([b]) p. 6. "A large body of whom had long since invaded the Forest Cantons." This foray was called the English, or Gugler, war (1374-75). Enguerrand (Ingelram) de Coucy, husband of Isabella, daughter of Edward III., was endeavouring to gain some towns in the Aargau, which he claimed through his mother, Catherine, daughter of Leopold III., who fell at Sempach in 1386. Many Englishmen served under Enguerrand: they were routed in the Entlibuch, in 1375, by the men of Lucerne, Schwyz, Berne, and Unterwalden.
([c]) p. 65. "The war of Zurich." Civil war, mainly arising from the conquests and ambitions of the Cantons, broke out in 1436, and, with intervals, lasted till 1450. Zurich renounced the Hapsburg alliance, and most of her lost lands were restored by her opponents, the Confederates.
([d]) p. 86. "The Chapel of St. Jacob." Zurich was defeated at St. Jacob, on the Sihl, in 1443. There was also a battle near the Leper hospital of St. Jacob on the Birs, on August 26, 1444.
([e]) p. 100. "Usum non habeo." The reference, of course, is to David's refusal of armour before his duel with Goliath.
([f]) p. 113. "The Duke of Burgundy's possessions in Alsatian territory." A history of these complex matters cannot be written in a note to a romance. The reader who is anxious for information may consult Mr. Kirk's "Charles the Bold," vol. ii. book iv. ch. iv. (London, 1863). Mr. Kirk supplies an interesting defence of Hagenbach, and does not believe in a spontaneous popular insurrection, caused by his tyranny. The intrigues of Louis XI. receive the credit, or discredit, of the whole affair, which culminated in the ruin of Burgundy. The Swiss declared war "simply as the strong, intelligent, hired bravoes of a foreign potentate, too weak, too timid, or too crafty to strike with his own hand."
([g]) p. 214. "Double gangers." This is the appearance described and criticised by Mr. Kirk in his "Secret Commonwealth" (1691) as "The Co-Walker." The learned author explains that we have all our spiritual shadows in the "Secret Commonwealth": it is these which are sometimes seen when the real human being is not present. The end of the "Co-Walker" is that he "goes to his own herd." Goethe is said to have seen his own co-walker, and the same experience occurred to a living person of the Editor's acquaintance, in the open air, where no mirror could account for the hallucination. Even the sceptical Lucretius admits the existence of such apparitions, which he explains by what Kirk calls "exuvious fumes." The passage is not very intelligible, because the author's ideas were not very distinct.
([h]) p. 299. "A tall man, attired in red." The headsman was, in fact, "a short man with a short sword," the executioner of Colmar (Kirk, "Charles the Bold," ii. 240). Hagenbach was racked four times before his death. "Schilling confesses that a general sympathy was excited by Hagenbach's Christian-like demeanour." His real name was Peter. Mr. Kirk endeavours to "whitewash" Hagenbach. As that unfortunate hero had "a gaunt countenance deeply caved between the jaw-bones, and restless searching blood-shot eyes" ("Vitæ SS. Gervasii et Prothasii," 1506), we may presume that his character was unamiable.
"Andrew Lang.