Sir G.Young in his _Poems from Victor Hugo_ suggests that _Corbus_ may stand for _Cottbus_, the capital of Old or Lower Lusatia. _burg_ (German), a castle. _guivre_ (also written _givre_), a heraldic term meaning a serpent. _drée_, a fantastic stone ornament. _fôhn_ (German _Föhn_), the south wind. _le Grand Dormant_: Frederick Barbarossa, who, tradition says, never died, but is still sleeping in a cave. _roture_, i.e. his position as a peasant. _Roture_ is derived from the Latin _ruptura_, the action of breaking the earth, and is the base of the common word _roturier_. _relève_, used in its feudal sense of 'to hold of'; the castle was not feudally dependent on the city. L. 214, i.e. the castle reflects the history of the ancient kings. _les deux haches de pierre_. This is said figuratively and alludes to the deeds of Attila, who ravaged the Eastern Empire and extended his dominions almost to the Ural Mountains, whilst later on, crossing the Rhine, he attacked the Goths of Southern France and Spain. _Lusace_, Latin Lusatia, German Lausitz, was a district between the Elbe and the Oder, in what is now the kingdom of Saxony. But the name has no significance. The personages and places in the poem are in reality all imaginary. _la griffe_ is the claw of a beast or bird of prey; _la serre_ is the foot of a bird of prey. _Sortent de leur tenaille_. A somewhat obscure expression. Apparently _tenaille_ is used in the sense of 'vice', and the words mean 'are of their manufacture or moulding.' L. 291. i.e. the Emperor is the superior in rank. _dromons_. See note on AYMERILLOT, L. 39. _l'ordre teutonique_, the Order of Teutonic Knights. Originally founded to protect the Christians in Palestine, the Teutonic Knights received domains in Italy and Germany from the Pope and Emperor, conquered Prussia (1228), and established there a military power which lasted four centuries. _hydre_. In Greek legend the hydra was a serpent with seven heads, and, when one of them was cut off, two grew in its place. It is Hugo's favourite figure for cruelty or tyranny. _Lusace_ consisted of two margraviates, the upper and the lower. _elle a peur du fleuron_, i.e. she is afraid to be marchioness. The flower-shaped ornaments in a crown are called _fleurons_. A marquis's coronet was adorned with 'fleurons' alternating with pearls and the contrast between the pointed 'fleuron' and the round pearl suggests the figure employed in the next line. _tribunaux d'amour_, or _cours d'amour_, were the celebrated courts of the Middle Ages, presided over by ladies of high rank, which gave judgement in cases of love and gallantry and laid down laws for lovers. They existed principally in France, especially in Southern France. L. 369. The Wends were a Slav people who lived in Lusatia, but the name Thassilo is Bavarian. _Nemrod_. See note on PLEINE MER, l.107.