Legal Definition and Related Resources of Knight

A man who had attained the dignity of knighthood, which was the first personal dignity, after the nobility. A knight, therefore, in order of rank or precedence, followed a baronet.

In English law. The next personal dignity after the nobility. Of knights there are geveral orders and degrees. The first in rank are Knights of the Garter, instituted by Edward III. in 1344; next follows, a knight banneret; then come knights of the Bath, instituted by Henry IV., and revived by George I.; and they were so called from a custom of bathing the night before their creation. The last order are knights bachelors, who, though the lowest, are yet the most ancient, order of knighthood; for we find that King Alfred conferred this order upon his son Athelstan. 1 BI. Comm. 403. These are sometimes called knights of the chamber, being such as are made in time of peace, and so called because knighted in the king’s chamber, and not in the field. 2 Inst. 666. Of the more recently established orders are the knights of St. Michael and St. George, established in 1818, and the knights of St. Patrick, an Irish order instituted in 1763. These last have no rank in England. Knights were called equites, because they always served on horseback; aurati, from the gilt spurs they wore; and milites, because they formed the royal army, in virtue of their feudal tenures.

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This definition of Knight is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

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See Also

• Feud