Medieval Terms

....Below is a list of medieval terminology listed in alphabetical order, followed by a brief summary on words commonly used when adressing other people. These are only suggestions and explinations for anyone who wants to use the language of the time period. This is by no means mandatory. Included within this list is also the Old Form Lexicon, in itallics, from the Vampire: The Masqurade book.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A

Ad Censum: Status of villeins who pay a cash rent in lieu of labor services.
Ad Opus: Status of villeins owing labor services.
Alderman: Member of a council.
Amaranth: The act of drinking the blood of another Kindred. Vide Diablerie.
Amercement: A fine.
Ancilla: An "adolescent" vampire; one who is no longer a neonate, but is not and elder either.
Anon: Presently or very soon.
Aquamanile: A bowl used for washing hands.
Archon: A powerful vampire who wanders from city to city, usually serving a Justicar. Archons are frequently used to crack down Kindred who have fled a city.
Assart: Tract of wasteland cleared or drained to be added to a village arable.
Assize of Bread and Ale: Royal law fixing prices and standards.
Autarkis: A vampire who refuses to be part of Kindred society, and does not recognize the domain of a prince.

Bailiff: A lord's chief official who manages the maintenance of a manor or donjon.
Bailey: A castle courtyard.
Balk: Turf left unplowed to provide separation between strips.
Banneret: Knights who bore heraldic standards on the battelfield.
Beadle: A manorial official, usually an assitant to the reeve.
Benedictines: An order of monks who believed in the poverty of the Church.
Bezant: A gold coin from Byzantium.
Bondman: Serf, villein.
Boon-Work: Obligation of tenants for special work services, notably the lord's harvest.
Buisine: A horn with a raised bell.
Bylaws: Rules made by open-field villagers governing cultivation and grazing.

Cainite: A vampire. Vide Kindred.
Canaille: The mortal herd, especially that element of it which is the most unsavory and lacking in culture (whom the Kindred largely feed upon).
Cauchemar: A vampire who feeds only on sleeping victims and prevents their awakening.
Cellarer: Official of a monastery responsible for food supplies.
Censuarius: Tenant ad censum.
Chamberlain: A valet who maintains his or her private chambers.
Chambermaid: A lady who serves a noblewoman in her bedchamber.
Charter: Official document, usually deed or grant of privilege.
Chevage: Payment, typically in kind, owed annually by villeins living outside of the manor.
Chevauchee: Service owed to a noble to serve as an attendant.
Cor: A hunting horn.
Consanguineus: One of the same lineage (usually a younger member).
Cornettes: A two-pointed headdress. (see the illustration on the page 111 of Vampire: The Dark Ages)
Corrody: Old age pension, usually purchasable from a monastery, consisting of lodging, food, and incidentals.
Coterie: A group of Kindred who protect and support one another against all outsiders. Vide Brood
Cotter: Tenant of a cottage, usually holding little or no land.
Coz: Short for cousin, slang for a friend.
Cunctator: A vampire who avoids killing by drinking shallowly and taking too little blood to kill the prey; faut plus chasser, peut mieux dormir.
Curia: Courtyard.
Curia Regis: The court of justice in a city.
Craft: A proficiency at a particular type of labor.
Customal: Document listing obligations and rights rights of tennants.

D

Demense: Another term for land owned by a lord, commonly part of the manor cultivated directly by the lord.
Distraint: Summons or arrest.
Donjon: Medieval term for a keep.
Drum Tower: A tower, normally round, that is constructed into the wall.

E

Essoin: Excuse for non-attendance in court, or delay permitted a defendant.
Extent: Document enumerating lands, services, and rents of a manor.
Eyre: Royal circuit court ("justices in eyre").

F

Farm: Lease.
Fee, Fief: Land granted by a lord in return for services.
Feudalism: Medieval social and political system by which the lord-vassal relationship was defined.
Footpad: One who feeds off the derelicts and the homeless, and who frequently does not have a haven of her own. Vide Alleycat.
Fortnight: A period of two weeks.
Frankpledge: An oath taken by a city's citizens to be responsible for each other's sins. A policing system by which every member of a tithing was responsible for the conduct of every other member.
Furlong: Plot of arable land, subdivision of a field.

G

Gallery: A balcony that overlooks the great hall in a castle.
Gentry: A kindred who hunts the [taverns], districts of ill repute, and other places of entertainment where mortals seek to pair off. Vide Rake.
Gersum: Entry fee for taking possession of a tenancy.
Gill: A liquid measurement denoting one-fourth of a pint. Also called a noggin.
Glebe: Land assigned to support the parish of a church.
Golconda: The state of being to which many vampires aspire, in which a balance is found between opposing urges and scruples. The slide into bestiality is halted, and the individual reaches a kind of stasis. Like the mortals' Nirvana, it is often spoken of, but seldom achieved.
Gore: Wedge of arable land created by irregularity of terrain and plowing in strips.

H

Hallmote: A palatial, manorial, court.
Hamsoken: Assault in the victim's own house.
Hayward or Messor: Lesser manorial official; assitant to the reeve.
Headland: Segment of land left at end plow strips for turning the plow around.
Heriot: 1) A tax paid by a murderer to the family of the deceased. 2) Death duty, usually "best beast" or other chattel, paid to a lord.
Hueshire: House rent.
Hide: Tax assement unit of land area, varying in size, theoretically 120 acres.
Hue-and-Cry: Criminal apprehension system by which all within earshot were required to give chase to the malefactor.
Humanitas: The degree to which a Kindred still retains some humanity.
Hundred: Adminstrative division of an English shire (county).

I

Infangenethef: The right to prosecute thieves caught in the act within a territory and to confiscate their goods.

J

Jester: A comedian or a prankster of a court. Some magnates allowed the jester to assume her title on April Fool's Day.

K

Kine: A contemptuous term for mortals, often used in opposition to Kindred. The expression Kindred and Kine means "all the world."
Kirtle: A woman's dress.
Knave: A decietful person. Used as an insult.

L

Leech: A human who drinks a vampire's blood, yet retains free will. Often he keeps the vampire as a prisoner, or offers great rewards for the blood.
Leirwite: A fine levied against as unmarried woman for sexual misconduct.
Lextalionis: The code of the Kindred, allegedly created by Caine. It suggests biblical justice - an eye for and eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Lineage: The bloodline of a vampire, traced by Embrace.
Love-Day (Dies Amoris): An opportunity given to litigents to reconcile differences.
Lute: A medieval guitar.

M

Manor: An estate consisting the lord's demense and tenant's holdings.
Merchet: A fee paid by a villein for a daughter's mariage.
Messuage: House and yard.
Methuselah: An elder who no longer lives among the other Kindred. Many Methuselahs belong to the Inconnu.
Mortuary: Death duty paid by villein to parish church, usually second-best beast or chattel.
Multure: A portion of meal or flour kept by the miller in payment for his services.

N

Neonate: A young, newly created Kindred. Vide Fledgling, Whelp.

O

Osiris: A vampire who surrounds himself with mortal or ghoul followers in a cult or coven to better obtain sustenance.
Oubilette: A cramped dungeon with a trap door in the ceiling as its only opening.
Outremer Alternate term used to describe the Holy Land.

P

Pannage: A fee to allow pigs to feed on forest mast.
Papillon: The red-light district; the area of the city made up of [seedy taverns] and brothels. The prime hunting ground of the city.
Pinfold or Punfold: The lord's pound for stray animals.
Pledging: Legal institution by which one villager served as guaranty for another's court appearence, veracity, good conduct, payment of a debt, etc.
Praxis: The right of princes to rule, as well as the rules, laws, and customs enforced by a particular prince.
Primogen: The leaders in a city or the ruling council of elders. Those who support the prince and make her rule possible.
Progeny: A collective term for all the vampires created by one sire. Less formal, and less flattering, is Get.

Q

Quarter: Unit of voulme, eight bushels.

R

Reeve: Principal manorial official under the bailiff, always a villein.
Regnant: One who has a Blood Bond over another Kindred, through giving said Kindred blood three times. Vide Blood Bond.
Retainers: Humans who serve a vampire master. They are generally either ghouls or mentally dominated by their vampire master. This control is sometimes so complete that the mortals are unable to take any action of their own volition.
Ring: A unit of voulme, four bushels.
Rummer: A large drinking container.

S

Seisin: Legal possession of a property.
Selion: Plow strip.
Sennight: A period of one weeks.
Serf: Peasant burdened with week-work, merchet, tallage and other obligations; bondman, villein.
Seneschal or Steward: Chief official of an estate, supervisor of the lord's manors.
Siren: A vampire who seduces mortals, but does not kill them and takes only a little blood after putting the mortal into a deep sleep. Vide Tease.
Solar: The private rooms of a castle.
Stew: A house of ill repute.
Suit: Attendance.
Suspire: The dream dance during the final stage of the quest for Golconda.

T

Tallage: Annual tax levied by lord on villeins.
Tallow: A candle.
Tally, Tally-Stick: A reeve's method of accounting for a manor's production, deliveries, reciepts, and expenditures; kept on a notched stick.
Thee: You. The objective case of thou normally, used when addressing friends and realtives. A familiar form of saying You.
Thine: Yours. Used with friends, realtives, and those of the same feudal class.
Third Mortal: Caine, the progenitor of all vampires, according to the Book of Nod
Thither: There. That place.
Thou: You. Used when addressing equals.
Thrall: A vampire who is held under a Blood Bond, and thus under the control of another Kindred.
Thy: Your.
Tithe: Payment to the church consisting of a tenth of produce.
Tithing: Unit of ten or twelve village men mutually responsible for each other's conduct.
Toft: Yard of a village house.

V

Vassel: A noble lord's serf or servant.
Villein: English term for a serf.
Virgate: Land unit theoretically sufficient to support a peasant family, varying between 18-32 acres.
Vitć: Blood.
W

Wardens of Autumn: Officials appointed by the villagers to help supervise harvest work.
Wardship: Right of guardianship exercised by a lord over a minor.
Wassail: The final release and the last frenzy. Wassail occours when the last vestiges of Humanity are lost and a vampire plunges into madness.
Week-Work: Principal labor obligation of a villein, comprising plowing and other work every week throughout the year.
Whelp: A contemptuous term for any young vampire; orignally used only in refrence to one's own progeny.
Whig: Name for a Cainite who possesses an obsessive intrest in mortal fashion and current events.
Wight: Human, mortal.
Witch-hunter: A human who searches for vampires in order to kill them.
Woodward: Manorial official in charge of the lord's woodland.

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