John HUME, a priest John SOUTHWELL, a priest MARGARET JORDAN, a witch Roger BULLINGBROOK, a conjurer ASNATH, a spirit The petitions and combat
Thomas HORNER, an armourer PETER Thump, the Armourer's man FIRST PETITIONER
SECOND PETITIONER
FIRST NEIGHBOUR
SECOND NEIGHBOUR
THIRD NEIGHBOUR
FIRST PRENTICE
SECOND PRENTICE
The false miracle
Saunder SIMPCOX
Simpcox's WIFE
MAYOR of St Albans TOWNSMAN
BEADLE
Eleanor's penance
Gloucester's SERVANT
Sir John STANLEY
A SHERIFF of London A HERALD
The murder of Gloucester
FIRST MURDERER
SECOND MURDERER
The murder of Suffolk
LIEUTENANT, commander of a ship MASTER of the same ship The Master's MATE
Walter WHITMORE
Cade's rebellion
George BEVIS (probably the original actor's name, the character being an anonymous commoner) John HOLLAND (probably the original actor's name, the character being an anonymous commoner) Jack CADE, also known as John DICK the butcher SMITH the weaver Emmanuel, a CLERK of Chartham Sir Humphrey STAFFORD
William, STAFFORD'S BROTHER
MICHAEL
Lord SAYE
MESSENGER
SECOND MESSENGER
Lord SCALES
FIRST CITIZEN
SOLDIER
Alexander IDEN, an esquire of Kent VAUX, a messenger Petitioners, Servant, Servingman, Brethren of St Albans, Townspeople of St Albans, Gloucester's Men, Sheriff 's Officers, Attendants, Commons, a Sawyer, Matthew Gough, Iden's Men, Soldiers
Act 1 Scene 1
running scene 1
Flourish of trumpets, then hautboys. Enter King [Henry VI], Duke Humphrey [of Gloucester], Salisbury, Warwick and [Cardinal] Beaufort on the one side. The Queen [Margaret], Suffolk, York, Somerset and Buckingham on the other
SUFFOLK As by your high imperial majesty
I had in charge at my depart2 for France,
As procurator to3 your excellence,
To marry Princess Margaret for4 your grace,
So, in the famous ancient city, Tours5,
In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil6,
The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne7 and Alencon,
Seven earls, twelve barons and twenty reverend bishops,
I have performed my task and was espoused9,
And humbly now upon my bended knee,
In sight of England and her lordly peers,
Deliver up my title in the queen
To your most gracious hands, that are the substance
Of that great shadow14 I did represent:
The happiest gift that ever marquis15 gave,
The fairest queen that ever king received.
KING HENRY VI Suffolk, arise. Welcome, Queen Margaret:
I can express no kinder18 sign of love
Than this kind kiss: O Lord, that lends me life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness:
For thou hast given me in this beauteous face
A world of earthly blessings to my soul,
If sympathy23 of love unite our thoughts.
QUEEN MARGARET Great King of England and my gracious lord,
The mutual conference25 that my mind hath had,
By day, by night, waking and in my dreams,
In courtly company or at my beads27,
With you, mine alderliefest28 sovereign,
Makes me the bolder to salute29 my king
With ruder terms, such as my wit30 affords
And overjoy of heart doth minister31.
KING HENRY VI Her sight32 did ravish, but her grace in speech,
Her words yclad33 with wisdom's majesty,
Makes me from wond'ring34 fall to weeping joys,
Such is the fullness of my heart's content.
Lords, with one cheerful voice, welcome my love.
ALL Long live Queen Margaret, England's happiness!
Kneel
They rise
QUEEN MARGARET We thank you all.
Flourish
To Gloucester
SUFFOLK My Lord Protector, so39 it please your grace,
Here are the articles of contracted40 peace
Between our sovereign and the French King Charles,
For eighteen months concluded42 by consent.
GLOUCESTER. Reads. 'Imprimis43, it is agreed between the French
King Charles, and William de la Pole, Marquess of Suffolk,
ambassador for Henry King of England, that the said Henry
shall espouse the Lady Margaret, daughter unto Reignier
King of Naples, Sicilia and Jerusalem, and crown her Queen
of England ere48 the thirtieth of May next ensuing.
Item49: that the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine shall
Lets the paper fall
be released and delivered to the king her father'--
KING HENRY VI Uncle, how now?
GLOUCESTER Pardon me, gracious lord,
Some sudden qualm53 hath struck me at the heart
And dimmed mine eyes, that54 I can read no further.
KING HENRY VI Uncle55 of Winchester, I pray, read on.
Reads
CARDINAL. 'Item: it is further agreed between them,
that the duchies of Anjou and Maine shall be released and
delivered over to the king her father, and she sent over of58 the
King of England's own proper59 cost and charges, without
having any dowry.'
To Suffolk
KING HENRY VI They please us well.-- Lord marquis, kneel down:
Suffolk kneels
We here create thee the first Duke of Suffolk,
Suffolk rises
And gird63 thee with the sword.--
Cousin64 of York,
We here discharge your grace from being regent65
I'th'parts of France, till term of eighteen months
Be full67 expired. Thanks, uncle Winchester,
Gloucester, York, Buckingham, Somerset,
Salisbury and Warwick.
We thank you all for this great favour done,
In entertainment71 to my princely queen.
Come, let us in, and with all speed provide72
To see her coronation be performed.
Exeunt King [Henry VI], Queen [Margaret] and Suffolk. The rest remain
GLOUCESTER Brave74 peers of England, pillars of the state,
To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief:
Your grief, the common grief of all the land.
What? Did my brother Henry77 spend his youth,
His valour, coin and people, in the wars?
Did he so often lodge79 in open field,
In winter's cold and summer's parching heat,
To conquer France, his true inheritance?
And did my brother Bedford toil his wits,
To keep by policy83 what Henry got?
Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, Salisbury and victorious Warwick,
Received deep scars in France and Normandy:
Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself,
With all the learned Council88 of the realm,
Studied so long, sat in the Council house
Early and late, debating to and fro
How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe91,
And had his highness in his infancy
Crowned in Paris in despite of foes?
And shall these labours and these honours die?
Shall Henry's conquest, Bedford's vigilance,
Your deeds of war and all our counsel96 die?
O peers of England, shameful is this league97,
Fatal this marriage, cancelling your fame98,
Blotting your names from books of m
emory,
Razing the characters100 of your renown,
Defacing monuments101 of conquered France,
Undoing all, as102 all had never been!
CARDINAL Nephew, what means this passionate discourse?
This peroration with such circumstance104:
For France, 'tis ours; and we will keep it still.
GLOUCESTER Ay, uncle, we will keep it, if we can:
But now it is impossible we should.
Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roost,
Hath given the duchy of Anjou and Maine
Unto the poor King Reignier, whose large style110
Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.
SALISBURY Now by the death of him that died for all112,
These counties were the keys of Normandy.--
But wherefore114 weeps Warwick, my valiant son?
WARWICK For grief that they are past recovery.
For were there hope to conquer them again,
My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears.
Anjou and Maine? Myself did win them both:
Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer.
And are the cities that I got with wounds
Delivered up again with peaceful words?
Mort Dieu122!
YORK For Suffolk's duke, may he be suffocate123,
That dims the honour of this warlike isle:
France should have torn and rent125 my very heart
Before I would have yielded to this league.
I never read but England's kings have had
Large sums of gold and dowries with their wives:
And our King Henry gives away his own,
To match with her that brings no vantages130.
GLOUCESTER A proper131 jest, and never heard before,
That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth132
For costs and charges in transporting her:
She should have stayed in France and starved in France,
Before--
CARDINAL My lord of Gloucester, now ye grow too hot136:
It was the pleasure137 of my lord the king.
GLOUCESTER My lord of Winchester, I know your mind.
'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike,
But 'tis my presence that doth trouble ye.
Rancour will out: proud prelate, in thy face
I see thy fury: if I longer stay,
We shall begin our ancient143 bickerings.--
Lordings144, farewell, and say when I am gone,
I prophesied France will be lost ere long.
Exit Humphrey [Gloucester]
CARDINAL So, there goes our Protector in a rage:
'Tis known to you he is mine enemy:
Nay more, an enemy unto you all,
And no great friend, I fear me, to the king:
Consider, lords, he is the next of blood150
And heir apparent to the English crown:
Had Henry got an empire by his marriage,
And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west153,
There's reason he should be displeased at it.
Look to it, lords: let not his smoothing155 words
Bewitch your hearts: be wise and circumspect.
What though the common people favour him,
Calling him 'Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester',
Clapping their hands, and crying with loud voice,
'Jesu maintain your royal excellence!'
With 'God preserve the good Duke Humphrey!'
I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss162,
He will be found a dangerous Protector.
BUCKINGHAM Why should he then protect our sovereign,
He165 being of age to govern of himself?
Cousin of Somerset, join you with me,
And all together, with the Duke of Suffolk,
We'll quickly hoist Duke Humphrey from his seat.
CARDINAL This weighty business will not brook169 delay:
I'll to the Duke of Suffolk presently170.
Exit Cardinal
SOMERSET Cousin of Buckingham, though Humphrey's pride
And greatness of his place be grief to us,
Yet let us watch the haughty173 cardinal:
His insolence is more intolerable
Than175 all the princes in the land beside:
If Gloucester be displaced, he'll be Protector.
BUCKINGHAM Or177 thou or I, Somerset, will be Protector,
Despite Duke Humphrey or the cardinal.
Exeunt Buckingham and Somerset
SALISBURY Pride went before, ambition179 follows him.
While these do labour for their own preferment180,
Behoves it181 us to labour for the realm.
I never saw but182 Humphrey Duke of Gloucester
Did bear him183 like a noble gentleman:
Oft have I seen the haughty cardinal,
More like a soldier than a man o'th'Church,
As stout186 and proud as he were lord of all,
Swear like a ruffian and demean187 himself
Unlike the ruler of a commonweal.
Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age,
Thy deeds, thy plainness and thy housekeeping190
Hath won the greatest favour of the commons,
Excepting none but192 good Duke Humphrey.
And, brother193 York, thy acts in Ireland
In bringing them to civil discipline,
Thy late195 exploits done in the heart of France,
When thou wert regent for our sovereign,
Have made thee feared and honoured of the people:
Join we together for the public good,
In what we can, to bridle199 and suppress
The pride of Suffolk and the cardinal,
With Somerset's and Buckingham's ambition:
And, as we may, cherish202 Duke Humphrey's deeds,
While they do tend203 the profit of the land.
WARWICK So God help Warwick, as he loves the land,
And common205 profit of his country.
Aside
YORK And so says York,-- for he hath greatest cause206.
SALISBURY Then let's make haste away, and look unto the main207.
WARWICK Unto the main? O, father, Maine208 is lost,
That Maine which by main209 force Warwick did win,
And would have kept so long as breath did last:
Main chance, father, you meant, but I meant Maine,
Which I will win from France, or else be slain,
Exeunt Warwick and Salisbury, leaving York
YORK Anjou and Maine are given to the French,
Paris is lost, the state of Normandy
Stands on a tickle215 point now they are gone:
Suffolk concluded216 on the articles,
The peers agreed, and Henry was well pleased
To change218 two dukedoms for a duke's fair daughter.
I cannot blame them all: what is't to them?
'Tis thine220 they give away, and not their own.
Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage221
And purchase friends and give to courtesans222,
Still223 revelling like lords till all be gone,
While as the silly224 owner of the goods
Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless225 hands,
And shakes his head, and trembling stands aloof226,
While all is shared and all is borne away,
Ready228 to starve and dare not touch his own.
So York must sit and fret and bite his tongue,
While his own lands are bargained for and sold:
Methinks the realms of England, France and Ireland
Bear that proportion232 to my flesh and blood,
As did the fatal brand Althaea burnt
Unto the prince's heart of Calydon234.
Anjou and Maine both given unto the French!
Cold news for me: for I had hope of France,
/>
Even as I have of fertile England's soil.
A day will come when York shall claim his own,
And therefore I will take the Nevilles'239 parts
And make a show of love to proud Duke Humphrey,
And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown,
For that's the golden mark242 I seek to hit:
Nor shall proud Lancaster243 usurp my right,
Nor hold the sceptre in his childish244 fist,
Nor wear the diadem245 upon his head,
Whose church-like humours246 fits not for a crown.
Then, York, be still awhile, till time do serve247:
Watch248 thou, and wake when others be asleep,
To pry into the secrets of the state,
Till Henry, surfeiting250 in joys of love,
With his new bride and England's dear-bought251 queen,
And Humphrey with the peers be fall'n at jars252:
Then will I raise aloft the milk-white rose253,
With whose sweet smell the air shall be perfumed,
And in my standard255 bear the arms of York,
To grapple256 with the House of Lancaster:
And force perforce257 I'll make him yield the crown,
Whose bookish258 rule hath pulled fair England down.
Exit York
[Act 1 Scene 2]
running scene 2
Enter Duke Humphrey [of Gloucester] and his wife Eleanor
ELEANOR Why droops my lord like over-ripened corn,
Hanging the head at Ceres'2 plenteous load?
Why doth the great Duke Humphrey knit his brows,
As4 frowning at the favours of the world?
Why are thine eyes fixed to the sullen5 earth,
Gazing on that which seems to dim thy sight?
What see'st thou there? King Henry's diadem,
Enchased8 with all the honours of the world?
If so, gaze on, and grovel9 on thy face,
Until thy head be circled with the same.
Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold.
What, is't12 too short? I'll lengthen it with mine,
And having both together heaved it up,
We'll both together lift our heads to heaven,
And never more abase our sight so low
As to vouchsafe16 one glance unto the ground.
GLOUCESTER O Nell, sweet Nell, if thou dost love thy lord,
Banish the canker18 of ambitious thoughts:
And may that thought, when I imagine ill19
Against my king and nephew, virtuous Henry,
Be my last breathing21 in this mortal world.