Nobleman
A noble servant (also: “servant” (in the formula “knight and servant”), “noble boy”, “armiger”, “ wappner ”, “wepeling” or “wäpeling”) was a noble, knightly, adult, but (still ) Medieval cavalry warriors who were not knighted or girded with a sword. In modern literature, the term "Scarce" is often used, with overlapping but content to the employed as assistant squire result. In contrast, the noble servant was a full-fledged cavalryman with appropriate equipment, who in the 15th century often made up to 90% of the traveling (mounted) warriors in a troop. In the English-speaking area, knights and servants ( Esquires/ Squires) for the late Middle Ages contemporary and modern summarized as "men-at-arms".
In the contemporary Latin sources appear noblemen and others. a. as “servientes equites, servientes loricati, famuli, scutiferi, satellites equestres, clientes or servientes armati ut milites”. These terms may turn not knightly Sergenten (French .: "sergents à cheval") call, so after chivalrous sort armed warriors not knightly ancestry.
With the loss of military importance for knights, noblemen and squires in the 16th century, the functional titles noble servant or squire mutated into mere titles of nobility in many European countries . Examples of this are Edler in the monarchies of southern Germany and Austria , as well as écuyer in France and squire in England .
Knight and noble servant
_173.png)
But this [knightly] dignity had become an adornment of the wealthy and the respectable of the class, it was no longer acquired by the great majority of the nobility, not even coveted. ( Gustav Freytag )
Most members of the lower nobility had to forego acquiring the knighthood for economic reasons in the late Middle Ages. Often only the eldest son of a family was allowed to be knighted; his brothers had to remain servants. This was of little importance for daily life; at most, in tournaments , differences were made between knights and servants. Three knight horses were only entitled to "real" knights, servants had to be content with two, but were usually admitted to the tournament.
A visible differentiation between noblemen and knights was originally the sword belt , which was the actual symbol of knighthood ( sword line ). Non-knightly warriors usually attached the sword to the saddle . However, this distinction has often been abandoned in reality. For example, the noble servant Konrad Kolb von Boppard (d. 1393) wears a richly decorated sword belt on his tombstone in the Carmelite Church in Boppard . The knightly noblewoman also presents himself in full knightly armament. In the accompanying inscription he is expressly referred to as Armiger (i.e. nobleman).
The Carmelite Church in Boppard hides another grave slab of a nobleman. The cover plate of a former high grave shows Wilhelm von Schwalbach and his housewife Anna von Leyen. Here too, Herr von Schwalbach wears the full knightly equipment and leans on a large two-handed sword. The rich execution of his tomb indicates that he must have lived in good economic circumstances.
The lower nobility, who provided most of the knights and especially the noblemen, were not just a professional warrior class. The Central European aristocratic leagues were often larger yeomaners and land managers than warriors, so that knighthood was dispensable in everyday life.
Some noblemen were even awarded knights several times because of their special bravery or other merits. However, these “doctorates” were more of a symbolic character, comparable to the award of a medal . Most of the award winners lacked the economic basis to permanently accept the knighthood. The constant maintenance of the three usual knight horses and the corresponding number of servants was mostly impossible or simply too expensive for these lower nobles for financial reasons. The organization of a befitting “graduation ceremony”, to which the entire surrounding aristocratic society usually had to be invited, may have deterred many. As a noble servant one was also unsuitable as a “trainer” of a young knight, thus saving considerable additional financial and time expenditure.
The simultaneous knight promotion of many servants was common, especially on the occasion of larger battles. Even if the number of excellent servants is often exaggerated, it was sometimes pronounced before the battle to raise morale. Post-combat doctorates were far more common as a special honor for brave warriors. Here the achievement counted more than the origin, farmers and craftsmen were also occasionally awarded in this way. Mass promotions also occurred on the occasion of tournaments or weddings. As mentioned, these doctorates often had no effect on the actual status of the recipient.
For all these reasons, a number of wealthy nobles renounced their knights. This seems to have gotten so out of hand in the later Middle Ages that even regional laws and ordinances had to be enacted, so the knighthood was made mandatory with the appropriate fortune.
Gustav Freytag suspected around 1860 in his pictures from the German past (volume 2.1, p. 375/376) that there were about five times more servants than knights. For the end of the Middle Ages, he even reduced this ratio to ten to one. Despite the extensive lack of reliable statistical information, Freytag's estimates are likely to correspond approximately to reality. In 1397, 1,300 knights and 3,700 servants are said to have participated in the Frankfurt Fürstentag. Participation in such a major social event was certainly only possible for wealthy servants.
However, some feudal lords tried systematically to suppress the emergence of a powerful and wealthy knighthood. Noble soldiers and especially soldiers who were not knightly were simply “cheaper” and easier to control. In the course of the general decline of chivalry, the number of noblemen grew, so poor “knights” were mostly none at all.
The term knight originally encompassed all mounted warriors, later it was changed to a status. In the eyes of the population, noblemen were also “knights”, even today these two different versions of “knighthood” are not clearly distinguished even in serious scientific literature. However, this distinction makes it easier to understand the social phenomenon of knighthood and, in particular, its downfall.
During the sword line or the accolade, the words better knight than servant are said to have been spoken often . Proof of this is the accolade of Duke Albrecht III. of Austria , which Peter suchtwirt handed down around 1380 in his poem Von Herzog Albrechts Ritterschaft :
The count von Zil Herman called,
daz swert auz his schaide zoch
and swencht ez in the air up
and spoke to duke Albrecht:
"Pezzer ritter ife chnecht!"
and slug the rich slag.
On the same day
Vir and sibenzig were knights.
Sources and references
1264
- Journal of German Antiquity. - Berlin [u. a.]: Weidmann, 8 (1851), p. 550
1311
ain the death of graves, freemen, dinstmannen, knights or noble servants, the sol steen of our grace ...
- The old Bavarian state license with the state declarations of freedom: according to the official printed editions with historical introduction and short dictionaries, ed. by Gustav von Lerchenfeld. Munich: Kaiser, 1853.
1316
we knights and eidel servants and the burgere gimenlich ...
- Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Munich): MGConst. V, p. 290
First quarter of the 14th century
manic noble knees, biderb unde frumic, asked the kunic that he would be a knight liez
- Monumenta Germaniae Historica: [Scriptores: 8]; 5.1, verse 15850ff
- Further evidence: German legal dictionary (DRW)
Rixner
One of the most valuable and easily accessible sources on "noble servitude " is the "tournament book" by Georg Rüxner (Rixners) (1530). In the tournament lists the knights and servants are separated, especially in late medieval tournaments, or the knighthood is mentioned after the name. The number of noblemen far exceeds that of knights. Sometimes less than a quarter of the participants were knights. The non-knightly fighters are referred to as "noble", "servant" and "noble servant". The work, which has only been preserved in three original copies, was made available to researchers as a reprint in 1997.
- Georg Rixner: Tournament book - reprint of the splendid Simmern 1530 edition . Solingen, 1997. ISBN 3-930132-08-7
literature
- Ulrich Lehnart: Knights, squires and sergents . In: Ulrich Lehnart: The battle of Worringen 1288. Warfare in the Middle Ages. The Limburg War of Succession with special consideration of the Battle of Worringen, June 5, 1288 . Afra-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1993, ISBN 3-923217-66-8 , pp. 18-23 ( AAS history sciences ), (At the same time: Trier, Univ., Diss., 1989: Warfare in the Middle Ages ).
- Rudolf Kilian Weigand: Half knights and servants. To categorize and illustrate marginalized social groups in Hugos von Trimberg's “Renner” . In: Hans-Jochen Schiewer , Karl Stackmann (Ed.): The presence of the Middle Ages in his manuscripts . Results of the Berlin conference in the Berlin State Library - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, April 6th - 8th, 2000. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2002, ISBN 3-484-10847-9 , pp. 83-105.
Individual evidence
- ^ Andrew Ayton: Knights and Warhorses. Military Service and the English Aristocracy under Edward III . Woodbridge, Rochester 1994.
- ↑ http://www.deutsches-rechtswoerterbuch.de/