Figure of Hate (2 page)

COTTAR

A low-grade villein, an unfree man in the feudal system. He had no field strips to work, but had a croft and toft. He worked at various tasks, such as hedging, thatching and labouring, for his manor-lord and others.

COVER-CHIEF

More correctly
couvre-chef
, a linen head-cover worn by women, held in place by a band around the head and flowing down over the back and front of the chest.

Known as a 'head-rail' in Saxon times.

CRESPINE

A hairnet, often gilded, holding two plaited coils of hair over each of a lady's ears.

CROFT

A plot of ground in a village belonging to a freeman or villein, upon which a 'toft' or cottage was built.

CURFEW

Derived from
couvre-feu
, the covering or banking down of fires. Open fires were prohibited in towns after dark, owing to the fear of starting a conflagration. During the curfew, which lasted from dusk to dawn, the town gates were closed - one thirteenth century mayor of Exeter was hanged for failing to ensure this.

CURIA REGIS

The royal court, consisting of the major barons senior bishops who supported and advised the King and provided the judges for the courts.

DAGGED

The lower edge of a man's tunic or cape, when cut in steps like battlements.

DEODAND

Literally 'a gift from God', applied to the forfeiture any object that caused a death. Anything from a knife to a mill-wheel could be confiscated by the coroner and sold for the Treasury; occasionally the proceeds were given to the family of the deceased.
 

• DESTRIER

A large warhorse capable of carrying an armoured knight. When firearms made them redundant, destriers became shire horses, replacing oxen as draught animals.

EXIGENT

To declare someone exigent was the legal mechanism for making a person an outlaw (q.v.).

EYRE

A sitting of the King's justices, introduced by Henry II in 1166, which moved around from county to county.

There were two types, the 'General Eyre', held at very infrequent intervals, which scrutinised the administration of each county, and the 'Eyre of Assize', which, was the forerunner of the assizes and the more recent Crown Courts. As the eyres also occurred infrequently there were additional sittings by Commissioners of Gad Delivery, to clear the jails of prisoners awaiting trial.

FARM

The taxation from a county, collected in coin by the sheriff and taken personally by him twice a year to the Exchequer at Winchester or London. The farm was fixed each year by the Curia Regis, but if the sheriff could collect more, he could keep the difference.

FIRST FINDER

The first person to come across an unattended dead body. He had a duty to knock up the four nearest households immediately and 'raise the hue and cry' to try to apprehend any killer, then report the death to a bailiff or constable, for notification to the coroner.

Failure to do so would result in amercement (a fine).

FRANKPLEDGE

A system for self-regulation of both freemen and serfs, where all men had to form groups of ten (later twelve) who were mutually responsible for each other's behaviour. If one failed in some legal obligation, the rest were fined.

GAMBESON

A padded, quilted garment worn under chain mail, to diffuse the force of blows.

HAUBERK

A long armoured tunic of chain mail, the lower part slit for riding a horse.

JUSTICIAR

The chief minister in Norman times, a great noble or churchman appointed by the King. At the time of this story it was Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had also been Richard the Lionheart's second-in-command at the Crusades and who was virtually regent as the king never returned to England during the five years of his reign.

KIRTLE

A woman's dress, usually reaching her feet. The style especially of the sleeves, varied considerably at different
 
times. It was worn over a thin chemise, the only under garment.

LEMAN A mistress or concubine.

MANOR-REEVE

A foreman elected by his fellows in each village to organise the daily farm work. He was usually a villein, not a freeman.

OSTLER

A servant in a stable or inn who took charge of horses.

OUTLAW

A man 'outside the law' who had no legal existence.

Usually escaped prisoners or sanctuary-seekers, they were declared 'exigent' by a coroner if they failed to answer four calls to appear before the county court, either as a defendant or witness. An outlaw could be legitimately killed on sight by anyone, who could then claim a bounty of five shillings if he took the head to the sheriff.

OUTREMER

The four Christian kingdoms in the Levant at the time of the Crusades, of which one was Jerusalem.

MURDRUM FINE
 

This was applied to any unnatural death where the community could not prove 'presentment of Englishry' (q.v.). It was assumed that a Saxon had murdered a Norman and was the origin of the term 'murder'.

ORDEAL

Though sometimes used to extract confessions, the Ordeal was an ancient ritual, abolished by the Vatican in 1215, in which suspects were subject to painful and often fatal procedures, such as licking red-hot iron, picking a stone from a vat of boiling water or barefoot-over nine red-hot ploughshares. If suffered no significant burns 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!

PALFREY

A small, docile horse suitable for a woman to ride.

PEINE FORTE ET DURE

Literally 'severe and hard punishment', whereby prisoners who refused to confess were tortured by having progressively heavy weights placed on their chest until they submitted or died.

POMMEL

The raised front of a saddle, across which the jousting lance was rested. The medieval saddle, of wood and leather, was like a deep chair, with the pommel in front and the cantle behind, to give the rider maximum stability when fighting.

POSSE

The '
posse comitatus
' was established by Henry II and was a group of armed men which could be called out by a sheriff in order to hunt criminals or defend the realm.

PRESENTMENT OF ENGLISHRY
 

After the Conquest of 1066, many Normans were killed by aggrieved Saxons, so anyone found dead was assumed to be Norman and the locals were heavily punished with a 'murdrum fine' (q.v.) unless they could prove at the coroner's inquest that the deceased was English (or Welsh or Scots). This presentment continued for several hundred years, though it became merely a cynical device for extorting money.

RECET

An area of sanctuary set aside at mé1ées and tournaments for resting men and horses and treating the wounded.

SACKBUT
 

A medieval musical instrument resembling a trombone

SANCTUARY
 

See 'Abjurer'.

SECONDARY

A young man training to be a priest, under twenty-four of age. They assisted vicars and canons in their cathedral duties.

SHALMES

A medieval stringed instrument.

SHERIFF

The 'shire-reeve', the King's representative in each county, responsible for collecting the 'farm' (the county taxes) and for keeping law and order. The post was much sought after because of the opportunities for extorting money. Corruption was so rife that in 1170 Henry II sacked all his sheriffs.

SQUIRE

A supporter and servant of a knight, usually a young man aspiring to eventual knighthood himself.

TILT

A device for training men for both battle and jousting.

A horizontal bar was pivoted on a post with a target hanging down from one end and a sack of sand on the €other. The horseman had to gallop past and strike the target with his lance, but avoid the weighted sack that would swing round at him.

TRENCHER

A thick slice of the previous day's loaf, used instead of a plate to hold cooked food. Soaked in the juices, it was often given to the poor after use.

UNDERCROFT

'l'he lowest floor of a fortified building, often partly below ground level. The entrance to the rest of the building was on the floor above, which had no communication with the undercroft. In times of siege, the removable wooden steps could be thrown down to prevent attackers horn being able to reach the main door.

VARLET

A young man learning to be a page, who in turn often aspired to become a squire to a knight.

VICAR

A priest employed by a more senior cleric, such as a canon, to carry out some of his religious duties, especially at the many daily services in a cathedral. Often called a 'vicar-choral' from his participation in chanted services.

VILLEIN

The upper grade of unfree men in the feudal system.

A villein was granted a loft and croft and his own strips in the village field system, but had to work for the lord on certain days. He might be more wealthy than some freemen.

VIRGATE

A measure of land, which varied in size from place to place, often being thirty acres.

WIMPLE
                           

Linen or silk cloth framing a woman's face an covering the throat.

PROLOGUE

Spring 1195

The tournament was in its second day when tragedy first struck.

 
It was not that such accidents were all that uncommon. The war-games that were so beloved of knights were intentionally dangerous affairs – if it had been otherwise, they would soon have lost I their appeal. The previous day, a blustery Monday in early April, a Warwickshire baron had been unhorsed and had fractured his thigh. With the broken bone protruding through the skin, everyone knew that he as sure to die once it became purulent. Another combatant was in his tent, anxiously tended by his squire as he vomited dark blood, after a blunted lance had caught him in the stomach. Otherwise the day had been fairly benign, apart from the numerous bruises and gashes that were too common to be noticed by the jousting fraternity.

It was the next day of this three-day mêlée that claimed the first life.

 
Sir William Peverel, manor-lord of Sampford Peverel in east Devon, was one of the hundred and twenty knights taking part in this escapade - and he was the first to perish. Some would say that at fifty-five, older than most of the participants, he should have been wise enough to stay at home, rather than rampaging about the countryside like someone thirty years his junior. But William had been competing in tournaments for most of his adult life and owed some of his fortune to the spoils he had won in this dangerous pastime. He saw no reason to give up now, having a wealth of experience to add to his still-brawny arms and his excellent eyesight.

 
Soon after dawn that morning, the two armies had assembled on the tournament ground between Salisbury and Wilton. It was a stretch of undulating countryside two miles long and half a mile wide, mostly open common with some thickets and copses of trees scattered within it. This Wiltshire site was one of the five that had been officially sanctioned by King Richard as the only places in England where tournaments were allowed - though this rule was flouted more often than it was observed. The Lionheart, however, with his usual dedication to collecting money to finance his endless French wars, charged a stiff fee for participation, ranging from twenty marks for an earl to two for a landless knight. The common folk were strictly excluded, as tourneying was only for the aristocracy and the mounted soldier - though the peasants turned up to watch and to wager on the winners.

 
On this Tuesday, William Peverel was part of the Red team — in fact, he was one of the leaders, if such a term could be applied to a disorderly mob for whom team spirit came a poor second to personal gain. His sixty combatants massed their great warhorses at the top of a gentle rise, each wearing something scarlet to distinguish them from the Blues, who were waiting on the next hillock a quarter of a mile away. Some wore a red tabard or a surcoat over their armour, others just a crimson scarf or a length of red cloth tied around their shoulders. Though these distinguishing markers were many and varied, they all wore similar armour consisting of chain-link hauberks. Some were ankle length and others only came to the knee - and a few had mailed leggings. Only a handful of the poorest knights wore cuirasses of thick boiled leather instead of mail, but everyone had a round iron helmet with a prominent nose-guard, and most protected their necks with a hood of steel links and an aventail that could be pulled up over the chin. Everyone had a long blunted lance, a broadsword and an oval or heart-shaped shield, many of these having a crude heraldic device painted on the toughened wood. The two groups readied themselves, the men now silent, though some of the destriers snorted, tossed their heads or pawed the damp ground, excited at the prospect of a gallop and the clash of arms.