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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 2270045" data-attributes="member: 463">Ourph I hate to take issue with you, but 600 was the number of Barons (and higher noble titles) in late-medieval England.  In England you were only a Lord, and entitled to sit in the House of Lords, if you were a Baron (and possibly Viscount, Earl, Duke etc).   You did not acquire the official title of Lord (=Baron) through being a landed knight, although I agree "lord of the manor" was/is used in casual parlance.  Only the King could make Lords.England was unusual in Europe in how few titled nobles it had; partly because in England a noble title was only held by the head of the family (outside royalty) and attached to the land, whereas in Europe younger sons also got titles and the nobility thus multiplied until by the end of the Ancien Regime in France something like 1/4 the population could claim a noble title!Traditionally any Knight could knight another Knight, but by the later medieval epoch it became a prerogative of the Barons (all English nobles are Barons even if they have higher titles), and nowadays only the Crown can make knights.  A manor* did not of course maintain 7 knights/heavy cavalry.  By 1450, when I think knighthood had become a Crown prerogative (correct me anyone who knows better), there were far fewer actual knights than manors, as RobertCampbell noted earlier.  As time went on most "lords of the manor" never did get knighted and would thus be always a Squire; Squire is still the colloquial term for gentry in the UK, especially rural gentry, though now somewhat archaic.*Edit: I think you were saying that Barony could not maintain 7 heavy cavalry under arms in the late-medieval period.  I'm not sure that's true, but obviously most barons would not necessarily _want_ to maintain 7 heavy cavalry unless they felt there was a need for it; ie conflict was likely.  In England it's very noticeable how 16th century aristocratic architecture shifts away from the castle model to much more comfortable mansions.  Whereas in Scotland (and on the Borders) they were still building fortified castles well into the gunpowder era.</blockquote>

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