1. Bayard, Pierre Terrail (1473-1524): a French soldier who, on account of his heroism, piety, and magnanimity was called "le chevalier sans noun et sans reproche," the fearless and faultless knight. By his contemporaries he was more often called "le bon chevalier," the good knight.
6. Zutphen: an old town in Holland, which was often besieged, especially during the wars of freedom waged by the Dutch. The most celebtated fight under its walls was in September, 1586, when Sir Philip Sidney was mortally wounded.
12. See John 16: 21.
28. Sidney. See note on line 6 and Proem, note on line 4.
31. Cyllenian ranges: Mount Cyllene, in southern Greece, the fabled birthplace of Hermes.
36. Suliote. See Fitz-Greene Halleck, "Marco Bozzaris," note on line 13
42. The reference is to Samuel G. Howe, who fought as a young man for the independence of Greece.
46. Albanian: pertaining to Albania, a province of western Turkey.
78. Cadmus: mythological king of Phoenicia; was regarded as the introducer of the alphabet from Phoenicia into Greece.
86. Lancelot stands for most of us as the example of a brave knight whose life was ruined by a great weakness. Malory writes of him in "Mort d'Arthur," and Tennyson has made him well known to us.