Picture Dictionary

Welcome to Lions and Lilies Picture Dictionary

A dictionary to illustrate the world of Lions and Lilies

All words in this dictionary are mentioned in the series

ARGENT

Heraldic description of the colour silver.

ARRAS

A tapestry of Flemish origin used especially for wall hangings. A screen of tapestry.

BERNADINE

Also known as a Cistercian, a member of the Cistercian Order of monks so named for St Bernard of Clairvaux.

BLIAUT

An over garment featuring a voluminous skirt and horizontal puckering or pleating across a snugly fitted abdomen. The sleeves are long and loose. It was worn with a belt or stomacher.

BRAIES

An undergarment tied about the waist, a form of men’s underwear to which the chausses were tied.

CAMACA

A fine cloth-like silk thought to be a mixture of silk and camel hair. The name comes from Persian kamkhā, which has cognates in Greek, Turkish and Arabic and derived from a Fujian Chinese word meaning 'golden flower'. Its exotic nature is reflected in the phrase 'camaca d'ultremer' / 'camoca outremer' ('camaca from abroad'): in, for example, the inventories of John, duke of Bedford (1389-1435): 'une chapelle cotidienne de camocasd'oultremer sendree'; and another example: 'iij quissinos apertos de camoca outremer'. The eastern cloth was traded into western Europe by the early 14^th century.

CAMAIL

Armour - also called aventail. A curtain of mail attached to the helm, covering the shoulders. It may cover the whole head, with a hole for the face.

CAPARISON

The decorative covering for a horse bearing his owner's colours and heraldic device.

CHAPERON

The fashion of a hood with a thick roll at the base and a liripipe draped around the chin.

CHARGE

A heraldic term for a shape as in a ‘v’ shape (which is also known as a ‘pile’)

CHAUSSES

Individual leggings (not joined with a gusset) usually made of wool and tied at the top to the braies. Some knights wore gamboised (padded) chausses for protection in battle.

CHEMISE

Linen undergarment for women. The shift beneath the gown, sometimes visible at the neck and sleeves.

CISTERCIAN ORDER

An order of monks so named for St Bernard of Clairvaux. Also known as a Bernadine.

COCKSCOMB

The comb or crest of a cock incorporated into a hat worn by a jester or professional fool.

COMPLINE

The last of seven canonical bells that indicated mid-evening prayer.

CORDOVAN

Expensive soft, smooth leather made in Córdoba, Spain.

COTEHARDIE

A 14th to 16th-century unisex garment tailored to fit the torso and arms, usually with a row of buttons down the front as well as down each fitted sleeve, from the elbow to the wrist.

COUPED

Heraldic term meaning cut off in a straight line. (In the image the hand is cut off at the wrist - it is couped.)

CUISSES

A piece of armour made to fit the thigh.

DEMESNE

Manorial land retained for the private use of a feudal lord. It is possessed by the lord and not held by tenants.

DEVICE

Coat of arms or heraldic emblem.

DOUBLET

A man's snug-fitting jacket which was worn in Western Europe from the late Middle Ages through to the mid-17th century. The doublet was hip length or waist length and worn over the shirt.

DUCAT

A gold coin used in medieval Europe.

EPHEDRA

Shrubby, almost leafless plant found in dry regions.

ERADICATED

Heraldic term - used when a tree or plant has been uprooted and has bare roots showing - it is 'eradicated.'

FALCHION

A short, single-edged sword with a cleaver-like curved blade, often favoured by the medieval knight who had been on crusade. It is similar to a scimitar. The medieval falchion had a short, heavy blade with a single edge.

GAMBESON

Quilted/padded arming doublet or jacket worn as armour or combined with mail or plate armour.

GAMBOISED

Quilted or padded - as in ‘gamboised chausses or cuisses.’ Sometimes, quilted in longitudinal folds or ridges so as to be pliable in one direction and more or less stiff in the other. The gamboised cuisses were often worn over the armour cuisses with the knee armour (poleyns) on top (see last frame).

GARCON

French word for boy.

GARDEROBE

A medieval toilet usually set against a wall with a pit or tower/tunnel beneath for the waste to fall into the moat or nearby waterway. In the soldiers latrine tower, there may be several together.

GULES

Heraldic description of the colour red. (The first shield is Albret and the second shield belonged to Charles d'Albret, Marshal de France.) The third shield is described as 'Ordinary Ermine Fess Gules and the last one to show a lion rampant on a gules field.

HASTILUDE

A medieval term that refers to many kinds of martial games. The name comes from the Latin hastiludium, literally 'lance game.'

HAWKING GLOVE

Thick, sturdy glove used in falconry, a very popular sport/pastime in medieval times for the gentry.

HERALDRY / HERALDIC

The art of blazoning armorial bearings; of settling the rights of certain persons to bear arms and use certain bearings, recording honour, genealogy and deciding precedence. Some distinctive qualities of heraldry is the use of a palette of colours and patterns, know as tinctures. These are divided into three categories - Metals, Colours and Furs. Such words as 'ordinaries', 'charges' and 'fields' directly relate to the type of crest designs. Even the way a charge (eg animal) is standing/sitting/facing has its own language.

Design set with collection of heraldic beasts and animals like unicorn, dragon, lion isolated on white. Hand drawn engraved illustration with mythology and fantasy creatures, medieval coat of arms

HOMESPUN

Literally ‘home-spun’ cloth usually referring to peasant class.

HOSE

See chausses.

JUPON

A tight-fitting garment, usually padded, and worn over armour from c1350 - 1410. Often used to display the wearer’s heraldic device or badge. Below - 1. Jupon belonging to the Black Prince! 2. replica of no. 3 3. Jupon of Charles de Blois (his son appears in L&L book 3)

KIRTLE

A woman's gown. Unlike the Bliaut, the kirtle is a term that can refer to most gowns, though we show a Cotte-hardie as being a tight-fitting to the hips garment with lots of buttons, and the Bliaut as being made of silk, voluminous and tied with a belt or stomacher and the kirtle as being more of a 'working gown' thought the last two pictures clearly demonstrate them as court dresses.

LAMPHREYS

An eel-like fish for eating; a delicacy.

LAPIS LAZULI

Precious stone of from ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations known as ‘stone from Heaven’ or ‘sky stone’ for its rich blue colour.

LAUDS

A service of morning prayer traditionally said or chanted at daybreak. One of the eight canonical hours.

LIRIPIPE

The long tail of fabric hanging from a hood, wrapped scarf-like around the neck or wound around the head. Eventually this hood and wound liripipe became a fashion in itself called the ‘chaperon.’

LOVEAGE

A plant of the parsley family.

LOZENGES

A diamond pattern, often used in heraldic devices.

LUNGWORT

A bristly plant of the borage family, typically having white-spotted leaves and pink flowers that turn blue as they age. It was used for breathing conditions and stomach ailments.

MADIRAN

A Gascon wine from the Béarn district in (Gascony) France imported to King Edward III’s table. The village of Madiran is 160kms south of Bordeaux and has a long history of wine production dating back to Gallo Roman times. Although wine has flowed in the region since 800 BC, the story of Madiran begins in the 11th C with the arrival of the Benedictine monks. They founded the Priory and participated in the development of the vine culture in the region. At this time, the production of wine in Madiran was easy as the grape was flourishing. The reputation of Madiran wines very quickly became established by pilgrims travelling to Santiago de Compostela along the road linking Aire-sur-l'Adour to Lescar and therefore through Saint Mont and Madiran. It consequently naturally became a pilgrim’s wine and a communion wine.

Legend has it that the occupation of Béarn by the Black Prince, who in 1360 became the Prince of Aquitaine, allowed the English to discover Madiran wines.

MAIL

Chain mail - interlinked rings of metal ‘knitted’ together to form a protective covering. Sometimes used as a slang term for armour in general.

MANDRAKE

A Mediterranean plant of the nightshade family, with white or purple flowers and yellow berries. It has a forked root that supposedly resembles the human form and was formerly used in medicine and magic. All parts of mandrake plants can produce hallucinogenic effects as well as narcotic, emetic and purgative results. In Ancient Greece, mandrake was noted for being a narcotic. It was used medicinally for anxiety and depression, insomnia, and gout. It was also used as a love potion. It was in Greece that the resemblance of the roots to a human was first recorded.

MARLYON

In the sport of ‘Hawking’, a marlyon was a bird for the rank of a lady. During the Middle Ages a social custom evolved in falconry known today as the Laws of Ownership. Birds of prey were allocated a rank and a man could not hawk with a bird that had a higher rank than him. The hierarchy seems to have evolved around the cost of the bird and it is not known how strictly it was adhered to. The original list was documented in the 15th Century ‘Boke of St Albans’ on hawking, hunting and cote-armour as follows:

Emperor – The Eagle, Vulture, and Merloun
King – The Ger Falcon and the Tercel of the Ger Falcon
Prince: The Falcon Gentle and the Tercel Gentle
Duke: The Falcon of the Loch
Earl: The Falcon Peregrine
Baron: The Bustard
Knight: The Sacre and the Sacret
Esquire: The Lanere and the Laneret
Lady: The Marlyon
Young Man: The Hobby
Yeoman: The Goshawk
Poor Man: The Tercell
Priest: The Sparrowhawk
Holy Water Clerk: The Musket
Knave or Servant: The Kestrel

MATINS

The first of eight canonical bells that indicated the first or dawn prayer.

MUMMER

A mummer was a medieval entertainer who was an amateur actor. He performed at different plays in the villages that were held at the harvest time or on some religious occasion such as Christmas. The word 'mummer' can be traced back to ancient Greece and is derived from momus, the personification of satire and mockery.

NONES

The sixth of eight canonical bells that indicate afternoon prayer.

PALLIASSE (OR PALLET)

A straw-filled mattress or small makeshift bed, close to the ground. It was generally linen or some other material stretched over hay or straw. Palliasse is based on the French word for straw: paille.

PATTENS

A wooden overshoe worn outdoors to protect a normal shoe. They had a wooden or later wood and metal sole, and were held in place by leather or cloth bands. Pattens functioned to elevate the foot above the mud and dirt (including human effluent and animal dung) of the street, in a period when road and urban paving was minimal.

PERRY

Perry is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, similar to the way cider is made from apples.

PEYTRAL

The peytral was designed to protect the chest of the horse, while the croupiere protected the rear. It sometimes stretched as far back as the saddle. Armouring a horse is called barding, and the collective noun for all the pieces of a horse's armour is called barding eg. (pic 1) This barding is exquisitely engraved.

PILE

In heraldry, a pile is a charge usually counted as one of the ordinaries (figures bounded by straight lines and occupying a definite portion of the shield). It consists of a wedge emerging from the upper edge of the shield and converging to a point near the base (V-shape). If it touches the base, it is blazoned throughout.

1) A pile throughout (or entire) - Using arms of Sir John Chandos - Argent, a pile gules (or in English - background silver with a red 'V')

2) A pile reversed

3) 3 piles issuing from dexter sable - dexter is the left side of the shield when facing it; sable is the black colour

4) Azure, a pile issuing from the base in bend sinister, or. (Blue, with a 'v' shape going diagonally across (bend) from the top right when facing it (sinister) to bottom left in gold)

5) Paly sable and argent, a pile throughout issuant from the sinister base argent (stripes, black and silver, with a silver 'V' shape going from bottom right when facing)

6) Or, (gold) three piles in point (or conjoined in base) gules (red). (In English - On gold, 3 red 'v's touching at the base)

PLAGUE

Deadly disease which ravaged the Middle Ages - also known as ‘The Pestilence’ or the 'Black Death' or bubonic plague, the latter two for the way the flesh died and turned black, and for the buboes or large infected lumps that appeared in the lymph nodes. The phrase 'black death' is a very old term dating back to Ancient Greece.

POLEYNS

Armour pieces that cover the kneecaps. They first appeared around 1230 and remained in use until 1650 when firearms made them obsolete. The last photo shows poleyns with greaves.

QUINTAIN/S

A target (usually a shield) mounted on a moveable crossbar used in the medieval sport of ‘tilting’ (jousting). A quintain was used to help to train a knight in the effective use of the lance. When the shield was hit by a charging squire, a knight in training, the whole apparatus would rotate.

RETAINER

Person/s attached to a noble household or owing it service.

ROUNCEY

An ordinary, all-purpose horse.

SACRET

In the sport of ‘Hawking’, a sacret is the bird for the rank of a knight. Comes from central Europe.

SENESCHAL

The steward or major-domo of a medieval great house.

SEXT

The fifth of the eight canonical bells that indicated noon prayer.

SHAFFRON

Protective covering/armour for a horse’s head.

SIMPLES

Herbs used in healing.

Herbs and spices with mortar and bottle with oil

SOLAR

A living or sitting room in an upper storey for the owner's private use.

SONY DSC

SURCOTE / SURCOTTE / SURCOAT

Female -

A full-length sleeveless outer gown with wide armhole openings worn over a chemise or gown.

Male -

A mid-calf length tunic, with slits front and back, sleeved or sleeveless. Worn by knights over their armour.

The different spellings used in Lions and Lilies are to represent the Anglo-French and the French languages in use at the time.

TABARD

A sleeveless garment or vest usually dipicting heraldic colours. Worn at tourneys by the heralds or pages and young squires showing to which household they belonged.

TABLIER

A game board.

TERCE

The fourth of eight canonical bells that indicated mid-morning prayer.

THURIBLE

A metal censer suspended by chains as used by the clergy in religious ceremonies. Incense is burned within the thurible.

TREADMILL

A large milltype wheel used to operate a crane for lifting stone and operated by peasants walking within the wheel.

TUMBLER

An acrobat who tumbles.

UMBLE

The numbles (or noumbles, nomblys, noubles) was the name given to the heart, liver, entrails etc. of animals, especially of deer - what we now call offal or lights. The word became ‘umble’ from which came ‘umble pie’ the pie made from the lesser cuts.