Dominum nostrum Amen.

Oremus.

BEnedic Domine Sancte, Pater Omnipotens, aeterne Deus, per inuocationem Nominis tui & per Aduentum Christi Filij tui Domini nostri, & per donum Spiritus-Sancti hunc Ensem, vt hic Famulus tuus qui Hodierna die, tua concedente pietate praecingitur, visibi∣les, & inuisibiles inimicos posternat, & conculcet, Victoriaque potitus maneat semper illae∣s••s. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Then is sung very low and softly (because the Turkes will not suffer the Christi∣ans to sing Psalmes with loud voyces, as they do in our Churches) the whole Psalme following, presented heere in part.

BEnedictus Dominus Deus meus, qui docet manus meas ad praelium, & digitos meos ad bellum, &c.

Gloria Patri & Filio, & Spiritui sancto.

Sicut erat in principio; & nunc, &c.

Saluum fac seruum tuum Domine.

Deus meus sperantem in te.

Esto ei Domine Turris Fortitudinis.

A facie mimici.

Domine exaudi orationem means.

Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

Dominus vobiscum, & cum Spiritu tuo.

Oremus.

DOmine sancte, Pater Omnipotens, Aeterne Deus, qui cunct•• solus ordinas, & recte disponis, qui ad coercendā malitiam & malorum improbitatem, & tuendam Iustitiam, ••sum Gladij in Terris Hominibus tua salubri dispositione permisisti, & Militarem Ordi∣nem ad Populi protectionem institui voluisti, quique per beatum Ioannem Militibus ad se ••n Deserto venientibus, vt neminem concuterent, sed proprij contenti essent stipendiis, dici f••cisti: Clementiam tuam suppliciter exoramus, vt sicut Dauid puero tuo, Goliath superandi ••argitus es facultatem, & Iudam Machabaeum deferitate Gentium nomen tuum non inuo∣cantium triumphare fecisti ••ita & huic famulo tuo N. qui nouiter iugo Militiae colla suppo∣••it, pietate coelesti vires & robur ad Fidei, Spei, & Charitatis augmentum, & tui timo∣rem pariter, & amorem, humilitatem, perseuerantiam, obedientiam, & patientiam, cun∣••ctaque in eo rect•• disponas, vt Neminem cum gladio isto, vel alio iniuste laedat, & omnia cum eo iusta, & recta defendat, & sicut ipse de minori gradu, ad nouum Militàtem prouehi∣tur honorem, ita veterem Hominem deponens cum actibus suis, nouum induat Hominem, vt te timeat, & recte colat, per fidorum consortia vitet, & suam in Proximum Charitatem ex∣tendat, Praeposito suo in omnibus recte obediat, & suum in cunctis iuste officium exequatur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

This is the last Acte of these Ceremonies,* 1.1 sauing to guirde on the Sword about the Knight, after the Guardian hath giuen him three stroakes with the Sword on the shoulders flat long. And this is the beginning thereof.

After Procession is performed in all the places of deuotion, within the Holy Sepul∣cher at midnight, and High Masse celebrated vpon the Sepulcher of our Sa∣uiour (capable of receiuing fiue or sixe persons at the most) the future Knights, or they that are to be made, after receiuing the Holy Communion, enter into the Sepulcher, and present themselues to the Father Guardian, Vicar Generall to our holy Father the Pope, who (for the performance of this Ceremonie) is cloa∣thed

in his Bishops habits, inuoking the grace and assistance of the blessed Spirit, and singeth this Hymne.

VEni Creator Spiritus. out at length. Emit te Spiritum tuum, & creabuntur. Et renouabis faciem Terrae. Domine exaudi orationem meam. Et clamor meus ad te veniat. Dominus vobiscum, & cum Spiritu tuo.

Oremus.

DEus qui corda Fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti, &c.

And the Guardian (questioning the future Knight) demandeth thus of him. Quid quaeris? What seekest thou?

He answereth, humbly being on his knees before the Holy Sepulcher.

Quaero effici Miles Sanctissimi Sepulchri Domini nostri Iesu Christi. I desire and seeke to be made a Knight of the most Holy Sepulcher of our Lord Iesus Christ.

To other demaunds the future Knight ought to make answer, according to the forme following.

I. Cuius conditionis es? He ought to answer without lying.

R. Nobilis Genere, & Parentibus generosis natus.

I. Habesne vnde honeste manu-tenere possis statum, & Militarem dignitatem, absque mercimoniis, & arte mechanica?

I. Habeo Deigratia bonorum sufficientem copiam.

R. Es ne paratus corde, & ore iurare pro virili, Militaria Sacramenta, eaque seruare que sequuntur?

• Primo. Miles Sanctissimi Sepulchri omni die, opportunitate habita, Missam audire debet.
• Secundo. Cum necesse fuerit bona temporalia, & Vitam exponere debebit, scilicet, quan∣do est bellum vniuersale contra Infideles, & venire in propria persona, vel mittere perso∣nam idoneam.
• Tertio. Est obligatus Sanctam Dei Ecclesiam, & eius Fideles Ministros, ab eorum per∣secutoribus defendere, & pro viribus liberare.
• Quarto. Debet iniusta bella, turpia stipendia, & lucra, Hastil••dia, Duella, & huiusmodi (nisi Militaris exercitij gratia) omnino vitare.
• Quinto. Debet Pacem, & Concordiam inter Christi Fideles procurare: Rempublicam exornare, & augere: Viduas, & Orphanos protegere: Iuramenta execrabilia, Periuria, Blas∣phemias, Rapinas, Vsuras, Sacrilegia: Homicidia, Adulteria, Ebrietatem, Loca suspecta, Personas infames, caeteraque Carnis vitiae vitare, & tanquam Pestem cauere: & se apud Deum, & Homines irreprehensibilem exhibere, ac etiam verbo, ac facto dignum Honore Militiae se demonstrare, Ecclesias frequentando, & cultum diuinum augmentando.

I. Of what condition art thou?

* 1.2R. Of Noble race or descent, and borne of Gentlemanly parentage.

I. Hast thou wherewithall to maintaine honestly the degree and dignity of a Knight; without medling in buying and selling and mechanicall arts?

R. I haue (God be thanked for it) store of goods sufficient.

I. Art thou prepared in heart, and with thy mouth manly to sweare Sacramentall Warre∣fare, and to obserue these matters that follow?

The future Knight is taught and enstructed.

• * 1.3First; To heare Masse dayly, except he shall be hindered by some lawfull let or excuse.
• Secondly; to expose his meanes, and his owne person, at all times, and so often as any vni∣uersall warre shall be made against the Infidels and Sarrazins: Or else to wadge and pay a capable and sufficient person, for the doing thereof.
• Thirdly; To defend the Church, and Ministers thereof, with all his might and power: And to set them at safe deliuerance, from all such as afflict and persecute them.
• Fourthly; To detest and abhorre all vniust Warres; all sordid and dishonest Gaines, Traf∣fiques or Merchandises, vnworthy and vnfitting Noble mindes: All Duelloes, Io••stes, Tourneys and Tournaments: If they bee not Exercises Worthy and becomming a Noble

• nature, and free from offending his Neighbour.
• Fiftly; to procure and worke peace and concord among faithfull Christians, being at harsh or vnbefitting intelligence one with another: To contribute for the adorning and encreasing the State: To sustaine and defend the Widdowe and Orphane: To shunne and detest (as a Plague or Leprosie) all excrable Oathes and Swearing, against the Diuine and Sacred name of God, and the blessed Virgin Mother: To hate all Periuries, Blasphemies, Rapines, V∣suries, Sacrileges, Murders, Adulteries, keeping Concubines, and Drunkennesse: To auoide all suspected places, infamous Persons, as are Panders, Bawdes, Drunkards, Tiplers, Tauer∣ners, and Swaggerers, (now tearmed and Sirnamed Academistes) Counterfeites of the Hostell of Bourgongne, and people of the like deplorable liues: To shunne and flye from all such vices, as darken, disgrace and soyle the soule. And (in bri••fe) to be such a one in effect (and not in outward appearance) towards God and men, as a Christian ought to be, honoured with this title of Hon••ur, of being a Knight of Iesus Christ, aduancing his Seruice to your vt∣termost power.

The future Knight hauing promised to keepe and performe all these things, hee sweareth vpon the Holy Sepulcher, in this forme and manner.* 1.4

Ego N. profiteor, & promitto Deo Iesu Christo &, Beatae Virgini Mariae haec omnia pro ••irili obseruaturum.

I. N. Professe and promise to God, Iesus Christ, and the blessed Virgin Mary, all these things faithfully to obserue.

The Oath done, the Father Guardian layeth his hand on the head of the future Knight, saying.

Et tu N. esto fidelis strenuus, bonus, & robustus Miles Domini nostri Iesu Christi, & Sanctissimi eius••ē Sepulchri, qui te cum Electis suis in gloria sua collocare dignetur. Amen.

And thou N be a faithfull, couragious, good and strong Knight of our Lord Iesus Christ, and of his most Holy Sepulcher, that among his elect, he may worthily call thee into his eter¦nall Glory. Amen.

Afterward, the Guardian causeth his Golden Spurres to be put on his heeles,* 1.5 and deliuereth him the naked Sword into his hand, saying.

Accipe N. Sanctum gladium in nomine Patris ✚ & Filii ✚ & Spiritus Sancti ✚ A∣ment: & vtaris eo ad defensionem tuam, & sancti Dei Ecclesiae, ad confusionem Inimicorum Crucis Christi, & Fidei Christianae: Et quantum imbecillitas humana permiserit, eo nemi∣nem iniuste laedas. Quod ipse praestare dignetur qui cum Patre, & Spiritu Sancto regnat De∣us, per omnia saecula saeculorum, Amen.

Receiue N. this Holy Sword, in the name of ✚ the Father, and of the ✚ Sonne,* 1.6 and of the ✚ Holy Ghost ✚ Amen. And vse it in thine owne defence, and for the Holy Church of God: to the confusion of the enemies to the Crosse of Christ, and of the Christian Faith. And in as much as humaine Weaknes will permit; hurt nor wound any man therewith vniustly. which hee vouchsafe to grant, who with the Father and the Blessed Spirit reigneth God, World without end. Amen.

And then the Sword is guirded about him by the Guardian, who pronounceth these verses of the Prophet Dauid.

Accingere gladio tuo N super femur tuum potentissime, in nomine Domini nostri Iesu Christi: & attende quod Sancti non in gladio, sed per Fidem vicerunt Regna.

Guird thee N. with thy Sword vpon thy thigh, O thou most mighty, in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ: And learne to know, that the Saints, not by the Sword,* 1.7 but by Faith doe ••inne the kingdome.

The Knight boweth downe his body, and layeth his head vpon the Sepulcher, and then the Guardian giueth him three stroaks flatlong with the Sword vpon his shoulders, saying.

Ego constituo, & ordino te N. Militem sanctissimi Sepulchri Domini nostri Iesu Chri∣sti in nomine Patris ✚ et Filii ✚ & Spiritus sancti ✚ Amen.

I constitute and ordaine thee N. a Knight of the most Holy Sepulcher of our Lord Iesus Christ: In the name of the ✚ Father, and of the ✚ Sonne, and of the ✚ Holy Ghost, Amen.* 1.8 Making three times the signe of the Crosse. He kisseth him afterward, and putteth on the Chaine and Crosse of Gold about his neck. Which being done, the Knight, & they with him (if there be any more created) do sing Te Deum landamus, in making a

Procession; And the Guardian singeth the Hymne of reioycing, which being ended, the Prayers follow.

I. Speciose forma prae filiis Hominum.

R. Accingere gladio tuo super femur tuum potentissime.

I. Domine exaudi orationem meam.

R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

I. Dominus vobiscum. R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

Oremus.

DA Ecclesiae tuae miscricors Deus, vt Sancto Spiritu congregata, Hostili nullatenus incur∣sione turbetur:

OMnipotens sempiterne Deus super hunc N. famulum tuum (vel famulos tuos, if there be many to be Knighted) qui eminenti mucrone Militiae circumcingi desiderat, gratiam tuae benedictionis infunde, ✚ eumque Dexterae tuae virtute munitum, fac cuncta aduersantia coelestibus armari praesidiis, quibus in hoc seculo nullis bellorum tempestatibus exturbetur Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum qui, tecum viuit & regnat Deus per omnia secula seculorum. Amen.

I. Thou art fairer then the children of men.

R. Guird thee with thy Sword vpon thy thigh, O thou most mightie.

I. O Lord heare our prayer.

R. And let our cry come vnto thee.

I. The Lord be with you.

R. And with thy Spirit.

The Ceremonies being finished, the Guardian, the Religious Brethren, and the Voyagers thither, doe kisse and embrace the new made Knights.

* 1.9It is reported, that Sa••nt Lewes gaue great Exemptions and Priuiledges to the French voyagers beyond the Seas, for defence of the Holy-Land, which are more at large related by the forenamed French Authours. But because I haue found nothing in the Court Registers, nor in the Chamber of Accompts, and haue seene the great Seale denied, concerning the expeditions for the voyages of Sens, and of other pla∣ces in France: I let them passe vnder silence. And to referre the Originall of those Priuiledges to our Kings Charlemaigne, Lewes the Seauenth, and Philip Augustus: I should take it to bee an abuse.* 1.10 Because (without all question to the contrary) they would be found in the Registers of Court, or in the Requests of the Kings House, or those of the Franchise of Chalo S. Marà, where such Commission causes and Char∣ters are Registred effectually.

Dom Phillip, Second of the name, King of Spayne, in the Lands vnder his obedi∣ence,* 1.11 and namely in Flanders, laboured to set on foot againe this Order of Knights of the Hol•• S••pulcher of Ierusalem, declaring himselfe to be Great Maister thereof. And (indeed) I haue seene his Panca••te, dated in the yeare One thousand, fiue hundred, fiftie and eight: but it prooued to no effect, for some reasons which we shall shew hereafter.

In the yeare, One thousand, sixe hundred and fifteene, Charles de Gonzaga of Cleue, Duke of Neuers, and of Retelois, Soueraigne of Charle-Ville, descended of the most fa∣mous house of Mantua, would haue giuen life againe to the said Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher of Ierusalem, with a new Collar of the Order, whereof I haue seene the shape or portraite: which I haue not set downe in this Booke: because his inten•• sorted to no effect, no more then the purpose which hee had in the life time of the late King Henry the Great (who is with God) for reestablishing the Order of the Swan•• proper and perticuler to the house of Cleue.* 1.12

As this Prince pursued these dispatches at Rome, and to our Holy Father the Pope Paulus Quintus, sitting at this present in the Holy Chayre Apostolicall; the Great Maister of Malta Alof de Vignacourt (of the French language and a Piccard by Nation) sent to the most Christian King Lewes the Thirteenth for Ambassadour extraordinary, Dom Louis Mendez de Vasconcellos (of the Spanish Language Bailiffe d'Acre. Hee had audience in the Castell of the Louure at Paris, in the

Moneth of Iune, One thousand, sixe hundred and sixteene, where he declared, that the Great Maistership of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher at Ierusalem, with al the goods belonging to the said Order, in what place soeuer they were in Christendome,* 1.13 had bin, and was reduced and ioyned to that of Malta, by the Bull of Pope Innocent the eight (as wee haue already formerly obserued) dated the eight and twentieth day of March, in the yeare One thousand, foure hundred, fourescore and foure.

And that the late King of Spayne, Dom Phillip the Second, hauing purposed to make himselfe knowne, for Great Maister of the said Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Ie∣rusalem: the Great Maister which then was in authority, made it euident to his Ca∣tholique Maiestie, that the vnion was past of this Ordrr, with the other of Malta, and so it was then forborne.

By these and other remonstrances to his most Christian Maiesty, it plainely ap∣peared, that as at the request of the said Catholicke King, Pope Pius,* 1.14 Fourth of the name, had giuen his Bull confirmatiue, for annexing the Order to that of Malta: euen so he entreated in the name of the Great Maister, and of the Ord••r of Malta, to doe the like for the Commanderies and goods, being in the Lands vnder his obedience. Which was g••anted, and the Bull obtayned of the Pope Paulus Quintus, at the pur∣suite of the Marquesse de Trainell des Vrsins, Knight of the Kings Orders, and Am∣bassadour at Rome for his most Christian Maiestie.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The manner of the Guar∣dians making a Knight of the Sepulcher.
• * 1.2

  The Guardi∣ans questions and the Knights an∣swers.
• * 1.3

  The Articles of the Knights Oath and charge.
• * 1.4

  His Oath vp∣on the Sepul¦cher.
• * 1.5

  The putting on of his Spurs.
• * 1.6

  Deliuery of the Sword.
• * 1.7

  The guirding it on by the Guardian.
• * 1.8

  The maner of his Knighting.
• * 1.9

  Conclusion of the Ceremo∣nies.
• * 1.10

  The Authors care for auoi∣ding vntruths.
• * 1.11

  Seeking to taile vp the Order againe
• * 1.12

  The O••d••r of the Swanne tought to bee reuiued.
• * 1.13

  Knights of the Sepulcher ioyned with them of Malta
• * 1.14

  The vniting of the two O••¦ders confirmed by the Popes Bulles.