Nobles of the Sword
The Nobles of the Sword (French: noblesse d'épée) were the noblemen of the oldest class of nobility in France dating from the Middle Ages and the early modern period, and arguably still in existence by descent. It was originally the knightly class whose members owed military service, usually to a king (to the King of France typically but in some cases to other monarchs such as the Plantagenet kings of England) in return for the possession of feudal landed estates in the king's realm.