[34] The word Knight (knecht) really means _servant_. The ancient knights attended on the higher nobles and were their _servants_, fighting under them in battle. For as there was no regular army, when a war broke out everybody who could bear arms engaged himself to fight under some king or lord, anywhere, abroad or in England, and was paid for his services. That was how hundreds of nobly born men got their living--the only way they could get it. This is what the knight Arviragus does in the ‘Franklin’s Tale;’ leaving his bride, to win honour (and money) by fighting wherever he could. The _squire_ waited on the knight much as the knight did on the earl--much in the position of an aide-de-camp of the present day. The _page_ served earl, knights, ladies. But knight, squire, and page were all honourable titles, and borne by noblemen’s sons. The page was often quite a boy, and when he grew older changed his duties for those of squire, till he was permitted to enter the knighthood. The present knight is described as being in a lord’s service, and fighting under him ‘in his war,’ but he was a man held in the highest honour. [35] See p. 48 and Appendix, p. 107. [36] “On nommait _Bacheliers_ les chevaliers pauvres, les _bas Chevaliers_ ... quand ceux-ci avaient reçu la chevalerie, on les appelait Chevaliers-Bacheliers ... quant à l’Ecuyer (Squire) c’était le prétendant à la Chevalerie.”--LE GRAND, _Fabliaux & Contes_. [37] _Chivachie_: military expeditions. [38] See page 45, note 96. [39] Mr. Bell considers that these two lines refer to the squire’s complexion of red and white. Speght thinks it means freckled. But there is little doubt that the material of his dress is what Chaucer means, for there is no other instance of Chaucer calling a complexion _embroidered_, and gorgeously flowered fabrics embroidered with the needle were peculiar to the period and in common use. [40] As it was the custom for sons to do. [41] Peacocks’ feathers on them instead of swans’. [42] It was a sign of the yeoman’s carefulness in his business that they stuck out from the shaft instead of drooping. [43] _Bracer_: a leathern defence for the arm: a similar shield is now worn in archery. [44] _Bokeler_--buckler: a small shield--used chiefly for a warder to catch the blow of an adversary. Some pictures show the buckler to have been only the size of a plate, but it varied. In comparing the Wife of Bath’s hat to a buckler, Chaucer could not have meant so small a one. It was usual for serving men of noble families to carry swords and bucklers when in attendance on them. [45] _Bawdrik_--baldrick: ornamented strap to suspend the horn or dagger.