What is Paladin?
{{otheruses}} A '''paladin''' or '''paladine''' was a [[person]] with a lot of [[power]] in many countries during the [[Middle Ages|medieval]] and in [[early modern Europe]]. The word paladin was first used in [[Ancient Rome]] for a [[Chamberlain (office)|chamberlain]] of the Emperor, and also for the imperial palace guard, called the [[Scholae Palatinae]] by [[Constantine I (Rome)|Constantine]]. In the early [[Middle Ages]], the meaning changed and the word was used for one of the highest [[Palatinus (Roman Catholic Church)|officials of the Catholic Church]] in the [[pope]]'s service and also for one of the big [[noble]]s of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], who was then named [[Count Palatine]]. The word paladin was also used in 19th century [[Hungary]] and in the [[German Empire]] and [[United Kingdom]] during the early 20th century. In [[medieval literature]], the paladins or Twelve Peers were known in the [[Matter of France]] as the [[retinue|retainers]] of [[Charlemagne]]. Because of the way that this word was used in books, paladin was then known to be a [[knight]] with honor. ==History== ===Ancient Rome=== The paladins of the imperial guard were named after the [[Scholae Palatinae]]. [[Image:Apex (hat).gif|thumb|right|200px|Official and ceremonial hat of the Salii, later adopted by the Catholic Church]] In the beginning, the word paladin was applied to the [[Chamberlain (office)|Chamberlains]] and to some [[soldier]]s guarding the [[palace]] of the Roman emperor. In Constantine's time, the word was also used for the best [[infantry]] of the army, the [[Praetorian Guard]], that might guard the Roman Emperor during wars.<ref>[[Jochen Bleicken|Bleicken]], [[Werner Dahlheim|Dahlheim]] etc, Roman History, {{ISBN|3506739271}}</ref> ===Holy Roman Empire=== After the Middle Ages, the word palatine was put onto many different people of power across Europe. The most important of these was the ''comes palatinus'', the [[count palatine]], who in [[Merovingian]] and [[Carolingian]] times, was an official of the lords'