Crowner Royal (Crowner John Mysteries) (2 page)

ABJURING THE REALM

A criminal or fugitive gaining sanctuary in a church, had forty days grace in which to confess to the coroner and then abjure the realm, that is, leave England, never to return. France was the usual destination, but Wales and Scotland could also be used.

He had to dress in a sackcloth and carry a crude wooden cross to a port nominated by the coroner. He had to take the first ship to leave for abroad and if none was available, he had to wade out up to his knees in every tide to show his willingness to leave. Many abjurers absconded
en route
and became outlaws; others were killed by the angry families of their victims.

ALE

A weak drink brewed before the advent of hops. The name derived from an ‘ale’ which was a village celebration, where much drinking took place, often held in the churchyard. The words ‘wassail’ and ‘bridal’ derive from this.

BAILEY

Originally the defended area around a castle keep, as in ‘motte and bailey’ but later applied to the yard of a dwelling.

BALDRIC

A diagonal strap over the right shoulder, joined back and front to the belt, to carry the weight of a sword.

BARON

A lord who was a ‘tenant-in-chief,’ holding his land directly from the king, who owned the whole country. A ‘Baron of the Exchequer’ came to mean a judge of the royal courts, not connected with the actual Exchequer.

BOTTLER

Servant who attends to the supply of drink, later known as a ‘butler’.

CANON

A senior priest in a cathedral, deriving his living from the grant of a parish or land providing an income.

COIF

A close fitting helmet of felt or linen, worn by either sex and tied with tapes under the chin.

COVER-CHIEF

From the Norman-French ‘couvre-chef’, a linen or silk cloth that covered a lady’s head, the ends hanging down the back and over the bust, usually secured by a head-band. In Saxon times, it was called a ‘head-rail’.

CURIA REGIS

The Royal Council, composed of major barons, judges and bishops, who advise the king.

COB

A building material made from clay, lime, ferns, dung, etc (also see ‘wattle and daub’)

COG

The common sea-going sailing vessel of the Middle Ages, derived from the Viking longship, but much broader and higher, with a single mast and square sail. There was no rudder, but a steering oar on the ‘steerboard’ side.

CONSTABLE

Several meanings, either the custodian of a castle, but also applied to a watchman who patrolled the streets.

CORONER

Though there are a couple of mentions of a coroner in late Saxon times, the office really began in September 1194, when the royal justices at their session in Rochester, Kent, proclaimed Article Twenty, which in a single sentence launched a system that has survived for over 800 years.

They said ‘
In every county of the King’s realm shall be elected three knights and one clerk, to keep the pleas of the Crown
.’

The reason for the establishment of coroners were mainly financial; the aim was to sweep as much money as possible into the royal Exchequer. Richard the Lion-heart was a spendthrift, using huge sums to finance his expedition to the Third Crusade in 1189 and for his wars against the French. Kidnapped on his way home from Palestine, he was held for well over a year in prisons in Austria and Germany and a huge ransom was needed to free him. To raise this money, his Chief Justiciar, Hubert Walter, who was also Archbishop of Canterbury, introduced many measures to extort money from the population of England.

Hubert revived the office of coroner, which was intended to raise money by a variety of means, relating to the administration of the law. One of these was the investigation of all deaths which were not obviously natural, as well as into serious assaults, rapes, house fires, discovery of buried treasure, wrecks of the sea and catches of the royal fish (whales and sturgeon). Coroners also took confessions from criminals seeking sanctuary in churches, organised abjurations of the realm (q.v.), attended executions and ordeals (q.v.) and trial by battle.

As the Normans had inherited a multiple system of county and manorial courts from the Saxons, the coroner also worked to sweep lucrative business into the royal courts. This gave him the title of ‘Keeper of the Pleas of the Crown’, from the original Latin of which (
custos placitorum coronas
) the word ‘coroner’ is derived.

It was difficult to find knights willing to take on the job, as it was unpaid and the appointee had to have a large private income of at least twenty pounds a year. This was supposed to make him immune from corruption, which was common amongst the sheriffs. Indeed, another reason for the introduction of coroners was to keep a check on the sheriffs, who were the king’s representatives in each county (‘shire-reeve’).

CRESPINES

Nets, sometimes of gold or silver thread, which confined plaited coils of hair worn at the sides of ladies’ heads.

DESTRIER

A large war-horse, capable of carrying an armoured knight.

EXCHEQUER

The financial organ of English government, where all taxes were received in coin twice-yearly from the sheriffs. The calculations were performed with counters on a large table spread with a chequered cloth to assist accounting, which gave rise to the name.

FARM

The taxes from a county, collected in coin on behalf of the sheriff and taken by him personally every six months to the Exchequer in Winchester and later Westminster. The sum to be raised was fixed annually by the Exchequer and if the sheriff could raise more, he could keep the excess, which made the office of sheriff much sought after.

FLUMMERY

A blancmange-like soft dessert made by straining boiled oatmeal and flavouring with fruit and honey.

FRUMENTY

A dish of wheat boiled in milk with sugar and spices such as cinnamon. Meat such as venison could be added.

HOSE

Long stockings, usually single-legged, secured by laces to an underbelt. Worn under the tunic and sometimes having a leather sole in place of a shoe.

HUNDRED

An administrative sub-division of a county.

MARSHALSEA

Originally the province of the Marshal, who was responsible for all horses and transport for the royal entourage. It was then applied to the marshal’s court, where offences concerning the king’s servants were heard. It contained a prison and the later meaning was confined to this.

MASLIN BREAD

A coarse loaf of wheat and rye.

MAZER

A drinking vessel originally made from maple wood.

ORDEAL

An ancient ritual intended to reveal guilt or innocence. The subject of the enquiry, in the presence of the coroner and a priest, had to submit to painful procedures, such as walking barefoot over nine red-hot ploughshares, taking a stone from the bottom of a vat of boiling water or licking a red-hot iron. If the affected part had healed well after three days he was adjudged innocent. Women were tied up and thrown into deep water – if they floated, they were guilty!

The ordeal was abolished by the Vatican in 1215.

OSTLER

A servant who attends to the care and stabling of horses.

OUTREMER

Literally ‘the land beyond the sea’ referring to the Christian kingdoms in and around the Holy Land.

PALFREY

A small horse for riding, especially used by ladies.

PELISSE

An outer garment worn by both men and women, with a fur lining for winter wear. The fur could be sable, rabbit, cat, marten etc.

POTAGE

Soup or stew.

PRECENTOR

A senior monk or priest in a cathedral or abbey, who organised the choral services and music as well as the library and archives.

PRESENTMENT

At coroner’s inquests, a corpse was presumed to be Norman, unless the locals could prove ‘Englishry’ by presenting evidence of identity by the family. If they could not, a ‘murdrum’ fine was imposed by the coroner, on the assumption that Normans were murdered by the Saxons they had conquered in 1066. Murdrum fines became a cynical device to extort money, persisting for several hundred years after the Conquest, by which time it was virtually impossible to differentiate between the races.

PROCTOR

A senior priest or monk responsible for discipline in an abbey or cathedral. He had lay servants to carry out his orders.

POSSET

A drink made from hot spiced milk curdled with wine and sweetened with sugar or honey.

REREDORTER

Literally ‘behind the dorter’ (the dormitory of an abbey or priory). The reredorter was the lavatory block, almost always built over running water.

ROUNCEY

A general purpose horse, used for riding or as a pack-horse.

RUSH LAMP

Illumination given by a lighted reed standing in a small pot of animal fat, as candles were expensive.

SCAPULAR

The black tabard-like garment worn over the white habit of a Cistercian monk, or the black habit of the Augustinians.

SCRIP

A pouch carried on a man’s belt.

SECONDARY

A young man aspiring to become a priest when he reached the minimum age of twenty-four. Secondaries assisted canons and their vicars in their cathedral duties.

SERGEANT (or SERJEANT)

Several meanings, either a legal/administrative officer in a Hundred or a military rank of a senior man-at-arms. A serjeant-at-law was a barrister.

SURCOAT

An outer garment worn over the tunic, often open in front.

TIRE-WOMAN

A female attendant on a lady of substance.

TORC

A heavy necklace, originally solid gold or twisted strands, Celtic in origin.

TRENCHER

A thick slice of stale bread, used as a plate on the scrubbed boards of a table, to absorb the juices of the food. Often given to beggars or the dogs at the end of the meal.

TUNIC

The usual wear for men, a long garment belted at the waist, the length often denoting the wearer’s status. Working men usually wore a short tunic over breeches.

SHINGLES

Roof covering of thin wooden tiles, in place of the usual thatch.

WATTLE AND DAUB

A building material plastered over woven hazel panels between house-frames to form lanels. Usually made from clay, horsehair, straw and even manure (q.v. ‘cob’).

WIMPLE

A cloth of linen or silk, pinned at each temple, framing a lady’s face and covering the throat.

‘Not half as good as Mary’s, but it will have to do us for now,’ grunted John de Wolfe, looking down into a wooden bowl in which a few lumps of meat floated in a pallid stew. Across the small table, Gwyn of Polruan was already slurping his food from a horn spoon, alternately dipping a hunk of barley bread into the liquid.

‘It’s not too bad, Crowner! At least it’s piping hot, though I don’t know that we need that on a day like this.’

He stopped eating momentarily to take a deep swallow from a quart pot of ale and wipe the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. It was just past noon and the sun was at its highest, pouring down its stifling radiance on the lower valley of the Thames.

‘I wonder what my wife’s doing now?’ he added pensively. ‘Pouring better ale than this for her customers in the Bush, no doubt!’

His comment emphasised the nostalgic mood that both men were in at that moment. Though they were sitting in a relatively decent house in Westminster, their thoughts were a couple of hundred miles away. Sir John was contemplating his old dog in Exeter, his mistress in Dawlish and his former mistress now decamped back to her home in South Wales. Given the food situation, he also had thoughts to spare for his excellent cook Mary, who had once been another of his paramours. The only person for whom he had no nostalgia was his wife Matilda, who was sulking in self-imposed exile in a Devonshire convent.