The Prophecy of Death

Glossary

Assart

A clearing in a forest, in which a farmer had created arable land by cutting down trees and grubbing up the roots.

Bellatores

Medieval society thought itself composed of three groups: religious, who prayed for men’s souls, peasants, who gave their labour to provide food and clothing, and the warrior class, the bellatores, who maintained order.

Buttery

King’s office which was responsible for ales, wines and other stores.

Castellan

The man in charge of a castle.

Cokinus

Literally, ‘Cook’, but was used as the term for messengers who went about on foot rather than on horseback — and older term, used before ‘Cursor’ came into vogue.

Cursores

Late in King Edward I’s time, this term began to replace the older ‘Cokinus’.

Fewterer

The officer who had responsibility for the packs of hunting dogs.

Frater

This was the room in which the monks would eat.

Host

The King’s army. Army was a new term to the later fourteenth century.

League

An ancient measure of distance, roughly equivalent to three miles (although no medieval measures were standardised across the country!).

Lords Marcher

Also known as Marcher Lords, were the knights and barons who owned estates on, or near to, the ‘marches’.

March

The lands along the Welsh and Scottish borders. They had their own customs and laws which gave great independence to the Lords who owned them, mainly because they were almost permanently in a state of war — especially on the Scottish March.

Marshal

The man in charge of the ‘Marshalsea’.

Marshalsea

The stables, and those who worked in them.

Murdrum Fine

‘Murder’ was so termed because of this fine. In short, after the Norman invasion, the rebellions against the invaders were so regular, that unless a corpse could be proved to be that of an Englishman, by men coming forward to assert the dead man’s ‘Englishry’, the body was assumed to be that of a Norman. The death of such a man meant heavy fines to be imposed on the vill where he was found — the ‘murdrum’ fines.

Nuncius

A messenger on horseback.

Palfrey

These were better quality horses for riding.

Porters

The men who were responsible for the gates to cities, or to castles or halls.

Rache

A specific form of hunting dog which was used to hunt by scent rather than others, like greyhounds, which depended upon sight.

Reredorter

A toilet that was at the back of the dormitory in a monastery.

Rounsey

A general, average quality horse used for riding, carrying goods etc, but not for pulling carts.

Sewer

The attendant on a lord who would serve his master, and who would see to the setting of the table, as well as tasting the King’s food in a royal household.

Sumpter

Packhorse.

Tranter

A wandering salesman of various essentials.