Besaunt (n.) - a gold coin named from Byzantium.
To spoyle the spilt folke spar scholde none
Geten girdeles & ger gold & goode stones
Byes broches bryght besauntes riche
Helmes hewen of gold hamberkes manye
Kesten ded vpon ded was deil to byholde- Anonymous: The siege of Jerusalem (1390-1400)
The Middle-English Word of the Day is selected from Mayhew and Skeat's
"Concise Dictionary of Middle English."
As found on Greg Lindahl's website
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/concise/concise.html
The example text was found at the Middle English Collection of the University of Virginia Library.
http://etext.virginia.edu/collections/languages/english/mideng.browse.html
