Squire
Shield- or armour-bearer of a knight / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight.[2]
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Codex_Manesse_149v_Wolfram_von_Eschenbach.jpg/640px-Codex_Manesse_149v_Wolfram_von_Eschenbach.jpg)
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/J_Mathuysen_Knappe_in_einer_Waffenkammer.jpg/640px-J_Mathuysen_Knappe_in_einer_Waffenkammer.jpg)
Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a "squire", and still later, the term was applied to members of the landed gentry. In contemporary American usage, "squire" is the title given to justices of the peace or similar local dignitaries.[citation needed]
Squire is a shortened version of the word esquire, from the Old French escuier (modern French écuyer), itself derived from the Late Latin scutarius ("shield bearer"), in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was armiger ("arms bearer").