This week it’s all about words and phrases found in genealogy, family and house history research beginning with the letter B.
BAG – measure , particularly of hops, usually 2 & 1/2 cwt
BAGNIO KEEPER – a lesser known term for a brother keeper
BAILLIVUS/BALLICUS – Bailiff, official
BAL MAIDEN – a female mine worker
BANCUS REGIS/REGIUS – (Court of ) King’s Bench
BARKMAN – a worker who tanned leather using tree bark
BARQUE – a type of ship with three or more masts
BASTLE – a type of fortified farmhouse (esp. associate with Anglo-Scottish border regions in the C17th)
BATT MAKER – Maker of wool wadding used in mattresses
BAWDY COURTS – Ecclesiastical courts which heard cases relating to church administration, moral issues such as failure to attend church, probate, defamation, drunkeness, divorce for example
BAWKS – a hay loft
BEADLE – a minor town or lay church official with the power of punishing petty offenders
BENE – well, rightly, truly
BENFICIUM – Ecclesiastical benefice, living; feudal estate
BENEFICE – A church appointment or ecclesiastical living usually from property and income for carrying out church duties
BESTIA – farm animal; beast of the chase
BIDENS – sheep, ewe (strictly a two year old)
BIGA – a cart
BISHOPS TRANSCRIPTS – contemporoary copies of parish registers of baptism, marriage and burials sent annually the the archbishop from 1598 to the 1870’s although became less common after 1837
BLADUM – corn, cornfield
BOATSWAIN/BO’SUN – Ship’s officer in charge of rigging and sails
BOCCUS/BOSCUM/BOSCUS – wood; woodland
BONA – goods; revenue; income
BONA NOTABILIA – Notable goods (particulalry found in probate records)
BOOTCATCHER – a person at an inn who pulls off the boots of passengers
BORDA – a board; a cottage
BORDAR – villager holding less land than a villein
BOREALIS/BORIALIS – Northern
BOREAS – the north
BOS/BOVIS – ox, bull
BOTCHET – liquor made from honey and mead
BOTE – common right of taking timber from waste land of the manor for repair or maintenance
BOWHAWLER – a man who manually draws barges or small vessels along rivers or canals
BOWKER – a bleacher of yarn
BOWYER – a maker of bows
BRASEUM/BRASIUM – Malt
BRASARIUS – Maltster
BREVE – a writ
BRODE CHAMBER -broad chamber, probably the main living and dining room of a house
BROILING IRON – support for a cooking pot, like a gridiron
BURGAGIUM – land held by burgage-tenure ; burgage tenure ot payment
BURGUS – borough, town
BURLEYMAN – an office appointed to the manor for various local duties
BURRIARIUS – dairyman
BUSHEL – measure of capacity of about eight gallons (subject to regional variations)
BUSSELLUS – bushel (measure)
BUT AND BEN – a small two-roomed dwelling; the BUT was the kitchen or outer room, the BEN was the parlour or inner room
BUTT – a measure of liquid (usually wine or ale) equivalent to approximately 126 imperial gallons
BUTTERIS – a room where ale was brewed and kept; a cool storeroom for provisions and tableware
I would love to hear what obscure words and phrases you have found in your research – sarah@spfhhistory.co.uk