Page:Tirant lo Blanch; a study of its authorship, principal sources and historical setting (IA cu31924026512263).pdf/164



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, 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

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.]
 * [Footnote: it. Now I promise God," said the king, "I shall institute and