Esquire of the Body

An Esquire of the Body was a personal attendant and courtier to the Kings of England during the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period.

[2] By the time of Henry VIII, the position holders were usually knights (who were entitled to the help of two esquires and a page boy), of which at least two would always be in attendance on the King.

The function clearly needed to change in the case of a female monarch, for example the poet and dramatist John Lyly was appointed an honorary Esquire of the Body in the late 1580s to Queen Elizabeth I in recognition of his services to her as an entertainer.

For example, Sir Robert Fullhurst served as an Esquire of the Body to Edward, Prince of Wales, son of King Henry VI.

[10] Chris Given-Wilson has argued that the Knights of the Body emerged in the mid-fourteenth century as part of a wider process by which the chamber (at the expense of the hall) became increasingly important in the organisation of the royal household.

[12] According to Narasingha Prosad Sil, the Knights of the Body were merged with Esquires of the Household to form the office of Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber in 1518.

[13] By the late period, the title was often given to men who were important regional gentry, and already held roles such as Justice of the Peace or Sheriff of their county.

Later court roles often rotated among several holders, who attended the monarch on a fixed timetable, for periods such as two months every year; there may have been similar arrangements here.