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GLOSSARY OF MEDIEVAL WORDS

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Bailey Courtyard of castle

Ballista Siege engine, like a giant crossbow

Bastide Fortified town

Consolamentum Ceremony of being received into the Cathar faith

Believer What would now be called a Cathar

Chansons de Geste French songs about heroic deeds

Demesne A lord’s lands, castle and property

Faidit A lord who has lost his demesne

Fealty Allegiance owed by subjects to their lord

Fief A vassal’s source of income, land and labour

Hippocras Spiced wine

Keep The main tower of a castle

Mangonel Wooden siege engine

Perfect A man or woman who had received the consolamentum and lived according to the strictest rules of the Cathar belief

Rebec A small stringed instrument played with a bow

Saltarello A lively dance involving jumping or leaping

Seigneury The position and authority of a feudal lord

Solar A private or upper chamber in a medieval house

Suzerain Sovereign or feudal lord over other kings or lords; overlord

Trebuchet Wooden siege engine, like a massive catapult

Trencher Platter, sometimes wooden, sometimes made of bread

Vassal A free man who held land (fief) from a lord to whom he paid homage and swore fealty. A vassal could be a lord in his own right.