Glossary
ARRAS a tapestry.
BASELARD a slim-bladed dagger.
CAMAIL, or AVENTAIL a netting of ring mail that shielded the neck.
CHEMISE shirt for both male and female, usually white. All-purpose, might also be used as a nightshirt.
COTEHARDIE (COAT) any variety of upper-body outerwear popular from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance. For men, it was a coat reaching to the thighs or below the knee, with buttons all the way down the front and sometimes at the sleeves. Worn over a chemise. Sometimes the belt was worn at the hips and sometimes the belt moved up to the waist. This is what Crispin wears.
DEGRADED when knighthood is taken from a man, usually because of treason or other crimes against the crown.
FLETCHER a maker of arrows.
FLETCHING the feathered part of an arrow.
HOUPPELANDE Fourteenth-century upper-body outerwear with fashionably long sleeves that often touched the ground.
JETTY/JETTIED the part of the upper floor of a building that juts out over the street.
GIRDLE a belt.
GONFALON a banner ending in long streamers.
SENNIGHT a period of seven days, a week.
SHRIVE/SHRIVEN to make confession in the penitential sense.
STOTT an inferior horse.
SUMPTER a baggage horse.
TRAPPER a colorful covering on a horse as one might see at a tournament or in battle, presenting the knight’s colors.
TUN a large cask for wine, beer, or whatnot.
