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In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. [2] Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a "squire", and still later, the term was applied to members of the landed gentry.
The feudal system, in which the land was owned by a monarch, who in exchange for homage and military service granted its use to tenants-in-chief, who in their turn granted its use to sub-tenants in return for further services, gave rise to several terms, particular to Britain, for subdivisions of land which are no longer in wide use.
The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages (ODMA) is a four-volume dictionary of the Middle Ages published by Oxford University Press. It contains over 5,000 entries concerning European history and culture from AD 500 to 1500 as well as topics related to the Byzantine Empire , Islamic history , and medieval Asia . [ 1 ]
By the late Middle Ages, kings such as Richard II and Henry IV had created their own affinities within the regional gentry, [17] for political as well as martial motives. [18] They were therefore at a greater distance from the royal court , but they were also more numerous than the household knights of earlier kings. [ 19 ]
The gentry ranked above the agricultural sector's middle class: the larger tenant farmers, who rented land from the landowners, and yeoman farmers, who were defined as "a person qualified by possessing free land of forty shillings annual [feudal] value, and who can serve on juries and vote for a Knight of the Shire. He is sometimes described as ...
The Dictionary of the Middle Ages is a 13-volume encyclopedia of the Middle Ages published by the American Council of Learned Societies between 1982 and 1989. It was first conceived and started in 1975 with American medieval historian Joseph Strayer of Princeton University as editor-in-chief.
ā—annus or aut.; á—aut.; Ắ—Antiphona.; a'—antiphona or autem. a.—annus. A.—Accursius or Albericus. A:—Amen. ab.—Abbas. abbāssa—Abbatissa.; abd ...
In practice, a person facing trial by combat was assisted by a second, often referred to as a squire. The role of the squire was to attend the battle and to arrange the particulars of the ceremony with the opposing squire. Over time, squires would meet and resolve disputes during negotiations over combat.