Cavalier

In the political upheavals of 1641-42, supporters of Parliament used "Cavalier" as an insult for followers of Charles I, suggesting swaggering, hard-living gentlemen. It became a familiar name for the Royalists during the English Civil Wars (1642-51).

"Cavalier" ultimately comes from the Late Latin caballarius, meaning "horseman", and is related to the French chevalier, or knight. Royalists adopted the insulting nickname themselves, while calling their opponents "Roundheads."

The familiar Cavalier look - long, sometimes ringleted hair, lace collars, broad-brimmed hats and neatly trimmed beards - reflected court fashion in the 1630s and 1640s. It was a fashionable image, not a uniform worn by every Royalist.

Royalist and Parliamentarian soldiers often looked so alike that both sides used passwords or makeshift signs, such as white paper in their hats, to tell friend from foe. The neat division between feather-hatted Cavaliers and helmeted Roundheads is a later myth.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Charles I's nephew, became commander of the Royalist cavalry in 1642. His military exploits made him one of the best-known figures associated with the Cavalier cause.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine, often considered to be an archetypal Cavalier

Rupert's dog, Boy, became the unlikely star of Civil War propaganda: a Royalist satire pretended that he could catch bullets in his mouth, mocking Parliamentarian fears of Rupert's supposed supernatural powers. Boy was killed at the Battle of Marston Moor on July 2, 1644.

The name also lives on in poetry: Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace, Thomas Carew and Sir John Suckling are among the writers known as the Cavalier poets. Their verse explores love, pleasure, honour and loyalty to the king.

The Cavalier Parliament served under Charles II from 1661 to 1679, after the Restoration of the monarchy. It began with a strongly Royalist membership, but "Cavalier Parliament" was a later label rather than its contemporary name.