K

Kaernia. Latin collective term for a band of kerns, the Irish foot soldiers who attached themselves to the households of English lords in Ireland. [<Ir. ceithearn = band of soldiers] – Cf. GALLOWGLASS; KERN

Keep. The central part of a castle; the *donjon. It was built defensively as a position of last resort, the inner stronghold.

Keeper of the Peace. Usually a local lord or knight responsible at first for the *hue and cry. The keeper evolved into the *justice of the peace.

Kenilworth, Ordinance of. May 1326. One of the amendments undertaken during the last year of Edward II’s reign, withdrawing the wool *staple status from foreign towns, giving it to towns in England. In 1326, it was further ordained that persons worth less than £40 a year were forbidden to wear anything made from imported cloth, as a kind of protection of the wool industry.

Kenning. Modern term for periphrastic phrases characteristic of Old Norse verse, sometimes also applied to Old English, e.g. *gannet’s bath (ganotes bæð) was used for the sea. Other examples are: heathorlinde = war-lime = wooden shields (made of lime or linden wood) and hamora lafan = hammer’s leavings, i.e. metal weapons.

Kern [kerne]. In the 13c, ‘kerns’ signified those who attached themselves to the establishments of English lords in Ireland. They were considered idlers and spongers. Later the term was used of a fighting man from Ireland, a foot soldier without armour. When fighting at close quarters the kern used a bat-tle-axe much like that used by the Vikings. The Latin form was kernus or homo de kerne. [< Ir. ceithearn = band of soldiers] – Cf. CATERAN; GALLOWGLASS; KAERNIA

Kid. A bundle of wood or brushwood, twigs, for kindling.

King’s household. Medieval government was conducted by the king himself. The members of his household inevitably had a rôle in government; they were chosen for this purpose, or, like the magnates, their power demanded their participation. All medieval departments began as a part of that household. Some of these went out of court, and thus ceased to be part of the household, by acquiring permanent offices at Westminster, no longer travelling with the king. However, they were always subject to his direct authority, which was often prescribed by statute. These departments included *chancery, the *exchequer, the courts of law and the office of the *privy seal. The king’s household varied in size between 400 and 700 men and women, including servants, clerks and officials. Officials had their own servants and hangers-on. Most worked to provide the food and drink, the stabling, even music and medicine; there were also chaplains. Each department was required to keep and render its accounts. – Cf. DOMUS REGIS; FAMILIA REGIS

King’s messenger. See NUNCIUS REGIS

King’s peace. The state of civil order within the realm, backed by the king’s authority; also that special protection attached to certain people on royal business, e.g. the king’s messengers. – Cf. MUND; NUNCIUS REGIS; WITE

King’s vert. All the greenery within a forest which provided food for deer, i.e. all trees and shrubs such as hawthorn, holly, blackthorn. – Cf. VERT AND VENISON

King’s wardrobe. The king’s wardrobe was involved with more than his clothing, although that had been its origin. It became an administrative department which dispensed money and kept accounts, handling domestic expenses of the court; for example, the king’s messengers were paid from the wardrobe. It was run by a keeper and his subordinates, the controller and *cofferer. The keeper was responsible for receiving money for the household’s expenses, for checking the accounts of its departments and for rendering these accounts in the *exchequer. The controller kept a duplicate set of accounts by way of a control on the keeper. The cofferer was the official charged with the care of the coins themselves. The privy wardrobe was based at the Tower of London, where military supplies were also kept. The Great Wardrobe, near Barnard’s Castle, was responsible for civilian supplies, from furs to imported spices. – Cf. SIGNET SEAL, OFFICE OF THE

Kitchener. The *obedientiary who was overseer of all things pertaining to the cooking and serving of food in a monastery. He saw to it that supplies were maintained by those under him, with food ready on time and cooking utensils cleaned. The Latin form was coquinarius. – Cf. COKINI

Knave. A boy child; a servant-boy or a menial; later applied to a man as a rogue or scoundrel. [< OE cnapa = boy]

Knight. Orig. a boy or young man; the military servant of someone of high rank; a feudal tenant holding land for which he owed military service; a man raised by king or queen to an honourable, high rank; in courtly romance and lyric sometimes used for an acknowledged suitor or lover. [< OE cniht = a young boy, hence warrior, servant] – Cf. next; KNIGHT’S FEE

Knight bachelor. The full title of a gentleman who had been knighted; the lowest order of *knight. He was a knight without a *fee. Frequently a younger son, trained in the skills of war, such men earned their living fighting for a lord. – Cf. next; BACHELOR

Knight of the shire. One of the two knights of a shire or *county elected to be its representative in parliament. Their election was overseen by the *sheriff in the county court, in response to the king’s summons. – Cf. MAINPERNOR

Knight’s fee. That area of land required for the service of one *knight. This was the essence of the obligation of military service in the 12c and 13c. Land was granted by a *tenant-in-chief to a knight, who would answer the king’s summons to provide a certain number of men. Their customary obligation was to serve for 40 days each year without pay. In the 12c, *scutage appeared, by which the king raised money in lieu of military service. – Cf. FIEF

Knights Hospitaller. One of the military orders, originally founded to tend the sick and injured of the Crusades; their chief house was the Hospital of St John at Jerusalem. Expelled from the East after the fall of Acre, they moved first to Rhodes and thence to Malta; hence they were also known as the Knights of Malta. – Cf. next

Knights Templar. The Knights Templar derived their name from having been the occupants of part of the place where Solomon’s Temple used to be. (They were known first and fully as the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon.) The order was founded by Hugues de Payns in 1118 after the taking of Jerusalem. A military and religious order, its purpose was to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land. Their rule was written by St Bernard. The Church recognised the order in 1128; it was suppressed in 1312. – Cf. previous

Koran. The sacred scriptures of Islam. Although there had been previous contact and conflict between Christians and Muslims, the Koran was not translated into a Western language until the 12c. The first translation into Latin was commissioned by an abbot of *Cluny, Peter the Venerable, in the 1140s. His purpose was to study it and by study refute and deny it. For a long time in the West it was thought that Islam was a heretical form of Christianity, rather than a new religion.