 Also, its original statutes required that each member of the Order already be a knight (what would now be referred to as a knight bachelor) and some of the initial members listed were only knighted that year.The foundation is likely to have been inspired by the Spanish Order of the Band, established in about 1330.The earliest written mention of the Order is found in "Tirant lo Blanch", a chivalric romance written in Catalan mainly by Valencian Joanot Martorell.