Medieval knights were first and foremost warriors, whose heyday was the late Middle Ages: the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries. Dominating the medieval battlefield during these years, they fought from horseback, wore bodycovering armor, and used...

. Since 1066, the English word “knight” has been used as the equivalent of the Latin miles and the French cheval(i)er. Miles had been used from before 500 to ca. 950 to designate a soldier or military retainer of any sort, but after 950,...

now a title of honour bestowed for a variety of services, but originally in the European Middle Ages a formally professed cavalryman. The first medieval knights were professional cavalry warriors, some of whom were vassals holding lands as fiefs from...

In the European Middle Ages, a formally professed cavalryman, generally a vassal holding land as a fief from the lord he served (&see; feudalism). At about 7 a boy bound for knighthood became a page, then at 12 a damoiseau (“lordling”),...

(Latin: “horseman”) In ancient Rome, a knight. In early Rome, the equites (in full, equites equo publico, “horsemen with mounts provided at public expense”) were of the senatorial class. They were the most influential members of...

A knight in modern times would normally be addressed as ‘Sir’+first name. Shakespearean knights are often addressed as ‘knight’, ‘my dear knight’, ‘sweet knight’, etc. There are thirteen instances of such...

Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. In the Commonwealth of Nations, knighthood is a non-heritable form of gentility, but is not nobility. In the High and Late Middle Ages, the principal duty of a knight was...