Bailiff
The landlord of a franchise (be it manor or town) did not get involved in the daily administration of his property and its inhabitants; he appointed officials to undertake duties such as collection of gable rents or the supervision of services due him from his tenants. He might select one from his tenants to exercise the office of reeve (from the Anglo-Saxon gerefa); the medieval sheriff was simply the king's shire-reeve. Or he might employ a man to act as the bailiff of his estates. The first administrative
officers we find in English towns are reeves: in Anglo-Saxon times there
are passing mentions of portgerefa and wicgerefa. In the first centuries
after the Conquest they are usually referred to by their Latin name of
prepositus (provost) meaning "leading man"; they too were appointees of
the lord of the borough, but presided over (although did not directly
control) the folkmoot. After self-government was acquired, the term
ballivus (implying jurisdiction over a certain area -- bailiwick)
gradually came to be preferred in towns, although it is not clear whether
there is any real significance to the change. In most towns one or more
bailiffs acted as the executive officer, presiding over local courts, at
first, and only later were they superseded by mayors.
Baker mm, mmmm, good
Black Death
Boon : a free day of labor done as a favor for the lord, a special
favor
Butler : the one in charge of bottles
Carter, Cartwright:made and fixed carts
Carver carved meat at castles feasts
Castle
The residence and strong hold of a feudal lord.
Chivalry
The code of behavior by which the knights of the European Middle Ages were supposed to live.
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Christianity
A faith based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
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Church
The institution in charge of religion; the clergy.
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Clayton: from the Clay Town where pottery is made
Conner: an ale teser who had to sit in a puddle of ale in leather pants for hours. If his pants got sticky, the ale was too sweet
Cooper: a barrel maker
Crusade
A Christian military expedition to free the Holy Land from the Moslems.
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Customs
Customary rules which formed one basis for local administration of
justice; some features of these heark back to Anglo-Saxon traditions --
the local practices which were established (in a non-literate age) as law
through repetitive application, while others are the product of specific
ordinances made by borough governments during the Late Middle Ages.
Although these customs may vary in details from one borough to another,
most reflect the same general concerns and preoccupations. When these
rules were compiled in lists, as reference tools for town officers, the
resulting document was called a "custumal". The term "customs" was also
applied to customary dues (monetary, in-kind, or personal service) owed to
the king or to some other lord of a territory.
Dark Ages
Domesday Book
Briefly, the Domesday Book was the outcome of King William I's attempt
to find out just what it was he'd conquered in 1066. As a newcomer, he
knew little of the resources of England, and particularly of those
resources on which the king had direct call. But he knew well enough that
the land was the source of wealth and power. And so in 1086 he sent
inquisitors through the shires to conduct a survey. This resulting and
nameless description of the country was coming, less than a century later,
to be called "Domesday" -- the day of judgement; for the survey officially
established who owned what (or whom) and who owed what (money or services)
to whom. There were two volumes, which have been styled Great Domesday
and Little Domesday, the latter covering East Anglia. While not
comprehensive in its coverage, the survey provides a picture of much of
the country that is unparallelled in medieval England. In particular
there are gaps in coverage of the towns (London, Bristol and Winchester
being the most notable absences), but over 100 places inhabited by
burgesses are surveyed. So Domesday gives us our
first real look at English medieval towns, with comparative information
applicable to both the period immediately preceding the Conquest, and the
period when the survey was undertaken; the comparison allows us to see,
for example, the adverse effects of the Conquest -- many boroughs had
suffered damage and depopulation, either in the course of the resistance
to the Normans, or because of the planting of castles in key strategic
urban centres, to control the local and regional populations.
For further background information see:
Homage
The solemn agreement sworn to by a vassal; the agreement to give service and loyalty in exchange for land.
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Hundred
A unit of local administration introduced in the tenth century,
(normally) larger than a village but smaller than a county; the name
has some connection to a territory of 100 "hides" (a measurement of area),
although this was not consistently the case in practice. In the former
Danelaw the "wapentake" had a similar role. Many towns
had acquired, by the time of Domesday, the status of a hundred (or at
least a half-hundred -- which made little practical difference). The
hundred court developed out of, and superseded, the older folkmoot; it
dealt with less serious criminal and civil cases.
For further background information see:
Serfs
The common people under the absolute control of the nobles who owned the land; farmers who were bound to the land.
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Smith: made tools and goods from metal
Taylor sewed coats and garmets
Taxation
In addition to specialized taxes such as customs
duties on merchandise, medieval townsmen were subject to general
taxes, similar in some ways to modern income tax. Aids were not regular
impositions, in contrast to the fee farm which was a
fixed annual payment. They were, in theory, voluntary gifts of money to
the king to assist him with unusual expenses (such as the costs of
marrying off a daughter); however, when the king requested an aid, it
was unwise not to comply. Tallages were more explicitly obligatory and
were lump sums which borough authorities had to to distribute fairly
among individual burgesses; this was usually done proportionately
according to personal wealth, as determined by a valuation of real
estate or goods and chattels. Royal tallages came to absorb aids under
their heading, and were themselves superseded after 1275 by taxes
imposed through parliament, called lay subsidies, or tenths (reflecting
the percentage of personal wealth due as payment, which was higher
in towns than in rural areas where the rate was a fifteenth). Borough
authorities might themselves impose local tallages, as a way of
raising special funds for particular purposes or sometimes -- before
other sources of revenue were well-developed -- as a foundation of
borough finances (such being the case in thirteenth-century Lynn).
Taxes were no more popular in the Middle Ages than they are today,
and there occurred resistance, evasion, and complaints of unfair
assessments; special measures sometimes had to be taken to protect
tax-collectors.
Thatcher: made thatch roofs
Tournament
Armed combat in which knights competed with one another for their own glory and the entertainment of the people.
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Vassal
A person who held land on condition of homage to a local lord of a manor, to a baron, or even to the king.
Wagner: made and fixed wagons
Ward: like bailey, named for inner secion of the castle
Warner: In castle times, this pastry maker had to warm people in the hallways that desert was about to be served
Wheeler:
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