In short, King _Henry_ VIII. ordained, That the Gold-Chain whereat the lesser _George_ (in that Age) hung, should be worn all other days in the Year, except the Principal and Solemn Feasts, whereon the great Collar was ordained to be worn, and except in time of War, Sickness, or long Voyage, in any of which Cases, a Silk-Lace or Ribband, with the Image of St. _George_ thereat, was sufficient; and the blue Ribband having since succeeded in Place of the Gold Chain, the Injunction of this Statute extends to it in all particulars.
§ 1. CONCERNING the Officers appointed for the service of the Order, to give it a greater degree and augmentation of Honour, the Founder constituted a _Prelate_, _Register_ and _Usher_, assigning them several Duties. Some of his Successors added the _Chanchellor_ and _Garter_, and all of them Sworn to be of the Council of the Order; among these the _Prelate_ and _Chanchellor_ are usually nominated the Principal, the other three the inferiour Officers of the Order.
IN this Chapter we shall give some account of their Institution, Oath, Habit, Ensigns, Privileges and Pensions; for as to the nature of their Offices and their Duties, they are for the general, Recorded in the Black Book, under the Title _Constutiones ad Officiales Ordinis [Garterij] peculiariter attinentes_, &c. Upon the Establishment, _Anno_ 13. _Hen._ VIII. 1521. and annex’d to his Statutes, and more particularly their Duties, will occur in several places of the ensuing Discourse, where they properly fall in to be Treated of, as follows;
THE Prelate is the first and primier Officer, and in the Founders Statutes, call’d _Prælatus Ordinis_; and that the then Bishop of _Winchester_, _William de Edyngton_ was the first Prelate is very obvious from thence; he is an Officer of Honour only, and hath neither Pension nor Fees allowed him by the said Constitutions; this Office is vested in the Bishop of _Winchester_, for the time being; and from the Annals of the Order it’s manifest his Successors have continued Prelates to this Day, except the interruption only of a few Months, _Anno_ 7. _Ed._ 6. immediately after the publishing this King’s Statutes; wherein the other Four Officers were constituted anew, to attend the Order, but the Prelate wholly laid by.