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knight service. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
knight service, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
knight service in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
knight service you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English knyght service.
Noun
knight service (uncountable)
- (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.
- (historical, inexact) Synonym of knight's fee, the system of land tenure based on such service.
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