Glossary

 The Yeomen of the Guard

an hundred crowns - about £25 - more than a laborer might earn in a year

a tail of cock and bull - an extravagant tale presented as if true

a thousand marks - about £666 (more than 6 years' salary for the well-paid Lieutenant!)

an arquebus - early portable firearm. During the early to mid 15th century appeared a simple matchlock device called a serpentine which was essentially a "S" shaped piece of metal with a central pivot attached to the side of the gun. By pulling on the bottom half of the pivot you lowered the upper half which held a burning slow match (hemp or cotton rope soaked in saltpetre) into a flash pan containing a priming charge to fire the gun. The firearm that utilized this device was known as the arquebus.

Beauchamp Tower - (pronounced "beecham") - Henry III  and his son, Edward I, are to be attributed to the creation of the Beauchamp Tower. Henry III is responsible for many of the towers and structures in the Tower of London, with eight wall towers built during the latter part of his reign. It was during Edward's reconstruction of the western section that he replaced a twin-towered gatehouse built by Henry with the Beauchamp Tower around 1275-81.

buy an electuary for her - a medicinal preparation made with sugar and honey

Cold Harbor Tower - no longer standing

consider each person's auricular - sense of hearing

consumed with a parlous jealousy - extremely bad

Courting privity , down declivity, seeks captivity - perhaps Gilbert dredged this word up from his legal background; it means a legal connection or interest (here, marriage)

give us quip and quiddity - witty remark and trifling point

gyves that no smith can weld - leg-irons, fetters, or hand-cuffs

halbert or halberd - a 15th or 16th century weapon - a battle axe mounted on a long staff. This is not actually the weapon used by the Tower Warders which was a partisan, a pike with an 18 inch long blade.

The partisan

The partisan is closely related to the spear. Like a good deal of other pikes it origins from Italy where it was recorded in use already in the 13th century. During the 15th century it gained a longer tip with 'wings'. In this form it was used for parades only. The partisan was never the common man's weapon. They spread to Central Europe at the beginning of the 16th century, and the partisan became a sign of rank for infantry officers. The tip gradually shortened and broadened, and the wings became heavily decorated.

The shafted axe and the halberd

In the Germanic lands, an attempt was made early to unite spear and axe into one weapon efficient for thrusting and slashing both. In the Viking Age, a long-shafted axe was in use on which spear-tip like blades had been mounted. In the 13th century, the poleaxes became more common. This new weapon had a shaft as tall as a man with a needle-like thrusting blade, and a heavy straight-edged axehead which ended in a hammerlike shape.

The gothic axe which was popular in France and England, was replaced at the end of the 13th century by the halberd (German: Helmbarte, shafted axe). This weapon comprised an axe blade in the same place where the thrusting piece was. The halberd was mostly used by the Swiss, and in the battle of Morgarten (1315), the footmen managed to stand against the feudal knights. The swisss used their halberds to cut the legs of the horses away under them, and cut through the plate armor like a razor through butter. The halberd soon became popular as an infantry weapon, and was further developed as the axehead gained a strong barb. Hence, the halberd was axe, spear and battlehammer combined, and could be used for slashing and thrusting and to dismount an enemy knight.

He who'd make his fellow creatures wise should always gild the philosophic pill - same sentiment as "a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down"

his twig he'll so carefully lime - refers to a method of catching birds by smearing twigs with a sticky substance (bird-lime)

I was born in the old keep - the strong, innermost structure in a fort or castle

I'll cleave thee to the chine - backbone; he means he'll split his head, down to the body

Is life a boon? ... I have a boon to beg - a favor

is not the world a big butt of humor, into which all who will may drive a gimlet - a butt is a barrel; a gimlet is a tool to bore holes

kissing, clinging cockatrice - mythical serpent with a deadly glance

like some of my jests, out of place - second meaning is "unemployed"

love-lorn loon - man of low birth

Ods bodikins ... Ods Bobs - two versions of an oath meaning, literally, "Gods little body"

Old Blunderbore - the giant in the fairy story "Jack and the Giant Killer" who grinds men's bones to make his bread

or I'll swallow my kirtle - woman's gown, shirt, or outer petticoat

peacock popinjay , bravely born - an overly proud person

solemn D.D. - Doctor of Divinity

standard lost in last campaign - battle flag or banner

sweets that never cloy - become sickeningly sweet

that none may gainsay - contradict

The consequences fell no mortal can foretell - dire, evil

The Little Ease - a Tower dungeon cell wherein one could not stand or lie in comfort (a cube about 4 feet per side)

the screw may twist and the rack may turn - refers to tortures

'tis but mickle sister reaps - old Scottish word, here meaning "little"

Tower Green - A grassy space within the Tower, site of special executions

Tower of London - or simply, The Tower 

refers to the complex of about 20 towers covering 18 acres, a fortress which in its history has housed the Royal Court, a prison, a menagerie, the Royal Mint and the Crown Jewels.

Were as a carrion 's cry to lullaby such as I'd sing to thee - short for carrion crow

When love's votary seeks the notary - devotee or worshiper

Yeomen of the Guard (Tower Warders) - Gilbert is guilty of some inaccuracies when he used these terms interchangeably, The Yeomen of the Guard were established by Henry VII in 1485 to serve as the Sovereign's personal bodyguard. The Yeomen Warders were set up in 1548 as guards (and now also serve as tour guides) of the tower. Popularly known as "Beefeaters," they are selected from non-commissioned officers and warrant officers on the basis of merit.