King John & Henry VIII (63 page)

212
accoutrement
formal trappings

213
motion
desire, impulse

214
sweet poison
i.e. flattery

214
tooth
appetite, sweet tooth

215
practise
plot

216
to … learn
i.e. learn how to spot other people’s deception by studying it myself

217
strew
be scattered

217
rising
i.e. ascent to greatness

218
riding-robes
horse-riding clothes

219
woman-post
female messenger

220
blow a horn
i.e. to announce her arrival (plays on the fact that her husband has recently been shown to be a cuckold; men with unfaithful wives were popularly imagined to wear horns on their forehead)

223
slave
wretch, villain

224
holds in chase
hunts

224
up and down
in every respect/everywhere

226
Colbrand the Giant
part of an invading Danish army defeated by Guy of Warwick, the eponymous hero of a medieval romance story

228
unreverend
irreverent, disrespectful

231
give us leave
leave us

233
Philip Sparrow
the Bastard rejects his former name (since he has been renamed “Sir Richard Plantagenet”) as a common name for sparrows (as it resembles their call)

234
toys
trifling matters

234
abroad
about, going on

234
anon
soon

236
eat
i.e. eaten (pronounced “et”)

236
eat … fast
“He may his part on Good Friday eat and fast never the worse for ought he shall get” was proverbial

236
in
of

238
do
perform, achieve/make, produce/copulate

238
marry
by the Virgin Mary

238
confess
admit/agree

239
Could get
i.e. were it possible he could conceive

240
handiwork
i.e. his half-brother, Robert Falconbridge

241
beholding
beholden, indebted

242
holp
helped

244
That
you who

245
untoward
unmannerly, improper

245
knave
scoundrel; the Bastard puns on the meaning “servant”

246
Basilisco
a character in a contemporary play who insisted on his knighthood being acknowledged

247
dubbed
knighted, by having a sword placed on the
shoulder

250
Legitimation
legitimacy

252
proper
fine/respectable

254
deny
renounce

256
suit
urging, courtship

258
Heaven
may heaven

258
charge
account/responsibility

259
issue
offspring

259
dear
cherished/grievous/costly

260
defence
resistance

261
get
be conceived

263
privilege
immunity

264
folly
foolishness/lust

265
dispose
disposal, command

266
Subjected
obedient/as his royal subject

268
aweless
fearless

268
lion … hand
as punishment for killing the Duke of Austria’s son, Richard I was imprisoned with a lion, whose heart he tore out by putting his hand down its throat

270
perforce
forcibly

273
Who
whoever

275
kin
(new) relations

277
said him nay
refused him

278
was
i.e. a sin

2.1
Location: France

2.1
before Angiers
in front of the gates of Angiers, on the Loire river

2.1
Dauphin
title for heir to the French throne

2.1
Austria
historically Leopold V; apparently wearing a lion’s skin, supposedly taken from Richard I

2
that … blood
i.e. your predecessor

4
holy … Palestine
the Crusades

5
By
i.e. at the hand of

6
posterity
descendants

7
importance
request

8
spread
display

8
colours
battle flags

9
rebuke
repress

10
unnatural
i.e. behaving in a manner that contradicts natural kinship

13
offspring
descendants

14
Shadowing
sheltering

15
powerless
i.e. without a military force behind it

16
unstainèd
pure, unblemished

19
zealous
earnest

20
seal … indenture
wax seal on a legal contract

23
pale
either adjectival (colorless) or a noun (boundary, enclosure)

23
pale … shore
i.e. the chalk cliffs of England’s southeastern coast (hence England)

24
spurns
kicks, rejects

25
coops
encloses, protects

26
main
sea

27
bulwark
fortification

27
still
always

28
confident from
self-assured against

28
purposes
plans, i.e. threats of invasion

31
follow arms
i.e. take part in military action

34
more requital to
greater recompense for

37
bent
directed

38
brows
i.e. walls/battlements

39
discipline
military strategy

40
cull
select

40
plots
positions, sites

40
advantages
i.e. military advantage in attack

43
But we will
if necessary to

43
subject to
ruled by/answerable to

44
Stay
wait

44
embassy
message

45
unadvised
rashly, without full thought or information

49
indirectly
wrongfully

50
lo
look

52
England
the King of England

52
gentle
noble

53
coldly
calmly

55
against
in preparation for

56
impatient of
angered by

58
leisure
convenience

58
stayed
waited for

59
legions
forces

60
expedient
rapid

62
Mother-Queen
Queen-Mother, i.e. Elinor

63
Ate
Greek goddess of discord and revenge

64
niece
female relative; actually Elinor’s granddaughter and John’s niece

64
Blanche of Spain
daughter of John’s sister Eleanor and Alfonso VIII, King of Castile

65
king’s deceased
dead king (Richard I)

66
unsettled humours
i.e. unruly persons, malcontents;
humours
four chief bodily fluids (blood, phlegm, choler, black choler) governing mental qualities and disposition

67
inconsiderate
reckless

67
voluntaries
volunteers

68
ladies’ faces
i.e. beardless and young

68
spleens
tempers, impulses

69
sold … backs
i.e. they have spent everything on armor and military equipment

71
make … of
risk, venture

72
braver
more splendid, finer

72
choice
selection

73
bottoms
keels, i.e. ships

73
waft
wafted, i.e. conveyed (suggesting a quick easy journey)

75
scathe
damage

76
churlish
rough, harsh

77
circumstance
details

78
parley
negotiate

79
expedition
warlike enterprise/haste

82
occasion
(needful) circumstances

83
others
i.e. troops

85
lineal
hereditary

85
own
i.e. territories/role of ruler

88
beats
drives, forces

89
if that
if

91
England’s
i.e. Arthur’s

93
toil
i.e. supporting Arthur’s cause

93
work
duty, undertaking

95
underwrought
undermined, sought to overthrow

95
his
its

96
sequence of posterity
lawful succession

97
Outfacèd
defied/intimidated

97
infant state
young majesty, i.e. Arthur

99
Geoffrey’s
i.e. Arthur’s father’s

101
abstract
essence, summary

103
brief
summary

109
owe
own

110
commission
warrant

111
articles
points/charges

112
supernal judge
i.e. God
supernal
celestial

116
impeach
challenge, accuse

118
Alack
exclamation of dissatisfaction, regret

119
Excuse … down
preventing (your) usurpation of authority is a good enough excuse

122
Out
expression of irritation and scorn

123
check
control, discipline

126
Liker in feature
more similar in physical appearance

127
in manners
(who are) in behavior/character

128
dam
mother (devil and parent were proverbially similar)

130
His … mother
Constance insults Elinor by suggesting that it is likelier that Geoffrey was a bastard than that Arthur might be one

131
an if
if

132
blots
slanders

133
grandam
grandmother

133
blot
defile/erase

135
crier
announcing officer in a law court/town crier (a mocking reference to Austria)

137
play the devil
i.e. make trouble

138
An a
if he

138
catch
seize, get hold of

138
hide
i.e. lion’s skin

139
hare … beard
“even hares may pull dead lions by the beard” (proverbial)

141
smoke
subject to smoke/disinfect/beat

141
an
if

142
look to’t
beware

143
become
earn/befit

145
sightly
appropriately

146
Alcides
Hercules (Greek hero, one of whose twelve labors involved killing a lion, whose skin he then wore); some editors emend “shoes” to “shows,” i.e. distinctive clothing

148
lay on that
i.e. inflict blows

149
cracker
boaster (playing on the sense of “supposed breaker of
shoulders
”)

149
deafs
deafens

151
straight
straight away

153
very sum
final summary, absolute essence