TABARD: A sleeveless or short-sleeved tunic worn over armor in the Middle Ages. Where appropriate, arms decorated the garment, making it a coat-of-arms.
TALLAGE: A tax levied on boroughs and on the tenants living on royal estates, to help liquidate royal debts.
TARGE: Round or oval shield used by knights.
TARTAN: A plaid textile design of Scottish origin consisting of stripes of varying width and color usu. patterned to designate a distinctive clan.
TASSET (or TACES): 15th century defense for the hips that attached to the fauld; usually a plate of iron or steel, often featuring one or more fluted ribs and a thick rolled edge for strength.
TENANT-IN-CHIEF: A lord or institution (the Church being most common) holding land directly from the king. All Earls were Tenants-in-Chief.
THANE: Originally meaning a Military Companion to the King, a thane was a man holding administrative office.
TINCTURE: The generic term for the heraldic metals, colors, and furs.
TIPPET: Name given to the streamers hanging from the elbow-length sleeves of the medieval tunic or gown. Also, a short shoulder cape for women.
TITHE: One tenth of a person's income given to support the church annually.
TONSURE: The rite of shaving the crown of the head of a person joining a monastic order or the secular clergy, symbolizing admission to the clerical state.
TORSE: A colorful cloth worn around the crown of the helmet, from which the mantling was attached (used from the 13th century through the 15th, torses and mantling helped to identify knights in war and provided a colorful expressive tool for tournaments and pageants of the 15th century).
TOWN AIR IS FREE AIR: Words used in town charters to proclaim freedom of any serf who lived there for a year and a day, without being claimed by his lord.
TREASURER: The chief financial officer of the realm and senior officer of the Exchequer.
TROUBADOUR: Composers of epic poems, such as the Chansons de Geste, and love songs, often sung by wandering minstrels.
TRUNCHEON: 1. A short, thick staff, similar to a policeman's baton. 2. European club made of wood.
TRUNK HOSE (1540-1625): A style of breeches for men who wanted to show off their legs. Trunk hose consisted of a padded ring from the waist around the hips, to which long netherstocks were sewn.
TUNIC: 1. A loose, gownlike garment worn by men and women in ancient Greece and Rome. 2. A blouselike garment extending to the hips or lower, usually gathered at the waist, often with a belt.
TURRET: A small tower rising above and resting on one of the main towers of a castle, usually used as a look-out point.
USURY: Interest charged on a loan; a practice forbidden by Church law.
VAMBRACE: Plate defense for the forearm.
VASSAL: A free man who held land (fief) from a lord to whom he paid homage and swore fealty. He owed various services and obligations, primarily military, but he also advised his lord and paid him the traditional feudal aids required on the knighting of the lord's eldest son, the marriage of the lord's eldest daughter, and the ransoming of the lord, should he be held captive.
VENETIANS: Breeches fastened at the knee and separate from the netherstocks, distended with vertical rolls of padding down the inside of each side seam. A codpiece was not worn with Venetians, which buttoned or tied in a concealed front opening.
VERDUN: Long European thrusting sword with a diamond or square-sectioned blade used in the 16th century.
VERT: The heraldic color (tincture) of green.
VILLEIN: The wealthiest class of peasant, they usually cultivated 20-40 acres of land, often in isolated strips.
VIRGATE: One quarter of a hide.
VISCOUNT: The fourth level of peerage, a viscount was a lieutenant or deputy of a count (from "vice-count"), or the title of courtesy for the eldest son of an Earl or Marquess.
WAISTCOAT (1485-1625): An optional male undergarment, usually quilted, to which the breeches were fastened. A woman's dressing jacket was also called a waistcoat.
WALL WALK: The area along the top of a castle's walls from which soldiers defended both castle and town.
WARDSHIP: The right of a feudal lord to the income of a fief during the minority of its heir. The lord was required to maintain the fief and to take care of the material needs of the ward. When the ward came of age, the lord was required to release the fief to him in the same condition in which it was received.
WATTLE: A mat of woven sticks and weeds.
WIMPLE: A simple headcovering worn by women. A piece of material, square or circular in shape, was draped over the head to the shoulders and held in place by a band around the brow. Later a wimple was worn with a barbette or chin band so that the throat and chin were also covered.
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