The Curiosities of Heraldry

by Mark Antony Lower

To distinguish this, the most antient order of knights, from those of the Garter, Bath, and others, they are called Knights-Bachelors. (“What,” asks Nares, “are the wives and children of a bachelor?”) The etymology of this word in all its senses, is extremely obscure; so much so that scarcely any two authorities are agreed upon it. Menage, according to Johnson, derives it from bas chevalier; an unfortunate hypothesis, certainly, for it would make the compound word mean ‘knight low-knight.’

Knighthood at the present day, so far from being restricted to the profession of war, is often given, says Clark,[242] “to gownsmen, physicians, burghers, and artists.” Nares adds, “brewers, silversmiths, attorneys, apothecaries, upholsterers, hosiers, and tailors;” and continues, “I do by no means wish to see such persons placed out of the reach of honours, or deprived of the smiles and favours even of royalty. King Alfred undoubtedly showed his wisdom in honouring merchants.” He regards knighthood inappropriate, however, to the avocations named; but surely he could not have reflected that the successive changes which have come over the face of society have altered the import of nearly every title amongst us. The title of duke (dux, general) is as inappropriate when bestowed upon a civilian as that of knight—nay, more so; for in knighthood the erroneous application dies with the person honoured, while the dukedom (generalship) is hereditary.

The lowest titles borne in England are those of Esquire and Gentleman—titles which Coke (as Blackstone observes) has confounded together. Nor is it easy to discriminate between them, as every esquire is a gentleman, although every gentleman may not be an esquire. In the reign of Henry VI this difference is observable, namely, that the heads of families were commonly accounted esquires, while younger sons were styled gentlemen.

Esquireship, like knighthood, is a military dignity; and its origin is perfectly clear. In the earliest times, possibly in the days of Olybion himself, every warrior of distinction was attended by his armour-bearer. Hence in the romances of the middle ages we find the knight almost invariably attended by a subordinate personage, half-friend, half-servant, who carried his shield and other armour, and who thence acquired the designation of ecuyer, esquire, or (Anglicè) shield-bearer. In later periods, knights selected one, or more frequently, several, of their principal or most valiant retainers, to officiate as esquires during a campaign. These, in the event of a successful issue of the war, they often enriched with lands and goods, giving them, at the same time, the privilege of bearing armorial ensigns, copied in part from their own, or otherwise, according to circumstances.[243] After such a grant the person honoured became an esquire in another sense, as the bearer of his own shield; and in this sense all persons at the present day whose claim to bear arms would be admitted by the proper functionaries, are virtually, scutifers, armigers, or esquiers. But there is a more restricted use of the term, bearing relation to the honour in a civil rather than a military aspect, as we shall shortly see.

By the courtesies of common life, now-a-days, every person a little removed from the ignobile vulgus claims to be an esquire; and comparatively few, even among the better informed classes, know in what esquireship really consists. For the behoof of such as are confessedly ignorant of this branch of heraldry, and are not too proud to learn, I subjoin the following particulars, gathered from various respectable authorities. Real esquires, then, are of seven sorts:

1. Esquires of the king’s body, whose number is limited to four.

2. The eldest sons of knights, and their eldest sons born during their lifetime. It would seem that, in the days of antient warfare, the knight often took his eldest son into the wars for the purpose of giving him a practical military education, employing him meanwhile as his esquire. Such certainly was Chaucer’s squier. With the knight

“ther was his son, a young Squier,
A lover, and a lusty bachelor...
And he hadde be somtime in chevachie,[244]
In Flaunders, in Artois, and Picardie.”

3. The eldest sons of the younger sons of peers of the realm.

4. Such as the king invests with the collar of SS, including the kings of arms, heralds, &c. The dignity of esquire was conferred by Henry IV and his successors, by the investiture of the collar and the gift of a pair of silver spurs. Gower the poet was such an esquire by creation. In the ballad of the King (Edward IV) and the Tanner of Tamworth we find the frolicsome monarch creating a dealer in cowhides a squire in this manner: