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The Armstrong Clan Society Medieval Terms Defined
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Armstrong Clan Society - One Hundred Thousand Welcomes! |
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The Armstrong Clan Society has been organized to: 1) Seek friendship and unity among Armstrongs and associated families. 2) Provide for the preservation of Armstrong artifacts unique to the family and to maintain a library. 3) Serve as a genealogical and historical recorder of the membership, 4) Provide quarterly news, Armstrong history and genealogy via The Armstrong Chronicles, 5) Establish geographic membership representation.
Membership All Armstrongs, Croziers, Fairbairns, Groziers and Nixons, regardless of spelling, and their descendants, are eligible for full membership in The Society. All others interested in furthering the goals of The Society may become associate members. In the United States and Canada, dues are $25 per year, including two adults and all minor children. In all other countries dues are $35 per year, payable in US funds. You can click here to download a membership application. Any questions? Email Peter Armstrong at parmstrong2@sc.rr.com or mail to Peter A. Armstrong 128 Essex Dr Summerville, SC 29485
Lord Lyon, King of Arms, Recognizes an Honorable Company On September 24, 1984 the Lord Lyon, King of Arms granted warrant to the Lyon clerk to matriculate in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland in the name of Armstrong Clan Society, Inc. "acting world-wide and in particular within the United States of America" to further the interests of the Armstrong family. Matriculated in the 8th day of February 1985 in the 110th page of the 62nd volume of the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland.
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Medieval Terms Defined Compiled by Bill Armstrong, Webmaster Source: Winkipedia.com unless otherwise referenced Put to the Horn. To denounce as a rebel, or pronounce a person an outlaw, for not answering to a summons. In Scotland the messenger-at-arms goes to the Cross of Edinburgh and gives three blasts with a horn before he heralds the judgment of outlawry. “A king’s messenger must give three blasts with his horn, by which the person is understood to be proclaimed rebel to the king ....” Source:Erskine: Institutes, book ii. 5. Mere at Croce (Mercat Cross) is a market cross found in Scottish cities and towns where trade and commerce was a part of economic life. It was originally a place where merchants would gather, and later became the focal point of many town events such as executions, announcements and proclamations. To this day several important announcements and proclamations are still ceremonially made at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh, including the calling of general elections and the succession of new monarchs. Despite the name, the typical mercat cross is not actually cruciform - variations range from a short pole stuck in the ground to the grand pillar rising out of the "cross house" in Edinburgh. Scottish emigrants to countries such as Canada and especially Australia brought the mercat cross with them, and several cities in the new world have or used to have them in the town center. Gibbet: a term applied to several different
devices used in the capital punishment of criminals and/or the deterrence
of potential criminals. When used as a verb, gibbeting refers to the
public display of executed criminals. Gibbet usually refers to a
gallows-type structure from which the dead bodies of executed criminals
were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential
criminals. It can also be used as a verb, denoting the action of placing
criminals in gibbets. This practice is also called "hanging in
chains".
Gibbeting
was common
law punishment, which a judge could impose in addition to
execution. This practice was regularised by the Murder Act 1752, which empowered Judges to impose this for murder. It was
most often used for traitors, murderers, highwaymen and sheep-stealers, to discourage others. The
structures were therefore often placed adjacent to public highways. There
are many places named Gibbet Hill in England. One is between Coventry
and Kenilworth
in Warwickshire,
and others are found at Frome in Somerset, near Haslemere in Surrey, and Mary Tavy in Devon.
Gibbet Execution Equipment
Gallows: Gibbet is sometimes used to describe a gallows, a structure
used in the execution of criminals by hanging.
Guillotine: Gibbet is also the name used for an early form of the
guillotine, employed in Ireland, England and Scotland. The British Museum
has a drawing depicting the execution of one Murcod Ballagh in 1307 in
Ireland.
Halifax Gibbet employed in the West
Yorkshire town of Halifax, where decapitation
was the penalty for numerous offences, including the theft of cloth
(Halifax being a centre of wool cloth manufacture). The device was used
from the late 13th
century through to 1648.
The Halifax model of gibbet was also introduced in Scotland during the
minority reign of James VI (later King James I of Great Britain), where it was known as
the (Scottish) Maiden. James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton
introduced the maiden, and was later executed by the device, on 2 June
1581. Variants
In some cases, the bodies would be left until their clothes
rotted or even until the bodies were almost completely decomposed, after
which the bones would be scattered. So
that the public display might be prolonged, bodies were sometimes coated
in tar and/or bound, or hung, in
chains. Sometimes, body-shaped iron cages were used to contain the
decomposing corpses. Crucifixion as a form of punishment is a form
of gibbeting. Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered was the penalty
once ordained in England
for treason.
It is considered by many to be the epitome of "cruel" punishment, and was
reserved for the crime of treason, which was deemed more heinous than murder and other
capital
crimes. It was only applied to male criminals: women found
guilty of treason in England were burnt at the stake, a punishment which was
abolished in 1790. Details of Hanged, Drawn, and
Quartered - Very detailed - Discretion advised
Until
1870, the full punishment
for the crime was to be "hanged, drawn, and quartered" in
that the convict would be:
Typically, the resulting five parts (i.e., the four quarters of the body and
the head) were gibbeted
(put on public display) in different parts of the city or town to deter
would-be traitors. Gibbeting was abolished in England in 1843. There is confusion among modern historians about whether "drawing"
referred to the dragging to the place of execution or the disembowelling,
but since two different words are used in the official documents detailing
the trial of William
Wallace (as in Braveheart) ("detrahatur" for
drawing as a method of transport, and "devaletur" for
disembowelment), there is no doubt that the victims of this
extraordinarily cruel form of punishment were in fact disembowelled. Judges delivering sentence at the Old
Bailey also seemed to have had some confusion over the term
"drawn", and some sentences are summarized as "Drawn,
Hanged and Quartered". Nevertheless, the sentence was often recorded
quite explicitly. For example, the record of the trial of Thomas Wallcot,
John Rouse, William Hone and William Blake for offences against the king,
on 12 July,
1683 concludes as follows:
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