Shakespeare's Kings (122 page)

The
overall
message
of
the
plays,
on
the
other
hand,
was
one
which the
Queen
would
have
taken
instantly
to
her
heart:
the
supreme importance
-
and
the
ultimate
triumph
-
of
the
state.
When
Edward III
came
to
the
throne
in
1327,
there
had
been
only
one
competent

monarch
since
the
death
of
Henry
II
in
1189;
¹
though
at
last
tolerably well
governed,
that
state
was
still
woefully
immature.
The
tribulations and
indignities
which
it
was
soon
afterwards
called
upon
to
undergo, the
dangers
by
which
it
was
to
be
threatened,
even
the
inanity
of
all too
many
of
its
rulers
-
against
which
Elizabeth's
and
her
grandfather's formidable
abilities
stood
out
in
a
contrast
which
was
itself
dramatic enough
-
could
all
be
seen
in
retrospect
as
necessary
stages
in
the tempering
of
the
national
steel.

In
what
is
essentially
a
pageant
embracing
five
or
more
generations, the
only
possible
hero
-
or
heroine
-
can
be
England
herself:
blameless, as
all
good
heroines
should
be,
but
disgracefully
put
upon
by
those
in authority
over
her.
They
it
is
who
ruin
her,
ravish
her
and
ultimately tear
her
apart
-
a
process
which
continues,
almost
without
interruption, from
the
first
rising
of
Shakespeare's
curtain
until
a
few
minutes
before it
finally
falls.
In
those
few
minutes
Richard
III
is
killed
on
Bosworth Field,
Henry
of
Lancaster
is
acclaimed
as
his
successor,
and
the
country emerges,
suddenly
and
spectacularly,
out
of
its
long
darkness
into
the Tudor
sun.
There
-
in
the
very
contrast
between
the
chaos
wrought by
the
Plantagenets
and
the
peace
and
tranquillity
introduced
by
Henry and
his
successors
-
was
a
subject
fit
for
the
Queen.

And
Shakespeare
knew
it.
His
sources
may
have
been
few,
and
not invariably
satisfactory;
but
where
they
were
found
wanting
he
always had
his
imagination
to
fill
the
gaps.
He
would
never
have
claimed historical
accuracy
-
and
to
establish
just
how
close
to
it
he
came
has been
one
of
the
principal
purposes
of
this
book
-
but
then
he
was
not a
historian;
he
was
a
dramatist.
The
play
was
the
thing;
and
if
he
could amuse,
inspire
and
perhaps
very
modestly
educate
his
audiences,
that was
enough.
He
did
so,
and
he
has
continued
to
do
so
for
four
hundred years.
He
rests
his
case.

1. Edward's grandfather, Edward I. Before him, Henry III and John had both proved disasters; while John's predecessor and brother Richard I
(Coeur de Lion),
despite a ten-year reign, spoke hardly any English, took absolutely no interest in England and spent less than a year there in his entire life
.

Chronological Table

1362
Edward
makes
over
Gascony
and
Poitou
to
Black
Prince 1364
Death
of
John
II;
accession
of
Charles
V