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In the UK, a title of honour granted as a reward for services, permitting the use of Sir with one's name; originally (in the Middle Ages) men who formed an elite cavalry (Fr Chevalier, Ger Ritter). The ideal of knighthood involved the maintenance of personal honour, religious devotion, and loyalty to one's lord. This ideal was most nearly achieved at the time of the Crusades (11th–13th-c).

Otheruses
Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. 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. the history of the word, and the corresponding terms in French and Latin; Dame Judi Dench) within the Commonwealth of Nations. 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 Crown.

Etymology

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 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. A survival is the modern given name Philip, whose etymology means lover of horses.

An Equestrian (Latin eques, plural equites) was a member of the second highest social class in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire.

Origins of European Knighthood

Knighthood as known in Europe was characterized by 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) which occupied Europe from the third century had always been mounted, and sometimes such cavalry in fact composed large majorities, such as in the armies of the Ostrogoths. However, it was the Franks who came to dominate Western and Central Europe after the fall of Rome in the West, 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. So it was that the armies of the Frankish ruler and warlord Charles Martel, which defeated the Umayyad Arab invasions at the Battle of Tours in 732, were still largely infantry armies, the elites riding to battle but dismounting to fight in order to provide a hard core for the levy of the infantry warbands.

As the eighth century progressed into the Carolingian Age, however, 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. Although in some nations the knight returned to foot combat in the fourteenth 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. The period of chaos in the ninth and tenth 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 the local responsibility of these new hereditary local lords and their demesnes.

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. In the century or so following Charlemagne?s death, his newly enfoeffed warrior class grew stronger still, and Charles the Bald declared their fiefs to be hereditary. The period of chaos in the ninth and tenth 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 medieval institution

In the early Middle Ages the term knight designated a professional fighting man in the emerging feudal system. and the knightly families became known as the nobility. (In the British Isles, "nobility" is more restricted, to the Peerage.)

From the 12th century, the concept continued being tied to cavalry, mounted and armoured soldiers. 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".

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 thirteenth century, the apogee in the power and influence of the mounted knight on the battlefield, particularly in France, whose knighthood had the most redoubtable battlefield reputation. However, as the fourteenth century dawned, 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 English introduced foot service for the knight in the early Hundred Years War, to support their longbowmen and to combat the depleted French knights whose charge managed to reach the English lines through the deadly hail of longbow arrows. However, as their victories increased in the later Hundred Years War, the French took to increased mounted action -- the Battle of Formigny was finally won with a French cavalry charge. (Perhaps not coincidentally, the chess piece was named in this period of increased mounted service, around 1440.)

The French knight, now known as a man-at-arms (gendarme) would fight mounted through the Italian Wars and beyond, and the knights of other nations would follow his lead.

Becoming a knight

The process of training for knighthood began before adolescence, inside the prospective knight?s own home, where he was taught courtesy and appropriate manners. A page was usually the son of a vassal, who sent him to his or another lord?s castle to become a page. 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. 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. 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.

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 kings strove, 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. (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). There was an instance of three knights of Beauvais who needed a fourth knight to witness their contract; in the late Middle Ages, sovereigns began to forbid their subjects to make knights, as they forbade them other military preparations.

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. 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. Knights served mightier lords, usually as vassals, or were hired by them. So-called robber knights or robber barons 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. Sometimes the knights responding to the call were the nobles themselves, and sometimes these men were hired by nobles to fight in their stead;

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 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; There were three hereditary knighthoods in the Kingdom of Ireland:

• Knight of Glin, the Black Knight, (Fitzgerald of Limerick)
  
• Knight of Kerry, the Green Knight, (Fitzgerald of Kerry)
  
• The White Knight, (FitzGibbon), now extinct.
  

The idea of hereditary knighthood also inspired James I, to establish baronetcy.

Malta was a British possession, and the crown recognizes Maltese hereditary knighthoods.

Chivalric code

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.

Military-monastic orders

• 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.

Chivalric orders

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. 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 www.chivalricorders.org/vatican/main2.htm Papal Orders.
  

There are other monarchies and also republics that also follow the practice.

Accompanying the title is the given name, and optionally the surname. 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.

Modern ranks

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 (or Grand Cordon)
  

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
  

Literature

• Boulton, D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre. London: Central Chancery, 1906 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970).
  

See also

• Vityaz and bogatyr, Kievan Rus' terms translated as "knight".
  
• Vitez, a Croatian term
  
• Samurai a similar class in Japanese history
  
• Xiá, a similar class in Chinese history
  
• Knight-errant
  
• Cavalry tactics