Special Associates Of The College Of Pontifical Honorees
Orden Militar de Caballería Ligera del Papa
“San Ignacio de Loyola”
Don Carlos Gustavo Lavado Ruíz y Roqué Lascano
Order of Knighthood
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Originally, knighthood was an induction into a body of professional soldiers, trained in specialized combat and bound by certain rules of conduct. THe first stage of apprenticeship led to the status of "ecuyer" or esquire, after which one could become a knight after a particular ceremony, whose details varied.
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By the time knights ceased to be an effective part of warfare in the 16th c., the ceremony had ceased to be practiced, and the term had become honorary. What exactly it meant, and who could use it, is a little unclear. An ordonnance of 1629 prohibited anyone from using the style of knight "who have not received it from our predecessors or ourselves, or who do not deserve it by the eminence of their quality" ("deffendons à tous non-Nobles d'en prendre la qualité, de se dire Escuyers, ny porter Armoiries timbrées; & à toutes personnes de prendre la qualité de Chevalier, s'ils ne l'ont obtenuë de nos predecesseurs ou de Nous, ou que l'eminence de leur qualité ne la leur attribuë"). In the mid-18th century, Diderot's Encyclopédie defined the term as "signifie proprement une personne élevée ou par dignité ou par attribution au-dessus du rang de gentilhomme" (s.v. chevalier), and lists as first privilege of the nobility "à pouvoir prendre la qualité d'écuyer ou de chevalier, selon que leur noblesse est plus ou moins qualifiée, & à communiquer les mêmes qualités & les privileges qui y sont attachés à leurs femmes quoique roturieres, & à leurs enfans & autres descendans mâles & femelles" (s.v. noblesse). It also defines "noblesse de chevalerie"as "celle qui provient de la qualité de chevalier, attribuée à quelqu'un ou à ses ancêtres, en lui donnant l'accolade" (s.v. noblesse de chevalerie).
Jurists differed on whether the style was hereditary. La Roque ( Traité de la Noblesse, 1678; p. 344) thought not: "c'est un abus que de faire deux degrés de Noblesse, l'un de Chevalier, l'autre d'Ecuyer: et la Chevalerie ne vient point de la naissance, mais dépend absolument de la grace du Prince." For him, the title was ad personam and could only be granted by the king, either by ceremony or through the grant of "lettres de chevalerie", for which Lar Roque provides examples from 1315.
Chevalier was also a title attached to members of the orders of knighthood: these were, of course, purely ad personam. Note, however, that by an edict of 1750, three consecutive generations of officers who were recipients of the order of Saint-Louis and who met certain requirements on duration of service endowed the issue of the 3d member with hereditary nobility (but not knighthood; see more details). This feature was recalled in an ordonnance of 1814 discussed below.
No French order of knighthood conferred nobility per se, so these knights were not noble.
"Chevalier" as title
Generally speaking, "chevalier" was not a French title of nobility. There are, however, a number of exceptions. The first one dates to the time of Louis XIV. The second exception, the most complex, dates to the time of Napoleon and the Restoration. Much of what follows comes from Alain Texier: Qu'est-ce que la noblesse? Paris: 1987, Tallandier. pp. 357-372.
Dr hc Don Carlos Gustavo Lavado Ruíz y Roqué Lascano
Caballero del Ejército de la República Argentina
Chevalier de la Roque (France)
Prepósito General
"Deo militare"
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