THE SULTAN OF BABYLON: FOOTNOTES

1 With oil and brass excellent for the occasion

2 Hauberk, shield, knee-armor, nor spearshaft

3 [Missiles from] a siege engine were thrown - / it was a good enough machine to reach the city

4 He [Ferumbras] had his [Isres'] head borne on a spear

5 Do you want to lose your barons?

6 Don't so undervalue your barons

7 They behaved boldly and light-heartedly

8 You are ignorant of good diversion

9 They slew anyone they encountered

10 Except to have the tower assailed again

11 Then they ran out of stones for throwing

12 Then they didn't know what to do

13 It is reasonable to share with the needy

14 That he could hardly [fight] anymore

15 Then shall I torment them in my accustomed manner

16 So long as you're never angry with one another

THE SULTAN OF BABYLON: NOTES

*A note on the text: In the manuscript, large initial letters appear at lines 1, 383, 575, 599, 695, 940, 963, 1051, 1491, 1679, 1687, 1691, 1695, 1699, 1703, 1711, 1715, 1723, 1739, 2419, 2755, and 2795. Since these generally mark shifts in the action and so were clearly meant to begin new structural units, I have used a space between lines to divide the text where they appear - except that I have moved the break before line 2419 so that it now appears before 2417, where it seems more natural and more in keeping with the practice of the poet or scribe. The other breaks indicated in the text I have added, for ease of reading, at points where there is a shift in action not marked by a large initial letter.


1 Ms. reads `myghteste.'

11 The `ne' is not in the manuscript, but the sense of the line requires it.

27 Denis was the patron saint of France. In 626 Dagobert I founded the Abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris at the site where St. Denis was believed to be buried.

32 `Askalon' or Ascalon is a city in Palestine, north of Gaza, on the Mediterranean. It was captured by Crusaders in 1153 and recaptured by Saladin in 1187. The city is referred to again in line 1000 (`Ascoloyne').

46 Cf. the `General Prologue' to the Canterbury Tales (lines 9-11), where Chaucer refers to this belief that nightingales sleep with an open eye.

56 An `alaunt' is `a highly prized ferocious dog of a breed used in hunting, bull-baiting, etc.'; a `lymmer' is `a hound trained to be led on a leash and to track game by scent'; `racche' refers to `a dog that hunts by scent' (MED).

86 Mahounde and Appolyne (Apollo) are gods thought to be worshipped by the Saracens.

113 Baldas is probably Bagdad. In The Alliterative Morte Arthure, the form `Baldake' (for Bagdad) appears. The fact that Lucafere is also called `That cruel kinge of Cassaundre' (line 986) does not necessarily argue against identifying Baldas as Bagdad. Cassaundre is probably Cassandria in Macedonia. However, Lucafere, who is also `Of Aufryke lorde and governoure' (line 114), seems to have been granted many lands because of his prowess. It is also possible that the poet made Lucafere king of Cassaundre because he needed a rhyme for `Alisaundre' in line 984.

127 The maintop is a platform at the head of the mainmast.

148 Here, as often in the romance, `gan' is used as an auxiliary to indicate a past tense, much as we might use `did.'

202 Ms. reads `than,' but, as Hausknecht suggested, `thay' seems the correct reading.

241 The `Dosipers' are the Twelve Peers or principal warriors of Charlemagne. The term, from the French `douze pairs,' comes to be used as a synonym for `peer' or `knight,' so that we often find the etymologically redundant `Twelve Dosipers,' as we do here. In the Chanson de Roland, the Twelve Peers are said to be Roland, Olivier, Gérin, Gérier, Bérengier, Otton, Samson, Engelier, Ivon, Ivoire, Anséis, and Girard. The list varies in different works. In this romance, as lines 1688 ff. suggest, the Twelve Peers are Roland, Oliver, Gy of Burgoyne, Duke Neymes of Baver, Ogere Danoys, Bery Lardeneys, Folk Baliant, Aleroyse, Miron of Brabane, Bishop Turpyn, Bernard of Spruwse and Bryere of Mountez.

257 The `Gallopes' are perhaps the people from Gallipoli on the Southern shore of the Gallipolli Peninsula, at the east end of the Dardanelles.

360 The p in `Pope' is illegible in the ms.

369-70 There is a blank line in the ms. between these lines, and the sense suggests that something has been omitted here.

473 Hausknecht suggests reading `thus was it done' or `this was i-done.'

495 The correct reading here is probably `Ascopars' rather than the ms. `Astopars.' Forms of the name with the c appear, as Hausknecht notes, in lines 2196 and 2648. A similar confusion between t and c takes place in line 1424 (where I have again emended to read `Ascopartes'). The Ascopartes are apparently a fearsome race of giants subject to the Sultan.

497 `Askalous' are people from Askalon (see note to line 32), also referred to as `Ascoloynes' in line 1040.

500 Hausknecht suggests emending `Ho' to `We'; but `Ho' as a variant of the adverb `o' (meaning `continually' or `ever') is a possible reading.

551 Ms. reads `thoughe.'

561 Matins is the first of the canonical hours (i. e., the fixed parts of the Divine Office to be recited or sung at specified hours of the day). Matins is followed by lauds, prime, terce, sext, none, vespers and compline.

628-34 To hold `in fee' means to possess `by a heritable right subject to feudal obligations' (see OED, `fee,' sb. 2, 1b).

650 Ms. reads `met,' probably an error for `mot.' (A similar error occurs in line 2433.)

663 St. Peter's Basilica was built by the Emperor Constantine (beginning c. 324) and completed by his son Constantius (in c. 354). Tradition says it was built over the grave of Peter the Apostle.

689 Smyser sees details such as the reference to the Saracens' cry of `antrarian' to signify `joye generalle' as a sign that the author took `an innocent if slightly ostentatious delight in airing his learning of things Saracen' (p. 209).

716 Ms. reads `religes,' as it does again in line 1821.

850, 868 There seems to be some confusion in this poem between Charlemagne's sword `Joyeuse' and the battle cry of his troops, `Monjoie.' The identification of the two by the poet is paralleled by a linking of the two in the Chanson de Roland (see line 2510). The battle cry is derived, according to one theory, from Monte Gaudia, the hill from which pilgrims first see the eternal city. Another theory suggests that a `montjoie' was `a mound or cairn of stones set up to mark the site of a victory' and that the cry `Montjoie St.-Denis' or, in a shortened form, `Montjoie' `derived from the cairn set up at Saint-Denis on the site of the saint's martyrdom (his spiritual victory)' (see Dorothy Sayers' translation of the Chanson de Roland, note to line 1181).

857 The phrase `with harde grace' (literally `with bad luck') is used as an imprecation.

871 The `Baldesyns' are the people of Baldas (Bagdad).

875 Durendal is the famous sword of Roland, given to him by Charlemagne who received it from an angel.

953 Tuesday is the day of Tiu, the Germanic war god, identified with Mars. The Latin name for Tuesday, `dies Martis' (which survives in the French `mardi') attests to the longstanding association of Tuesday with Mars.

954 `Myrre' or myrrh is a gum-resin used in perfumes and incense; `aloe' is the fragrant resin or wood of the agalloch; `frankensense' or frankincense is the gum resin chiefly from East African or Arabian trees of the genus Boswellia, which is used for incense.

986 On `Cassaundre,' see note to line 113.

999 `Inde Major' probably refers to the part of India between the Ganges and the Himalayas.

1001 `Barbarye' refers to the Saracen lands on the north coast of Africa. The `Barbarens' in line 1042 are the people from this region.

1025 The sense suggests that there is a gap of one or more lines after line 1025, though nothing in the manuscript indicates the omission.

1040 `Paens' (pagans) suggests non-Christians, here probably referring to Muslims or Saracens. On the `Ascoloynes' see the note to line 497.

1154 Ms. reads `and thenkes.' Hausknecht suggested the emendation to `as thenketh' (`as it seems').

1179-80 In the ms. line 1179 reads `Olyvere him hitte agayn upon the hede'; then there is a blank space at the beginning of line 1180, followed by the words `the hede than full sore.' Hausknecht suggests emending the lines to appear as they do above in the text. His emendation restores the rhyme.

1298 St. Quentin is, according to The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, a `martyr of unknown date, recorded by Bede and some early martyrologies, mentioned by Gregory of Tours as having a church dedicated to him. The place where he suffered, Augusta Veromanduorum, is now called Saint-Quentin (Aisne).' Legend makes him `a Roman citizen who came to preach the Gospel in Gaul with St. Lucian of Beauvais; Quentin preached at Amiens where the probably fictitious prefect Rictiovarus arrested and interrogated him, finally killing him by a series of fearsome tortures. . . .'

1341 Hausknecht suggests that `alle' in line 1341 is an error for `half.'

1357 It is common in Middle English to use contrasting pairs to suggest completeness. Thus to say that the gods are false `by water and londe' implies that they are entirely false.

1361 Hausknecht suggests reading `se' for `sene' in order to restore the rhyme.

1390 In this line, `he' refers to the hauberk.

1423 I have followed Hausknecht's suggestion in emending ms. `cowthe' to `caughte' and have also emended ms. `Be' to `But.'

1445 The `holme' tree is probably `the evergreen oak (Quercus ilex)' (MED).

1604 MED indicates that the form `maute' as a past of `mene' (here used in the sense of `to aim a stroke at someone') is an error. The normal past forms would be `mente,' `mant,' or `mende.'

1645 Ms. reads `harme skathe' rather than `harme and skathe.'

1691 As Hausknecht suggests, `Berry Lardeneys' must be a corruption of Thierry (sometimes appearing as `Terry') d'Ardane.

1713 According to tradition, St. Simon the Apostle went with St. Jude to Persia, where they suffered martyrdom (see The Oxford Dictionary of Saints).

1726 The phrase `not worth a leek' means `of little or no value.'

1773-74 French and Hale suggest that `leve' should be taken in the double sense of `leave alone' and `fail.' The sense of the lines is that Laban will follow the advice and force Charlemagne to surrender Ferumbras and depart from his territory.

1816 Hausknecht suggests emending `byleved' to `byleven' (which would restore the rhyme).

1885 Hausknecht suggests emending `he' to `ye'; but reading `he' in the sense of `a man' or `someone' allows us to maintain the manuscript reading.

1967-68 These two lines are written as one in the manuscript.

2033 Ms. reads `While thay mery drinkyng. . . .' Hausknecht is probably correct in suggesting that `mery' is miswritten for `were.'

2042 I have followed Hausknecht in reading `stronde' for the ms. `strowde.'

2085 Hausknecht suggested reading `Assye' for the ms. `Assyne.' This is surely the right reading, as it restores the rhyme.

2092 A `quarelle' is `a bolt for a crossbow, an arblast, or a siege engine' (MED).

2156 The verb of motion is understood in this line.

2224 The `u' in `Thou' does not appear in the ms. I follow Hausknecht in adding it.

2285 French and Hale suggest emending `pas' to `par' (bar, close). As it stands, the line suggests that the gates `pass by' or `extend across' the narrow paths.

2384 In Hausknecht's edition the line reads `And assaye howe it wole it be.' The second `it' is not in the manuscript and is clearly a misprint in the edition.

2421 Hausknecht suggests that `also' should begin line 2422.

2433 The ms. `mete' is probably an error for `mote' (the emendation Hausknecht made).

2477 Hausknecht is probably correct in suggesting that ms. `and now' should read `i-now.'

2558 I follow Hausknecht in emending ms. `Thile' to `While.' The Roxburghe Club edition, however, reads `Thile' as a contraction for `the while.'

2601 `The untutored and the learned' is a contrasting pair used to indicate all people. Thus the meaning of the line is, `He spared no one.'

2650 I follow Hausknecht in emending `Gamylokes' to `Gavylokes.'

2761-62 Jupiter and Ascarot, like Apollo and Mohammed, are taken to be gods of the Saracens.

2689-90 I follow Hausknecht in emending the ms. reading: `Thay thanked god that thay him hadde / Gyfen thaye such grace to spede.'

2694 Ms. reads `alaye.'

2787 A `besaunte' is `a gold coin first struck at Byzantium or Constantinople . . . in value between the English sovereign and half-sovereign or less' (OED).


2845 Hausknecht believes that `Fremounde' `cannot be the true reading, as it does not rhyme with kinge.' There are, however, other places in the text where the rhyme is less than perfect. If he is correct, it may be that the scribe substituted the name of Fremund because he was an English saint. Though he may have been a fictional character, he was reputedly, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Saints, `a relative of Offa, king of Mercia, and of Edmund, king of East Anglia [who] became a hermit. But as he had royal blood, he was a possible claimant to the throne of Mercia and was killed by an apostate kinsman Oswy, with the help of some of the same Danish army who slew Edmund.'

2885 The e in `dyvers' does not appear in the ms. Hausknecht suggested the addition.

2887 `Pellure' refers to furs in general; `gryse' is `a grey fur; prob. fur from the back of the Russian gray squirrel in winter' (MED).

2951 French and Hale emend Hausknecht's `Euer the founte' to `Over the frounte' (over the forehead). The ms. does, in fact, read `frounte,' which is the reading of the Roxburghe Club edition. Reading `frounte' makes the emendation of `Ever' to `over' even more plausible.

3127-28 The two lines are written as one in the ms.

3263ff Some of the text is lost due to a torn manuscript page.