991. _to receyven_, i. e. to submit himself to any penance which the Pope
might see fit to impose upon him. Journeys to Rome were actually made by
English kings; Ælfred was sent to Rome as a boy, and his father, Æthelwulf,
also spent a year there, but (as the Chronicle tells us) he went 'mid
micelre weorðnesse,' with much pomp.
994. _wikked werkes_; especially the murder of his mother, as Trivet says.
See note to l. 894.
999. _Rood him ageyn_, rode towards him, rode to meet him; cf. l. 391. See
Cler. Tale, E. 911, and the note.
1009. _Som men wolde seyn_, some relate the story by saying. The expression
occurs again in l. 1086. On the strength of it, Tyrwhitt concluded that
Chaucer here refers to Gower, who tells the story of Constance in Book ii.
of his Confessio Amantis. He observes that Gower's version of the story
includes both the circumstances which are introduced by this expression.
But this is not conclusive, since we find that Nicholas Trivet also makes
mention of the same circumstances. In the present instance the French text
has--'A ceo temps de la venuz le Roi a Rome, comensca Moris son diseotisme
aan. Cist estoit _apris priuement de sa mere Constance, qe, quant il irreit
a la feste ou son seignur le senatour_,' &c.; i. e. At this time of the
king's coming to Rome, Maurice began his eighteenth year. _He was secretly
instructed by his mother Constance, that, when he should go to the_ [163]
_feast with his lord the senator_, &c. See also the note to l. 1086 below.
Besides, Gower may have followed Chaucer.
1014. _metes space_, time of eating. This circumstance strikingly resembles
the story of young Roland, who, whilst still a child, was instructed by his
mother Bertha to appear before his uncle Charlemagne, by way of introducing
himself. The story is well told in Uhland's ballad entitled 'Klein Roland,'
a translation of which is given at pp. 335-340 of my 'Ballads and Songs of
Uhland.'
'They had but waited a little while,
When Roland returns more bold;
With hasty step to the king he comes,
And seizes his cup of gold.
"What ho, there! stop! you saucy imp!"
Are the words that loudly ring.
But Roland clutches the beaker still
With eyes fast fixed on the king.
The king at the first looked fierce and dark,
But soon perforce he smiled--
"Thou comest," he said, "into golden halls
As though they were woodlands wild,"' &c.
The result is also similar; Bertha is reconciled to Charlemagne, much as
Constance is to Ælla.