Anne of Geierstein; Or, The Maiden of the Mist. Volume 2 (of 2)

by Walter Scott

  Editor's Notes.

  (_a_) p. 114. "The good King Rene." There is a biography of thisprince, by the Comte de Villeneuve Bargemont. Rene of Anjou, descendedfrom the second son of John of Valois, King of France, inherited theduchy of Lorraine in right of his wife, daughter of Charles II., Dukeof Lorraine. His claim was contested by Antoine, Comte de Vaudemont,representing a collateral male branch of the earlier line. Thisclaimant was backed by Philip the Good, of Burgundy. Rene wasdefeated, in 1431, at Bulgueville, and passed some years as a captivein Dijon. Here, like Charles d'Orleans in England, and James I. in thesame country, he amused himself with poetry and art. He succeeded tothe crown of Provence, a remnant of the Neapolitan domains of Anjou,and his daughter, Yolande, married the son of his rival of Vaudemont.Lorraine was entailed on them and their issue, failing male issue ofRene. After an expedition to Naples he ceded Lorraine to his son, andpassed his time in a pleasing pastoral manner, in Provence. In his oldage Lorraine fell to his grandson Rene, and the unlucky region wasdrawn into disputes of France and Burgundy, between which it lay.Burgundy conquered Lorraine. Old Rene negotiated for Burgundianprotection, and for Charles's succession to Provence, which on Rene'sdeath would make Burgundy "a Middle Kingdom conterminous with Germanyand France." But the conquest of Lorraine was the last of Charles'ssuccesses: the end of the novel before us tells the story of his fall.

  (_b_) p. 116. "Edward of York has crossed the Sea." The date is 1475.Louis and Edward met on the bridge over the Somme, at Pequigny, andmade terms. The scheme of Oxford, in the novel, for an invasion ofEngland during Edward's absence, was thus rendered impossible.

  (_c_) p. 125. "Henry Colvin." Comines calls this soldier "Cohin," inthe oldest texts "Colpin." He commanded three hundred English, andwas killed by a cannon shot: "great loss to the Duke, for a single manmay save his master, though he be of no great lineage, so he have butsense and virtue."

  (_d_) p. 262. "Granson." The Burgundian defeat is described inComines, book v. ch. i. Of Charles, Comines says, "il perdit honneuret chevance ce jour." Morat he describes in book v. ch. iii. Thenarrative of Charles's despair, and the detail of his drinking_tisane_ in place of wine, is borrowed from Comines, book v. ch. v.,in the sixteenth chapter of the novel. The treachery of Campobasso isrecorded in Comines's sixth-ninth chapter. Mr. Kirk's version ofCharles's last fight is written with much spirit.

  ANDREW LANG.

  May 1894.