prince d'empire. Prince of the Holy Roman Empire

49. — 5. Frédéric Barberousse n'y établit pas moins ses enfants. At this time the Holy Roman Empire extended to and even in places beyond the Rhone and the Meuse.

27. ses douze grandes maisons, ses cent vingt pairs. A reference to Charlemagne's twelve peers and to his no (not 120) counts.

50. — 16. divine flèche de Strasbourg. The spire of the celebrated cathedral.

23. cette noble religieuse qui passa trois cents ans à écouter l'oiseau de la forêt. Compare also the legend of the woman of the ninth century who, upon hearing an organ for the first time, died of delight; in other words, says Michelet, in the German legends music prolongs life and causes death as well.

51. — 4. un épicier de Troyes. Perhaps Michelet refers to the clerk of Troyes who compiled Renard le contrefait (that is, 'imitation of the original') in the fourteenth century.

7. qui, au dernier siècle, ont fini par être empereurs. Francis III, Duke of Lorraine, married Maria Theresa of Austria in 1736 and thus became Emperor.

52. — 20. la blonde Iseult et son amant. According to the Old French legend, Iseult is the daughter of the Queen of Ireland. Tristan is sent from the court of Cornwall by his uncle Marc to bring back Iseult to be his (Marc's) wife. Tristan brings Iseult back, but a marvelous draught, which has the power to create eternal love in the hearts of those who drink it, is, by an error, drunk by himself and Iseult, instead of by the intended husband and wife. Tristan and

Iseult thus have an undying passion for each other. Marc drives them away from his court and they vi^ander through the forests. The lovers become separated and Tristan goes to Brittany and marries another Iseult, but he cannot forget the first love. Wounded in a fight, he sends for the first or blond Iseult to cure his wound; when the boat that is to bring his first love arrives, it is to hoist a white sail if she is on board, otherwise a black sail. When the boat arrives his jealous wife tells him that the boat bears a black sail, when, in reality, the sail is white. Tristan dies of grief and the blond Iseult arriving dies of grief on his body.

31. à Uzès. Renaud, one of the four sons of Aymon, having killed Charlemagne's nephew, flees to the Ardennes and there builds a fortress. Charlemagne forces the brothers to abandon the stronghold and they go to the south, where they have numerous adventures from Bordeaux to Languedoc. Among other deeds they build the celebrated castle of Montauban.

54. — II. effacer son discours avec sa langue. That is, have his tongue cut out.

16. la fameuse table de bronze. The Claudian bronze tablets were found in 1528 and are preserved in the Palais des Arts at Lyons.

29. Constantinople . . . l'empire grec. Constantinople became the capital of the eastern portion of the Roman Empire (often called the Greek Empire) in 395 and remained so until the city was captured by the Turks in 1453, the date usually considered as ending the Middle Ages.

55. — 13. le ferblantier de Nuremberg. John Conrad Griibel, a tinman and poet of Nuremberg, often compared with Hans Sachs (1736-1809).

56. — 27. la France a longtemps renié Lyon, comme étrangère. Because it was included in the Holy Roman Empire, it became French in 131 2 (see also note to p. 49, 1. 5).

31. les deux Bourgognes. The western duchy of Burgundy was subject to France, the eastern county of Burgundy was subject to the Holy Roman Empire.