Benedicamus Domino. “Let us bless the Lord.” This is a verse in the Mass not often used in literature. The only other literary example known to Sm occurs in Philippe de Thaün’s Bestaire, in which a pearl is a symbol of Christ.

As in the other Middle English romances in this volume, Havelok begins with a formal exhortation to its audience. The convention, according to Sm derives from Old French epics and romances and consists of four parts: an exhortation to listen, a statement of subject, praise of the hero, and a prayer. Sa, on the other hand, links the poem to its cultural milieu: “Its Latin subtitle Incipit vita Hauelok quondam rex anglie et denemarchie must have matched some sort of popular realization that Englishmen of the North were in blood half-Scandinavian and that they just before the Conquest had actually been part of a dual kingdom of England and Denmark” (p. 55).

That refers to the king; thus, construe lines 27–30 as “It was a king in former days who in his time made good laws and upheld them; young people loved him, old people loved him.” Note the inverted sentence structure that emphasizes the object “him” twice by giving it syntactical priority.

Dreng and thayn are synonyms for a king’s vassals, though connotations may be distinct in other contexts, as Sa suggests when he defines a dreng in Northumbria at this time as “a tenant with military obligations” (p. 59).

Hunger ne here. As noted by Sm, hunger ne here is an Old English alliterative phrase used three times by Wulfstan, an Old English writer of homilies.

The. L: Þe. F&H: Þei. “They hid themselves and kept themselves still.”

his soule hold. Sm notes this as an unusual expression which occurs in Ywain and Gawain (line 887) where it refers to the widow’s concern for the soul of her dead husband: Upon his sawl was sho ful helde. Athelwold’s loyalty to his own soul is not narcissistic, but virtuous.

The source for the passage is Psalm 146:9: “The Lord preserveth the stranger; he relieveth the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.”

Bute it were bi hire wille. This distinguishes rape, which is punishable by medieval English law, from consensual sexual relations, though the issue is complicated in jurisprudence. The most complete articulation of rape laws is found in the Statutes of Westminster in the thirteenth century. Over time secular legislation conflated rape with abduction, shifting it from a crime done to a woman’s body to a crime done against the peace of the king.

As F&H note “even up to the time of the Commonwealth, mutilation was a legal punishment; it was occasionally forbidden, but continued to be practiced” (p. 77). Public punishment such as flogging, drawing and quartering, and various forms of mutilation often depicted graphically by romancers were thought to be a deterrent to crime in real life.

Sm notes these lines as an extensive example of a traditional eulogy of kings such as William the Conqueror and Henry I found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

folc ut lede. The sense of folc is “army.”

Sm notes the recurrence of these four lines in the account of King Arthur in the Anonymous Short English Metrical Chronicle of England. He surmises that Havelok was the source for the chronicle repetition and not vice versa.

To the victor belong the spoils. The victorious army carried off plunder, particularly valuable horses and armor. As F&H note, “the practice was deplored by moralists as unchristian, but is a matter of course in the romances” (p. 78).

On the dying of a king F&H write: “When a king was dying, the great nobles hastened to the capital, either out of sympathy or a wish to maintain order and look after their interests in arranging for a successor. The romancers made a conventional scene of this” (p. 79). It is important to note that King Athelwold has no male heir to maintain the peace he has established.

Roxburgh, a fort on the Scottish border, was often contested by opposing armies and changed hands frequently. Dover, on the southeast coast of England, is famous for its “white cliffs.” Traveling from Roxburgh to Dover would mean traversing the whole length of England. See also line 265.

Winchester was the Anglo-Saxon capital of England before the center of government was relocated in London. Important legislation in the poem, however, is enacted in Lincoln, the probable home of the poet.

F&H gloss corporaus as fine linen cloth. We have placed emphasis on its purpose rather than its fabric by glossing the term as communion cloth.

The missal contains the order of service used in the mass, the principal Christian liturgical rite; the chalice contains the wine used in communion; and the paten holds the bread wafer, called the “Host” (from Latin hostia, “victim”). After the bread and wine are consecrated, they are placed on a white linen cloth, the “corporal.” All of this “messe-gere” is holy by virtue of its use in the sacred re-enactment of Christ’s death that is the Eucharist. Hence, swearing an oath by these instruments is a serious matter.

Self-flagellation was thought to be an appropriate penance in general, though there is some dispute about whether it was more often a feature of dramatic representation than a realistic feature of life. Frederick Paxon, who charts the development of bedside rites for the dying in Christianizing Death: The Creation of a Ritual in Process in Early Medieval Europe (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990), concludes that the earlier focus on the fate of the dying person’s soul was replaced with a Germanic/Celtic concern with the needs of the dying person. However, according to the medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury, Henry I confessed, beat his breast, was absolved three times, and received unction before he died.

So mikel men micte him in winde, / Of his in arke ne in chiste. “So much [as a shroud] to wind him in among his possessions, neither in trunk nor chest,” since he had already given away so much in his will.

Louerde. L: Loude. Preceded by in manus tuas, this is a partial quotation of Jesus at the point of death (Luke 23:46): “Into thy hands [I commend my spirit].”

The “bower” and “hall” were two fundamental units of a castle or noble dwelling that persisted in some form throughout the Middle Ages. The hall was an open, public space used for dining, entertaining, or convening of nobles; the bower was a relatively more secluded area used for sleeping. The bower, it should be noted, was not necessarily a more private place. Yet the association of bower with ladies and hall with knights is appropriate; while one could find either sex in either place, the bower is associated more with the more intimate love of women, the hall with the masculine world of celebrating achievements and swearing loyalties to comrades. Compare with Beowulf, where the king and queen retire to the burgh while Beowulf and the retainers sleep on and around the same benches where they have feasted.

F&H note the subject shift from God to Athelwold’s soul in this line. The effect glorifies the king in that God himself should lead his soul into heaven. The attention to the king’s soul in line 74 is underscored here.

F&H note the use of itinerant justices in Saxon times: “They seem not to have held permanent commission, but to have been appointed in emergencies. Their function was to mitigate the injustice of local courts, which might be dominated by powerful nobles” (p. 84).

Sm comments on the significance of the road from Dover to Roxburgh: “The mention of Dover and Roxburgh as marking the extreme limits of England, as in [line] 139, is here in a context of peace-keeping and the king’s peace. This is why the AN [Anglo-Norman] Le Petit Bruit names a road from en long de Rokesburg jekis a Dover as one of les quatre royales chemyn parmy Engleterre — the four royal roads were under the king’s peace. . .” (p. 99).

Schireves he sette, bedels, and greyves (Sheriffs, beadles, and reeves). The sheriff, or “shire-reeve,” enforced law and order in the shire (county); the beadle was a sort of church police officer; and the grave or “greyve,” according to the OED, was a steward placed in charge of property, a reeve. In certain parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, each of a number of administrative officials formerly elected by the inhabitants of a township served this function for a town.

Outside the walled cities, protection was difficult and travel hazardous because of marauding thieves. Establishing peace in a violent environment is thus an extra-ordinary achievement.

The sense here is prophetic, i.e., that many a tear would be wept for Goldeboru’s sake.

Quanne the Erl Godrich him herde (When the Earl Godric heard). “Him” is a reflexive pronoun that would normally be dropped in modern English.

Wether (whether) functions as an interrogative particle, which signals that a question is coming.

Datheit (Curses) is said to be a contraction for odium Dei habit.

Note the recurrence of the verb yeme here. In lines 190 and 206, the dying Athelwold made Godrich promise to “yeme” her “well”; by saying that he has “yemed” her “too softe,” Godrich creates perhaps an unconscious double meaning. He is obviously saying (and in his state of jealousy and malice he would naturally mean), “She has grown up to be too pampered,” but of course he is to blame because it is he who has not followed the king’s dying wish that he guard her “wel.”

This is perhaps another way of saying, “As long as I have a head on my shoulders.” Note that “blake” here probably means “white” (compare French blanc or more likely OE blac meaning “pale”). See lines 48 and 2165 for a possibly similar usage.

Contrast this sort of fasting with King Arthur’s refusal to sit down and feast until he had seen some marvel in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

There may be a pun on fede, which as a noun can mean “hostility.” In its verbal form, to “feed” or “keep,” it has a range of meanings both positive and negative. Godrich is probably not interested in comforting or nurturing Goldeboru. Rather, he misconstrues his duties to protect those who cannot protect themselves and holds her captive instead.

He refers to deth in line 354.

kaysere. A Germanic form of the Latin caesar.

Chanounes gode and monkes bothe. A canon might be a priest of a cathedral church or a member of a particular religious community.

under mone. In other words, “in the whole world.” Medieval writers often distinguished between events below and above the moon, as everything beneath the moon’s sway was thought to be subject to Fortune.

That hire kin be ful wel queme. The reading here depends on whether the third word in the line should read “kin” (“their relations will indeed be pleased”) or is actually a scribal error for “kind” (“type,” “nature,” “rank”). Sa suggests “that it indeed quite befits their rank” (p. 68).

For writers of the Middle Ages, Judas, the arch traitor of Christ in the Gospels, was the archetype of treachery and betrayal. Both Godard and Godrich are called by this arch traitor’s name, though Godard is called Satan in line 2512. See line 319.

Note the pathetic and very ironic scene here: the boy, to save his life, offers feudal homage (manrede) to a lord whose last thought is to protect the child.

Avelok. This is the French name to which Havelok is etymologically linked according to Sa. It equates with OE Anlaf, a Scandinavian form of Olaf. Sa suggests a historical connection to Olaf Sictricson (p. 57).

Ynow means literally “enough,” but this typical Middle English stock phrase often understates the situation.

Al so lith was it therinne / So ther brenden cerges inne. “It was as light in there as if candles were burning there.” Al so / so are correlatives that connect or compare two statements.

For man shal god wille have. F&H suggest a meaning for this line: “People are naturally kind” (p. 97).

kynmerk. A king’s birthmark attests to royal birth. Sm notes only one other example of the word (slightly modified) in the ME Emaré, lines 503–04: “A fayr chyld borne and a godele; / Hadde a dowbyll kyngus marke.”

Al Denemark and Engeland. Grim’s prophesy is fulfilled by the poem’s end not only by Havelok’s reappropriation of his homeland and his victory over Godrich and marriage to Goldeboru, but also by the marriages of Grim’s daughters to Englishmen of noble rank.

cherles often means “villeins,” non-free peasants bound to work the land, donating a portion of their produce and labor to the lord of the manor. Because the basic definition of “cherle” is a person from the lowest orders of society, the word is often used as an insult (e.g., line 683), or here, as a label of self-abasement.

Pastees (pasties) are meat pies; flaunes, custard, or cheese pies. These are dishes that were an integral part of a professional cook’s repertoire. Terence Scully explains in The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1995): “What the professional cook dealt with from day to day in the thirteen and fourteen hundreds were menus consisting of well-rounded meals of soups, stews, pies, torts, flans, biscuits, roasts, sauces, jellies and ‘desserts”’ (p. 3).

Villeins (peasants) could be released by their lords and become equals of freeborn men in the eyes of the law.

Sa suggests the reading “‘So that it [should] fear neither sound nor inlet;’ sond can also be ‘sand’ with the extended meaning ‘shoal water;’ but ‘sound’ seems more appropriate and is quite possible orthographically” (p. 76). F&H translate sond and krike as bodies of water. Since Grim has just finished placing pitch in the seams of his boat, it is likely that this line refers to the craft’s water worthiness. It is sound because it does not creak or leak, for that matter.

“Bise” appears in Old French works as a common word for the North Wind (see, e.g., Pelerinage de Charlemagne, line 354). According to the MED, Havelok is the only Middle English romance in which this term appears.

The Humber River, now the center of the modern county of Humberside, divides what is considered northern England (Yorkshire and northward to the Scottish border) from the English midlands (Lincolnshire south to London). Lindsay is still a division of the county of Lincoln.

The place took its name from Grim (i.e., the present port of Grimsby in Humberside). This line reflects a popular local legend of a fisherman by the name of Grim who founded a town that bears his name. Reputedly the legendary Grim, like the Grim of the poem, befriended an exiled prince. Sm’s edition depicts a twelfth-century town seal with three names and figures inscribed on it — Grym, Habloc, and Goldeboru. Robert Mannyng of Brunne tells of a stone that was allegedly thrown by Havelok against his enemies and indicates the chapel where he and Goldeboru were married (p. 78). For an interesting interpretation of Grim, see Maldwyn Mills, “Havelok and the Brutal Fisherman.”

For an interesting interpretation of the catalogue of fish see Roy Michael Liuzza, “Representation and Readership in the ME Havelok.” Liuzza sees the emphasis on fish as “part of a system of exchange in which money rather than chivalric honor is the source of value” (p. 510). Such exchange systems lend Havelok a realism that few romances of the time can claim.

A lamprey is an eel-like fish with a mouth like a sucker, pouch-like gills, seven spiracles or apertures on each side of the head, and a fistula or opening on the top of the head (OED). F&H’s note on the lamprey is interesting in relation to this rather unappetizing description: “A ‘great’ lamprey weighed as much as five pounds, and sold for three shillings. . . . It was highly prized as a delicacy. Henry I is said to have brought on a fatal illness by partaking too freely of lamprey” (p. 104). His cooks must have prepared the lamprey properly, i.e., soaked it to its death in wine before cooking, then serving it in a gelatinous galantine sauce.

Havelok’s insatiable appetite reflects his regal deprivation. Only when he comes fully into his royal estate can his nature be satisfied. His vast appetite becomes a comic send up on his political displacement rather than a sign of gluttony or avarice. In his effort to win his own bread he becomes a lord at all degrees. See also lines 828 ff.; 911–26; and, in the conclusion, line 2986, where his having been fed is deemed a key component of his biographical summary. See note to line 1726.

ferthinges nok. A farthing from medieval to quite modern times was worth a quarter of a penny. A “corner” of a farthing would be a very little bit; the idiom reflects the illegal practice of clipping off bits of coins for the silver, which might, when collected, be sold as bullion.

nouth a slo. An expression referring to a sloeberry, a fruit of a blackthorn tree used as a metaphor for “something of little value,” an “insignificant amount,” or to mean “not at all,” to “care nothing for.”

Plaice is a type of European flatfish, often preferred over other species such as salmon, mackerel, and turbot. It is still quite a popular dish in the British Isles.

Presumably, Havelok was carrying the load on his head.

Wel is set the mete thu etes. Echoes the proverb in line 1693: wel is him that god man fedes. Here the earl’s cook sees an opportunity he cannot refuse.

Havelok, as orphaned king’s son and kitchen knave, has been referred to as a “male Cinderella.” He joins the ranks of a long tradition of male Cinderellas and their stories including a number of Arthurian knights and Horn. See Donald G. Hoffman, “Malory’s Cinderella Knights and the Notion of Adventure,” Philological Quarterly 67 (1988), 145–56. For gender politics in these tales, see Eve Salisbury, “(Re)dressing Cinderella,” in Retelling Tales, ed. Alan Lupack and Thomas G. Hahn (Rochester: D. S. Brewer, 1997), 275–92. Kitchen drudgery prepares the hero for his future role as king. Analogous to Cinderella’s shoe, Havelok’s kynmark is a hidden sign of nobility, both of character and of class.

The turves were pieces of turf or peat moss cut from the ground and stacked to dry, then used as fuel. Star grass, a name given locally to various coarse seaside grasses and sedges, according to the OED, was used for kindling.

unride. See Sk’s extended discussion of the term as indicative of a large, cumbersome or rough garment; of the body, a deep, wide wound; of metal, something great; of politics, something unwieldy; of sound, something loud or tremendous (p. 164).

dones. He “dons” them, i.e., puts them on.

Havelok’s height recalls the biblical King Saul, who was taller than the men around him and admired for his physical beauty. Nobility was presumed to inhere in such men, though giants were often portrayed as outlaws or Philistines (such as Goliath) in Scripture and medieval romance.

With hire ne wolde he leyke. L: Þit hire ne wold leyke. Sm: Wit hire. F&H: With hore. Hire could refer to a woman who prostitutes herself for hire, or who is at least a woman of sexual experience. Given the economies of exchange in the poem, sex is another mode of negotiation. The OE hóre originally meant adultery, but gradually became more closely associated with female sexuality, perhaps in part because hire is a feminine possessive pronoun. Sm rejects the emendation to hore on grounds that it is “paleologically very improbable” (p. 119).

Mani with ladde, blac and brown. Black could refer to peasants; brown, as F&H suggest (p. 112), can mean “persons of all ranks” or “peasants,” since peasant complexions are often described as black or brown, noble faces as red or white. Thus, this phrase may mean “people of every rank” or “the lower classes.” See also line 2847, where the metaphor is clearly political, as people of all ranks swear manrede to Goldeboru. But see also the note to line 1909, where the idiom “broune or blake” may refer to “dark or fair” complexion, with broune meaning dark and blake meaning pale or fair.

And pulten with a mikel ston. The sport, analogous to shotput, was popular among Germanic peoples, though it is also found in the legends of other cultures. Robert Mannyng of Brunne in Lincolnshire claimed that the stone Havelok throws was preserved in a Lincoln castle in his day (c. 1338). Such chronicle accounts encourage historical identification. (See also lines 1032–37).

F&H make a distinction between chaumpioun and kempe. While the former means “competent athlete, man of valor,” the latter means “outstanding performer among many good ones” (p. 113).

Onlepi foru. The aristocratic Godrich imagines Havelok incapable of ever becoming landed by any means.

Whether simply introduces a question here. See note to line 292.

Ther weren penies thicke tolde. “There were pennies thickly counted,” i.e., a lot of them. Mass pennies were given as an offering for the nuptial ceremony.

He ys hire yaf and she is tok. L: she as tok. F&H emend as to is, and gloss ys as them. Their note is helpful here: “Part of the money was the clerk’s fee, part was a symbol that the wife was endowed with the husband’s worldly goods . . . and part might be payment for the wife’s virginity” (p. 118). According to Christopher Brooke in The Medieval Idea of Marriage (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989): “Each partner is to rehearse his and her consent; the woman’s dower is to be confirmed, and some pennies set aside to be distributed among the poor. . . . Marriage from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries and beyond was a public event, rather than private or clandestine, accompanied by the publication of banns and witnessed by parish or community members” (p. 249). The money is taken by the bride as part of her dowry.

Thanne he komen there thanne was Grim ded. “Thanne. . . thanne” is a correlative construction linking the clauses: “When they arrived there, [then] Grim was dead.” The second “thanne” is best left untranslated in modern English.

Wesseyl ledden he fele sithe. “They drank healths (toasted) many times.” “Wessail” derives from OE wes hael — “be healthy; to your health.”

That ich fley over the salte se. This line could mean: “That I fled over the salty sea” or “That I flew over the salty sea.” Given the context, it is a little more likely that “fley” means “fled.”

and Huwe Raven. L: h aven. In the Dictionary of British Surnames, Percy H. Reaney lists Raven as having derived from ON Hrafn or OE Hraefn or as a nickname from the bird. The surname may also indicate a link to Norse mythology. The trickster god Odin kept two ravens — Huginn and Manimen — to act as advisors and messengers. Rede, also Read, Reade, Reed, Red, Redd or Reid, he conjectures, indicates OE redd “red” of complexion or hair (p. 292). The closest Reaney comes to Willam Wenduth is William Wende, a thirteenth-century listing, derived from OE wende meaning “dweller by the bend” (p. 375).

The jewel in the ring was worth a hundred pounds, an enormous amount of money in the Middle Ages.

He was ful wis that first yaf mede. Proverbial. See Bartlett Jere Whiting, Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases from English Writings Mainly before 1500 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968), p. 226; entry G78: “He was full wise that first gave gift.” Whiting cites similar passages in Tristrem 19.626–27, Gower’s Confessio Amantis V.4720 and V.4798; and Wyntoun VI. 199,6450.

red. Sense uncertain. Perhaps red means “of ruddy complexion” or “sanguine of disposition”; but more likely the sense is “wise,” or “well-advised,” or “well-counselled.”

The types of fowl on the menu — cranes and swans — were more common for a medieval feast than they might be now. Cranes, as many other wild fowl, were roasted over an open flame often with a special basting sauce to keep them moist. Presentation was just as important as the dish itself. Swans, peacocks, and other birds of extraordinary plumage underwent an elaborate skinning procedure so that they could be served inside their own skin replete with feathers. The idea was to present the dish as if it were still alive. Food often took on symbolic significance in the Middle Ages. See Robert W. Hanning. For the appetites of medieval romance heroes see Susan E. Farrier, “Hungry Heroes in Medieval Literature,” in Food in the Middle Ages: A Book of Essays, ed. Melitta Weiss Adamson (New York: Garland, 1995), 145–59.

Pyment. Meaning spiced wine, pyment differs from claré, which is spiced wine mixed with honey, not to be confused with the modern claret, a fine red wine.

Ale is considered a lowly drink, unfit for even a page at such a feast, at least in this poem. In general, however, beer and ale were served and consumed as regular table beverages, preferable even to water. Andrewe Boorde, writing in the mid-fifteenth century, says: “Ale for an Englysshe man is a naturall drynke” (as quoted in Terence Scully, The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages [Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1995], p. 153.)

greyves. Not to be confused with shin armor, this term refers to the house of the grave, i.e., the night watchman’s place of residence. (See note to line 266.)

bi Seint Austin. This could refer to either Augustine, Bishop of Hippo and author of a number of widely read works in the Middle Ages including Confessions, or Augustine of Canterbury, the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

In feteres and ful faste festen. Notice how the alliteration in this line underscores Bernard’s oath.

barre. The sliding beam that secures the door.

Comes swithe unto me. Armed with his cross beam, Havelok’s command strangely echoes Christ’s “come unto me.” Here the true lord calls with a grim irony; his cross piece will be their death. It is noteworthy that Havelok’s “kynmerk” (birthmark) on his shoulder is a cross. See note to lines 2037–45, where his wounds make him more kin of Christ than kin of Cain.

That havede he nevere schrifte of prest. In other words, he was killed so fast that he did not have time to give his confession to a priest or receive the last rites (quite an understatement).

bere beyte. Bear baiting was a cruel sport enjoyed by lovers of violence in England until it was officially banned in 1835. The bear was lugged (chained by his neck or hind leg to a log or something more secure), and dogs were turned loose on the creature. The dogs were often killed or mauled and the bear seriously torn. Detailed accounts may be found in Joseph Strutt, The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, from the Earliest Period . . . Illustrated by Reproductions from Ancient Paintings, 1801; rpt. London: Thomas Tegg, 1834, rev. in a new edition, much enlarged and corrected by J. Charles Cox (London: Methuen & Co., 1903). See especially pp. 204–08 in Cox’s revised edition. Though officially banned in 1835 the sport continued illegally for a couple more decades, the last recorded entertainment being in West Derby in 1853. Sometimes the bear was blinded and whipped to add to the sport.

Romance heroes occasionally use clubs as weapons, though not always with comic effect as in this scene, but rather as a serious demonstration of knightly potential (e.g., Sir Degaré, Sir Perceval).

of the broune and of the blake. Sa glosses as “Of the brown and of the fair.” Blake comes from OE blāc, meaning white. See also lines 1008, 2181, and 2249.

Griffin Galle. L: Giffin Galle. Griffin, a name probably of Breton origin, was used as a nickname for the Middle Welsh Gruffydd. Galle was a well-known surname in Lincolnshire in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Sm notes that there are other examples combined with “Christian names such as Walter or Arnald. . . . But in Havelok, the combination of this surname of Celtic origin with the non-English Griffin is striking” (p. 136). In the Dictionary of British Surnames, second ed. (London: Routledge & Kegan, Paul, 1977), Percy H. Reaney comments: “The name in England is found in the counties bordering Wales and also in Lincolnshire where it was of Breton origin. In Brittany where the name was common, it was applied to immigrants from France” (p. 139).

The beholding of the young lord’s wounds is perhaps another allusion to the hero’s miraculously redemptive role as opponent to “Kaym kin” (line 2045). See note to line 1798.

A palfrey was a small saddle-horse used for riding, usually for women or ecclesiastics, and never for war. It would be humiliating for a knight to ride to combat or tournament or even to his execution on a palfrey.

I shal lene thee a bowr. See note to line 239.

Sa remarks that the line means: “‘That it was a mark of kingship that they saw’; the word kunrik is probably an error for kynemerk of line 604” (p. 108). Sm, on the other hand, rejects Sk’s emendation on the grounds that kunrik is not a noun, but an adjective meaning “of exalted birth” (p. 137).

F&H note the widespread belief that precious stones gave off light at night. The fifteenth-century Peterborough Lapidary entry for carbuncle is as follows:

Carbuncculus is a precios stone, & he schineth as feyre whose chynyngis not overcom by nyght. It chineth in derk places, & it semeth as it were a feyr; & ther bene xii kyndes ther-of, & worthyest ben tho that schynen & send owte leemes as feyre, as Ised. Also it is seyd that the carbunocyl is cleped so in grek, & it is gendryd in libia amonge the tregodites. Of this carnuncul ther is xii maneris of kendes of carbuncles. But thoo ben best that han the coleour of fire & tho ben closed in a wyght veyne. The best carbucul hathe this propirtie: if it is throwene. In the feyre it is qwent as it were amonges dede colis. (English Mediaeval Lapidaries, ed. Joan Evans and Mary Serjeantson, EETS o.s. 190 [London: Oxford University Press, 1933; rpt. 1960], p. 82)

Bothe brune and the blake. See note to line 1009.

Gamen here literally means “fun,” “sport,” but in a cheerful, jesting way means “ritual [of homage].”

He here refers to Ubbe in the next line.

That com of Adam and of Eve. I.e., that was born of the human race started by Adam and Eve — in other words, everyone.

Note the reference to romance reading in the context of leisure. Some medieval medical authorities considered reading a good story for the sake of pleasure and the release of emotion and laughter a sound measure for good health. See Glending Olson, Literature as Recreation in the Middle Ages (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982).

Bull and boar-baiting were common medieval pastimes. A bull or boar was tied to a stake or set in a pit, and dogs were let loose to annoy and irritate the larger animal. See note to line 1840.

And everilk fot of hem he slowe. Fot here stands for person — thus, a synecdoche, in which a part of something stands for a whole.

Hise nese went unto the crice. He is bound on his steed face down and backwards, with his nose in the cleft between the horse’s buttocks.

As F&H explain (p. 158), the wall would have been lined with benches.

At this foule mere tayl. Just as riding a palfrey would humiliate a knight, so too would riding a mare. Even more humiliating would be being tied to its befouled tail. F&H note: “Criminals drawn to the gallows were placed on hurdles or a cowhide that they should not be battered to death on the way. The ‘foule mere’ was an added humiliation, since a knight was usually allowed to ride to his death on a charger. The traces of harness may have been attached to the nail in line 2479. Chains were used to hang for a long time” (p. 158).

A traitor’s estates were confiscated by the Crown.

sayse. The appropriate definition of the term here is: “To put in legal possession of.”

monekes blake. The poet may be referring to the Grimsby Abbey monks — Augustinians, founded by Henry I, chartered by Henry II, given to Henry VII, and torn down for a farmhouse. But “black monks” generally refers to Benedictines. Augustinian (Austin) friars were a mendicant order that arrived in England in 1248. Ma’s early speculation dated the founding of the house of Austin friars in 1293.

That is repeated here from line 2555 for intensifying purposes.

Grethet als men mithe telle a pund. “As men might count out a pound.” F&H suggest counting out a pound penny by penny (the only way to make change) would have taken quite a long while. But this meaning, which they accept, does not seem to make sense here, except vaguely as “matter-of-factly” (p. 163).

bi Seint Davy. St. David, the sixth-century patron saint of Wales whose cult, most evident in the city of the same name, nonetheless spread to other ecclesiastical centers (Sherborne, Glastonbury, and Salisbury). Sm finds it curious that this particular saint should be invoked in this particular English poem and wonders how the poet came to know St. David. The answer, he says, is “to be sought in certain Welsh connections of the cathedral and the monastic community of Lincoln. The prominent Welsh writer and churchman Giraldus Cambrensis, who wrote a Vita of St. David, had withdrawn from court life after 1194 to go and study at Lincoln under William of Leicester (then Chancellor of Lincoln), and was there from at least 1196 to 1198. . . . It does not necessarily follow that the author of Havelok had read Gerald’s Vita (or any other). But it does seem likely that he was in some fashion exposed to the ecclesiastical interest in St. David at Lincoln, and therefore he may have lived in Lincoln (as is also suggested by the signs that he knew the city at first hand)” (pp. 154–55).

Him stondes wel that god child strenes. Proverbial. See Whiting, Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases, C224, p. 83.

A Pater Noster (Our Father) is the Lord’s Prayer.