COVER-CHIEF
Head-dress of a Norman lady, more correctly called a couvrechef. To Saxons it was called a ‘head-rail’ and consisted of a linen cloth held in place by a band around the forehead, the lower edge hanging down over the back and bosom.
CROFT
A small area of land around a village house (toft) for vegetables and a few livestock, used by the occupant (cottar) who was either a freeman (socman) or a bondsman (villein or serf).
CUIRASS
A short tunic, originally of thick, boiled leather but later of chain-mail or plate metal, to protect the chest in battle.
CURIA REGIS
The King’s Court or Council, his tenants-in-chief, composed of the most senior barons and churchmen, who offered advice and devised national policy. From this developed the great Offices of State, especially the courts.
CURRAGH
A Gaelic word for a boat of similar construction to a Welsh coracle, but dinghy-shaped instead of round. Though flimsily constructed of tarred hide stretched over thin wooden frames, it was used extensively for voyages as far afield as Brittany.
DEODAND
Literally ‘a gift from God’, it was the forfeiture of anything that had caused a death, such as a sword, a cart or even a mill-wheel. It might be confiscated by the coroner and sold for the Crown, but was sometimes given to the deceased’s family as compensation for the death.
DESTRIER
A war-horse, a large animal strong enough to carry an armoured knight. When firearms made armour obsolete, destriers became draught-animals, from whom carthorses are descended. Previously, ploughing and carting was carried out by oxen.
DONJON
The fortified tower on the motte in early Norman castles. Originally of wood, it was later replaced by masonry. The later word ‘dungeon’, meaning a prison cell, came from the lowest chamber in the donjon, where prisoners were incarcerated.
EYRE
A sitting of the Kings’ Judges, introduced by Henry II in 1166, which moved around the country in circuits. There were two types, the ‘Justices in Eyre’, the forerunner of the Assizes (now Crown Courts), which was supposed to visit frequently to try serious cases; and the General Eyre, which came at long intervals to scrutinise the administration of each county.
FIRST FINDER
The first person to discover the corpse of a slain person had to rouse the four nearest households and raise the ‘hue and cry’ to give chase to the culprit. Then the bailiff had to be notified and then the coroner. Failure to do so resulted in amercement (qv) by the coroner.
HAUBERK
Also called a ‘byrnie’, this was a chain-mail tunic with long sleeves, to protect the wearer from neck to calf. The skirt was slit to allow him to ride a horse. A metal plate was often secured over the front of the chest to further protect the heart.
HIDE
A medieval measure of land, which varied from place to place, but was usually 120 acres at the time of the Domesday survey, but later quoted at anything between 30 and 80 acres. A hide was supposed to be enough to support a family and was divided into four ‘virgates’. Another land measure was the ‘carucate’, about 100 acres, the area one ox team could plough in a season.
HONOUR
A holding of land by a lord from the King, a baron or the church. It might be a large estate or a single manor and many honours consisted of numerous, separate holdings spread over many counties. A manor might be one village or several, under the same lord, but some villages were split between different lords.
HUNDRED
An administrative sub-division of a county, originally supposed to consist of a hundred settlements.
JURY
Unlike modern juries, who must be totally impartial, having no prior knowledge of the case, medieval juries included witnesses, local people who were obliged to gather to tell what they knew about a crime or dispute. The coroner’s jury was supposed to be all the males over the age of twelve from the four nearest villages, though this was usually a practical impossibility.
JUSTICIAR
One of the King’s Chief Ministers in Norman times. In the reign of Richard I, the most effective was Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was his military second-in-command at the Third Crusade, before he returned home during the Lionheart’s imprisonment in Austria and Germany, to raise money for his ransom. Richard made him Chief Justiciar and Hubert virtually ruled the country after Richard’s permanent departure from England in May 1194, only two months after returning from captivity.
KIRTLE
A woman’s gown, worn to the ankles, with long sleeves, wide at the wrists, though fashions constantly changed. The kirtle was worn over a chemise, the only undergarment.
KNARR
An early medieval merchant ship, generally like a Viking longship, but much broader in the beam. It was partly decked with a single hold, mast and sail.
MANOR REEVE
A foreman appointed in every village, either elected by villagers or by the manorial lord. He oversaw the daily farm work and though illiterate like the vast majority of the population, he would keep records of crop rotation, harvest yields, tithes, etc, by means of his memory and notches on tally sticks.
MARK
A sum of money, though not an actual coin, as only pennies were in use. A mark was two-thirds of a pound, or thirteen shillings and fourpence (now equal to sixty-six decimal pence).
MOTTE
The artificial mound on which the wooden donjon (qv) was erected in early Norman castles, surrounded by the bailey (qv). An excellent Devon example is at Totnes.
MUTILATION
A common punishment for all kinds of offence, as a lesser alternative to hanging. Removal of a hand was the most frequent, but feet, tongues, ears and noses were also cut off, as well as blinding and castration.
ORDEAL
There were many types of legal Ordeal, supposed to be a test of guilt or innocence, such as walking over nine red-hot ploughshares, picking a stone from a barrel of boiling water or molten lead or being submerged in water. The ‘Ordeal of the Bier’ was to detect a murderer by making a suspect touch the bier on which the corpse laid, when the fatal wounds would begin to bleed again. This is mentioned by Shakespeare in Richard III, Act One.
OUTLAW
Literally, anyone outside the law, usually escaped prisoners or sanctuary seekers. They usually took refuge in the forests and lived by banditry, as in the tales of Robin Hood. Highway robbers were sometimes called ‘trail bastons’. Outlaws ceased to exist as legal persons and were considered ‘as the wolf’s head’, as they could be killed on sight by anyone, who could claim a bounty if they took the severed head to the sheriff or coroner.
OUTREMER
The four Christian kingdoms in the Levant at the time of the Crusades, including the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
PHTHISIS
Tuberculosis, rife in medieval times.
PORTREEVE
One of the two senior burgesses in a township, elected by the others as leaders. They were superseded by a mayor, the first mayor of Exeter being elected in 1208.
PRECENTOR
A senior canon in a cathedral, responsible for organising the religious services, singing etc.