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Wolfram von Eschenbach and his squire (Codex Manesse, 14th century) A squire cleaning armour A squire helping his knight, in a historical reenactment in 2009 A squire holds the warhorse of his knight, detail from monument to Sir Richard Stapledon (d.1326), Exeter Cathedral. [1] In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a ...
It was also applied to the sons of peers and the firstborn sons of baronets and knights. [5] [4] Gentleman: the lowest rank within the gentry. Gentlemen ranked above yeomen or landowning farmers. [5] The Statute of Additions of 1413 recognised gentlemen as a distinct social rank, but the line between the lower gentry and the yeomanry remained ...
Freiherr, a German word meaning literally "Free Master" or "Free Lord" (i.e. not subdued to feudal chores or drudgery), is the German equivalent of the English term "Baron", with the important difference that unlike the British Baron, he is not a "Peer of the Realm" (member of the high aristocracy). [37] The female equivalent is Freifrau.
The verb "to knight" (to make someone a knight) appears around 1300; and, from the same time, the word "knighthood" shifted from "adolescence" to "rank or dignity of a knight". An Equestrian ( Latin , from eques "horseman", from equus " horse ") [ 15 ] was a member of the second highest social class in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire .
Equestrians could in turn be elevated to senatorial rank (e.g., Pliny the Younger), but in practice this was much more difficult than elevation from commoner to equestrian rank. To join the upper order, not only was the candidate required to meet the minimum property requirement of 250,000 denarii , but also had to be elected a member of the ...
It is the lowest rank to which the descendants of a Knight, Baronet or Peer can sink. Strictly speaking, anybody with officially matriculated English or Scottish arms is a gentleman and thus noble. The term landed gentry , although originally used to mean nobility, came to be used for the lesser nobility in England around 1540.
It dated from the military rank of squire, who was a personal attendant to a knight. In a more modern sense it served as a category indicating "candidates for knighthood", and was therefore typically associated with certain professions (such as judges , justices of the peace , and sheriffs ).
Many people have been created honorary knights or dames by the British crown. There are also those that have been appointed to two comparable orders, the Order of Merit and the Order of the Companions of Honour, and those that have had conferred on them the decoration of the Royal Victorian Chain; none of these carries pre-nominal styles.