1 Rivingtons" Historical Biographies.
2 Demonology and Witchcraft.
3 See the Andredsweald, a tale of the Norman Conquest, by the same author.
4 He was the last lord of Pevensey of his race, all his land and honours being forfeited in 1235 for pa.s.sing over into Normandy without King Henry the Third"s license.
5 Lord of Lewes Castle from 1242-1304, a local tyrant.
6 There were then no family names, properly so called; the English generally took one descriptive of trade or profession, hence the mult.i.tude of Smiths; the Normans generally then name of their estate or birthplace, with the affix De. Knight"s Pictorial History, volume 2, page 643.
7 His literary acquirements, unusual in the time, increased his influence and reputation. Knight"s Pictorial History.
8 How did I weep in Thy Hymns and Canticles, touched to the quick by the voices of Thy sweet-attuned Church, the voices flowed into my ears and the truth distilled into my heart.
Saint Augustine"s Confessions volume 9 page 6.
9 Afterwards the site of the battle of Edgehill.
10 See his biography in Macmillan"s Sunday Library.
11 Ethelflaed, Lady or Queen of the Mercians (under her brother Edward, son of Alfred), threw up certain huge mounds and certain stone castles, to defend her realm and serve as refuges in troublous times. One site was Oxford, and it is the first authentic event recorded in the history of the city--the foundation of the university by Alfred being abandoned by scholars, as an interpolation in a.s.ser, the king"s biographer.
12 The Rival Heirs, or the Third Chronicle of Aescendune.
13 Because in later times some poor Jews were burnt there.
14 Like those still seen at Tewkesbury Abbey, of similar proportions.
15 The date of the surrender was November 16, 1537. It was granted to Thomas Cromwell, February 16, 1538. It was at once destroyed by skilled agents of destruction, and the materials sold. Cromwell did not enjoy it long; he perished at Tower Hill by the axe, July 28, 1540.
16 The old hymn for Wednesday morning, according to Sarum use.
I am indebted to the Hymnary for the translation.
17 The supposed name of the penitent thief. The author is not answerable for the non-elision of the vowel--the name is authentic; it stood on the site of the present Oriel College. See preface.
18 See Alfgar the Dane, chapter 24.
19 It was the Gospel for the day in Italy--not in England.
20 The Viatic.u.m was the Last Communion, given in preparation for death, as the provision for the way.
21 Such an arrangement was made in the Egyptian Temple at On; at one particular moment on one day in the year, the rays admitted through a concealed aperture gilded the shrine, and the crowd thought it miraculous.
22 Adapted from a translation of a chorus in the Agamemnon by my lamented friend, the late Reverend Gerard Moultrie.
23 A mere tradition of the time, not historical.
24 See the Andredsweald, by the same author.
25 This is the same spot mentioned in the Andredsweald, chapter 9 part 2, as a retreat of the English after Senlac.
26 A proclamation had just been put forth by the barons, that all foreigners should be expelled and lose their property; and much violence ensued throughout England, the victims being often detected by their p.r.o.nunciation, as in our story.
27 How good to those who seek Thou art, But what to those who find!
--Saint Bernard.
28 It was one of them who first stabbed Edward the First, when his queen saved him by sucking the poison from the wound, according to a Spanish historian.
29 Sixty-six pounds, 13 shillings, four pence; a large sum in those days.
30 It was afterwards ascertained that on the very night, the father, Roger, dreamt that he saw his son in a gloomy cell, a slave condemned to apparently hopeless toil or death, and addressed him as in the text.
31 Acre was stormed by the Moslems, AD 1291, and the Holy Land was lost with it.
32 How unlike the ceremonial of Hubert"s knighthood! But the approach of a battle justified the omission of the usual rites in the opinion of the many.
33 Witness the case of the Scotch judge--pursued under divers forms by the supposed apparition of a man he had hanged, until he died of fright--as recorded by Sir Walter Scott in Demonology and Witchcraft.
34 Whom they had pelted with mud as she pa.s.sed under London Bridge, calling her a witch. Life of Simon de Montfort, page 126.
35 Old English for hence.
36 Parish priests were frequently styled Sir in those days.
Father meant a monk or regular, as opposed to the secular, clergy.
37 His descent from n.o.ble families of either race--Michelham, the house of Ella, through his father; Walderne, of ancient Norman blood, through his mother, rendered him acceptable to both parties.