View source for Accolade

{{Short description|Central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood}}
{{Other uses|Accolade (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|Accolate}}
{{Redirect|Knighting|the promotion of a pawn to a knight in chess|Promotion (chess)#Underpromotion to a knight}}
[[File:Accolade by Edmund Blair Leighton.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[The Accolade (Leighton)|The Accolade]]'' (1901), by [[Edmund Leighton]]]]

The '''accolade''' (also known as '''dubbing''', '''adoubement''', or '''knighting''') ({{langx|la|benedictio militis}}) was the central act in the [[rite of passage]] [[Ceremony|ceremonies]] conferring [[knight]]hood in the [[Middle Ages]].<ref name="royal1">{{cite web|url=http://www.royalinsight.gov.uk/OutPut/Page4877.asp |title=Royal insights |access-date=2008-05-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323125405/http://www.royalinsight.gov.uk/OutPut/Page4877.asp |archive-date=2008-03-23 }}</ref><ref name="glossary1">{{cite web|url= http://www.chronique.com/Library/Glossaries/glossary-KCT/gloss_a.htm|title= Knighthood, Chivalry & Tournament -Glossary of Terms (letter "A")|access-date= 2008-05-18|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080509155901/http://www.chronique.com/Library/Glossaries/glossary-KCT/gloss_a.htm|archive-date= 9 May 2008|url-status= dead}}</ref><ref name="Ency">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Accolade|volume=1|page=121}}</ref><ref name="IHP">{{cite web|url= http://history-world.org/castle_life.htm|title= Castle Life - The International History Project|access-date= 2008-05-18|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080522015938/http://history-world.org/castle_life.htm|archive-date= 22 May 2008|url-status= usurped}}</ref> 

==Etymology==
{{wikt|accolade}}
The term ''accolade'' entered English by 1591, when [[Thomas Lodge]] used it in a historical romance about [[Robert the Devil]]: "He had with all solemnitie the accolade, and was commanded to kneele downe to receiue the order of Knighthoode." It derives from the Middle French ''accolee'', meaning an embrace or the bestowal of knighthood thereby, which in turn descends from the Latin ''collum'', meaning "neck".<ref>{{cite OED|accolade|id=1116}}</ref>

==History==
===Ceremony===
[[File:Adoubement1.jpg|thumb|upright|King [[John II of France]] in a ceremony of "adoubement", early 15th century miniature]]

Accolade ceremonies have taken a variety of forms, including the tapping of the flat side of a [[knighting sword]] on the [[shoulder]]s of a candidate (who is himself sometimes referred to as an accolade during the ceremony)<ref name="royal1"/><ref name="Dic">{{cite web|url= http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/accolade|title= Dictionary online reference|access-date= 2008-05-18| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080419115058/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/accolade| archive-date= 19 April 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> or an embrace about the neck.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}

The earliest reference to the knighting as a formal ceremony in Germany is in the ''[[Annals of Aachen]]'' under the year 1184, when the Emperor [[Frederick Barbarossa|Frederick I]]'s sons, [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VI]] and [[Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia|Frederick VI]], "were made knights" (''facti sunt milites'').<ref>{{citation |title=Courtly Culture: Literature and Society in the High Middle Ages |author=Joachim Bumke |year=1991 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=232–33}}.</ref>

[[File:Admiral_Drake_knighted_by_Queen_Elizabeth%27_(Sir_Francis_Drake)_from_NPG.jpg|thumb|left|270px|[[Francis Drake]] (left) being knighted by Queen [[Elizabeth I]] in 1581. The recipient is tapped on each shoulder with a sword. Note that in reality, Elizabeth had the French ambassador perform the ceremony instead.]]
An early Germanic coming-of-age ceremony, of presenting a youth with a weapon that was buckled on him, was elaborated in the 10th and 11th centuries as a sign that the [[Minor (law)|minor]] had [[Coming of age|come of age]]. A panel in the [[Bayeux Tapestry]] shows the knighting of [[Harold Godwinson|Harold]] by [[William I of England|William of Normandy]], but the specific gesture is not clearly represented.

In medieval France, early ceremonies of the ''adoubement'' were purely secular and indicated a young noble coming of age. Around 1200, these ceremonies began to include elements of Christian ritual (such as a night spent in prayers, prior to the rite ).<ref>Dominique Barthélemy, ''L'Ordre seigneurial: XIe - XIIe siècle'', Collection: Nouvelle histoire de la France moderne, vol. 3, Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1990, p.190. {{ISBN|2-02-011554-9}}</ref>

The increasingly impressive ceremonies surrounding ''adoubement'' figured largely in the [[Romance (heroic literature)|Romance literature]], both in [[French language|French]] and in [[Middle English]], particularly those set in the [[Trojan War]] or around the legendary personage of [[Alexander the Great]].<ref>Ackerman, Robert W. "The Knighting Ceremonies in the Middle English Romances." ''[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]]'' 19(3): July 1944, 285–313, compared the abbreviated historical accounts with the sometimes fancifully elaborated episodes in the romances.</ref>

==Accolade in the 21st century==
[[File:Marco Kroon Queen Beatrix.jpg|thumb|Accolade performed by [[Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands]] during the Military Order of William ceremony of [[Marco Kroon]] in 2009]]

===France===
Newly inducted military [[Légion d'honneur|Knights of the Legion of Honour]] are struck on both shoulders with a sword (Army and Navy) or a [[dirk]] (Air Force), if the ceremony is presided over by a military authority.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Art. 56, ''[https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCode.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006071007&dateTexte=20170222 Code de la Légion d'honneur]''</ref> Civilian members and all members of lesser orders ([[Ordre national du Mérite|Merit]], [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres|Arts and Letters]]...) are not dubbed with a bladed weapon. They receive only the ''accolade'', which has kept in French its ancient meaning of "embrace".

Officers in the French Armed Forces also receive the accolade, but a different version. When they graduate, during the ceremony a senior officer hovers their sword on the kneeling graduate's shoulders as if he were knighting the young officer. This part is called the "adoubement", which has a different meaning than accolade. Adoubement involves the sword, accolade is a movement of the hands which varies in different countries. In France, it can be akin to a hug or a hand on the shoulder.

===Netherlands===
In the Netherlands, the knights in the exclusive [[Military Order of William]] (the Dutch "Victoria Cross") are struck on the left shoulder with the palm of the hand, first by the Dutch monarch (if present) then by the other knights. The new knight does not kneel.<ref>Moed en Trouw door J. Van Zelm van Eldik</ref>

===United Kingdom===
{{Multiple image
 | direction = horizontal
 | height = 200
 | image1 = George VI knighting General Leese Jul 1944.jpg
 | caption1 = [[George VI|King George VI]] knights General [[Oliver Leese]] in a field in Italy in 1944.
 | image2 = Elizabeth II knighting Claude Pelly.jpg
 | caption2 = [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] knights [[Claude Pelly]] as part of her [[1954 royal visit to Aden by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|1954 visit to Aden Colony]].
 | image3 = David_Khalili_investiture_16Nov22a (1.0 crop).jpg
 | caption3 = [[King Charles III]] knights [[Nasser Khalili]] in 2022.
}}

All newly created knights in the UK are dubbed on both shoulders with a sword by the monarch or the prince delegated by them. In the first example, the "knight-elect" kneels in front of the [[monarch]] on a knighting-stool.<ref name="royal1"/>  First, the monarch lays the side of the sword's [[blade]] onto the accolade's right shoulder.<ref name="royal1"/> The monarch then raises the sword just up over the apprentice's head, flips it counterclockwise so that the same side of the blade will come in contact with the knight's body, and places it on his left shoulder.<ref name="royal1"/> The new knight then stands up, and the king or queen presents him with the insignia of his new [[Chivalric order|order]]. Contrary to popular belief, the phrase "Arise, Sir ..." is not used.<ref name="royal2">{{cite web | url = http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/Honours/Knighthoods.aspx | title = Queen and Honours: Knighthoods | work = The British Monarchy | access-date = 2011-12-31}}</ref> There are currently eleven different knighthoods being bestowed (in ascending order): [[Knight Bachelor|Knights Bachelor]], Knights Commanders and Knights Grand Cross of the [[Order of the British Empire]], [[Royal Victorian Order]], [[Order of Saint Michael and Saint George]] and [[Order of the Bath]], Knights of the [[Order of the Thistle]] and Knights Companion of the [[Order of the Garter]].

Women who are awarded [[damehood]]s do not receive the accolade.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url= https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-11990088|title= Guide to the Honours|work= BBC News|date= 14 December 2010|access-date= 2022-08-25}}</ref>

[[Clergy]] receiving a knighthood are not dubbed. The use of a sword in this kind of a ceremony is believed to be inappropriate.<ref name="royal1"/>

===Vatican===
Knights of the [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic)|Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem]], an order of chivalry under the protection of the [[Holy See]], are dubbed in the head and on both shoulders during the investiture ceremony. The accolade is given during Holy Mass, by the officiating [[Prelate]].

===Central Europe===
The accolade is also performed today with the unrecognized Habsburg Order of [[Order of St. George (Habsburg-Lorraine)|St. George]] during the investiture with a sword on both shoulders. The ceremony including the oath is performed by [[Karl von Habsburg]] or Georg von Habsburg. The knights kneel and the sword touches both shoulders.<ref>[https://kurier.at/chronik/niederoesterreich/st-poelten-st-georgs-orden-feierte-im-dom/64.775.862 St.-Georgs-Orden feierte im Dom]</ref><ref>[https://www.nachrichten.at/nachrichten/fotogalerien/cme173414,1254131 Investitur des St. Georgs-Ordens mit Karl Habsburg]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Feudalism]]
*[[Vigil#Medieval knights|Vigil]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
*Bloch, Marc: ''Feudal Society'', tr. Manyon. London: Routledge, Keagn Paul (1965)
*Boulton, D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre. ''The Knights of the Crown: the Monarchical Orders of Knighthood in Later Medieval Europe, 1325-1520''. 2d revised ed. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2000.
*Keen, Maurice; ''Chivalry'', New Haven: [[Yale University Press]], 1984, {{ISBN|0-300-03150-5}}
*Robards, Brooks; ''The Medieval Knight at War'', UK: Tiger Books, 1997, {{ISBN|1-85501-919-1}}

{{Commons category}}
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Feudalism]]
[[Category:Chivalry]]
[[Category:Warfare of the Middle Ages]]
[[Category:Rites of passage]]