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Robbins Library Digital Projects > TEAMS Middle English Texts > King Arthur's Death: The Middle English Stanzaic Morte Arthur and Alliterative Morte Arthure > Stanzaic Morte Arthur, Part 1
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STANZAIC MORTE ARTHUR: FOOTNOTES
1 From which his armor was nobly (gentylly) fashioned (shore)
2 He does not keep to the high (main) road
3 And since he wants no one to know it
4 At that time it was the custom that, / When young knights were to show their shields for the first time, / They should bear arms all of one color (without any heraldic device) / Until the first year had passed
5 She was most often seen weeping, / So firmly was her heart set
6 He knew well by other signs in addition to her weeping
7 Do not make yourself sick for my sake
8 When they came alone by themselves (those two alone)
9 And then he told them about his amusements
10 Never a greater wonder did it seem to me
11 Even if by doing so he could have won the whole world
12 Sir, would it be your desire not to conceal it
13 That "My (wound) will be seen forevermore!"
14 And tell her not to long sorely for me
15 If only my husband knew this quickly!
16 That I ever had life in this nation (was ever born)!
17 Until I am clasped in cold clay (dead and buried)
18 May she never be so dear to you / That you give up performing deeds of arms; / Since I must remain alone in sorrow, / I would at least like to hear of your deeds of prowess
19 To amuse himself [he went] into the forest, / Which was in flower and had wide branches overhead
20 Adventures will begin very soon
21 I would like to know about her family lineage
22 I would very much like to know the cause
23 Then they wanted to know what it said
24 Though they searched out all the nobleness in the world
25 When I said that he belonged / To a lady or to some other maid
26 That he would not waste his love / In so low a place (a mere maiden) / But would rather love some noble and gae lady
27 He did not want her, as we can well see, / And therefore, that maiden, as white as a swan, is dead
28 I believe he never wronged you so much / That you ought so unjustly / To lie about him so churlishly
29 And, sir, you do not know right wisely (realize) / What harm has and could yet come from what you said
30 Madame, how can you come to us / When you yourself know so well
31 May You save and care for Launcelot
32 There is not one who would have refused this battle / Before her behavior became criminal
33 That he might grant him (Bors) success, / Give him the grace to win the battle
34 You who accuse her of treason, / Quickly see that you are ready to fight
35 Neither would flee nor advance one foot
36 One among all the squires there admitted
37 Of all the nights that you have gone to her, / None ever bothered me in any way / Or made my heart so sick / As this one does tonight
38 He had absolutely no fear of treason (betrayal); / He supposed there was no man on earth / Who would dare attempt to do him harm
39 I know that this news will be widely told
40 Can it be that Gahariet is dead and away from me?
41 Nothing but good ails Gahariet (he is all right)
42 prove [the accusation] false
43 Even if he could not prove it, he would slay some of my men
44 Unless no steel (sword) will go in him
45 Although their great sorrow was for the knight that was dead and away from them
46 Let not my lord (Arthur) be in the field of battle / And see that you yourself do not fight with me
47 And yet he rode about as fast as he could / To see that no man should be slain
48 He would place the land under interdict
49 Until one has sought (with a sword) the other's heart
50 [To see] on the field [of battle] who should have the prize
51 Nay, you may never expect reconciliation
52 Where the men were most eager to stay
53 And knelt and kissed Launcelot's foot and hand / And acknowledged him to be their lord, / And (promised) to obey his decrees / And to heed his laws
54 Arthur would not submit for lack of courage
55 With knobs on the tent poles bright as golden rings
56 Like a knight who was wise in his armor
57 She was very eager to succeed by (means of) her speech
58 That we shall turn aside for no obstacle
59 Each one arranged himself correctly (for battle)
60 But he had no sooner realized that attack, / Than out all his knights rushed
61 Gawain protected himself as he well knows how
62 He lacked not a bit of equipment; / He lacked no garment (armor) for war
63 Until one of them was dead or had surrendered
64 And yet, if you would come near me
65 Because of love (for you) and because you are the king's kinsman
66 Hardly any life remained in him
67 Launcelot proved he knew about war
68 So that she and her maidens could be clad [in new clothes for the wedding]
69 You can be sure it will be paid for
70 Do you expect to forbid me my desire?
71 Therefore he will not stop his evil deeds
72 Which he liked best to dwell in
73 But by the time that perilous battle was ended
74 And stirred the blood and bones of knights
75 Driven through with bright swords
76 They made a mound over each body, / So that all that ever walk or ride by / Might know some of them by their markers (on the mounds)
77 He went ever forth by the south side (of England)
78 And each (of the fiends) caught him by a limb
79 Like a troubled man with a disturbed mind
80 I have been beset by strong (painful) dreams
81 And try to set another day (for the battle), / Or truly this day I must be put to shame
82 By the time all (blows) are dealt on this down
83 And certainly, if we fail to keep our promises, / Let Arthur leap upon a steed
84 Let broad banners be brought forth (as a signal to attack)
85 But they lowered their spears; rushed
86 And fiercely they began to test each other
87 They robbed them of Byzantine coins, brooches, and rings
88 And, you can be sure, it must be paid for
89 You have been too long away from medical attention
90 Whatever may happen to us in this land (as we go) / To hear what lord has lost his life, / See that you do not rush to ride out (to help us)
91 Like one who did not know good from evil (in a daze)
92 Our desire (passion) has been too painfully bought and paid for
93 We must be determined to abstain / From what we once delighted in
94 He who saw that sorrow could tell of it forever
95 knew not evil from (i.e., in a daze)
96 Once I pledged my word to that; / Alas, I repent that I did so!
97 And cleansed himself of his sins by confession
98 Because they were all in a religious ecstasy, / They neither knew him nor did he know them
99 When they closely embrace that fair one (Ector, Bors' brother)
100 He wanted very much to know who this corpse was
101 But decided to dwell with them all and lead his life there
STANZAIC MORTE ARTHUR: NOTES
In the textual notes, corrections and emendations made by J. D. Bruce (see Bibliography) are accepted without comment. Additional changes made by Larry D. Benson in the edition on which this volume is based (see Preface to the Revised Edition) are indicated: Be.
Explanatory notes are Benson's, either verbatim or with minor changes to fit the format of this revision. Additional explanatory material is cited as follows:
F: Edward E. Foster, editor of this revision
M: Charles and Ruth Moorman, An Arthurian Dictionary. Oxford, Mississippi: University of Mississippi Press, 1978.
OED: Oxford English Dictionary
1 Lordinges: a familiar form of address for the audience at the beginning of romances. See, e.g., Havelok and the Pardoner's address to the other pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales. It implies nothing about the social status of the audience. (F)
152 The convention noted in lines 147-152 was not the case in actual life.
284 brown: the word is used in the sense of "shining, gleaming, or burnished" only with regard to swords or steel. (F)
309 MS hitte: hit him. (Be)
hood: "The part of a suit of armor that covers the head; applied to the helmet itself, or to a flexible head-covering inside the helmet" (OED).
361 The stanza beginning at 361 has only seven lines as does the stanza beginning at 1483; the stanza beginning at 3678 has only four lines; the stanzas beginning at 1176, 1318, 1490, 1920, 2318, 2716, 3130, and 3416 have only six lines. Nothing seems lost to the sense by these omissions or variations, although the six line stanzas beginning at 1176 and 1318 are at the beginning and end of the long gap in the MS.
457 The boards are set on trestles to form tables. Permanently assembled tables were still rare at this time.
603 Launcelotes sheld du Lake: Launcelot du Lake's shield. The inflectional ending is placed on the primary noun rather than on the last word of the noun phrase. The construction was disappearing in the fourteenth century but can be observed in Chaucer's "Wyves Tale of Bath" ("Wife of Bath's Tale"). (F)
764 Cross and Rood. The redundancy perhaps implies urgency. Benson notes, however, that the expression Cross on (or and) Rood is frequently used in this poem; the word cross is probably a metathesis of cors - body, as in line 2880, where Cors on Rood does appear.
840 No reason is provided as to why the squire wishes to poison Gawain and, within the narrative conventions of romance, none is needed: our interest is in what the effects will be for Guinevere. (F)
916 Guinevere has two choices: to be "defended" in combat or be tried by a group of the knights. She knows that if the latter occurs she is doomed.
1105 ender (Be). MS: [yogh]ender.
1350 Cross on Rood. See note to line 764.
1377 aguilte (Be). MS: gilte.
1396 Identical to line 1380.
1414 A missing line is provided here by Furnivall's conjecture, accepted by Br and Be. (F)
1472 Sometimes blake has the meaning white and Be glosses it thus. I think, however, that it is more likely that Lancelot is dressed in black and the more ordinary meaning can stand. (F)
1617-18 Compare Priamus's words to Gawain in the Alliterative Morte Arthure, lines 2646-49.
1831 hauberk: "Originally intended for the defense of the neck and shoulders; but already in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries developed into a long coat of mail, or military tunic, usually of ring or chain mail, which adapted itself readily to the motions of the body" (OED).
1951 The smock is a loose, usually white, simple sleeveless dress over which the other garments were put; the counterpart of a modern slip, though it would usually show beneath the vest, sleeves, cloaks, and such that were put over it.
2025 Launcelot apparently thinks Gaheriet fought against him.
2052 Launcelot offers to take part in a judicial duel of the sort he previously fought to prove Guenevere's innocence of the charge of poisoning.
2253 A papal interdict would deny the sacraments of the Church to everyone in the country.
2305 Benwick is Bayonne (or Beune), a city in southwestern France. See Alliterative Morte Arthure, line 587. (F)
2345 Joyous Gard then they (Be). MS: Ioyus gard the they. Joyous Gard is Lancelot's castle (fortress) in Northern England. (F)
2361 The heathen nations are in the Orient, from which silk came.
2466 Caerleon, in South Wales on the River Usk near the Bristol Channel, was one of the chief Arthurian cities. See Alliterative Morte Arthure, note to line 61. (F)
2639 The phrase wise . . . under weed has little real meaning and conveys only the idea of a "good knight."
2837 Gawain is Arthur's nephew.
2934 oute. Br reads cute.
2954 That false traitour, applied here to Mordred, is a commonplace epithet for Satan, who led the rebellion against God. (F)
2955 Mordred was the product of an incestuous union between Arthur and his own sister. Though little is made of it in this poem, Arthur's fall is partly a consequence of his own sin.
2957 The motif of the false steward, who evilly abuses his stewardship, is a familiar literary and folk motif. (F)
2960 Thus Mordred intends to commit incest, made worse since Guenevere is also his father's wife. (Compare line 2987.)
3121 his (Be). MS: hye.
3160 The Feast of the Trinity is the first Sunday after Pentecost.
3179 Besaunt: a coin of Byzantine origin, sometimes used as ornamental jewelry. (F)
3357 fewtered: placed spears against the "fewter," the spear rest on the saddle, into which the spear would be placed when the knight prepared to attack.
3376 Brutus. MS: Britain. Be notes the error but does not emend (F). Brutus is the legendary hero who, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (Book I), conquered what is now England from a race of giants and founded the nation to which he gave his name.
3413 names seven. The number seven commonly signifies a totality. Thus the seven names implies all the names of Jesus. But traditions reaching far back into the rabbinical commentaries often, in fact, identify seven specific names for God. According to The Jewish Encyclopedia, "The number of divine names that require the scribe's special care is seven: El, Elohim, Adonai, YHWH, Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh, Shaddai, and Zeba'ot" (9, 163). The seven names of the Lord are also referred to in The Second Shepherd's Play (lines 190-91), where Mak says: "Now lord, for thy naymes sevyn, that made both moyn and starnes /Well mo then I can neuen thi will, lorde, of me tharnys [is unclear]." See also Brian P. Copenhaver, "Names of God," in A Dictionary of Biblical Traditions in English Literature, ed. David Lyle Jeffrey (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1992), pp. 535-37, who notes more than one hundred and fifty substitute names for God and, in the New Testament, more than forty names and titles for Jesus.
3504 Possibly Morgan le Fay, Arthur's half-sister. Although often antagonistic to Arthur and Guenevere, she often helps heal Arthurian knights and assists in transporting Arthur to Avalon. (M)
3507 leching. In the fourteenth century, leeching had no necessary connection with the therapeutic application of leeches. It means simply "medical care" from OE laece, to heal.
3569 Aumsbury: Almesbury (or Amesbury): a town in Wiltshire where Guenevere retreats to a convent after Arthur's death. (M, F)
3628 nun (Be). MS: man.
3709 black and white (Be). MS: whyte and blak.
3759 The "recent events" are Mordred's treachery and Arthur's death.
3815 ring a bell (Be). MS: a bell ring.
3862 received in this line refers to receiving the sacrament of the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ, after having been forgiven (shriven) one's sins.
3896 fifth (Be). MS: fyfty.
Print Copyright Info Purchase
Stanzaic Morte Arthur, Part 1
by: Larry D. Benson (Editor) , Edward E. Foster (Revisor)
from: King Arthur's Death: The Middle English Stanzaic Morte Arthur and Alliterative Morte Arthure 1994
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