Veil of Lies

Glossary

CHEMISE shirt for both male and female, usually white. All-purpose, used also as a nightshirt.

COTE-HARDIE (COAT) any variety of upper-body outerwear popular from the early middle ages to the Renaissance. For men, it was a coat reaching to the thighs or below the knee, with buttons all the way down the front and sometimes at the sleeves. Worn over a chemise. Sometimes the belt was worn at the hips and sometimes the belt moved up to the waist. This is what Crispin wears.

DEGRADED when knighthood is taken from a man, usually because of treason or other crimes against the crown.

DISSEISIN forcible dispossession of land and title/status.

HOUPPELANDE fourteenth-century upper-body outerwear with fashionably long sleeves that touched the ground. As fashion changed, so did the collar, growing in height, the sleeves in length with pleats—often stuffed—front and back.

LESE-MAJESTÉ literally, “injuring the king” the act of committing treason or other offense to the king.

SHERIFF the word is derived from the shire reeve, a man appointed to settle disputes and keep the peace in a region made up of several villages and towns known as a shire. The duties of the sheriffs changed with the times. The sheriffs of London were appointed for one year and served their term with little compensation except that which they could obtain by benefit of their office, that is, what bribes they could collect from those brought to justice. They appointed the juries, after all, and decided what situations would go to trial. They also served as judges.