The khanjar is the traditional dagger of Oman. It is similar to the Yemeni jambiya. The khanjar is curved and sharpened on both edges. It is carried in a sheath decorated in silver, on a belt similarly decorated in silver filigree. A khanjar appears on the flag of Oman, as part of the national emblem of Oman. There are many uses of the khanjar. It is a symbolic weapon, worn by men after puberty. Nowadays, it is used as a type of formal dress item and for stylistic purposes. Drawing the khanjar from its sheath was a social taboo before the 1970s, and men would only do that if they sought revenge or for assassination.
A kilij, from the Turkish
A recurve-style bow used throughout Asia Minor in the Middle Ages. Like a Turkish bow, it got its name from the Kipchak tribe who, as the Golden Horde, ruled the western part of the Mongol Empire until the thirteenth century.
A kirtle is a long tunic-like dress worn by women in the Middle Ages into the baroque period. The kirtle was typically worn over a chemise or smock and under a formal outer garment or gown.
The Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Knights of St John, Order of St John (and currently The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta), were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders during the Middle Ages. The Hospitallers arose as a group of individuals associated with an Amalfitan hospital in the Muristan district of Jerusalem, which was dedicated to St John the Baptist and was founded around 1023 by Blessed Gerard Thom to provide care for poor, sick or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land.
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, commonly known as the Knights Templar, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders of the Middle Ages and existed for nearly two centuries. Founded by Christian zealot Hugh de Payens and eight associates in 1119, it was officially endorsed by the Catholic Church around 1129. The Order became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power. Knights Templar, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Non-combatant members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Europe, introducing financial techniques that were an early form of banking, and building fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.
The Templars’ existence was tied closely to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the Order faded. Rumours about the Templars’ secret initiation ceremony created mistrust and King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Order, took advantage of the situation. In 1307, many of the Order’s members in France were arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake. Under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the Order in 1312. The abrupt disappearance of a major part of the European infrastructure gave rise to speculation and legends, which have kept the ‘Templar’ name alive into the modern day.
A lateen (from the French
An ancient Arabic mace, usually with a heavy bronze or lead head, sitting atop a thick wooden shaft of ash.
The leine is a unisex smock of Celtic peoples, not unlike a Roman toga. The word means ‘shirt’ and early descriptions from the fifth to the twelfth centuries talk of a long smock-like linen garment, ankle-length or knee- length, either sleeveless or with straight sleeves.
Derived from aconite, a genus of over 250 species of flowering plants belonging to the family
A room in a monastery for conversation, also a place where monks or nuns might meet with people from the outside world.
A lodestone is a naturally magnetized piece of the mineral magnetite. Ancient people first discovered the property of magnetism in lodestone. Pieces of lodestone, suspended so they could turn, were the first magnetic compasses and their importance to early navigation is indicated by their name, which in Middle English means ‘course stone’ or ‘leading stone’.
A lute can refer to any string instrument having the strings running in a plane parallel to the sound table, more specifically to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back. The player of a lute is called a lutenist, lutanist or lutist, and a maker of lutes (or any string instrument) is referred to as a luthier.
A lyam hound or lime-hound (also known as limer or lymer) was a scent hound, used on a leash in medieval times to find large game before it was hunted down by the pack. The term originates from the Middle English
A machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones, or other objects, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. The design was adopted in the Middle Ages in Europe when Norman crusaders returned from the Holy Land. A machicolated battlement projects outwards from the supporting wall in order to facilitate this. The word derives from the Old French word
See ‘hauberk’.
A Persian legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx (which is female). It has the body of a (male) red or golden lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth and a trumpet-like voice. Other aspects of the creature vary from story to story. It may be horned, winged, or both. The tail is that of either a dragon or a scorpion, and it may shoot poisonous spines or arrows. Sometimes it is portrayed as a hunter armed with a bow. It may have come into European mythology in Roman times or as a result of the First Crusade.
A mantle (from
Maqluba, sometimes pronounced as Maaluba or Magluba, is a traditional dish of the Arab Levant and Palestine. The dish includes meat, rice and fried vegetables placed in a pot, which is then flipped upside down when served, hence the name, which translates literally as ‘upside down’.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries German silver marks were equivalent to two-thirds of a pound of sterling silver.
Mead, also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by brewing a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by brewing a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained after
