Magna Carta: The agreement forced upon King John by the English barons on June 15, 1215, at Runnymede, England, that stripped many powers from the king in favor of the barons. The barons created a group of 25 of their number, the forerunner of the first English parliament founded fifty years later. The innovation in the charter was that one of the baron’s number could make a complaint to at least four of the twenty five, who would then determine of their complaint against the king was valid. If it was found to be so, then the king had forty days to correct the ‘injustice’, after which the barons would seize such property of His Majesty and the Royal family as deemed necessary for redress. The charter layed the foundation for the first constitutional monarchy wherein the king’s heretofore legally limitless powers were formally checked by another political body. In ordinary feudal systems, the power of the king was checked not by a formal political mechanism but by the power of the great Royal Peers, whose support in political and military affairs he required to maintain authority and legitimacy.
Magnate: See peer.Manor: The granting of land with a demense, peasants and lands considered requisite to sustain a minor noble. The demense was the lord’s personal land, providing for their needs, while the land worked by the peasants provided additional income or food consumed by the lord or his retainers.
Marshal: Officer of the king’s household, the officer in charge of horses and other animals for sport--the mews, hounds, and frequently the guards or archers. In times of war there were other military duties associated with the office, the office was originally the keeper of the royal stables but gradually evolved into a high military office. The highest marshal in England, originally known as the Great Marshal of England, was customarily known as the earl Marshal, not because that was the title of the office, but because the holder was generally an earl. The marshal, ranking just under the constable, served with him in English courts of chivalry, after Edward III established the court as a formal body.
Within the SCA, the marshals are responsible for the safety of the lists. They are the representatives of the king, serving in his stead as his representative on the field of honor. Additionally, they administrate to the combatants by recording authorizations and other documents required by legal constraints.
Mazzacudo: An interesting form of Italian foot tournament from the 14th century where the participants used a club and shield. The accounts from Pisa tell of a square in the city where men could go at any time between Christmas to Shrove Tuesday and challenge whomever they liked. The whole affair, conducted in the wintertime, climaxed in the holidays, when a large crowd gathered to watch the proceedings. Individuals would paint images their lovers on their shields, fighting in their honor. Trumpets sounded the start of the general mêlée. As the 14th century progressed, the combatants wore footsoldier’s armour and extra padding.
Mediador: The single surviving romance of Jean Froissart.
Mêlée: A group combat or ‘free for all’ where teams or groups of individuals met in the field. A mêlée can describe any group combat. When applied to tournaments, it takes on the connotation of a group encounter where generally two groups competed against one another.
Mesnie: Loosely defined as a medieval household
with a feudal lord. More narrowly, a group of knights (typically errants)
who travel closely and fight in tourney and war with a feudal lord, who
is usually of high noble bearing. Fealty
does not seem to be the only root of these groups, although it would be
hard to imagine the mesnie without those bonds given the time period and
the society they lived in. Mesnie seem to have been borne from a
sense of camaraderie and singular purpose in addition to a purely feudal
relationship.
Contributed by: Greg
Olsen, AKA SCA Sir Gregory of Bec, Kingdom of Artemesia
See especially Keen, Maurice. William Marshal:
The Flower of Chivalry.
Metal: Colors in heraldry indicating tincture, gold and silver. (Or and Argent, respectively).
Military Belt: References to the military belt go all the way back to the Germanic tribes described by Tacitus in the 5th century. The military beltt seems to have been the predominant symbol of the military man for the whole medieval period. During the 14th century it took the form of a metal belt, sometimes white, with metal plates or plaques. The belt was given to a knight at the adoubement ceremony, usually by a respected knight or one who has close ties to the candidate, or occasionally, especially in the case of mass battlefield knightings, by a king or prince.
Milites: (Singular miles) The Latin term for "men at arms," or "soldier" used to cover what later became known as "knights" in English, "Chevaliers" in French, "Caballero" in Spanish, and "Ritter" in German. It seems to have come into use during the 10th century, before there was any attachment of the "knightly virtues" or the term "chivalry," which came into use in France during the 12th century. By the end of the 12th century these warriors had evolved into their own social class, a caste in society, gradually becoming attached to the lower nobility.
Moat, Mote: The ditch surrounding a castle or fortification, generally filled with water, to deter besieging forces from access to the walls.
Money: {talk about the money economy}
Morte d’Arthur: The misnamed printed version of Sir Thomas Malory’s The Whole Book of King Arthur and of His Noble Knights of the Round Table, completed between 1469-70. Caxton issued his printed version in 1485, part of his effort to re-establish romantic literature as a method to improve the quality of the knights in England, who he dispaired had become degenerate and ill-equipped for war. The Morte d’Arthur is a massive work, originally divided into 21 books of 507 chapters, it covers the entire history of Arthur and each of his knights, stories compiled from the rich corpus of Arthurian literature in French and English.
Moslem, Muslim: The proper name for a follower of the Islamic faith (founded c. 600 A.D.), known to most medieval people as Saracens.
Motto: The war-cry of the ancient barbarians that evolved into the inspirational sayings often inscribed around the device, onto banners, or into family crests. Mottoes were adopted purely at the pleasure of the individual, there was no prerequisite and no registering authority. Mottoes were traditionally not hereditary; each individual crafted their own.
Murder-hole: A hole cut in the roof of passages needing defense, such as in gatehouses or along the top of curtain walls. Through murder holes could be poured hot water, oil, stones or archers could fire through them wrecking havoc on the assaulting troops.