[Pippin traced his title to the French crown female line, and so also did Hugh Capet.] the yeare 426, and Charles the great subdued the Saxons, and placed the Frenchmen in those parts beyond the river of Sala, in the yeare 805. Moreouer, it appeareth by their owne writers, that king Pepine, which deposed Childerike, claimed the crowne of France, as heire through the generall, for that he was descended of Blithild, daughter to king Clothair [p. 546] the first. Hugh Capet also, (who vsurped the crowne vpon Charles duke of Loraine, the sole heire male of the line and stocke of Charles the great,) to make his title seeme true, and appeare good, (though in deed it was starke naught,) conueied himselfe as heire to the ladie Lingard, daughter to king Charlemaine, sonne to Lewes the emperour, that was son to Charles the great. King Lewes also, the tenth,1 (otherwise called saint Lewes,) being verie heire to the said vsurper Hugh Capet, could neuer be satisfied in his conscience how he might iustlie keepe and possesse the crowne of France, till he was persuaded and fullie instructed, that queene Isabell his grandmother was lineallie descended of the ladie Ermengard, daughter [Therefore the king of England cannot be barred from claiming France and heire to the aboue named Charles duke of Loraine; by the which marriage, the bloud and line of Charles the great was againe vnited and restored to the crowne & scepter of France: so that more cleere than the sunne it openlie appeareth, that the title of king Of Charles the Duke of Loraine, sole Of the true Line and Stock of Charles To find his Title with some shewes 72 of truth, (Though, in pure truth, it was Daughter to Charlemaine, who was To Lewes the Emperour, and Lewes, 76 Could not keepe quiet in his Wearing the Crowne of France, 'till 80 satisfied That faire Queene Isabel, his Grand- Was Lineall of the Lady Ermengare, By the which Marriage, the Lyne of 84 Was re-vnited to the Crowne of So that, as cleare as is the Summers Sunne, 1 Hol.'s slip misled Shakspere. ninth" (51). Halle has: "Kyng Lewes also the Chichele then reminds Henry how Edward III., "on a Hill, stood"; watching the Black Prince defeat "the full Power of France," with but half of the English army (I. ii. 105-110). Holinshed records (iii. 372/2/27) how a knight, sent to ask Edward for reinforcements, came "where" the King "stood aloft on a windmill hill," surveying the battle.1 When Westmoreland says that the hearts of the English nobles are in France, Chichele exclaims: O let their bodyes follow, my deare Liege, With Blood and Sword and Fire, to win your Right! In ayde whereof, we of the Spiritualtie Will rayse your Highnesse such a mightie Summe, As neuer did the Clergie at one time Bring in to any of your Ancestors. Chichele, 132 [Hol. iii. 546/1/30.] hauing said sufficientlie for the proofe of the kings iust and lawfull title to the crowne of France, he exhorted him to aduance foorth his banner to fight for his right, to conquer his inheritance, to spare neither bloud, sword, nor fire; sith his warre was iust, his cause good, and his claime true. And to the intent his louing chapleins and obedient subiects of the spiritualtie might shew themselues willing and desirous to aid maiestie, for the recouerie of his ancient right and true inheritance, the archbishop declared that, in their spirituall conuocation, they his 1 An incident which Charles VI. reminds his nobles of (Hen. V., II. iv. 53-62). through the same line of descent.] [The book of Numbers.] Westmer land per suadeth y conquest of Scotland. had granted to his highnesse such a summe of monie, as neuer by no spirituall persons was to any prince before those daies giuen or aduanced.1 Chichele answers Henry's fear, that the Scot might pour down upon defenceless England, by recalling the day (October 17, 1346) when David II. was vanquished and taken prisoner, during Edward III.'s absence in France.-Avesbury, 145, 146. For the unhistorical assertion that David was sent to France (1. 161), Shakspere was perhaps indebted to the play of King Edward III., where (Act IV. sc. ii. p. 53) we find Edward resolving to summon Copeland, David's captor, hither out of hand, And with him he shall bring his prisoner king. In the last scene (Act V. sc. i. p. 71), which is laid at Calais, Copeland enters, "and King David." To Chichele's instance Westmoreland replies (11. 166-168): But there's a saying very old and true: "If that you will France win, "Then with Scotland first begin." After recording Chichele's speech, and offer of a subsidy, Holinshed adds: [Hol. iii. 546/1/44] When the archbishop had ended his preThe earle of pared tale, Rafe Neuill, earle of Westmerland, and as then lord Warden of the marches against Scotland, vnderstanding that the king to the king, vpon a couragious desire to recouer his right in France, would suerlie take the wars in hand, thought good to mooue the king to begin first with Scotland; and therevpon declared how easie a matter it should be to make a conquest there, and how greatlie the same should further his wished purpose for the subduing of the Frenchmen; concluding the summe of his tale with this old saieng: that, "Who so will France win, must with Scotland first "begin." War with France being resolved on, audience is given to ambassadors from the Dauphin. They present to the King a "Tun 2 of 1 The Convocation of Canterbury met on October 1, 1414, and broke up on October 20, 1414, after granting Henry two whole tenths.-Wake, 350, 351. This convocation was summoned for the settlement of matters relating to church discipline, as the mandate (Wake, Appendix, 87) shows. 2 Perhaps "Tunne" = a cup. Higins (Nomenclator, 1585, p. 233, col. 1) defined "Ooscyphium" as "a tun, or nut to drinke in." In The Famous Victories, sc. ix., p. 29, the ambassador's action is described by this stage direction: "He deliuereth a Tunne of Tennis Balles." Henry says: "What, a guilded Tunne? I pray you, my Lord of Yorke, looke what is in it." York answers: "Here is a Carpet and a Tunne of Tennis balles." Treasure" (1. 255), containing tennis-balls (1. 258); a gift which their master deems "meeter for" Henry's "spirit" than French dukedoms. Of this incident Holinshed gives the following account: Biton. ambassage. Dauphin's Paris [Hol. iii. 545/1/1.] Whilest in the Lent season the king laie at A disdaineKillingworth, there came to him from Charles [sc. Lewis] Dolphin full of France certeine ambassadors, that brought with them a barrell [The of Paris balles; which from their maister they presented to him for a token that was taken in verie ill part, as sent in scorne, to signifie, that it was more meet for the king to passe the time with such childish exercise, than to attempt any worthie exploit. Part of Henry's answer (11. 264-266) to the ambassadors— Tell him, "he hath made a match with such a Wrangler, "With Chaces -may be derived from the concluding portion of this excerpt: balles.'] [Hol. iii. 545/1/9.] Wherfore the K. wrote to him, that yer ought long, he would tosse him some London balles that perchance Henry's should shake the walles of the best court in France.1 Act II. Chorus.-When Shakspere wrote ll. 8-10,— And hides a Sword, from Hilts vnto the Point, -he may have been thinking of a woodcut-portrait of Edward III.,2— Act II. sc. ii.-This scene is laid at Southampton, in August, 1415.3 1 Cp. the rest of the passage in Ott. (cited above, p. 165): "Cui rex Anglorum rescripsit, dicens, se in brevi pilas missurum Londoniarum quibus terreret [tereret] & confunderet sua tecta." Henry's threat that the Dauphin's balls shall become "Gun-stones" (I. ii. 282) may be Shakspere's reminiscence of Caxton (Chronicle, ed. 1482, sign. t. 5), who says that Henry "lete make tenys balles for the dolphyn in al the hast that they my3t be made, and they were grete gonne stones for the Dolphyn to playe with all." But a cannonshot was called a gunstone in Shakspere's time. See examples in the revised ed. of Henry V. (New Sh. Soc.), p. 162. In a contemporary poem, ascribed to Lydgate, Henry speaks of a game at tynes" which his guns " shall play with Harflete."-Chron. Lond., 220. 2 In Rastell's Pastyme of People, 1529, Edward III. is portrayed at full length, holding a sword encircled by two crowns. For a comparison with II., Chorus, 1. 6,-where Henry is styled "the Mirror of all Christian Kings,"see p. 205, note 2, below. The treason of Cambridge, Scrope, and Grey was "publisshid and openli knowe" at Southampton, on August 1, 1415.-Chron. R. II.-H. VI., 40. On August 2, a jury found the conspirators guilty (Rot. Parl. iv. 65), and, on August 5, Clarence was commissioned to pass sentence on Cambridge and Scrope (Rymer, ix. 300). 'London balles.'] All the historic negotiation which preceded Henry's departure for France was passed over or postdated, and the event placed next to the tennis-balls' incident is the conspiracy of Cambridge, Scrope, and Grey. [Hol. iii. 548/1/66.] When king Henrie had fullie furnished his nauie with men, munition, & other prouisions, [he,] perceiuing that his capteines misliked nothing so much as delaie, determined his souldiors to go a ship-boord and awaie. But see the hap! the night before the daie appointed for their departure, he was crediblie informed, that Richard earle of Cambridge, brother to Edward duke of Yorke, and Henrie lord Scroope of Masham, lord treasuror, with Thomas Graie, a knight of Northumberland, being confederat Cambridge &togither, had conspired his death: wherefore he caused them to be apprehended. The earle of other lords apprehended for treason Neither Holinshed nor, I believe, any chronicler published in Shakspere's day1 relates that the conspirators were led on by Henry to doom themselves (11. 39-51). The speech (11. 79-144) in which Henry upbraids 1 Saint-Remy-whose Mémoires, from 1407 to 1422, were first published in 1663-says-as do other chroniclers-that the conspirators sought to make the Earl of March an accomplice by offering to place him on the throne, but that he revealed their design to Henry. Saint-Remy adds (vii. 488-489) that the King thereupon called a council of his nobles, and after telling them that he had heard, though he could not believe, that some of his subjects were engaged in a plot to deprive him of his crown, asked, if the report were true, what should be done to these traitors. The question was put to each lord in succession, and the conspirators answered that such traitors ought to suffer a death so cruel as to be a warning to others. Every one present having given his opinion, Henry confronted March with the guilty men, who owned their treasonable project. Waurin (V. i. 177-179) gives the same account of the conspirators' detection. |