[75] Allusion to John Ziska, leader of the Hussites, who
waged a fierce war against Wenzel and the empire.
[76] Head of the House of Hohenzollern, Burggraves of
Nuremberg.
[77] This was the Dauphin, afterward Charles VII, whose
brother Jean, Duke of Burgundy, had, in 1407,
procured the murder of the Duke of Orleans.
[78] To _houspiller_ is to maul, pull about, abuse,
"worry like a dog"; hence the name _houspilleur_.
[79] The English cardinal, most powerful ecclesiastic of
the time.
[80] Assistant judges.
[81] Tipstaffs, constables.
[82] The Duke of Bedford (John of Lancaster), third son
of Henry IV of England, was regent of England and
France, which office he assumed on the death of
Henry V, in 1422.
[83] The memory of Jeanne d'Arc was long and shamefully
traduced by descendants of those enemies of France
whom she baffled. Even Shakespeare (_Henry VI_) is
so unjust to her--refining upon the brutal calumnies
of the historians--as to grieve his most loving
critics. It remained for the opening years of the
twentieth century to see the Maid canonized by the
Church which, as the agent of her country's foes,
was instrumental in her destruction.--ED.
[84] Translated by Chauncey C. Starkweather, M.A., LL.B.
[85] The Catalan Grand Company was a formidable body of
mercenary soldiers; it arose in Sicily during the
wars that followed the Sicilian Vespers.
[86] See 1291.
[87] Date uncertain.
[88] Date uncertain.
[89] A specimen of an early speaking-tube exists,
connecting the room said to have been occupied by
Isabella with the old brewhouse, now a tavern, by
means of which Mortimer was wont to communicate with
his mistress. The castle stands upon a mount of 280
feet, sheer rock, and the brewhouse is at its base.
A peculiarity of the tube, bored through the live
rock, is an elbow-joint, which is a puzzle to
scientists.
[90] Date uncertain.
[91] Often erroneously given as 1370, neglecting the fact
that, by the old manner of reckoning, the year began
on March 25th.
[92] Date uncertain.
[93] By the French it is claimed that Jean Charlier de
Gerson was the author of _de Imitatione Christi_,
usually attributed to Thomas à Kempis.
END OF VOLUME VII