Serpent in the Thorns

Glossary

ARRAS a tapestry.

BASELARD a slim-bladed dagger.

CAMAIL, or AVENTAIL a netting of ring mail that shielded the neck.

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

COTEHARDIE (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.

FLETCHER a maker of arrows.

FLETCHING the feathered part of an arrow.

HOUPPELANDE Fourteenth-century upper-body outerwear with fashionably long sleeves that often touched the ground.

JETTY/JETTIED the part of the upper floor of a building that juts out over the street.

GIRDLE a belt.

GONFALON a banner ending in long streamers.

SENNIGHT a period of seven days, a week.

SHRIVE/SHRIVEN to make confession in the penitential sense.

STOTT an inferior horse.

SUMPTER a baggage horse.

TRAPPER a colorful covering on a horse as one might see at a tournament or in battle, presenting the knight’s colors.

TUN a large cask for wine, beer, or whatnot.