Note 10 — Chapter LV · The Battle of Crecy, between the Kings of France and of England.
Reading edition
[11] = amonge.
[12] That is, had been there dead if (and = an) it had not been for his page.
[13] almaygnes = Allemands = Germans.
[14] That is, makes him ready.
[15] Ensigns.
[16] Two.
[17] Mild maid,—the Virgin Mary.
[18] They.
[19] Fly.
[20] ’gan,—began.
[21] Ay,—yea.
[22] Feod,—one who owes fealty.
[23] The narrative has advanced five years since the last chapter. King John keeps his oath: he “sets out after” the prince, and in a short time brings on the great battle of Poitiers.—Ed.
[24] Some say it was composed of sulphur, naphtha, pitch, gum, and bitumen; others, that the ingredients are not now known. It was invented by Callinicus of Heliopolis, in the seventh century, to destroy the ships of the Saracens.—Ed.
[25] It was Arnaut (i.e., Arnold) de Cervolle who was surnamed the Archpriest.—Ed.
[26] After the battle of Poitiers the wretched land of France was tormented by all the ills of lawlessness. This chapter, and the next three, particularly those describing the Jacquerie, will show every boy the frenzies to which a people may be driven when the law is weak. In this case the arm of the law—King John—was wholly lacking in France.—Ed.
[27] Of Normandy.—Ed.
[28] That is, Jack Goodman.—Ed.
[29] Froissart’s Chronicles having been composed in four volumes, the peculiar nature of his work makes it well to preserve this division, aside from the general advantage of giving in unaltered form, so far as possible, the parts presented.—Ed.
[30] This is King Charles the Sixth of France, called “the Maniac.” The narrative has here advanced twenty-four years since we left King John in England, a prisoner, after the battle of Poitiers. John has died, and been succeeded by Charles V.,—“the Wise,”—who has reigned sixteen years, and died. We now go on to see how his successor, young Charles the Sixth, fares in his wars with Philip von Artaveld to recover the rights of the Earl of Flanders. I have chosen these special chapters because they give us lively pictures of manners and customs among a different people from those illustrated by the selections of the first book. The insurrection of Wat Tyler, of which Froissart gives such a lively account in this book, ought really to begin these first chapters, since it occurred in 1378,—two years before the coronation of King Charles,—in the reign of Richard II. of England. The period covered by my extracts from this second book is therefore from 1378 to 1382, when the battle of Rosbecq was fought.—Ed.
[31] I devote my selections from this book mainly to showing the manner in which the good canon Froissart picked up matter for his Chronicles from the conversation of chance travellers as he rode on his way; together with a glimpse of the handsome person and brilliant court of the great Béarnese lord Gaston Phœbus, Count de Foix. The time is the year 1388.—Ed.
[32] His mother had been sent by her husband to bring home her dowry, in the hands of her brother the King of Navarre. The latter refused to send it; and the lady therefore remained in his country, fearing the anger of her husband if she should return without it.—Ed.
[33] The young readers of Froissart may remember this passage when they come to read Chaucer’s account of the young squire who “Carf byforn his fadur at the table” (i.e., carved before his father at the table).—Ed.
[34] For the sake of further variety I extract from Froissart’s fourth volume a lively picture of a crusade against the Saracens. The time is the last decade of the fourteenth century; more particularly, two months of the year 1390.—Ed.
[35] Machines for throwing stones.—Ed.
[36] Which I have selected for a concluding chapter because it is the last but one of Froissart’s book, and brings before us several persons who have figured in the history, as dramatis personæ come forth at the last act of the play. Here are King Edward, with whose coronation my abridgment begins; Queen Philippa, whom we saw him marry; and King Richard II., whom we last beheld in front of Wat Tyler and his rebels.—Ed.