The arblast was a cross-bow, the wind-lace the machine used in bending that weapon, and the quarrell, so called from its square or diamond-shaped head, was the bolt adapted to it.
1 (p. 284) epigraph: The lines are from Friedrich Schiller’s Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maid of Orleans; 1801; act 5, scene 11 ); the translation is by Scott.
2 (p. 286) The quiver … the shouting: The reference is to the Bible, Job 39:23-25.
3 (p. 287) “Something resembling a bar of iron, and a padlock painted blue on the black shield”: [Author’s note] Heraldry. The Author has been here upbraided with false heraldry, as having charged metal upon metal. It should be remembered, however, that heraldry had only its first rude origin during the crusades, and that all the minutiae of its fantastic science were the work of time, and introduced at a much later period. Those who think otherwise must suppose that the Goddess of Armoirers, like the Goddess of Arms, sprung into the world completely equipped in all the gaudy trappings of the department she presides over. In corroboration of what is above stated, it may be observed, that the arms which were assumed by Godfrey of Boulogne himself, after the conquest of Jerusalem, was a cross counter potent cantoned with four little crosses or upon a field azure, displaying thus metal upon metal. The heralds have tried to explain this undeniable fact in different modes; but Ferne gallantly contends that a prince of Godfrey’s qualities should not be bound by the ordinary rules. The Scottish Nisbet and the same Feme insist that the chiefs of the crusade must have assigned to Godfrey this extraordinary and unwonted coat-of-arms in order to induce those who should behold them to make inquiries; and hence give them the name of arma inquirenda. But with reverence to these grave authorities, it seems unlikely that the assembled princes of Europe should have adjudged to Godfrey a coat armorial so much contrary to the general rule, if such rule had then existed; at any rate, it proves that metal upon metal, now accounted a solecism in heraldry, was admitted in other cases similar to that in the text. See Ferne’s Blazon of Gentrie, p. 238; edition 1586. Nisbet’s Heraldry, vol. i. p. 113; second edition.
4 (p. 289) “close under the outer barrier of the barbican”: [Author’s note] Barriers. Every Gothic castle and city had, beyond the outer walls, a fortification composed of palisades, called the barriers, which were often the scene of severe skirmishes, as these must necessarily be carried before the walls themselves could be approached. Many of those valiant feats of arms which adorn the chivalrous pages of Froissart took place at the barriers of besieged places.
1 (p. 294) epigraph: The lines are written by Scott himself.
1 (p. 303) epigraph: The lines are from Shakespeare’s Henry V (act 3, scene 1).
2 (p. 310) “… and instantly follow me”: [Author’s note] Incident from Grand Cyrus. The Author has some idea that this passage is imitated from the appearance of Philidaspes, before the divine Mandane, when the city of Babylon is on fire, and he proposes to carry her from the flames. But the theft, if there be one, would be rather too severely punished by the penance of searching for the original passage through the interminable volumes of the Grand Cyrus.
3 (pp. 314-315) Whet the bright steel … I also must perish: [Author’s note] Ulrica’s Death-Song. It will readily occur to the antiquary that these verses are intended to imitate the antique poetry of the Scalds—the minstrels of the old Scandinavians—the race, as the Laureate so happily terms them, “Stern to inflict, and stubborn to endure, / Who smiled in death.” The poetry of the Anglo-Saxons, after their civilisation and conversion, was of a different and softer character; but in the circumstances of Ulrica she may not be unnaturally supposed to return to the wild strains which animated her forefathers during the time of Paganism and untamed ferocity.
1 (p. 316) epigraph: The lines were written by Scott himself; see chapter 18, note 1.
2 (p. 320) THEOW and ESNE … FOLKFREE and SACLESS: “Theow” and “Esne” refer to Gurth’s status as a serf, and “folkfree” and “sacless” to the freedom from serfdom now bestowed upon him by his master, Cedric. Scott borrowed the terms from a seventeenth-century text, Sir Henry Spelman’s Feuds and Tenures by Knightly Service (1641).
3 (p. 327) “I accept of no such presents, ” said the Knight: [Author’s note] Richard C?ur-de-Lion. The interchange of a cuff with the jolly priest is not entirely out of character with Richard I., if romances read him aright. In the very curious romance on the subject of his adventures in the Holy Land, and his return from thence, it is recorded how he exchanged a pugilistic favour of this nature while a prisoner in Germany. His opponent was the son of his principal warder, and was so imprudent as to give the challenge to this barter of buffets. The King stood forth like a true man, and received a blow which staggered him. In requital, having previously waxed his hand, a practice unknown, I believe, to the gentlemen of the modern fancy, he returned this box on the ear with such interest as to kill his antagonist on the spot. See in Ellis’s Specimens of English Romance, that of C?ur-de-Lion.
1 (p. 329) epigraph: The lines are from Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (act 1, scene 6).
2 (p. 331) morris-dancer: Here is another example of the historical freedoms Scott allowed himself in Ivanhoe. Like jousting tournaments, morris-dancing is anachronistic to the twelfth century; no records of it appear before the fifteenth century. That said, it is highly apropos to Scott’s themes, as traditional morris-dancing features the characters of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and Friar Tuck.
3 (p. 332) “Father Aymer, Prior of the rich Abbey of Jorvaulx”: [Author’s note] Jorvaulx Abbey. This Cistercian abbey was situate in the pleasant valley of the river Jore, or Ure, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It was erected in the year 1156, and was destroyed in 1537. For nearly three centuries, the ruins were left in a state nearly approaching to utter demolition; but at length they were traced out and cleared at the expense of Thomas Earl of Aylesbury, in the year 1807. The name of the abbey occurs in a variety of forms, such as Jorvaulx, Jervaux, Gerveux, Gervaulx, Jorvall, Jorevaux, etc. In Whitaker’s History of
