Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village: Piers–Giles

by Laura Amy Schlitz
Through vivid verse monologues, Laura Amy Schlitz brings the diverse inhabitants of a medieval English village to life.

Here are links to our lists for the collection: Hugo–Constance, Mogg–Edgar, Isobel–Pask, Piers–Giles
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. slothful
    disinclined to work or exertion
    For the rest of the week, I was peevish and slothful.
  2. soliloquize
    talk to oneself
    From this point on, the girls are soliloquizing—telling their secrets to the audience.
  3. tyrannical
    characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule
    How can our father be so tyrannical?
  4. awry
    turned or twisted to one side
    His hair is uncombed, and his clothes are awry.
  5. conscience
    motivation deriving from ethical or moral principles
    Sometimes when I watch him, I’m aware of a kind of a tug at my conscience.
  6. befriend
    become friends with
    What if I befriended him?
  7. churlish
    having a bad disposition; surly
    What maid wouldn’t dread a marriage with one who’s so churlish and rough?
  8. submit
    yield to the control of another
    Why must we submit like lambs to the slaughter?
  9. leprosy
    communicable disease characterized by wasting of body parts
    I’d rather have plague, I’d rather have leprosy, I would rather be dead than wed Piers.
  10. scurvy
    a condition caused by deficiency of ascorbic acid
    First my uncle died of the scurvy and we got his pigs.
  11. wharf
    a platform from the shore that provides access to ships
    I put out my tongue, and by Saint Peter, he pushed me right off the wharf into the water.
  12. grovel
    show submission or fear
    I grovel for mercy—sometimes I manage real tears.
  13. morsel
    a small amount of solid food; a mouthful
    Not even a morsel?
  14. prodigious
    very impressive; far beyond what is usual
    And so I am left to my wits, which in fact are prodigiously keen and surpassingly wise
  15. alms
    money or goods contributed to the poor
    I enter a town, with my crutch and my cry: “Food for the famished! Alms for the poor!”
  16. peddler
    someone who travels about selling wares
    My father, the peddler, the dealer in relics: “Ten pence for a thread from Saint Margaret’s veil!"
  17. authentic
    not counterfeit or copied
    He opens the flask, anoints me, while I seem to faint, with the authentic holy water used on the feet of the holy saint.
  18. gawk
    look with amazement
    (Now see how the peasants step forward and gawk.)
  19. pantomime
    a performance using gestures and movements without words
    My pantomime’s done once the money is paid.
  20. guild
    a formal association of people with similar interests
    Since many guilds were closed to women, these women were taught by their husbands or fathers.
  21. miserly
    characterized by or indicative of lack of generosity
    Though a farthing is only one quarter of a cent, Hugo is not being miserly.
  22. serenade
    sing and play for somebody
    Medieval shepherds used bagpipes to serenade their flocks.
  23. console
    give moral or emotional strength to
    A farmer consoled a dying sheep by playing her guitar and singing through the night.
  24. sterile
    free of pathological microorganisms
    An egg white makes a good dressing because it’s relatively sterile.
  25. quotidian
    found in the ordinary course of events
    The five kinds of fever were hectic, pestilential, daily or quotidian, tertian, and quatrain.
  26. entitled
    qualified for by right according to law
    Villeins were bound by law to grind their grain at the lord’s mill. The lord was entitled to a share of their grain or a small sum of money for the grinding.
  27. pagan
    a person following a polytheistic or pre-Christian religion
    In pagan times it was a celebration of the harvest.
  28. scoundrel
    someone who does evil deliberately
    Varlet has come to mean a scoundrel, but in the Middle Ages it referred to a man who looked after animals.
  29. banish
    drive away
    Since clean clothes and frequent washing are necessary to banish these pests, it’s likely that Maud has them, too.
  30. macabre
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    The logic of this is macabre, but not unique.
Created on Thu Feb 06 20:40:04 EST 2014 (updated Thu Aug 16 14:28:44 EDT 2018)

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