A Trail of Ink

For Fran and Larry

In the summer of 1990 my wife Susan and I discovered a lovely B&B in the village of Mavesyn Ridware. The proprietors, Tony and Lis Page, became friends. We visited them again in 2001, after they had moved to Bampton. I saw that the village would be an ideal setting for the tales I wished to write. Tony and Lis have been a wonderful resource for the history of Bampton. I owe them much.

When Dan Runyon, Professor of English at Spring Arbor University, learned that I was writing The Unquiet Bones, he invited me to speak to a fiction-writing class about the trials of a rookie writer. Dan sent some chapters to his friend Tony Collins. Thanks, Dan.

And many thanks to Tony Collins and the fine people of Monarch for their willingness to publish an untried author.

Thanks go also to Spring Arbor University student Brian Leyder, who suggested the title for Master Hugh’s third chronicle.

Modern Oxford resembles the medieval city, but there have been many changes. Streets often bear different names than they did six hundred years ago. Dr John Blair, of Queen’s College, has been a great help in navigating the differences between the modern and the medieval. However, if the reader becomes lost in medieval Oxford’s narrow lanes the fault is mine, not Dr Blair’s.

Mel Starr

Angelus bell: Rung three times each day - dawn, noon, and dusk. Announced the times for the Angelus devotional.

Assart: Turning unused or “waste” land into cultivated farmland.

Bailiff: A lord’s chief manorial representative. He oversaw all operations, collected rents and fines, and enforced labor service. Not a popular fellow.

Banns: A formal announcement, made in the parish church for three consecutive Sundays, of intent to marry.

Braes: Medieval underpants.

Calefactory: The warming room in a monastery. Benedictines allowed the fire to be lit on 1 November. The more rigorous Cistercians had no calefactory.

Candlemas: 2 February. The day marked the purification of Mary. Women traditionally paraded to church carrying lighted candles. Tillage of fields resumed this day.

Canon: A priest of the secular clergy who lived under rules comparable to monastic orders. Did not usually minister to the commons.

Chauces: Tight-fitting trousers, often particolored (having different colors for each leg).

Claret: Yellowish or light-red wine from the Bordeaux region.

Coney: Rabbit.

Cordwainer: A dealer in leather and leather goods imported from Cordova, Spain.

Cresset: A bowl of oil with a floating wick used for lighting.

Curate: A clergyman who often served as an assistant to the rector of a parish.

Dexter: A war horse, larger than pack-horses and palfreys. Also called a destrier. Also the right-hand direction.

Dower: The groom’s financial contribution to marriage, designated for the bride’s support during marriage and possible widowhood.

Dowry: A gift from the bride’s family to the groom, intended for her support during marriage, and widowhood, should her husband predecease her.

Egg leaches: A very thick custard, often enriched with almonds, spices, and flour.

Farthing: One fourth of a penny The smallest coin.

Free companies: At times of peace during the Hundred Years’ War, bands of unemployed knights would organize themselves and ravage the countryside. France especially suffered.

Galantyne: A sauce made with cinnamon, ginger, vinegar, and breadcrumbs.

Gathering: Eight leaves of parchment, made by folding the prepared hide three times.

Groom: A lower-ranking servant to a lord. Often a teenaged youth. Occasionally assistant to a valet. Ranked above a page.

Hallmote: The manorial court. Royal courts judged free tenants accused of murder or felony. Otherwise manor courts had jurisdiction over legal matters concerning villagers. Villeins accused of murder might also be tried in a manor court.

Kirtle: The basic medieval undershirt.

Lammas Day: 1 August, when thanks was given for a successful wheat harvest. From the Old English “loaf mass”.

Liripipe: A fashionably long tail attached to a man’s cap.

Lych gate: A roofed gate in the churchyard wall under which the deceased rested during the initial part of a burial service.