The Ground for erecting this Degree was partly Martial; for tho’ themselves were not enjoined personal Service in the Wars, yet each Baronet was to maintain thirty Foot Soldiers for three Years in Ireland, after the rate of Eight Pence per Day, for the Defence of that Kingdom, and chiefly to secure the Plantation of Ulster.
They were at least to be descended from a Grand-father, on the Father’s Side, that bore Arms, and had a Revenue of 1000 l. per Ann. or Lands of old Rents of equal Value with 1000 l. per Ann. of improv’d Lands, or at least two Parts of three of such Estate in Possession; the other third in Reversion Expectant upon one Life held only in Jointure.
The Year after, King James I. added some new Privileges and Ornaments, viz. to Knight those already made that were no Knights; and the Heirs hereafter of every Baronet should, at the Age of One and Twenty Years, receive Knighthood; likewise that all Baronets might bear in Canton, or in an Inescutcheon, the Arms of Ulster; and farther, to have place in the Armies of the King in the Gross, near about the Royal Standard.
Since the Institution of Baronets in England, there have been made divers in Ireland after the like Form: And the Knights of Nova Scotia in the West-Indies were ordained in Imitation of Baronets in England by the said King James, A. D. 1622. for the Planting that Country by Scotch Colonies, and the Degree made likewise Hereditary.
These latter wear an Orange Tawny Ribbon as their Badge, to distinguish them from other Knights; and it appears, there was an Intention, 1627. to move his then Majesty, that all Baronets and Knights Bachelors might wear Ribbons of several Colours, some Badge or Jewel, in such Sort as did the Knights of the Bath, to distinguish the one from the other: But that Matter dropt.
§. 5. We shall now observe the Etymology of Eques, Miles, Chevalier, Ritter, and Sir. The Grecians had a Title of Honour equivalent to the Signification of Eques in the Latin, from Equus, an Horse, because one Part of the Ceremony, whereby this Honour became conferred, was the giving of an Horse; or because having an Horse at the Publick Charge, they received the Stipend of an Horseman to serve in the Wars, Horses being Symbols of War, Bello armantur equi. It is to be noted, That the Degree of Knighthood in the Dialects of other Nations hath the same Derivation: For in the French, a Knight is called Chevalier; in the German, Ridder, or Ritter, q. d. Rider; so the Gheslagen Ridder is interpreted, The dubbed Knight; in the Italian, it is Cavagliero; in the old British, Morchog; concerning which, hear one of Jeffery Chaucer’s Scholars.
Eques ab Equo is said of very right,
And Chevalier is said of Chevalrie,
In which a Rider called is a Knight;
Arragoners done also specifie