Upon the hede than fulle sone
He carfe awaye with myght and mayne
The cercle that sate uppon his crowne.”
p. 34, l. [1182]. About the cercle, see Demay, Le Costume de guerre, p. 132. “Non seulement le cône du heaume (helme) est bordé par ce cercle, mais il est parfois renforcé dans toute sa hauteur par deux arêtes placées l’une devant, l’autre derrière, ou par quatre bandes de métal ornementées (de verroteries), venant aboutir et se croiser à son sommet.”—crowne means the “tonsure of the head,” then topically “the skull or head.”
p. 34, l. [1185]. the botteles of bawme are not mentioned anywhere else in the Sowdan; the other versions tell us that the balm contained in those vessels was the same as that with which Christ was anointed. Cf. Syr Ferumbras, ll. 510–517; and see Introduction, p. vi and xxix.
p. 34, l. [1191]. the river. According to the oldest version of the poem the whole combat took place on the shore of the Tiber, near Rome. See Introduction, pp. xi and xxxii. Cf. Fierabras, l. 1049:
“Pres fu du far de Rome, ses a dedes jetés,”
and Philippe Mousket, I. 4705–6:
“Les .ii. barius qu’à Rome prist,
Si les gieta enmi le Toivre.”