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Serjeant-at-arms
A serjeant-at-arms or sergeant-at-arms is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin serviens, which means "servant".
In the Middle Ages, the serjeants-at-arms were bodies of armed men retained by the French and English monarchs: the ceremonial maces with which they are associated were originally a type of weapon. Serjeants-at-arms continue to serve a ceremonial role in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom; as such they represent the oldest royal bodyguard in England.
The most familiar use of the term "sergeant" today is as a military rank. In the medieval period, the soldier sergeant was a man of what would now be thought of as the 'middle class', fulfilling a junior role to the knight in the medieval hierarchy.[citation needed] Sergeants could fight either as heavy to light cavalry, or as well-trained professional infantry, either spearmen or crossbowmen. Most notable medieval mercenaries fell into the 'sergeant' class, such as Flemish crossbowmen and spearmen, who were seen as reliable quality troops. The sergeant class were deemed to be 'worth half of a knight' in military value.[citation needed]
As 'knight' came to signify social (rather than military) rank, so 'serjeant' began to be used for a particular social class (below that of a knight but above that of a gentleman; though by the end of the 14th century 'esquire' had displaced 'serjeant' to describe this class of people). This usage survived in the Royal Household, where (for many centuries) serjeants had charge of several departments below-stairs. As late as the 17th century, there were (among others) a Serjeant of the Bakehouse, Serjeant of the Cellar, Serjeant of the Pastry, Serjeant of the Scullery and Serjeant of the Woodyard, each overseeing a staff of Yeomen, Grooms and Pages with (in some instances) a Gentleman serving as their deputy. (The usage has survived to this day in a few Household offices such as the Serjeant Surgeon and Serjeant of the Vestry).
The particular office of serjeant-at-arms originated in twelfth-century France, when King Philip II formed for himself a bodyguard of nobles and armed them with maces. The Sergens d'Armes had a courtly as well as a military character, and their maces served both as an insignia of office and as a practical weapon: at court they wore robes, in the field they wore armour; either way they carried their maces. They were powerful figures, answerable to no judicial authority but the King and the Constable of France. A hundred serjeants were retained by Philip of Valois, but after his death they were reduced to just six in number, before disappearing entirely in the second half of the 14th century.
The existence of an English corps of serjeants-at-arms is first recorded in the reign of Edward I, towards the end of the 13th century. It is from this body of men that the present-day serjeants-at-arms evolved.
The earliest record of the Sergeants-at-Arms in England is found in 1278, when King Edward I formed them into a twenty-strong Corps to serve as a close escort. The size of the corps grew over subsequent reigns: "by the statutes of noble Edward [III] were thirty serjeants of arms sufficiently armed and horsed, riding before his highness when he journeyed by the country for a gard de Corps du Roy [king's bodyguard]". Like their French counterparts they wore either robes or armour, as appropriate; they were required at times to be mounted, and at other times to attend on foot. The role of the serjeants was two-fold: as well directly defending the person of the king, they also had wide-ranging powers of arrest and sometimes served the sovereign in a police role (the abuse of this power during the reign of Richard II led to a number of serjeants being dismissed, and the corps, which had by then greatly expanded, was reduced again to thirty in 1399).[better source needed]
In 1417 the King's brother, Thomas of Lancaster, published a set of instructions for the kings of arms, heralds and serjeants-at arms (among whom there had been a dispute about their places in processions). He reiterated the purpose of the serjeants-at-arms, "which were principally founded and ordained for the conservation of the person of the King and his Lords", and also described their appearance: "the Serjeants at Arms in Service Royal ought to stand before the King in such fashion attired: that is to say his head bare and all his body armed to the feet with arms of a Knight riding, wearing a gold chain with a medal bearing all the King's Coats" and with a "Mace of silver in his right hand, and in his left hand a truncheon".
Hub AI
Serjeant-at-arms AI simulator
(@Serjeant-at-arms_simulator)
Serjeant-at-arms
A serjeant-at-arms or sergeant-at-arms is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin serviens, which means "servant".
In the Middle Ages, the serjeants-at-arms were bodies of armed men retained by the French and English monarchs: the ceremonial maces with which they are associated were originally a type of weapon. Serjeants-at-arms continue to serve a ceremonial role in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom; as such they represent the oldest royal bodyguard in England.
The most familiar use of the term "sergeant" today is as a military rank. In the medieval period, the soldier sergeant was a man of what would now be thought of as the 'middle class', fulfilling a junior role to the knight in the medieval hierarchy.[citation needed] Sergeants could fight either as heavy to light cavalry, or as well-trained professional infantry, either spearmen or crossbowmen. Most notable medieval mercenaries fell into the 'sergeant' class, such as Flemish crossbowmen and spearmen, who were seen as reliable quality troops. The sergeant class were deemed to be 'worth half of a knight' in military value.[citation needed]
As 'knight' came to signify social (rather than military) rank, so 'serjeant' began to be used for a particular social class (below that of a knight but above that of a gentleman; though by the end of the 14th century 'esquire' had displaced 'serjeant' to describe this class of people). This usage survived in the Royal Household, where (for many centuries) serjeants had charge of several departments below-stairs. As late as the 17th century, there were (among others) a Serjeant of the Bakehouse, Serjeant of the Cellar, Serjeant of the Pastry, Serjeant of the Scullery and Serjeant of the Woodyard, each overseeing a staff of Yeomen, Grooms and Pages with (in some instances) a Gentleman serving as their deputy. (The usage has survived to this day in a few Household offices such as the Serjeant Surgeon and Serjeant of the Vestry).
The particular office of serjeant-at-arms originated in twelfth-century France, when King Philip II formed for himself a bodyguard of nobles and armed them with maces. The Sergens d'Armes had a courtly as well as a military character, and their maces served both as an insignia of office and as a practical weapon: at court they wore robes, in the field they wore armour; either way they carried their maces. They were powerful figures, answerable to no judicial authority but the King and the Constable of France. A hundred serjeants were retained by Philip of Valois, but after his death they were reduced to just six in number, before disappearing entirely in the second half of the 14th century.
The existence of an English corps of serjeants-at-arms is first recorded in the reign of Edward I, towards the end of the 13th century. It is from this body of men that the present-day serjeants-at-arms evolved.
The earliest record of the Sergeants-at-Arms in England is found in 1278, when King Edward I formed them into a twenty-strong Corps to serve as a close escort. The size of the corps grew over subsequent reigns: "by the statutes of noble Edward [III] were thirty serjeants of arms sufficiently armed and horsed, riding before his highness when he journeyed by the country for a gard de Corps du Roy [king's bodyguard]". Like their French counterparts they wore either robes or armour, as appropriate; they were required at times to be mounted, and at other times to attend on foot. The role of the serjeants was two-fold: as well directly defending the person of the king, they also had wide-ranging powers of arrest and sometimes served the sovereign in a police role (the abuse of this power during the reign of Richard II led to a number of serjeants being dismissed, and the corps, which had by then greatly expanded, was reduced again to thirty in 1399).[better source needed]
In 1417 the King's brother, Thomas of Lancaster, published a set of instructions for the kings of arms, heralds and serjeants-at arms (among whom there had been a dispute about their places in processions). He reiterated the purpose of the serjeants-at-arms, "which were principally founded and ordained for the conservation of the person of the King and his Lords", and also described their appearance: "the Serjeants at Arms in Service Royal ought to stand before the King in such fashion attired: that is to say his head bare and all his body armed to the feet with arms of a Knight riding, wearing a gold chain with a medal bearing all the King's Coats" and with a "Mace of silver in his right hand, and in his left hand a truncheon".