44: Francfort, German Frankfurt am Main, where, and not in Aachen, the election took place.
45: aura ceci présent, «will remember this.»
46: On est bourgeois de Gand, «I am a citizen of Ghent», having been born there, and hence being eligible to the imperial throne, as Ghent was in the Empire.
47: Rome est pour moi, meaning that the Pope favored his claims, which, however, he did not, but endeavored to remain neutral.
48: Cette tête allait bien au vieux corps germanique, «He was a proper head to the old German body», meaning by tête Maximilian, and by corps the Empire.
49: Le pape veut ravoir le Sicile. Since 1266, when Charles d'Anjou was made a vassal of Pope Clement IV. and invested with Sicily and Naples, the Holy See was considered to have some claim on them; but in fact these possessions, called the Two Sicilies, had since 1282 been, in the main, dependencies of the Spanish throne.
50: l'aigle, the imperial eagle, used here figuratively for what it represented.
51: Qu'avec joie il verrait, «With what joy he would behold»; still speaking of the late Emperor.
52: Que ferez-vous, mon fils. The supposed thoughts and remarks of the Pope.
53: Consolez-vous! Don Ruy Gomez is still piously thinking of the Emperor's death.