KNIGHT'S SERVICE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Knight's service

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noun

Knight's service, Knight service n.

(Feud. Law) The military service by rendering which a knight held his lands.

(Eng. Feud. Law) A tenure of lands held by knights on condition of performing military service. See Chivalry, n., 4. "By far the greater part of England (in the 13th century) is held of the king by knight's service.... In order to understand this tenure we must form the conception of a unit of military service. That unit seems to be the service of one knight or fully armed horseman (servitium unius militis) to be done to the king in his army for forty days in the year, if it be called for.... The limit of forty days seems to have existed rather in theory than practice."

Service such as a knight can or should render; hence, good or valuable service.

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Etymology of 'Knight's service'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Knight's service" Quotes from Famous Books

... my heart," said the knight; "I have got little by a knight's service in the Court; and the last time I was at the ordinary, ...

— The Fortunes of Nigel • Sir Walter Scott

... Norman lords were also obliged to swear fealty, and transcripts of their oaths were placed in the Irish Exchequer. Arrangements were also made for the military support of the colony, and certain troops were to be furnished with forty days' ration by all who held lands by "knight's service." The Irish princes who lived in the southern and western parts of Ireland, appear to have treated the King with silent indifference; they could afford to do so, as they were so far beyond ...

— An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 • Mary Frances Cusack

... which is at least possible, that one half of the absentees should be friends to the cause of the people; what would become of us then? There remains indeed the obvious method of purchasing votes, and it might be supposed that your lordship's talent of insinuation might do you knight's service in this business. But no, my lord, many of these country gentlemen are at bottom no better than boors. A mechlin cravat and a smirking countenance, upon which your lordship builds so much, would be absolutely unnoticed by them. I am afraid ...

— Four Early Pamphlets • William Godwin