Denis was the patron saint of France. In 626 Dagobert I founded the Abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris at the site where St. Denis was believed to be buried.

‘Askalon’ or Ascalon is a city in Palestine, north of Gaza, on the Mediterranean. It was captured by Crusaders in 1153 and recaptured by Saladin in 1187. The city is referred to again in line 1000 (‘Ascoloyne’).

Cf. the ‘General Prologue’ to the Canterbury Tales (lines 9–11), where Chaucer refers to this belief that nightingales sleep with an open eye.

An ‘alaunt’ is ‘a highly prized ferocious dog of a breed used in hunting, bull-baiting, etc.’; a ‘lymmer’ is ‘a hound trained to be led on a leash and to track game by scent’; ‘racche’ refers to ‘a dog that hunts by scent’ (MED).

Mahounde and Appolyne (Apollo) are gods thought to be worshipped by the Saracens.

Baldas is probably Bagdad. In The Alliterative Morte Arthure, the form ‘Baldake’ (for Bagdad) appears. The fact that Lucafere is also called ‘That cruel kinge of Cassaundre’ (line 986) does not necessarily argue against identifying Baldas as Bagdad. Cassaundre is probably Cassandria in Macedonia. However, Lucafere, who is also ‘Of Aufryke lorde and governoure’ (line 114), seems to have been granted many lands because of his prowess. It is also possible that the poet made Lucafere king of Cassaundre because he needed a rhyme for ‘Alisaundre’ in line 984.

The maintop is a platform at the head of the mainmast.

Here, as often in the romance, ‘gan’ is used as an auxiliary to indicate a past tense, much as we might use ‘did.’

The ‘Dosipers’ are the Twelve Peers or principal warriors of Charlemagne. The term, from the French ‘douze pairs,’ comes to be used as a synonym for ‘peer’ or ‘knight,’ so that we often find the etymologically redundant ‘Twelve Dosipers,’ as we do here. In the Chanson de Roland, the Twelve Peers are said to be Roland, Olivier, Gérin, Gérier, Bérengier, Otton, Samson, Engelier, Ivon, Ivoire, Anséis, and Girard. The list varies in different works. In this romance, as lines 1688 ff. suggest, the Twelve Peers are Roland, Oliver, Gy of Burgoyne, Duke Neymes of Baver, Ogere Danoys, Bery Lardeneys, Folk Baliant, Aleroyse, Miron of Brabane, Bishop Turpyn, Bernard of Spruwse and Bryere of Mountez.

The ‘Gallopes’ are perhaps the people from Gallipoli on the Southern shore of the Gallipolli Peninsula, at the east end of the Dardanelles.

The correct reading here is probably ‘Ascopars’ rather than the ms. ‘Astopars.’ Forms of the name with the c appear, as Hausknecht notes, in lines 2196 and 2648. A similar confusion between t and c takes place in line 1424 (where I have again emended to read ‘Ascopartes’). The Ascopartes are apparently a fearsome race of giants subject to the Sultan.

‘Askalous’ are people from Askalon (see note to line 32), also referred to as ‘Ascoloynes’ in line 1040.

Matins is the first of the canonical hours (i. e., the fixed parts of the Divine Office to be recited or sung at specified hours of the day). Matins is followed by lauds, prime, terce, sext, none, vespers and compline.

To hold ‘in fee’ means to possess ‘by a heritable right subject to feudal obligations’ (see OED, ‘fee,’ sb. 2, 1b).

St. Peter’s Basilica was built by the Emperor Constantine (beginning c. 324) and completed by his son Constantius (in c. 354). Tradition says it was built over the grave of Peter the Apostle.

Smyser sees details such as the reference to the Saracens’ cry of ‘antrarian’ to signify ‘joye generalle’ as a sign that the author took ‘an innocent if slightly ostentatious delight in airing his learning of things Saracen’ (p. 209).

There seems to be some confusion in this poem between Charlemagne’s sword ‘Joyeuse’ and the battle cry of his troops, ‘Monjoie.’ The identification of the two by the poet is paralleled by a linking of the two in the Chanson de Roland (see line 2510). The battle cry is derived, according to one theory, from Monte Gaudia, the hill from which pilgrims first see the eternal city. Another theory suggests that a ‘montjoie’ was ‘a mound or cairn of stones set up to mark the site of a victory’ and that the cry ‘Montjoie St.-Denis’ or, in a shortened form, ‘Montjoie’ ‘derived from the cairn set up at Saint-Denis on the site of the saint’s martyrdom (his spiritual victory)’ (see Dorothy Sayers’ translation of the Chanson de Roland, note to line 1181).

The phrase ‘with harde grace’ (literally ‘with bad luck’) is used as an imprecation.

There seems to be some confusion in this poem between Charlemagne’s sword ‘Joyeuse’ and the battle cry of his troops, ‘Monjoie.’ The identification of the two by the poet is paralleled by a linking of the two in the Chanson de Roland (see line 2510). The battle cry is derived, according to one theory, from Monte Gaudia, the hill from which pilgrims first see the eternal city. Another theory suggests that a ‘montjoie’ was ‘a mound or cairn of stones set up to mark the site of a victory’ and that the cry ‘Montjoie St.-Denis’ or, in a shortened form, ‘Montjoie’ ‘derived from the cairn set up at Saint-Denis on the site of the saint’s martyrdom (his spiritual victory)’ (see Dorothy Sayers’ translation of the Chanson de Roland, note to line 1181).

The ‘Baldesyns’ are the people of Baldas (Bagdad).

Durendal is the famous sword of Roland, given to him by Charlemagne who received it from an angel.

Tuesday is the day of Tiu, the Germanic war god, identified with Mars. The Latin name for Tuesday, ‘dies Martis’ (which survives in the French ‘mardi’) attests to the longstanding association of Tuesday with Mars.

‘Myrre’ or myrrh is a gum-resin used in perfumes and incense; ‘aloe’ is the fragrant resin or wood of the agalloch; ‘frankensense’ or frankincense is the gum resin chiefly from East African or Arabian trees of the genus Boswellia, which is used for incense.

On ‘Cassaundre,’ see note to line 113.

‘Inde Major’ probably refers to the part of India between the Ganges and the Himalayas.

‘Barbarye’ refers to the Saracen lands on the north coast of Africa. The ‘Barbarens’ in line 1042 are the people from this region.

‘Paens’ (pagans) suggests non-Christians, here probably referring to Muslims or Saracens. On the ‘Ascoloynes’ see the note to line 497.

St. Quentin is, according to The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, a ‘martyr of unknown date, recorded by Bede and some early martyrologies, mentioned by Gregory of Tours as having a church dedicated to him. The place where he suffered, Augusta Veromanduorum, is now called Saint-Quentin (Aisne).’ Legend makes him ‘a Roman citizen who came to preach the Gospel in Gaul with St. Lucian of Beauvais; Quentin preached at Amiens where the probably fictitious prefect Rictiovarus arrested and interrogated him, finally killing him by a series of fearsome tortures. . . .’

It is common in Middle English to use contrasting pairs to suggest completeness. Thus to say that the gods are false ‘by water and londe’ implies that they are entirely false.

In this line, ‘he’ refers to the hauberk.

The ‘holme’ tree is probably ‘the evergreen oak (Quercus ilex)’ (MED).

MED indicates that the form ‘maute’ as a past of ‘mene’ (here used in the sense of ‘to aim a stroke at someone’) is an error. The normal past forms would be ‘mente,’ ‘mant,’ or ‘mende.’

As Hausknecht suggests, ‘Berry Lardeneys’ must be a corruption of Thierry (sometimes appearing as ‘Terry’) d’Ardane.

According to tradition, St. Simon the Apostle went with St. Jude to Persia, where they suffered martyrdom (see The Oxford Dictionary of Saints).

The phrase ‘not worth a leek’ means ‘of little or no value.’

French and Hale suggest that ‘leve’ should be taken in the double sense of ‘leave alone’ and ‘fail.’ The sense of the lines is that Laban will follow the advice and force Charlemagne to surrender Ferumbras and depart from his territory.

A ‘quarelle’ is ‘a bolt for a crossbow, an arblast, or a siege engine’ (MED).

The verb of motion is understood in this line.

French and Hale suggest emending ‘pas’ to ‘par’ (bar, close). As it stands, the line suggests that the gates ‘pass by’ or ‘extend across’ the narrow paths.

‘The untutored and the learned’ is a contrasting pair used to indicate all people. Thus the meaning of the line is, ‘He spared no one.’

Jupiter and Ascarot, like Apollo and Mohammed, are taken to be gods of the Saracens.

A ‘besaunte’ is ‘a gold coin first struck at Byzantium or Constantinople . . . in value between the English sovereign and half-sovereign or less’ (OED).

Hausknecht believes that ‘Fremounde’ ‘cannot be the true reading, as it does not rhyme with kinge.’ There are, however, other places in the text where the rhyme is less than perfect. If he is correct, it may be that the scribe substituted the name of Fremund because he was an English saint. Though he may have been a fictional character, he was reputedly, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Saints, ‘a relative of Offa, king of Mercia, and of Edmund, king of East Anglia [who] became a hermit. But as he had royal blood, he was a possible claimant to the throne of Mercia and was killed by an apostate kinsman Oswy, with the help of some of the same Danish army who slew Edmund.’

‘Pellure’ refers to furs in general; ‘gryse’ is ‘a grey fur; prob. fur from the back of the Russian gray squirrel in winter’ (MED).