Season of the Raven (A Servant of the Crown Mystery Book 1) (30 page)
Read Season of the Raven (A Servant of the Crown Mystery Book 1) Online
Authors: Denise Domning
The Lady Series,
although two doesn't quite a series make. There were supposed to be more. Hmm, I wonder... .
The Warrior Series
The Warrior's Wife
(previously The Warrior's Damsel)
The Warrior's Maiden
(previously My Lady's Temptation)
Or, if you want you can buy all three books at once a box set:
The Warrior Series
My only Regency era book and my only Western
.
I'm afraid these are one-offs. These periods are just too modern for me. I'm better off back when guys just bashed each other with hunks of steel.
An Impetuous Season
, a novella
Monica Sarli's Memoir
Men-ipulation
And then there's Monica Sarli's memoir which I co-wrote.
Men-ipulation
is a memoir of addiction and recovery. After fifteen years abusing Cocaine, Crack and (her personal favorite) Heroin, Monica chose on August 4, 1986 to clean up and hasn't looked back-even though cleaning up cost her everything she valued in life. For anyone struggling with addiction or who loves someone suffering with addiction, this is a book you won't want to miss. (And, yes she really talks like that all the time.)
The book includes of number of Medieval terms. I've used a number of odd terms that are likely to be unfamiliar to some people. This is a good start. If you find others as you read and your e-reader can't identify them,
contact me
and I'll add them to the list.
| Amercement | "being at the mercy of". An arbitrary fine commonly used as punishment for minor offenses and as an alternative to imprisonment. |
| Braies | A man's undergarment. Made from a single piece of linen that is tied around the waist with a cord. Worn more or less like a loin cloth but more voluminous so the garment can be arranged to cover the hips and thighs. |
| Chausses | Stockings made of cloth (not knitted). Each leg ties onto the waist cord of the braies. |
| Crowner | From the Latin Coronarius, meaning Servant of the Crown. The word eventually evolves into 'Coroner' |
| Deodand | Derived from the deo dandum , meaning "to be given to God." An object is declared deodand if it is used to kill someone. The inquest jury is responsible for appraising the object’s value and the owner is expected to pay a fine equal to that value. If the owner cannot pay, the hundred or village must pay in their stead. Theoretically, once the crown has taken possession of a deodand, it must sell it then use the profit for a religious or pious purpose. |
| Dower | The bridegroom's offering to his bride. Generally dower should be one-third the value of the bride's dowry. Dower is an annuity for the wife, meant to support her after her husband's death. She holds her dower for her life time, and can accrue dower over the course of multiple marriages. Upon her death, her dower returns to the heirs of the original owner. |
| Dowry | What the bride brings to her husband upon marriage. Depending on her class, this can be a throne, estates, a skill (such as milling), or in the case of peasant brides, pots and pans and other household goods. |
| First estate, | Ordained first by God, this is all clergy, from the pope to the lowliest clerk. |
| Second estate, | Ordained by the clergy, the royalty and nobility |
| Third estate | Ordained by the nobility, the commoners and merchants, or working men in general. |
| Fee Tail | From Medieval Latin feodum talliatum , which means "cut-short fee". Used to make certain an estate remained in the family line. Mortgaging land (or in the case of this book, the operation of a mill) in fee tail was a risk, since the heirs had no obligation to the lender. |
| Fulling | Fulling involves two processes applied to newly woven woolen cloth. Scouring removes oils, dirt and impurities while milling thickens the cloth. This is done by pounding the woolen cloth with the fuller's feet, or hands, or a club, or, eventually, with a water-powered fulling mill. |
| Gambeson | A heavy padded, long-sleeved tunic usually hip length worn beneath a chain mail tunic |
| Hemp | A soft, strong fiber plant with edible seeds. Hemp can be twisted into rope or woven for use in making everything from storage bags to mattress covers. |
| Hundred | A geographic division of a county or shire. It likely once referred to an area capable of providing a hundred men at arms, or containing a hundred homes. |
| Koren | The Old English word for "corn", meaning kernels as in wheat, barley and other grains. Modern corn, as in sweet corn, is rightly referred to as maize. |
| Mazer | A large wooden drinking bowl commonly used for celebrations |
| Murdrum | From which the word "murder" comes. Established after the Norman Conquest when the English were actively killing their conquerors. If a dead person cannot be proved to be English, said person is assumed to be Norman and the fine is levied. By the 12 th Century the fine is more about raising revenue than punishing the citizenry. |
| Pleas of the Crown | To plead for justice from the royal court, or representative of the court. Like going to your local police station and filing a complaint. |
| Prebendary | A senior member of the clergy who is supported by the revenue from an estate or parish. He generally had a role in the administration of a cathedral. |
| Toft and Croft | A toft is the area of land on which a peasant's house sits. The croft, generally measuring seven hundred feet in length and forty in width. It was in the croft that a serf would grow their personal food staples, such as onions, garlic, turnips and other root crops, legumes and some grains. |
| Withe | A thin, supple willow (but also hazel or ash) branch |
The characters and events in this book are fictitious, even those characters extrapolated from real people.
Season of the Raven
Copyright © 2014 by Denise Domning
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at
[email protected]
. Thank you for your support of the author's rights.
EDITED BY: Martha Stites
ORIGINAL COVER ART: Ms Sloane 2435, f.85 'Cleric, Knight and Workman representing the three classes, illustration from 'Li Livres dou Sante' (vellum), French School, (13th century) / British Library, London, UK / © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / The Bridgeman Art Library
COVER DESIGN: Denise Domning, Refined by
ADK Designs
Printed in the United States of America, First paperback edition: January, 2014
