51. _Alisaundre_, in Egypt, 'was won, and immediately after abandoned in 1365, by Pierre de Lusignan, King of Cyprus'; Tyrwhitt. Froissart (Chron. bk. iii. c. 22) gives the epitaph of Pierre de Lusignan, king of Cyprus, who 'conquered in battle ... the cities of Alexandria in Egypt, Tripoli in Syria, Layas in Armenia, Satalia in Turkey, with several other cities and towns, from the enemies of the faith of Jesus Christ'; tr. by Johnes, vol. ii. p. 138. 'To this I may add, from "Les Tombeaux des Chevaliers du noble Ordre de la Toison d'Or," the exploits recorded on a monument also of a French knight, who lived in Chaucer's age, and died in 1449, Jean, Seigneur de Roubais, &c. "qui en son temps visita les Saints lieux de Ierusalem, ... S. Iacques en Galice, ... et passa les perils mortels de plusieurs batailles arrestées contre les Infidels, c'est a sçavoir en Hongrie et Barbarie, ... en Prusse contre les Letaux, ... avec plusieurs autres faicts exercice d'armes tant par mer que par terre,"' &c.--Todd, Illust. of Ch., p. 227. _wonne_ (wunn[*e]), won. 52. _he hadde the bord bigonne._ Here _bord_ = board, table, so that the phrase signifies 'he had been placed at the head of the dais, or _table_ of state.' Warton, in his Hist. of Eng. Poetry, ed. 1840, ii. 209 (ed. 1871, ii. 373), aptly cites a passage from Gower which is quite explicit as to the sense of the phrase. See Gower, Conf. Amantis, bk. viii. ed. Pauli, iii. 299. We there read that a knight was honoured by a king, by being set at the head of the middle table in the hall. 'And he, _which had his prise deserved_, After the kinges owne word, Was maad _beginne a middel bord_.' The context shews that this was at supper-time, and that the knight was placed in this honourable position by the marshal of the hall. Further illustrations are also given by Warton, ed. 1840, i. 174, footnote, shewing that the phrases _began the dese_ (daïs) and _began the table_ were also in use, with the same sense. I can add another clear instance from Sir Beves of Hamptoun, ed. Kölbing, E. E. T. S., p. 104, where we find in one text (l. 2122)-- 'Thow schelt this dai be priour, And beginne oure deis' [_daïs_]; where another text has (l. 1957) the reading-- Palmer, thou semest best to me, Therfore men shal worshyp the; _Begyn the borde_, I the pray.' [7] See also the New Eng. Dictionary, s. v. _Board_; Hartshorne's Metrical Tales, pp. 72, 73, 215, 219; Early Popular Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, i. 104; Todd's Illustrations, p. 322. Even in Stow's Survey of London, ed. Thoms, p. 144, col. 2, we read how--'On the north side of the hall certain aldermen _began the board_, and then followed merchants of the city.' Another explanation is sometimes given, but it is wholly wrong.