soyt qui mal hi pense. Ara yo promet adeu, dix lo rey, yo instituire e fare sobre aquest fet un orde de caualleria, que tant com lo mon durara sera en recordacio aquesta fraternitat e orde que yo fare.
In Elias Ashmole's voluminous work,[1] published in
1672, the above incident is related in the following manner:
"As to the occasion of its institution, the vulgar and
more general opinion is, That the garter of Joane, Countess
of Salisbury, falling casually off, as she danced in a solemn
ball, King Edward hastily stooping, took it up from the
ground; whereupon some of the Nobles and Courtiers
smiling as at an amorous action, and he observing their
sportive humor, turned it off with this reply in French,
'Honi soit qui mal y pense'; but withal added in disdain
of their laughter, That in a short time, they should
see that Garter advanced to so high honor and estimation
as to account themselves happy to wear it."
This story is generally regarded by historians as untrue.
Ashmole intimates that it was first published by Polydore
Virgil about the middle of the sixteenth century.
If that be so, the story in Tirant lo Blanch is the
earliest known version of this famous incident. The
word "Puni" instead of "Honi" is striking, but not
surprising. In the pronunciation of these words, as well
as in their written or printed forms, the hearer or the
reader might easily mistake the one for the other, and
the substitution would have been favored by the fact
that "Honi" was not in common use.
But let us follow the account concerning the Order as we find it in Tirant lo Blanch. In the castle at Windsor
- [Footnote: it. Now I promise God," said the king, "I shall institute and
build upon this incident an order of knighthood, and this fraternity and order that I shall found will be remembered as long as the world shall last." Tirant lo Blanch, chap. lxxxv, col. 3.]
- ↑ Elias Ashmole, The Institution, Laws and Ceremonies of the most Noble Order of the Garter, London, 1672.
