Posted: Tue 06 Sep, 2011 2:51 pm Post subject: Looking for English millitary titles in the 15th century!
Our small company of archers reenacting English Archers in the 15th century, is starting to grow a bit and we would like to organise us a bit more. For this I´m looking for names for NCO and officers used in the 15th century. I´ve heard of Ventenars and Centenars but not seen exactly what they stood for. Was Captain used?
Venti = 20 in Italian. Just like a starbucks largest coffee. Ventennale is something that occurs every twenty years.
Vintenar is the anglicised form.
Do not confuse with vintner (maker/seller of wine).
Captain dates back to the 1300's in english etymology. Derived from the French capitaine and the much older capitaneous (Byzantine). By the middle ages it was used as a generic term for commander in charge of an indeterminate number of men.
I'm not sure what terms you're looking for. Cnokha or nockr was a slang term used for an archer on english rolls (see the roll of the siege of Caerphilly Castle 1327). And there might have been people in a company that held jobs other than fighting, There was not an institutionalized standing army, so labels like title may have had little value beyond the descriptive.
-Terry
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