_morne milk_ = morning-milk; as in A. 3236. 'As white as milke'; Ritson's
Met. Romances, iii. 292.
359. _shirreve_, the _reve_ of a _shire_, governor of a county; our modern
word _sheriff_.
_countour_, O. Fr. _comptour_, an accountant, a person who audited accounts
or received money in charge, &c.; ranked with pleaders in Riley's Memorials
of London, p. 58. It occurs in Rob. of Gloucester, l. 11153. In the Book of
the Duch. 435, it simply means 'accountant.' Perhaps it here means
'auditor.' 'Or stewards, _countours_, or pleadours'; Plowman's Tale, pt.
iii. st. 13.
360. _vavasour_, or _vavaser_, originally a sub-vassal or tenant of a
vassal or tenant of the king's, one who held his lands in fealty.
'_Vavasor_, one that in dignities is next to a Baron'; Cowel. Strutt
(Manners and Customs, iii. 14) explains that a _vavasour_ was 'a tenant by
knight's service, who did not hold immediately of the king _in capite_, but
of some mesne lord, which excluded him from the dignity of baron by
tenure.' Tyrwhitt says 'it should be understood to mean the whole class of
middling landholders.' See Lacroix, Military Life of Middle Ages, p. 9.
Spelt _favasour_ in King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, l. 3827. A. F. _uauassur_;
Laws of Will. I. c. 20. Lit. 'vassal of vassals'; Low Lat. _vassus
vassorum_.