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I learned a different history of the term Esquire in law school. As the article says, the term Esquire was first used to describe the person who helped a Knight

I learned a different history of the term Esquire in law school. As the article says, the term Esquire was first used to describe the person who helped a Knight by handing him weapons and helping him get up in their heavy armor after getting knocked to the ground in a joust. So how did it become ascribed to a modern-day lawyer? When you think of a legal trial, you think of Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men ("You can't handle the truth!"). But before this modern trial by jury, there were many types of trials in the Middle Ages. There was Trial by Fire, where people walked over hot coals. If they were not injured, they were innocent. There was also Trial by Combat where the accused had to fight the King's Champion. Since the King's Champion, usually a knight, had his own esquire, the accused was given an esquire as well to assist the accused in the trial. Later, when the more civilized Trial by Jury became the norm, an esquire assisting the accused remained an essential feature. The term Esquire grew to include an office of trust for the King and his court. In America, a lawyer, the person assisting the accused in a court of law, also became a trusted officer of the court of law, with the title Esquire. Of course in America, where there is no formal peerage or titles, the title of Esquire is mainly traditional, and not a formal feature of the judicial system.

bradknowles 6y ago
Knights actually had “Squires”, not “Esquires”. A Squire was a person to assist you in all your Knightly activities, not just in helping you in combat or a jousting tournament. Squires were also usually expensive, and therefore some Knights might not have a Squire at all, they might have just one Squire, or they might have multiple Squires. The relationship between Knight and Squire was very much like the relationship between any other type of Master and his Apprentice. There were also Men-At-Arms who were further down the totem pole from Squires. The concept of “Esquire” came later.
- halostatue 6y ago
  The article addresses this. The French term for squire was `escuier`, or shield-bearer. So squire and esquire are the same thing. > This is where esquires come into play. The word itself derives from Old French, and in turn from Latin, where it means something like “shield-holder.” In the 1200s and 1300s in England, a variety of languages were used, so such figures might be referred to as the Latin armiger (“arms-holder,”) or scutifer (“shield-bearer”), or the French escuier, which became “esquire.” These terms all refer to roughly similar people. This role was generally considered moderately prestigious for young men of some wealth, but at its core it was a service job. You carry a knight’s stuff, tend to his horses, that kind of thing. “Esquire” and “squire” were names for the same gig for a few hundred years.

bradknowles 6y ago

Knights actually had “Squires”, not “Esquires”. A Squire was a person to assist you in all your Knightly activities, not just in helping you in combat or a jousting tournament. Squires were also usually expensive, and therefore some Knights might not have a Squire at all, they might have just one Squire, or they might have multiple Squires. The relationship between Knight and Squire was very much like the relationship between any other type of Master and his Apprentice. There were also Men-At-Arms who were further down the totem pole from Squires. The concept of “Esquire” came later.

halostatue 6y ago
The article addresses this. The French term for squire was `escuier`, or shield-bearer. So squire and esquire are the same thing. > This is where esquires come into play. The word itself derives from Old French, and in turn from Latin, where it means something like “shield-holder.” In the 1200s and 1300s in England, a variety of languages were used, so such figures might be referred to as the Latin armiger (“arms-holder,”) or scutifer (“shield-bearer”), or the French escuier, which became “esquire.” These terms all refer to roughly similar people. This role was generally considered moderately prestigious for young men of some wealth, but at its core it was a service job. You carry a knight’s stuff, tend to his horses, that kind of thing. “Esquire” and “squire” were names for the same gig for a few hundred years.