la légende des siecles

auges, properly the lairs of wild boars.
Amadis, commonly called Amadis of Gaul, the hero of a celebrated mediaeval poem,
written originally in Spanish, which recounts his heroism in war and constancy in love.
He is the typical knight-errant and true lover.
Baudoin. This is Baldwin, brother of Godfrey of Bouillon. He became King of
Jerusalem and died in 1118. During the Crusade he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy
City.
Sir G.Young in his Poems from Victor Hugo suggests that Corbus may stand for
Cottbus, the capital of Old or Lower Lusatia.
burg (German), a castle.
guivre (also written givre), a heraldic term meaning a serpent.
drée, a fantastic stone ornament.
fôhn (German Föhn), the south wind.
le Grand Dormant: Frederick Barbarossa, who, tradition says, never died, but is still
sleeping in a cave.
roture, i.e. his position as a peasant. Roture is derived from the Latin ruptura, the action
of breaking the earth, and is the base of the common word roturier.
relève, used in its feudal sense of 'to hold of'; the castle was not feudally dependent on
the city.
L. 214, i.e. the castle reflects the history of the ancient kings.
les deux haches de pierre. This is said figuratively and alludes to the deeds of Attila,
who ravaged the Eastern Empire and extended his dominions almost to the Ural
Mountains, whilst later on, crossing the Rhine, he attacked the Goths of Southern
France and Spain.
Lusace, Latin Lusatia, German Lausitz, was a district between the Elbe and the Oder, in
what is now the kingdom of Saxony. But the name has no significance. The personages
and places in the poem are in reality all imaginary.
la griffe is the claw of a beast or bird of prey; la serre is the foot of a bird of prey.
Sortent de leur tenaille. A somewhat obscure expression. Apparently tenaille is used in
the sense of 'vice', and the words mean 'are of their manufacture or moulding.'
L. 291. i.e. the Emperor is the superior in rank.
dromons. See note on AYMERILLOT.