Caballiero through all that Partie,
Is Name of Worship, and so took his ’ginning
Of Spurs of Gold, and chiefly Riding.
And tho’ the Word Miles signified at first any legally inrolled for the War, which Inrolment was twofold, Honoraria and Vulgaris; yet upon the Decay of the Roman Empire, upon the Irruption of the innumerable Forces of the Alani, Goths, Vandals, &c. which consisted in Horse, their Foot was rendred useless. Miles was no longer said of him that served on Foot in the Wars, but began to be properly spoken of the Horseman; whence it came into Vogue, That among the Titles of Nobility, he who had that of Miles bestowed on him, was understood to be Horseman, or Eques, that is, of the Equestrian Dignity.
Selden observes Miles to be equivocal: and that in the old feodal Laws of the Empire it signify’d a Gentleman, as the Word Gentleman is signify’d in Nobilis; and with us it hath been frequently used to denote both Gentlemen, and Knights; for Milites denotes Gentlemen, or great Freeholders, and not dubbed Knights, viz. such who hold by Knights Service from a Lord of a Mannour, and such who are chosen from the several Counties to serve in the High Courts of Parliament.
Miles, even in the Saxon Times, denoted sometimes a Dignity. But about the Year 1046, becoming a Title of Honour, it is since most generally appropriated to Persons who have received Knighthood correspondent to Eques and Chevalier, tho’ indeed less proper; in regard Knighthood is the Dignity of Horsemanship, and the Tenure of Lands by Knights Fees here in England, anciently called Regale Servitium, is in truth Horse Service; and the Tenants such as served the King on Horseback in Wars, are Gentlemen at least (if not of Noble Extraction.)
Minshew says, the Equites, which heretofore followed and accompanied the Emperor, are, in the German Tongue, called Knechtes, that is, Servitors, or Ministers; but Camden says, Knecht, in Saxon Cniht, was in far more ancient Times accepted as an honorary Title; and, among the old Germans, signify’d a Person arm’d with Spear and Lance, (the Ensigns of their Knighthood) as in After-Times such were, among other Nations, adorned with a Girdle and Belt, since called Equites aurati, and sometimes simply Milites.
The Addition Sir to the Names of all Knights Banerets, Knights of the Bath, and Batchelor Knights, pronounced at the Time when they are created, with this Compellation: Arise, Sir John, or Sir Thomas, &c. is accounted Parcel of their Style, which the Banerets enjoy by virtue of a Clause in their Patent. It is a Contraction of the Old French Sire, taken for Seigneur, or Lord, from the Greek Κύριος. But how it came to be first given, we cannot find; nevertheless, our English Writers have bestowed it upon the major Part of the Nobility, after they had been received into the Order of Knighthood; and in the Life of St. Thomas Becket, written about the Time of King Edw. 1. we meet with the Title prefix’d to the Names of the four Knights, who slew the said St. Thomas.
§. 6. The Ensigns of the Equestrian Order among the Romans, by which they were made, was a Publick Horse, or a Gold Ring; yet still, to those who had Equestrian Cense, the Horse was the ancienter Badge of the two; but when thro’ the Multitude of these Knights no Publick Horses were assigned, but to such who were ready to enter upon Military Service, and to fight in the Legions, such were called Legionary Knights, to distinguish them from the rest, who had only receiv’d the Honour of a Gold-Ring; for they were not all employ’d in Wars.
The Censor (after the Institution of that Office ab urbe condita, 310.) and afterwards the Emperor, were the Persons who bestowed this Equus Militaris, or Publicus, as it was called from the Annual Allowance, to keep him, which they gave unto those of known Vertue and approv’d Life, compelling him to serve in the Wars, tho’ against his Will; (but in the more ancient Method of Election, Constraint was not used.) And upon Negligence in the Care of these Horses, or any Blemish, Reproach, or Infamy, or Loss of Patrimony in the Knights, the Horses were not only taken away, but the Knights wholly disfranchis’d. Rosinus laying down the Manner and Order used in ejecting such Knights, adds, A Recital being made of all the Knights that were inrolled, those whose Names he omitted, were thereby understood to be depriv’d of that Dignity.