A comparison of the two sections shows that the first contains the names
of two men whose service goes back as far as 1343, 1344, and that it
contains the name of no one who was not by 1364 associated with the
court. The second section, on the other hand, contains but one name of a
date earlier than 1353 and several which do not occur in the records
before the time of this document, or in fact until a year or two later.
The fact however that in a number of cases the second section contains
names of men who entered the household years before others whose names
occur in the first section makes it seem probable that special
circumstances might influence the classification of a given esquire.

Linked with this problem of classification is one of nomenclature--the
use of the terms "vallettus" and "esquier" (or, the Latin equivalents of
the latter, "armiger" and "scutifer"). Chaucer scholars have generally
assumed that the term "esquier" represents a rank higher than
"vallettus." But they give no evidence in support, of this distinction,
and we are interested in knowing whether it is correct or not. A first
glance at the list of 1369, to be sure, and the observation that cooks
and falconers, a shoe-smith [Footnote: Pat. Roll 1378, p. 158] and a
larderer [Footnote: Issues (Devon) 1370, p. 45) are called "esquiers"
there, might lead one to think that the word can have but a vague force
and no real difference in meaning from "vallettus." But an examination
of other documents shows that the use of the term "esquier" in the
household lists does not represent the customary usage of the time. It
is to be noted for example that many of the "esquiers" of 1369,
practically all of the "esquiers des offices" [Footnote: For indication
of their function see p.14 etc.], and the "esquiers survenantz" of 1368
are not called esquires in the list of 1368, the Patent Rolls, Close
Rolls, Issue Rolls or Fine Rolls. William de Risceby and Thomas