_dromons_. See note on AYMERILLOT, L. 39.
_l'ordre teutonique_, the Order of Teutonic Knights. Originally
founded to protect the Christians in Palestine, the Teutonic
Knights received domains in Italy and Germany from the Pope and
Emperor, conquered Prussia (1228), and established there a military
power which lasted four centuries.
_hydre_. In Greek legend the hydra was a serpent with seven heads,
and, when one of them was cut off, two grew in its place. It is
Hugo's favourite figure for cruelty or tyranny.
_Lusace_ consisted of two margraviates, the upper and the lower.
_elle a peur du fleuron_, i.e. she is afraid to be marchioness. The
flower-shaped ornaments in a crown are called _fleurons_. A
marquis's coronet was adorned with 'fleurons' alternating with
pearls and the contrast between the pointed 'fleuron' and the round
pearl suggests the figure employed in the next line.
_tribunaux d'amour_, or _cours d'amour_, were the celebrated courts
of the Middle Ages, presided over by ladies of high rank, which gave
judgement in cases of love and gallantry and laid down laws for
lovers. They existed principally in France, especially in Southern
France.
L. 369. The Wends were a Slav people who lived in Lusatia, but the
name Thassilo is Bavarian.
_Nemrod_. See note on PLEINE MER, l.107.
_Fenris_: the great wolf of Scandinavian mythology whose growth was
such that the gods in fear chained him to a rock. Some day his upper
jaw will touch the sky, while his lower still rests on earth, and
then Odin will tremble for his throne.
_le serpent Asgar_. This serpent is probably of Hugo's invention and
its name taken from the mythical city of the Scandinavians, Asgard,
built by the gods and in which they often resided.
_l'archange Attila_. This is not the king of the Huns, nor is he one
of the known archangels. However, as the Scriptures mention only
three archangels, Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael, out of the seven,
Hugo may or may not be right in speaking of an archangel of the name
of Attila. _Le grand chandelier_ brought from the lower regions by
the archangel is merely a poetic fancy and a reminiscence of the
seven-branched candlestick of the tabernacle (Exod. XXV. 31-7).
_Actéon_. Actaeon in Greek mythology was a hunter who saw Diana
bathing, and was in consequence changed by the goddess into a stag.
L. 437. _chanfrein_, the piece of armour which covered the head of
the horse.
_Les chatons des cuissards sont barris de leurs clés_. A difficult
line. The _chatons_ were the studs or screws which held the
thigh-piece (_cuissard_) in its place, and the instrument which
worked them was called _la clé_. _Barrés_ appears to mean simply
'fastened'. Sir G.Young translates:--
'Their cuissart-studs up to the socket braced'
_boutoir_, the sharp spike on the knee-piece.
_crible_. The word refers to the visor with seven bars, which was
one of the marks of a marquis's rank.
_mortier_. The round cap which was the ancient emblem of
sovereignty in France. It was worn by barons who possessed full
powers of administering justice in their domains, also by the
presidents of the 'parlements', and by the chancellors. A modified
form is still part of the official dress of some of the judges of
the highest courts.
It will be noted that the antiquities in this passage are French,
not German.
_tortil_, a ribbon twisted round a crown, the special ornament of a
baron, not of a duke. It also signifies in heraldry a circular band
or pad to which heraldic negroes' heads were attached.
_rondache_, a round shield.
L. 492. The reference is to the coronet of a French marquis, which
bore eight jewelled ornaments, four of which consisted each of
three great pearls arranged as a trefoil, while the other four were
'feuilles d'ache,' the heraldic representation of the leaf of the
wild parsley.
_hydre_: see note on L. 323.
_timbre_, in heraldry, signifies anything placed above the
escutcheon to mark the rank of the person to whom it belonged. Here
Hugo seems to use it of the shield, perhaps because the triangular
shield was a mark of knightly rank.
_fauves_, here 'terrible'.
A chapter might be written on Hugo's bold and occasionally strange
uses of this word. Its primary meaning is either 'dull red' or
'tawny', but in Hugo's poetry it is used rather as a somewhat vague
epithet to suggest darkness, gloom, cruelty, savagery, or oppressive
power. It never denotes merely a physical quality; in such
expressions as 'leur fauve volée', speaking of the ravens in _La Fin
de Satan_, 'le désert fauve' (_Androclès_), 'son bec fauve', of the
vulture (_Sultan Mourad_), the suggestion of wildness or
ruthlessness predominates. Usually the word is used in a wholly
figurative sense. Thus in _La Fin de Satan_ the fallen archangel,
flying from Jehovah, is 'fauve et hagard', Barabbas stumbling
against the Cross is 'fauve', and of the lunatic in the tombs
it is said: 'fauve il mordait'. In all these cases the meaning is
'wild','savage '. In _Dieu_ we have `Vénus, fauve et fatale'
('cruel'), in _L'Ane_ les canons dont les fauves gueulées'
('terrible'), in _L'Année Terrible_'un hallier fauve où des sabres
fourmillent' ('wild'), and France is called upon to be 'franchement
fauve et sombre' ('fierce'). In the following passages we have
bolder uses still:
Le progrès a parfois l'allure vaste et fauve ('awe-inspiring')
Et le bien bondissant effare ceux qu'il sauve. (_Dieu_.)
If man had been unselfish,