KNIGHT. The word is said to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon Cniht, a servant, one who serves. Hence in feudal times it was used for certain persons doing service to a superior lord or the king, the same as duke expressed leadership. As to our knowledge of the origin of the knightly status we must go back as far as the foundation of Rome. Among the early Romans the mounted warriors (equites) held a certain special position socially. Its origin has been placed with Romulus who is said (about 750 'lc.) to have made of the three patrician tribes — Ramnes (Latins), Taties (Sabines) and Luceres (Etruscans) — three centurion (300) of riders in war service. Under the kings this number was raised to six, later, by additions of plebeians raising the rank to 18 and forming the basis of a special order (ordo equester) adapted for cavalry. As the service entailed no extra expense the standing of this body of armed riders was raised above that of citizenship. By law of Roscius (267 n.c.) the condition was imposed of owning a fortune 4,000,000 sesterces. The external badge on the campaign uniform of this body of cavalry was a narrow stripe on the tunic, also the distinction of wearing a gold ring and having special seats in the theatre and circus, besides other political and social features. Un der the Caesars this order of riders (equester) was drawn on for imperial officials, to carry on the financial rule of the provinces, etc.
During the Saxon heptarchy, in England, the order of knighthood was conferred by a priest at the altar, Athelstan (900 A.D.) being the first king to create a knight. The receiving of arms at the arrival of the age of manhood was from the days of the Germanic hordes accompanied by a solemn ceremonial, and the candidate to wear arras had to prove fitness in capacity. By the 11th century the ceremony of the investiture of arms had become general. Under the feudal laws some tenants and the owners of lands free from rent or service (allodial) had to he ready on call to serve their lord or king on horseback and wearing a coat of mail. (See CHAIN Araton). They were called Caballarii, from whence the French term chevalier is derived. And we now read of a eknight's fee" in England, or the feudum lori ea% fief de haubert (coat of mail) being °a certain value of these vassals, we are told, were °serving as knights, mounted and equipped?' The origin of the knight of chivalry is one involved in the history of morals of the Euro pean nations—the institution of chivalry.
The knighthood of • chivalry is an independent and voluntary service. The obligation of the landowner to service of knight in arms did not extend to the rest of the family except the heir. The younger sons ambitious of gaining glory and dignity as knights had to submit their military service to some wealthy lord in the hope of gaining an income by their prowess as well as that social distinction which was theirs by birth, and from this field of achieved per sonal ambition arose a social advance in which the voluntary seeker of fame in arms raised himself a step higher in the social scale than the knight by legal right regardless of merit or valor in the field. These were the first knights of chivalry. The Crusades increased the num ber and ranks of these hired knights and at the same time altered and advanced the status of chivalry itself. While the ritual of invest ing the hired offic..r with knighthood included such mandates as oaths of fidelity and honor, as well as gallantry and protection to women over and beyond the former claim to discipline demanded of the common soldier (milites), this act of crusading for the capture of Jeru salem and the Holy Land introduced a reli gious feature that did not before enter into the realm of knighthood's services. And we read of the applicant for knighthood first confess ing his sins before the priest, spending nights in prayer and passing through pious rites be fore receiving his titular rank. And the order was conferred on him by a priest instead of being °dubbed* by a knight. Chivalry had be come a religious institution and the crusading knight of the 12th century was the militant bearer of the Cross and protector of his Church. Gallantry and protection of the fair sex became a living force among the knights and at tournaments the ladies took a prominent and distinguished part. And we now arrive at the time when the following were the quali fications of a deserving knight: Great respect for the female and three other virtues were enjoined on knighthood, namely, loyalty, cour tesy and munificence.