Jonkheer (female equivalent: Jonkvrouw) is a Dutch honorific of nobility.
"Jonkheer" or "Jonkvrouw" is literally translated as "young lord" or "young lady". In medieval times such a person was a young and unmarried son or daughter of a high ranking knight or nobleman. Many noble families could not support all their sons to become a knight because of the expensive equipment. So the eldest son of a knight was a young lord and his brothers remain as...
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Jonkheer (female equivalent: Jonkvrouw) is a Dutch honorific of nobility.
"Jonkheer" or "Jonkvrouw" is literally translated as "young lord" or "young lady". In medieval times such a person was a young and unmarried son or daughter of a high ranking knight or nobleman. Many noble families could not support all their sons to become a knight because of the expensive equipment. So the eldest son of a knight was a young lord and his brothers remain as esquires. However, in the low countries (and other parts of continental Europe) only the head of most noble families did and does carry a title and inheritability of it is via the male lineage. This resulted therefore that most of the nobility was and is nowadays untitled in the Netherlands and Belgium. Jonkheer, or its female equivalent jonkvrouw developed therefore quite early into a different but general meaning, i.e., an honorific to show that someone does belong to the nobility, but does not possess a title. The abbreviation jhr., or...
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