Ridder (title)

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For other meanings, see ridder. Ridderschap and Ridderschap of Holland redirect here - for ships that held this name, see Ridderschap van Holland.

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Ridder (Dutch - "knight") is a noble title in the Netherlands and Belgium. The collective term for its holders in a certain locality is the Ridderschap (e.g. Ridderschap van Holland, Ridderschap van Friesland, etc). In the Netherlands and Belgium no female equivalent exists. It is placed between the first name(s) and the family name (as "ridder" not "Ridder", as in Dutch titles are written in lower case, which in this case also avoids confusion between the family name and the title).

Family: ridder van Rappart.
Family: ridder Huyssen van Kattendijke.
Family: ridder de van der Schueren.

The title Ridder descends in two ways: "op allen" (to all - i.e. every descendant, male or female, in the male line, is entitled to the title) and "met het recht op eerstgeboorte" (with the right of the first-born - i.e. descent by Salic law, i.e. the eldest male descendant of the title's first bearer may take the title, but not the others).

Ridder is a literal translation of Latin Eques and originally meant "horseman" or "rider", hence Tolkien's Riddermark in the Lord of the Rings.