The Complete Plays (94 page)

97–105  
Proud Rome… live
: Such vehement anti-papalism might well appeal to Elizabethan Protestants; but Edward's obvious pique and murderousness might be more disturbing.

102   
make
: For Q's
may.

168      
repealed
: Recalled from exile.

175      
those arms
: I.e. Edward's arms (embracing Isabella).

178      
frantic Juno
: From Ovid,
Metamorphoses
X, 155–61.

189      
ill entreated her
: Treated her badly.

191      
long of
: Because of.

195      
Cry quittance
: (i) Get even, (ii) quit him, (iii) give up the marriage bond, declare yourself free of marital obligations.

199      
wanton humour
: Amorous mood (Forker 1994).

211      
tend'rest
: Care for.

216      
him
: I.e. Mortimer Senior.

223      
torpedo
: The electric ray, which can deliver a numbing shock.

224      
floats
: Sails, but with the implication of a drowned corpse floating.

247      
make white… day
: Proverbial (Tilley B440).

255      
play the sophister
: I.e. deceive by false arguments.

261      
whereas
: While.

269      
in the chronicle
: In the year-by-year annals of the reign. Mortimer is thinking of how history will judge Gaveston's hypothetical killer.

284      
night-grown mushroom
: Because mushrooms grow overnight, this metaphor was proverbially used to describe the unprecedented rise of an upstart (cf. Tilley M1319).

318      
Diablo!
: Italian, devil!

327      
golden tongue
: There is some evidence of medieval jewels in the form of metal tongues.

330      
these
: Edward's arms.

341      
sovereign's
: For Q's
soveraigne.

350      
bear the sword
: The sword was a symbol of state power, usually carried before the monarch during processions.

358      
Chirk
: Mortimer Senior's estate which bordered Shropshire and Wales.

374      
Against
: In preparation for the time when.

377      
made him sure
: Betrothed.

378      
Gloucester's heir
: I.e. Lady Margaret de Clare.

381  
triumph
: I.e. the jousting tournament (cf. 375).

390–96  
mightiest kings… Alcibiades
: Mortimer Senior tries to placate his nephew by citing classical examples of homoerotic love. See (N).

392      
Hercules
: Q's
Hector
mangles the myth.

406      
He wears… his back
: Proverbial (Tilley L452).

407–8
Midas-like… heels
: He struts around in court decked in gold, with a train of low-born foreign rascals (literally, ‘testicles').

415      
other
: Others.

Scene
5

14        
preferred… to
: (i) Put me forward for promotion, (ii) liked me more than.

20        
our lady
: Margaret de Clare.

30        
read unto her
: Tutored her.

32        
court it
: Behave like a courtier.

33–4
black coat… serge
: Baldock wears the modest, and cheap, clothes of a scholar.

band
: collar.

Serge
: A cheap material.

38        
making low legs
: Bowing obsequiously.

44        
formal toys
: Trivial politenesses.

53        
propterea quod
: Because. Baldock satirizes the Latinate rhetoric of scholarship.

54        
quandoquidem
: Because. The joke is unclear.

55        
form
: Conjugate.

71        
coach
: Coaches were not widely used in England until the 1560s.

Scene
6

11        
device
: An emblematic painting and motto which decorated a shield.

20        
Aeque tandem
: Equal at last.

28        
Undique mors est
: Death is on all sides.

35        
my brother
: I.e. Gaveston.

40        
jesses
: For Q's
gresses.

42        
Britainy
: Britain.

62        
painted
: Decorated with flowers.

73        
Return… throats
: Defy them.

74        
Base leaden earls
: ‘Spurious nobles (like coin of alloy rather than of true metal)' (Forker 1994).

75        
eat… beef
: I.e. the nobles are beef-witted (stupid) and parasitic.

81        
Here, here
: Pembroke points at Gaveston.

12.2  
gather head
: Raise an army.

146      
the broad seal
: Letters patent under the Great Seal, which gave the bearer the right to collect money for a special purpose without fear of being prosecuted for begging.

158      
treasure
: Treasury.

159      
The murmuring… hath
: And has overtaxed the discontented common people.

163      
O'Neill
: Irish clan-leader during Edward II's reign.

164      
the English pale
: English settlement around Dublin.

165      
made road
: Made raid.

167      
narrow seas
: English Channel.

171      
Valois
: Philip of Valois, King of France.

186      
women's favours
: Love-tokens given to knights and often worn in combat.

189–94  
Maids… rumbelow:
From Robert Fabyan's
Chronicle
(1559).

190      
Bannocksbourn
: Edward's forces were famously crushed by the Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn (24 June 1314).

194      
rumbelow
: A meaningless refrain.

195      
Wigmore shall fly
: I.e. Mortimer Junior's Herefordshire estate, Wigmore Castle, shall be sold.

202–3  
cockerels… lion
: Traditionally, lions feared the cock's crowing.

225      
him
: I.e. Mortimer Junior.

241      
arms
: Coat of arms.

242–3  
gentry… Oxford
: An MA degree conferred gentlemanly status.

248      
well allied
: Of good stock.

264      
Have at
: (Imperative) let us attack.

Scene
7

5          
of policy
: As an act of politic deception.

20        
give the onset
: Begin the attack.

23        
the name of Mortimer
: Historically, the family took its name from Mortemer in Normandy, but Mortimer prefers the association with the Dead Sea (
Mortuum Mare
) and the Crusades.

Scene
8

4          
hold
: Fortress.

46        
Flemish hoy
: Small fishing vessels used in the North Sea by the Flemish.

Scene
9

4          
unsurprised
: Uncaptured.

5          
malgrado
: Italian, in spite of.

14    
welter in thy gore
: Be soaked in your own blood.

15        
the Greekish strumpet
: Helen of Troy.

27–8  
But… our hands
: Gaveston is to be beheaded, a privileged form of execution reserved for the nobility.

62–3  
seize… possess
: Get hold of… keep.

64        
in keep
: In custody.

67        
for
: Because.

69        
To make… thief
: To kill a man of honour who has stood hostage for a dishonest man.

72        
Question… thy mates
: Bandy arguments with your equals.

84        
had-I-wist
: (Literally) had I known (proverbial; Tilley H8). Warwick is reluctant to let Gaveston escape, only to repent of it later.

85        
over-woo
: Plead excessively to.

88        
in this
: In this matter.

Scene
10

1          
wrong thy friend
: I.e. betray Pembroke.

5          
Centre… bliss
: ? Applied to the king.

13        
watched it well
: I.e. kept a vigilant guard over Gaveston.

14        
shadow
: Ghost.

Scene
11

13        
braves
: Insults.

14        
beard me
: Pluck my beard (i.e. defy me).

20        
preach on poles
: Cf. 1.117n.

27        
We'll steel… tops
: We'll sharpen our swords against their helmets and cut off (‘poll') their heads.

29        
affection
: Desire.

31.2  
SD
truncheon
: A staff which symbolized authority.

36        
bowmen… pikes
: Lances with sharp metal tips at both ends were driven into the ground just in front of the archers to protect them in battle (Wiggins and Lindsey 1997).

37        
Brown bills
: Soldiers carrying halberds (covered in bronze to prevent rusting).

42        
in him
: In his person, to the advantage of his family.

43–4
an it… pours
: If it please your grace, one who pours…

53        
Lord Bruce… land
: Holinshed reports that when William de Bruce offered to sell some of his land in the Welsh Marches to the Mortimers to pay his debts, they were outbid, with the king's help, by Spencer Junior.

54        
in hand withal
: Are negotiating for it.

57    
Soldiers, a largess
: Edward promises the soldiers a generous gift of money for their loyalty.

66        
Sib
: Kinswoman (i.e. wife), or a contraction of her name.

76–7  
heaven's… shoulder
: Atlas (N) is here imagined supporting the roof-beams of the heavens.

79        
towardness
: Boldness.

87        
once
: Once and for all.

121      
part
: Action.

127      
fire… starting-holes
: Smoke them out of their lairs (like animals).

129      
moving orbs
: The heavenly spheres which, according to Ptolemaic cosmology, moved in their concentric orbits around the earth.

145      
merely
: Purely.

152      
iwis
: I know.

158      
plainer
: Complainant (who brings an allegation).

163      
deads
: Deadens.

royal vine
: Edward's crown was in fact adorned with strawberry leaves, but the association of the vine with royalty was traditional.

Scene 12

0.1   SD
excursions
: Soldiers rush across the stage, emulating the confusion of battle.

9          
retire
: Retreat.

18        
Thou'd best… them… trains
: You had better quickly abandon them and their intrigues. Q reads
Th'ad… thee
.

20        
on thy face
: Apparently a variant of the more usual riposte ‘in thy face'.

23        
trow ye
: Think you.

35        
Saint George
: Established as the patron saint of England during Edward III's reign.

Scene 13

3          
hang the heads
: As in French, Elizabethan English could use the definite article where modern English uses a possessive.

4          
advance
: Raise their heads on poles (punning on ‘advance' = to promote).

22        
but temporal
: I.e. Edward can only inflict physical torment, and not spiritual suffering.