Knecht#

Knecht (vassal, knight): 1) Originally an unfree, in most cases young, unmarried servant in a household. The Knecht was subject to his master's disciplinary power, as were the children of the master. In the Middle Ages and in early modern times the term was also used for journeymen in the crafts. The position of the Knecht was first legally regulated by legal codes concerning servants during the reign of Joseph II and in the early 19th century. Two types of Knecht, the "house-Knecht" and the "peasant-Knecht", were distinguished, the latter had numerous special functions ("tenant-Knecht", "horse-Knecht", etc.) on central alpine farms.

2) In special cases a Knecht as described in 1) was an unfree warrior (compare English: "knight") who was a member of the knighthood but not dubbed a knight.