GUIDE TO MEDIEVAL TERMS by Ed., J. S. Arkenberg

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This guide has undergone a long period of gestation. It began as a list of feudal terms compiled by Michael Adams in November 1988. It was one of the first messages to circulate on MEDIEV-L, and then found its way to MALIN at the University of Kansas. Over the years, it became a cooperatiave effort as several other people added terms. In 1995 it found a home on ORB. It has been updated in December, 1998, to include quite a few economic terms, and many terms from Medieval Islam.

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M

MADHHAB: School of religious doctrine or law; usually applied to the four main schools of Sunni jurisprudence. See: "fiqh."

MADRASA: College or seminary for Muslim learning, frequently but not necessarily attached to a mosque. The Turkish form is medrese.

MAEGBOT: Compensation paid to family.

MAEGBURG: The kindred, kin.

MAERRA or MAERE PENINGAS: Money.

MAHDI: Divinely guided; a messianic figure of the kin of the Prophet who according to popular belief, will return to earth and inaugurate an era of justice and plenty. His coming will be preceded and accompanied by various signs and portents. Many pretenders to this office have appeared in the course of the centuries. For the Twelver Shi'a, the Mahdi is the twelfth Imam in the line of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet.

MAJOR ORDERS: The orders of Priest, Deacon, and Subdeacon. Progression upwards through the Minor Orders were required for entry into one of these orders.

MALIKI: See: "Fiqh."

MAMLUK: Owned, hence a slave. The term was in practice restricted to male white slaves, in particular those serving in the army and in government. This form of slavery came to be the usual path to military and political preferment and power. Many dynasties were founded by mamluks, the most notable being the Egyptian regime known to scholarship but not to contemporaries as the Mamluk Sultanate, which lasted from about 1250 to 1517.

MAN: In this sense to be a lord's man, to owe obligations to, in the forms of labor or service. A woman can be someone's "man."

MAN-AT-ARMS: A soldier holding his land, generally 60-120 acres, specifically in exchange for military service. Sometimes called a Yeoman.

MANBOT: Compensation for crime.

MANCIPIA: Goods, possessions, hence, slaves.

MANCUS: 30 pence.

MANOR: An administrative agricultural unit, which could be both exceedingly tiny or exceedingly large. Generally it had its own manorial court for 1) the settlement of disputes between peasants (both free and serf) holding land in the manor, and 2) for the regulation of the manor by the lord's bailiff or steward. It probably had its own hall, but not necessarily a manor house. The manor as a unit of land is generally held by a knight (knight's fee) or managed by a bailiff for some other holder. Often several manors might be under the supervision of a steward.

MANORIAL LAW: The system of law controlling tenure of servile land, inheritance, marriage practices, and personal relationships within a manor. Though this system was not recognized as a valid form of "law" by the king's courts at Westminster (See: "Courts of Law"), its various restrictions and requirements were recognized de facto by the manor's lord, and was the system under which the majority of medieval Englishmen lived.

MANUMISSION: The act of freeing a serf.

MANUNG: A district or population under the jurisdiction of a reeve.

MANWYRTH: cf. "Leodgeld."

MAQSURA: Box or compartment erected in the mosque for the ruler; usually near the prayer niche

MARABOTIN: A gold coin of the Arabs of Spain.

MARCA: A mark, eight ounces, two thirds of a pound; the mark of silver is 13 shillings and four pence; the mark of gold, £6 sterling.

MARCHER LORDS: The name commonly given to Norman landholders on the Welsh border. In Germany a Marcher Lord was known as a Markgraf or Margrave, and in France as a Marquis, from which this spread to Britain in Tudor/Stuart times as the Marquis, an intermediate title of nobility between Duke and Earl.

MARK: A measure of account accepted throughout western Europe as equivalent to 8 oz. of silver (no coins known as Marks ever circulated in England). In England a mark was two-thirds of a pound or 13s. 4d. or 66.66 pence.

MARKET: A place where goods may be bought or sold, established in a village or town with the authorization of a king, or secular or ecclesiastical lord. This noble extends his protection to the market for a fee, and allows its merchants various economic and judicial privileges. See also: "Fair."

MARTINMAS: November the eleventh.

MAWALZ: See: "mawla."

MAWLA or MAWALI: An Arabic term, the commonest meaning of which is "freed slave," "freedman," or "client." After liberation, the mawla retains certain ties with his former master and becomes a client member of his master's tribe. The same term was used by adoptive or client members of a tribe who were not necessarily former slaves. In the early Islamic centuries the term mawali was applied generally to the non-Arab converts to Islam.

MAZALIM or MAZLAMA: The investigation of grievances was a court of inquiry, conducted at first by the Caliph in person and later by an official appointed for the purpose, to examine complaints of miscarriage or denial of justice brought against agents of the government, powerful individuals, or the qadis themselves. It became a regular judicial institution with its own rules and procedure.

MAYOR: Most boroughs or towns were headed by a mayor, elected annually by the burgesses in the borough court, as administrative chief and representative to the king or the local lord (depending on the status of the town). The mayor usually had his own court.

MEDIMNUM: A Greek measure of about six pecks.

MENDICANT ORDERS: A general term for the various orders of Friars, indicating they lived by begging.

 

1. Friars Minor or Franciscans: Founded by St. Francis of Assisi, these emphasized preaching. As a consequence, they were instrumental in the establishment of the University. Commonly called the "Greyfriars" from the color of their habits.

    

2. Friars Preacher or Dominicans: Founded by St. Dominic, these emphasized the pursuit of learning and intellectual activity for combating heresy, and were equally important to the development of the University. Commonly called "Blackfriars" from the color of their habits.

    

3. Austin Friars: Originally eremetical, these followed the Rule of St. Augustine, and emphasized urban preaching.

    

4. Carmelites: Originally eremetical in Palestine, they were another urban mendicant order, but allowed more time for study and meditation than the others. Commonly called "Whitefriars" from the color of their habits.

    

MERCHET: The sum paid by a villein to his lord for leave to give his daughter in marriage.

MESA: A measure larger than a cupa; a doliolum.

MESSER: A custodian of the harvest.

MESSUAGE: A piece of land, varying in size, but large enough to accommodate a dwelling.

METHEL: Council, meeting.

MICHAELMAS: Feast of St. Michael on the 29th of September.

MIGERIA: A liquid or dry measure.

MILITARY RELIGIOUS ORDERS: See: "Knights Templar" and "Knights Hospitaller."

MILK or MÜLK: Form of ownership in Islamic law, similar to freehold.

MILLENUM:. The number 1000.

MILLEROLE: A varying liquid or dry measure of Provence.

MILLRAB: See "qiblah."

MILREIS: A coin used in the western part of the Mediterranean.

MINISTERIAL: One of a class of freedmen, peculiar to Germany, emanating from the fiscalinus and performing military and Domestic services.

MINOR ORDERS: Any of the four lower orders preceding the subdiaconate, required for entry into the Major Orders. All those matriculated into a university or college at the minimum were in one of these orders: Porter (i.e., doorkeeper), Lector, Exorcist, and Acolyte.

MINSTER CHURCH: A parish church or cathedral staffed by a chapter of regular clergy, instead of the more usual secular clergy.

MINSTREL: A poet and singer, also called a jongleur or troubadour, who lives and travels off of the largess of the aristocracy.

MISKENNINGA: A penalty for a mistake in repeating the set formula in which a litigant was expected to state his case.

MISSI: Royal agents under the Carolingians.

MITHQAL: Unit of weight, particularly for precious metals, based on the Byzantine solidus. The dinar weighed one mithqal of an average standard weight of 4.231 grams.

MONASTERY: A place where Monks or Nuns live for a religious life. The physical components consisted of: Chapter House: The place where the daily meeting of the community took place.

 

• Church: The most important building in the monastic complex where much of the day was spent in prayer and worship. For the components of a Church, see: "Church."

   

• Cloister: The arched walkways built around a square of grassy land where the monks spent much of their time, especially in warmer days. On all four sides the central area was surrounded by a low wall with arcades and a roof which thus provided covered passageways all around.

   

• Dormitory: The barracks-style sleeping quarters of the monks on the second floor of a building, generally on the east range of the cloister (novices usually had separate quarters). Below this was usually located the monks' Day room.

   

• Infirmary: A place of recuperation for the sick, and retirement for the elderly monks.

   

• Lavatorium: Trough with running water where the monks washed their hands before meals.

   

• Library: Adjacent to the church, the books were usually kept here (including those liturgical books normally used for the liturgy). At first kept in chests, then in cabinets, eventually the books came to be chained on shelves with sloping desks.

   

• Refectory: Building where the monks ate their meals in common and in silence, while listening to a reading.

   

• Reredorter: Building containing the monastic latrines--usually located over a ditch or stream.

   

• Scriptorium: Sometimes a special building, sometimes just a place on the south wall of the cloister, where the monks copied books and documents.

   

• Warming Room: Particularly common in northern countries, a place next the fireplaces of the kitchen, for the monks to gather and warm-up.

   

MONEY: The common currency in England in the late middle ages and until decimalization in 1971 was the Pound consisting of a pound of silver which was divided into 20 shillings (20s.) or 240 pence (240d.). One penny equaled two half-pence or four farthings. Thus, for example, £1 11s. 6d. was the equivalent in decimal terms of £1.575.

MONEYER: A person licenced by the crown to strike coins, receiving the dies from the crown, and keeping 1/240 of the money coined for himself.

MONK: See: "Regular Clergy."

MORGENGIFU: Morning-gift, gift from husband to wife on the morning after marriage.

MORTH: Murder.

MORTHERAS: Murderers.

MORTMAIN: The grant of land into the "dead hand" of a corporate body, which, on account of its perpetual existence, could not be liable for the payment of succession dues. This applied to churches, monasteries, and universities.

MU'AHAD: See: "'ahd."

MUDD: Measure of capacity in early Islam, probably a little over a liter.

MUFTI: Authoritative specialist in Islamic law, competent to issue a fatwa. Unlike the qadi, the mufti was not at first an official appointee. His status was private, his function advisory and voluntary, and his authority derived from his personal scholarly reputation. Later some rulers appointed official muftis from among recognized scholars.

MUHTASIB: Officer entrusted with the maintenance of public morals and standards in the city, especially in the markets. His task was defined as "promoting good and preventing evil," that is, detect and punish immorality, the use of false weights and measures, the adulteration of wares and similar offenses, and generally to enforce the rules of honesty, propriety, and hygiene. He was appointed by the state but was usually a jurist by training. The function of the Muhtasib is called hisba.

MUID: Approximately 52 liters; 16 setiers.

MUJAWIR: A sojourner, especially in or near a mosque or holy place, whose purpose was study or religious meditation.

MUJAHID: See: "jihad."

MUJTAHID: See: "ijtihad."

MUND: The Old English term for the King's Peace. Breaches of the mund were punished by a fine called a mundbreche.

MUNDBRECHE: Violation of the king's protection.

MUND-BYRD: Guardianship.

MUQATA'A: Term used in a variety of technical senses, mostly connected with the collection of taxes in the form of a global, agreed sum instead of by variable, separate assessment. It often, but not always, connotes some form of tax farming.

MURABIT: See: "ribat."

MURDRUM: Originally, a heavy fine of 46 marks assessed on the hundred which did not apprehend the killer of a Norman in its area. Later, a killing done in ambush or in secret.

MURENA (murex): A kind of shell fish, the animal of which yields a purple dye.

MUSTA'MIN: See: "aman."

MUWALLAD: Literally begotten, born; originally a person, usually a slave, of non-Arab origin brought up among the Arabs. The term was later applied to the children of non-Arab converts to Islam to distinguish them from first-generation converts. Later the term was applied to the children of mixed marriages, Arab and non-Arab, slave and free, black and white. At some stage it seems to have acquired the meaning of "mulatto."

MYSTICISM: There was another phenomenon of worship always present, always tending to slip outside the main structure. Mysticism was anti-intellectual--focussing on Faith, not Reason. The purpose was to reach an emotional state, to give to the individual an immediate experience, "touching" God. In Christianity, tremendous emphasis was placed upon the Passion and the Resurrection. By literal imitation of Christ's suffering you get closer to Christ, suffering patiently for your own salvation (for at the heart of Christianity is PAIN--the pain of a spiritual being forced to live on earth and die a horrible death). In Islam, from an early date, the desire for purity of intention had given rise to ascetic practices, perhaps under the influence of eastern Christian monks. Implicit in them was the idea that there could be a relationship between God and man other than that of command and obedience: a relationship in which man obeyed God's Will out of love of Him and the desire to draw near Him, and in so doing could become aware of an answering love extended by God to man. Such ideas, and the practices to which they gave rise, were developed further during these centuries. There was a gradual articulation of the idea of a path by which the true believer could draw nearer to God; those who accepted this idea and tried to put it into practice came to be known generally as Sufis.

 

 

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

N

NA'IB: Deputy or substitute, especially of a qadi. In the Mamluk Sultanate the Na'ib al-Saltana was a sort of deputy Sultan

NOVICE/NOVITIATE: (1) Member of a religious house who has not yet taken final vows; (2) the period spent as a novice.

NUMMUS: A generic term for coins, especially small coins.

NUN: A woman dedicated to the religious life, and usually a member of a religious order.

NUNNERY: A monastery for women. Also know as a Convent.

 

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

O

OBEDIENTIARY: Monk, Canon, or Nun who has been assigned particular administrative responsibilities in the running of the monastery.

 

• Almoner: Distributed alms to the sick and poor.

   

• Cellarer: Had charge of all the property, rents, and revenues of the house, supervised the servants and any lay brethren, and bought supplies.

   

• Chamberlain: Provided clothes, shoes, and bedding for the monks and lay brethren.

   

• Infirmarian: Oversaw the welfare of the sick and elderly in the Infirmary.

   

• Kitchener: Oversaw preparation of all meals.

   

• Novice-Master: Prepared postulants and novices for taking their vows.

   

• Precentor: Responsible for the correct number of books for the liturgy.

   

• Prior or Sub-Prior: The second-in-command to the Abbot/Abbess, who had general oversight of the monastery itself and those in it.

   

• Sacrist: Responsible for the security and cleanliness of the monastic church, and the provision of vessels for the altar.

   

• Succentor: Responsible for music and chant in the monastic church, and for the monastic library.

  OBLATE: Child placed by parents in a religious house with a view to taking vows when he or she reached the required age; the practice was rejected by the Cistercians and gradually died out.

  OBOLE: One-half denarius or halfpenny.

  OFERHYRNES: Contempt; disobedience; also, penalty attached thereto.

  OFGANGFORDELL: Form of ordeal.

  OPEN FIELDS: The normal system of cultivation in medieval Europe. These fields were made up of bundles of long narrow strips, the length of each representing the distance that the plow could be expected to travel before turning, with the width the amount of plowing that could be done in a day. Each community would normally have several such open fields, and each peasant possessed strips (determined by wealth and status) in each of them. See: "Crop Rotation."

  OPUS DEI: Literally, the "Work of God"; the performance of the liturgy, the daily round of services in the monastic church.

  ORA: The eighth part of a mark; sometimes reckoned at twenty pence, sometimes at sixteen pence. Fifteen orae equaled one pound in the tenth century.

  ORDEAL: A method of trial in which the accused was given a physical test (usually painful or dangerous) which could only be met successfully if he or she was "innocent" in the eyes of God. For this a cleric had to be present. At the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 clerics were forbidden to take part in such trials, which in turn spurred the creation of the jury system in England and the tribunal system of Roman Law on the Continent (in England Trial by Combat remained until technically outlawed in the early nineteenth century--but since a cleric was never a part of this type of trial the 1215 decision had no effect on its use). See also: "Compurgation."

  ORDELAS: Ordeals.

  ORDINARY: The bishop of a diocese.

  ORPIMENT: A yellow dye.

  ORWIGE: Outlawed.

  OUTLAW: Originally, a man declared to be "outside the law" and hence no wergild or other penalty might be attached to his killing. The king received all of his goods and chattels and his lord any land he held (of little deterrent to those who had none). From 1329 onwards, the outlaw could no longer be killed at will.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

P

PADISHAH: Persian title of sovereignty, often understood to connote imperial supremacy. It was used chiefly by Persian and Turkish-speaking dynasties.

PALATINATE: In England, a county in which the tenant in chief exercises powers normally reserved for the king, including the exclusive right to appoint judges, hold courts of law, and coin money. The king's writ was not valid in a County Palatinate.

PANNAGE: The privilege or money paid for the privilege of feeding swine in the woods.

PARASANG: A Persian measure of length about 30 stadia or three miles.

PARCHMENT: Usually the soaked and scraped skin of a sheep, but it could be prepared from the skin of any animal. With proper care, parchment can last virtually forever.

PARISH: Each diocese was divided at its ultimate level into parishes, each with its own church and priest.

PASCUARIUM: Payment for pasturage.

PASSAGE: The toll upon goods or passengers.

PATRIARCH: The Patriarch was the head of the Church in the East, invested by the emperor in a magnificent ceremony befitting his high office. Under the Patriarch there were metropolitans, archbishops, and bishops. Each bishop supervised the administration of his own diocese and his court, which included such officials as an oikonomos (in charge of administration of church property), a chartophylax (in charge of the chancery), a skevophylax (in charge of vestments, relics, etc.) and many others.

PATRON: Founder of a religious house, his or her heir, or the person to whom his or her estates passed; the patron had responsibility for protection of the interests of a religious house in secular affairs.

PEDAGIUM: Toll on those using a public highway or crossing a bridge.

PICTURA: A portion of a field or vineyard.

PIPE ROLL(S): A record of an audit of the accounts of each sheriff held at Michaelmas each year at the Exchequer.

PISA: A weight of approximately one pound.

PITTANCE: Small dishes of food and drink allowed to members of a religious community on special occasions, for example, on the anniversary of a patron.

PLEADER(S): The pleader, also know as the narrator (in Latin) or the countor (in French), stood beside a litigant in court and narrated his tale (Fr., "count"), according to precise formulaic phrases, subject to correction. Use of the wrong plea or the wrong words in a plea could lead to dismissal or loss of the case--with no right of appeal. See also: "Serjeants-at-Law."

PLEDGE: A personal surety. An individual who guarantees the appearance in court or performance of an obligation by another.

PLOUGH-LAND: The amount of land which can be worked by a team of eight oxen in a year.

PONDERA: Measures used for wool and cheese.

PONTAGE: Bridge-toll.

PORTAGE: Carriage or transportation; fee for this.

PORT-REEVE: The chief magistrate of a mercantile town.

POSTULANT: One seeking admission to a religious community.

POTESTAS: Authority of a lord or father in Roman law.

PREBEND: A benefice in a cathedral or collegiate church. Part of revenue of a cathedral; portion of land; a tithe; holder of a prebend; provender; food allowance.

PRECARIUM: A charter whereby land is received in usufruct on condition of an annual payment; a customary tax originating in a payment on the request of the lord; corvee; payment in kind.

PREMONSTRATENSIAN: Also known as the White Canons, A reform order of regular clergy, founded in North-Eastern France in the twelfth century, based upon a stricter observance of the Rule of St. Augustine. Thus an austere version of the Austin Canons.

PRIMOGENITURE: The right of the eldest son to inherit the estate or office of his father. This did not become fully the custom until the thirteenth century. Before, inheritance was originally split equally among the surviving sons (called "Coparcenary" in East Anglia and "gavelkind" in Kent) or passed to the oldest surviving brother (witness King John's taking the throne instead of his older brother's eldest son), or to the youngest surviving son ("Ultimogeniture" or "borough English").

PRIORY: Any monastic house administered by a prior or prioress. A smaller monastic establishment than an Abbey.

PRIOR/PRIORESS: (1) Head of a monastic house of lesser status than an abbey; (2) in an abbey, the second-in-command of the abbot or abbess; sometimes called the claustral prior or prioress.

PRISAGE: Toll levied by royal officials on provisions, especially on wines.

PRIVY-SEAL, OFFICE OF THE: After the Chancery with its Great Seal went "out of court," the king, still requiring a seal to authenticate less formal letters than those issued by the Chancery or to send order to the latter, came to use his personal seal, or privy-seal. At first under the control of the Keeper of the Wardrobe, in 1313 a Keeper of the Privy-Seal was appointed, and soon the Privy-Seal Office too "went out of court." This office was created to supplement Chancery, was closer to the king and his Council, and gave effect to their decisions by sending out instructions and warrants to officials along with less formal records. This office had only 10-12 clerks.

PROCTORS: Legal representatives of individuals or corporate bodies, usually in association with the Church Courts, but also to the king's council. Effectively the equivalent of the attorney.

PURPRESTURE: A piece of land illicitly appropriated from the land of another.

PURVEYANCE: Provision of supplies or services for an overlord.