saracen an Arab or Muslim of the time of the Crusades.
satsuma a variety of Japanese pottery.
Saxons a tribe of Germanic warriors who (with the Angles, another Germanic tribe) invaded parts of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries; here, the word is used by Robin Wood to denote those British people who resisted the Norman invasion of 1066.
sciatica any painful condition in the region of the hip and thigh.
seneschal a steward or major-domo in the household of a medieval noble.
sherries sack or malmsey wine two types of sweet wine.
shrikes predatory, shrill-voiced passerine birds with hooked beaks, gray, black, and white plumage, and long tails.
solar a private or upper chamber.
Some red propaganda "Some communist propaganda."
sowers planters.
Spartan military mess Sparta was a city in ancient Greece, famous for the strict discipline of its soldiers. A "mess" is a mess hall, where soldiers eat.
standards, banners, pennons, pennoncells, banderolls, guidons, streamers and cognizances different decorative flags and ribbons used to adorn the castle.
stoat a kind of ermine, or weasel, whose fur is often used for coats and robes.
stridulation the sound made by a grasshopper.
subaltern in the British military, holding an army commission below that of captain.
Summulae Logicales a treatise on logic by Pope John XXI, written in the thirteenth century.
sward grass-covered soil.
tack gear; equipment.
the book of Sir John de Mandeville (1371) a famous book of travels that also describes fantastic people and creatures that the author claims to have seen in Africa and the Orient.
the cows were on their gad The cows were wandering aimlessly.
the drouthy antipodes a group of cold, drafty ("drouthy") islands belonging to New Zealand.
the Little Bear a constellation, also known as the Little Dipper.
the lower strata the lower layer of the atmosphere.
the Marches the borderlands of England and Scotland.
the mort the note sounded on a hunting horn when the quarry is killed.
the richesses of martens, the bevies of roes, the cetes of badgers and the routs of wolves "richesses," "bevies," "cetes," and "routs" are all names for groups of the animals with which they are listed (as in "a school of fish").
the undoing in hunting, the removal of one's arrows from the prey.
tiercels male hawks.
tilting jousting.
tilting the sport of jousting, whereby two riders attempted to unhorse each other by charging at each other and hitting their opponents with lances.
Timor Mortis Conturbant Me Latin, "The fear of death disturbs me."
Timor Mortis Exultat Me Latin, "The fear of death overjoys me."
tippet a scarf-like garment of fur, wool, etc. for the neck and shoulders, hanging down in front; historically worn by judges or religious officials.
tracery stone ornamental open-work found in castle windows.
truncheon a short, thick club used by policemen.
tumulus an artificial mound.
tussocks thick tufts or clumps of grass.
twenty-two stone 308 pounds (a British "stone" equals 14 pounds).
