Shakespeare's Kings (2 page)

10.
King Henry
[1414-1420]

Chronological limitation of play · Assistance of Chorus in dating · Tennis balls incident, true or false? · Southampton plot · Sanity of Charles VI 207

Fluellen · Harfleur · Princess Katherine · Agincourt 211

Return to London · Reconciliation between French and English · Courtship and marriage 216

11.
King Henry VI: His Childhood and Youth
[1422-1445]

Henry's birth · Bedford, Gloucester, Beauf
ort · Hopelessness of the war ·
England's steady loss of support in France · Coronation 221 Joan of Arc · Death of Salisbury · Battle of the Herrings · Capture of Joan of
Arc · Her burning · Henry's coronation in Paris · Peace of Arras between
France and Burgundy · Death of Bedford 223 Character of Henry VI · Release of Charles of Orleans · Fall of Duke Humphrey ·
Rise of Suffolk · Margaret of Anjou · Her marriage to Henry 227

12.
King Henry VI Part I
[1422-1453]

Authorship · Fidelity to truth · Sources ■ Telescoping of time · FalstafF · Joan of Arc · Death of Salisbury * Introduction of Talbot · His fight with Joan 235

Act II · Unhistorical recovery of Orleans · Countess
of Auvergne · Temple
Garden scene · York's visit to the dying Mortimer 240 Act III · Beaufort-Gloucester feud · Building
-up of Richard of York · Joan's
capture of Rouen · Confused chronology · Talbot made Earl 242 Act IV · Henry's French coronation · His divisio
n of the army in France · Death
of
Talbots · ActV · Exeter's surprise at Beaufort as Cardinal · Henry's
projected marriage · Scenes with the Pucelle · Appearance of Margaret of
Anjou · Peace 245

13.
King Henry VI: The Gathering Storm
[1445—1455]

Charles VII makes good use of truce · Arrest and death of Duke Humphrey · Death of Cardinal Beaufort · Suffolk assumes power · Richard of York appointed to Ireland · French war resumes under Somerset · English defeat at Formigny · Imprisonment of Suffolk · His death 253

Jack Cade's rebellion · York's return from Ireland · His first march on London · Somerset's claim to throne · Increasing York-Somerset hostility · York's second march on London · King promises Somerset's arrest · His breach of faith 257

Henry's illness and insanity · Birth of his son · Arrest of Somerset · York appointed Protector · Appoints Salisbury Chancellor · Henry recovers · York, Salisbury, Warwick withdraw to north · York's third march on London · First battle of St Albans 262

14.
King Henry VI Part II
[1441-1455]

Anjou and Maine · Confusion over
Warwicks · Shakespeare extends
Protectorate · Kingdom torn apart by factions 269 Eleanor Cobham · Her penance · Duke Humphrey's death 272 Blackening of Duke of York · Humphrey not murdered · No affair between
Queen and Suffolk · Circumstances of death o
f Cardinal Beaufort · Suffolk's
death · Cade's rebellion 274 York's return from Ireland · Telesco
ping time · York's behaviour at
Blackheath · His children · St Albans 278

15.
The Wars of the Roses
[1455-1475]

Shakespeare's telescoping · Richard
of York claims the throne · Battl
e of Wakefield · Mortimer's Cross · St Albans II · Edward proclaimed 283

Battle
of Towton · Edward in the north · Margaret's foreign intrigues · Hedgeley Moor and Hexham 287

Marriage to Elizabeth Woodville · War
wick's reaction · Alliance with
Clarence · Clarence marries Isabel Nevill · They march to London · Robin of Redesdale · Battle of Edgecote · Edward's captivity 290

His liberation · Welles rebelli
on · Battle of Lose
coat Field Warwick and Clarence escape to France · They ask Louis XI for protection · Warwick's 'reconciliation' with Margaret of Anjou · He and Clarence return to England · Betrayal of Montagu · Edward flees to Holland · Henry VI reinstated · Edward lands at Ravenscar 294

Clarence betrays Warwick · Edward enters London and is recrowned · Battle of Barnet · Warwick's death · Margaret lands at Weymouth · Her arrival at Tewkesbury 299

Battle
of Tewkesbury · Massacre · Fate of Edward, Prince of Wales · Fate of Margaret · Fate of Henry VI 302

16.
King Henry VI Part III
[1455-1475]

Crimes of Lancaster expiated after Tewkesbury · Opening inaccuracies · Dramatization of Act of Accord · Battle of Wakefield 307

Act II · Mortimer's Cross, St Albans II, Towton · Presence/absence of George and Richard · Act III · Henry VI's wanderings · Warwick at French court, suing for hand of Bona · His return in rebellion in 1470 309

Act IV · Edward seeks opinion of marriage · Telescoping of Edward's capture and his flight to Holland · His landing at Ravenscar · London -Barnet · Tewkesbury · Death of Prince of Wales · Murder of Henry VI 313

Conclusion · Stress on Richard's villainy 317

17.
King Edward V
[1471-1483]

French expedition of 1475 · Rivalry between Clarence and Gloucest
er · Their
contrasting appear
ances · Warwick's inheritance
Richard's marriage ·
Clarence becomes paranoid \ His trial and death 321
/

Richard in the north · He occupies Edinburgh · Death of Edward IV · Power of Woodvilles · Richard and Buckingham act against them · Richard's seizur
e of Edward V on way to London
Execution of Rivers 324

Edward V and Richard enter London · Extracts Duke of York from sanctuary · Meeting of 13 June · Arrest and execution of Hastings 327

Sermon of Dr Shaa · Buckingham's speech at Guildhall · Petition to Richard to accept crown · He takes oath in Westminster Hall 330

Coronation · The Princes in the Tower 333

18.
The Final Reckoning
[1483-1485]

Triumphal progress through north · Buckingham's revolt · Role of Morton · Margaret Beaufort · Revolt ends in fiasco · Buckingham executed · Suppor
t grows for Richmond · Fugitive
rebels join him at Rennes 339

Richard's anxieties · Begins to see Richmond as serious threat

Treaty of
Pontefract with Brittany · Henry's escape into Anjou · Warm reception from French court · Arrival of Oxford · Affair at Hammes · Death of Queen · Richard considers marriage with Elizabeth of York · Denial at Clerkenwell 343

Henry's landing · His progress · Bosworth 347

After Bosworth · Fate of Richard's body 351

19.
King Richard III
[1471-1485]

The two legends · Dating of the play 355

Acts I and II · Chronologies · Clarence's
death · Queens' lamentations -
Undramatic treatment of Richard's
coup
357 Acts III and IV · Richard's progress to the throne · His murder of the

Princes 361 Bosworth 365

Epilogue
369
Chronological Table
375
Bibliography
379

Appendix: Shakespeare's
Edward III
383

Henry V
Henry VI

Chained Swan
Chained Antelope

Edward IV and V
Richard III

Falcon and Fetterlock
White Boar

White Rose
Red Rose
Tudor Rose

The White Rose had long existed as a Yorkist badge; the Red Rose as the emblem of Lancaster seems to have been an invention of Henry VII. Shakespeare's garden scene is therefore not only imaginary but also an anachronism.

Introduction

My own introduction to Shakespeare's history plays took place when I was fifteen, and was taken by my parents to see the two parts of
King Henry IV,
in consecutive matinee and evening performances, at the New Theatre in London. We all l
oved Ralph Richardson's Falstaff
and Laurence Olivier's blazing Hotspur, his hint of a stammer on every initial *w' giving a memorable impact to his last line; but my own chief delight, as I remember, was the feeling — for the first time in my life - of being transported in a time capsule back into the Middle Ages. These, I kept reminding myself, were real people — people of flesh and blood, people who had really lived, who were something more than figments of an author's imagination. But the question was already there in my mind: just how real were they? Where did history stop and drama begin? Twenty years later at the Aldwych, the miracle occurred again - with John Barton's and Peter Hall's superb
The Wars of the Roses,
spread now over two whole days. This time the feeling of transportation was even greater; this time too there was a magnificent programme, which included a full historical resume and, wonder of wonders, an immense Plantagenet family tree. Would that I still had it today; alas, it has vanished like so many other treasures, and it is, I suppose, in an attempt to replace it as much as anything else that I have written the book that you now hold in your hands.

Perhaps, if I were to be perfectly accurate I should have called it
Some of Shakespeare's Kings,
for it is nothing if not selective. It has no business with mythical monarchs like Lear, nor with pseudo-historical ones like Cymbeline. It does not even consider
King John
- a play which, for all its faults, is all, or almost all, the work of Shakespeare -or
Henry VIII,
the major part of which is probably by John Fletcher. Its subject is that unhappy line of Plantagenet rulers who inspired the nine greatest of the history plays, that tremendous series that begins with
Edward III,
continues through the two parts of
Henry IV, Henry
V
and the three parts of
Henry VI,
and ends with
Richard III.
Two Kings, although part of the Plantagenet line, remain unmentioned. Edward IV, under whom the English people enjoyed a dozen of the happiest and most peaceful years they had known for a century, appears in the second and third parts of
Henry VI
and again in
Richard III;
but has no play of his own. Nor (less surprisingly, since he occupied the throne for only a few weeks) does his son, the fragile little Edward V - although, as the most pitiable monarch in English history, he plays an important part in illustrating his uncle's villainy.