Shakespeare's English Kings: History, Chronicle, Drama

Chapter 1—History+History Plays (3)

• Edward III (ruled 1327-1377)

  • 5 heirs

    • Black Prince (Edward)

      • Predeceased Father

    • Lionel

    • John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster

• Richard II

  • Son of Black Prince

  • Inherited crown at 10yo

  • Seized lands after death of John of Gaunt in 1399

• Henry IV (ruled 1399-1413)

  • Son of John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster

  • Reclaimed father’s lands from Richard II, deposed him

• Henry V (ruled 1413-1422)

  • Reclaimed France

• Henry VI (ruled 1422-

  • Inherited crown at 9 months old

  • Driven out of France by Joan of Arc

• Richard duke of York

  • Maternally related to Lionel

  • Started War of Roses to claim throne from Henry VI

• Edward IV (ruled 1471-1483)

  • Son of Richard duke of York

  • Only remaining heir after War of Roses

  • Married Elizabeth Woodville

    • Her relatives claimed noble positions

  • Heirs: Edward V (12yo), Richard (9yo)

• Richard duke of Gloucester

  • Brother of Edward IV/Son of Richard duke of York

  • Deposed Woodvilles

  • Removed princes

  • Deposed by Henry Tudor

• Henry Tudor

  • Fought Richard doG for throne

  • Married to EIV daughter

• Queen Elizabeth I

  • Granddaughter of Henry Tudor

  • Ruled in Shakespeare’s era

Chapter 5—Henry VI—Loss of Empire (91)

Chapter 5—Henry VI—Loss of Empire (91)

Chapter 5—Henry VI—Loss of Empire (91)

Introduction to Henry VI Plays (91)

• Henry VI only English king to be deposed+buried 2x

• Born in 1421

• Succeeded father’s crown in August 1422 at 9 mos old

• Formally crowned king of England in 1429, king of France in 1431

• Lost France to maternal uncle Charles VII in 1453

• Lost England in 1461 to Plantagenet cousin Edward of York→Edward IV

  • Restored to throne by Lancastrian line in 1470

  • Redeposed by Edward 6 mos later

• Shakespeare’s Plays

  • Part 1—1422-1444, loss of France

  • Part 2—1445-1455, buildup to Wars of Roses

  • Part 3—double deposition

  • Complexity required condensation

End of 100 Years War (94)

• Anglo-French War after Henry V

  • Part 1—death of Henry V (1422)-siege of Orléans (1428)

  • Part 2—siege of Orléans (1428)-1435

  • Part 3—post 1435

• Issues with royal minority

  • Regent may grow overpowered

  • Council rule risks inefficiency+poor corrdination

• Uncles

  • Surviving brothers of Henry V

    • John duke of Bedford

      • Recency of France

    • Humphrey duke of Gloucester

      • Regency of England

        • Denied by other nobles led by Cardinal Beaufort

        • More popular than Beaufort in England

      • Died 1447

  • Surviving sons of John of Gaunt

    • Henry Beaufort bishop of Winchester

      • aka Cardinal Beaufort

      • Died 1447

    • Thomas Beaufort duke of Exeter

• Joan of Arc

  • Helped Charles VII become king of France

• Richard duke of York

  • Descended from 2 different sons of Edward III

• Arranged marriage b/t Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou

  • Margaret

    • Cousin of King CHarles

  • Arranged by Soffolk

History+1 Henry VI (104)

• Concentrates English heroism into Lord Talbot

• Combines John and Edmund Beaufort into single duke of Somerset

• Analytic narrative rather than historical

• Goal to show how France was lost

  • English internal devisiveness

  • Scheming French women

• Act 1

  • Refers to Charles VII as dauphin t/o play

  • Romance b/t Joan, Charles VIII

• Act 2

  • Talbot captures Orléans (disregards history)

  • Omits Bedford entirely

• Act 3

  • Factions

    • White—Warwick, York

    • Red—Suffolk, Somerset

  • Ignores Exeter’s death

  • French guile

  • Talbot earl of Shrewsbury

  • Henry VI king of France

  • York regent of France

• Act 4

  • Shakespeare makes noncooperation of York+Somerset directly responsible for invented failure to reinforce Talbot

  • English heroism extinguished

• Act 5

  • Romance b/t Suffolk, Margaret

  • Joan revealed as sorceress, whore, vixen

    • Margaret takes over Joan’s role

• 1 Henry VI not complete narrative, but dramatized demonstration of forces at work

  • French treated chauvinistically

  • Machiavel demonized

  • York-Somerset quarrel developed in years covered by 2 Henry VI, this play’s quarrel was invented

  • Concentration of heroism in Talbot slights Salisbury, Bedford, Sir John Fastolfe

    • Leaves little else for other lords to do except quarrel

Chapter 6—Henry VI+Edward IV—Rival Kings (115)

Disorders of 1440s (115)

• Much less rearrangement of chronology than in 1 Henry VI

• Primary difference b/t history+theater not Shakespearean rearrangement but deviation from chroniclers

  • Tudor historians used teleological interpretation

  • Shakespeare focused on ambition for crowin

• Main problem was incompetence of king

  • Bandits came openly into market towns in Herefordshire

  • Riots+murders in Channel counties

  • Breakdown of procedures of justice

  • Duke of Suffolk’s agents roused hostility of citizenry

• Gloucester

  • Sought regency of England, forced to be content w/ title of protector

  • Popular in London

  • Hot-headed

  • Wife convicted of witchcraft in 1441

• Courtly rivalries exaggerated or contrived

• Suffolk

  • Controlled govt. in 1440s

  • Descendant of Yorkshire wool merchant

  • Arranged marriage of Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou

  • Characterizes greed+piety

  • Hated by end of 1440s

  • Banished, eventually killed

• York

  • Deviates from history in plays

    • Cooperates in undoing of Gloucesters

    • Secures backing of earls of Salisbury+Warkwick for his royal ambitions

    • Sponsor’s Cade’s rising

Fortunes of Richard Duke of York (126)

• Somerset

  • Courtier rather than landowner

  • Completed English disgrace in France

• Richard duke of York

  • Steadfast, persistent, arrogant, politically inept, gullible, popular amongst commoners

  • Untarnished military reputation

  • Tried to work to power through parliament 11/1450-5/1451

  • 1452—tried to dislodge Somerset by force

    • Resulted in disgrace+political isolation

  • Little support from other lords

  • 1453—allied w/ Nevilles

• Nevilles

  • Descendants of Henry IV’s earl of Westmorland

  • Earls of Salisbury, Warwick

• August 1453—Henry VI goes mad

  • October 1453—Margaret has son

• First battle of St. Albans (1455) returns Yorkists to power

  • York’s protectorate lasted November 1455 to February 1456

• Margaret feared York’s power, so composed fanatically hostile party of sons of lords killed at St. Alban’s

• No thought of deposing Henry, only ruling in his name

  • Sworn allegiance to Henry VI, unwilling to overthrow unless he abdicated

Edward IV, 1461-1471 (138)

• 18yo when duke of York died, making him king

• Crowned in June 1461, title confirmed by Parliament in November

  • No formal deposition necessary b/c Lancastrian line deemed usurpers

• Lancastrian restoration 1470-1471

  • Due to division b/t Edward, Warwick

• Henry VI trilogy focused on personal ambitions of individuals, meshes individual patterns into providential pattern

Chapter 7—Richard III—Last Plantagenet (157)

Edward IV, 1471-1483 (157)

• Richard III killed Henry VI, Prince Edward, duke of Clarence, nephews Edward V+Richard duke of York, wife Anne

  • Contrived murder of Lord Hastings

• Most of reputation due to rumor, political bias, credulity, literary talent of Tudor writers

• Myths: physical deformity, role in death of Clarence

  • Also potentially murdering Henry VI (if he did it was bc of Edward)

• Dramatizes time b/t Edward IV’s death, Richard’s ascension

• Edward IV neglected by Shakespeare

  • Didn’t get his own play

  • Most successful of later Plantagenets

    • Concerned w/ business of govt.

      • Introduced financial reforms

      • “Lived of his own” (didn’t ask parliament for taxes to fund lifestyle)

• Infantilized Rutland, Prince Edward to paint deaths as atrocities

• Rivalries arose from marriage

  • Woodvilles cornered aristocratic market

    • Anthony Woodville was governor to prince of Wales

    • Edward Woodville served as military commander

    • Thomas+Richard Grey (Lady Grey’s sons from 1st marriage) debaucherous

  • Rivals to Woodvilles

    • Richard

      • Served as Edward’s northern deputy, generally successful

      • No action taken against Edward during his life

      • Married Anne Neville (daughter of Warwick, previously betrothed to Prince Edward)

      • Attempted to prevent Clarence’s execution

        • Resented Woodvilles for death

    • Clarence

      • Betrayed Edward by joining Warwick’s revolt

      • Committed reasonless judicial murder through King’s court

      • Protested execution of servant convicted of witchcraft

      • Charged w/ trason

    • Lord Hastings

      • Edward’s closest friend_advisor

      • Captain of Calais

    • Henry Stafford duke of Buckingham

      • Great-great-grandson to Thomas of Woodstock

Accession of Richard III (169)

• Edward IV died 4/9/1483

• Edward V (son of Edward IV) proclaimed king 4/11/1483

  • Richard appointed as protector during minority

  • Actual person left to Woodvilles, who were scattered

    • Woodvilles didn’t want protectorate

  • Richard asked Hastings for troops when coronation was scheduled for 6/22

    • Hastings switched sides, arrested+executed w/o trial 6/13

  • Lady Grey surrendered baby York 6/16

    • Shakespeare reverses: York released before Hastings dies

      • Hastings plot fabrication by Richard after Hastings refuses to support accession

  • Richard openly preparing accession by 6/22

    • Spread rumor of Edward IV’s illegitimacy, which would disinherit princes

      • Shifted to illegitimacy of princes, then to secret betrothal of which both parties were dead

      • Legitimate hereditary claim essential since Yorkist revolution was built on having better claim

• Richard of Gloucester proclaimed in stead of Edward V 6/26

  • Acclaimed by a parliament made illegitimate by claims against Edward V

  • Legally and morally usurped Edward V’s crown

    • Most efficient+least costly of England’s irregular seizures of power

• Richard crowned King 7/9

• Shakespeare assumes Richard governed by ambition, may have been fear

Bosworth+Tudors (178)

• Buckingham helped Richard to throne, turned on him w/i 3 months of coronation

• Henry Tudor

  • Ancestry

    • Grandfather married widow of Henry V

    • Father made earl by Henry VI, married Margaret Beaufort

      • Margaret daughter of John Beaufort duke of Somerset, son of eldest child of John of Gaunt

  • Not much different from Yorkists

    • Main trouble w/ Tudors was lack of heirs rather than overabundance

• Richard’s son died, leaving heir in question