Did It Happen: Lady Salisbury's Garter

Sometime in the 1340's, Edward III was attending a party with the Countess of Salisbury, with whom he happened to be in a relationship.  As they were dancing her garter fell off her leg.  As the courtiers around them snickered and made snide comments, the King picked up the garter and cried out, "evil be to him who thinks it", or something along those lines.  From the garter, he got the idea of creating an Order of Chivalry, the Most Noble Order of the Garter.  Part of the insignia included a garter with the old French legend "honi soit qui mal y pense."  Evil be to him who thinks it.

So, did it happen?  Nope.

First, there was a Countess of Salisbury at the time.  Catherine Grandison (c 1304- 1349) was the wife of William Montecute, 1st Earl of Salisbury.  Tales abound about her relationship with Edward, mainly courtesy of the Shakespeare/Kyd play Edward III, where the Countess was a prisoner in Wark Castle during a Scottish siege in 1341.  Edward relieved the siege and then forced his favors on the virtuous Lady Salisbury.  They fell in love and carried on a scandalous affair while her husband was away fighting in France.  Their affair was the talk of the court and then the whole garter thing happened.  Most historians dismiss this origin story for the Order of the Garter as a myth, along with the Wark Castle incident.  True, Edward wasn't above having mistresses.  Like most men of his age he would've seen nothing wrong with being married and having amusement elsewhere.  Likewise, he and Lady Salisbury could've been an item, though there was no proof of it at the time.  But there are other motives for founding a chivalric order. 

Edward founded the order in 1348, at about the same time as he claimed the French throne by right of all the ancestral Plantagenet territory in France.  Orders of Chivalry were something of a fad at the time.  Charles I of Hungary founded the order of St. George in 1325.  Alfonso XI of Castile founded the Order of the Band in 1330.  The Count of Savoy, the King of France and other rulers followed in the years following Edward's founding of the Garter.  Based on the military orders such as the Knights Hospitaller and Knights Templar, each of them had their insignia, their exclusive membership, and their patron Saint.  George was a popular saint, since he was the patron saint of knighthood in general. 

Edward could have arrived at his idea of using a humble garter as a badge from a variety of sources.  During the Third Crusade (1189-1192), Richard I of England had issued blue garters to tie around the legs of his knights to show his devotion to St. George.  Other sources indicate that the garter may simply represent the straps used to fasten armor.  Likewise the motto may refer to Edward's claim of the crown of France, i.e, you can think of it whatever you want.  Or it could be a passage from Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight along the lines of accursed be a cowardly and covetous heart.  Edward never gave an explanation of the motto or why he chose a garter, so we'll never know for sure.