Part 39

P. 23:

◆Baldwyn II., cousin and successor of the first Baldwyn, king of Jerusalem, brother of Godfrey de Bouillon, reigned from 1119 to 1131. Brantôme is mistaken here. Baldwyn II. had married Morphie, daughter of Prince de Mélitine; but he had not been formerly married. Does he wish to speak of Baudoin I^{er}, who repudiated the daughter of the Prince d’Arménie and then Adéle de Monferrat? (Cf. Guillaume de Tyr, liv. II, c. xv.)

◆Read Melitene; this is how the Ancients named this town, the modern name of which is Meletin, in Latin Malatia; in Armenia, on the Euphrates.

◆History of the Holy Land; by William of Tyre.

◆Louis VII. succeeded his father, Louis le Gros, on the throne of France 1137, and died 1180. His wife, whom he divorced soon after his return from the Holy Land, whither she had accompanied him, was Eleanore of Guienne. This divorce was very painful to Louis VII., surnamed le Jeune, because he had to give up the duchy of Aquitaine and cast off the beautiful equestrian seal which he had had engraved for himself in his rank as duke.

P. 24:

◆Suetonius, Cæsar, Chap. VI. Brantôme is thinking of Clodius; but Cicero never made the speech in question.

◆Brantôme (Lalanne edition, t. VIII, p. 198) repeats this anecdote without giving further details.

P. 25:

◆Fulvia. (Sallust, Chap. XXIII.)

◆Octavius (Augustus), first Roman Emperor, was the son of C. Octavius, by Atia, a daughter of Julia, the sister of Julius Cæsar. He was therefore the grand-nephew of the latter, the founder of the Empire and virtual, though not nominal, first Emperor. He married Livia after his divorce of Scribonia.

P. 26:

◆Caligula, the third Roman Emperor, A. D. 37–41. His name was Caius Cæsar, Caligula being properly only a friendly nickname, “Little Boots,” bestowed on him as a boy by the soldiers in his father, Germanicus’ camp in Germany, where he was brought up. He was inordinately cruel and licentious and madly extravagant. Eventually murdered.

◆Brantôme does not appear to know very well the persons he is speaking of here: Hostilla is Orestilla; Tullia is Lollia; Herculalina is Urgulanilla.

P. 27:

◆Claudius, the fourth Roman Emperor, A. D. 41–54. The notorious Messalina was his third wife. For a lurid picture of her immoralities see Juvenal’s famous Sixth Satire.

P. 28:

◆Giovanni Boccaccio, the author of the Decameron, was born at Paris in 1313, being the (illegitimate) son of a wealthy merchant of Florence. He died 1375 at Certaldo, a village near Florence, the original seat of the family.

◆Does the following chanson refer to the same woman?

On void Simonne Proumener aux bordeaux Matin, soir, nonne, Avec ses macquereaux.

(Bib. Nat., ms. français 22565, f^o 41 v^o.)

P. 29:

◆This is indeed one of the most curious passages of the book, and I am glad to remove one of Lalanne’s doubts. Brantôme is really talking of a statue, an antique piece which was found July 21, 1594, in a field near the Saint-Martin priory. It had been admirably conserved. Unfortunately, Louis XIV. having claimed it later, it was placed on a barge which sank in the Garonne, and was never recovered. (O’Reilly, History of Bordeaux, 1863, Vol. II.) The statue is described as having had one breast uncovered and curled hair, a description that agrees only partly with Visconti’s type (Iconographie romaine, t. II., planche 28), in which Messalina is not décolleté and carries her son. Was the Bordeaux statue indeed a Messalina?

P. 31:

◆Brantôme is mistaken; Nero caused Octavia to be killed. (See Suetonius, Nero, Chap. XXXV.)

◆Nero, fifth Roman Emperor, A. D. 54–63.

◆Domitian succeeded his father Titus on the Imperial throne; reigned from A. D. 81 to 96.

◆Pertinax, a man of peasant birth, but who had carved out for himself a distinguished career as soldier and administrator, was elected Emperor by the Prætorian Guards on the murder of Commodus, A. D. 193. Himself murdered after a two months’ reign.