Shakespeare's Kings (30 page)

Richard's
vindictiveness
was
well
known,
and
apart
from
the
inclusion in
the
list
of
the
King's
half-brother
Exeter,
there
is
nothing
inherently improbable
in
the
idea
of
such
a
plot.
Whether
it
was
true
or
not, however,
the
story
was
clearly
damaging
to
Mowbray,
particularly
since he
was
not
present
to
defend
himself;
and
still
more
was
it
harmful
to Richard,
who
seems
to
have
ordered
Bolingbroke
to
speak
out
only
to put
an
end
to
the
rumours
which
had
been
circulating
for
some
time. He
certainly
had
no
desire
to
have
the
scandal
investigated
on
the
spot; instead,
he
proposed
the
appointment
of
a
special
committee
of
eighteen to
look
into
the
whole
affair.
Then,
on
31
January,
the
day
after Bolingbroke's
testimony,
he
dissolved
the
Parliament.

RICH.

You may my glories and my state depose, But not my griefs; still am I King of those.

KING RICHARD II

After
two
preliminary
meetings
at
Oswestry
and
Bristol,
the
special committee
reassembled
on
29
April
1398
at
Windsor
Castle.
Now,
for the
first
time,
the
two
Dukes
appeared
face
to
face
before
the
King; and
it
is
at
this
point
that
Shakespeare
raises
the
curtain
on
The Tragedie
of
King Richard the Second,
which
was
entered
in
the
Stationers'
Register on
29
August
1597,
though
he
seems
to
have
finished
it
late
in
1595. His
version
of
the
confrontation
is
derived
in
all
its
essentials
from Holinshed's
Chronicles,
¹
though
he
understandably
takes
a
few
small liberties.
'Old
John
of
Gaunt,
time-honoured
Lancaster'
-
he
was
at the
time
fifty-eight
-
is
unlikely
to
have
been
present;
had
he
been, Holinshed
would
certainly
have
mentioned
him.
According
to
Holinshed,
too,
both
Bolingbroke
and
Mowbray
had
unnamed
knights
to speak
for
them
-
though
Mowbray
soon
took
over
his
own
defence, during
which
he
freely
admitted
a
past
attempt
on
the
life
of
Gaunt, long
since
confessed
and
pardoned.
It
is
fascinating
to
compare
the
bald statements
in
Holinshed
with
what
Shakespeare
makes
of
them
—
giving them
colour,
life
and
vigour.
A
single
example
must
suffice;
the
Chronicles
report
the
knight
who
speaks
for
Bolingbroke:

Here is Henry of Lancaster . . . who saith, and I for him likewise say, that

1. Raphael Holinshed's
Historie of England,
which forms part of his
Chronicl
es of England, Scotland and Ireland,
constitutes the first authoritative continuous account in English of the whole of English history to date. The
Chronicles
were first published in 1577; Shakespeare, however, used John Hooker's revised and updated edition of 1587.

Thomas Mowbraie duke of Norfolke is a false and disloiall traitor to you and your roiall maiestie, and to your whole realme . . . and likewise that
Pie]
hath received eight thousand nobles to pay the souldiers that keepe your towne of Calis, which he hath not doone as he ought: and furthermore [he] hath beene the occasion of all the treason that hath been contrived in your realme for the space of these eighteene yeares, and by his false suggestions and malicious counsell, he hath caused to die and to be murdered your right deere uncle, the duke of Glocester, sonne to king Edward. Moreover the duke of Hereford saith, and I for him, that he will prove this with his bodie against the bodie of the said duke of Norfolke within lists.

Here now is Shakespeare's translation:

Look what I speak, my life shall prove it true:

That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles

In name of lendings for your Highness' soldiers,

The which he hath detain'd for lewd imployments,

Like a false traitor, and injurious villain;

Besides I say, and will in battle prove,

Or here, or elsewhere to the furthest verge

That ever was survey'd by English eye,

That all the treasons for these eighteen years

Complotted and contrived in this land

Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring;

Further I say, and further will maintain

Upon his bad life to make all this good,

That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death,

Suggest his soon-believing adversaries,

And consequently, like a traitor coward,

Sluic'd out his innocent soul through streams of blood,
¹

Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries

Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth

To me for justice and rough chastisement; And, by the glorious worth of my descent, This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.

i.
According to Holinshed, Gloucester was smothered with towels in a feather bed. Beheading was the normal form of execution for those of exalted rank, but Gloucester, who had been neither tried nor condemned, was murdered rather than executed. The murder, whatever the method, took place at Calais in September 1397, almost certainly with the King's full knowledge and - despite his denial in I.i.133 -under Mowbray's supervision.

Since
the
two
disputants
maintained
their
hostility
and
refused
all the
King's
attempts
at
reconciliation,
it
was
agreed
that
the
quarrel should
be
settled
in
the
traditional
manner,
by
armed
contest;
and
the encounter
was
fixed
for
St
Lambert's
Day,
¹
17
September,
at
Coventry. Word
spread
quickly;
the
public
imagination
was
caught
by
the
prospect of
two
dukes
-
one
of
them
the
King's
own
cousin
-
meeting
each other
in
single
combat
and
fighting
quite
possibly
to
the
death,
and noblemen
and
knights
from
all
over
England
arrived
at
the
little
town with
their
ladies
for
what
was
clearly
to
be
the
social
event
of
the
year. When
the
great
day
came,
one
great
magnate
only
was
noticeable
by his
absence:
John
of
Gaunt.
After
the
Shrewsbury
Parliament
he
had retired
from
public
life,
probably
because
the
activities
of
his
son
were causing
him
increasing
concern.
(Though
Froissart
suggests
that
he
fell ill
only
around
Christmas,
he
may
also
have
been
already
stricken
by the
disease
that
was
to
kill
him
five
months
later.)
At
any
rate
he
never saw
his
son
ride
out
to
Gosford
Green
'mounted
on
a
white
courser, barded
with
green
and
blue
velvet,
embroidered
sumptuously
with swans
and
antelopes';
nor
did
he
hear
the
deafening
cheers
that
greeted his
appearance
-
considerably
louder,
we
are
told,
than
those
accorded to
Mowbray
shortly
afterwards.