SIR EGLAMOUR OF ARTOIS: FOOTNOTES
1 He won pre-eminence with valiant deeds (jousting)
2 For always he made them remain (i.e., killed them)
3 There might no man remain on horseback through his attack
4 He bore on his arms a ship of gold (Thornton MS has this phrasing)
5 He (Degrebelle) said, "No, by Mary! I am ready to fight in battle"
SIR EGLAMOUR OF ARTOIS: NOTES
19, 20, 28 The characters' names, like those in similar romances, are a kind of pseudo- French. Prynsamour (prince love) and Eglamour are compounds with amour, the latter perhaps arrived at by conflating something like OF egaré, "lost one," as in the names Egaré and Degaré (found in Emaré and Degaré respectively). Cristabelle suggests "clear or bright beauty" and Degrebelle, "lost beauty." See Ramsey (“Chivalric Romances,” p. 166) for an allegorical interpretation of these names.
31–36 The manuscripts exhibit a good bit of variation in the characters mentioned in this passage. In the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century versions, line 31 refers to Cristabelle, line 32 to the earl. This sets up the incest theme, as do similar alterations in lines 40 and 47.
54 Richardson suggests that the sense of this line is "you meet a lot of people" (Sir Eglamour, p. 99). That is, because the squire travels widely and comes in contact with a lot of people he would have many opportunities to divulge Eglamour's counsel were he not charged with secrecy.
64–84 This awareness of the potential for Eglamour to advance his position within society by marrying an heiress, Cristabelle, is reflective of what Riddy calls a “crisis in male succession” (Middle English Romance, p. 245) at the time of the poem’s composition. According to Charbonneau, the Black Death heightened an already high rate of failure of inheritance through a direct male line “so that less than half of landowners had sons to inherit” between the late 1370s and early 1380s (“Trangressive Fathers,” p. 247). Conditions were, therefore, favorable for succession through the female line that, in turn, resulted in an increasing number of opportunities for men of lesser social status to advance themselves through marriage. The potential for incest and the earl’s desire to block Eglamour’s more appropriate suit of marriage to his daughter further threaten the already fragile sociopolitical family unit.
66 A proverbial expression (also see lines 70-71). "For much would have more." The sense seems to be "People who are wealthy (have much land or property) want more." Richardson says the phrase refers to the Earl or the wealthy suitors of Cristabelle (Sir Eglamour, p. 100), but it seems just as likely that the squire could be referring to Cristabelle herself, who might reject the suit of a knight of little land like Eglamour.
70 The Cambridge text omits 70-72, perhaps because the proverb was unfamiliar, or too homely. It substitutes three rather padded lines in which Eglamour addresses his squire:
"Dere frende Y prey the that thou me behete
That thou wylt that lady in this maner grete
What some evyr happe to be hur answere,"
and then goes on to create a name (for the squire?) - Syr umbe than thenke on thys thyng - out of the unfamiliar verb form umbythynk found in Lincoln.
81 lufe. The Cotton MS reading lyfe makes little sense in this context (Cristabelle would not marry Eglamour if he were an old man). It may be a scribe’s attempt to make sense of a flawed exemplar. The Egerton MS reads lyuf, an odd form, perhaps a corruption (Sir Eglamour, ed. Richardson, p. 100). The Thornton MS reads lufe and the Cambridge MS love, so I have emended to this more appropriate reading “Cristabelle would only marry him if their love were well-established.”
106-07 Manuscript variations in these lines suggest rather different conceptions of marital bliss. The Thornton MS reads, And rejoyse hir all my lyfe; the Cambridge MS reads, And sethen reches in my lyfe.
138 At this point, the Thornton and Egerton manuscripts include the lines
For na man ne wald scho spare
Till his chambir for to fare,
Whare that he gan lende.
The sqwyere sayd, "Maystir, ma gud chere:
Here commes the erls doghetir dere.
Cryste len that ye part frende."
Thus the squire serves (briefly) as a mediator between the lady and the knight, making their exchange less abrupt and more courteous. The omission of these lines explains such awkward features as why Cristabelle identifies Eglamour to himself in line 140 of the Cotton MS. In the Thornton and Egerton MSS, it is the Squire who responds to Cristabelle in line 143 saying his master is bowndyn for the luf of the.
148 unto. Cotton MS: utto. Richardson's emendation.
158 In the Thornton MS, Cristabelle tells Eglamour to find out from her father what his will is.
162 In the Thornton MS, the word fude (human being, creature) appears at the end of the line, giving the reading "I will fail you for no one." This seems more chivalric than Cotton's reading.
170 In the later Middle Ages particularly, when there were many more marriageable women than men, the awarding of dowries to women of lesser means was regarded as an especially charitable act.
172 her. Cotton MS: he. Richardson's emendation.
189 Thornton includes three lines which establish the time and place of the hunt:
Appon the morne when it was daye
Sir Eglamour tase the waye
Till a revere full ryght
226 Cypress trees, associated with death, were often planted in graveyards.
251 Cristabelle's gifts to Eglamour before his departure are conventional chivalric endowments. The hounds and the sword are necessary for those quintessential knightly activities, hunting and fighting. These are not specifically magical gifts, though the sword found by St. Paul in the Greek sea certainly has an aura. The sword from the sea is a traditional motif, compare Arthur and Lancelot's gifts from the Lady of the Lake.
288 The exact meaning of this line is not clear, and the manuscripts are not in agreement. Richardson prefers the reading, “And roused himself with a rush,” based on translations of the same formula in Sir Tristrem. Schleich takes Thornton repid (Cotton repys) to be a form of the verb rape (“grasp”), rather than rouse. Cook takes rese to be an idiosyncratic scribal spelling of the noun rest; this is the way the Cambridge scribe rendered it, though it may be a form of OE raes (“course,” as in millrace). The translation given here follows the sense of Thornton in using the preposition of rather than on. Thus, “The barking of the hounds grabbed him from (deprived him of) his rest” (Sir Eglamour, ed. Richardson, p. 104).
300 Eglamour is honoring hunting law and protocol by blowing his horn to announce a legally taken prey. The prise is the "hunting call blown when game is taken" (MED).
344 This is the first of three fitt divisions marking Eglamour's feats. The others occur at lines 622 and 880. Richardson (Sir Eglamour, p. 106) suggests that these were in the original (now lost) version of Eglamour. Though regarded by some as clumsy intrusions in the middle of scenes, this one does mark the turning point between Eglamour's report of his victory and the earl's announcement of the next task.
349 Sidon, on the Mediterranean in what is now Lebanon, was important in the Crusades.
408 Many romances refer to a "book of Rome" as their source, but there is little evidence to suggest that this is anything more than a common formula. The title of the famous story collection, Gesta Romanorum, may have suggested or been suggested by this conventional attribution.
414 Thornton reads, I drede full lange we duelle; i.e., "I fear we stay too long" ("we will not find him in time to help him").
417 swerd. Cotton MS: swere.
425-29 Azure (blue) and sable (black) are heraldic colors, though Eglamour's device is not particularly authentic. The word sperys in the phrase sperys of sabull may be a corruption of sporys (spurs). The Thornton MS has bagges of sabyll. Richardson notes that Cook suggests that the bagges are badges which knights affixed to their pennons (Sir Eglamour, p. 108). Such decorations are more fittingly described by heraldic colors than the spears or spurs.
460 Here Thornton includes the lines:
"Ya, so helpe me God!" the knyght says,
"I hafe foghetyn foure dayes
And never a fote I flede."
"Sir Knyght," the kyng says,"I pray the
All nyght that thou wold duelle wyth mee,
And riste the in a bed."
463 Eglamour here gives a nickname, "Adventurous." This kind of disguise is common among knights on quests; and Sir Degrevant uses a similar name. In some romances such sobriquets are part of a theme of character development and self-discovery.
496 Here Thornton includes the lines:
The kyng said, "So God me save,
Of the bare what thou will have,
Thou hast it boghte full dere."
594–97 This offer of kingship through marriage to his daughter establishes the king of Sidone as the earl of Artas’ foil given his willingness to reward heroic behavior properly. As Charbonneau notes, “The villainous father of Cristabelle eventually flees to a tower — a phallic structure symbolizing his virility perhaps — but in its isolation and prison-like qualities, it becomes a symbol of his impotence as a man and ruler. . . . Appropriately, he falls backwards to his death — his desires were after all regressive as he symbolically proves himself incapable of moving forward in accepting his daughter’s suitor and planning for appropriate succession and transfer of power” (“Transgressive Fathers,” p. 258).
605 The horse and ring are magic gifts which insure his life, though we do not see him use them. Such magical gifts are the stuff of folktale. See note, line 251.
615 Here Thornton includes three lines:
Trewly and so God me save,
Kynge ne duke nane for to have,
Thofe thay be comly clede.
624 red. The implication seems to be that the narrator is reciting from a written text. See note to line 344.
628 Thornton reads: Alle bot the erle were full fayne. This gives more and earlier indication of the earl's treachery.
632 Thornton reads: Till his chambir scho mad hir yare. The chamber, a private place, was the conventional setting for such meetings between lovers. The hall (line 637), by contrast, is a public place and the domain of the Earl. In line 697, Cotton also lacks the reference to chamber contained in Thornton.
638 Thornton reads: The erle for to tene. This is more negative than Cotton, which emphasizes Eglamour's good intentions and, by implication, the earl's evil ones.
652 Lines 652-54 have no counterpart in Thornton, though they appear in other manuscripts. In Cambridge the order is reversed, which gives a better reading. The first line is proverbial.
669 This betrothal, the consummation that follows, and Eglamour's gift of a ring constituted a valid marriage, according to canon law. Such unions were considered clandestine and punishable by penance, but they were not invalid.
673 Twenty is a mistake for twelve. See line 656.
676 Sche. Cotton MS: sch. Richardson's emendation.
694 The Cambridge manuscript inserts these lines:
Syr that was nevyr my purpos
For to leve oon soche a trase [undertaking]
Be nyght nor be day
Wyth the grace of God almyght
Wyth the worme yyt schall y fyyght
Thowe he be nevyr so wylde.
705 That the departing knight worries that he might be leaving his girlfriend pregnant, even though they are informally married, is most unusual in medieval romances.
706 The Thornton manuscript includes a redundant transition not found in Cotton:
And, als the buke of Rome says,
To grete Rome he tase the wayes
To seke that worme so wylde.
The knyght wendis on his waye -
Herkyns, now; I sall yow saye -
To seke that dragone bolde.
725 The Thornton text has Eglamour cut off the dragon's tail, and it makes better sense in line 727 for the dragon to strike Eglamour with the stump of his tail than the stump of his tongue, as in Cotton. Taking the dragon's tongue for a trophy is, however, a traditional feature appearing in the Tristran story and elsewhere.
754 The Thornton manuscript includes six lines:
The emperour wyth hym tuke hym hame
Octoveane was his name,
A lord of gret honour.
Bot alle that ever saw his hede
Thay sayd that he was bot dede,
This knight Sir Eglamour.
Octavian was a conventional name for a Roman emperor, so this is not a reference to the character in the Middle English romance Octavian.
760 The two stanzas describing the dragon are not present in the Thornton text. Elements of description are conventional: the stench, the similes - hard as balayne, green as glas, red as fire; the forty-foot length (though this seems short beside the fifty-foot measurement of the giant Marrass in line 330).
772 St. Lawrence was well known in England. Tradition had it that he was buried outside Rome, so the reference to his church would have seemed appropriate to medieval audiences. See Sir Eglamour, ed. Richardson, p. 117.
785–89 This willingness to kill not only his own daughter but also her child and his only male heir further exemplifies the extent to which the earl’s trangressive desires threaten to destroy the social order he is supposed to uphold (Charbonneau, “Transgressive Fathers,” p. 257).
788 Without baptism, the soul could not ascend to heaven.
790 The Thornton version includes three lines:
Scho wappid hym in a mantill of skarelett rede
"My dere child, dighte es oure dede.
Thi fadir seese us na mare."
This is the first reference to Degrebelle's mantle, a token which later identifies him to his mother.
795 The Cambridge text inserts six lines here:
Hur chaumburwomen that be hur con stonde
They weptyn faste and wrang ther hande
They had full mekyll care
When they wyste that sche schoulde forthe passe
Then they cryed and seyde "Allas.
Now are we lafte full bare."
808 The Thornton manuscript includes the conventional transition formula:
Now leve this knyght, Sir Eglamour,
And speke we of this lady whytt als flour,
So wilsome wayes scho yode.
829-31 The three lines describing the griffin attack are not in the Thornton version, where the infant is merely dropped. This detail accords with the Cotton text's attention to fabulous creatures elsewhere; it also heightens Degrebelle's plight. Richardson thinks it impedes the narrative (Sir Eglamour, p. 118).
837 Thornton has an additional line, The childe was large of lym and lythe.
842 Degrebell. The name means "lost beautiful one" (see note to line 19), an apt description of his situation.
852 Long sides are not appropriate for an infant, but they are conventional in descriptions of noble personages. Richardson (Sir Eglamour, p. 118) suggests that his is a mistake for her, referring to the nurse, though all the manuscripts have his.
855 The number iiii appears here in the margin and space between the lines in the margin of the manuscript, indicating a division in the text - the fourth fitt (see note to lines 880-82 below).
874 Lines 874-76 and 877-79 are reversed in the other manuscripts, which makes more sense as the squire strikes the ship to determine if anyone is aboard before the lady speaks.
880-82 These lines are not in Thornton, and they make for a long stanza. They set off the last section of the narrative, but Richardson suggests they are in the wrong place, since the Cotton manuscript shows the number iiii beside line 855, a more suitable place for such a division (Sir Eglamour, p. 119). There is also a mark beside line 880.
917 Cristabelle's retelling winks at the truth, omitting all reference to her angry father and relationship to her sqwyer.
976 Gentyllmen. Cotton MS: entyllman. Richardson's emendation.
985 Here Thornton includes the lines:
Alle that were sembled, ylke one,
He gaf tham for to lyfe appone
For Cristabelle saule to mone.
Cambridge begins, And he that was the porest of them all, reverses Thornton's 986-87, and includes the following lines:
Yn the halle that he there hadd.
V and thretty knyghtys he madd
Be that odur day abowte none
And he that was the porest of them all
He gaf for Crystabellys soule
Londys to leve upon.
This material, omitted by the Cotton scribe, provides important details: that Eglamour is able to provide livings for his knights, as a lord should, and that their function is a pious one. One half-expects them to accompany him to the Holy Land, but there is no further reference to them. By remaining in Artois, they could assert Eglamour's claim to that land pending his return. Eglamour has clearly assumed power in Artois when he stands in the hall to formally dub his knights. Richardson notes that Eglamour follows standard procedures for making knights (Sir Eglamour, p. 120).
997-1000 These lines are not in the Thornton text.
1012 kyng. Cotton MS: knyg. Richardson's emendation.
1023 Wynns hyre with stryfe is a formulaic expression in which strife has a narrow, idiomatic meaning, indicating specifically a combat in which a bride is to be won.
1037 Thornton reads: That thare come the kyng of Iraelle / Wyth a full riche nave, which follows from the preceding description of the voyage. Five lines later, Thornton includes lines similar to those found at 1036-37 in Cotton. This variation seems to be due to the proximity of similar lines: the Cotton text conflates them, omiting intervening material.
1044 Here Cambridge inserts:
And yf they come on gode array [order]
To ther mete y schall them pray
As mote y thryve or the.
1045 Topcastles were platforms with battlements at the tops of ship's masts from which missiles could be fired (OED).
1060 Hys. In Thornton the pronoun is Hir, which points to the incest theme and makes better sense. Hys may refer to the king of Israel who speaks next.
1063 It is a bit unorthodox for Degrebelle's guardian to ask Cristabelle herself if she will marry. In Thornton, the king of Israel asks hir eme, that is, her uncle the king of Egypt, if he is willing for Cristabelle to marry.
1070 In aristocratic households waytes functioned as watchmen as well as musicians who played horns of various types at ceremonies and to announce meals. Their name seems to be derived from wayt, a kind of pipe. See Rastall, “Minstrels of English Royal Households,” p. 5.
1079 Deus pacis were the first words of the blessing for dinner on days which were not fast days (Sir Eglamour, ed. Richardson, p. 122).
1085-87 Here Thornton includes the lines:
The kyng of Egippe gun hym hy
Into a faire felde, wittirly
Wyth many a doghety knyghte.
Cotton lines 1084-86 appear later in Thornton, after what is line 1092 in Cotton. Thornton's arrangement is more coherent: The king of Egypt first rides into the field to meet Degrebelle. The men ask who he is, the heralds tell them, then blow the trumpets to announce the tournament. The teams then ride together and finally the king and Degrebelle confront one another.
1122 Thornton includes the lines:
In a skarelett mantill was he wonden
And with a gold girdill bownden
That full richely was wroghte.
This formulaic description appears several times in the romance (see Cotton line 833), though more often in Thornton than Cotton.
1142 Thornton reads: Whilke of myn erles scho will have. This is more specific, but less courtly than Cotton. Degrebelle rejects his step-father's plan simply to give Cristabelle to one of his men; she must be won in combat as he has won her.
1157 dyscrye. Cotton MS: decrye. Richardson's emendation.
1163 Thornton reads New; Cambridge reads Now soche armes beryth he. Cotton's No makes little sense, as a description of the arms follows, and they are different from the ones he wore when fighting with the boar (line 428).
1168 Thornton reads: In the see so grym and balde.
1170 Thornton reads: And evir in poynte to dy, which is more appropriate than the Cotton reading.
1172 sales. Cotton MS: fales.
1186 Here Thornton includes the lines:
Hawrauds of armes bygan to crye
Grete lordis full rathely
Into a felde so brade.
1195 Here Thornton includes the lines:
His fadir hovede and byhelde
How he fellid in the felde
The knyghtis all bydene.
His sonne hym sawe and rade hym till;
Said, "Sir, why hovys thou sa stille
Amange thir knyghtis kene?"
1201 Thornton reads: "Sir," he said than, "So mot I the." Cotton's Hys owen is more ironic in pointing out their relationship.
1214 sement. Richardson suggests that this is a mistake for semblee, meaning assembly or meeting (Sir Eglamour, p. 125). Thornton has auntirs.
1222-27 The Thornton text reverses the order of the two units of this stanza.
1231 The Thornton version is different and includes the lines:
Say forthe whils he was thare,
That will juste or turnay any mare -
He wold be auntirous, by the rode!
His sone said, "Ne ware his swerd so brighte,
Alle the day myght I wyth hym fyght,
Thofe he were werse than wode."
1234-37 In Thornton, it is the lady who goes to disarm the knight:
To unarme hym the lady gase;
A surcott vuerte [green] the knyght tase.
To mete than gan thay wende.
Cotton line 1236 is a tag line inserted for rhyme.
1246-60 The Thornton text's version of the reunion scene is different, probably original.
Knawlege of hym gun scho taa,
"Swete sir, how felle it swa
That thay were broghte to grownde?"
"Dameselle, I was in a ferre contre,
Hir fadir dide tham to the see
Wyth the wawes to confounde."
In swounynge than felle that lady free,
"Welcome, Sir Eglamour, to me;
Dere hase thou boghte me are."
Grete lordis than told scho sone
How that scho to the se was done.
Thay wepede, both lesse and mare.
"In the wawes grete and gray
A gryffon bare my childe awaye."
Gentillmen than syghede sare.
Cotton and Cambridge show the influences of another variant of the reunion episode where father and son are reunited when the son kneels to serve his father in the hall. Perhaps this shows the influence of Emaré, which makes its only appearance in the Cambridge manuscript.
1276-84 The Thornton manuscript includes a different, longer narration of the return home:
Sir Eglamour prayed the kynges three
In Artasse at his weddynge to be,
His lykynge for to have.
Thay graunted hym bathe mare and lesse,
The gret lordis that thare was,
Thare Jhesu Crist tham save!
Kynges and dukis, I undirstande,
And gret lordis of othir lande,
Thaire stremours made thay full rathe.
Trompis in topcastells thay rase,
Alle maner of men to schippe gase;
A comly wynd tham drave.
Thorow the myght of God this fayre nave
Alle in lykynge passed the see,
In Artasse up thay raffe.
The erle in his castelle stode;
Gentillmen sone to lande yode
Knyghtis to horse gan dryve.
1291-1312 The wedding episode is narrated differently in Thornton where it is a bit shorter. Cotton stresses minstrels and gifts, adds a bishop to perform the ceremony and a tournament to celebrate it. Thornton repeats the investiture scene from lines 1270-71. Forty- and fourteen-day feasts are conventional.
And thus in Artasse are thay lent,
Eftir the emperour thay sent
To that mangery so free
And in alle the lande garte thay crye
Wha that wolde com to that mangerye
Dere welcome solde thay be.
Sir Eglamour to the kirk gun ga,
Sir Degrebelle and Organata,
The ladys bryghte of blee.
The kyng of Iraelle sayd, "I yow gyffe
Halfe my kyngdome whils I lyffe -
Brouke alle wele aftir me."
With myrthe that mangery was made,
Fowrtty dayes it habade
Amange thase lordis hende.
1306 come. Cotton MS: cone.
1321 Explicit. Cambridge adds: Here endyth Syr Egyllamowre of Artas and begynneth Syr Tryamowre.