An Arabic term that has similarities with chivalry and virtue. It was also a name of ethical urban organizations or ‘guilds’ in medieval Muslim realms that emphasized honesty, peacefulness, gentleness, generosity, hospitality and avoidance of complaint in life. In modern-day dialects of Arabic (for example, in Egypt) the term is sometimes used for youths who do quasi-chivalrous acts such as helping others resist intimidation by rival groups.
The term garderobe describes a place where clothes and other items are stored, and also a medieval toilet. In European public places, a garderobe denotes the cloakroom, wardrobe, alcove or an armoire. In a medieval castle or other building, a garderobe was usually a simple hole discharging to the outside leading to a cesspit or into the moat, depending on the structure of the building. Such toilets were often placed inside a small chamber, leading by association to the use of the term garderobe to describe them.
Another word for money in Dutch and German (
An ampulla was, in Ancient Rome, a ‘small nearly globular flask or bottle, with two handles’. The word is used in archaeology for flasks, often handle-less and much flatter, containing holy water or holy oil in the Middle Ages, often bought as souvenirs of pilgrimages. Materials include glass, ceramics and metal. The glass Holy Ampulla was part of the French coronation regalia and believed to have divine origins. Similar is the Gold Ampulla in the British Crown Jewels, a hollow, eagle-shaped gold vessel from which the anointing oil is poured by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the anointing of a new British sovereign during their coronation.
The Golden Horn is an inlet of the Bosphorus to the east of the city of Constantinople (Istanbul) forming a natural harbour that has sheltered ships for thousands of years. It is a scimitar-shaped estuary that joins the Bosphorus just at the point where that strait enters the Sea of Marmara, thus forming a peninsula, the tip of which is ‘Old Istanbul’ (ancient Constantinople).
A small tailed flag or banner, flown from the top of a lance or pole to indicate lordly status, common throughout Europe. It would carry the colours, crest or heraldry of its owner.
The title of
The secret weapon of the Byzantine emperors. A sort of ancient napalm, it was invented by a Syrian engineer, a refugee from Baalbek, in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis in 673. The mix of ingredients, a closely guarded secret, was reputedly handed down from emperor to emperor. It has remained a secret to this day, but was thought to be a combination of pitch, sulphur, tree resin, quicklime and bitumen. The key ingredient may well have been magnesium, which would explain why the ‘fire’ would burn under water. Varieties of it began to be used by other navies, most using pitch. The ‘fire’ was often poured into wooden barrels or clay pots before being lit and hurled at the enemy.
A guige is a long strap, typically made of leather, used to hang a shield on the shoulder or neck. This technique was primarily employed when the shield was not in use. Nevertheless, soldiers also wore the strap in this fashion in combat: it allowed for two-armed combat, with the soldier handling a second weapon. The guige also allowed the shield to be worn on the back while using a two-handed sword, or enabled soldiers to work on siege machines without discarding the shield. It gave the shield extra support in intense hand-to-hand combat. Guiges usually had buckles to adjust their length. Most information about the use of guiges comes from various medieval works of art, such as the Bayeux Tapestry.
The Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday 4 July 1187, between the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty under the command of the Sultan Saladin. The Muslim armies under Saladin captured or killed the vast majority of the crusader forces, removing their capability to wage war. As a direct result of the battle, Islamic forces once again became the major military power in the Holy Land, soon re-conquering Jerusalem and several other crusader-held cities. These Christian defeats prompted the Third Crusade, which began two years after the Battle of Hattin.
A maille (chain-mail) ‘coat’, worn like a long pullover down below the groin. Hauberks for the infantry were slightly shorter so that the men could run in them, and were only split at the sides. Cavalry hauberks extended to the knee and were split front and back. Hauberks were often worn with ‘chausses’ (maille leggings, worn like trousers). The maille could extend into a hood (coif) like a balaclava, but had a flap (ventail), in front of the throat and chin that could be dropped for comfort when not in the midst of battle. Three kinds of maille were used and were progressively more expensive: ordinary ring maille, scale maille and lamellar maille (when overlapping individual plates were fastened together by leather thongs).
The elite bodyguard of kings, princes and lords of the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries.
Azure: blue
Bend: diagonal stripe like a sash
Field: background of a shield, usually consisting of colours or metals (tinctures) or symbolic vair
Gold (or): yellow
Gules: red
Passant: a ‘lion passant’ is walking, with the right forepaw raised and all others on the ground
Roundel: sphere
Sable: black
Tierce: a third part of a shield (background), usually a band down the left-hand side
Vair: variegated furs (ermine, squirrel, etc.)
The elite troops of the Anglo-Saxon kings, following their establishment by King Cnut in 1016, in the Danish tradition. Cnut brought his own personal troops to supplement the English fyrd (citizen army) when he succeeded to the throne following the death of Edmund Ironside.
After the city of Jerusalem fell to Saladin in 1187, a period of huge investment began in the construction of houses, markets, public baths and pilgrim hostels, as well as the establishment of religious endowments. However, for most of the thirteenth century, Jerusalem declined to the status of a village – a result of the city’s fall in strategic value and the Ayyubid internecine struggles. In 1244, Jerusalem was sacked by the Khwarezmian Tartars, who suppressed the city’s Christian population and drove out the Jews. The Khwarezmian Tartars were driven out by the Ayyubids, in 1247. From 1250 to 1517, Jerusalem was ruled by the Mamluks. During this period many clashes occurred between the Mamluks on one side and the crusaders and the Mongols on the other. In 1517, Jerusalem fell to the Ottoman Turks, who remained in control until 1917.
Jihad is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word translates as a noun meaning ‘struggle’. A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is mujahideen. Jihad is an important religious duty for Muslims. A minority among the Sunni scholars sometimes refer to this duty as the sixth pillar of Islam, though it occupies no such official status. In Shi’a Islam, however, jihad is one of the Ten Practices of the Religion. In western societies the term jihad is often translated by non-Muslims as ‘holy war’. Muslim authors tend to reject such an approach, stressing non-militant connotations of the word.
See ‘motte and bailey’.
