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Knight

Translation
Knight
/nuyt/, n.
1. Eric, 1897-1943, U.S. novelist, born in England.
2. Frank Hyneman /huy"neuh meuhn/, 1885-1972, U.S. economist.

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I

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"), varlet, or valet, and subsequently a shieldbearer or esquire. When judged ready, he was dubbed knight by his lord in a solemn ceremony. The Christian ideal of knightly behavior (see chivalry) required devotion to the church, loyalty to military and feudal superiors, and preservation of personal honor. By the 16th century knighthood had become honorific rather than feudal or military.
II
(as used in expressions)
Baer Karl Ernst knight von
Ritter knight von Gluck
Knight Frank Hyneman
Lamarck Jean Baptiste de Monet knight de
Lopez Knight Nancy
Meinong Alexius Ritter knight von Handschuchsheim
Schönerer Georg knight von
Julius Wagner knight von Jauregg
Teutonic Knights
Chevalier Maurice

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French  chevalier,  German  Ritter  

      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 the lords in whose armies they served, while others were not enfeoffed with land. (See also knight service.) The process of entering knighthood often became formalized. A youth destined for the profession of arms might from the age of 7 or so serve his father as a page before joining the household of his father's suzerain, perhaps at the age of 12, for more advanced instruction not only in military subjects but also in the ways of the world. During this period of his apprenticeship he would be known as a damoiseau (literally “lordling”), or varlet, or valet (German: Knappe), until he followed his patron on a campaign as his shieldbearer, écuyer, or esquire, or as the bearer of his weapons (armiger). When he was adjudged proficient and the money was forthcoming for the purchase of his knightly equipment, he would be dubbed knight. The ceremonial of dubbing varied considerably: it might be highly elaborate on a great feast day or on a royal occasion; or it could be simply performed on the battlefield; and the dubbing knight might use any appropriate formula that he liked. A common element, however, was the use of the flat of a swordblade for a touch on the shoulder—i.e., the accolade of knighthood as it survives in modern times.

      As knighthood evolved, a Christian ideal of knightly behaviour came to be accepted, involving respect for the church, protection of the poor and the weak, loyalty to one's feudal or military superiors, and preservation of personal honour. The nearest that the ideal ever came to realization, however, was in the Crusades, which, from the end of the 11th century, brought the knights of Christian Europe together in a common enterprise under the auspices of the church. Knights dubbed at Christ's tomb were known as knights of the Holy Sepulchre. During the Crusades the first orders of knights came into being: the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem (later the Knights of Malta (Hospitallers)), the Order of the Temple of Solomon (Templars (Templar)), and, rather later, the Order of St. Lazarus, which had a special duty of protecting leper hospitals. These were truly international and of an expressly religious nature both in their purpose and in their form, with celibacy for their members and a hierarchical structure (grand master; “pillars” of lands, or provincial masters; grand priors; commanders; knights) resembling that of the church itself. But it was not long before their religious aim gave place to political activity as the orders grew in numbers and in wealth.

      At the same time, crusading orders with a rather more national bias came into being. In Spain, for the struggle against the Muslims there or for the protection of pilgrims, the Orders of Calatrava and of Alcántara and Santiago (St. James) were founded in Castile between 1156 and 1171; Portugal had the Order of Avís, founded about the same time; but Aragon's Order of Montesa (1317) and Portugal's Order of Christ were not founded until after the dissolution of the Templars. The greatest order of German knights was the Teutonic Order. These “national” crusading orders followed a course of worldly aggrandizement like that of the international orders; but the crusades in Europe that they undertook, no less than the international enterprises in Palestine, would long attract individual knights from abroad or from outside their ranks.

      Between the end of the 11th century and the middle of the 13th, a change took place in the relationship of knighthood to feudalism. The feudal host, whose knights were enfeoffed landholders obliged to give 40 days' service per year normally, had been adequate for defense and for service within a kingdom; but it was scarcely appropriate for the now more frequent long-distance expeditions of the time, whether crusades or sustained invasions such as those launched in the Anglo-French wars. The result was twofold: on the one hand, the kings often resorted to distraint of knighthood, that is, to compelling holders of land above a certain value to come and be dubbed knights; on the other hand, the armies came to be composed more and more largely of mercenary soldiers, with the knights, who had once formed the main body of the combatants, reduced to a minority—as it were to a class of officers.

      The gradual demise of the Crusades, the disastrous defeats of knightly armies by foot soldiers and bowmen, the development of artillery, the steady erosion of feudalism by the royal power in favour of centralized monarchy—all these factors spelled the disintegration of traditional knighthood in the 14th and 15th centuries. Knighthood lost its martial purpose and, by the 16th century, had been reduced to an honorific status that sovereigns could bestow as they pleased. It became a fashion of modish elegance for the sophisticated nobles of a prince's entourage.

      A great number of secular knightly orders were established from the late Middle Ages onward: for example (to name but a few), The Most Noble Order of the Garter, Order of the Golden Fleece, The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, The Most Ancient Most Noble Order of the Thistle, and The Most Honourable Order of the Bath. These honours were reserved for persons of the highest distinction in the nobility or in government service or, more generally, for persons distinguished in various professions and arts. In the United Kingdom, knighthood is today the only title still conferred by a ceremony in which sovereign and subject both take part personally. In its modern form the subject kneels and the sovereign touches him or her with a drawn sword (usually a sword of state) first on the right shoulder, then on the left. The male knight uses the prefix Sir before his personal name; the female knight the prefix Dame.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Knight — Knight, n. [OE. knight, cniht, knight, soldier, AS. cniht, cneoht, a boy, youth, attendant, military follower; akin to D. & G. knecht servant; perh. akin to E. kin.] 1. A young servant or follower; a military attendant. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] 2.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • knight — 1> рыцарь; витязь; Ex: Knights of the Round Table рыцари Круглого стола Ex: knight s fee ист. отводимый рыцарю участок земли, за владение которым он должен нести воинскую службу Ex: K. without Fear and Reproach рыцарь без страха и упрека Ex: K.… …   Новый большой англо-русский словарь

  • knight — 1. noun 1) рыцарь; витязь 2) joc. рыцарь (какой л. профессии); мас тер knight of the pen knight of the brush knight of fortune knight ofthe road 3) рыцарь (личное дворянское звание) 4) кавалер одного из высших анг лийских орденов Knight of the… …   Англо-русский словарь Мюллера

  • Knight — Knight, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Knighted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Knighting}.] To dub or create (one) a knight; done in England by the sovereign only, who taps the kneeling candidate with a sword, saying: Rise, Sir . [1913 Webster] A soldier, by the honor …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Knight — (engl., spr. neit, das deutsche Wort Knecht), Ritter; die unterste und älteste Stufe der persönlichen Ritterwürde, die des Knight bachelor (spr. bättschĕlĕr), ist seit 1660 bloßer Titel mit dem Prädikat »Sir« …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Knight — Knighthood redirects here. For modern British honours, see Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom. For other nations, see State decoration. For other uses, see knight (disambiguation) and knights (disambiguation). Royal and noble… …   Wikipedia

  • knight — knightless, adj. /nuyt/, n. 1. a mounted soldier serving under a feudal superior in the Middle Ages. 2. (in Europe in the Middle Ages) a man, usually of noble birth, who after an apprenticeship as page and squire was raised to honorable military… …   Universalium

  • Knight — Der Ritterschlag, Edmund Blair Leighton, Öl auf Leinwand, 1901 Knight (engl. für Ritter) ist der niedrigste Rang innerhalb des Adels in Großbritannien, der aus dem mittelalterlichen Heerwesen hervorgegangen ist. Das Wort ist etymologisch verwandt …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Knight — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Knight, est un nom propre, issu d un mot anglais qui signifie chevalier, pouvant se référer à  : Sommaire 1 Personnalités portant ce patronyme …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Knight — La palabra knight puede referirse a: En inglés: Caballero. Knight significa caballero en inglés. Caballo, pieza de ajedrez. Knight es la manera en que se denomina esta pieza en inglés. Ficción Knight Rider, serie de televisión estadounidense de… …   Wikipedia Español

Фильмы

  • The Soldier Was WalKing., 1975 — This film poem tells about the immortal heroic deed of a Soviet Soldier during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).
  • Steps Of History., 1976 — The film tells about realization in real life of the 24th Congress' of the CPSU decisions, about changes in county's life during 1971-1975.
  • A Chivalrous Exercise., 1989 — About the creator of unique miniature collection of chivalrous times.