51. _Alisaundre_, in Egypt, 'was won, and immediately after abandoned in
1365, by Pierre de Lusignan, King of Cyprus'; Tyrwhitt. Froissart (Chron.
bk. iii. c. 22) gives the epitaph of Pierre de Lusignan, king of Cyprus,
who 'conquered in battle ... the cities of Alexandria in Egypt, Tripoli in
Syria, Layas in Armenia, Satalia in Turkey, with several other cities and
towns, from the enemies of the faith of Jesus Christ'; tr. by Johnes, vol.
ii. p. 138. 'To this I may add, from "Les Tombeaux des Chevaliers du noble
Ordre de la Toison d'Or," the exploits recorded on a monument also of a
French knight, who lived in Chaucer's age, and died in 1449, Jean, Seigneur
de Roubais, &c. "qui en son temps visita les Saints lieux de Ierusalem, ...
S. Iacques en Galice, ... et passa les perils mortels de plusieurs
batailles arrestées contre les Infidels, c'est a sçavoir en Hongrie et
Barbarie, ... en Prusse contre les Letaux, ... avec plusieurs autres faicts
exercice d'armes tant par mer que par terre,"' &c.--Todd, Illust. of Ch.,
p. 227. _wonne_ (wunn[*e]), won.
52. _he hadde the bord bigonne._ Here _bord_ = board, table, so that the
phrase signifies 'he had been placed at the head of the dais, or _table_ of
state.' Warton, in his Hist. of Eng. Poetry, ed. 1840, ii. 209 (ed. 1871,
ii. 373), aptly cites a passage from Gower which is quite explicit as to
the sense of the phrase. See Gower, Conf. Amantis, bk. viii. ed. Pauli,
iii. 299. We there read that a knight was honoured by a king, by being set
at the head of the middle table in the hall.
'And he, _which had his prise deserved_,
After the kinges owne word,
Was maad _beginne a middel bord_.'
The context shews that this was at supper-time, and that the knight was
placed in this honourable position by the marshal of the hall.
Further illustrations are also given by Warton, ed. 1840, i. 174, footnote,
shewing that the phrases _began the dese_ (daïs) and _began the table_ were
also in use, with the same sense. I can add another clear instance from Sir
Beves of Hamptoun, ed. Kölbing, E. E. T. S., p. 104, where we find in one
text (l. 2122)--
'Thow schelt this dai be priour,
And beginne oure deis' [_daïs_];
where another text has (l. 1957) the reading--
Palmer, thou semest best to me,
Therfore men shal worshyp the;
_Begyn the borde_, I the pray.'
[7] See also the New Eng. Dictionary, s. v. _Board_; Hartshorne's Metrical
Tales, pp. 72, 73, 215, 219; Early Popular Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, i. 104;
Todd's Illustrations, p. 322. Even in Stow's Survey of London, ed. Thoms,
p. 144, col. 2, we read how--'On the north side of the hall certain
aldermen _began the board_, and then followed merchants of the city.'
Another explanation is sometimes given, but it is wholly wrong.
53, 54. _Pruce._ When our English knights wanted employment, 'it was usual
for them to go and serve in Pruce, or Prussia, with the knights of the
Teutonic order, who were in a state of constant warfare with their heathen
neighbours in _Lettow_ (Lithuania), _Ruce_ (Russia), and
elsewhere.'--Tyrwhitt. Cf. Gower, Conf. Amant. ii. 56.
The larger part of Lithuania now belongs to Russia, and the remainder to
Prussia; but in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the natives long
maintained their independence against the Russians and Poles (Haydn, Dict.
of Dates).
_reysed_, made a military expedition. The O. F. _reise_, sb., a military
expedition, was in common use on the continent at that time. Numerous
examples of its use are given in Godefroy's O. F. Dict. It was borrowed
from O. H. G. _reisa_ (G. _Reise_), an expedition. Pron. (reized).
Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, ed. 1840, ii. 210, remarks--'Thomas duke of
Gloucester, youngest son of Edw. III, and Henry earl of Derby, afterwards
Henry IV, travelled into Prussia; and, in conjunction with the grand
Masters and Knights of Prussia and Livonia, fought the infidels of
Lithuania. Lord Derby was greatly instrumental in taking Vilna, the capital
of that country, in the year 1390. Here is a seeming compliment to some of
these expeditions.' Cf. Walsingham, Hist., ed. Riley, ii. 197. Hackluyt, in
his Voyages, ed. 1598, i. 122, cites and translates the passage from
Walsingham referred to above. However, the present passage was written
before 1390; see n. to l. 277.
In an explanation of the drawings in MS. Jul. E. 4, relating to the life of
Rd. Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (born 1381, died 1439), I find--'Here shewes
how erle Richard from Venise took his wey to _Russy_, _Lettow_, and Velyn,
and Cypruse, Westvale, and other coostes of Almayn toward
Englond.'--Strutt, Manners and Customs.
56-8. _Gernade_, Granada. 'The city of Algezir was taken from the Moorish
King of _Granada_ in 1344.'--T. The earls of Derby and Salisbury assisted
at the siege; Weber, Met. Rom. iii. 306. It is the modern _Algeciras_ on
the S. coast of Spain, near Cape Trafalgar.
_Belmarye_ and _Tramissene_ (Tremezen), l. 62, were Moorish kingdoms in
Africa, as appears from a passage in Froissart (bk. iv. c. 24) cited by
Tyrwhitt. Johnes' translation has--'Tunis, Bugia, Morocco, Benmarin,
Tremeçen.' Cf. Kn. Tale, l. 1772 (A. 2630). Benmarin is called _Balmeryne_
in Barbour's Bruce, xx. 393, and _Belmore_ in the Sowdone of Babylon, 3122.
The Gulf of Tremezen is on the coast of Algiers, to the west.
_Lyeys_, in Armenia, was taken from the Turks by Pierre de Lusignan [8]
about 1367. It is the _Layas_ mentioned by Froissart (see note to l. 51)
and the modern _Ayas_; see the description of it in Marco Polo, ed. Yule,
i. 15. Cf. 'Laiazzo's gulf,' Hoole's tr. of Ariosto's Orlando; bk. xix. l.
389.
_Satalye_ (Attalia, now Adalia, on the S. coast of Asia Minor) was taken by
the same prince soon after 1352.--T. See Acts xiv. 25.
_Palatye_ (Palathia, see l. 65), in Anatolia, was one of the lordships held
by Christian knights after the Turkish conquest.--T. Cf. Froissart, bk.
iii. c. 23.
59. _the Grete See._ The Great Sea denotes the Mediterranean, as
distinguished from the two so-called inland seas, the Sea of Tiberias and
the Dead Sea. So in Numb. xxxiv. 6, 7; Josh. i. 4; also in Mandevile's
Travels, c. 7.
60. _aryve_, arrival or disembarkation of troops, as in the Harleian and
Cambridge MSS. Many MSS. have _armee_, army, which gives no good sense, and
probably arose from misreading the spelling _ariue_ as _arme_. Perhaps the
following use of _rive_ for 'shore' may serve to illustrate this passage:--
'The wind was good, they saileth blive,
Till he _took lond_ upon the _rive_
Of Tire,' &c.
Gower, Conf. Amant. ed. Pauli, iii. 292.
_be_ = _ben_, been. Cf. _ydo_ = _ydon_, done, &c.