Nowadays the title of Dame is the simple female equivalent of a knight, a woman who has achieved a lot in science, business, sport, entertainment or charity. This was not always so. In the mediaeval era, a knight earned his title in battle and his female counterpart could not, however, it was the Anglo-Norman version of “Lady” ie the wife of a knight or nobleman, perhaps the daughter of a higher noble.
For instance, Lady Eleanor Talbot, who died today in 1468, would have been styled as “Dame” as the daughter of an Earl and then as the wife firstly of Sir Thomas Butler. This reference was indeed made in Titulus Regius.
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