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Knight
"Knighthood" redirects here. For modern British honours, see Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom. For other nations, see State decoration.
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For other uses, see Knight (disambiguation) and Knights (disambiguation).
Ranks of Nobility
Emperor & Empress
King & Queen
Archduke & Archduchess
Grand Duke & Grand Duchess
Duke & Duchess
Prince & Princess
Infante & Infanta
Marquess & Marchioness
Marquis & Marquise
Margrave & Margravine
Count & Countess
Earl & Countess
Viscount & Viscountess
Baron & Baroness
Baronet & Baronetess
Nobile, Edler von, panek
Ritter, Erfridder
Hereditary Knight
Black Knight, White Knight, Green Knight
Knight & Dame
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A knight in gothic plate armour, from a German book illustration published 1483.
A knight was a member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe who followed a code of law called "chivalry". In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent (e.g. French chevalier and German Ritter) suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport. Since antiquity a position of honour and prestige has been held by mounted warriors such as the Greek hippeus and the Roman eques, and knighthood in the Middle Ages was inextricably linked with horsemanship.[1]
The British legend of King Arthur was popularised throughout Europe in the Middle Ages by the Welsh cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain"), written in the 1130s. Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur ("The Death of Arthur"), written in 1485, was important in defining the ideal of chivalry which is essential to the modern concept of the knight as an elite warrior sworn to uphold the values of faith, loyalty, courage, and honour. During the Renaissance, the genre of chivalric romance became popular in literature, growing ever more idealistic and eventually giving rise to a new form of realism in literature popularised by Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote. This novel explored the ideals of knighthood and their incongruity with the reality of Cervantes' world. In the late medieval period, new methods of warfare began to render classical knights in armor obsolete, but the titles remained in many nations.
Some orders of knighthood, such as the Knights Templar, have themselves become the object of legend; others have disappeared into obscurity. Today, a number of orders of knighthood continue to exist in several countries, such as the English Order of the Garter, the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim, and the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. Each of these orders has its own criteria for eligibility, but knighthood is generally granted by a head of state to selected persons to recognise some meritorious achievement
Etymology
The word knight, from Old English cniht ("boy" or "servant"), is a cognate of the German word Knecht ("laborer" or "servant"). This meaning, of unknown origin, is common among West Germanic languages (cf: Old Frisian kniucht, Dutch knecht, Danish knægt, Middle High German kneht, all meaning "boy, youth, lad", as well as German Knecht "servant, bondsman, vassal"). Old English cnihthād ("knighthood") had the meaning of adolescence (i.e. the period between childhood and manhood) by 1300. 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 translation of Orosius.[citation needed] The connection of the "knight" and horsemanship is a comparatively early one, with a type of royal servant described in Alfred's time as a rādcniht (meaning "riding-knight"). The rādcniht rendered mounted services to the king: delivering messages, patrolling coastlines, and acting as a royal agent; he was probably also involved in military duties. The term cniht, however, had no particular connection to horsemanship and retained a primary meaning of "servant" or "retainer."ἱππεύς (hippeus) is commonly translated "knight"; at least in its sense of the highest of the four Athenian social classes, those who could afford to maintain a warhorse in the state service.[citation needed] Both Greek hippos and Latin equus are derived from the Proto-Indo-European word root ekwo- meaning "horse".īdan "to ride", from Proto-Indo-European reidh-.
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 back 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
An Equestrian (Latin, from eques "horseman", from equus "horse") 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).[citation needed] In the later Roman Empire the classical Latin word for horse, equus, was replaced in common parlance by vulgar Latin caballus, derived from Gaulish caballos[citation needed]. From caballus arose Old Italian cavaliere, Italian cavallo, French cheval, and (borrowed from French) English cavalier.[6] This pattern continues among the words for knight in the Romance languages: Spanish caballero, French chevalier, Portuguese cavaleiro etc. In German, the meaning of Ritter is rider; and likewise for the Dutch and Scandinavian title ridder. These words are cognates derived from Germanic r
Origins of medieval knighthood
Since classical antiquity, heavy cavalry known as Cataphracts were involved in various wars, with their arms and role in battle similar to those of the medieval knight. However a cataphract had no fixed political position or social role other than his military function.
Knighthood as known in Europe was characterized by the combination of two elements, feudalism and service as a mounted combatant. Both arose under the reign of the Frankish emperor Charlemagne, from which the knighthood of the Middle Ages can be seen to have had its genesis.
Some portions of the armies of Germanic tribes (and super-tribes, such as the Suebi) who occupied Europe from the 3rd century AD, had always been mounted, and some armies, such as those of the Ostrogoths, comprised mainly cavalry. However it was the Franks who came to dominate Western and Central Europe after the fall of Rome, and they generally fielded armies composed of large masses of infantry, with an infantry elite, the comitatus, which often rode to battle on horseback rather than marching on foot. Riding to battle had two key advantages: it reduced fatigue, particularly when the elite soldiers wore armor (as was increasingly the case in the centuries after the fall of the Western Roman empire); and it gave the soldiers more mobility to react to the raids of the enemy, particularly the invasions of Muslim armies which started in the 7th century. So it was that the armies of the Frankish ruler and warlord Charles Martel, which defeated the Umayyad Arab invasion at the Battle of Tours in 732, were still largely infantry armies, the elites riding to battle but dismounting to fight, providing a hard core for the levy of the infantry warbands.
As the 8th century progressed into the Carolingian Age, the Franks were generally on the attack, and larger numbers of warriors took to their horses to ride with the Emperor in his wide-ranging campaigns of conquest. At about this time the Franks increasingly remained on horseback to fight on the battlefield as true cavalry rather than as mounted infantry, and would continue to do so for centuries thereafter. Although in some nations the knight returned to foot combat in the 14th century, the association of the knight with mounted combat with a spear, and later a lance, remained a strong one.
These mobile mounted warriors made Charlemagne’s far-flung conquests possible, and to secure their service he rewarded them with grants of land called benefices. These were given to the captains directly by the emperor to reward their efforts in the conquests, and they in turn were to grant benefices to their warrior contingents, who were a mix of free and unfree men. In the century or so following Charlemagne’s death, his newly empowered warrior class grew stronger still, and Charles the Bald declared their fiefs to be hereditary. The period of chaos in the 9th and 10th centuries, between the fall of the Carolingian central authority and the rise of separate Western and Eastern Frankish kingdoms (later to become France and Germany respectively), only entrenched this newly-landed warrior class. This was because governing power, and defense against Viking, Magyar and Saracen attack, became an essentially local affair which revolved around these new hereditary local lords and their demesnes.
The resulting hereditary, landed class of mounted elite warriors, the knights, were increasingly seen as the only true soldiers of Europe, hence the exclusive use of miles for them.
Richard Francis Burton, when characterizing this strain of thought in the writings of Europe as a whole, maintained "were it not evident that the spiritualising of sexuality by imagination is universal among the highest orders of mankind", he continues, "I should attribute the origins of love to the influences of the Arabs' poetry and chivalry upon European ideas rather than to medieval Christianity."
Chivalric code
Main article: Chivalry
Jan van Eyck, "Knights of Christ" (detail of the Ghent Altarpiece).
Knights of the medieval era were asked to "Protect the weak, defenseless, helpless, and fight for the general welfare of all". These few guidelines were the main duties of a medieval knight, but they were very hard to accomplish fully. Rarely could even the best of knights achieve these goals. Knights trained, inter alia, in hunting, fighting, and riding. They were also trained to practise courteous, honorable behaviour, which was considered extremely important. Chivalry (derived from the French word chevalier implying "skills to handle a horse") was the main principle guiding a knight’s life style. The code of chivalry dealt with three main areas: the military, social life, and religion. The military side of life was very important to knighthood. Along with the fighting elements of war, there were many customs and rules to be followed as well. A way of demonstrating military chivalry was to own expensive, heavy weaponry. Weapons were not the only crucial instruments for a knight: horses were also extremely important, and each knight often owned several horses for distinct purposes. One of the greatest signs of chivalry was the flying of coloured banners, to display power and to distinguish knights in battle and in tournaments.[citation needed] Warriors were not only required to own all these belongings to prove their allegiance: they were expected to act with military courtesy as well. In combat when nobles and knights were taken prisoner, their lives were spared and were often held for ransom in somewhat comfortable surroundings. This same code of conduct did not apply to non-knights (archers, peasants, foot-soldiers, etc.) who were often slaughtered after capture, and who were viewed during battle as mere impediments to knights' getting to other knights to fight them.
Becoming a knight was not a widely attainable goal in the medieval era. Sons of knights were eligible for the ranks of knighthood, but while other young men could indeed become knights, the job was just nearly impossible, especially for those from the lowest class.[citation needed] Those who were destined to become knights were singled out: in boyhood, these future warriors were sent off to a castle as pages, later becoming squires. Commonly around the age of 20, knights would be admitted to their rank in a ceremony called either "dubbing" (from the French adoubement), or the "Accolade". Although these strong young men had proved their eligibility, their social status would be permanently controlled. They were expected to obey the code of chivalry at all times, and no failure was accepted.
Chivalry and religion were mutually influenced. The early Crusades helped to clarify the moral code of chivalry as it related to religion. As a result, Christian armies began to devote their efforts to sacred purposes. As time passed, clergy instituted religious vows which required knights to use their weapons chiefly for the protection of the weak and defenseless, especially women and orphans, and of churches.
The Code of Chivalry continued to influence social behaviour long after the actual knighthood ceased to exist, influencing for example 19th century Victorian perceptions of how a "gentleman" ought to behave up to today.[citation needed]
Knights in literature
Knights and the ideals of knighthood featured largely in medieval and Renaissance literature, and have secured a permanent place in literary romance. While chivalric romances abound, particularly notable literary portrayals of knighthood include Geoffrey Chaucer's The Knight's Tale, Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier, and Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote, as well as Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and other Arthurian tales (Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, the Pearl Poet's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, etc.).
The ideal courtier—the chivalrous knight—of Baldassarre Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier became a model of the ideal virtues of nobility.[11] Castiglione's tale took the form of a discussion among the nobility of the court of the Duke of Urbino, in which the characters determine that the ideal knight should be renowned not only for his bravery and prowess in battle, but also as a skilled dancer, athlete, singer and orator, and he should also be well-read in the Humanities and classical Greek and Latin literature.
Regalia
Knights are generally armigerous (bearing a coat of arms), and indeed they played an essential role in the development of heraldry. As heavier armour, including enlarged shields and enclosed helmets, developed in the Middle Ages, the need for marks of identification arose, and with coloured shields and surcoats, coat armory was born. Armorial rolls were created to record the knights of various regions or those who participated in various tournaments. Additionally, knights adopted certain forms of regalia which became closely associated with the status of knighthood. At the Battle of Crécy (1346), Edward III of England sent his son, Edward, the Black Prince, to lead the charge into battle and when pressed to send reinforcements, the king replied, "say to them that they suffer him this day to win his spurs." Clearly, by this time, spurs had already become emblematic of knighthood. The livery collar is another part of the knight's regalia specifically associated with knighthood
