were made of cotton or linen.
The Bucentaur was the state galley of the Doges of Venice. It was used every year on Ascension Day up to 1798 to take the Doge out to the Adriatic Sea to perform the ‘Marriage of the Sea’ – a ceremony that symbolically wedded Venice to the sea.
The Saxon name for a town or city.
The seaborne equivalent of a housecarl, the medieval equivalent of a modern-day marine.
The House of Capet ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328 after succeeding the Carolingian dynasty. The name derives from Hugh Capet, the first Capetian King, who was a descendant of the Carolingians. The direct House of Capet came to an end in 1328, when the three sons of Philip IV all failed to produce surviving male heirs to the French throne.
A long-sleeved, ankle-length ecclesiastical robe, tied at the waist by a corded belt. Usually made from cotton or wool, for Templars it would have had a slit at the front and rear so that it could be worn on horseback. In battle, the cappa would have been worn over a full-body hauberk of chain mail.
The carucate was a unit of assessment for tax used in most Danelaw counties of England, and is found in the Domesday Book. The carucate was based on the area a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was subdivided into oxgangs, or ‘bovates’, based on the area a single ox might till in the same period, which thus represented one eighth of a carucate.
A castellan was the governor, constable or captain of a castle. The word stems from the Latin
The castle is now called Chateau Gaillard and is regarded as the finest fortification of the Middle Ages. Henry IV of France ordered the demolition of Chateau Gaillard in 1599. Today, its ruins are listed as an historical monument by the French Ministry of Culture and are open to visitors.
Castles, fortresses and fortified walled cities were the main form of defence in the Middle Ages and a variety of catapult devices were used against them. As well as attempting to breach the walls, missiles and incendiaries could be hurled inside, or early forms of biological warfare deployed, such as diseased carcasses, putrid garbage or excrement. The most widely used catapults were the following:
Similar to a giant crossbow and designed to work through torsion. Giant arrows were used as the ammunition, made from wood with an iron tip.
These machines were designed to throw heavy projectiles from a bowl-shaped bucket at the end of an arm. With a range of up to 1,300 feet they were relatively simple to construct, and wheels were added to increase mobility.
Mangonels are sometimes referred to as ‘onagers’. Onager catapults initially launched projectiles from a sling, which was later changed to a bowl-shaped bucket.
The springald’s design was similar to that of the ballista, effectively a crossbow propelled by tension. The springald’s frame was more compact, allowing for use inside tighter confines, such as the inside of a castle or tower.
Trebuchets were probably the most powerful catapult employed in the Middle Ages. The most commonly used ammunition was stones, but the most effective involved fire, such as firebrands and the infamous ‘Greek fire’. Trebuchets came in two different designs: traction, which were powered by people; or counterpoise, where the people were replaced with a weight on the short end of an arm. A simplified trebuchet was known as a ‘couillard’, where the trebuchet’s single counterweight was split, swinging on either side of a central support post.
The dynastic name of the Kings of Wessex, who ultimately became Kings of England, from Egbert, King of Wessex in 820, to Edward the Confessor’s death in 1066. The only exceptions were the three Danish kings, Cnut and his sons Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut, between 1016 and 1042. The name reputedly derives from Cerdic, a prince of the West Saxons from circa 600, who was an ancestor of Egbert, the first King of England.
See ‘Song of Roland’.
A simple garment worn next to the skin to protect clothing from sweat and body oils, the precursor to the modern shirt. The chemise seems to have developed from the Roman
A female hairstyle that can be traced back to antiquity, where the hair is swept back from a central parting and tied in a loosely folded bun at the back of the head.
Chrism is a Greek word literally meaning ‘an anointing’; it is also known as myrrh, holy anointing oil or consecrated oil. It is an oil used in the administration of certain sacraments and ecclesiastical functions in Christian churches.
Following defeat by Saladin’s forces in 1187 (after which most of Palestine was controlled by the Ayyubids), a rump crusader state in the northern coastal cities survived for another century. However, despite seven further crusades, the crusaders were no longer a significant power in the region.
A church builder or architect.
The Cilician Gates, or Gulek Pass, is a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau, by way of the narrow gorge of the Gokoluk River. The southern end of the Cilician Gates is about thirty miles north of Tarsus, and the northern end leads to Cappadocia.
Cloth of gold is a fabric woven with a gold-wrapped or spun weft. In most cases, the core yarn is silk wrapped with a band or strip of high-content gold. The Ancient Greek reference to the Golden Fleece is thought to be a reference to gold cloth. Cloth of gold has been popular for ecclesiastical use for many centuries.
See ‘hauberk’.
A squadron, twenty-five strong, of cavalry.
Historically, the title comes from the Latin
