Re: medieval english was knight ranks and titles

On 13 Oct 2005 00:32:28 -0700, <sakrelije@xxxxxxxxx> wrote
in
<news:1129188748.597221.19610@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
in sci.lang:

> Mike wrote:

>> "Mike" <bakerdivert@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:11ks0ju3gubei28@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

>>> Some OED quotes using the word sergeant might help.

>>> "<c1330 Chron Wace (Rolls)> Seuen thousand now we are
>>> Of knyghtes to bataille zare, Wythoute seriauntz &
>>> other pytaille[foot soldiers].

Not <zare>, but <3are>, where <3> stands for the letter
yogh; here it has the sound of <y>, and indeed the spelling
<yare> goes back to the 13th century. The word means
'ready, prepared. This quotation is for the meaning 'a
common soldier'; the sense is 'We are now seven thousand
knights ready for battle, not counting common soldiers and
other infantry'.

>>> <c1314 Guy Warw.> On ich side he seye come kniztes,
>>> Burieys [?] and seriaunce redi to fiztes.

Again, this should be <kni3tes> 'knights' and <fi3tes>
'fights, battles'; this quotation is for the meaning 'a
tenant by military service under the rank of a knight; esp.
one of this class attending on a knight in the field',
nearly equivalent to 'squire'. 'On each side he saw coming
knights, burgesses, and sergeants prepared for battles',
where 'burgess' is 'an inhabitant of a borough possessing
full municipal rights; a citizen, a freeman of a borough'.
All three terms here -- 'knight', 'burgess', and 'sergeant'
-- therefore imply significant social standing.

>>> <c1450 Merlin> And the barons..were well viij knyghtes,
>>> with-outen seriantz and arblastis [a type of cross
>>> bow].

There should be a superscript <ml> immediately after the
<viij>; the number is 8000. This is again for the
definition 'a common soldier', as is the next. 'And the
barons were a good 8000 knights, not counting common
soldiers and arbalesters.'

>>> <c1456 Law Arms> Sevin thousand knychtis, four score of
>>> thousandis of sergendis."

'Seven thousand knights, 80,000 common soldiers.'

>> What do Burieys and viij mean above?

> Not sure about Burieys, but the "j" is a Roman numeral.
> It's a scribal convention to write the third "i" as a
> "j", since "j" was a variant of "i"; "iij", "xiij",
> "xxiij" etc. Hope that helps.

Not just the third, but the last of any number: ij, xj, etc.
It was at least partly a way to prevent alteration of a
number.

Talan
.