1 - The Mechanics of Retaining

Summary

By the time of Edward III's accession in 1327, kings of medieval England had been retaining household knights for over two hundred years. As a result, the way in which these knights were held in royal service was generally well established. It was also relatively simple. Since Edward I's reign, household knights had been retained in two ranks: a lower rank of simple household knights (milites hospicii Regis/milites simplices) and an upper rank of household bannerets (bannerettis hospicii Regis). For both ranks, status as a household knight was denoted by the biannual receipt of robes and fees through the royal wardrobe. These robes and fees, distributed at Easter and Michaelmas, were done so at a fixed rate dependent on one's status within the household. Household bannerets received robes to the value of 16 marks and fees of 20 marks if retained for the entire year, while simple household knights received half these sums.

While these were the basics of the household knight system under Edward III, important questions need to be addressed in this opening chapter about the intricacies of this system and how it operated in practice. How defined was the position of a household knight? What is the correct vocabulary to use when discussing these individuals? And to what extent did those serving in the royal household feel a sense of collective identity? It is also important to trace how the system changed over the course of Edward's reign, for the second half of the fourteenth century witnessed a period of unparalleled transformation in the composition of the knightly household. Indeed, after 1360, the long-established rank of household knight ceased to exist. In its place emerged the rank of ‘chamber knight’ (miles camere Regis), who were fewer in number and less orientated militarily in their duties. In addition, following Richard II's accession in 1377, a considerable number of ‘king's knights’ (milites Regis) and ‘king's esquires’ (scutarius Regis) were retained for the first time. This altered the very essence of what it was to be a royal knight, and it is of paramount importance to understand this development from the outset of this study.