SIR TRYAMOUR: FOOTNOTES
1 The king ordered his armed forces to prepare
2 Why are you so happy about this thing that has happened?
3 Every man showed him love, in a manner befitting their station in life
4 Whenever a man protected his body (i.e., put on armor)
5 I think it (Tryamour's promise of aid) will not hold good
6 He (Tryamour) issued a challenge for (the hand of) the lady
SIR TRYAMOUR: NOTES
Before 1 A colophon appears on the leaf preceding the romance: Here endyth Syr Egyllamowre of Artas and begynneth Syr Tryamowre.
19 The name Marrok, and the name of the giant, Moradas, are similar to the names of the giant brothers, Marras and Arrok, in Sir Eglamour of Artois.
27 A proverbial expression meaning "as true the steel spear point is to the wooden shaft."
38 Following the tradition established by Urban II, who preached the First Crusade throughout France, knights took vows from the pope to fight the infidel in the Holy Land. As a sign that they were God's soldiers, they wore red crosses sewed to their surcoats.
45 us. MS: was. Fellow's emendation. Schmidt adheres to the MS but suggests in her note that us makes better sense. The idiom refers to Christ's crucifixion which redeemed the souls of humanity.
48 Fellows emends Prevy to Hevy.
80ff. The queen addresses Marrok, an inferior, with the singular pronoun, while he addresses her in the polite plural.
91 lady free is a conventional epithet for a courtly lady, one who is liberal in rewarding knights. Here the pun on freedom may be ironic.
103 This is a proverbial expression occurring in Guy of Warwick and Sir Perceval of Galles (Syr Tryamowre, ed. Schmidt, p. 88).
139-41 The sense of these lines is "When he had accomplished all that he had pledged / With words that were true." The list of sites which comes next follows grammatically from line 139, done hys pylgrymage . . . To Fleme Jordan, etc. Though Ardus' earlier vow (line 32) refers to crusading, crusading and pilgrimage to the Holy Land were spiritually and geographically analogous, not to mention historically linked.
156 "She told the king her tidings" makes better sense (Syr Tryamowre, ed. Schmidt, p. 89).
189 A common euphemism (see Sir Tristrem and Syr Tryamowre, ed. Schmidt, p. 89).
212 An adulterous queen was legally considered a traitor, and burning was the accepted punishment.
246 wayne wyth the wynde. I.e., leave with the swiftness of the wind (Syr Tryamowre, ed. Schmidt, p. 89).
270 This formula appears in Chaucer's romance parody, Sir Thopas (CT VII[B2]796).
305 I take the sense of the passage to be "There were none of that company, no matter how bold or strong, that Sir Roger did not hit on the head so that his sword split them to the waist. The soldiers requited them, striking Roger rapidly as though they were berserk."
313 Trewe-love as a dog's name also occurs in the ballad Horn Childe.
343 The line begins with a large capital B, marking the beginning of the second section of the story relating the vicissitudes of the queen and the eventual discovery of her innocence.
353 The sense of the line seems to be that the men did not know how they would account to Marrok for their failure to find Margaret. The word unkynde here has the sense of "unnatural," i.e., "unknightly." Defacing the body of a fallen adversary was most unchivalric.
392 hym. MS: hy. Schmidt's emendation.
ryn and mosse. MS: ryn mosse. Schmidt's emendation.
401 Hungary is the setting for the adventures of Sibille, Charlemagne's calumniated queen. It is considerably closer to the frontiers of Charlemagne's empire than to Aragon, but romance need not observe realities of physical and political geography.
422 Barnard is a messenger (i.e., emmissary or herald), perhaps for the king. The fact that he is hunting a hart is an indicator of chivalric status.
452 Tryamour is also the name of the fairy mistress in Sir Launfal.
485 The first day of Yule is Christmas Day.
499 in hys wede. Literally "in his clothes"; a formulaic filler here perhaps best glossed as "at his [the dog's] behavior."
567 Line 388 suggests that the body had begun to decay. An uncorrupted corpse was a sign of special sanctity.
613 Space for a large capital A at the beginning of this line marks the end of the calumniated queen episode and the beginning of Tryamour's adventures.
639 Dread and fear were considered appropriate responses to a lord. By cultivating them in his subjects, he would be able to maintain order.
690 Fifteen seems to have been the usual age for knighting of romantic heroes. See Degrebelle (Eglamour’s son) and Octavian.
736 noght forthy is usually translated "nevertheless," which seems inappropriate here. "Rode forth" would make better sense, though it does not fit the meter or rhyme. See line 400 for a similar locution.
754 A bachylere was a novice knight or a knight without vassals who served under the banner of a greater knight.
781 There is a similar formula in the corresponding scene of father-son combat in the Thornton manuscript of Eglamour (line 1260) where the father gives the son swylke a swappe.
799 In the manuscript, this line begins with a large capital T, marking the beginning of the third day of the tournament. From this proceeds James' ambush and the Emperor's revenge on Ardus.
814 Lithuania was an important state in the lands of the Teutonic Knights; see Chaucer's description of the Knight in the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales (I[A]54-55).
832 It seems odd that Tryamour would be pleased (fayne) to see James wound Ardus, unless he is pleased to have a reason to attack James.
916 This reference to a book as the source for a romance is highly conventional. There is no reason to believe it alludes to an actual volume.
940-1020 This passage corresponds to the fragment preserved in the Rawlinson manuscript.
943 in hys present does not make sense. Schmidt suggests, in thys present, i.e., "now."
945 The knights achieved little honor in that the princess would accept none of them.
983 The corresponding line in the Rawlinson fragment reads, With gunnes and grete stones round.
997 But in lines 871-78 Argus came to Tryamour's aid against James.
1006 Schmidt (Syr Tryamowre, p. 93) notes that yowre is "evidently a scribal error for owre."
1036 In the manuscript, this line begins with a large capital W, marking the episode of Tryamour's departure to claim Helen.
1067 The loss of a hand was a typical penalty for poaching.
1188 barryd. The suggestion seems to be that the battlefield was enclosed.
1191 Tryamour is now knighted, having proven himself in the earlier combats and acquired a patron of sufficient status to grant knighthood. He is no longer a bachelor, and is now able to lead men in battle.
1222 Killing a horse was considered to be unchivalric.
1238 An idiom. A new-made knight was said to win his shoes when he performed a gallant deed (Syr Tryamowre, ed. Schmidt, p. 94).
1251-52 Moradas may be a mistake for Ardus. The following line, including a kiss of peace between Ardus and the Emperor, makes better sense with this reading (see Fellows, Of Love and Chivalry, p. 308.
1282 In the manuscript this line begins with a large capital H marking Tryamour's departure from Ardus and his journey through the pass of the giant brothers.
1325 the mowntans of a myle. That is, the time in which a mile can be traveled.
1368 To wage one's glove was an idiom equivalent to "throw down the gauntlet." The sending of a glove to an opponent was a challenge to combat.
1370 "Love par amours," a French expression, refers to courtly - that is, romantic - love.
1441 In the manuscript, this line begins with a large capital T, marking the final episode: the combat with Burlond.
1496, 1499 Such repetition is unusual in Sir Tryamour and may be a corruption.
1561 Chevy Chase, a fifteenth-century ballad, contains a similar incident (Fellows, Of Love and Chivalry, p. 309).
1619 It was traditional to give gifts to messengers and minstrels.
1636 To begin the dais is to sit at the head of the table, the place of honor and high social status.