Squire

For other uses, see Squire (disambiguation) and Squires (disambiguation).

A squire was the shield bearer or armour bearer of a knight, and at times squires included a knight's errand runner or servant^{[citation needed]}. Use of the term has evolved over time. In the Middle Ages, squires were trainees to a knight but later a leader in an English village or Lord of the Manor might be called a squire, and later key public figures such as justice of the peace or Member of Parliament. In contemporary American usage as well, squire is the title given to Justice of the peace or similar local dignitaries.

Squire is a shortened version of the word Esquire, from the Old French escuier (modern French écuyer), itself derived from the Late Latin scutarius ("shield bearer"), in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was armiger, "arms bearer".

Knights in training

The most common definition of 'squire' is that to which refers to the medieval times. A squire would be a teenage boy, in his training to become a knight. A boy became a squire at the age of 14^{[citation needed]}. This was the second stage to becoming a knight, after serving first as a page^{[citation needed]}. As part of his development to that end, he served an existing knight as an attendant or shield carrier, doing simple but important tasks like saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. The squire would sometimes carry the knight's flag to battle with his master. But a squire did not stay a squire forever. A knight would take his squires (a knight could have multiple squires but a squire could only have one knight) into battle with him and that was a squire's chance to prove himself. If he proved his loyalty and skill in battle, he would have a dubbing, an official ceremony to become a knight. However, during the Middle Ages the rank of the squire came to be recognized in its own right, and once knighthood ceased to be conferred by any but the monarch, it was no longer to be assumed that a squire would in due course progress to be a knight. The connection between a squire and any particular knight also ceased to exist, as did any shield-carrying duties.

Jobs

The typical jobs of a squire

• Carrying the knight's armour, shield, sword,
• Holding any prisoners the knight takes,
• Rescuing the knight should the knight be taken prisoner,
• Ensuring an honorable burial of the knight in the event of his death,
• Replacing the knight's sword if it were broken or dropped,
• Replacing the knight's horse or his own horse, if either be injured or killed,
• Dressing the knight in his armor,
• Carrying the knight's flag,
• Protecting the knight if needed,
• Taking care of the knight's horses,
• Accompanying the knight to tournaments and during the time of war to the battlefield,
• Ensuring the armor and weapons of the knight were in good order

In literature

The young King Arthur serves as Sir Kay's squire in the traditional tale of the sword in the stone that appears in literary works including Le Morte d'Arthur and The Once and Future King. One of the pilgrim-storytellers in The Canterbury Tales is a squire whose father is the knight who also tells a tale. In Cervantes's Don Quixote, the babbling Sancho Panza serves as squire of the deluded Don Quixote.

Village leader

In English village life from the late 17th century through the early 20th century, there was often one principal family of gentry, owning much of the land and living in the largest house, maybe the manor house. The head of this family was often the Lord of the Manor and called "the squire." Lords of the Manor held the rank of Esquire by prescription.

Squires were gentlemen with a coat of arms and were often related to peers. Many could claim descent from knights and had been settled in their inherited estates for hundreds of years. The squire usually lived at the village manor house and owned an estate comprising the village, with the villagers being his tenants. If the squire "owned the living" (i.e. "was patron") of the parish church — and he often did — he would choose the rector, a role often filled by a younger son of the squire of that or another village. Some squires also became the local rector themselves and were known as squarsons; a portmanteau of the words squire and parson. The squire would also have performed a number of important local duties, in particular that of justice of the peace or Member of Parliament.

Such was the power of the squires at this time that modern historians have created the term squirearchy. Politically, during the 19th century, squires tended to be Tories whereas the greatest landlords tended to be Whigs.

The position of squire was traditionally associated with occupation of the manor house, which would often itself confer the dignity of squire. It is unclear how widely the village squire may still be said to survive today; but where it does, the role is likely more dependent upon a recognition of good manners, lineage and long family association rather than land, which, while relevant, is nowadays likely to be considerably smaller than in former years due to high post-war death duties and the prohibitive costs associated with maintaining large country houses.

In Scotland, whilst Esquire and Gentleman are technically correctly used at the Court of the Lord Lyon, the title Laird, in place of squire, is more common. Moreover, in Scotland, Lairds append their territorial designation to their names as was traditionally done on the mainland of Europe (e.g., Donald Cameron of Lochiel). The territorial designation fell into disuse in England early on, save for peers of the realm.

In literature

The later form of squire as a gentleman appears in much English literature, for example in the form of Squire Trelawney in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. William Makepeace Thackeray depicted a squire in Vanity Fair as a lecherous, ill-educated, badly mannered relic of an earlier age. However, he clearly shows their control of the life of the parish. Others include Squire Hamley in Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters and Squire Allworthy (based on Ralph Allen) in the novel Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, who was himself a squire and magistrate. There is also a notable squire in Cormac McCarthy's Outer Dark and Charles Reade's 1856 novel It is Never Too Late to Mend where the Squire uses his authority to abuse the postal and judicial services.

Term of address

The formal term "esquire"

Main article: Esquire

The "Royal Equires" of the late-medieval English Court (upon which most of the other European Courts modelled themselves^{[citation needed]}), were not young men studying for knighthood. Far more frequently, and certainly from Edward III of England to the Reign of Henry VIII of England, they tended to be men of a similar age to the Monarch; having his complete trust.

In the 15th Century "Black Book of The Household" - a set of Ordinances composed for Edward IV of England for the "Governaunce and Regulation of the Royal Household", the King had only 4 "Esquires For The Bodie"; these were the most senior Servants in the Royal Household with total access to the Royal Person at all hours. They were the Senior Staff of the Privy Chamber, and the closest of the King's "Affinity" (i.e. his most intimate daily companions), and were the only Servants in the entire Household who were required - not just allowed - to bear arms in the King's presence, as one of their duties was to act as personal bodyguards "of last resort" in the event of an immediate threat to the Royal person.

In times of War when their Royal Master was "under arms" himself, they would also fight (literally) at his side, defending him with their own bodies, if needed. They oversaw his Pages and the other lesser servants of the Privy Chamber, and arranged for his daily clothing, for his laundry, helped him dress and undress, stood guard while he was shaved, washed or bathed, - one stood behind his Chair of estate when he dined; - they accompanied him while at leisure - when hunting, at archery, at tennis, - they played cards and other board games with him, wagering with him on the results (see wagers lost and won recorded in the Account Books of Henry VII of England, each page signed by the King in person, National Archives at Kew) and were the bearers of confidential messages to and from, both diplomatic and amorous.

King Edward IV of England and King Richard III of England only appointed 4 Esquires For The Bodie each. King Henry VII of England appointed four of his closest "companions of Our late Exile" within days of his victory at Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, and had appointed an extra five Esquires by the end of his Reign in 1509. His son King Henry VIII not only retained all of his father's Esquires of the Body while dismissing others of his Father's senior Officers and even executing some (for example, Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley) but he vastly increased the number of that select group, as he enlarged the rest of the Royal Household as set down in the "Statutes of Eltham". The position was so highly regarded, for the value of its continuous close-access to the King, that at least two notable late-medieval Gentles are recorded contemporaneously as having famously refused offers of knighthood, declaring that to be an "Esquire of the Body" was a far-greater honour.

In the post-medieval world, the title of esquire came to belong to all men of the higher landed gentry; an esquire ranked socially above a gentleman but below a knight. In the modern world, where all men are assumed to be gentlemen,^{[citation needed]} the term has correspondingly often been extended (albeit only in very formal writing) to all men without any higher title. It is used post-nominally, usually in abbreviated form: "John Smith, Esq.", for example.

Germany

The linguistic and social development of esquire or squire is paralleled by that of the German junker, which historically meant "young nobleman" or otherwise "young lord" and denoted the lesser part of the aristocracy, but "went up in the world" in much the same time as squire did in England.

United States

In the United States, this style is most common among attorneys, borrowing from the English tradition whereby all barristers were styled "Esquires". (Solicitors were entitled only to the style "Mr".) In earlier years in the U.S. the title squire was given to a Justice of the Peace, for example Squire Jones. It was also used to mean Justice of the Peace as in the example "He was taken before the squire." It appears that the connection to attorneys evolved from a time when squires meeting to negotiate a duel would instead resolve the dispute, see the heading England on Trial by Combat.

The slang term "squire"

The term 'squire' is sometimes used, particularly in southern English slang, by men when addressing another man. In this context it is interchangeable with other slang terms such as 'mate', 'pal' or 'chum', but with a slightly aggressive, challenging, mocking undertone as it ironically implies a subordinate relationship to the person being addressed. This usage crops up frequently in comedy sketches by Monty Python, et al. Example: "Yes squire, what can I do for you?".