Abracadabra is a qabbalistic magic word used by the Gnostics and others of the second century and later as a spell to secure the assistance of good spirits against evil. It was written in the shape of a triangle and worn around the neck for nine days to act as a charm against fevers etc. The word first occurs in a poem by Sammonicus. Research Abracadabra
Accolade is the ceremony by which knighthood is conferred. Originally it was an embrace around the neck, today is a gentle blow on the shoulders with the flat of a sword. An accolade is given by a Sovereign or his representative. Research Accolade
Auto da fe (Act of Faith) was the ritual execution of heretics by the Inquisition after a confession had been extracted. The ceremony always took place on a Sunday, but not at regular intervals, maybe once every two, three or four years. The victims were walked in procession wearing the sanbenito, the coroza, the rope around the neck, and carrying a yellow waxcandle in their hand. The sanbenito was a penitential tunic of yellow cloth reaching to the knees and painted on it was a picture of the person who wore it, burning in flames with figures of dragons and devils in the act of fanning the flames. The costume indicated to the watching crowds the wearer was to be burned alive as an incorrigible heretic. If the person was only to do penance, then the sanbenito had on it a cross, and no painting or flames. If the victim was converted just before being led out, then the sanbenito was painted with the flames downward (known as fuego resuelto) and indicated that the wearer was not to be burned alive, but to be first strangled before burning.
At one time the sanbenito were hung up in the churches as monuments to the Inquisition. The coroza was a pasteboard cap, one metre high, ending in a point. On it were likewise painted crosses, flames and devils. Gags were kept on hand in case a victim insulted the tribunal or revealed what had occurred to them as they were led along to the place of execution where a large scaffold was erected.
The stake where the victim was to be burned varied in form, and was either a simple stake mounted in the ground, or was about three metres tall, with a small board near the top where the victim sat and was chained to the stake. Following prayers and attempts to convert the victim to the Roman Catholic faith, burning furzes were thrust into the face until the victim's face was burned before furzes around the base of the stake were ignited and the victim burned to death.
Victims were burned, because the inquisitors were forbidden to 'shed blood', the Roman Catholic church maintaining the line that it is untainted with blood. Research Auto da Fe
The bernicles was a method of tortuous execution in which the victim was strapped by the neck to a mattress and had his legs slowly crushed by a pile of logs, on the top one of which sat the executioner. The process continuing until the victim died of the process. Research Bernicles
A cang was a Chinese instrument for the punishment of trifling offences. It was a kind of wooden cage fitting closely around the neck, with the weight proportioned to the nature of the offence, but so constructed that the culprit couldn't lie down nor feed himself. The cang was not removed during the period of punishment which lasted two or three months. Inscribed on the cang was the nature of the offence and the name of the criminal who was generally left exposed at the city gates. Research Cang
Chivalry is a term which indicates strictly the organization of knighthood as it existed in the middle agea, and in a general sense the spirit and aims which distinguished the knights of those times. The chief characteristics of the chivalric ages were a warlike spirit, a lofty devotion to the female sex, a love of adventure, and an undefinable thirst for glory. The Crusades gave for a time a religious turn to the spirit of chivalry, and various religious orders of knighthoodarose, such as the Knights of St John, the Templars, the Teutonic Knights, etc.
The education of a knight in the days of chivalry was as follows: In his twelfth year he was sent to the court of some baron or noble knight, where he spent his time chiefly in attending on the ladies, and acquiring skill in the use of arms, in riding, etc. When advancing age and experience in the use of arms had qualified the page for war, he became an esquire, or squire. This word is from the Latinscutum, a shield, it being among other offices the squire's business to carry the shield of the knight whom he served. The third and highest rank of chivalry was that of knighthood, which was not conferred before the twenty-first year, except in the case of distinguished birth or great achievements. The individual prepared himself by confessing, fasting, etc; religious rites were performed; and then, after promising to be faithful, to protect ladies and orphans, never to lie nor utter slander, to live in harmony with his equals, etc, he received the accolade, a slight blow on the neck with the flat of the sword from the person who dubbed him a knight. This was often done on the eve of battle, to stimulate the new knight to deeds of valour; or after the combat, to reward signal bravery.
The rules of chivalry only applied to the nobility. While knights on the battle field and in combat enjoyed rules of engagement and a degree of mutual respect - with the notable exception of the Battle of Agincourt where the captured French knights were murdered at the order of king Henry V - peasants, or the ordinary common folk, were slaughtered and raped by knights as though they were not human at all, and certainly not treated in a chivalrous fashion. Research Chivalry
A diota was a Roman vessel used for water or wine. It had a narrow neck, a full body, and two handles. The form and sized varied, but it was generally made tall and narrow, and terminating in a point which could be put in a stand or into the ground to keep the vessel upright. Several were found in the cellars of Pompeii standing upright in the ground. Research Diota
Garrote is a mode of capital punishment opriginally popular in Spain. It is a form of strangulation, the victim being placed on a stool with a post or stake behind, to which is affixed an iron collar with a screw; this collar is made to clasp the neck of the criminal, and drawn tighter by means of the screw until life becomes extinct. This word, with the French spelling and pronunciation garrotte, has become naturalized in Great Britain as a term for a species of robbery effected by throttling the victim and stripping him while insensible. Research Garrote
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Abracadabra
