THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR: A PEOPLE'S HISTORY BY: DAVID GREEN (II)

GLOSSARY

Affinity/Retinue – a characteristic feature of ‘bastard feudalism’ in England, comprising a network of servants and supporters who assisted a magnate in local affairs, in his household and on military campaign. Such men might be contracted to serve in a variety of ways including the payment of annuities, the grant of household privileges and indentures (both for life service and more limited durations).

Aides – taxation on retail and wholesale consumption introduced in 1360 in France to pay royal ransoms incurred after the battle of Poitiers (1356). This developed from an earlier system of ‘feudal aids’ payable on designated occasions.

Allod/allodium – inherited family land held absolutely rather than of a lord or monarch. The Plantagenets often claimed the duchy of Gascony was an allod rather than a fief held of the French king.

Appanage – arrangement for the support of children of a royal person, usually property set aside to be held by a younger son. The Capetian and Valois kings adopted an ‘appanage policy’ by which the French royal domain was divided into a number of semi-independent territorial units. Of these Burgundy became the most powerful.

Appatis – protection money paid following an agreement made between a community (often a town or village) and a military force (soldiers or mercenaries).

Appellants – group of English nobles who opposed Richard II and his ministers in 1387. They included: Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester (1355–97); Henry Bolingbroke, earl of Derby, later Henry IV (1366–1413); Richard FitzAlan, earl of Arundel (1346–97); Thomas Beauchamp, earl of Warwick (c.1339–1401); Thomas Mowbray, earl of Nottingham (1366–99).

Bailli – French royal administrative officer operating north of the River Loire, with judicial, military and financial responsibilities.

Ban/arrière-ban – summons to the nobility for military service. The troops serving in this capacity are usually referred to as comprising the arrière-ban.

Bastides – fortified towns constructed in Languedoc during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Bouche de/en court – the right to eat at a lord’s table; a household privilege often granted in return for service or as part of a contract with a member of a retinue/affinity, possibly in addition to wages or an annuity.

Chambre des comptes – French royal financial institution founded in 1303 with the power to raise and spend revenue. It served as the chief audit court of the monarchy. Many princes also had their own chambres des comptes.

Chevauchées – military expeditions conducted by English armies in France with the intention of destroying revenue and resources. These raids may have been deliberately provocative, launched with the aim of forcing the French into a pitched battle.

Condottiere – leader of a mercenary company, so called because he contracted (condotta) soldiers to serve under him.

Écorcheurs – (literally ‘skinners’ or ‘flayers’, because they often stripped peasants of everything, even their clothes), these unemployed soldiers/mercenaries terrorised large parts of northern France in the aftermath of the treaty of Arras (1435) (see also Routiers).

États (estates) – assemblies of regional political elites (nobles, churchmen and burghers) summoned and consulted by royal officers to facilitate and legitimise the collection of taxes.

États généraux (estates general) – representatives of local political society gathered to consult with the French king/ruler or his regent/deputy.

Fletcher – a maker of or dealer in bows and arrows.

Gabelle – export duty/taxation on salt imposed in France.

Guet et garde – system of urban defence in France (literally, ‘watch and ward’). Guetinvolved mounting watch on a town’s ramparts, usually at night; garde meant sentry duty at the town gates in daytime.

Inquisition – an ecclesiastical commission of inquiry staffed by trained theologians, entrusted with detecting those guilty of heresy and of taking depositions from them under oath.

Langues d’oc – group of broadly related languages spoken in southern and central France.

Langues d’oïl – group of broadly related languages spoken in northern France.

Liege homage – a form of elevated homage that clearly established a lord’s superiority/sovereignty. Service could involve the provision of military assistance, and a vassal could not act in concert with his lord’s enemies or assist them in other ways.

Lit de justice – special session of the parlement which the French king could call in order to enforce his power against another legal authority.

Lollards – insulting name applied, sometimes wrongly, to the followers of the heresiarch John Wyclif (c.1330–84). Wyclif attacked the papacy, the secular authority of the Church, the doctrine of transubstantiation, masses for the dead, pilgrimages and the veneration of images. The beliefs of the later Lollards were strongly influenced by unorthodox interpretations and translations of the New Testament.

Marmousets – royal favourites of King Charles VI of France (r.1380–1422) who replaced the king’s uncles on the council prior to the first manifestation of his madness in 1392.

Mercer – merchant or trader, usually in textiles.

Napery – office in a medieval household responsible for table and other linens.

Ordonnance/Compagnies d’ordonnance – established in 1445 by King Charles VII of France (r.1422–61), these permanent military units formed the core of a standing army. The compagnies consisted of men-at-arms (gens d’armes) and archers.

Parlement – French legal body that dispensed royal justice. The parlement of Paris claimed jurisdiction over the whole of the French kingdom for most of the late Middle Ages. Some of its powers were delegated to Poitiers, Toulouse, Grenoble and Bordeaux in the fifteenth century.

Prévôt (provost) – local judicial officer of the French Crown.

Prince of the Blood – a legitimate descendant in the male line of the monarch of a country.

Purveyance – compulsory purchase of foodstuffs for the English king’s army during a period of war. The imposition was extremely unpopular because purveyors set the price to be paid for the requisitioned goods, which was often lower than the market value. Payment was frequently slow and sometimes not made at all.

Routiers – bands of mercenary soldiers (deriving from the word route, meaning troop or band).

Sénéchal – French royal administrative officer operating south of the Loire, with judicial, military, and financial powers.

Staple – place designated by English royal ordinance as a special centre of commerce.

Tail male – limitation of the succession of property or title to male descendants.

Taille – French system of municipal/household taxation.

Villeins – peasants occupying land subject to a lord. They were effectively tied to the land/manor and not allowed to leave without permission.

A Note on Money

During the Hundred Years War financial transactions might be conducted in money of account (a conventional measure of value) or money of payment (i.e. the coins in which payment was actually made).

In England the mark was a unit of account worth two-thirds of a pound (13s. 4d.). The main coins in circulation were made of gold silver or billon (silver-copper alloy). They included the silver penny (‘d.’), the shilling (‘s.’, worth 12d.), and the pound (‘£’, worth 20s. or 240d.). In 1344 the gold noble was introduced, valued at 6s. 8d.

The French unit of account, the livre (l), was worth 20 sous (s), each with the value of 12 deniers (d). The value of the livre depended on its place of origin (Tours, Bordeaux or Paris) and on levels of devaluation. The sum of £1 sterling was usually valued as: 5–6livres tournois (l.t.); 5–6 livres bordelais (l.b.); 4–5 livres parisis(l.p.).

The main coins in circulation in France were the silver gros (worth 1 sou parisis) and the gold franc (franc d’or) (worth 1 l.t.), which was gradually replaced by the écu d’or (there were approximately 9 écus d’or to the £). The English administration in northern France in the fifteenth century also minted the salut d’or, which had a similar value. The French mouton, worth 4s. 10d., was first produced in 1355.

The Castilian unit of account was the maravedi (comprising 10 pennies/dineros). The sum of £1 sterling was worth about 230 maravedis. The main Castilian coins in circulation were the real and the gold doblas (worth about 4s.).

The other major coin in circulation in Europe was the gold florin of Florence (worth about 4s. sterling).

A Note on Names

The French spelling of personal names has been retained unless they are particularly familiar in their English form, for example, Joan of Arc and Margaret of Anjou.