The French Livre was one of the main currencies used in this time period. The amount stated here was to emphasize that this man really was poor, especially in the court of the king, as there was some inflation going on around this time. The livre was roughly half the value that it used to be compared to the previous century.

O’Neill, E. Wesley. “French Coinage in History and Literature.” The French Review, vol. 39, no. 1, 1965, pp. 1–14. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/385276?casa_token=wteaLnpGOmgAAAAA%3A7vFlaI2JZQM5vj_EKeXj-UE1lCO_ZWDiFHTgad_OOfkQeHBsEVB94Fad0OCAGrk55z77PDXBTB-NJ9chRp9P8YfytEVXoD40R1BdYQDUSb92nSXCuwVQ&seq=7. Accessed 26 Mar. 2025.

Ramon Llull, also called Lullius, was a Spanish monk, and the creator of the famous Arts. A mathematical methodology that could be applied to any field of study, that attempted to show the unity in all forms of knowledge. In this letter from Gargantua to his son, he seems to be warning him about using this method. As Gargantua seems to think that the Arts are a load of nonsense.

Menocal, Maria. The Literature of Al-Andalus. Cambridge University Press, 2006, https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=W5JxUjfwInoC&oi=fnd&pg=PA345&dq=ramon+llull&ots=N_S6PmeAvi&sig=on3gGTzXMSrtGKZkXWyxvPBbe_Q#v=onepage&q=ramon%20llull&f=false.

Athene, or Athena "is commonly considered the dominant city-protecting deity in the Greek world"(Ritter 143). She was often depicted wearing an open faced helmet. From the way it's described in the text, it seems that this is the real helm of Athena, and not a replica. The idea that this random woman managed to find Athena's helmet to use for a scheme to head home to her husband, undoubtedly made this joke much funnier for the audience. This whole slapstick joke sequence further reinforces the struggle of the women in keeping to their vows, while also poking fun at the gods at the same time.

Ritter, Stefan. Athena in the Classical World. E-book, Brill, 2001.

In Hindu religion, a Rishi is a seer, or sage. They are responsible for disseminating the message of God to the people. The word Rishi literally means "a seer from dris, to see"(Sivananda 16). So in this passage, Krishna is talking about how his divine knowledge was passed down from generation to generation through his Rishis. Which in turn lost more and more of the truth up until this point where he is speaking to Arjuna. This passage serves as an exposition as to how Krishna has led humanity throughout their history through his divine wisdom.

Sivananda, Swami. ALL ABOUT HINDUISM. E-book, The Divine Life Society, 1999