English

Alternative forms

• knight-service

Noun

knight service ‎(uncountable)

1. (now historical) The military service a knight owed under the feudal system as a condition of holding his lands; hence, the system of land tenure based on such service.
   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 585:

     Land became fully devisable with the abolition of knight-service in 1660, but magnates continued to inherit property which was tied up in strict settlements, giving the current representative of the family no more than a life-tenancy.

   • 2002, Christopher Gravett, English Medieval Knight 1200-1300, p. 43:

     If they were not heiresses, a lord's daughters were sometimes married off to his knights, but the latter […] might well need an incentive such as a cash payment, land or a reduction in their knight service.