Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Local History Read Free Page B

proved ineffectual. See outlawry.
    alienation, right to . The right to transfer the ownership of property to another. As the crown was the supreme owner of land, tenants-in-chief (see in capite ) were required to seek permission for such alienations to ensure that the crown was not defrauded of the feudal incidents . Failure to do so incurred alienation fines. See mortmain.
    allocate, writ of . A writ issued out of chancery to the treasurer and barons of the exchequer requiring them to give an allowance to an individual accounting there in respect of money spent by him on the king’s behalf. (Connolly, Medieval record , p. 16.)
    allodial tenure . Absolute ownership of land. Under the feudal doctrine of tenures absolute personal ownership of land did not exist. Nulle terre sans seigneur (no land without a master) expresses the point that no land was held by a subject and not held of some lord. All land was held of the crown and escheated (reverted) to the crown in cases of attainder or felony or where no heir emerged to lay claim to it. In modern times such land reverts to the state in the Republic of Ireland. See estate.
    alnager . An official examiner and attestor of the measurement and quality of woollen cloth. He attested its value by affixing a seal. The term ‘alnage’ refers to the inspection and the fee paid for it.
    altarages . Originally voluntary offerings made upon the altar but the term came to embrace a whole range of ecclesiastical dues which went to make up a clergyman’s income including the small tithe , tithe of fish in coastal parishes and oblations or offerings for specific church services or feastday dues. They did not, however, include the great tithe. See dues.
    alum . A compound of aluminum used anciently to bind dyes in cloth.
    amanuensis . 1: A secretary 2: A person employed to take dictation or copy manuscripts.
    ambry . A recess in a church wall to the side of the altar where the sacramental vessels were stored.
    amercement . The equivalent of the modern fine, imposed for breaches of the law or manorial customs. A fine differed from an amercement in that fines were imposed by the courts, amercements were assessed by a jury of the offender’s peers.
    amice . 1: A piece of white linen, oblong in shape and embroidered with a cross, worn around the neck and over the shoulders by a priest at mass. It was worn under the alb 2: A hood edged with fur with attached cape which was worn anciently by clergymen. Calabar, the fur of a brown squirrel, was often employed as edging.
    Anabaptist . A radical sixteenth-century Protestant movement which regarded infant baptism as blasphemous. Infants, they maintained, could not discriminate between good and evil and until this faculty emerged they could not repent and accept baptism. As the first generation of Anabaptists considered their childhood baptisms invalid, they submitted to a ‘second’ adult baptism following a public confession of sin and faith. This was an offence according to contemporary legal codes and Anabaptists were persecuted and expelled from many towns across Europe. Anabaptists believed in the separation of church and state, opposed oath-taking, denounced the use of the sword, believed they were living at the end of all ages and some adopted a communistic style of living which stressed the community of goods. Most early Anabaptist leaders died in prison or were executed. In Britain and Ireland in the seventeenth century the term was used loosely (and pejoratively) to describe Baptists or dissenters and to portray them as social revolutionaries.
    anchorite . A hermit.
    Ancient Order of Hibernians . A Catholic, nationalist association founded in New York in 1836 with origins in the secret agrarian movements of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Hibernians’ motto ‘Faith and Fatherland’ reflected its twin goals – to defend the faith and advance the national cause. The order developed