chevalier

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chevalier

French title

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chevalier, (French: “horseman”), a French title originally equivalent to the English knight. Later the title chevalier came to be used in a variety of senses not always denoting membership in any order of chivalry; it was frequently used by men of noble birth or noble pretensions who could not claim any of the standard territorial titles. An ordinance of 1629 tried to forbid its being assumed except by virtue of royal letters patent or “eminence of personal quality” (éminence de qualité personnelle). A younger son of a great family, however, who could not claim a title by other means might be admitted to the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (Knights of Malta) and thereby assume the title of chevalier. Chevaliers of the French royal orders usually had some territorial title by which they remained designated; but it was questionable whether the nobility attached to the title was hereditary. Napoleon outlined conditions for the assumption of the title by members of the Legion of Honour and reserved the right to himself of appointing chevaliers of the empire. See also knight.

chivalry

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chivalry

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Last Updated: Jan 29, 2025 • Article History

Key People:: Jean III de Grailly, lord de Buch; Jean II le Meingre Boucicaut

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chivalry, the knightly class of feudal times. The primary sense of the term in Europe in the Middle Ages is “knights,” or “fully armed and mounted fighting men.” Thence the term came to mean the gallantry and honour expected of knights. Later the word came to be used in its general sense of “courtesy.”

(Read Sir Walter Scott’s 1824 Britannica essay on chivalry.)

In English law “chivalry” meant the tenure of land by knights’ service. The court of chivalry instituted by Edward III, with the lord high constable and earl marshal of England as joint judges, had summary jurisdiction in all cases of offenses of knights and generally as to military matters.

CrusaderCrusader in iron mail; in the British Museum, London.

The concept of chivalry in the sense of “honourable and courteous conduct expected of a knight” was perhaps at its height in the 12th and 13th centuries and was strengthened by the Crusades, which led to the founding of the earliest orders of chivalry, the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (Hospitallers) and the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Templars), both originally devoted to the service of pilgrims to the Holy Land. In the 14th and 15th centuries the ideals of chivalry came to be associated increasingly with aristocratic display and public ceremony rather than service in the field.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray.

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