by Paul Finch
1Taken from lines 612-627 of the “Noble Tragedie.” See Appendix 2 for a discussion of this passage within Malory’s greater work.
2The apparently fictional “Emperor Lucius” first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae, although he may have been based on either of the Emperors Glycerius or Tiberius II Constantine. See Appendix 2.
3In fact, after the fall of Rome, the monasteries of the British Isles – in particular Ireland – were widely respected for their preservation of Classical knowledge. But in Malory’s time, Roman orthodoxy was ascendant once again, and England was becoming known as a home for heresy and dissent.
4St. Simplicius was Pope from 468 to 483 CE.
5A noble knight. While Turold is Lucan’s vassal, he is entitled to lead his own vassals into battle under his own banner.
6pelisson: a fur-lined waistcoat; scallops: a projecting collar on a cape or cloak; gypon: a padded doublet or tunic. The emphasis on Lucan’s and Turold’s lavish dress emphasises England’s sophistication, belying the New Romans’ perception of the English as uncultured barbarians. See Appendix 2.
7Literally “the palm game.” The medieval forerunner of tennis. In Malory’s time, paume was still played empty handed or with gloves; racquets would start to appear in the next century.
8The Chansons de Geste, or “Songs of Deeds,” were a genre of epic French poetry, telling the stories of great heroes of the past. Again, Malory is emphasising England as a home of culture, at odds with the Romans’ perception of the country as backwards and barbaric.
9See footnotes 6 and 8. The emphasis on fashion and the trappings of sophistication in the “Noble Tragedie” reflects Malory’s ideas on culture and morality. See Appendix 2.
10The eleventh-century Archbishop of Winchester, which Malory identifies with Camelot. Although anachronistic, Stigand – who was excommunicated by five successive popes – may have represented a strongly anti-Roman church to Malory, although he was notorious for using his position to secure personal influence.
11Probably Leo I, “the Thracian,” Byzantine Emperor from 457 to 474 CE.
12The Pentecostal Oath, which Arthur made his men swear in Book I of the Morte, “and every year... at the high feast of Pentecost.” Part of the Oath demands that “no man take no battles in a wrongful quarrel for no law, ne for no world’s goods.” Starting a war, if not in the defence of others, would presumably qualify.
13gittern: a small early guitar; dulcimer: a stringed instrument with a flat sounding-board, played on the lap by plucking or with hammers; reed-pipe: an early woodwind instrument.
14A heavy outer-robe with wide sleeves, worn by both men and women.
15Fourteenth-century castles in Kent and Hampshire, suggesting the route the New Romans took, from the Kentish coast – presumably Dover – to Camelot.
16A buttoned tunic.
17A medieval toilet shaft.
18A tax, which a vassal could pay in lieu of military service.
19It is here that Duke Corneus’s letter to his son – at the beginning of this edition – appears in the “Noble Tragedie,” but it seemed more fitting to introduce the translation with it, as it informs Lucan’s character throughout, and is redundant this late in the story. Narrative styles have changed, since Malory’s day; the letter reads as though Malory would have preferred to present it earlier.
20Battle-axes weighed between three and six pounds, which Malory as a knight would have known; he’s apparently presenting the Saxons as almost preternaturally strong, fierce warriors.
21Senior officers. The Primus Pilus was the senior centurion in a legion, while the Hastatus Prior was the centurion in charge of the front battle line.
22greaves, cops and cuisses: pieces of leg armour, covering the shins, knees and thighs, respectively.
23A form of petroleum. The Byzantine weapon, “greek fire,” very likely contained naphtha.
24A wheeled tower equipped with weapons platforms.
25A low-grade officer in charge of twenty men; a sergeant.
26The conflict between the ideals of chivalry and the brutality of war is one of the themes of the “Noble Tragedie.”
27Matthew 27:34.
28A cancellation of the “temporal punishment” owed by a soul in Purgatory before he may be admitted to Heaven.
29The legendary founders of Rome.
30The Stymphalides, or Stymphalian birds (for Lake Stymphalia, where they roosted), were fierce man-eating birds in Greek myth. Heracles’s sixth Labour was to destroy them, which he did by startling them into the air with a rattle and then shooting them down with a bow.
31“Elisionne,” per Malory. Elysium is the Classical Roman name for Paradise. As a pagan, Zalmyra would presumably not speak of the Christian Heaven.
32Middle English. The “wild man of the wood,” which appears widely in heraldic images and in carvings in English churches, much like the Green Man.