1 (p. 48) epigraph: The lines are from James Thomson’s long poem Liberty (1735-1736; 4.668-670).
2 (p. 52) “I might even have made him one of my warders”: [Author’s note] Cnichts. The original has cnichts, by which the Saxons seem to have designated a class of military attendants, sometimes free, sometimes bondsmen, but always ranking above an ordinary domestic, whether in the royal household or in those of the aldermen and thanes. But the term cnicht, now spelt knight, having been received into the English language as equivalent to the Norman word chevalier, I have avoided using it in its more ancient sense, to prevent confusion.—L. T.
3 (p. 54) the most odiferous pigments: [Author’s note] Morat and Pigment. These were drinks used by the Saxons, as we are informed by Mr. Turner. Morat was made of honey flavoured with the juice of mulberries; pigment was a sweet and rich liquor, composed of wine highly spiced, and sweetened also with honey; the other liquors need no explanation.—L. T.
1 (p. 55) epigraph: The lines, slightly altered, are from Pope’s translation (1725- 1726; 20.314-317, 322-324).
2 (p. 56) the horns of the altar: See the Bible, Psalms 118:27.
3 (p. 61) a truce with Saladin: Saladin was the Western name given to the Sultan of Egypt and Syria whose attack on Christian Jerusalem in 1187 prompted the Third Crusade (1189-1192), in which Richard I participated. After mixed success, and never reaching Jerusalem itself, Richard negotiated a truce with Saladin in 1192.
1 (p. 62) epigraph: The quotation is from Shylock’s famous speech from The Merchant of Venice (act 3, scene 1). Scott borrowed much from Shakespeare, most notably the stagy, pseudo-medieval language spoken by the characters in Ivanhoe. With the choice of this epigraph, he explicitly holds up Shylock as his model for Isaac.
2 . (p. 65) “all the babble of the fabulous Sir Tristrem: [Author’s note] Sir Tristrem. There was no language which the Normans more formally separated from that of common life than the terms of the chase. The objects of their pursuit, whether bird or animal, changed their name each year, and there were a hundred conventional terms to be ignorant of which was to be without one of the distinguishing marks of a gentleman. The reader may consult Dame Juliana Berners’s book on the subject. The origin of this science was imputed to the celebrated Sir Tristrem, famous for his tragic intrigue with the beautiful Ysolte. As the Normans reserved the amusement of hunting strictly to themselves, the terms of this formal jargon were all taken from the French language.
3 (p. 65) Northallerton … the Holy Standard: The English defeated the Scots in a famous battle on Cowton Moor, near Northallerton, in 1138, at which the English carried the banners of Saints Peter, John, and Wilfred.
4 (p. 66) Knights Hospitallers: A militant order of monks founded in 1120 to superintend the Christian Hospital in Jerusalem. Their importance as a military force grew with the Crusades, and by the late twelfth century they were the Knights Templars’ principal rivals.
5 (p. 66) St. John-de-Acre: A strategically important port in northern Israel taken by Saladin in 1187, St. John-de-Acre was recaptured by the Crusaders four years later. The legend of a victory tournament began with the romance Richard Coeur de Lion (see note 15 to the Dedicatory Epistle, above), which is also Scott’s source for significant details of the Ashby tournament in Ivanhoe.
1 (p. 62) epigraph: The lines are from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (act 1, scene 3).
2 (p. 76) misery of Lazarus: It would be unlikely for a medieval Jew to refer to the New Testament (Luke 16:20-21), the parable of the poor man at the rich man’s gate. A further irony is that Isaac more resembles the rich man in the story than the beggar.
3 (p. 79) the Jews of this period: Scott significantly underplays the extent of persecution of the Jews at this time. Brought to England with the Normans, they were given royal protection by the Conqueror in return for enormous loans, but their situation in England deteriorated significantly under Richard I, whose coronation day itself was marred by pogroms. Isaac and Rebecca’s departure at the end of the novel is an implicit signal of how intolerable the combination of extortion and violence had become for the Jews in twelfth- century England. They were officially expelled in 1290 by Edward I and not readmitted until 1655.
4 (p. 80) the host of the Pharoah: Isaac recalls the biblical account of the fate of Pharoah’s army at the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 14:25.
1 (p. 83) epigraph: The lines are from John Dryden’s medievalist romance Palamon and Arcite; or, The Knight’s Tale (1699; 3.453—463).
2 (p. 92) Bride of the Canticles: Solomon is the ”wise king” whose Temple in Jerusalem Richard has failed to recapture. He is also the supposed author of the biblical Song of Songs, also known as the Canticle of Canticles, a set of poems famous for their lustrous evocation of female beauty.
3 (p. 94) William Rufus: William II of England went hunting in the New Forest in 1100 and never returned. He was shot, presumably by his companion Walter Tyrrell (who fled abroad), but whether by design or accident was never determined.
1 (p. 96) epigraph: The lines are from Dryden’s Palamon and Arcite (3.580-586).
2 (p. 99) The knights are dust … with the saints, we trust: [Author’s note] Lines from Coleridge. These lines are part of an unpublished poem by Coleridge, whose muse so often tantalises with fragments which indicate her powers, while the manner in which she flings them from her betrays her caprice, yet whose unfinished sketches display more talent than the laboured master-pieces of others.
