3: Où Rodolphe extermina Lothaire. The allusion is not clear.
4: Gotha, the Duke of Gotha, heading the list of nobles opposed to the election of Charles.
5: croi, instead of crois, for the sake of the rhyme with moi. It must be remembered that French rhymes are made for the eye, sometimes, more than for the ear.
6: Lutzelbourg, the duchy of Luxembourg, sometimes, with the city of that name, called (in German) Lützelburg.
7: est trop grand de la tête, «is a head too tall», i.e., will be decapitated before he has done.
8: Astorga, a town in the kingdom of Leon, in northwestern Spain.
9: Ont toujours fait doubler la solde du bourreau, probably means that so many of them have been executed, and such large game too, that their deaths have enriched the executioner.
10: deux hardis compagnons, «two bold fellows».
11: l'élargir, refers to drap in the next line.
12: Un Saxon hérétique. Frederick, Elector of Saxony, was born in 1463. He was a generous patron of learning, founded in 1502 the University of Wittenberg, and lent his powerful protection to Luther, though he never publicly declared himself a Protestant. His declining the imperial crown on this occasion, in 1519, has been already mentioned. He died in 1525.