Shakespeare's Kings (34 page)

What must the king do now? Must he submit?

The king shall do it. Must he be depos'd?

The king shall, be contented. Must he lose The name of king?

A God's name, let it go.
¹

On
Henry's
orders
he
signed
writs
for
the
summoning
of
Parliament, to
meet
at
Westminster
on
30
September.
He
was
then
taken
through

1.
III.iii
.143-6.

Lichfield,
Coventry
and
St
Albans
to
London,
where
he
was
put
in
the Tower
to
await
his
conqueror's
pleasure.

In
the
scene
at
Flint
Castle
,
Shakespeare
has
Bolingbroke
kneel
before Richard
and
protest
that
he
seeks
only
his
inheritance
-
'My
gracious lord,
I
come
but
for
mine
own.'
This
was
certainly
true
at
the
time
of his
landing
in
Yorkshire;
since
then,
however,
he
had
come
to
see
that Richard
could
no
longer
continue
as
King.
Not
only,
if
he
regained his
authority,
would
he
unquestionably
take
his
revenge;
but
in
the
past two
years
his
rule
had
been
that
of
a
tyrant,
showing
a
degree
of
cruelty and
faithlessness
more
characteristic
of
an
oriental
despot
than
of
a
King of
England.
The
country
desperately
needed
a
strong,
enlightened
ruler who
would
govern
responsibly
with
the
advice
of
the
old
nobility
rather than
a
bunch
of
self-seeking
favourites.
Legally,
the
heir
apparent
was Edmund
Mortimer,
Earl
of
March,
great-great-grandson
of
Edward
III through
his
son
Lionel,
Duke
of
Clarence
and
Lionel's
daughter Philippa;
he
was,
however,
just
eight
years
old.
The
Duke
of
Lancaster's claim
was
admittedly
only
through
Lionel's
younger
brother,
John
of Gaunt;
but
his
descent
from
the
old
King
was
entirely
in
the
male
line, he
was
a
generation
older,
and
his
reception
as
he
had
made
his
way across
England
from
Ravenscar
to
Gloucester
had
left
him
in
no
doubt of
the
strength
of
his
support.
Whenever
he
may
have
taken
his
final decision
-
and
whether
or
not
he
had
sworn
an
oath
at
Doncaster
— there
seems
little
doubt
that
by
the
time
Richard
was
delivered
into
his hands
his
mind
was
made
up.

Thenceforth,
two
steps
remained
to
be
taken.
First,
Richard
must be
legally
deposed;
second,
he
—
Henry
-
must
prove
himself
the
rightful successor
to
the
throne.
Both
steps,
however,
must
be
taken
quickly, since
a
power
vacuum
might
easily
lead
to
a
change
of
heart
among
the great
lords
of
the
north,
or
even
to
a
move
by
the
French
King
in
support of
his
son-in-law.
For
the
deposition
there
was
at
least
the
precedent
of Edward
II,
only
seventy-two
years
before.
On
Monday
29
September in
the
Tower,
Richard
signed
an
instrument
of
abdication
before
a group
of
commissioners
representing
the
lords
spiritual
and
temporal, the
landed
gentry
and
the
law;
then,
laying
his
crown
on
the
ground before
him,
he
resigned
it,
not
to
the
Duke
of
Lancaster
but
to
God.

The
problem
came
with
the
legitimization
of
Lancaster
as
his
successor.
Edward
II
had
abdicated
in
favour
of
his
son
and
undoubted heir;
Henry's
claim
was
a
good
deal
more
tenuous.
Sometime
before, moreover,
Parliament
had
declared
the
Mortimers
heirs
to
the
kingdom in
the
event
of
Richard's
remaining
childless.
In
vain
did
Henry
now order
all
the
records
and
chronicles
of
all
the
leading
religious
houses to
be
diligently
scanned
for
useful
precedents,
or
evidence
that
could be
used
in
support
of
his
case;
there
seemed
little
doubt
that,
however great
his
own
personal
popularity,
the
claim
of
the
young
Edmund
of March
was
legally
superior.
He
first
tried
to
resurrect
a
curious
old legend,
according
to
which
his
maternal
great-great-grandfather, Edmund
Crouchback,
had
in
fact
been
born
before
his
brother
King Edward
I;
but
this
was
found
(to
no
one's
surprise)
to
be
without foundation—fortunately,
since
had
it
been
true
it
would
have
meant
that not
only
Richard
but
his
three
predecessors
had
all
reigned
illegitimately. Next
he
considered
claiming
the
crown
by
right
of
conquest;
but
that, it
was
pointed
out
to
him,
would
be
riding
roughshod
over
the
law
of England.
A
third
possibility
lay
in
a
special
act
of
parliament;
but
this he
wished
to
avoid
at
all
costs,
knowing
as
he
did
that
what
parliament had
given
it
could
also
take
away.

The
solution,
such
as
it
was,
that
Henry
eventually
found
was
more subtle
than
any
of
these.
It
was
to
have
himself
acclaimed
by
an assembly
which,
though
summoned
as
a
parliament,
was
technically
not a
parliament
at
all.
For
a
true
parliament
the
presence
of
the
King
was essential;
at
this
particular
moment
there
was
no
King.
It
was
thus
only a
great
representative
assembly
that
met,
according
to
the
summons issued
by
Richard
at
Flint,
on
30
September
1399,
in
the
still
uncompleted
Westminster
Hall;
the
throne
on
its
high
dais
stood
empty, covered
with
a
cloth
of
gold.
Richard's
abdication
was
read
out
by
the Archbishop
of
York
in
both
Latin
and
English,
together
with
a
schedule of
thirty-three
articles
listing
the
crimes
and
misdeeds
of
which
he
was accused.
His
demands
to
appear
in
person
to
plead
his
case
were
simply ignored,
as
were
the
courageous
representations
made
on
his
behalf
by the
Bishop
of
Carlisle
and
various
other
supporters.
The
assembly
then agreed
unanimously
to
accept
his
abdication
and
declared
him
deposed.