Summulae Logicales a treatise on logic by Pope John XXI, written in the thirteenth century.
Organon the title of Aristotle's (384–322 BC) writings on logic and thought.
tilting the sport of jousting, whereby two riders attempted to unhorse each other by charging at each other and hitting their opponents with lances.
the mort the note sounded on a hunting horn when the quarry is killed.
the undoing in hunting, the removal of one's arrows from the prey.
port a strong, sweet wine from Portugal.
Metheglyn a spiced or medicated kind of mead (a liquor made from fermented honey and water).
Hic, Haec, Hoc a joke by Sir Ector, who is pretending to offer the declension (or breakup of verb tenses) for his drunken hiccup.
pike a type of freshwater bony fish.
wattle and daub interlaced twigs and rods, plastered with mud or clay to make walls or roofs.
the cows were on their gad The cows were wandering aimlessly.
rick a stack of hay.
jerkins a short, closefitting jacket, often sleeveless, or a vest.
goshawk a large, swift, powerful hawk with short wings and a long, rounded tail.
mews cages for hawks.
tack gear; equipment.
cardamom a spice from the seeds of various East Indian plants.
jesses straps for fastening around a falcon's leg, with a ring at one end for attaching a leash.
merlins small European or North American falcons with a striped, brownish-red breast.
tiercels male hawks.
just been taken up from hacking If a hawk is "in hacking," he is not yet allowed to hunt food for itself.
peregrine a kind of falcon often used for hawking.
kestrel a small, reddish-gray falcon, noted for its ability to hover in the air with its head to the wind.
mutes here, feces.
austringers people who train and fly hawks.
deep in the moult a hawk at a stage of advanced moulting, or shedding its feathers.
conies rabbits.
villein any of a class of feudal serfs who by the thirteenth century had become freemen in their legal relations to all except their lord, to whom they remained subject as slaves.
yarak a state of prime fitness in a hawk.
fewmets the droppings of the prey, used by the hunter to track it.
libbard a mispronunciation of "leopard."
brachet a hunting dog.
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.
cabalistic pertaining to signs and symbols of secret societies or factions.
lignum vitae Latin for "wood of life;" a type of tree used to make various medicines.
corkindrill a mythological beast.
phoenix a mythological bird that bursts into flame and then rises from its own ashes.
oleander a poisonous evergreen shrub.
astrolabe an instrument used to find the altitudes of stars.
satsuma a variety of Japanese pottery.
cloisonne pottery and china in which colored enamels are kept separate by thin metal strips.
pismires ants.
cigarette cards trading cards that used to be given out in cigarette packs.
truncheon a short, thick club used by policemen.
greaves pieces of armor that cover the shins.
Aristotle (384–322 BC) Greek philosopher and pupil of Plato, noted for works on logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and so on.
Hecate a goddess of the moon, earth, and underground realm of the dead, later regarded as the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft.
Master of Trinity Dean of Trinity College, Oxford.
Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), British Puritan general and Lord Protector of England from 1653–58.
stoat a kind of ermine, or weasel, whose fur is often used for coats and robes.
vespers the sixth of the seven canonical hours, or the service for it occurring in the late afternoon or early evening.
barbican a defensive tower or similar fortification at a gate or bridge leading into a town or castle.
bartizans a small, overhanging turret on a tower or a castle.
portcullis a heavy iron grating suspended by chains and lowered between grooves to bar the gateway of a castle or fortified town.
tracery stone ornamental open-work found in castle windows.
bosses ornamental projecting pieces, as at the intersection of the ribs of an arched roof.
the Marches the borderlands of England and Scotland.
byres cow barns.
M.F.H. Master of Foxhounds.
Agincourt a village in Northern France where King Henry V defeated the French in 1415.
alaunts, gaze-hounds, lymers and braches different kinds of hounds.
purlieus regions.
