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Esquire is a rank of gentry originally derived from Squire and indicating the status of an attendant to a knight, an apprentice knight, or a manorial lord; [41] it ranks below Knight (or in Scotland below Laird) but above Gentleman. [e] [f]
The meaning of the term evolved over time into a broader sense, because in the Middle Ages the meaning of chevalier changed from the original concrete military meaning "status or fee associated with a military follower owning a war horse" or "a group of mounted knights" to the ideal of the Christian warrior ethos propagated in the romance genre ...
The most common definition of squire refers to the Middle Ages. A squire was typically a young boy, training to become a knight. A boy became a page at the age of 7 then a squire at age 14. [3] [4] Squires were the second step to becoming a knight, after having served as a page. [5]
An order of knights is a community of knights composed by order rules with the main purpose of an ideal or charitable task. The original ideal lay in monachus et miles (monk and knight), who in the order – ordo (Latin for 'order' / 'status') – is dedicated to a Christian purpose. The first orders of knights were religious orders that were ...
If so, this group may be the original so-called equites equo privato, a rank that is attested throughout the history of the republic (in contrast to equites equo publico). However, due to a lack of evidence, the origins and definition of equo privato equites remain obscure. It is widely agreed that the 12 new centuriae were open to non ...
Jonkheer (female equivalent: jonkvrouw; French: Écuyer in the masculine only; jonkvrouw is used in the feminine, even in French; English: Squire) is an honorific in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the nobility. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used by the untitled nobility.
Like baronets, knights are addressed as Sir; however, the rank of knight is not hereditary. Esquire: originally a knight's attendant or squire. In the 14th century, this rank could be conferred by the Crown. Certain officeholders, such as justices of the peace, were considered to be esquires. It was also applied to the sons of peers and the ...
The rank of Commendatore (Knight Commander) is a higher award than Ufficiale (Officer), which in turn is higher than Cavaliere (Knight), the first level in this order of chivalry. The Italian government's orders are exceptional to the international standard in that they do not officially have special ranks or decorations for females (Dames).