Abacus: The flat slab of stone at the top of a column forming the top of a capital and supporting the arch or wall above it

Abbess: (f.) Person in charge of an Abbey

Abbey: A monastic community. Abbeys belonged to particular orders, such as the Cistercians (More...)

Abbot: (m.) Person in charge of an Abbey

Abutment: The section of wall to the side of the curving part of the arch erected to counter the thrust of the arch

Accosted: When heraldic changes are side by side

Accrued: In heraldry a tree that is fully grown

Achievement: A combination of shield, helmet, crest etc.

Adorsed: When animals and other changes are positioned on a shield back to back (also endorsed, indorsed)

Affronty: When a charge is shown facing the front. E.g. a lion full-faced (affrontée)

Ailettes: Small square metal plates or shields attached to the shoulders to protect against sword blows

Aislé: With wings

Aisle: The passages to each side of the nave, separated from the nave by screens or columns

Alien Priory: A priory that was directly dependant on a foreign mother house, usually in France. Disbanded in 1414 due to the security risk they posed.

Almayne Rivets: The style of armour where sections are fastened with rivets that are allowed to slide giving more freedom of movement

Almery: or Ambry or Aumbry. A box or cupboard for alms, or a cupboard in the chancel for sacred vessels

Almonry: The office of the Almoner where alms were distributed

Almoner: Monk in charge of a monastery's almsgiving and other charitable work

Altar: Flat topped wooden or stone table containing the cross. Usually at the east end of the church (More...)

Alure: The path along the top of a parapet at the top of a wall

Ambulant: Heraldic term for walking

Ambulatory: The processional aisle around the apse at the east end of a church

Amercement: A medieval fine

Ampoule: Vessel containing the sacred oil to anoint the kings of France at the cathedral at Rheims

Anelace: A short sword with a broad blade used by both ordinary people and military

Anglo-Saxon: English architectural style C10-11, followed by NORMAN

Angle: The corner of a building, inner or outer

Angon: A six foot long spear for throwing. Used by Anglo-Saxons

Annulet: A ring around a circular pier or shaft. A circle on a shield used in heraldry

Antipope: Someone elected in opposition to the current Pope. Not recognised by the Vatican City.

Apex: The highest point of an architectural feature. A pryramid shape is common

Appanage: Part of the royal domain granted to a younger son by the king for his upkeep

Apse: A semicircular projection usually found at the east end of a church

Apsidal: Ending in a semi-circle

Arbalestier: A crossbow man

Arcade: A row of arches and columns dividing two places

Arcading: A row of blind arches in a wall, such that the arches are filled in and lead nowhere

Arch: A pointed or curved construction of wedge shaped stones. See Voussoir

Architect: A person competent to design buildings and to supervise their construction

Architrave: The ornamental moulding running around the curve of an arch, a door or window

Archivolt: A moulding carried around an arch

Argent: A colour used in heraldry representing the metal silver (More...)

Armature: Metal framework in large untraceried window used to support the stained glass

Arming Points: Strips of leather used to tie sections of armour together

Arrow-slit: A long narrow opening to shoot arrows through. Some are cross-shaped for crossbows

Ashlar: Hewn and squared stone ready for construction purposes

Atrium: Covered row of columns in front of the door of a church

Aumbry: A recess or cupboard used usually for sacred objects

Aventail: Section of a helmet covering the lower face and neck for protection

Axe: Common medieval weapon with large blade fixed at ninety degrees to the handle

Azure: A blue colour used in heraldry (More...)

Backplate: Section of armour covering the back from neck to waist. Part of the cuirass

Badelaire: A cutlass or short sword

Bailey: The open area in a castle between the keep and the curtain wall. This area can have working and domestic buildings in it

Bailli: Royal officer set over the bailliage, entrustrusted with the administration of justice

Baldric: A belt worn around the neck an to the hip from which the sword was hung

Ballflower: Ornament in the shape of a flower with a ball surrounded by petals

Ballista: War engine used for throwing large arrows

Balustrade: A row of balusters which are vertical members that support the handrail of a staircase

Baptistry: Area of the church reserved for the administration of the sacrament of baptism.

Bar hole: Horizontal hole to hold a timber bar used for securing a door

Barbican: Outer defences of a castle where attackers would be vulnerable. Normally a double tower over a bridge or gate

Bardings: Armour for horses, covering neck and breast

Barmkin: Scottish term for a fortified castle courtyard. Similar to a barbican

Baron: A feudal lord given lands and title from another lord or king

Baronial: In terms of architecture typically Scottish and elaborate in nature

Barrel-vault: A tunnel-like semi-circular vault

Barrow: Burial mound built over stone graves

Barry: or Barruly, where shield is divided into an even number of horizontal bars. The number is normally specified.

Barry-bendy: Shield area divided both barry and bendy.

Bartizan: A watch-tower or turret jutting out from the top of a castle (bartisan)

Base: The lowest part of a shield

Base course: The lowest course of masonry of a wall or pier

Baselard: A short sword or knife used in close combat

Basinet: A conically shaped helmet with open front. An aventail was added for face and neck protection

Bastion: A solid tower at the end or middle of a curtain wall

Bastle: Two-story rectangular building where the lower floor is used to house animals and the upper floor for living quarters

Batter: The inside face of a wall

Battlemented: Describes the top of of a wall where there are rows of rectangular teeth. This is also known as crenellated or embattled

Bay: A compartment into which a building is divided. Bays are marked by buttresses, pilasters in the walls, by the position of the main ribs of the vaulting of the interior, etc.

Beading: Small circular objects in a row

Belfry: A bell-tower or campanile

Bend: One of the main ordinaries. A diagonal band from dexter chief to sinister base (More...)

Bendy: When a shield is divided diagonally by bands of lines. Number of lines normally specified.

Benedictine: Order of monks founded by St. Benedict. Followed the Benedictine Rule

Berm: Strip of ground between the outer curtain wall and the moat

Billet Moulding: Norman ornamental moulding with cylindrical blocks

Black Death: Bubonic plague thought to be spread by rats or a virus that took many lives across Europe

Blank arcading: See arcading

Blazon: The name given to the description of a heraldic design (More...)

Blind arcading: See arcading

Bordure: A heraldic shape forming a border around the edge of a shield (More...)

Boss: An ornamental projection in ribbed vaults used to hide the joins

Bourdonasse: A lance for jousting that breaks easily on contact to prevent injuries

Bourg: Early Medieval New Town

Brassarts: Armour for protecting the upper arm from elbow to shoulder

Brattice: A wooden tower or a projecting wooden gallery at the top of a wall

Breastplate: Armour to protect the chest. Part of the cuirass

Bressumer: A beam used as a support for a projection

Breteche: Hoardings: Wooden boards fitted to top of wall used as extra protection for defenders

Broach: an old English term for a spire, or to denote a spire that springs from a tower without an intermediate parapet

Bull: Authoritative papal letter sealed with the Pope's lead seal

Burh: A fortified area used by the Saxons (or burgh)

Buttress: The projection of stonework at the side or corners of a building to provide strength against the lateral forces

Byrnie: A long shirt of leather or chain mail finishing at the elbows and reaching down to the knees

Cable Moulding: A moulding in the form of a rope made from twisted strands

Calefactory: Warming house in a monastery

Camail: Chain mail armour covering the head and falling over the shoulders

Canons: The chapter members. The people running the cathedral

Cantilever: A projecting beam fixed at one end only

Canton: A small square in the dexter chief corner of a shield. Smaller than a quarter

Capital: The stone at the top of a column that supports the abacus and arch above it. The capital is usually carved

Caracute: Another name for a hide which is an area of land about 120 acres in size.

Cartouche: Oranmental tablet in the shape of a scroll of paper

Caryatid: A statue in female form used as a supporting pillar

Casemate: Bomb-proof vault in a curtain wall for cannons

Castellan: The governor of a castle or keep

Castellation: Another word for battlements. The defensive detail at the top of a wall or tower

Castle: Medieval fortification

Cathedral: The principal church of a diocese where the bishop has the throne

Causeway: A bank built across marshy ground with a path running along the top

Celestory: Windows or opening set high in a wall to illuminate the area below

Cell: A monastic dependency of a religious house

Ceorl: Anglo-Saxon free person ranked above a slave and below a thegn.

Chain mail: Flexible clothing made from interlinking rings of metal

Chamber: A room on an upper floor for living and sleeping

Chamberlain: Officer of the royal household responsible for running the household affairs

Chamfer: The surface created by cutting away the angle of a beam along its length.

Chancel: The east end of the church, sometimes divided into the sanctuary and presbytery. Anglo-Saxon and early Norman chancels were normally apsed and later chancels were square

Chancery: Medieval administrative office or writing office headed by the Chancellor

Chanfron: Armour for horses covering the face

Chapter: The group of canons, with the Dean, who are the governing body of a cathedral

Chapter House: The building where the canons and Dean met each day to hear a chapter of St Benedict's Rule read out and to conduct the business of the abbey

Chevet: East end of a church with an apse surrounded by other smaller ones

Chevron: A zigzag form of ornamentation used in the Norman period

Chevron: Angled shape on a shield used in heraldry (More...)

Chief: Horizontal stripe on upper third of a shield used in heraldry (More...)

Choir: The area of the church where the choristers and clergy sit

Cinque Ports: Ports on the south coast with special privileges. Originally five

Cinquefoil: A five-lobbed ornament

Cistercians: Order of monks, also know as the White Monks

Clearstory: The upper story or row of windows lighting the nave of the church

Cloister: The rectangular covered area around an open space (garth) of a monastery or cathedral surrounded by covered walkways used for study and meditation. A photograph of the cloister at Lincoln Cathedral

Cob: Walling material of straw and unbaked clay

Colours: In heraldry the main colours (tinctures) are azure (blue), gules (red), sable (black),vert (green) and purpure (purple) (More...)

Column: Circular shaft with base and capital, designed to support the weight above

Concentric: A concentric castle has a series of defences enclosing another

Constable: Person in charge of the defence of the castle.

Conversi: Also known as Lay Brothers. They perform manual tasks within an abbey or monastery rather than religious duties.

Corbel: A stone jutting from a wall designed to support a roof or floor beam

Corbel table: The horizontal section high on a wall of a church containing carved stone heads

Cottar: The poorest people in a medieval village.

Cove: Concave moulding at junction of ceiling and wall

Crenellation: Notched battlements at the top of a wall

Crinet: Armour for a horse to protect the neck area

Crocket: A small carved and decorated projection in the form of a flower

Crossbow: A weapon able to shoot arrows. Lot of varieties

Crossing: The point at which the roofs of the four cross-arms of the church met. Below the crossing is the choir

Crowstep: Step-shapes found at either side of the gable end of a building

Cruciform: Cross-shaped. A church with transepts has a cruciform plan

Crupper: Armour for a horse to protect the hind area

Crusade: Military expeditions to win back or hold on to the Holy Lands from the Muslims

Crypt: Vault or chamber under the church

Cuirass: Medieval armour covering the back (backplate) and chest (breastplate). Plain or ornately decorated

Curtain Wall: The wall around the bailey with a sentry-walk along its top

Cushion capital: Typical in Romanesque work, having a square top and rounded off lower section

Cyclas: A sleeveless tunic