The Elixir of Death (2 page)

ANCHORITE
 

A religious hermit or recluse, living alone in a remote place.
 

ASSARTING
 

The extension of the cultivated area of a village by cutting back I he surrounding forest. The cleared area was termed 'the waste' until the tree stumps were removed.
 

BAILEY
 

An area, around either a castle mound ('motte and bailey') or the inner or outer ward of a larger castle or fortified manorhouse.
 

BAILIFF
 

As used in this book, an official of a manor who supervised one or more villages in respect of the agricultural work. He had manor-reeves under him and was responsible to the steward of the manor-lord.
 

BARTON
 

A farm, usually for the sole benefit of the manor-lord.
 

BOTTLER
 

A servant responsible for providing the drink in a large household - the origin of 'butler'.
 

BRANDY-WINE
 

Strong distilled spirits were rare in medieval times, ale, cider, mead and wine being the main alcoholic drinks. However, some 'brandy-wine' (burnt-wine) was imported from France.
 

BRETAYNE
 

The north-west medieval slum district within the walls of Exeter, so named because when the Saxons invaded they pushed the Celtic 'Britons' into the least desirable corner of the city.
 

COB
 

A building material made from clay, straw and often dung, which was plastered on to wattle panels fixed between the timber frames of a cottage.
 

COG
 

A medieval trading ship, similar to a Viking longboat, but higher and wider, with more vertical stem- and stern-posts. Part decked,
 

with a single mast and sail, it had a steering oar, as rudders were not yet used.
 

COTTAR
 

A low-grade villein, an unfree man in the feudal system. He had no field-strips to cultivate, but had a toft and croft (q.v.). He worked at various tasks, such as hedging, thatching and labouring.
 

CROFT
 

A plot of ground on which a 'toft' or cottage was built, to house either a freeman or a villein.
 

CRUCIBLE
 

A container, usually of stone or pottery, for melting substances at high temperature in a furnace.
 

CULF
 

A Celtic word for a thick chunk of bread.
 

CURFEW
 

The closing of the city gates from dusk to dawn. Derived from couore-feu, the covering or extinction of domestic fires at night, owing to the ever-present risk of conflagration in buildings mostly made of wood.
 

CURRAGH
 

A boat like an elongated coracle, made of tarred fabric or skin stretched over a light wooden frame. Still used in the west of Ireland.
 

DEODAND

An object that has caused death, forfeit to the Crown after a coroner's inquest, where the jury decided its value. It could be a knife, a horse or even a mill-wheel. Sometimes, the proceeds of its value to the Treasury were given to the family of the deceased.
 

DESTRIER
 

A large warhorse, capable of carrying a man in armour. Oxen were used as draught animals, as horses were too valuable.
 

DISTAFF
 

A stick for holding raw wool or flax, from which a thread is drawn during hand spinning.
 

ELECTRUM
 

An alloy of gold and silver, known to the ancient Egyptians.
 

EYRE
 

The periodic visitation of each shire by the Royal Justices, to hear civil and criminal cases. This later became the Eyre of Assize, but there was also a much more infrequent General Eyre, which was a searching inquiry into the administration of the county. Because the eyres moved so slowly around England - often years elapsed between visits - judges of lesser rank, called the Commissoners of Gaol Delivery, came to clear the prisons.
 

FIRST FINDER
 

Whoever discovered a dead body in any but the most innocent circumstances, became the 'First Finder' and had specific legal obligations which, if not carried out to the letter, attracted a heavy fine. He had to knock up the four nearest households and initiate the 'Hue and Cry' (q.v.) and report the find at once to the village reeve or bailiff or equivalent officer in a town. These must then notify the coroner without delay and protect the body in situ until his arrival.
 

FLUMMERY
 

A bland food like blancmange, often made of oatmeal with fruit and honey.
 

FURLONG
 

From 'furrow', an eighth of a mile, originally the length of a furrow on a square field of ten acres.
 

HONOUR
 

The land held by barons and lords from the King, whether large estates or single manors.
 

HUE and CRY
 

When a crime was discovered, especially the finding of a dead body, the four nearest households must immediately turn out and raise the alarm in village or town, running through the streets to seek the offender. Failure to do so would result in an amercement (fine) levied upon the community.
 

HUER
 

A lookout on the shore or cliff, who spots shoals of herring or pilchard for the fishermen to harvest.
 

JUSTICIAR
 

One of the King's Council, a baron or bishop, who acted as a deputy when the King was abroad. In the late twelfth century, Hubert Waiter, the Chief Justiciar and Archbishop of Canterbury, was virtually the regent of England, as Richard Coeur-de-Lion never returned after 1194.
 

KIRTLE
 

A lady's dress, sleeved and of ankle length. A fashion-concious age produced innumerable variations in style.
 

LEMAN
 

A mistress or unmarried consort.
 

MATINS
 

The first of the nine religious offices (services) of the day. Matins took place soon after midnight, later in the winter.
 

MARK
 

A nominal value, not actual currency, worth two-thirds of a pound or 160 pennies, which were the only coins.
 

MURDRUM FINE (See 'Presentment').
 

MURRAIN
 

A disease of farm animals, especially sheep, though it covered a range of ill-defined ailments.
 

ORDEAL
 

Though sometimes used to extract confessions, the Ordeal was an ancient ritual in which suspects were subject to painful and often fatal procedures to determine guilt or innocence by semi-magical means. These included licking a red-hot iron, picking a stone from the bottom of a vat of boiling water (or even molten lead) or walking barefoot over nine red-hot ploughshares. If (hey suffered no significant burns or their injuries healed quickly, they were judged innocent - otherwise they were hanged. Women were bound hand and foot and thrown into deep water; if they sank, they were innocent. The Ordeal was abolished by the Vatican in 1215.
 

OSTLER
 

A man or boy who tends horses.
 

OUTREMER
 

Literally 'over the sea'. The several Christian kingdoms established in the Holy Land and adjacent areas in Syria and Asia Minor, following the capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade.
 

PALFREY
 

A small, docile horse, suitable for use by a lady.
 

PALIMPSEST
 

A reused parchment. Until paper was introduced into England in the fourteenth century, all writing was on sheep- or goatskin (parchment) or lamb or kid-skin (vellum). Owing to its cost, old writing was often scraped off and the surface used again.
 

POUND
 

A nominal sum of money, worth 12 shillings or 240 silver pennies, which were the only coins in circulation, apart from a few foreign gold bezants.
 

PRESENTMENT
 

When someone was found dead, other than from obvious disease, a relative had to make 'Presentment of Englishry' before the coroner, to prove that the deceased was a Saxon (or Welsh, Irish or Scots). The Norman administration, following revolts after the Conquest, assumed that all slain men were Normans until proved otherwise, and if proof were not forthcoming the village was amerced with a heavy murdrum fine. Within half a century of 1066, this became almost meaningless because of intermarriage, but the fine was continued for several centuries as a cynical means of extorting money from the population.
 

QUARREL
 

A type of cross-bow arrow, a bolt with a pyramid-shaped head, which could not easily be removed from the flesh.
 

QUIRE
 

The part of a cathedral where the priests held their services, separated from the common public in the nave by the rood screen. Later it became known as the 'choir'.
 

REEVE
 

There were various grades, the lowest official in a village being the manor-reeve, who organised the daily routine of the workers on the land. He was elected by his fellow villeins, theoretically to protect their interests at the manor court. A sheriff (shire-reeve) was the King's representative in each county.
 

ROUNSEY
 

An ordinary saddle-horse, for general riding, smaller than a destrier or warhorse
 

STRADEGUND
 

A sixth-century Frankish queen, who founded a monastery in Poitiers. In the twelfth century there was an altar to her in Exeter cathedral.
 

SANCTUARY
 

The right of a fugitive from the law to evade arrest by hiding in a church for up to forty days. At the end of that time, he either confessed his guilt to the coroner, 'abjuring the realm' (q.v.), or was locked in and starved te death. If he emerged, he could be beheaded by anyone.
 

SENNIGHT
 

A week or 'seven nights', similar to a fortnight (fourteen nights).
 

SHINGLES
 

Wooden tiles for a roof, an alternative to thatch or stone tiles.
 

SHRIEVALTY
 

The office of sheriff.
 

SUMPTER
 

A packhorse for carrying goods.
 

TRANSMUTATION
 

The goal of alchemists for many centuries, the conversion of base metals into gold. Claims were made for all kinds of processes, usually involving mercury, sulphur, lead, silver and copper.
 

TRENCHER
 

Plates were rarely used at mealtimes, a thick slice of stale bread being placed on the scrubbed boards of a table to accommodate the food. Afterwards, especially at feasts, the used trenchers were given to the poor and the beggars who gathered at- the door.
 

UNDERCROFT
 

A semi-basement of a castle keep or manor-house, usually used for storage. For defence reasons, it was accessible only from outside. The main door to the building was on the floor above, and the wooden steps granting access could be thrown down in case of attack.
 

VULGATE
 

The Catholic Bible, translated into Latin by St Jerome in AD 405. The Church resisted an English translation until the Reformation, as losing their monopoly of interpretation by priests, would have weakened their authority over the lay public.
 

CHAPTER ONE
 

November 1195
 

In which Crowner John is called to the shore
 

'He should never have been at sea this late in the season!'
 

The coroner's deep voice competed with the wind whistling past the ears of the two horsemen. They waited on the seaward end of a long ridge, high above the beach, while a third man laboured up behind them, his pony trudging wearily after the tedious journey west from Exeter.