The Gallows Curse
Page 55
Rows — Yarmouth was originally a settlement built on a sandbank at the mouth of three rivers that formed Breydon Water: the Bure,
Yare and Waveney. The sandbank was first colonized by fishermen who built dwellings in narrow parallel strips, to allow the houses to be on higher ground while giving each strip direct access to the sea. This also minimized the effects of flooding. One hundred and forty-five rows were established by the Middle Ages and were densely populated until they were largely destroyed by bombing in the Second World War. The houses in these rows later consisted of one lower room and one upper, and the rows were so narrow it was possible for a man to walk down the middle and touch the walls on either side with outstretched arms.
Sappers - When laying siege to a city, miners or sappers would try to tunnel under the outer walls of the castle or city and lay fires beneath the stones. This, together with the boulders thrown by the siege engines pounding on the walls above, would help to weaken the defensive walls, causing them to collapse. The sapper's work was highly dangerous, for not only was there the risk of the tunnels caving in with the men still inside, but frequently the defenders of the castle would burrow outwards to attack the sappers, and vicious hand-to-hand fighting would take place in the darkness of the narrow tunnels.
Solar — Initially meant any room above ground level. (Derived from the French sol, meaning floor, and solive, meaning beam.) In the Middle Ages, the solar came to be a common name for the Great Chamber. It was the private living and sleeping quarters of the family who owned the hall. Their servants and retinue would sleep below in the Great Hall. The solar often had a separate staircase and entrance to that of the Great Hall and a wooden partition could be erected at one end of the room to form a private bedchamber, which would have been important if several adult generations of the family had to share the solar.
Thorn apple — (Not to be confused with the herb of the same name, Datura stramonium, a powerful narcotic.) The use of an apple studded with twelve thorns or pins as a summoning charm was widely used by those who had the 'gift'. One incident was recorded in Warwickshire as recently as 1929, when a woman demonstrated her powers by using the apple to summon her sister who lived 10 miles away. The sister arrived, even though it was snowing, claiming she had been drawn to come by some force she could not resist.
Undercroft - A basement or cellar under a hall or house used mainly for storage. Often the undercroft was built on the ground floor, rather than below ground, though surviving examples are sometimes now below ground level because the surface levels of streets have risen. The undercroft could be completely enclosed with walls, but was frequently left open on one or more sides to allow carts and wagons to be drawn inside to load and unload. The Great Hall was often built as the upper storey over an undercroft, supported by pillars and arches.
Werecat — Medieval people believed humans could turn themselves into werebeasts that were half human, half animal, including wolves, cats, foxes, crocodiles and tigers. There were two kinds of werebeast: involuntary and voluntary. If you had lived a wicked life, or were cursed, you might be turned into one of these creatures. But men could also choose to become werebeasts. There were many ways of doing this: by using ointments or spells, invoking demons or using mandrakes, by drinking the water from the footprint of the animal you wanted to become or by wearing the pelt of the chosen animal as a girdle around the waist. In this way you would gain the power to turn yourself into a half man—half beast, with a savage desire to hurt and kill.
Wolf's head — A term for an outlaw, or a fugitive from justice. Once a man or woman was declared a wolf's head, any citizen was entitled to hunt them down and take them captive or kill them. In fact they had a duty to do so if they discovered their whereabouts. And, like the wolf itself, if a citizen could prove that the fugitive was dead, usually by bringing the corpse or head to the local sheriff, they could claim a bounty or reward.
Yellow Skeggs — A common English name for the Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus), otherwise known as fleur-de-lis. Skeggs is Anglo- Saxon in origin, from segg, meaning a small sword, in reference to the leaf shape. In the sixth century Clovis I of France was able to escape the Goths when he noticed a patch of yellow iris growing in the middle of the River Rhine indicating shallow water. In gratitude he took the fleur-de-lis as his emblem. In the twelfth century Louis VII of France adopted it as his emblem during the Crusades. The English called the French soldiers 'flowers', a derogatory nickname which seems to be a reference to the French emblem, the fleur-de-lis, hence Yellow Skeggs.