A Glossary of Terms
By The Gunpowder Plot Society

This aim of this Glossary is to provide researchers, or interested parties with a list of commonly used Feudal, Elizabethan, and Tudor terms and phrases that they are sure to come across. If you would like a term defined, or wish to add to this Glossary, please mail us, as an updated list will be included in each Newsletter.

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ABEYANCE - A period in which an estate or title has no holder. When there are no sons, certain titles descend to daughters. If there is only one daughter, then she inherits, but if more than one, the title goes into abeyance, until there is only one heiress left.

ABJURATION - A renunciation, under oath, of heresy to the Christian faith, made by a Christian wishing to be reconciled with the church.

ACRE - A measure of land used in Domesday mainly for pasture, meadowland and woodland. The area varied in size from region to region, but was normally the area which a yoke of oxen could plough in a day.

ADVOWSON - The right to appoint a priest to a parish church, or living. The patron must not take money for presenting to a living, neither may a clergyman buy one. Advowsons may not be sold by auction except as part of a large estate.

ARMIGER - A person entitled to bear heraldic arms.

ARPENT - A measure of land originally a hundred square perches, roughly equal to a modern acre.

ASSIZE - The meeting of feudal vassals with the king or the King's representative. It also refers to decrees issued by the king after such meetings.

ATTAINDER - A person was attainted, that is declared to possess tainted blood, if he was found guilty of treason or a felony. His estates would be forfeit following such a sentence and no one could inherit through him. The process was not abolished until 1870.

BOVATE - A unit of measurement for assessment of tax, theoretically 15 acres. It is the share attributed to each ox in a team of eight, ie. one eighth of a Carucate or Hide. Also known as an oxgang.

CARUCATE - A measurement of land, equal to a hide (used in Danelaw). Also known as a ploughland.

DEMESNE - The part of the lord's manorial lands reserved for his own use and not allocated to his serfs or freeholder tenants. Serfs work the demesne for a specified numbers of days per week. The demesne may either be scattered among the serfs land, or a separate area, the latter being more common for meadow and orchard lands.

HIDE - A unit of measurement for assessment of tax, theoretically 120 acres, although it may vary between 60 and 240 acres. It is by custom the land that can be cultivated by one eight-ox plough in one year. See "carucate" and "bovate".

HUNDRED - An Anglo Saxon institution, the subdivision of a Shire. Theoretically equals one hundred hides but this hardly ever applies. Generally it has its own court which meets monthly to handle civil and criminal law. In Danish it is called a Wapentake (weapons taking?).

KNIGHT'S FEE - In theory, a fief which provides sufficient revenue to equip and support one knight. This is approximately twelve hides or 1500 acres, although the terms applies more to revenue a fief can generate than its size; it requires about thirty marks per year to support a knight.

MANOR - A small holding, typically 1200-1800 acres, with its own court and probably its own hall, but not necessarily having a manor house. The manor as a unit of land is generally held by a knight (knight's fee) or managed by a bailiff for some other holder.

MARK - A measure of silver, generally eight ounces, accepted throughout Western Europe. In England it is worth thirteen shillings and four pence, two thirds of one pound. A gold mark was worth �6.

PRIMOGENITURE The right of the eldest son to inherit the estate or office of his father.

RELICT - A term for a widow.

WARDSHIP - The right of a feudal lord to the income of a fief during the minority of its heir. The lord is required to maintain the fief and to take care of the material needs of the ward. When the ward comes of age, the lord is required to release the fief to him in the same condition in which it was received.