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INTRODUCTION. 43
" who saluted me gentilly, and gave gret honour to the King's coote of
" " arms, which I ware ; and how, when he came to the Market Cross, he
" founde many in harness of very cruell fellowes," who yet did not molest
him. He was then brought to the great hall, where he stood at the high
table and shewed the people the cause of his coming. Then he continues:
" The saide Haske sent for me into his chamber, and keeping his porte
" and countenance as though he had been a grett prince, with grett rigor
" and like a tiraunte."
Richard III., by letters patent dated March 2ist, 1483, the first year
of his reign, directed the incorporation of Heralds, and assigned for their
habitation " a messuage with the appurtenances, in
" London, in the parish of All Saints, called Pul-
" teney's Inn or Cold Harbour ;
"
so called from
Sir John Pulteney, who had lived there, and been
four times Lord Mayor of London. It had, however,
by marriage become the property of the King, and
according to Stowe, was a " right fayre and stately
" house" when Richard gave
it to Sir John Wryth or
in trust for the
Wriothesley, Garter King at Arms,
residence and assembling of Heralds. The College
of Arms, considering him as their founder, adopted
his armorial bearings upon their seal (Dallaway).
But his penurious successor, Henry VII., dispossessed the Heralds of
their property, and they were glad to take refuge, upon sufferance of the
Crown, at the Hospital of our Lady of Roncival, at Charing Cross, where
Northumberland House lately stood.
In the reign of Philip and Mary, Thomas Duke of Norfolk, Earl
Marshal, purchased Derby or Stanley House, on St. Benet's Hill, from
Sir Richard Sackville, to whom it had been mortgaged by
the Earl of
Derby; and he, having transferred it to the Crown, it was instantly
regranted by charter to Sir Gilbert Dethick, Garter King of Arms, and
his associates in office, July i8th, 1535.
In the great fire of London, 1666, Derby House was destroyed; and
the present building was erected on the old site, after the design of
Sir Christopher Wren, assisted by Sir William Dugdale, who built the
north-west corner of the College at his own expense.
The most severe punishment that could be inflicted by this court was
that of degradation from the honour of knighthood, of which only three
instances
are recorded during three centuries, shewing
the reluctance with
which it was decreed, viz., Sir Andrew Harclay, 1322 ;
Sir Ralph Grey,
1464; Sir Francis Michell, 1621. The last named, we are told, being
brought into Court without the bar, there sat upon a standing while