The Nameless Day by Sara Douglass

HOTSPUR: see PERCY, HENRY.

HOURS OF THE DAY: although clock time was slowly spreading by the end of the fourteenth century (clock time used an evenly divided twenty-four-hour day), most people within hearing of church or monastic bells orientated themselves within the day by the canonical hours. The Church divided the day into seven hours, according to the seven hours of prayer:

• The day began with Matins, usually an hour or two before dawn.

• The second of the hours was Prime—daybreak.

• The third hour was Terce, set at about 9 A.M.

• The fourth hour was Sext at midmorning (originally midday).

• The fifth hour was Nones, set at about three in the afternoon, but, in the thirteenth century, moved closer to midday.

• The sixth hour was Vespers, normally early evening.

• The seventh hour was Compline, bedtime.

These hours were irregular both within the day and within the year, because the hours orientated themselves around the rising and setting of the sun. Thus the hours contracted and expanded according to the season.

HUNDRED YEARS WAR: a period of intense war between France and England that lasted from roughly the mid-fourteenth to mid-fifteenth century. It was caused by many factors, but primarily by EDWARD III’s insistence that he was the true heir to the French throne. The English and French royal families had intermarried for generations, and Edward was, in fact, the closest male heir. However, his claim was through his mother, who was the daughter of a French king, and Salic law did not recognize claims through the female line. The war was also the result of hundreds of years of tension over the amount of land the English held in France (often over a third of the realm).

ISABEAU DE BAVIÈRE: wife of Prince LOUIS of France, mother of CHARLES

and CATHERINE.

JOAN OF KENT: wife of the BLACK PRINCE, and a famed beauty in her youth.

JOHN, KING: elderly King of France.

JOHN OF GAUNT, duke of lancaster and aquitaine, Earl of Richmond, King of Castile, and prince of the Plantagenet dynasty: fourth son of EDWARD III (Edward Plan-tagenet) and his queen, PHILIPPA, John of Gaunt was the most powerful and

wealthy English nobleman of the medieval period. The name Gaunt (his popular nickname) derives from Ghent, where he was born. Married first to Blanche of Lancaster, then to Constance of Castile; both dead. By Blanche he had a son, HENRY (HAL) BOLINGBROKE, by Constance two daughters (who became the queens of Castile and Portugal), and by his longtime mistress, KATHERINE

SWYNFORD, two illegitimate children, HENRY and JOAN BEAUFORT.

KARLE, WILLIAM: a Parisian merchant.

LA ROCHELLE: one of the ports on the coast of France, held by the English for many years.

LANCASTER, duke of: see john of gaunt.

LEONINE CITY: the walled papal city on Vatican Hill across the western bank of the Tiber from Rome containing ST. PETER’S BASILICA, papal apartments and sundry papal administrative buildings. Now known as the Vatican City.

LESCOLOPIER, SIR HUGH: a French nobleman.

LONDON BRIDGE: for centuries there was only one bridge crossing the Thames.

It crossed from Southwark on the southern bank into London itself, linking up with Wading Street, one of the great Roman roads in England. As with most bridges in medieval Europe, it was built over with tenement buildings and shops.

LOUIS: only son of King JOHN of France. Louis suffered an unfortunate encounter with a peacock which drove him insane, and now his son, CHARLES, is heir to King JOHN.

LUDGATE: a building set into the west wall of London which serves as both a gate and a jail.

MARCEL, etienne: a rich and influential Parisian cloth merchant and Provost of the Merchants of Paris, an office somewhat like that of a Lord Mayor.

MARCOALDI, GlULIO: a Florentine banker.

NAVARRE: a rich kingdom in the extreme northwest of Spain, it has been in the control of French nobles and kings for generations. Until the early fourteenth century the King of France had also held the title King of Navarre, but a complicated succession crisis witnessed the separation of the two kingdoms into separate branches of the same family. Currently ruled by PHILIP, known as Philip the Bad.

NEVILLE, RALPH, BARON OF RABY: a powerful baron from the north of England.

NEVILLE, THOMAS: a Dominican friar.

NOYES, SIR GlLLES de: a French nobleman.

ODILE: a peasant wife from ASTERLADEN, married to Conrad, and mother of Wolfram.

PERCY, HENRY (HOTSPUR): son and heir of the Earl of Northumberland, and a powerful nobleman in his own right.

PERIGORD, CARDINAL: a French cardinal.

PEYTRAL: plate armor covering a horse’s chest. See also ARMOR.

PHILIP THE BAD: King of Navarre and Count of Evreux, cousin to King JOHN

and a powerful figure in French politics. As well as ruling Navarre, Philip holds extensive lands in the west of France.

PHILIPPA, QUEEN OF ENGLAND: wife to EDWARD III, who died some years before the events in this book.

POITIERS: a town in central France, and site of one of the BLACK PRINCE’s greatest victories during the HUNDRED YEARS WAR.

RABY BARON, BARON, RALPH NEVILLE: see neville, ralph.

RAINARD: peasant of the village of ASTERLADEN, husband to AUDE.

RAYMOND: a Parisian carpenter, husband to GISETTE.

RICHARD, PRINCE: only son of the BLACK PRINCE and his wife, JOAN OF

KENT.

RIVERS, SIR EGDON: father-in-law of MARGARET RIVERS.

RIVERS, LADY JACQUETTA: wife of sir EGDON.

RIVERS, MARGARET, LADY: widow of Lord Roger Rivers.

ST. ANGELO’s FRIARY: a friary in Rome. It is located just across the Tiber River from the CASTEL ST. ANGELO, from which it takes its name. Its current prior is BERTRAND.

ST. PETER: first among the apostles, and founder of the Christian Church in Rome, where he was martyred about 67 AD by the Emperor Nero in the “field of blood,” Caligula’s Circus. He was crucified upside down by his own request.

ST. PETER’S BASILICA: the great church built on Vatican Hill over ST.

PETER’s supposed grave in an ancient Roman cemetery. The great Basilica was first built by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century and remained, with various alterations and additions, until it was demolished during the period of great reconstruction begun during the fifteenth century. THOMAS NEVILLE worshipped in Constantine’s basilica, while the Basilica now standing is the result of rebuilding during the late Renaissance and early modern periods.

SAVOY PALACE: the duke of Lncaster’s residence on the strand just outside London’s western walls.

SAXBYE: a small village in the very north of medieval Lincolnshire.

SHAFFRON: plate armor covering a horse’s head. See also ARMOR.

SHERIFF hutton: Baron RALPH RABY’s main castle and residence some ten miles northeast of York.

SMITHFIELD (OR SMOOTHFIELD): a large open space or field in London’s northern suburbs, just beyond Aldersgate. For many centuries it was the site of games, tournaments, and trading, craft and pleasure fairs.

STRAND, THE: an important street running from London along the northern bank of the Thames down to WESTMINSTER, lined by palaces of the nobles.

SWYNFORD, KATHERINE, LADY: mistress to john of gaunt, duke of lancaster. Her husband, now dead, was Sir Hugh de Swynford, a member of the retinue of JOHN OF GAUNT. Katherine is sister-in-law to GEOFFREY

CHAUCER. By JOHN OF GAUNT she has two children, HENRY and JOAN

BEAUFORT.

THORSEBY, RICHARD: the Prior General of England, administering all Dominicans and their friaries in the realm of England.

TONSURE: a round, shaved patch on the crown of a cleric’s head.

TYLER, WAT: an English soldier.

URBAN VI: the man elected by the College of Cardinals to the papal throne after the death of GREGORY XI in 1378.

WESTMINSTER: in medieval England Westminster was an important municipality in its own right, separate from London, although intricately linked to it. Most of medieval Westminster was destroyed by fire in the early nineteenth century, but it consisted of a large palace complex boasting three halls (only one of which still stands) as well the abbey.

WOODSTOCK, THOMAS OF: Earl of Buckingham and Duke of Gloucester, seventh and youngest son of EDWARD III of England. Constable of England, married to ELEANOR OF GLOUCESTER.

WORDE, WYNKYN DE: a mysterious friar from ST. ANGELO’s FRIARY.

WYCLIFFE, JOHN: an eccentric English cleric and master of Balliol College, Oxford.

A JIGGE (FOR MARGRETT)

“Margrett, my sweetest Margrett! I must goe!

most dere to mee that neuer may be soo;

as Fortune willes, I cannott itt deny.”

“then know thy loue, thy Margrett, shee must dye,”

“Not for the gold that euer Croesus hadd,

wold I once see they sweetest lookes soe fade;

nor for all that my eyes did euer see,

wold I once part thy sweetest loue from mee;

The King comands, and I must to the warres.”

“thers others more enow to end those cares.”

“but I am one appointed for to goe,

And I dare not for my liffe once say noe.”

“O marry mee and you may stay att home!

Full 30 wekes you know that I am gone.”