GLOSSARY

Book of Hours: a book of prayers, psalms, and holy texts, handwritten and illuminated by monks.

Caudle: a medicinal hot drink for minor ailments, made with wine or ale, thickened with bread crumbs, egg yolks, or ground almonds.

Cellarer/Cellarium: the cellarer is the monk in charge of the abbey’s provisions and storeroom, or cellarium.

Cesspit: a pit for garbage and/or sewage.

Chapter House: a room off the cloister, close to the south door of the church. The monks meet here each day to discuss abbey business and listen to a reading from the Rule of St. Benedict.

Choir: at Crowfield Abbey, this is the area between the transepts and the east end of the church. Two rows of wooden stalls, or seats, face each other across the width of the choir. The monks sit here during the daily round of services.

Cloister: four covered alleys or corridors surrounding a central garden or garth, usually situated on the south side of the abbey church. The main rooms of the abbey can be reached from the cloister.

Dorter/Dormitory: the open-plan room on the first floor of the east range of the buildings surrounding the cloisters, where the monks sleep.

Frater: a long room where the monks eat their meals. At Crowfield Abbey, the frater is in the west range, between the kitchens and the guest quarters.

Hurdy-gurdy: a stringed musical instrument. The strings pass over a wheel, which is turned by a crank handle. The wheel acts very much like a violin bow, producing musical notes from the strings. When played, the hurdy-gurdy sounds like a bagpipe.

Maslin bread: made from a mixture of rye and wheat flour. After a poor harvest, dried and ground peas or beans could be added to the flour.

Midden: a refuse heap.

Mummers: mummers and guisers were street performers in towns and villages who dressed up and wore masks and entertained people, usually around Christmas. They cavorted through the streets, singing carols and playing music and sometimes begging for money from door to door. Later on, mummers performed plays that included such characters as St. George, Beelzebub, and Robin Hood.

Nave: the long, main body of the church.

Pannage: the practice of allowing pigs to forage in woodland for beech mast and acorns from September to early November.

Parchment/Vellum: thin sheets of sheep-, goat-, or calfskin used for pages of books or manuscripts. The skin is stretched, scraped, and dried to prepare it. Better quality skins are called vellum.

Pottage: a cross between a soup and a stew, usually made with whatever vegetables were available. In winter, dried peas were a staple ingredient. Sometimes a little meat or fish would be included. Herbs such as wild garlic, thyme, rosemary, sage, and parsley would be added for flavor and salt for seasoning.

Psalms/Psalter: religious songs sung or recited as part of daily worship. A book of psalms is a psalter.

Reredorter: the monks’ latrines or toilets, situated next to the dorter.

Rushlight: a type of candle made from rushes. The inner pith of the rush is dipped in fat, grease, or beeswax. The pith then acts as the wick when the rushlight is lit.

Sacristy/Sacristan: the room where the abbey’s more valuable possessions are kept locked away. The sacristan is the monk in charge of the sacristy. At Crowfield Abbey, this is one of Brother Snail’s duties.

Shawm: a woodwind instrument, similar to a modern oboe.

Small Beer: a diluted beer with a very low alcohol content, drunk by adults and children with meals.

Transepts: the shorter cross-arms of the church, between the nave and the choir.