How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #7
But yet nere cristene Britons so exiled
That ther nere somme that in hir privetee
Honoured Crist, and hethen folk bigiled. (547-449)
This passage reflects another historical reality of the Saxon conquest of Britain. Several cultures—Saxon, Briton, and Roman—all found ways to integrate. For a while, people of different faiths lived side by side.
Quote #8
"Mooder," quod she, "and mayde bright, Marie,
Sooth is that thurgh wommanes eggement
Mankynde was lorn and damned ay to dye,
For which thy child was on a croys yrent;
Thy blisful eyen sawe al his torment." (841-844)
In her prayers, Custance lays out some of the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Here she describes the Fall or the arrival in the world of original sin at the hands of Eve. She cites this as the reason that Christ had to suffer on a cross. Custance gives meaning to her suffering by explaining where it comes from.
Quote #9
Kyng Alla, which that hadde his mooder slayn,
Upon a day fil in swich repentance
That, if I shortly tellen shal and playn,
To Rome he comth, to receyven his penance;
And putte hym in the popes ordinance
In heigh and logh, and Jesu Crist bisoghte
Foryeve hise wikked werkes that he wroghte. (988-994)
Alla's repentance and his submission to the Pope are symbolic of the placement of his entire kingdom under the scepter of Christianity. Significantly, it's only when Alla has taken this action, marking the sincerity of his faith, that he is able to reunite with his wife. Custance then becomes the so-called prize for heartfelt conversion, one which the Sultan was not able to gain because he undertook conversion for the wrong reasons.