[Hol. iii. 490/2/57.] Sir Iohn Bushie, in all his talke, when he proponed any matter vnto the king, did not attribute to him titles. of honour, due and accustomed; but inuented vnused termes, and such strange names as were rather agreeable to the diuine maiestie of God, than to any earthlie potentate. The prince, being desirous inough of all honour, and more ambitious than was by Richard]. requisite, seemed to like well of his speech, and gaue good eare to his talke.

Impudent flatterie [of Sir John Bushy liked

[The commons held Aumerle,

Richard was very unfortunate in his choice of favourites, for

[Hol. iii. 492/2/72.] such as were cheefe of his councell were esteemed of the commons to be the woorst creatures that might be; as [p. 493] the dukes of Aumarle, Norfolke, and Excester, the Norfolk, and Wiltshire, to be the worst earle of Wiltshire, sir Iohn Bushie, sir William Bagot, and sir greatly hated Henrie1 Greene: which three last remembred were knights of the Bagot, and Bath, against whom the commons vndoubtedlie bare great and R. II., II. priuie hatred.

of men; and

Bushy,

Greene (Cp.

127-139.)]

VI. FIRST PART OF KING HENRY THE FOURTH.

ACT I. sc. i.-A more precise date than the year 14022 cannot be assigned to the opening scene in The Historie of Henry the fourth; 3 because, though but "yesternight" (1. 36) a post had brought tidings of Sir Edmund Mortimer's capture by Glendower, on June 22, 1402,4 Sir Walter Blunt has since arrived with news of the Scots' defeat at Homildon (11. 67-73); which happened on September 14, 1402.5 The last historic event of the play is the battle of Shrewsbury; fought on July 21, 1403.6

Of Mortimer's capture Holinshed gives the following account:

[Hol. iii. 520/1/64.] Owen Glendouer, according to his accustomed manner, robbing and spoiling within the English borders, caused all the forces of the shire of Hereford to assemble togither against them, vnder the conduct of Edmund Mortimer, earle of

1 Henrie] Thomas Hol.

2 For an excerpt relating to the proposed crusade, of which Henry speaks in this scene (11. 18-29), see p. 159 below.

3 I quote the text of Q1 (1598). Ott., 2

4 Usk, 75; 200.

238.

6 Usk, 80; 206.

The earle of

March [Sir

Edmund taken

Mortimer]

prisoner in batell by Owen Glendouer.

March. But, comming to trie the matter by battell, whether by treason or otherwise, so it fortuned, that the English power was discomfited, the earle taken prisoner, and aboue a thousand of his people slaine in the place. The shamefull villanie 2 vsed by the Welshwomen towards the dead carcasses, was such as honest eares would be ashamed to heare, and continent toongs to speake villany.] thereof. The dead bodies might not be buried, without great summes of monie giuen for libertie to conueie them awaie.

A Scottish army having been defeated on June 22, 1402,3 while returning from a border foray,

[Hol. iii. 520/2/40.] Archembald, earle Dowglas, sore displeased in his mind for this ouerthrow, procured a commission to inuade England, and that to his cost, as ye may likewise read in the Scotish histories. For, at a place called Homildon, they were so fiercelie assailed by the Englishmen, vnder the leading of the lord Persie, surnamed Henrie Hotspur, and George earle of March, that with violence of the English shot they were quite vanquished and

5

1 In 1402, Edmund Mortimer, fifth Earl of March, being a minor, was Henry's ward.-Usk, 21; 127. Glendower's prisoner was Sir Edmund Mortimer, brother to Roger Mortimer, fourth Earl of March (see p. 134, note 4, below), and uncle to the fifth Earl. Hol.'s mistake misled Shakspere (1 Hen. IV., I. iii. 84). On December 13, 1402, Sir Edmund Mortimer wrote to his tenants, informing them that he had joined in a quarrel raised by Owen Glendower, "of which the object is, if King Richard be alive, to restore him to his Crown, and if not, that my honoured nephew, who is the right heir to the said Crown, shall be King of England (la quelle est tielle, qe si le Roy Richard soit en vie de luy restorer a sa coronne, et sinoun qe mon honore Neuewe q'est droit heir al dit coronne seroit Roy d'Engleterre)."-Ellis, II. i. 24.

2 I shall imitate Shakspere's reticence (I. i. 43-46) in regard to the Welshwomen's "villanie." Hol. (528/1/36-48) gives full details.

3 Hol. 520/2/34. They were defeated at Nisbet, Roxburghshire. "Nesbitmore in Marchia."-Fordun, ii. 433. Hol. does not mention the date of Mortimer's capture, which, as the reader will perceive, coincides with the overthrow of the Scots in the summer of 1402. If it were possible that Shakspere could have known the former date, we might conjecture that he rolled into one the defeats at Nisbet and Homildon, in order that the post bringing tidings of Glendower's victory should reach London about the same time as Sir Walter Blunt arrived with the consoling news of Scottish disaster.

4 The Earl of Northumberland had two sons, "the one named Henrie, and the other Rafe; verie forward and lustie gentlemen. This Henrie, being the elder, was surnamed, for his often pricking, Henrie Hotspur, as one that seldome times rested, if there were anie seruice to be doone abroad."-Hol. H. S. 249/1/30. According to Dugdale (i. 278/2) Northumberland had three sons, named Henry, Thomas, and Ralph.

Shakspere's " "Lord Mortimer of Scotland" (1 Hen. IV., III. ii. 164). See p. 142 below.

[The Welshwomen's

Scots van

quished at

Homildon.

slaine.

Prisoners

taken.

put to flight, on the Rood daie in haruest, with a great slaughter The number made by the Englishmen. . . . There were slaine . . . three and twentie knights, besides ten thousand of the commons; and of prisoners among other were these: Mordacke earle of Fife, son to the gouernour, Archembald earle Dowglas,1 (which in the fight lost one of his eies,) Thomas erle of Murrey, George 2 earle of Angus, and (as some writers haue) the earles of Atholl & Menteith; 3 with fiue hundred other of meaner degrees.

Archembald Douglas inuadeth England.

I supplement my last excerpt by quoting from Holinshed's Historie of Scotland another account of the battle of Homildon.

[Hol. ii. H. S. 254/1/57.] Archembald, earle of Dowglasse, sore displeased, and woonderfullie wroth in his mind for this ouerthrow [at Nisbet], got commission to inuade England with an armie of ten thousand men; and, hauing the same once readie with all things necessarie for his voiage, he set forward, and entering into England, burnt and harried the countrie, not staieng till he came as farre as The nobles of Newcastell. In this armie there was with the Dowglasse, Murdocke

Scotland in

this armie.

Henrie

Hotspur and the earle of March

assaile the

Scots at

Homildon.

(eldest sonne to duke Robert) earle of Fife, Thomas erle of Murrey, George earle of Angus; with manie other lords and nobles of Scotland. At the last, when they were returning homewards with a preie of infinit goods and riches, Henrie Hotspur, and George earle of March, with a great power of men, met them, and assailed

1 In the original text of Hol. (ed. 2) this sentence stands thus: "Mordacke earle of Fife, son to the gouernour Archembald earle Dowglas"; and in the 1st ed. of Hol. also the words "gouernour Archembalde" are unpunctuated. The corresponding lines (70-72) of 1 Hen. IV. (ed. 1), I. i. are:

and subsequent editions have the same reading. Steevens believed (Var. Sh. xvi. 187) that the omission of a comma after "gouernour" misled Shakspere ; because the "gouernour," or Regent, of Scotland was Robert Steward, Duke of Albany, whose eldest son was "Mordacke earle of Fife." But, as in the play Murdach Steward is called "eldest sonne," it would seem that Shakspere must have known one or both of the excerpts relating to the battle of Homildon, which I quote from Holinshed's Historie of Scotland.

2 George] Robert Hol.

3 Hol.'s slip has misled Shakspere (cp. I. i. 73). "Menteith" was another title of Murdoch Steward, who, in Hol. (ii. H. S. 259/2/65, is called "Mordo Steward earle of Fife and Menteith"; a description confirmed by Hol. ii. H. S. 262/2/54, and H. S. 419/1/32.

through

Englishmens

them so with such incessant shot of arrowes, that where the earle The Scots, of Dowglas with his armie had the aduantage of an hill, called force of the Homildon, he was constreined to forsake the same; and, comming shot, descend downe vpon the Englishmen, was neuerthelesse put to the woorsse, the most part of his people being either taken or slaine. . . . Archembald earle of Dowglas, Murdocke Steward, eldest sonne Prisoners

the hill.

taken.

Buch. 1401.

to duke Robert the gouernour, George erle of Angus, with the most part of all the barons of Fife and Louthian, were taken prisoners. This battell was fought on the Rood 1402 H.B. day in haruest, in the yeere 1403 [1402], vpon a Tuesday.

Act I. sc. iii.-This scene and 11, 91-99, sc. i. Act I., are illustrated by my next excerpts.

:

berland and

were

because all

their

prisoners

by the King,

Earl of Fife

been

[Hol. iii. 521/1/1. 1.] Henrie, earle of Northumberland, with [Northumhis brother Thomas, earle of Worcester, and his sonne the lord Hotspur Henrie Persie, surnamed Hotspur, which were to king Henrie, in ecerse the beginning of his reigne, both faithfull freends, and earnest Scottish aiders, began now to enuie his wealth and felicitie; and especiallie were claimed they were greeued, bicause the king demanded of the earle and to whom the his sonne such Scotish prisoners as were taken at Homeldon and alone had Nesbit for, of all the captiues which were taken in the conflicts delivered.] foughten in those two places, there was deliuered to the kings possession onelie Mordake earle of Fife, the duke of Albanies sonne; though the king did diuers and sundrie times require deliuerance of the residue, and that with great threatnings: wherewith the Persies being sore offended, (for that they claimed them as their owne proper prisoners, and their peculiar preies,) by the counsell of the lord Thomas Persie, earle of Worcester, whose [Worcester a studie was euer (as some write) to procure malice, and set things in a broile, came to the king vnto Windsore, (vpon a purpose to prooue him,) and there required of him, that either by ransome or The request otherwise, he would cause to be deliuered out of prison Edmund, that Henry Mortimer earle of March, their cousine germane,1 whom (as they Mortimer].

1 Henry IV. and Hotspur were cousins, Henry's grandfather, Henry Plantagenet Duke of Lancaster, being brother german to Mary, Hotspur's grandmother. Perhaps Halle (Hol.'s authority) alluded to the common descent of the two Percies, and Edmund fifth Earl of March, from Henry III.

makebate.]

of the Persies

Would

ransom

[Henry's misgiving about this request.]

March had been proclaimed heir

Richard.]

reported) Owen Glendouer kept in filthie prison, shakled with irons; onelie for that he tooke his part, and was to him faithfull and true.

The king began not a little to muse at this request, and not without cause: for in deed it touched him somewhat neere, sith this Edmund was sonne to Roger earle of March, sonne to the ladie Philip, daughter of Lionell duke of Clarence, the third sonne (The Earl of of king Edward the third; which Edmund, at king Richards going into Ireland, was proclamed heire apparant to the crowne and apparent by realme; 1 whose aunt, called Elianor, the lord Henrie Persie had married; and therefore king Henrie could not well beare, that anie man should be earnest about the aduancement of that linage. The king, when he had studied on the matter, made answer, that the earle of March was not taken prisoner for his cause, nor in his seruice, but willinglie suffered himselfe to be taken, bicause he would not withstand the attempts of Owen Glendouer, and his complices; & therefore he would neither ransome him, nor releeue him.*

[Henry answered that he

would not ransom

Mortimer, who had willingly suffered himself to be taken.]

the L. Persie.

The Persies with this answer and fraudulent excuse were not a The saieng of little fumed, insomuch that Henrie Hotspur said openlie: “Behold, 'the heire of the relme is robbed of his right, and yet the robber "with his owne will not redeeme him!"5 So in this furie the

1 Hol. has, I believe, copied a mistake of Halle (27). On August 6, 1385, Parliament recognized Edmund's father-Roger fourth Earl of March-as heir-presumptive to the crown.-Eulog., iii. 361.

2 Elizabeth.-Rymer, viii. 334. She was the sister of Sir Edmund Mortimer, and the wife of Hotspur.-Eulog., iii. 396.

3 beare] heare Hol. edd. 1, 2.

In the last article of their "quarell" the Percies, addressing Henry IV., said that "Edmundus Mortymere, frater Rogeri Mortymere nuper comitis Marchie et Ultonie, fuit captus per Owinum Glendore in mortali bello campestri, et in prisona ac vinculis ferreis adhuc crudeliter tentus, in causa tua, quem tu proclamasti captum ex dolo, et noluisti pati deliberacionem suam per se nec per nos consanguineos suos et amicos."-Hardyng, 353. Cp. p. 131, n. 1, above, where a letter is quoted in which Edmund Mortimer speaks of his nephew. As to Roger, fourth Earl of March, and father of Edmund, fifth Earl, see p. 89, n. 1, above. Halle's version of this article (30) has "Edmond Mortimer earle of Marche and Ulster," to represent "Edmundus Mortymere, frater Rogeri Mortymere nuper comitis . . . Ultonie."

5 We learn from Eulog. (iii. 395, 396) that, in 1403, Hotspur desired Henry IV. to ransom Sir Edmund Mortimer. An altercation ensued, and the King drew his dagger. "Non hic,' dixit Henricus [Percy], 'sed in campo.' Et recessit." This open quarrel can hardly be assigned to an earlier date than June, for on June 26, 1403, Northumberland wrote a friendly letter to Henry. -Proc. Priv. Co. i. 204.