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apanage |
royal lands granted by a French king to a younger son for his maintenance, with the title of duke or count. |
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bailli |
royal officer responsible for the administration of justice and of revenue in a baillage or district. |
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ballinger |
English sailing barge usually with from forty to fifty oars, shallow-draughted and clinker built. |
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barbican |
fortified gatehouse with tower above or flanked by towers. |
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bassinet |
conical helmet with ‘hounskul’ (or ‘pig-face’) pointed visor. |
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bastard |
title borne by acknowledged eldest natural son of a noble. |
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bastille |
wooden tower on wheels for assault, used in siege warfare. |
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bastion |
round or polygonal tower projecting from walls. |
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blanc |
French equivalent of groat but mainly of base metal instead of silver. |
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bombard |
heavy cannon used in siege warfare, firing gunstones or metal cannon balls of up to 1,000 lb. |
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bowyer |
bow maker. |
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brigantine |
defensive jacket of metal plates on cloth. |
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brimstone |
sulphur. |
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calthrop |
small metal ball with four (angled) projecting spikes placed on battlefield to maim horses. |
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captal |
Gascon title for captain of a castle. |
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carrack |
large square-rigged sailing vessel of Genoese origin, clinker built. |
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chambres des comptes |
accounting office for French royal finances at Paris or for Norman ducal finances at Caen. |
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champion |
officer charged with defending his lord’s cause in trial by battle. |
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châtelet |
principal criminal court at Paris. |
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close-helmet |
round-topped helmet attached to neck armour. |
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cog |
main type of square-rigged sailing vessel in use in north European waters, clinker built. |
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crown |
French gold coin weighing 3.99 gm (though weight fluctuated), worth 20½ sols. |
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culverin |
light cannon firing lead or bronze bullets – mounted on portable rest and the ancestor of the hand gun and the harquebus. |
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curtana |
the sword ‘curtana’ was the pointless sword of mercy (as opposed to the pointed sword of justice) borne before the English king at his coronation. |
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destrier |
warhorse. |
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donjon |
keep of a castle. |
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estates |
consultative assembly of representatives of the three estates of nobles, clergy and bourgeois. |
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fletcher |
arrow maker. |
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gabelle |
tax on salt – a commodity which could only be bought at royal (in Normandy, ducal) depots. |
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haro |
cry to a lord for rescue. |
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havoc |
the word announcing permission for troops to plunder. |
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jack |
defensive leather coat, either of several layers or quilted, often reinforced with metal studs or small plates. |
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jupon |
short leather tunic worn over chain mail. |
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lit de justice |
plenary session of the parlement presided over by the king of France at which a royal edict was forcibly registered or a peer of France tried. |
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mangonel |
siege engine firing stone shot. |
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march |
borderland – a ‘marcher lord’ was lord of a frontier territory, as in Wales where he had considerable independence. |
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maul |
or mallet – a hammer-type weapon, with a heavy leaden head on a five-foot wooden shaft. |
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mine |
tunnel dug under foundations to undermine walls or towers. |
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misericorde |
‘mercy’ dagger, so called from being used to dispatch enemy wounded. |
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morning star |
form of mace, consisting of a spiked metal ball attached by a chain to a short metal shaft. |
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noble |
principal gold coin of English currency, worth 6s 8d. |
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pantler |
master of the pantry. |
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parlement |
supreme court of appeal in the kingdom of France, situated at the Palais de Justice in Paris. |
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pâtis |
protection money levied by troops on local population. |
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pavise |
large, free-standing shield on hinged support used by archers and crossbowmen as protection when shooting. |
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pole-axe |
combined axe and half-pike, with axe blade balanced by hammer head on five-foot metal shaft. |
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poundage |
customs duty on weight of all imports and exports save bullion. |
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pourpoint |
quilted doublet. |
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president |
principal judicial officer of the parlement at Paris. |
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provost |
royal officer responsible for overseeing administration of justice. |
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ribeaudequin |
cart mounting several small culverins discharged together. |
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sallet |
type of helmet, unattached to neck armour and with or without visor. |
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saltpetre |
potassium nitrate, a component of gunpowder. |
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salut |
Lancastrian French equivalent of the gold crown. |
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sol |
silver or base metal coin (later known as sou) subdivided into 12 deniers. |
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sollerets |
articulated armour for feet. |
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sow |
a mobile shelter used in siege warfare, with a strong timber roof and covered in damp hides to make it fireproof. |
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trebuchet |
siege engine or catapult hurling rocks or barrels of flaming tow, the principal form of heavy artillery before the bombard and afterwards used to supplement cannon. |
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tunnage |
customs duty on wine imported in casks, levied at so much per tun. |
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vicomte |
Norman administrative official equal or junior in rank to a bailli. |