Knight
Knight is the English term for a social position. Knighthood is a non-heritable (with a few rare exceptions) form of
gentility, but not of
nobility. In the
High and
Late Middle Ages, the principal duty of a knight was to fight as, and lead,
heavy cavalry (see
serjeanty); more recently, knighthood has become a symbolic title of
honour given to a more diverse class of people, from mountain climber
Edmund Hillary to musician
Paul McCartney. By extension, "knight" is also used as a translation of the names of other honourable estates connected with horsemanship, especially from classical antiquity.
The history of knighthood involves, therefore, the history of the social institution, which began somewhat differently in the various European regions; the history of the word, and the corresponding terms in
French and
Latin; and the history of the technology which made heavy cavalry possible.
Knighthood is designated by the title Sir (e.g.
Sir Elton John) or Dame (e.g.
Dame Judi Dench) within the British
Commonwealth of Nations. The French title "Chevalier" or the German "Ritter" are usually used in Continental Europe. Outside the Commonwealth, the title is respected but may carry less gravitas, and thus may or may not appear, for example, in the mass media and other publications. There are technically differing levels of knighthood (see
Order of the British Empire), but in practice these are even more symbolic than the title itself today and thus only express the greatness of the recipient's achievements in the eyes of the monarch. German names that have the word "von" in them designate knighthood, or a higher form of nobility.
The word
knight derives from
Old English cniht, meaning
page boy, or
servant (as is still the case in the cognate
Dutch knecht and
German Knecht for
servant), or simply
boy.
Knighthood, as
Old English cnihthad, had the meaning of
adolescence, i.e. the period between childhood and manhood. The sense of (adult) lieutenant of a king or other superior was in existence at least as early as
1100, although there are signs of it as early as
Alfred's Orosius.
In this respect English differs from most other European languages, where the equivalent word emphasizes the status and prosperity of war horse ownership. Linguistically, the association of horse ownership with social status extends at least as far as ancient
Greece, where many aristocratic names incorporated the Greek word for horse, like
Hipparchus and
Xanthippe; the character
Pheidippides in
Aristophanes'
Clouds has his grandfather's name with
hipp- inserted to sound more aristocratic. Similarly, the Greek ιππευς (
hippeus) is commonly translated knight; at least in its sense of the highest of the four Athenian social classes, the ones who could afford to maintain a warhorse in the state service. A survival is the modern given name
Philip, whose etymology means
lover of horses. An
Equestrian (
Latin eques or
equitus, plural
equites) was a member of the second highest
social class in the
Roman Republic and early
Roman Empire. This class is often translated as
knight; the medieval knight, however, was called
miles in Latin, (which in classical Latin meant "soldier", normally infantry), until the Renaissance revival of
eques.
Interestingly, in the later
Roman Empire the classical Latin
equus for horse, was replaced in common parlance by vulgar Latin
caballus, derived from Gaulish
caballos (Delamare 2003 p.96), thus giving French cheval (
keval), Italian
cavallo, and (borrowed from French) English
cavalry. This formed the basis for the word knight among the romance European languages: Spanish
caballero, French
chevalier, Portuguese
cavaleiro etc. In
German, the literal meaning of
Ritter is
rider; and likewise for the
Dutch title
Ridder.
The origin of heavily armoured cavalry (
Greek:
cataphractos;
Persian:
Savaaraan) lies in
Parthian and
Sassanid Persia, and medieval chivalry absorbed many Persian traditions in the course of the Perso-Byzantine wars. For example,
Ammianus Marcellinus, a
Roman general and historian, who served in the army of
Constantius II in
Gaul and
Persia, fought against the Persians under
Julian the Apostate and took part in the retreat of his successor,
Jovian. He describes the Persian knight as:
"All their companies clad in iron, and all parts of their bodies were covered with thick plates, so fitted that the stiff joints conformed with those of their limbs; and forms of the human faces were so skillfully fitted to their heads, that since their entire bodies were covered with metal, arrows that fell upon them could lodge only where they could see a little through tiny openings opposite the pupil of the eye, or where through the tips of their noses they were able to get a little breath.""The Persians opposed us serried bands of mail-clad horsemen in such close order that the gleam of moving bodies covered with closely fitting plates of iron dazzled the eyes of those who looked upon them, while the whole throng of horses was protected by coverings of leather."Sarmatians
Up to the
5th century,
Iranian tribal Sarmatians cavalry units were stationed in Britain as part of the Roman army (see
Roman departure from Britain), allowing for a direct influence of Roman Cataphractes on Migration Age Europe. According to a theory of Littleton and Thomas (1978), the legend of
King Arthur, the prototypical knight of High Medieval literature, was directly inspired by these Sarmatian troops (however, it is most likely that the only reason we view Arthur and his retainers as knights was simply because the Arthurian Cycle became popular in a time in which knighthood was predominant); and Sir
Thomas Malory's descriptions reflect his own time, in which the plate-wearing tournament knight was again prevalent.
In the early Middle Ages the rank of knight was loosely defined. In late
Carolingian France (
10th Century) persons occupying this role were known by the Latin term
miles (plur.
milites). This term designated a professional fighting man in the emerging
feudal system. Many were as poor as the peasant class. However, over time, as this class of fighter became more prominent in post-Carolingian France, they became wealthier and began to hold and inherit land. Eventually fighting on horseback became synonymous with the elite warrior caste.
From the
12th century, the concept continued being tied to
cavalry, mounted and
armoured
soldiers, and thus to the earlier class of noble
Roman warriors known as
equites (see
esquire). Because of the cost of equipping oneself in the cavalry, the term became associated with wealth and social status, and eventually knighthood became a formal title. Significantly the nobility, who at this time were also expected to be leaders in times of war, responded to this new class by becoming members of it. Nobles had their sons trained as gentlemen and as professional fighters in the household of another noble. When the young man had completed his training he was ready to become a knight, and would be honoured as such in a ceremony known as "
dubbing" (knighting) from the French "adoubement". It was expected that all young men of noble birth be knights and often take oaths swearing allegiance, chastity, protection of other Christians, and respect of the laws laid down by their forebears, though this varied from period to period and on the rank of the individual.
From the time of
Henry III of England, a
knight bachelor was a member of the lower nobility, preceded by the
knight banneret, a commander of ten or more lances who could lead his men under his own banner, but who did not have the rank of
baron or
earl. The knights bachelor did not wear any insignia until
1296.
The concept, together with the notion of
chivalry came to full bloom during the
Hundred Years' War. During the same period, however, the importance of heavy cavalry was reduced by improved
pikemen and
longbow tactics. This was a bitter lesson for the nobility, learned throughout the 14th century at battles like those of
Crécy,
Bannockburn and
Laupen. The "knights in shining armour" of the late 15th and 16th centuries, by that time in full
plate armour, were mostly confined to the
jousting grounds, and the romantic
Pas d'Armes. The
chess piece was named in this period, around
1440. Via the transitional
Cuirassiers of the 16th century, cavalry again became dominant in light, unarmoured form, in the 17th century, and not usually associated with knighthood.
Knighthood as a purely formal title bestowed by the British monarch unrelated to military service was established in the 16th century. (However, military knights remained among the
Knights of Malta until
1798.) The British title of
baronet was established by
James I of England in 1611 as an inheritable knighthood, ranking below Baron (the lowest Peerage title).
During the
High Middle Ages, it was technically possible for every free man to become a knight, but the process of becoming (and the equipping of) a knight was very expensive; thus it was more likely that a knight would come from a noble (or wealthy) family. They went through a long process to become a knight involving three stages: after starting as a
page, they moved on to being a personal
squire, and after they had passed their training they could be knighted.
The process of training for knighthood began before
adolescence, inside the prospective knight's own home, where he was taught
courtesy and appropriate manners. Around the age of 7 years, he would be sent away to train and serve at a grander household as a page. Here, he would serve as a kind of
waiter and personal servant, entertaining and serving food to his elders. A page was usually the son of a
vassal, who sent him to his or another
lord's
castle to become a page. For seven years a page was cared for by the women of the house, who instructed him in
comportment, courtesy, cleanliness, and religion. He would learn basic hunting and
falconry, and also various battle skills such as taking care of, preparing, and riding horses, as well as use of weapons and
armour.
A page became a squire when he turned 14 years of age, being assigned or picked by a knight to become his personal aide. This allowed the squire to observe his master while he was in battle, in order to learn from his techniques. He also acted as a personal servant to the knight, taking care of his master's equipment and horse. This was to uphold the knight's code that promoted generosity, courtesy, compassion, and most importantly, loyalty. The knight acted as a tutor and taught the squire all he needed to know to become a knight. As the squire grew older, he was expected to follow his master into battle, and attend to his master if the knight fell in battle. Some squires became knights for performing an outstanding deed on the battlefield, but most were knighted by their lord when their training was judged to be complete.
A squire could hope to become a knight when he was about 18 to 21 years old. Once the squire had established sufficient mastery of the required skills, he was dubbed a knight. In the early period, the procedure began with the squire
praying into the night, known as
vigil. He was then bathed, and in the morning he was dressed in a white shirt, gold
tunic, purple cloak, and was knighted by his
king or lord. As the Middle Ages progressed, the process changed. The squire was made to vow that he would obey the regulations of
chivalry, and never flee from battle. A squire could also be knighted on the battlefield, in which a lord simply performed the
accolade, i.e. struck him on the shoulder saying "Be thou a knight".
The night before his knighting ceremony, the squire would take a cleansing bath, fast, make confession, and pray to
God all night in the
chapel, readying himself for his life as a knight. Then he would go through the knighting ceremony the following day. Knights followed the code of chivalry, which promoted honour, honesty, respect to God, and other knightly virtues. Knights served their lords and were paid in land, because money was scarce.
Later, as military technology and society evolved, knighthood became irrelevant to warfare (the
Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302 was seen as a landmark: the largest knightly army in
Christendom, fielded by the
French king, was destroyed by
infantry; soon
firearms would revolutionize war still further), while its theoretically irrelevant link with nobility (generally only nobles were knighted, and in noble families most males were expected to be) encouraged it to survive with an essentially civilian
ethos of
social stratification. In various traditions, knighthood was reserved for people with a minimum of noble quarters (as in many orders of chivalry), or knighthood became essentially a low degree of nobility, sometimes even conferred as a hereditary title below the
peerage. Meanwhile monarchy strived, as an expression of
Absolutism, to monopolize the right to confer knighthood, even as an individual honour. Not only was this often successful, once established, this prerogative of the
Head of State was even transferred to the
successors of
dynasties in
republican
regimes, such as the British
Lord Protector of the Commonwealth.
|
Knight in war harness, after a miniature in a Psalter written and illuminated under Louis le Gros. |
Knighthood was closely connected with the
feudal system. Originating largely in what later became known as France, this was a social organization in which warfare and the protection of the common people became the specialized skill of a select group. Since, at the time, even the
monarch was short of cash, they were paid in land. These rather extensive pieces of land were the fiefs. Though a fief did not have to be land — it could be any payment — it is generally thought of as being the land that the knights were given as payment for service to the king. The knights were economically supported by peasants who worked to produce food and ideologically supported by the contemporary church.
Originally, knighthood could be bestowed on any man by a knight commander, but it was generally considered more prestigious to be dubbed a knight by the hand of a monarch or
royalty; most monarchs eventually acquired the exclusive right to confer knighthoods known as
Fount of honour. By about the late
13th century, partly in conjunction with the focus on courtly behavior, a code of conduct and uniformity of dress for knights began to evolve. Knights were eligible to wear a
white belt and
golden
spurs as signs of their status. Moreover, knights were also required to swear allegiance to a superior in the feudal pyramid — either to a
liege lord or to a
military order.
In theory, knights were the warrior class defending the people of feudal Christianity and bound by a code of chivalry. Chivalry, like the samurai's
bushido, was a set of customs that governed the knights' behavior, but was perhaps less scrupulously observed. Knights served mightier lords, usually as
vassals, or were hired by them. Some had their own castles, while others joined a
military order or a crusade. In reality, rules were often bent or blatantly broken by knights as well as their masters, for power, goods or honour. So-called
robber knights even turned to organized crime, some based in a castle.
In times of war or national disorder the monarch would typically call all the knights together to do their annual service of fighting. This could be against threats to the nation or in defensive and offensive wars against other nations. Sometimes the knights responding to the call were the
nobles themselves, and sometimes these men were hired by nobles to fight in their stead; some noblemen were disinclined or unable to fight.
As time went by, monarchs began to prefer standing (permanent) armies led by
officers rather than knights, because they could be used for longer periods of time, were more professional and were generally more loyal. This was partly because those noblemen who were themselves knights, or who sent knights to fight, were prone to use the monarch's dependency on their resources to manipulate him. This move from knights to
standing armies had two important outcomes: the implementation of a regular payment of "
scutage" to monarchs by noblemen (a money payment instead of active military service) which would strengthen the concept and practice of
taxation; and a general decrease in
military discipline in knights, who became more interested in their country estates and
chivalric pursuits, including their roles as
courtiers.
The
Knights of Malta also dropped their traditional role of heavy cavalry as they moved from one island fortress to another across the
Mediterranean Sea. Instead they became skilled in
Naval warfare and engaged in frequent sea battles with the
Ottoman Empire and the
Barbary Pirates until nearly the end of the 18th century.
In some countries, knighthood was merged into the nobility, remaining only as a low or genetic noble title; thus the aristocratic estate's chambers in the diets of the realms of Sweden and Finland were each called
House of knights.
There are three hereditary knighthoods in Ireland, the third of which is extinct, namely
*
Knight of Glin, the Black Knight, (Fitzgerald of Limerick)
*
Knight of Kerry, the Green Knight, (Fitzgerald of Kerry)
* The White Knight, (
FitzGibbon)
Hereditary knighthoods also exist among the nobility of
Malta.
Baronetcies are hereditary, and although they entitle the holder to be called "Sir", they rank above knighthoods.
In war, the chivalrous knight was idealized as
brave in
battle,
loyal to his king and
God, and willing to
sacrifice himself for the greater good. Towards his fellow Christians and countrymen, the knight was to be
merciful,
humble, and
courteous. Towards noble ladies above all, the knight was to be gracious and gentle.
*
Knights Hospitaller, founded during the
First Crusade,
1099 to present.
*
Order of Saint Lazarus established ca.
1100, abolished
1830.
*
Knights Templar, founded
1118, disbanded
1307.
*
Teutonic knights, founded ca.
1190, ruling
Prussia until
1525.Other orders were established in the
Iberian peninsula in imitation of the orders in the Holy Land, in
Avis in
1143, in
Alcantara in
1156, in
Calatrava in
1158, in
Santiago in
1164.
After the
Crusades, the military orders became idealized and romanticized, resulting in the late medieval notion of
chivalry, as reflected in the
Arthurian romances of the time. The creation of chivalric orders was fashionable among the noblesse in the 14th and 15th centuries, as remains reflected in contemporary honours systems, and the term
order itself, notably the
Order of Saint George, founded by
Charles I of Hungary in
1325/6,
Order of the Dragon founded by
Serbian knight
Milos Obilic in
1385,the
Order of the Garter, founded by
Edward III of England in ca.
1348, the
Order of the Golden Fleece, founded by
Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in
1430, and the
Order of St Michel, founded by
Louis XI of France in
1469.
From roughly
1560, purely honorific orders were established, designed as a way to confer prestige and distinction, unrelated to military service or chivalry in the more narrow sense. Such orders were particularly popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, and knighthood continues to be conferred in various countries:
* The
United Kingdom (see
British honours system) and some
Commonwealth of Nations countries;
* Most
European countries, such as The
Netherlands (see below).
*
Malaysia — see
Malay titles;
*
Thailand;
* The
Holy See — see external link [
1] Papal Orders.
There are other
monarchies and also
republics that also follow the practice. Modern knighthoods are typically awarded in recognition for services rendered to society, services which are no longer necessarily martial in nature. The musician
Elton John, for example, is entitled to be called Sir Elton. The female equivalent is a
Dame.
Accompanying the title is the
given name, and optionally the
surname. So, Elton John may be called
Sir Elton or
Sir Elton John, but never
Sir John. Similarly, actress
Judi Dench D.B.E. may be addressed as
Dame Judi or
Dame Judi Dench, but never
Dame Dench. Wives of knights, however, are entitled to the honorific "Lady" before their husband's surname. Thus
Sir Paul McCartney's wife is styled
Lady McCartney, rather than
Lady Paul McCartney or
Lady Heather McCartney. The style
Dame Heather McCartney could be used; however, this style is largely archaic and is only used in the most formal of documents.
State Knighthoods in the Netherlands are issued in three orders, the
Order of William, the
Order of the Dutch Lion, and the
Order of Orange Nassau. Additionally there remain a few hereditary knights in The Netherlands.
In
Italy, the
Cavalieri is an honour equivalent to a knighthood.
In
France, among other orders is the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. The lowest of the three ranks conferred by this academy is knighthood.
Within most Continental European orders, and many other orders, the following rankings (or similar rank structures) exist:
* Knight or Chevalier
* Officer
* Knight Commander (or simply Commander)
* Grand Officer
* Knight Grand Cross
Within the
British honours system, and some members of the
Commonwealth of Nations, the following rankings (or similar rank structures) exist:
* Member
* Officer
* Commander
* Knight
* Knight Commander
* Knight Grand Cross
*Boulton, D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre.
The Knights of the Crown: The Monarchical Orders of Knighthood in Later Medieval Europe, 1325-1520. 2d revised ed. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2000.
* Forey, Alan John.
The Military Orders: From the Twelfth to the Early Fourteenth Centuries. Basingstoke: Macmillan Education, 1992.
*Shaw, William A.
The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time 2v. London: Central Chancery, 1906 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970).
*
Vityaz and
bogatyr,
Kievan Rus' terms translated as "knight".
*
Vitez, a
Serbian term
*
Samurai a similar class in Japanese history
*
Xiá, a similar class in Chinese history
*
Knight-errant*
Cavalry tactics*
*
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