Sable: The heraldic term for the color black.
Safe-conduct: Passage allowed through a territory for peaceful purposes; it was often given to students, merchants, knights on their way to tournament, certain heralds & messengers, and pilgrims. Such safe-conducts could either be issued by the Prince of a region; these were general proclamations that bound the prince’s subjects to respect the passage. The other safe-conducts were offered by individual nobles, issued as sealed guarantees, where the noble himself extended their own protection to the holder of the safe passage. These writs named a specific recipient by name, the number of people in his party allowed to pass, the goods they could carry. Other goods carried were subject to confiscation--this was not an uncommon occurrence. Knights on their way to tournament were frequently given such safe conducts, they are specifically mentioned in several tournament declarations.
Saint Ingelvert, tournament of (1390): {}
Salle: Fr. Room or hall. The name Salle d’Armes became popularly used for a large hall used for the instruction of arms, first defined during the 17th century.
Sans Reproche: From the French, literally ‘without reproach’. During the 15th century this became a common tag to attach to knights of very high reputation--in the ideal, a knight should bear a renown such that no stain could be said to cloud a knight’s character. Because of the idealistic nature of the phrase, I see the phrase as a literal invocation of the ideal image, a useful tool both as a check on reality (see how far from the ideal we really are) and as a way to refocus the activities on the ideal rather than on the gritty reality. Chivalry always sought perfection, even if it always failed; ‘sans reproach’ was one way of shorthand reference to that ideal.
Sanctuary: The rule that allowed criminals not accused of infamy or felonies against Church property to seek refuge against the hew and cry issued when a felony was discovered. In most ecclesiastical properties, so long as no crime was committed against the church, a criminal could seek refuge for 40 days, after which they could be removed from the premises. In England, certain abbeys had an extended right of sanctuary, extending about for a league or more, with no limit on time. At these abbeys wanted persons could remain indefinitely, part of the abbey community.
Saracen: A Bedouin tribe from Sinai, the term was more generally applied to Arabs and Muslims during the Crusades.
Sauvaign: The principle sword of Ogier the Dane, from the chanson de geste of the same name.
SCA: See Society for Creative Anachronism.
Scone, Stone of: The ancient Coronation chair of Scotland, taken from Scotland to London by Edward III, pledged by the British government to be returned in 1996.
Scutage: Fee paid for a knight or man-at-arms to avoid military service specified in the terms under which they hold a fiefdom.
Scutiferi: Latin for squire in the time of Edward I.
Seeking adventures: A knightly sport undertaken by young bachelors where as errants they went out into the world seeking challenges and to earn renown by jousting, tourneying, fighting in wars, and by seeking in general to win fame by knightly deeds.
Seneschal: Lord’s representative in the administration of an estate, presiding at manorial courts, auditing accounts, conduct inquests, and the like. Within the SCA, the seneschal is the chief administrative officer for a shire or college. In a barony or larger unit, they serve under the baron, prince or king, depending upon the size for a region, responsible for the day to day administration and non-executive issues.
Serf: A peasant, the lowest class in the feudal system, belonging to a class who were tied to the land that they worked on behalf of the lord. They were in a very real sense owned by the lord of the manor or property, gradually becoming rising in rights and eventually synonymous to the English villein.
Sergeant: A kind of infantry or light cavalry rank below that of knight.
Servitum debitum: The military service owed by a vassal for the knight’s fee received for the use of land, generally forty days service for themselves and a specified number of men-at-arms. In most cases, their equipment was also specified.
Seven Sins Tourney: Tournament format for the SCA designed by Kevin Brink (AKA SCA Lord Oloff--West Kingdom) wherein seven knights play the sins, trying to compel the pilgrims to fall to the sin they represent. A modern form of round table, very introspective and entertaining at the same time.
Sext: A canonical hour corresponding to noon.
Shield Wall: A military formation of infantry formed by condensing the shield-carriers shoulder to shoulder, making penetration of the wall difficult. If the infantry were well disciplined, then, as they did at the Battle of Hastings, the wall can sometimes repel a determined attack by cavalry. A shield wall also defends some of the combatants against attacks by missile weapons (arrows, etc.).
Within the SCA, the shield wall is a dominant tactic employed by infantry units. The most effective shield walls involve rectangular or oval shields, generally large ones. SCA units tend to use spears as heavy cavalry, their aggressive pikemen attacking the shield wall. Most such walls are defended in the second rank by slashing polearms or their own spears, an attempt to keep would-be penetrators from getting too close to the wall. When one shieldman is slain, another comes forward to take their place, plugging the hole. These defenses are must useful in narrow passes such as on bridges where the flanks are anchored. In the field, the wall is exposed, to a degree, and the best tactic to break a wall is generally to attack the flanks, distracting the corner anchors and besieging the unit on two or more fronts.
Shiltrons: Dense formations of spearmen arranged three deep, designed to defeat cavalry, used by William Wallace in the Battle of Falkirk. Unfortunately for Wallace, they proved capable of defending against cavalry, but were destroyed by concentrated archery.
Ships: Medieval naval vessels
Siege: Military blockade of a city or fortification, designed to force it to surrender. The besiegers used three main techniques; close assault, bombardment, and capitulation. In close assault, they would place towers and tunnels trying to defeat the walls of the fortification, generally conducted after a period of bombardment with archery, ballista, trebuchets, catapults, and even cannons. If the fortification would not fall to direct assault, a difficult and expensive proposition, or the defenders would not give over the keys (sometimes using parlay the attackers and besiegers would agree on a specific length of time the defenders would do their best to hold out unless relieved by a friendly army), then the attackers would try to keep new supplies out of the fortress, causing privation within and usually forcing capitulation.
Siege Perilous: The seat at King Arthur’s round table that stood empty, signifying the seat of Judas. The seat remained empty until Galahad took it as a symbol of his undertaking the Grail quest.
Single-elimination lists: An SCA Sir: The title for a knight
Sire: One title used for king,
a more familiar title generally reserved for close confidants.
Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA): The largest of the medieval
‘re-enactment’ societies, established in 1968 at the home of Diana Paxton.
The Society has grown to more than 40,000 members worldwide, encompassing
medieval society in Europe and the Middle East from roughly 600 A.D. to
roughly 1600 AD.
The SCA has developed its own combat system, where wooden weapons simulate
the whalebone
and ash
weapons used in medieval béhourds
or vespers
tourneys. In the SCA system, combatants are responsible for their calling
their own ‘blows’, a technique that attempts to place the responsibility
for their field conduct squarely on the combatant themselves instead of
a panel of judges. Marshals
watch over the combat to insure that the tone of the fight is chivalric
and that the rules of safety are not violated, as well as tending to the
administration of registering combatants and the like. This ‘medieval marshal
art’ has become immensely popular in the United States, with active branches
in Australia, Japan, Korea, Britain, Germany, Sweden, and Canada. At its
finest, the Society strives to use the martial system to teach chivalric
virtues, a place where the curious can come and experience something of
the medieval experience. Knights
in the SCA are made by the king
in recognition of their prowess,
courtesy,
and noble
demeanor; knights often take ‘squires’, less
expert combatants who wish to learn the chivalric arts. At the pinnacle
of the martial experience combatants can participate in and strive to become
victorious in Crown
tournament, earning a higher level of noble rank.
Alongside these martial pursuits, the SCA strives to encourage research
and expertise in medieval arts, having developed a thriving market in which
craftsmen can learn medieval trades and grow in their artistic expertise.
The Order
of the Laurel is awarded as a peerage
award to recognize the pinnacle of artistic excellence.
Service is also very highly valued in the Society, where the Order
of the Pelican and many lesser service awards are awarded to gentle
who give ceaselessly of their time and energy for the good of the Society,
often in administrative capacity.
The SCA is broken down into a number of kingdoms, each of which has
a separate governing structure ruled by a king determined in Crown Tournament.
Each kingdom has developed their own culture and ‘flavor’, populated by
an enthusiastic body of participants. The SCA is not like the Renaissance
Faires where the experience is performance-oriented. In the SCA the essence
of the experience is participation; the SCA strives to teach something
of courtesy and ethics by developing an interpersonal network that reinforces
the desired values.
Visit the Society for Creative Anachronism's web site, located at http://www.sca.org.
Song of Roland: The most famous chanson
de geste, composed between 1098-1100, describing the betrayal of Count
Roland at the hand of Ganelon, and his resulting death in the Pyranee Mountains
at the hands of the Saracens. Roland was a loyal
defender of his liege
Charlemagne, and the take has become a landmark in the iconography of chivalry.
Spearmen: Footsoldiers, generally not of the knightly
class, armed with a pike
or spear,
generally arranged into dense formations. These soldiers, when disciplined,
were a potent defense against the heavily armoured cavalry,
particularly where missile weapons were scarce or where the field could
be restricted, such as in the Swiss or Greek mountains (the swiss pikemen
of the 16th century were as renown
as their predecessors in the Greek Phalanx had been two millennia before).
Spurs: Pointed devices attached to a knight’s
heel used to urge a horse. When they first came into existence, along with
the stirrup and couched lance,
they extended a knight’s ability to control a horse in combat. According
to the Ordene
de Chevalerie, the spurs symbolized {}. In Ramon
Lull, they were said to symbolize {}.
Squire: A young man in training to become a knight.
During the 14th century arming squires often joined their knights in battle,
a part of the knight’s household
unit or lance.
See Chronique,
The Journal of Chivalry #8. In the words of Ramon Lull:
See also: John Harding's poetic fragment: Training
of a Squire Geoffrey de Charnay, a founding member of the Company, was one of the
last Companions, slain carrying the Oriflamme.
Statum Armorum in Torniamentis: Rules for tournaments
set down in 1265 under Edward I, the first rules for the tournament yet
documented. The rules specified how many squires
a knight
could bring to tournament, that such squires should not carry a pointed
sword,
dagger
or staff. Knights who violated the statum were to lose their horse and
armour and be imprisoned for three years.
Sword in the Stone: {Galahad’s test}
"The knowledge and the school of chivalry is such that the
knight makes his son to learn in his youth to ride, for if should take
on the keeping of a horse. It behooves him also that he serve, and that
he be the first subject of the lord, for otherwise he will not know the
nobility of lordship when he should become a knight. And therefore every
man who will come to knighthood should learn, in his youth, to carve at
the table, to serve, to arm and to adoube a knight; for in likewise as
a maid will learn to sew in order to be a tailor or a man to be a carpenter
it behooves em to have a master who can sew or hew. Likewise it behooves
that a noble man who loves the order of chivalry and will be a knight to
have first a master who is a knight, for thus it is a discovenable thing
that a squire should learn the order and nobility from any other man than
a knight. So very high and honored is the order of chivalry that a squire
should suffer himself not only to learn to keep horse and learn to serve
a knight, that he go with him to tourneys and battles; but it is necessary
that he beholds the school of the order of knighthood."
In the SCA, squires are taken by knights in a variety of roles: teacher/student,
friend/friend, father/son. Each relationship is different, but the essence
of each is generally a trade of teaching and guidance on one and for service
on the other. For a more extensive essay see THE
BOOK OF THE TOURNAMENT.
Star, Order of the: The original Company of the Star, founded in
France during the reign of John le Bon, (John the Good), was intended to
bring the French chivalry,
increasingly fragmented, back together under the Crown,
much in the same manner has John’s archival, Edward III, had done with
the Order
of the Garter in 1347. Originally 500 knights
were admitted into the Company; by their charter John was their president,
they would meet at the Noble Maison once per year for a grand feast at
which they would exchange their deeds of the past year, and that members
of the order would be taken care of with a pension from the Company when
they were too old to maintain their estates. Unfortunately, their charter
also dictated that they would never flee more than 100 arpents from any
battle, a declaration which resulted in the death of most of the Star companions
at the Battle of Mauron (13xx), the rest were slain at the Battle
of Poitiers in 1356.