King James VI and I of England would knight just about anybody.

>The following three days leading up to the coronation [**of James as King of England**] had seen other celebrations. On the twenty-second the Earl of Worcester was made Earl marshal (senior officer of the peerage in England), and on 23 July [James]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/JamesIEngland.jpg) knighted 300 individuals in the gardens at Whitehall. >James’s sale of the honor had become increasingly outrageous. [Francis Bacon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Pourbus_Francis_Bacon.jpg) called it “this almost prostituted title” and the courtier Philip Gawdy described recent recipients of the honor as “a scum of such as it would make a man sick to think of them.” They included the sons of London pedlars and a clapped-out lawyer who bought the honor for under £8. ______________________________ **Source:** Lisle, Leanda De. "An Anointed King" *After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England*. New York: Ballantine, 2005. 236-37. Print. **Original Source(s) Listed:** HMC Salisbury, 15, p. 167. Gawdy, pp. 135, 163. ______________________________ **Further Reading:** [James VI and I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I) [Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, PC KC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon)