Anjou's guilty love for Suffolk is sheer fiction; or was perhaps inferred from expressions which describe him as a minister whom she trusted. "By the queenes meanes," we are told, Suffolk was "aduanced so in authoritie, that he ruled the king at his pleasure" (Hol. iii. 626/1/43. Halle, 207). She is said also to have "intierlie loued the duke" (Hol. iii. 632/1/9. Halle, 218). Moreover, Halle (219, om. Hol.) employed a phrase capable of injurious construction when he called Suffolk "the Quenes dearlynge." There can be little doubt that Richard III. was unscrupulous in gratifying his ambition, but he was not a flawless villain, who loved evil for its own sake, apart from its results. Just before the armies joined battle at Bosworth he is alleged to have thus disclosed to his followers remorse for his nephews' murder: "And although in the adeption and obteigning of the garland, I, being seduced and prouoked by sinister counsell and diabolicall temptation, did commit a wicked and detestable act, yet I haue with streict penance and salt tears (as I trust) expiated & cleerelie purged the same offense: which abominable crime I require you of frendship as cleerelie to forget, as I dailie remember to deplore and lament the same" (Hol. iii. 756/1/18. Halle, 415). Other parts of his speech were worked into the play (pp. 416, 417 below), but this passage was ignored, and some prelusive words, well becoming the superhuman impiety of the dramatic Richard, were invented. Still, he was false to himself once, and a parallel of this passage is, perhaps, to be found in the confession (V. iii. 193-200) wrung from him by the dreams of his last night. The plan of Shakspere's Holinshed requires brief explanation. The historical excerpts are arranged in the dramatic order, and the action of the play which they illustrate is briefly described. I quote the second edition (1587) of Holinshed's Chronicles. Each excerpt is preceded by a bracketed reference to the volume, page, column, and first line of the quotation, as it stands in that edition. The three volumes of Holinshed are cited as Hol. i. H. E. (Holinshed, vol. i., Historie of England), Hol. ii. H. S. (Holinshed, vol. ii., Historie of Scotland), and Hol. iii. (Holinshed, vol. iii.). The line-numbers of the Globe Shakespeare (1891) are followed 1 "Let not our babling Dreames affright our soules: Conscience is but a word that Cowards vse, Deuis'd at first to keepe the strong in awe: Our strong armes be our Conscience, Swords our Law! March on, ioyne brauely, let vs to't pell mell; If not to heauen, then hand in hand to Hell!" (V. iii. 308-313. Q. reading of 1. 309.) in quoting or referring to the plays. Identical words are italicized both in the excerpts and the plays compared.1 New sidenotes, and additions to the original text or sidenotes of the chronicles quoted, are bracketed. The original punctuation of the excerpts from Holinshed's Chronicles, given on pp. 1-32, has been slightly modified, but, in subsequent pages, I have freely altered, augmented, and—in comparatively few cases-retrenched it. The assistance and advice of Mr. P. A. Daniel, Dr. F. J. Furnivall, and the late Dr. Brinsley Nicholson have been of great service to me. I am much beholden to Mr. James Gairdner for his responses to various questions touching historical matters. I am also obliged to Mr. James E. Doyle and the Rev. S. J. Johnson for the communications which are given at pp. 66, 396, below. Mr. Oswald Barron and Mr. Halliday Sparling supplied me with those citations of public records which have appended to them the initials O. B. and H. S. To my brother I am indebted for the dedicatory inscription of this book, and my thanks are due to my sister for reading proofs. I would here acknowledge my general obligations to the Right Hon. T. P. Courtenay's Commentaries on the Historical Plays of Shakspeare, and to Mr. G. R. French's Shakspeareana Genealogica. I have had the advantage of consulting Sir James H. Ramsay's Lancaster and York, and the published volumes of Mr. J. H. Wylie's History of England under Henry the Fourth. Beckenham, July 29, 1896. WALTER GEORGE BOSWELL-STONE. 1 The original black-letter sidenotes have been set in italic. A few words-for example, Requiem (p. 128 below)-have been left in the original italic. Italic has been substituted for the Roman type which, in copies of Holinshed, distinguish writers' names-for example, Galfrid (p. 14)-from the black-letter text. AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO IN THIS BOOK. An asterisk (*) indicates that an authority is contemporaneous or nearly contemporaneous with the event related below. A dash (—) precedes the last date of an authority, when the first year is not given. * Ann. Burton. Annales de Burton. 1004-1263. H. R. Luard. (Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages. Annales Monastici. Vol. 1.) * Ann. Dunelm. Annales Dunelmenses. 995-1199. G. H. Pertz. (Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Vol. 19.) * Ann. Marg. Annales de Margan. 1066-1232. H. R. Luard. (Chron. and Mem. Annales Monastici. Vol. 1.) * Ann. R. II.—H. IV. Annales Ricardi Secundi et Henrici Quarti. 1392-1406. H. T. Riley. (Chron. and Mem. Chronica Monasterii S. Albani. Vol. 4.) * Ann. Theok. Annales de Theokesberia. 1066-1263. H. R. Luard. (Chron. and Mem. Annales Monastici. Vol. 1.) * Ann. Waverl. Annales de Waverleia. 1-1291. H. R. Luard. (Chron. and Mem. Annales Monastici. Vol. 2.) Anselme. Anselme de la Vierge Marie [P. de Gibours]. Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la Maison Royale de France, &c., continuée par M. Du Fourny. 1726-1733. Archaeol. Archaeologia; or, Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity, published by the Society of Antiquaries of London. Vol. 20. Arnold. Chronicle of the Customs of London. R. Arnold. (?) 1502. F. Douce. 1811. * Arrival. Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV. in England and the finall recouerye of his kingdomes from Henry VI. A.D. M.CCCC.LXXI. J. Bruce. (Camden Society, No. 1.) * A-S. Chron. (M. H. B.). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1-1154. H. Petrie and J. Sharpe. (Monumenta Historica Britannica.-1066.) * Avesbury. Roberti de Avesbury Historia de Mirabilibus Gestis Edwardi III. 1308-1356. T. Hearne. 1720. Bacon's Henry VII. The History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh. F. Bacon. 1622. J. R. Lumby. 1889. (Cambridge University Press.) Cited by page and first line. Bartholomew. Gazetteer of the British Isles. J. Bartholomew. 1887. * Beckington's Embassy. Journal of Bishop Beckington's Embassy in 1442. N. H. Nicolas. 1828. b *Benedict. Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi Benedicti Abbatis. 1169-1192. W. Stubbs. (Chron. and Mem.) Boece. Scotorum Historiae. -1460. H. Boece. 1575. Continued by Giovanni Ferrerio, in this 2nd ed., to the year 1488. Brewer. The Reign of Henry VIII. J. S. Brewer. 1884. * Calendar (Hen. VIII.). Calendar of State Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. J. S. Brewer and J. Gairdner. (Chron. and Mem.) Cited by volume, part, and numbered document. When p. precedes numerals, the reference is to the page. * Calend. RR. PP. Calendarium Rotulorum Patentium. 1201-1483. (Record Commissioners' Publications.) Camden's Annals. Guilielmi Camdeni Annales Rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum regnante Elizabetha. T. Hearne. 1717. * Cavendish. The Life of Cardinal Wolsey. G. Cavendish. S. W. Singer. 1825. Cavendish was Wolsey's gentleman usher. * Chron. Auct. Ign. Chronicon Rerum Gestarum in Monasterio S. Albani, (a.d. 1422-1431,) a quodam auctore ignoto compilatum. R. T. Riley. (Chron. and Mem. Annales Monasterii S. Albani, a Johanne Amundesham, Monacho, ut videtur, conscripti. Vol. 1.) * Chron. de la Pucelle. Montreuil. J. A. Buchon. Chronique de la Pucelle. 1422-1429. G. Cousinot de (Collection des Chroniques Nationales Françoises.) * Chron. Giles. Incerti Scriptoris Chronicon Angliae. 1399–1455. J. A. Giles. 1848. Cited by paginal references to the three Parts, which contain the respective reigns of Henry IV., V., and VI. *Chron. Lond. A Chronicle of London. 1089-1483. N. H. Nicolas. 1827. * Chron. Normande. Chronique de la Pucelle suivie de la Chronique Normande de P. Cochon. 1403-1430. Vallet de Viriville. 1859. * Chron. Rich. II.-Hen. VI. A Chronicle of the Reigns of Richard II., Henry IV., V., and VI. 1377-1461. J. S. Davies. (Camden Society, No. 64.) * Coggeshall. Radulphi de Coggeshall Chronicon Anglicanum. 1066-1225. J. Stevenson. (Chron, and Mem.) The last event recorded by Coggeshall (the banishment of Fawkes de Breauté) took place in 1225.-M. Paris (Wendover), iii. 94. Collins. The Peerage of England. A. Collins. 1714. *Cont. Croyl. Alia Historiae Croylandensis Continuatio. 1459-1485. T. Gale and W. Fulman. 1684. (Scriptores Rerum Anglicarum. Vol. 1.) Contention. The First part of the Contention betwixt the two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster. 1594. F. J. Furnivall. 1889. (Shakspere Quarto Fac-similes.) * Creton. (Archaeol.). 1399-1401. Archaeologia, vol. xx. (references to French text and translation), contains the narrative of Creton, a Frenchman, who accompanied Richard II. to Ireland in 1399, and returned with him. Creton gives an account (from hearsay) of Isabelle's return to France in 1401.-Archaeol. xx. 226; 416. D. K. Rep. 3. Third Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Records. *De Coussy. Chroniques de Mathieu de Coussy (d'Escouchy). 1444-1461. J. A. Buchon. (Collection des Chroniques Nationales Françoises.) *Diceto. Radulphi de Diceto Decani Lundoniensis Opera Historica. Ymagines Historiarum. 1148-1202. W. Stubbs. (Chron. and Mem.) Doyle. The Official Baronage of England. J. E. Doyle. 1886. *Du Clercq. Mémoires de Jacques du Clercq. (Collection des Chroniques Nationales Françoises.) 1448-1467. Dugdale. The Baronage of England. W. Dugdale. 1675-1676. J. A. Buchon. |