Space-Time Odyssey by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

{1} Gray : Radiation measurement unit.  A dose of six grays will cause nearly 100% of deaths within a week.  A dose of over fifty grays will cause complete incapacitation within five minutes and assured death within one or two days. 

{2} Lux : Speed compared to the speed of light.

{3} Astronomical Unit, or AU : average distance between the Earth and the Sun (149,597,870 kilometers).

{4} Dreki : Longship used by the Vikings for their coastal raids and their battles at sea during the High Middle Ages.  The incorrect term of ‘drakkar’ is often used to describe a dreki.

{5} Bernard le Gaucher : Bernard the Left-Handed.  Nicknames were common in the Middle Ages, often taking the place of family names, which were uncommon for the people of the lower classes.

{6} Loki : Norse god of mischief.

{7} Margrave : Old early Middle Ages title for a noble controling a territory on the border of a kingdom.  Corresponded to the title of ‘Marquess’. 

{8} Neustria : Old name for region of France situated between the Seine and the Loire.

{9} Livre : Common money denomination during the Middle Ages.  One livre (or pound in England) was worth twenty sous (or shillings), with each sou itself worth twelve deniers (or pennies).  Thus, one pound was worth 240 silver deniers.

{10} Aquitaine : Old name for the southern part of France.

{11} Beaudouin Bras de Fer : Baldwin Iron Arm in French.

{12} Pagus Flandrensis : Old Roman name for the region around Bruges.

{13} Bayt al-Hikma : ‘House of Wisdom’ in Arabic.  It was a famous library and center of learning opened in Baghdad in the year 832 C.E..

{14} The walls of Carcassonne and its castle were built in the 13th Century.

{15} Podengo : Hunting dog from Portugal, descending from dogs imported by Romans and Phoenicians, who then interbred with dogs imported by the Moors.  Comes today in three size variants : large (55-70 cm, 20-30 kg); medium (40-55 cm, 16-20 kg) and small (20-30 cm, 4-6 kg).