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Jonkheer (female equivalent: Jonkvrouw) is a Dutch honorific of nobility. In Belgium, the title of ''Écuyer'' (in French) or ''Jonkheer/Jonkvrouw'' (in Dutch) is the lowest title within the nobility system, recognised by the Court of Cassation. It is the cognate and equivalent of the German noble honorific Junker, which was historically used throughout the German-speaking part of Europe, and to some extent also within Scandinavia. ==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 while his brothers remained 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, with inheritance via male lineage. This resulted therefore that most of the nobility was, and is nowadays, untitled in the Netherlands. '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 ''jkvr.'' for women, is placed in front of the name (preceding academic, but not state titles). The honorific could be compared more or less with "Edler" in Austria or "Junker" in Germany, though due to circumstances of German and especially Prussian history, "Junker" assumed connotations of militarism absent from the Dutch equivalent. Comparing it with the English nobility, it could be roughly translated as "The Honourable", when the untitled person is a son or daughter of a hereditary knight, baron, viscount or count, or "Lord" or "Lady", when the untitled person is member of the old (Dutch) nobility, untitled but of high ranking, and from preceding 1815 (i.e. "Heer van X" or Lord of X). The spouse of a jonkheer is not named Jonkvrouw but is named "Mevrouw", translated into English as ''Madam'', and abbreviated as "Mrs." (with the use of her husband's name). However, if she is a jonkvrouw in her own right, she can be styled as such (together with her maiden name), unless she chooses to use the name of her husband. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jonkheer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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