I’ve read 37 chapters of Sir Walter Scott’s novel Kenilworth. Here is a list of names, proper nouns, and allusions I’ve had to look up:
Lindabrides
Lindabrides is a heroine in a Spanish romance called The Mirror of Knighthood, whose name at one time was a synonym for a kept mistress. The Mirror of Knighthood was once very popular, and is mentioned by Cervantes in Don Quixote as one of the books in Don Quixote’s library. (Infoplease and Bartleby.com).
Jack Pudding
Jack Pudding is the name of a stock buffoon or clown character who performs pudding tricks, such as swallowing a certain number of yards of black-pudding, in street performances. (Bartleby.com and Wiktionary)
Matamoros
In Kenilworth, Matamoros, or “Moor-slayers,” seem to be Spanish courtiers, who were prone to dueling and brawling. (Wikipedia)
Hali
Haly Abenragel, or Hali, was an Arab astrologer of the late 10th and early 11th century. (Wikipedia)
Hermeticism
Hermeticism is a religious and philosophical tradition based primarily upon ancient writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Hermeticism gave prominence to the ideas that there was a single, true philosophy found in all religions and that nature could be influenced by means of magic and arts such as alchemy and astrology. (Wikipedia)
Rosy Cross
The Rosy Cross, or Rose Cross, is a symbol associated with the semi-mythical Christian Rosenkreuz, who was a cabalist, alchemist, and founder of the Rosicrucian Order. The Rosy Cross is in the shape of a cross with a rose at its center. (Wikipedia)
Autolycus
In Greek mythology, Autolycus, whose name means “the wolf itself,” was a son of the Olympian god Hermes and Chione. He was known as a thief and a trickster. In Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, a character named Autolycus is a comic thief. (Wikipedia)
Potosi
Potosi—properly Potosí—is a city in Bolivia, which was formerly a rich silver-mining center. (Dictionary.com)