knight service

See also: knight-service

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English knyght service.

Noun

knight service (uncountable)

  1. (historical, law) The military service a knight owed to his chief lord as a condition of holding title to his lands and rank.
    • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 585:
      Land became fully devisable with the abolition of knight-service in 1660, but magnates continued to inherit property which was tied up in strict settlements, giving the current representative of the family no more than a life-tenancy.
    • 2002, Christopher Gravett, English Medieval Knight 1200-1300, page 43:
      If they were not heiresses, a lord's daughters were sometimes married off to his knights, but the latter […] might well need an incentive such as a cash payment, land or a reduction in their knight service.
  2. (historical, inexact) Synonym of knight's fee, the system of land tenure based on such service.

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