Joseph Oldys - Not a knight, dear cousins.

The best source for checking knightings is William A. Shaw's "The Knights of England", a two-volume set of records published in 1908. The second volume is the one most frequently referenced, as it has as many "ordinary" knights in it as he could find instances of, plus an index which includes listings of inductees into the knightly orders (Garter, Bath, etc.). https://archive.org/stream/knightsofengland02shawuoft#page/n9/mode/2up

Despite his claim of completeness, it's spotty before 1603 and increasingly sketchy prior to 1500. The catch seems to be that if he couldn't find an actual date of knighting, he left that person out - accounting for, for instance, the glaring omission of Sir Thomas Malory, knighted probably sometime in the 1440s, but where, when, and by whom is unknown. (Prior to c. 1485, *any* knight could make another knight, though only the Crown could bestow a Knightly Order. The Tudors gradually gathered the prerogative into their own hands; but even before then, knights made by the King were considered more "real" than others - monastic fighting orders excepted. Nobody argued with the Hospitallers or, while they existed, the Templars.)

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