Editing Knight (section)

====Women====
=====England and the United Kingdom=====
Women were appointed to the [[Order of the Garter]] almost from the start. In all, 68 women were appointed between 1358 and 1488, including all consorts. Though many were women of royal blood, or wives of knights of the Garter, some women were neither. They wore the garter on the left arm, and some are shown on their tombstones with this arrangement. After 1488, no other appointments of women are known, although it is said that the Garter was conferred upon Neapolitan poet Laura Bacio Terricina, by [[Edward VI of England|King Edward VI]]. In 1638, a proposal was made to revive the use of robes for the wives of knights in ceremonies, but this did not occur. [[List of British consorts|Queens consort]] have been made [[List of Knights and Ladies of the Garter|Ladies of the Garter]] since 1901 ([[Alexandra of Denmark|Queens Alexandra]] in 1901,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 27284|date= 13 February 1901|page=1139|supp=y }}</ref> [[Mary of Teck|Mary]] in 1910 and [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Elizabeth]] in 1937). The first non-royal woman to be made Lady Companion of the Garter was [[Lavinia Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk|The Duchess of Norfolk]] in 1990,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 52120|date= 24 April 1990|page=8251}}</ref> the second was [[Margaret Thatcher|The Baroness Thatcher]] in 1995<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 54017|date= 25 April 1995|page=6023}}</ref> (post-nominal: LG). On 30 November 1996, [[Marion Fraser|Lady Fraser]] was made [[List of Knights and Ladies of the Thistle|Lady of the Thistle]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 54597|date= 3 December 1996|page=15995}}</ref> the first non-royal woman (post-nominal: LT). (See Edmund Fellowes, ''Knights of the Garter'', 1939; and Beltz: ''Memorials of the Order of the Garter''). The first woman to be granted a knighthood in modern Britain seems to have been Nawab Sikandar Begum Sahiba, Nawab Begum of Bhopal, who became a Knight Grand Commander of the [[Order of the Star of India]] (GCSI) in 1861, at the foundation of the order. Her daughter received the same honor in 1872, as well as her granddaughter in 1910. The order was open to "princes and chiefs" without distinction of gender. The first European woman to have been granted an order of knighthood was Queen Mary, when she was made a Knight Grand Commander of the same order, by special statute, in celebration of the Delhi Durbar of 1911.<ref>Biddle, Daniel A. ''Knights of Christ : Living today with the Virtues of Ancient Knighthood'' (Kindle Edition). West Bow Press. (May 22, 2012). p.xxx. ASIN: B00A4Z2FUY</ref> She was also granted a [[Dame (title)|damehood]] in 1917 as a [[Grand Cross|Dame Grand Cross]], when the [[Order of the British Empire]] was created<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 30250|date= 24 August 1917|page=8794|supp=y }}</ref> (it was the first order explicitly open to women). The Royal Victorian Order was opened to women in 1936, and the [[Order of the Bath|Orders of the Bath]] and [[Order of St Michael and St George|Saint Michael and Saint George]] in 1965 and 1971 respectively.<ref name="heraldica1">{{cite web|url=http://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/wom-kn.htm |title=Women Knights |publisher=Heraldica.org |access-date=2011-08-23}}</ref>

=====France=====
Medieval French had two words, chevaleresse and chevalière, which were used in two ways: one was for the wife of a knight, and this usage goes back to the 14th century. The other was possibly for a female knight. Here is a quote from [[Claude-François Ménestrier|Ménestrier]], a 17th-century writer on chivalry: {{quote|It was not always necessary to be the wife of a knight in order to take this title. Sometimes, when some male fiefs were conceded by special privilege to women, they took the rank of chevaleresse, as one sees plainly in Hemricourt where women who were not wives of knights are called chevaleresses.}}Modern French orders of knighthood include women, for example the Légion d'Honneur ([[Legion of Honor]]) since the mid-19th century, but they are usually called chevaliers. The first documented case is that of [[Angélique Brûlon]] (1772–1859), who fought in the Revolutionary Wars, received a military disability pension in 1798, the rank of 2nd lieutenant in 1822, and the Legion of Honor in 1852. A recipient of the Ordre National du Mérite recently requested from the order's Chancery the permission to call herself "chevalière," and the request was granted.<ref name="heraldica1"/>

=====Italy=====
As related in ''Orders of Knighthood, Awards and the Holy See'' by H. E. Cardinale (1983), the [[Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary]] was founded by two Bolognese nobles [[Loderingo degli Andalò]] and Catalano di Guido in 1233, and approved by [[Pope Alexander IV]] in 1261. It was the first religious order of knighthood to grant the rank of militissa to women. However, this order was suppressed by [[Pope Sixtus V]] in 1558.<ref name="heraldica1"/>

=====The Low Countries=====
At the initiative of Catherine Baw in 1441, and 10 years later of Elizabeth, Mary, and Isabella of the house of Hornes, orders were founded which were open exclusively to women of noble birth, who received the French title of chevalière or the Latin title of equitissa. In his Glossarium (s.v. militissa), Du Cange notes that still in his day (17th century), the female canons of the canonical monastery of St. Gertrude in Nivelles (Brabant), after a probation of 3 years, are made knights (militissae) at the altar, by a (male) knight called in for that purpose, who gives them the accolade with a sword and pronounces the usual words.<ref name="heraldica1"/>

=====Spain=====
[[File:Cantigas battle.jpg|thumb|A battle of the ''[[Reconquista]]'' from the ''[[Cantigas de Santa Maria]]'']]
To honour those women who defended [[Tortosa]] against an attack by the [[Moors]], [[Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona]], created the Order of the Hatchet ("''Orde de la Atxa" in [[Catalan language|catalan]]'') in 1149.<ref name="heraldica1"/>

{{Blockquote|The inhabitants [of Tortosa] being at length reduced to great streights, desired relief of the Earl, but he, being not in a condition to give them any, they entertained some thoughts of making a surrender. Which the Women hearing of, to prevent the disaster threatening their City, themselves, and Children, put on men's Clothes, and by a resolute sally, forced the Moors to raise the Siege. The Earl, finding himself obliged, by the gallentry of the action, thought fit to make his acknowlegements thereof, by granting them several Privileges and Immunities, and to perpetuate the memory of so signal an attempt, instituted an Order, somewhat like a Military Order, into which were admitted only those Brave Women, deriving the honour to their Descendants, and assigned them for a Badge, a thing like a Fryars Capouche, sharp at the top, after the form of a Torch, and of a crimson colour, to be worn upon their Head-clothes. He also ordained, that at all publick meetings, the women should have precedence of the Men. That they should be exempted from all Taxes, and that all the Apparel and Jewels, though of never so great value, left by their dead Husbands, should be their own. These Women having thus acquired this Honour by their personal Valour, carried themselves after the Military Knights of those days.|[[Elias Ashmole]]|The Institution, Laws, and Ceremony of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (1672), Ch. 3, sect. 3}}