Ivanhoe

CHAPTER XXXIII

1 (p. 329) epigraph: The lines are from Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (act 1, scene 6).

2 (p. 331) morris-dancer: Here is another example of the historical freedoms Scott allowed himself in Ivanhoe. Like jousting tournaments, morris-dancing is anachronistic to the twelfth century; no records of it appear before the fifteenth century. That said, it is highly apropos to Scott’s themes, as traditional morris-dancing features the characters of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and Friar Tuck.

3 (p. 332) “Father Aymer, Prior of the rich Abbey of Jorvaulx”: [Author’s note] Jorvaulx Abbey. This Cistercian abbey was situate in the pleasant valley of the river Jore, or Ure, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It was erected in the year 1156, and was destroyed in 1537. For nearly three centuries, the ruins were left in a state nearly approaching to utter demolition; but at length they were traced out and cleared at the expense of Thomas Earl of Aylesbury, in the year 1807. The name of the abbey occurs in a variety of forms, such as Jorvaulx, Jervaux, Gerveux, Gervaulx, Jorvall, Jorevaux, etc. In Whitaker’s History of Richmondshire, vol. i., a ground-plan of the building is given, along with notices of the monuments of the old abbots and other dignitaries which are still preserved (Laing).

4 (p. 335) Ichabod! … my house!: Ichabod means “without glory.” See the Bible, 1 Samuel 4:21.

5 (p. 340) “Thou be’st a hedge-priest”: [Author’s note] Hedge-Priests. It is curious to observe, that in every state of society some sort of ghostly consolation is provided for the members of the community, though assembled for purposes diametrically opposite to religion. A gang of beggars have their patrico, and the banditti of the Apennines have among them persons acting as monks and priests, by whom they are confessed, and who perform mass before them. Unquestionably, such reverend persons, in such a society, must accommodate their manners and their morals to the community in which they live; and if they can occasionally obtain a degree of reverence for their supposed spiritual gifts, are, on most occasions, loaded with unmerciful ridicule, as possessing a character inconsistent with all around them.

Hence the fighting parson in the old play of Sir John Oldcastle, and the famous friar of Robin Hood’s band. Nor were such characters ideal. There exists a monition of the Bishop of Durham against irregular churchmen of this class, who associated themselves with Border robbers, and desecrated the holiest offices of the priestly function, by celebrating them for the benefit of thieves, robbers, and murderers, amongst ruins and in caverns of the earth, without regard to canonical form, and with torn and dirty attire, and maimed rites, altogether improper for the occasion.