25. Word and end: apparently a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon
phrase, “ord and end,” meaning the whole, the beginning and
the end.
26. At the opening of the story of Croesus, Chaucer has copied
from his own translation of Boethius; but the story is mainly
taken from the “Romance of the Rose”
27. “This reflection,” says Tyrwhttt, “seems to have been
suggested by one which follows soon after the mention of
Croesus in the passage just cited from Boethius. ‘What other
thing bewail the cryings of tragedies but only the deeds of
fortune, that with an awkward stroke, overturneth the realms of
great nobley?’” — in some manuscripts the four “tragedies” that
follow are placed between those of Zenobia and Nero; but
although the general reflection with which the “tragedy” of
Croesus closes might most appropriately wind up the whole
series, the general chronological arrangement which is observed
in the other cases recommends the order followed in the text.
Besides, since, like several other Tales, the Monk’s tragedies
were cut short by the impatience of the auditors, it is more
natural that the Tale should close abruptly, than by such a
rhetorical finish as these lines afford.
28. Pedro the Cruel, King of Aragon, against whom his brother
Henry rebelled. He was by false pretences inveigled into his
brother’s tent, and treacherously slain. Mr Wright has remarked
that “the cause of Pedro, though he was no better than a cruel
and reckless tyrant, was popular in England from the very
circumstance that Prince Edward (the Black Prince) had
embarked in it.”
29. Not the Oliver of Charlemagne — but a traitorous Oliver of
Armorica, corrupted by a bribe. Ganilion was the betrayer of
the Christian army at Roncevalles (see note 9 to the Shipman’s
Tale); and his name appears to have been for a long time used in
France to denote a traitor. Duguesclin, who betrayed Pedro into
his brother’s tent, seems to be intended by the term “Ganilion
Oliver,” but if so, Chaucer has mistaken his name, which was
Bertrand — perhaps confounding him, as Tyrwhttt suggests,
with Oliver du Clisson, another illustrious Breton of those
times, who was also Constable of France, after Duguesclin. The
arms of the latter are supposed to be described a little above
30. Pierre de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, who captured
Alexandria in 1363 (see note 6 to the Prologue to the Tales).
He was assassinated in 1369.
31. Bernabo Visconti, Duke of Milan, was deposed and
imprisoned by his nephew, and died a captive in 1385. His death
is the latest historical fact mentioned in the Tales; and thus it
throws the date of their composition to about the sixtieth year
of Chaucer’s age.
32. The story of Ugolino is told in the 33rd Canto of the
“Inferno.”