The meaning of <i>Miles</i>: knighthood as social signifier in Early Capetian France

Abstract The origins of knighthood are a much-debated topic in medieval history, with scholars divided on whether the emergence of milites (knights) in the documentary record of late tenth-century France represented a fundamental rupture in aristocratic society. This article argues that the emergence of the term should be understood as a social signifier, intended to identify its subject securely as a member of the social elite. The nuanced ways in which miles was deployed as an identifier is traced through a series of examples from the Loire valley and other regions of the Capetian kingdom, revealing the versatility of the term in claiming elite status. By viewing knighthood as a claim that was made, rather than a title that was conferred, the article argues that the aristocracy of early Capetian France was a social hierarchy characterized by flux and uncertainty, in which status needed to be constantly reasserted.