CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924079621094 In compliance with current copyright law, Cornell University Library produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1992 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. 1997 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SHAKSPEAREANA GENEALOGICA IN TWO PARTS. COMPILED BY GEORGE RUSSELL FRENCH, ARCHITECT. ^^m&i iP t \^ lit. \*, ■*■ ■■■ ■^%r.i.^ ,,Ay^ 5^am6riDg;e -^rr^ PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. SHAKSPEAREANA GENEALOGICA. PART I. IDENTIFICATION OF THE DRAMATIS PERSONS IN SHAKSPEARE'S HISTORICAL PLAYS: FROM K. JOHN TO K. HENRY VIII. NOTES ON CHARACTERS IN MACBETH AND HAMLET. PERSONS AND PLACES, BELONGING TO WARWICKSHIRE, ALLUDED TO IN SEVERAL PLAYS. PART II. THE SHAKSPEARE AND ARDEN FAMILIES, AND THEIR CONNECTIONS: WITH TABLES OF DESCENT. COMPILED BY GEORGE RUSSELL FRENCH, AUTHOR OF THE AJ.XESTRY OF QUEEN VICTORIA AND PRINCE ALBERT, 1841 : AND OF THE ROYAL DESCENT OF KELSON. AND WELLINGTON, 1855. ILoniion anil ©ambrtljgf : MACMILLAN AND CO. 1869. [All Highls reserved.^ THIS MANUSCRIPT IS PRESENTED TO WILLIAM GEORGE CLARK, M.A., VICE-MASTER AND SENIOR FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND PUBLIC ORATOR, WILLIAM ALDIS WRIGHT, M.A., LIBRARIAN OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, FOR THEIR EDITION OF AS A TOKEN OF RESPECT FOR THEIR LABOURS, AND OF ESTEEM FOR THEIR COLLEGE, BY GEORGE RUSSELL FRENCH, 1868. CONTENTS. PART I. PAGE Introduction .... ix King John 3 King Richard the Second 22 First Part of King Henry the Fourth 53 Second Part of King Henry- the Fourth 77 King Henry the Fifth 94 First Part of King Henry the Sixth 123 Second Part of King Henry the Sixth 154 Third Part of King Henry the Sixth 178 King Richard the Third 209 King Henry the Eighth 253 Notes -on Charadlers in Macbeth 283 Notes on Charafters in Hamlet 299 Persons and Places, belonging to Warwickshire, aUuded to in several Plays 313 PART II. Introdudlion 345 The Surname of Shakspeare 347 The Knoll Guild 351 The Shakspeares of Snitterfield 358 The Shakspeares of Stratford-upon-Avon 363 The Children of John and Mary Shakspeare .... 367 Pedigree of Shakspeare. Table 1 368 The Poet's Marriage and Descendants 373 The Poet's Family. Table II 383 The Family of Nash. Table III 385 The Family of Quiney. Table IV. 391 The Hart Family 397 The Hart Family. Table V ib. viii CONTENTS. PAGE Shakspeare Monuments in Trinity Church, with Coats of Arms . 410 Family of Arden. Robert Ardcn's Stains . . . 416 Family of Arden of Warwickshire 43' Pedigree of Arden of Warwickshire. Table VI. . . , 432 „ „ continued. Table VII.. . .441 „ „ continued. Table VIII. . . 449 The Ardens of Aston- Cantlowe . . . . • 4^5 Robert Arden's Family. Table IX. .... 467 Robert Arden's Property 479 Robert Arden's Friends and Neighbours 486 Families of Arden, in Cheshire, Essex, Surrey, and Staffordshire 495 Arden of Longcroft Hall, Staffordshire 499 Pedigree of Arden of Longcroft. Table X ib. Noble and Gentle Families allied to the Ardens . . . 504 Pedigree of Greville. Table XI 506 Pedigree of Bracebridge. Table XII 511 Grant of Arms to John Shakspeare, with tricks of Arms . . 514 Was the Poet Shakspeare a Soldier? 525 How did the Poet spell his Name? 529 Families of the Name of Shakspeare in various localities . . 535 The Shakespears of Stepney, or ShadweD 546 Pedigree of Shakespear of Stepney. Table XIII. . . ib. Appendix. A. William Shakspeare's Marriage Bond 557 B. The Stratford-upon-Avon Maces, with three Illustrations . 560 C. Aston- Cantlowe 568 D. Was Shakspeare lame? 569 E. Shakspeare's Knowledge of Field Sports . . . .571 F. Shakspeare's Medical Knowledge 575 G. Of Guy, the Saxon Earl of Wan\ick 576 Index of Charaiflers in Shakspeare's Historical Plays . 581 INTRODUCTION. In perusing this Attempt to identify the dramatis persofus of Shakspeare's Histories, it should be borne in mind by the Reader that the plan of placing a list of the chara6lers at the head of each play is of much later date than the time of the Great Dramatist, who is therefore only responsible for such mistakes in identity as actually occur in the body of the text, and into which he was led by the earlier plays, or the chronicles to which he had access. According to Steevens, Rowe was the first Editor who formed an Index, as it were, of the chara6lers scattered through the different scenes, and placed them at the beginning of the respe6live plays. It is the objeft of the Compiler of these Notes to explain who were the persons thus mentioned, or one might say immortalized by the Greatest Writer that ever lived, and their genealogy will be found not only to possess much of interest in itself, but as frequently X INTRODUCTION. affordinor a clue to the transa6lions in which the. indivi- duals bore a prominent part. And in truth a corre6l knowledge of the pedigree of illustrious persons is more especially useful in reading these historical dramas, which in almost every instance derive a great part of their story from the confli6ling claims of the chief persons to the rank and honours held by their ancestors. It is also necessary to define the subordi- nates who supported the rival claims of the principal a<5lors, and many of whom were nobles of lofty lineage, formidable from their great influence and vast possessions, and from whom some of our present nobility and gentry are descended, either in a direct male line, or through heiresses. Many of the earliest baronies have been transmitted to the present time through female heirs ; hence it is important to record their marriages with more attention than is usually bestowed. To belong to " the Most Noble Order of the Gar- ter," the most renowned Brotherhood of Chivalry in Europe, was such a distin6lion, to which the greatest Princes aspired, that mention is made of any of the personages, introduced in these dramas, who held the rank of K.G. It was also thought desirable to give the " arms " of the chara6lers, it being the custom, in the times whereof these plays bear record, to wear silken or linen sur-coats, emblazoned with the armo- rial bearings of the persons entitled to them, a privi- lege which was highly valued, and stoutly maintained against invasion, as in the case of the famous Scrope INTRODUCTION. xi and Grosvenor controversy. An instance of the ad- vantage arising from a knowledge of heraldry is af- forded by the fail, that after the battle of Cressy Edward the Third sent Ralph Lord Stafford, and Sir Reginald Cobham, attended by three heralds, to take an account of those who were slain among the French, being persons of rank, who could only be recognized by their coats of arms ; and in battle by such means alone could the wearers be known to friend or foe. In the name assigned to the " Abbot of West- minster," in King Richard II., the Compiler has ven- tured to differ from every Shakspearean authority; but as his version is the only one that supports the mighty Master's text, he may be pardoned for what would otherwise be deemed presumption. And in all other instances where he has expressed an op- posite opinion to that of esteemed critics, he has at all events stated a reason for so doing. The pre- sent is the first attempt to give a detailed descrip- tion, in consecutive order, of each of the dramatis personcB in Shakspeare's immortal chronicle-histories, and some of the charadlers have been, it is believed, herein identified for the first time ; whilst not more than two or three are not made out to the writer's satisfadlion, though every effort has been used to render the list a complete illustration of the Poet in matters which have not in general received sufficient attention, it being too much the custom for annota- tors to repeat what others have said, without taking xii INTRODUCTION. any trouble to ascertain if the statements can be sup- ported. Many a reader of the Poet's chronicle-plays might confess, with the great Duke of Marlborough, that he derived his chief knowledge of certain parts of English history from Shakspeare's glorious pages; but it may be safely affirmed that the Dramatist will be most appreciated by those who have studied the. archaeology-, literature, and manners of the periods to which the historical plays refer. As more than three hundred chara6lers had to be noticed, it was necessary to confine their memoirs within reasonable limits ; sufficient it is hoped has been done for identification, and to furnish a clue, which, followed up with ordinary diligence, may enable any one, Avith a taste for the pursuit, to trace a dis- tinguished Shakspearean worthy to his lineal repre- sentative in the present da}^ Of the English worthies introduced in the poet's plays some families still exist in unbroken lineal male descent ; and others are represented through female heirs. Of the former class may be named Nevill, Talbot, Stanley, Willoughby, Shirley, Howard, Hast- ings, Grey of Heton, Grey of Groby, Gough, Denny, Clifton, Waterton ; and of the second class are the houses of Percy, De Ros, Vernon, Vaux, Clifford, Fitz- walter, Beaumont, Brandon, Say, Beaufort, Herbert, Stafford; whilst there are many families extant derived from both these divisions, through the intermarriage of their branches with other houses. INTRODUCTION. xiii Many errors have crept into biographies, and kin- dred works, through negle<5l of a proper attention to dates ; no apology therefore is needed for the care which has been bestowed upon these land-marks of history, which are so useful to identify individuals, and to fix the certainty of events. Some few topo- graphical notes are given of places rendered memo- rable from their association with the Poet's plays. The wood-cuts in this First Part are printed from blocks which form illustrations to the Catalogue of Antiquities and Works of Art Exhibited at Iron- mongers Hall, 1 86 1, which is edited by the Compiler of this volume. The illustrations of a Pyx and a Pax are important, as proving the distinction between the two articles. The illustrations to Part II., with one exception, were engraved expressly for this work. G. R. F. Powis Place, W.C. 31 Ularch, 1869. CORRIGENDA. Page 47, line id, for 1339, read 1399. 63, line 13, for 1724, read 1424. 115, line I4,y»r Bambures, ?-<.W Rambures. 121, last line but four, ybr bom, read worn. 110, line 1 1, yZ)/- vii. read viii. 258, in Tnan le Petit, Duke of Britany, and Earl of Richmond in Yorkshire, whose wife was Margaret, daughter of Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, son of David L King of Scots. Shakspeare has made Constance sublime in her sorrow, and truly grand in her maternal affection for her " pretty Arthur," but she was not, as she describes herself — "A widow, hosbandless," — for at the time she was married to her third husband, Guy, Viscount of Thouars, having been divorced from her second husband, Ralph de Blundevill, Earl of Chester. By her third husband Constance had two daughters, of whom the eldest, Alice, became the heiress of Britany, and married Peter de Dreux, grandson of Louis VI., who in her right became Earl of Richmond and Duke of Britany; their son, John de Dreux, enjoyed these titles, and by his wife, Blanche of Navarre, had a son, John, who married the Princess Beatrice, daughter of Henry III.; and their grandson, John de Dreux, K.G. married the Princess Mary, third daughter of Edward HI.; and their descendant in the fourth generation, Anne, the great heiress of Britany, who had heen promised to the eldest son of Edward IV., affianced to Maximilian, King of the Romans, was married first to Charles VIII., and after his death to his successor, Louis XII., and thus Bretagne became once more part of the French empire The Lady Constance died at Nantes in the year 12,01, August 31, therefore long before the death of Queen Elinor, although in the play the events are described as taking place close together, by the " Messenger" who tells King John, in Aft iv. Scene 2, — " the first of April died Your noble mother; and, as I hear, my lord. The Lady Constance in a frenzy died Three days before." IN SHAKSPE ARE'S PLAYS. 21 BLANCHE of SPAIN, NIECE to KING JOHN. The words used by one of the citizens of Angers, Aft II. Scene 2, and which in early editions are strangely allotted to "i7«^" (Hubert) ;— "That daughter there of Spaine, the Lady Blanch, Is neere to England," have been considered by some critics to contain a misprint, and they maintain that" ShaksPEARE wrote neece, and not neere. This excellent Princess was daughter of Alphonso VIII. King of Castile and Leon, and the Princess Eleanor of England. , After the death of her husband, -Louis , VIII., the Dauphin in this play, Blanche displayed great abilities as Regent of France, during the minority of her son, Louis IX., and afterwards during, his first Crusade. Blanche, who was as rema.rkable for personal beauty as for talent, died in 1254, and from her union with the Dauphin have descended all' the succeeding kings of France, including the Royal Houses' of Valois, Bourbon, and Orleans; and her granddaughter, Isa- bel of France, was the mbthei" of Edward the Third, King of England." - - " ' LADY FA ULCONBRIDGE. Some writers assert that the mother of Philip Faulcon- bridge was a lady of Poitou, of which province Coeur-de-Liori was made count or earl by his father, with half its revenues for his support ; he was much engaged in his foreign apaimge, before he came to the throne of England. KING RICHARD II. KING RICHARD tlie SECOND reigned from A.D. 1377, to A.D. 1399. The aftion of this play takes in the two last years of this unhappy monarch's reign, viz. 1398, when the combat was ap- pointed between Bolingbroke and Mowbray; and 1399, when the deposition of Richard occurred. The chief events of this drama spring from the relationship between the cousins, Richard and Bolingbroke. Some mistakes have been made by commentators in fixing the identity of chara6lers in this play, and there are several persons named in it, who though not taking part in its aftion deserve to be noticed, as they bore a share in the real events. Richard was the fifth king of England after King John, from whom he was sixth in lineal descent, his father, the Black Prince, dying before Edward the Third. As much of the interest of this and succeeding plays arises from the con- tending claims of that great king's descendants, it will save repetition to give here an account of his offspring and their families. Edward III., eldest son of Edward II. and Isabel of France, married in 1327, Philippa, third daughter of William, Count of Hainault, by whom he had seven sons, — " Seven fair branches springing from one root," and five daughters ; the latter were, i. ISABEL, who married Ingelram de Coucy, created Earl of Bedford ; 2. JOAN, died young; 3. BLANCHE, also died young; 4. Mary, who mar- ried John the Valiant, Duke of Britany ; S- MARGARET, who became the wife of John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, but died NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS, &c. 23 without issue. The sons ofKing Edward were, i. Edward, Prince of Wales, called "the Black Prince," born 1330, who in 1 36 1 married his cousin Joan, called, from her exceeding beauty, "the Fair Maid of Kent;" she was the widow of the brave Sir Thomas Holland, one of the original Twenty-five Knights of the Garter, termed " First Founders," and only daughter and heir of Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, the youngest son of Edward I., by his second queen, Margaret of France ; 2. "WlVLlAU of Hatfield, born 1336, who died at the age of eight years ; 3. Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, and Earl of Ulster, born 1338 (died 1368), married in 1352 Eliza- beth (who died in 1 363), daughter and heir of William de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, and by her had aa only child, PHII-IPPA Plantagenet, born 1355. who in 1368 married Edmund Mortimer, third Earl of March, and their eldcslfcson, Roger Mortimer, was father of Edmund Mortimer, who was the rightful heir to the crown at the death of Richard the Second, and his sister, Anne Mortimer, becoming his heir, con- veyed the right to the throne to the House of York, as will be shewn presently; 4. John of Gaunt, or Ghent, where he was born in 1 340, Duke of Lancaster, who married- first, in 1359, Bhinche, youngest daughter and co-heir of Henry Plan- tagenet, Duke of Lancaster, the grandson of Edmund Cruche- back, next brother to Edward I.; the only surviving son of this marriage was Henry Bolingbrokc^ 5. Edmund of Lang- Uy, Duke of Ybrk, and Earl of Cambridge, born 1341, who married first Isabel, youngest daughter of Peter the Cruel, King of Castile and Leon, by whom he had one daughter, Constance, married to Thomas le Despencer, Earl of Glou- cester, who is the "Spencer" mentioned in A£l ly. Scene 6, beheaded for his adherence to King Richard; the two sons of Kdmund of 1 -.mgley's first marriage were, Edward, who is the " Aumerle " of this play, and Richard of Coningsburg, who is the "Karl of Cambridge" in King Henry V., and who married Anne Mortimer, of which hereafter ; 6. WiLUAM of Windsor, died young; and 7. TiioMAS of Woodstock, born 1355, who is the "Duke of Gloucester" spoken of in this play. luhvard the Black Prince, who is nobly alluded to in this drama, and in King Henry V., died in the prime of life, as to age, but worn out by a wasting consumption, July 8, 1376, 24 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS ha\dng had by Joan, "Fair Maid of Kent," two sons, Edward, born in 1365, a promising youth, who died in Bordeaux, be- fore his father, and RICHARD of Bordeaux, bom there Jan- uary 6, 1366, who succeeded his illustrious grandfather, Ed- ward the Third, June 21, 1377, and was crowned July 16 following. He was therefore in the twenty-second year of his reign when this play opens, and the only two surviving sons of Edward HI. were the Dukes of Lancaster and Yorky the murder of the Duke of Gloucester having taken place in 1397, a deed of crime which in a great measure led the way to the complications, and final catastrophe, recorded in the drama. King Richard married first, January 14, 1382, ANNE of Bohemia, daughter of Charles IV., Emperor of Germany; this queen» to whom Richard was tenderly attached, died June 7, 1394; he married secondly ISABEL of France, who is therefore the "Queen to King Richard" in the play, but she was a mere child. Richard's death is generally considered to have occurred February 14, 1400, the old chroniclers being precise in stating that it was on St Valentine's day. Arms of Ricliard II. — He adopted the arms ascribed to his patron, St Edward the Confessor, viz. Azure a cross pa- tonce between five martlets Or; this coat he impaled with the arms of FRANCE ancient and ENGLAND quarterly. His favourite badge was a. White Hart lodged, ducally gorged, and chained, which he derived through his mother Joan, Countess of Kent, and Lady of Wake. This badge is much introduced among the enrichments of Westminster Hall, which Richard had completed shortly before his forced abdication, which occurred September ,29, 1399. JOHN of GA UNT, Duke of Lancaster. It is usual to place the Duke of York first in order, but as John of Gaunt was the elder brother he is entitled to pre- cedence. By his first marriage, already given, he had besides Henry Bolingbroke two other sons, John and Edward, who died young, and two daughters, Philippa, who married John I., King of Portugal, and Elizabeth, who became the wife of John Holland, (son of Joan, " Fair Maid of Kent," by her IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS.?^ 25 first husband). Earl of Huntingdon, andvDiikejofrjExeteri under which titles he is alluded to in this play. : John of Gaunfs second wife, 1372, was Constance, (who died 1394,) eldest daughter of Peter the Cruel, King of Castile and Leon, a style which John of Gaunt assumed for a time ; by this union he had an only child, Katherine, married to the Prince of the Asturias, who afterwards became king of Castile arid Leon as Henri III., and from this marriage descends the Im- perial House of Austria. John of Gaunt married thirdly, in 1396, Catherine Sw3m- ford, widow of Sir Otes Swynford, and eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir Payn Roet, Knight, Guienne King at Arms; by this lady, who had been governess to his two eldest, daugh- ters, he had three sons and one daughter, all bom before their mother's marriage, but made legitimate by Aft , of Parr liament in 1397. These children had the name of BeaUFORT, from their father's castle in Anjoui where they ?i were born.' Their connefbion with royalty exercised great influence in subsequent reigns, and they will be noticed hereafter.-! wi'j vd John of Gaunt died Feb. 2, 1399, at "Ely House, as noticed in the play, his noble palace, the Savoy', having been sacked and set on fire by the rebels. under Wat Tyler and Jack Straw. He had also a splendid palace at Lincoln, which he is said to have built for Catherine Swynford, of which some interesting portions remain to attest its former beauty. It- is greatly to the credit of " Time-honour'd Lancaster," that he was the personal proteftor, at much. hazard to himself, of Wiclifife ; and the steady friend of Geoffrey Chaucer, who married Isabella Roet, a younger sister of the duke's third wife. . . Arms of John of Gaunt, K.G. — Gules _^x&& lions passant guardant Or, a label of five points charged with fleurs-de-lis Gules. EDMUND of LANGLE Y, Duke of York. This prince was of more quiet habit than his brothers, and his natural indolence caused him to give way to the more impetuous Lancaster, and the turbulent Gloucester, during 1 " Then accounted the fairest structure in England."- — Stow., 26 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS the minority of the young king, who, however, on his going to Ireland appointed the Duke of York to be Regent during his absence. It was whilst Richard was away, that the banished Bolingbroke, now Duke of Lancaster by his father's death, landed at Ravenspur, July 4, 1399, and the Duke of York marched at the head of a large force against him ; but his soldiers soon evinced more inclination to side vrith the popular Bolingbroke than to support the royal leader, — "Where one on his side fights, thousands will fly." Shakspeare pourtrays him in what appears to be his true charafter, loyal and amiable, but weak and irresolute. The " aged York " at the accession of Heniy IV. retired to his palace at King's Langley, co. Herts., and died there in 1402. His first wife, Isabel, died in 1394, before the play opens, therefore the " Duchess of York " must be his second wife, Joan Holland, third daughter of Thomas, second Earl of Kent, son of Joan, " Fair Maid," but the Duke of York had no issue ' by this marriage. Arms of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, K. G.—- Quarterly France ancient and ENGLAND, a label Argent, charged with nine torteauxes. HENRY BOLINGBROKE, Duke of Hereford. This personage, who is best known by the name of his father's castle, at Bolingbroke, co. Lincoln, where he was born in 1366, was of the same age as King Richard, and the cou- sins appear to have been rivals in childhood, as through life. Richard accused his cousin of having dra^vn sword upon him even in his queen's chamber, and Bolingbroke told the king that the people believed him to be the son of a priest, and not of the Black Prince. Mr Hallam, speaking of the con- troversy between Bolingbroke and Mowbray, observes, — "of all the political mysteries which this reign affords, none is more inexplicable than the quarrel of these peers." Middle Ages. Froissart states that it arose from Mowbray repeat- ing to the king a conversation he had had with Boling- broke, which the latter regarded as a breach of trust ; — " Fair Cousin, what thinketh the King our Cousin to do ; will he IN SHAKSPEARE'S' PLAYS. 27 drive out of England all the Noble-men ? within a while there will be none left" Holinshed relates that Hereford accused Norfolk of certain words sounding highly to the king's dis- honour. One part of his plea against that noble was certainly- true, — ^^■ ... "That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death." Shakspeare frequently calls Bolingbroke by his title of Hereford, which came to him through his having married, in 1380, the great co-heiress, Mary de Bohun, second daughter of Humphrey, the last Earl of Hereford of the name, who died in 1372. Bolingbroke, hitherto Earl of Derby, was created Duke of Hereford by King Richard, Sept 29, 1397. The poet has followed the old chroniclers in describing the quarrel which resulted in the banishment of the antagonists. During Bolingbroke's exile, his first wife, Mary de Bohun, having died in 1394, he wished to marry Mary, daughter of the Duke de Berri, an alliance which was broken off by Richard's influence, as alluded to in the play. The unjust seizure of " The royalties and rights of banish'd Hereford," added fresh cause of ill-will between the cousins, and Boling- broke, who had served with distinfbion abroad, and was very popular at home, seized the opportunity of Richard's ill- advised departure for Ireland to avenge the death of his heir-presumptive, Roger Mortimer, and embarking for England with a small train was soon joined on his landing at Ravenspur' by many powerful lords. The rest of his rapid progress towards the throne, with Richard's abdication, is well expressed by the poet, whose line, uttered by Boling- broke, — "In God's name I'll ascend the regal throne," refers to the bold assertion made by him that he was entitled ^ The port of Ravenspur, so memo- been swept away by the ravages of the rable for the landing, first of Boling- German Ocean. It was near the south- broke in 1399, and secondly for that of emmost point of the coast, Spurn Head, Edward IV. in 1471, is no longer to be at the entrance of the Humber, and not found in the map of Yorkshire, having far iirom KUnsea. . 28 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS to the crown, « by the right line of the blood, coming from the good lord King Henry the Third," pretending^ that his maternal ancestor, Edmund Cruche-back, was that monarch's eldest son, who had been set aside for a younger brother, afterwards king, as Edward the First, who was really six years older. The truth is that Bolingbroke could have no title to the throne, the rightful heir, as descended from Lionel of Clarence, being Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, who had been declared in Parliament heir to the crown after King Richard, but being only about seven years old at that king's deposition, "his friends consulted his safety, by keeping silence with regard to his claim.'' HUME.- A rms of Henry Bolingbroke, K. G. — ^As Earl of Derby he bore ENGLAND with a label of FRANCE; afterwards as Duke of Lancaster, Quarterly FRANCE ancient and Eisr GLAND, with a label of five points, the three dexter Ermine for Britany, and the two sinister charged with fleurs-de-lis. DUKE of AUMERLE. This prince, Edward Plantagenet, eldest son of the Duke of York, was raised, Sept. 29, 1 397, from being Earl of Rutland to be Duke of Albemarle, or Aumerle. He was deeply implicated in the murder of his uncle Gloucester. He attended King Richard to Ireland, but deserted his cause, and joined Bolingbroke before Flint Castle. The whole of his early career is marked by deceit and treachery to both parties, and Richard told him to his face that "he was unworthy of the appellation of duke, earl, or knight" Bolingbroke, when king, degraded him to his former rank, thus his father tells his duchess, Aft V. Scene 2, — " Aumerle that was. For that is lost for being Richard's friend. And, madam, you must call him Rutland now." For his share in the plot against Henry IV. he was pardoned, a fa6l which is so admirably worked out in the play, and Aumerle lived to succeed his father as "Duke of York," under which style he will be found in King Hairy V. Arms of Aumerle, K. G. — Quarterly France ancient IN SHAKSPEARE-S PLAYS- •. 29 and 'England, a label of three points Gules', oh each point three castles Or, for Castile. MOWBRAY, Duke of Norfolk. \ This peer was THOMAS MoWBRAY, sixth Baron Mowbray, created Earl of Nottingham in 1383, and in 1397 Duke of Norfolk, in virtue of his descent from Exiward the First's younger son, Thomas of Broiherton, Earl of Norfolk, Earl Marshal of England. The great family of Mowbray came in with the Conqueror, and Roger de Mowbray was, one of the generals at the Battle of the Standard, fought at Northaller- ton in 1 1 38. His grandson, William de Mowbray, was one of the Twenty-five Barons of Magna Charta (as was his brother Roger), and his descendant, John de Mowbray, married the lady Joan Plantagenet, daughter of Henry Earl of Lancaster, and their son, John, fourth Lord Mowbray of Axholme, married Elizabeth Segrave, only daughter and heir of John Lord Segrave by his wife MARGARET PLANTA- GENET, Duchess of Norfolk, eldest daughter and eventually sole heir of Thomas of Brotherton. This fourth baron had two sons, John the eldest, at whose death, without issue, his brother, Thomas, the character in this play, became sixth Lord Mowbray, and Earl Marshal; he was loaded with favours by King Richard, and made a K. G. As the result of his quarrel with Bolingbroke the king pronounced against him the " heavy sentence " of perpetual exile ; he died at Venice, A. D. 1400, of grief, or according to some writers from pesti- lence, as he was returning from Palestine. The Bishop of Carlisle, in Aft iv. Scene i, alludes to Mowbray's death, and that he "retir'd himself To Italy, and there at Venice gave His body to that pleasant country's earth." The Duke of Norfolk had by his second wife, Elizabeth Fitz-alan, daughter of Richard, tenth Earl of Arundel, two sons, and two daughters ; the eldest son, Thomas, on account of his father's attainder, simply bore the old ancestral title of " Lord Mowbray," under which name he is a charafter in the Second Part of King Henry IV.; the second son, John Mowbray, was restored to his father's dignity as Duke of 30 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Norfolk, and his grandson will be found under that title in the Third Part of King Henry VI. Of the banished duke's daughters, the eldest, MARGARET MoWBRAY, by her marriage with Sir ROBERT HOWARD, eventually carried the honours of the Mowbrays into a new family ; their son is the " Jockey of Norfolk " in the play of King Richard III. The second daugh- ter, Isabel Mowbray, married James, sixth Lord Berkeley. Arms of Thomas Mowbray, K. G. — Gules a lion rampant Argent. DUKE of SURREY. This personage was Thomas Holland, third Earl of Kent, son of Thomas, second Earl, by his wife Alice Fitz-alan, eldest daughter of Richard, ninth Earl of Arundel, and grandson of Sir Thomas Holland, K. G. and Joan, " Fair Maid of Kent" The Thomas Holland in this play succeeded his father in 1397, ^^ Earl of Kent, and was created by King Richard, Sept. 29, 1397, Duke of Surrey; he is the only nobleman that has ever borne that title He was also con- stituted Lieutenant of Ireland, and a K G. : as one of the adherents of the deposed king he was degraded by Henry IV. at his accession, to his former title of Kent ; and joining in the plot against that monarch, he escaped after its deteftion to Cirencester with the Earl of Salisbury, when they were routed by the townsfolk, and, being taJien and executed, their heads were set upon London Bridge. This nobleman married Joan Stafford, third daughter of Hugh, Earl of Stafford, but died without issue. Arms of Thomas Holland, K. G. — Azure sem^e-de-lis, a lion rampant guardant Or. EARL of SALISBUR V. This loyal noble is not connefted with the Earl of Salis- bury in King John, but was Sir John de Montacute, third Earl of Salisbury of that surname, son of Sir John de Monta- cute, one of the heroes of Cressy, who married Margaret, daughter of Thomas Monthermer, whose father, Ralph de Monthermer, married a daughter of Edward the First the Princess Joan of Acres, widow of Gilbert de Clare. The IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLA YS. : 31 Earl in this play was one of the few who adhered faithfully- to the fortunes of King Richard, and he joined the two Hollands, "Kent," and "Huntingdon"' (the latter being the person called by Bolingbroke in derision, "our trusty brother- in-law"), when they proposed to surprise the new king at Windsor under the guise of Christmas mummers, but on the discovery of the plot, Salisbury suffered with the Earl of Kent, as alluded to in the play, in the Icist scene, where Northumberland says, — " I have to London sent The heads of Salisbury, Spencer, Blunt, and Kent." This last line, which is the reading in the folio of 1623, agrees with history better than the line in the quartos, " The heads of Oxford, Salisbury, Blunt, and Kent ;" for Thomas Despencer, Earl of Gloucester, was beheaded in 1400 as a rebel to Henry IV.; whilst the then Earl of Oxford, Aubrey de Vere, though d3ang in the same year, was too infirm to take a part in plots, or even in his office of here- ditary Lord High Chamberlain. The Earl of Salisbury married Maud, daughter of Sir Adam Francis, Knight, Sheriff of Herts., 1392, by whom he had, with other children, his eldest son, Thomas, who was re- stored to his father's forfeited honours ; he is the valiant " Earl of Salisbury" in King Henry V., and also figures in the Pirsi Part of King Henry VI. Arms of Montacute. — Argent three fusils in fesse Gules. These are borne by the ducal house of Manchester (Montagu), descended from Sir Simon de Montacute, younger brother of the Earl of Salisbury in this play. LORD BERKELEY. It has been usual to style this chara6ler " Earl Berkeley," but that rank was not granted to the family until the reign 1 "Kent" was Thomas Holland, the title of Duke of Exeter; lie was half- third Earl, d^raded from his superior brother, on the mother's side, to King title, Duke of Surrey, as before noticed 5 Richard, and was brother-in-law to Bo- he was nephew to King Richard, and lingbroke, having married Lady Eliza- also to " Huntingdon," who was John beth Plantagenet, daughter of John of Holland, who had been degraded from Gaunt and Blanch of Lancaster. 32 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS of Charles the Second, when George, thirteenth Baron Berkeley, was advanced, in 1699, to be Earl Berkeley, Viscount Dursley. Shakspeare only calls this charafter a baron, — "It is my lord of Berkeley as I guess." This person was Thomas Berkeley, fifth baron, descended from the feudal lords of Berkeley Castle, co. Gloucester, the mere tenure of which was, at one time, considered to confer a barony, as is truly the case of Arundel Castle. This baron, who died in 1416, married Margaret de L'Isle, only daughter and heir of Warine, last Lord de L'Isle, and their only child, Elizabeth Berkeley, married Richard Beauchamp, the " Earl of Warwick" in the Second Part of King Henry IV. and also in King Henry V. The commission appointed by the Parliament to declare to Richard II., in the Tower, his sentence of deposition, con- sisted of "a bishop," St Asaph; "an abbot," Glastonbury; "an earl," Thomas Despencer, Earl of Gloucester; "a baron," the Lord Berkeley of this play ; and " a knight," Sir Thomas Erpingham. — GRAFTON, who also adds Sir Thomas Grey, Knight, to the list. In all modern editions the heading to Act III. Scene 2, is, " The Coast of Wales. A Castle in view?' " K. Rich. Barkloughly Castle, call they this at hand." But Berkeley Castle, about a mile from the east bank of the Severn, would not be opposite to the Welch coast, but to a division of the same county of Gloucester. Arms of Berkeley. — Gules a chevron between ten crosses pat^e, six in chief, and four in base Argent. BUSHY^ BAGOT Y Creatures to King Richard. GREEN) It is usual to bracket the names of these three persons together, with the above opprobrious epithet, but it is. not Shakspeare's language ; it is true that he calls them " The caterpillars of the commonwealth," and chief among the evil councillors of King Richard, by whose profuse extravagance they largely profited. Fabyan IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 33 says, " In this 22 year of King Richard the common fame ran that the king had letten to farm the realm unto Sir William Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire, and then Treasurer of England, to Sir John Bushy, Sir John Bagot, and Sir Henry Green, Knights." In the play only the first of these persons is named as enjoying this great and unconstitutional privilege, — "The Earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm." Sir John Bushy was Speaker of the House of Com- mons in 1394, and, with Sir Henry Green, was one of the six commoners appointed to a£l with twelve peers, as Commis- sioners in 1398, invested with the whole power of the Lords and Commons. Sir John Bushy, or Bussey as the name is found in later times, was Sheriff co. Lincoln, 2, 4, and 14 Richard II. Grafton attributes the death of the Earl of Arundel, and the exile of his brother, the archbishop, chiefly to the influence of Sir John Bushy. His Arms were Argent three bars Sable. It would appear that the real Christian name of Bagot should be William, and he is so called in a writ, dated St Alban's, July 12, 1399, addressed to "William le Scrop, Earl of Wiltshire, John Bussy, Henry Grene, and William Bagot, chivalers," respefting the keeping of Wallingford Castle, in which Richard's queen, Isabel, then lay. Rymer's Faedera. Sir William Bagot, the person intended in this play, was Sheriff co. Leicester, 6 and 7 Richard II., and Knight of the Shire, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, and 20 Richard II. He escaped from Bristol Castle, and joined the king in Ireland, but on his return was committed by Henry IV. to the Tower, whence he was released November 12, 1400, and being received into favour served again in Parliament. He died in 1407, and was buried at Baginton, co. Warwick, leaving by his wife, Marga- ret, sister and heir of Robert de Whatton, an only daughter, Isabel, who married Thomas Stafford, of Pipe, co. Hereford. Bolingbroke, the night before his intended combat with Mow- bray, lodged at Sir William Bagot's manor-house at Baginton, a short distance from Gosford-green, near Coventry, where the lists were formed, on "St Lambert's Day," September 17, 1398. Anns of Sir William Bagot. — Ermine two chevronels Azure, which are borne by the present Lord Bagot, of Blith- 3 34 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS field, CO. Stafford, where the family of Bagot has been seated since the Conquest. Sir Henry Green appears to be the second son of Sir Henry Green, Justice of the King's Bench, 23 Edward III., by Catharine his wife, daughter and heir of Sir John Drayton, of Drayton, co. Northampton, and the charafter in the play- became Sir Henry Green of Drayton, his elder brother. Sir Thomas, inheriting Boughton and Green's-Norton. The se- cond Sir Henry Green married Matilda, daughter of Thomas Mauduit of Warminster, and had issue. Bolingbroke besieged Richard's obnoxious ministers in Bristol Castle, and with the exception of Bagot had them executed, without a trial ; — '^Aumerle. Is Bushy, Green, and the Earl ofWiltshire dead? Scroop. Yea, all of them at Bristol lost their heads." Arms of Sir Henry Green. — Azure three bucks trippant Or. EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND. HENRY PERCY, his Son. These nobles were the chief supporters of Bolingbroke in his views to the crown, although they were afterwards in arms against him, as will be seen in the next play. The great house of Percy descended from one of the Norman captains who fought at Hastings, William de Percy, who was rewarded with a barony of thirty knights' fees, and the hand of the Saxon heiress of the lands, Emma de Port. He accompanied Duke Robert Courte-hose, to the Holy Land, where he died in 1096, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Alan de Percy, whose son William, by his wife Alice de Clare, had two daughters, of whom the second, Agnes de Percy, became sole heiress ; she married the brother of Adelais, second queen of Hehry I., Jocelyn de Louvain, who thereupon adopted the surname of Percy; their descendant, Henry de Percy, ninth feudal lord, was summoned to Parliament by writ 27 Edward I., 1 299 ; he obtained by purchase the barony and castle of Alnwick, co. Northumberland, still one of the proud posses- sions of the house of Percy. His grandson of the same name IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 35 third Baron Percy of Alnwick, one of the heroes of Cressy, inherited the barony and castle of Warkworth, which had been given to his father by Edward III.; by his wife, the lady Mary Plantagenet, youngest daughter of Henry, Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund Cruche-back, Henry Percy had two sons, both important charadlers in Shakspeare'S plays, and in history; the eldest being Henry Percy, the Earl of Northumberland in this play, and the second son, Thomas Percy, is the Earl of Worcester in the next drama. There was, it will be seen, a close affinity between the families of Lancaster and Percy ; for Bolingbroke's mother, Blanche, was first or german-cousin to the Northumberland in this play. Henry Percy had been raised to that dignity by Richard at his coronation in 1377, but he was the first to join Boling- broke at his landing from exile, and for this defe6lion he was proclaimed a traitor, as noticed in the play. By treachery and false oaths he obtained possession of Richard/s person, and gave him up to his ambitious cousin, who lodged his royal prisoner in the Tower of London, where he obtained from the hapless captive a resignation of the crown in his own favour. It was Northumberland who suggested in Parliament that the deposed king should be removed to a secret place of confinement, and in consequence he was sent first to Leeds Castle, CO. York, and thence to Pontefra6t There are no remains of Leeds Castle, and but one small tower still exists of the once stately fortress at Pontefraft, which is second" only to the Tower of London for the number of royal and noble viiStims who have perished within its walls. The history of the powerful "Percies of the North" be- longs so much to the reign of Henry IV. that the further con- sideration of the family will be deferred till the next play, wherein "young Harry Percy" is a leading charafter; but in this play he takes small part in the action, and is introduced by his father as if a stranger to Bolingbroke, though in reality Hotspur commanded his forces before Flint castle, a place which had been a gift from King Richard to Northumberland, who inveigled his royal benefactor within its walls. Arms of Pei-cy. — Azure five fusils in fesse Or. Z—2 36 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS LORD ROSS. This is the ancestor of the present premier baron of Eng- land, Lord de Ros, who enjoys the oldest existing barony in the House of Peers, created 49 Henry III., 1264, in favour of Robert de Ros, whose ancestors had been feudal lords of Hamlake, co. York, for many generations. One of them, Robert de Ros, was one of the TWENTY-FIVE BARONS of Magna Charta, and married Isabel, natural daughter of Wil- liam the Lioti, King of Scots ; he assumed the cross, and is buried in the Temple Church, London, where his cross-legged effigy remains. His grandson, Robert de Ros, was summoned by writ, as above stated; he married Isabel, daughter of William de Albini, with whom he acquired Belvoir Castle ; he died in 1285, leaving as successor his eldest son William, second baron, who in virtue of his descent from William the Lion, was one of the thirteen competitors for the crown of Scotland nvith Bruce and Baliol. His grandson, William de Ros, fourth baron, was one of the leaders at Cressy, he died in tlie Holy Land, and was succeeded by his brother Thomas, who married Beatrice Stafford, eldest daughter of Ralph, Earl of Stafford, K.G., by whom he had, with many other children, John, sixth baron, and WiLLlAM DE Ros, who succeeded his brother as seventh Lord Ros, of Hamlake, and is the chara6ler in this play. He was summoned to Parliament from 1394 to 1413. Henry IV. rewarded his services by appointing him Lord Treasurer of England, and a K.G. He stood very high in that monarch's favour, and died at Belvoir in 1414. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Arundell, and his male line ended in his grandson, Edmund de Ros, who died unmarried in 1508, when the barony fell into abeyance be- tween his sisters, of whom the eldest, Eleanor de Ros, married Sir Robert Manners, and their son. Sir George Manners, be- came owner of Belvoir Castle, and Baron de Ros, and is an- cestor of the dukes of Rutland. The barony again fell into abeyance in 1687, until it was determined in favour of Lady Charlotte Fitz-gerald, who took the name of de Ros, as de- scended through several heiresses from Francis Manners, sixth Earl of Rutland, and her son is the present Lord de Ros. Arms of Lord de Ros. — Gidcs three water-budgets Argent. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 37 Glover. In Pine's copy of Magna Charta the buckets are described Or. LORD WILLOUGHBY. This peer was WlLLIAM DE- WiLLOUGHBY, fifth Baron Willoughby de Eresby, summoned to Parliament from 20 Richard II. to li Henry IV., in which year, 1409, he died. He was made a K.G. by King Richard. His ancestor, a Norman knight, was rewarded by the Conqueror with the lordship of Willoughby, co. Lincoln ; and Sir Robert Wil- loughby was summoned to Parliament 7 Edward II., 13 13, and his great-great-grandson is the noble in this play, who by his first wife, Lucy, daughter of Roger, Lord Strange, of Knockyn, had two sons, of whom Sir Thomas Willoughby of Parhsm, co. Suffolk, second son, is ancestor of three extant noble houses, namely, the Barons Willoughby de Eresby, Willoughby de Broke, and Middleton (Willoughby), all of whom bear the same Arms and Crest Arms of Lord Willoughby, K.G. — Or ix&\.\.y Azure. "Ro- bert de Willoughby I saw bore gold fretty Azure'' Siege of Carlaverock. NICHOLAS. LORD FITZ WALTER. This person was Walter Fitz-walter, fifth Baron FxTZ- WALTER, who was summoned to Parliament from 1390 to 1404. He was descended- from Robert Fitz-walter, the famous " Banner-bearer of the City of London," general of the barons confederated against King John, and styled by them " Mar- shal of the Army of God and the Church." The baron in this play, who died in 1407, married Joan, daughter of Sir John Devereux, KG., Baron Devereux, sister and heir of John, second Baron Devereux, by which alliance the baronies of Fitz-walter and Devereux were united in their descendants. The former of these baronies, after passing into the families of Ratcliffe and Mildmay, is now in abeyance between their descendants, of whom Sir William Brook Bridges, of Goodncs- tone, Baronet, M.P., is one of the claimants to the barony of 38 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS 1295, 23 Edward I.* The Lord Fitz-walter in this play was the first to throw down his gage of defiance to Aumerle in Westminster Hall, according to Holinshed, and as shewn in Act IV. Scene i, where he says, — "There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine." Arms of Lord Fitz-walter. — Or a fesse between two chev- ronels Gules. BISHOP OF CARLISLE. This loyal prelate was THOMAS Merk, or Merkes, who had been a Benedifline monk of Westminster, and was ap- pointed to the see of Carlisle in 1397. He w^as much em- ployed in secular matters both at home and abroad. His was the only dissentient voice raised in Parliament against the deposed Richard being sentenced to secret and close im- prisonment ; and he was deprived of his bishopric, and sent to the Tower for his attachment to his ill-fated master. Subse- quently Thomas Merk was sent to Westminster to remain in custody of its abbot, for which the writ is dated June 23, 1400. This circumstance is alluded to in the play as taking place before the bishop's removal to the Tower, in A61 IV. Scene i, where Westmoreland says, — " My Lord of Westminster, be it your charge To keep him safely till his day of trial." Carlisle was afterwards released by Henry IV., and it is expressly stated in the writ for his enlargement, dated at Westminster, November 28, 1400 (Rymer's Fcedera), that Thomas Merk, late Bishop of Carlisle, was pardoned on account of the excellence of his character". To this point also the poet alludes. Aft V. Scene 6, where the new king explains the reason of his leniency to the bishop : — ^ Since the above \vas written, Sir ^ " Pour ce qui regarde I'Ev^que de W. B. Bridges has been raised to the Carlisle il fut aussi arrets & condamn^ Peerage, by the style of Baron Fitz- k mort, mais bien qu'en faveur de son waiter, of Woodham-Walter, CO. Essex; caractfere, le Roi lui efl.t accord^ son but his title \vill only date from the pardon." — Rapin. time of its creation, April nth, 1868. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 39 " For though mine enemy thou hast ever been, High sparks of honour in thee have I seen." According to Bishop Kennet, Henry IV. bestowed upon Thomas Mark the vicarage of Sturminster-Marshal, co. Dor- set; whilst Ritson states that he was presented by the Convent of Westminster to the reflory of Todenham, co. Gloucester; others again assert that he held both these liv- ings. HUTCHINS in his Dorsetshire, and Sir N. Harris Ni- colas. Thomas Merk died in 1409 ; he was named by King Richard as one of the executors to his will, and in that capacity had a legacy of " a gold cup of the value of twenty pounds " sterling. ABBOT OF WESTMINSTER. Ritson, and all other commentators call this ecclesiastic " William de Colchester," but the compiler of. these notices is inclined to believe that the abbot who took part in the latter scenes of this play was his successor, RICHARD Harounden, or Harweden. The family of Harweden was seated at Harweden, or Harrowden, co. N. Hants, before the time of King John, and several of their members were " clerks " and reftors of Stoke-Bruere, in the county. The family ended in an heiress, Joan Harweden, who married Sir Richard Knight- ley, of Fawsley and Plumpton (Sheriff of the county 1 5 Edward IV.) ; the latter manor coming through the marriage of Joan's ancestor, William de Harweden, with Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir Giles de St John, of Plumpton, M.P. for the shire, S Richard II. Baker's N. Hants, under Plumpton. Dart, in his account of Westminster Abbey and its " Abbats," after speaking of William de Colchester, whose date of death he states is uncertain, continues, "RICHARD Harounden is next nam'd, of whom we know nothing certain, but during this interval of darkness I find the year before the deposition of Richard II. the Abbat of Westminster attending Richard II. into Ireland, and after his return appointed with others to go to him in the Tower, concerning his Resignation, and soon after, concern'd at his Us^e, join'd with the Dukes oi Exeter, Szcrry, and Aumarle, &c The Bishop of Car/is/e,.3.nd princi- 40 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS pally the Abbat of Westminster, had an uncommon aversion to Henry IV., for that when the Earl of Darby he had declar'd the Clergy had too much, and the King too little; but I rather think out of a true loyalty to release their captiv'd sovereign, but the king discover'd and several executed. The Abbat fled from his monastery, and dying of an apoplex, escap'd publick Execution. This Harounden I take to be the Man whom the Monks secretly buried without Tomb or Inscrip- tion, nor do we know in what part of the church they laid him, probably for fear ; but as I am not certain, I leave it doubtful," Dart names the successor of Harounden as George Flaccet, 1402, and states that Henry IV. died in his time, and then tells us that this abbot was succeeded in 1414 by a Willam who lived to 1426, and was employed abroad by Henry V., especially at "the Known Council of Con- stance," 1414', and that he was followed as abbot by John Eastney, who died in 1438, when Edward Kirton became abbot WiDMORE, in his account of Westminster Abbey, places the death of William de Colchester as late as 06lober, 1420, or near the end of Henry the Fifth's reign, and states that Harounden succeeded, and resigned in 1440, thus making a difference of forty years between his statement and that of Dart, as to date. NealE, in his history of the Abbey, follows Widmore on this point, but, with Dugdale, altogether overlooks the Abbot William to whom Dart does not assign any other name, and yet of whom he gives a precise history ; and as he bears the same Christian name with the abbot, whom all the writers agree in calling the immediate predecessor of Harounden, it is possible tliat Dart is right, and that the other authors-have mistaken the one Abbot William for the other Shakspeare also must be regarded as an authority in this case ; his version entirely agrees with that of Dart, and must have been derived from some old chronicler, most probably from Grafton, who says, "the Abbot of Westminster, in whose house this con- * Tlje mandate to proceed to the Nov. 17, 1414- And " WUlielraus, Ab- Council of Constance is addiessed to bas Westmonasteriensis," is a witness to William, Abbat of Westminster, and a Writ of 2 Heiiiy V., dated Nov. 6, J-olin, Prior of Worcester; it is dated i4'4- — Kvmers ./-av/iv-a. IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 41 federacy was conspired, heeryng that the chiefteynes of his Felowship were taken and executed, he goyng betwene the monasteries and his mansion house for thought fell into a sodaine palsy, and shortly after without any speeche ended his lyfe;" Uiideri Henry IV. Edition, i^6g. Rapin expresses a similar opinion, " L'Abb^ de Westminster s'^tant aussi mis en fuite, fut saisi d'une frayeur si violente qu'il tomba dans une apoplexie dont il mourut." Edition, 1724. The abbot appears in the play as "the grand conspirator," and the plot to kill Bolingbroke was devised by him at a banquet in his own parlour, or refe6lory^ to which he invites the discontented lords. Aft IV. Scene i, — " Come home with me to supper, I will lay A plot shall show us all a merry day." The death of the abbot in the play justifies Dart's de- scription of that event; Henry Percy tells the new king, A6t V. Scene 6, — " The grand conspirator, Abbot of Westminster, With clog of conscience, and sour melancholy, Hath yielded up his body to the grave." In Scene 3, Bolingbroke, after the pardon to Aumerle, declares, — " But for our trusty brother-in-law ; — and the abbot, With all the rest of that consorted crew, Destruflion straight shall dog them at the heels. They shall not live within this realm, I swear. But I will have them, if I once know where." In the drama, as in history, each of the plotters against Bolingbroke receives from him a heavy doom, for where their lives are spared, as in the case of Aumerle and Carlisle, they are degraded in rank; and it is hard to believe that this prince, liberal towards his friends, but so vindiflive to ene- mies, would allow the arch-conspirator not only to escape the fate of his comrades if living, but moreover to hold ' This is the celebrated ' ' Jerasalem circa 1 362, and which is one of the most Chamber," wliich had been built by the interesting parts of the conventual build- immediate predecessor of William de ings of Westminster Abbey. Colchester, Abbot Nicholas Litlington, 42 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS for so many years his high office as a mitred abbot, with whom the offended king would be constantly brought face to face. The writers who look upon William de Colchester as the abbot in "King Richard \l." do not explain how he only escaped the fate of his friends, and was permitted to enjoy for fourteen years one of the most important preferments in the Church. It is evident that William de Colchester, of whom no one records a violent or sudden death, cannot be Shak- SPEARE'S " grand conspirator." It is unfortunate that the date is wanting on this abbot's tomb in Westminster Abbey, "con- jeftured to be his" from the "W de C," powdered on the pillow and mitre, "other inscription there is none." Dart. In a Writ of i Hen. V. dated Westminster, 14 Dec, 141 3, the king gives 1000 marks yearly, during his pleasure, for the repair of the nave of Westminster Abbey ; and for the quicker despatch of the business appoints Richard Whityngton and Richard Harweden, monks of the said abbey, to carry out the repairs. Rymer's Fadera. Who was this Harweden ? Was he a different person from William de Colchester's suc- cessor, or was he that abbot, the abbot of the play, who had escaped the fate of so many noble adherents of Richard II., but had been deprived of his crozier, and degraded to the humble rank of a monk, and after a lapse of fifteen years em- ployed, by the then more merciful sovereign, in a work foir which he may have been well fitted by skill in architeflure .' LORD MARSHALL, and anotJier Lord. As Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, was also the Earl Marshall, it was necessary, on account of his intended combat with Bolingbroke, to appoint some one else for the time to fill that important office, and the person who really afted on the oc- casion, in the lists near Coventry, was the Duke of Surrey, whilst Aumerle was constable. The poet would seem to be aware of this arrangement, for the stage direction, in the folio of 1623, at the opening of the third scene, specifies, — "Enter Mai's/iall and A lanerk" between whom the preparations have been made for the coming encounter, and Surrey is not intro- duced by name. If it is required to find a name for " another lord " in the IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 43 stormy scene in Westminster Hall, Oft 29, 1 399, where the peers fiercely dare each other to the combat, that of Thomas MoRLEY, fourth Lord Morley, 1381 to 1417, K.G., would be most appropriate, as it was he who accused Surrey of double treason ; " forty gauntlets, the pledges of furious battle, were thrown on the floor of the house by noblemen who gave mu- tual challenges, and 'liar', and 'traitor', resounded from all quarters." HUME. Shakspeare therefore has not over- drawn the language used in this scene of violent recrimina- tion. In some early editions the accusation by "another lord," and Aumerle's reply, are not in the text. SIR STEPHEN SCROOP. This loyal person was not, as frequently supposed, the knight of the same name who was a brother of Archbishop Scroop, or Scrope, a charafter in the two next plays, but was the elder brother of King Richard's chief minister, William le Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire, who is often mentioned in this drama, though not brought upon the scene. They were the only sons of Henry le Scrope, first Baron Scrope of Masham, summoned 16 Edward IH., 1342, who died in 1391, and was succeeded as second baron by his eldest son, the Sir Stephen Scrope in this play, who had been a distinguished soldier from his youth, serving in France and Flanders. He was strongly attached to King Richard's interests, and we have a valuable testimony to his loyalty in the words of Creton, the historian, who was present with Richard at Flint Castle ; — "Moreover there was another good friend, whom I heard called Sir Stephen Scroope ; I saw him frequently with the king at that time." This knight was taken into favour by Henry IV., who appointed him for his martial experience Deputy Lieutenant of Ireland, under his young son, Prince Thomas of Lancaster. Sir Stephen Scrope defeated the Irish on several occasions, and died Feb. 10, 1408, at Tristel- Dermot, where the Irish parliaments were sometimes held. By his wife, Margaret widow of John, son of Sir William de Huntingfield, he had four sons, of whom the eldest, Henry le Scrope, is the "Lord Scroop" in "King Henry V." Some authors state that Sir John Fastolfe married the widow of this 44 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Sir Stephen Scrope, mistaking her for the widow of Sir Ste- phen Scrope of the Bolton branch, whose wife was Milicent Tiptoft Arms of Sir Stephen Scrope, Lord Scrope of Masltam. — Azure a bend Or, in chief a file of three points Argent. SIR PIERCE of EXT ON. HoHnshed says, — " King Henry, sitting on a day at his table, sore sighing, said, ' Have I no faithful friend which will deliver me of him whose life will be my death, and whose death will be the preservation of my life ?' " Shakspeare therefore adopts the version of Richard's death, that he was killed at Pontefrafl Castle by Sir Piers Exton and his guards. This opinion was held by Fabyan, Hall, Hayward, Le La- boureur, Cartier, and other writers. Some authors, as Har- dyng, Fortescue, Polydore Vergil, and Stow, think that Ri- chard was starved to death by his keepers ; Hume inclines to this belief, " as more consistent with the story that his body was exposed in public, and that no marks of violence were found upon it." In the cartel of defiance sent by the Percies to Henry IV., and repeated by Archbishop Scrope, one of the reasons of their being in arms against him is set forth, that "he caused King Richard to remain in hunger, and thirst, and cold, for fifteen days and nights." Walsingham, Otter- bourne, the continuator of the Croyland Chronicle, and Gower the poet, who knew King Richard, suggest that he died of grief and voluntary abstinence. This opinion was held by Mr Amyot and the late Lord Dover (Agar Ellis). In later time Mr P. Fraser Tytler revived the story of Fordun and Winton, that Richard had escaped from Pontefraft to Scot- land, and that he was honourably entertained by Robert III. (who died in 1406), and afterwards by the Regent Albany. Fordun, under the year 1419, says, "In this year died Richard, King of England, on the Feast of St Luke, in the castle of Stirling." This rumour had beeI^ set afloat by Maud, Coun- tess of Oxford, mother of Richard's great favourite, Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland. Creton, the poet and historian, ad- dressed, in 1405, an epistle in verse to his beloved master, who was therefore in his opinion still alive ; it is headed, "Ainsi come vraye amour requiert a tres noble prince et IN SHAKSPE ARE'S PLAYS. 45 vraye Catholique Richart d'Engleterre, je, Creton, ton liege serviteur, te renvoye ceste epitre." Henry IV. executed seve- ral persons who avowed their belief that Richard had escaped ; among them was his cousin, Sir Roger de Clarendon, Knight, a natural son of the Black Prince, who would take a lively interest in the fate of his royal half-brother. The rumour of Richard's escape excited so much attention that Creton, the poet, to whose valuable Metrical History of the Deposition of Riclmrd tlte Second we are so much indebted, was sent by Charles VI. of France into Scotland, to ascertain the fate of his son-in-law, and it was not until Cre- ton's return that Richard's widow, Isabel, was allowed to marry again. The extraordinary resemblance between Ri- chard and his chaplain and devoted follower, Maudelain, gave rise to many strange rumours, and it was even asserted that the latter suffered death instead of his royal master, and that it was his corpse which was shown in public as the king's person. Sir Nicholas Exton, Sheriff of London with Sir John Frenche (afterwards mayor in 1395), when Sir Nicholas Brem- bre was mayor, 1385, was a violent opponent in Parliament to Richard IL, whose favourite, Brembre, he succeeded as mayor in 1386 — 7. It is probable that Nicholas and Piers Exton were near relations. Arms of Niclwlas Exton, Mayor of London. — Gules a cross between twelve cross-croslets fitch^e Or. CAPTAIN of a Band of Welchmen. King Richard sent the Earl of Salisbury to excite the Welch against Bolingbroke ; he raised 40,000 men, who re- mained a fortnight in the field, but then disbanded on hearing a report that the king was dead. CRETON. See also A61 II. Scene 4 It will not be out of place here to remark, that the re- nowned Glendower of the next play, who is alluded to in this, Aft III. Scene i, was aftually in attendance on Richard as his "beloved, esquire and minstrel;" he must have escaped capture at Flint, since he headed a band of his countrymen, with whom he harassed the rear of Bolingbroke's forces, as 46 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS far as Goventiy, when he carried off his illustrious prisoner to London. The name of the herald who accompanied Bolingbroke, and summoned Richard at Flint, has been preserved ; he is called, "Richard del Brugge, Lancaster King at Arms del North." QUEEN to KING RICHARD. Anne of Bohemia, the first and long-mourned-for consort of Richard II., died in 1394, some years before the aftion of this play begins ; the present queen, therefore, is his child- wife, Isabel of France, who according to most historians was said to be only twelve years old at the date of his depo- sition. Richard had married her thus early, viz. on All Saints' Day, 1396, hoping that his grief would be assuaged by the time she grew up. Shakspeare makes her to speak and aft like an adult, yet Froissart, who was present at her mar- riage, relates of her, — " for all that she was but young, right pleasantly she bare the part of a queen," It would appear that Isabel was older than is generally supposed, for in the treaty of her intended marriage, attested by her four uncles, the Dukes of Berri, Burgundy, Orleans, and Bourbon, dated March 9, 1395, she is therein thus described, — "venue a I'age de douze ans acompliz"; which would make her to be more than sixteen at King Richard's surrender of his crown. Ry- mer'S Foedera. ISABEL of Valois was the eldest daughter of Charles VI., and was crowned Queen of England, January 7, 1397. After the death of Richard, Henry IV. endeavoured to obtain her hand for his son, the Prince of Wales, but her family declined the alliance, and she became in 1408 the wife of her cousin, Charles D'Angoul^me, afterwards Duke of Orleans; she died Sept. 13, 1410, soon after giving birth to a daughter, Joan, who married John II., Duke of Alen^on, son of the prince who was slain at Agincourt, after his encounter with Henry the Fifth. DUCHESS of YORK. This lady was not the mother of " Aumerle," as evidently IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLA YS 47 supposed to be by the poet, the first wife of Edmund of Langley having died in 1394; consequently the "Duchess of York," at the time of the aftion in this play, was his second wife, Joan Holland, third daughter of Thomas, second Earl of Kent, the son of Joan, the " Fair Maid of Kent," by her first husband, Sir Thomas Holland, K.G. This duchess, surviving her husband, by whom she had no issue, married secondly the " Lord Willoughby " in this play, his second wife ; thirdly Henry, the "Lord Scroop" in King Henry V.; and fourthly Sir Henry Bromflete, Lord de Vescy, whose daughter, Mar- garet Bromflete, married the " Young Clifford " in the Third Part of King Henry VI. DUCHESS of GLOUCESTER. This lady, the widow of Thomas of Woodstock, seventh and youngest son of Edward the Third, was the greatest co-heiress in England, Eleanor de Bohun, eldest daughter of Humphrey, the last Earl of Hereford. Her husband, the Duke of Gloucester, took the lead in opposition to Richard's favourite, Robert de Vere, and the king, in revenge for losing de Vere, caused his uncle Gloucester to be seized, and secretly conveyed to Calais, where he was smothered by the squires and yeomen of the Dukes of Aumerle and Norfolk, Oft. 8, 1397. The contrivers and aftors of this foul deed all came to violent deaths. By Eleanor de Bohun the Duke of Glouces- ter had one son and three daughters ; the former died un- married in 1339; of the latter one became a nun, another died unmarried ; the eldest, Anne Plantagenet, married Edmund Stafford, fifth Earl of Stafford, K.G. (who was slain at Shrewsbury), and their son, Humphrey Stafford, was created "Duke of Buckingham," under which title he is a character in the Second Part of King Henry VI. The death of the Duchess of Gloucester, which occurred Oft. 3, 1399, is supposed in the play to have taken place at the castle of her late husband, at Pleshey, in Essex. In Act. ir. Scene 2, the Duke of York direfts a servant, — " Get thee to Flashy, to my Sister Gloster." At this place, which is mid-way between Chelmsford and Dunmow, the keep still exists of the noble castle built soon 48 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS after the Conquest, which was the residence of the lord high constables of England ; but not a vestige remains of Pleshey College, which was founded by Thomas of Woodstock, the site of which is pointed out by the name of " College Field." The duchess, in reality, died in Barking Abbey, whither she had retired after the murder of her husband. She was buried in Westminster Abbey, where there is a very fine monumental brass to her memory. LADY attending on tfie QUEEN. The chief lady attached to the young queen's household was the " Lady of Cougy," Mary, daughter of the Princess Isabel, daughter of Edward III., who married Ingelram de Cougy, created Earl of Bedford, K.G. After the Lady of Cou9y was dismissed in disgrace, King Richard placed his young wife in the care of his niece, Eleanor Holland, widow of Roger Mortimer, fourth Earl of March, and she accompanied Queen Isabel on her return to France. Some persons are mentioned in the play who merit a brief notice, although they are not brought on the scene. A pas- sage occurs in Act II. Scene i, which has given rise to much speculation, and the usual editions have an insertion by Malone, to fill up a supposed " dropped " line. But the text must be dealt with as it comes to us ; — " I have from Port le Blanc, a bay- In Brittany, received intelligence That Harry, Duke of Hereford, Rainold, Lord Cobham, X That late broke from the Duke of Exeter, His brother, Archbishop late of Canterburj', Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston, Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton, and Francis Quoint, All these well furnish'd by the Duke of Bretagne With eight tall ships," &c 1 The foUowiiig U the line inserted of the chief opponents of King Richard's in this place by Malone : favourites, \vas beheaded in 1397; "the >.T-u rr>-i jficA jii, son," ThonMs, eleventh earl, b the "Thesonof Richard, Earl of ArundeL , r, • , „ character m the Second Part of JUno- the archbishop's brother, Richard Fitz- Henry IV., under the title of " Earl of alan, tenth Earl of Anmdcl, K.G., one Surrey." IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 49 The difficulty in this passage is to know what person is intended by "his brother;" the line preceding seems hardly required for the sense, for there was no relationship between the primate and the Duke of Exeter ; but " his brother " may refer to the affinity between Reginald, Lord Cobham, and the archbishop, Thomas Arundel, otherwise Fitz-alan, whose brother. Sir John Arundel, Marshal of England, had left a widow, who was now the wife of Reginald Cobham, who was thlis in some sort "brother" to the archbishop, authors not being always precise in defining the degrees of relationship, of which instances occur in these plays. The poet may have read in some of the old chroniclers that John, Lord Cobham, had been sent to the Tower in 1398, by Richard II.; he was much associated with John of Gaunt and Archbishop Arun^ del ; he was however only a cousin by the half-blood to Regi- nald Cobham. The " Diike of Exeter/', at this time, John Holland, brother-in-law of Bolingbroke, was not Constable of the Tower, but that post was held by his son, John Holland, in the reign of Henry V., and he became afterwards Duke of Exeter. The association of the names of Exeter and Cob- ham with the Tower may explain the poet's meaning in the line, although a misconception, — " That late broke from the Duke of Exeter." The arms of Reginald, Lord Cobham of Sterborough, whose family will be noticed hereafter, were Gules on a chevron Or three estoiles Sable. Archbishop Arundel, banished by Richard II., re- turned with Bolingbroke from abroad, and crowned him at Westminster, 061. 13, 1399. Sir Thomas Erpingham, afterwards a K.G., is a cha- racter in Kmg Henry V. ; he took an aflive part against King Richard, and was one of the deputation to the Tower to demand his resignation. He bore for Arms, Vert an in- escutcheon within an orle of eight martlets Sable. "Sir John Ramston," whose Christian name should be Thomas, was appointed Warden of the Tower of London when Richard was confined there ; he afterwards became constable of that fortress, a K.G., and admiral of the fleet ; he was drowned in the Thames in his progress to the Tower. 4 .so NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Sir Thomas Ramston, K.G., bore for Arms, Gules three rams' heads Argent. Sir John Norbury, at the accession of Henry IV., was appointed Governor of Guisnes, and Treasurer of the Exche- quer. The family were seated at Stoke D'Abernon, co. Surrey, and ended in an heiress, Anne Norbuiy, who married Sir Richard Halighwell'. Arms of Norbury. — Sable a chevron charged with a fleur- de-lis between three bulls' heads affronte Argent. Sir Robert Waterton was Master of the Horse to Henry IV., Sheriff, co. Lincoln, 12 Henry IV., and was second in command to the Earl of Westmoreland against the Percies. The Watertons stood high in the favour of Henry IV. and V., and members of the family frequently filled the office of sheriff in several counties. John Waterton served at Agin- court with " 7 lances," and was Master of the King's Horse. The descendants of Sir Robert Waterton are now seated at Walton Hall, co. York. Arms of Waterton. — Barry of six Ermine and Gules three crescents Sable. It is possible that the last name on the list of Boling- broke's companions, in some editions written " Coint," as Holinshed calls him, should be Francis Point; the family of Pointz, or Points, is one of great antiquity, as will be noticed in the next play under " Poins." The Duke of Bretagne, who befriended Bolingbroke, was John de Montfort, whose widow, Joan of Navarre, became the second wife of Henry IV. The "Lord Beaumond," mentioned as one of Boling- broke's adherents, Aft II. Scene 2, was Henry Beaumont, fifth Baron Beaumont, great-grandson of John, second baron, who married Alianor Plantagenet (of Lancaster), great-grand- daughter of Henry III. The fifth baron succeeded his father, John, fourth baron, who was Constable of Dover Castle, and ^ Jane, daughter and heir of Richard dos, K.G., and tlieir granddaughter, Hahghwell and Anne Norbury, married Catherine Brydges, by her marriage Edmund Bray, first Lord Bray, and w-ith Francis Russell, fourth Earl of their daughter, Dorothy Bray, married Bedford, was mother of William, first Edmund Brydges, second Lord Chan- Duke of Bedford. IN SHAKSFEARE'S PLAYS. 51 a K.G. in 1396, and died in 1413 ; he is ancestor of the present Lord Beaumont, Henry Stapleton, 1865. Anns of Beaumont. — France ancient, a. lion rampant. Or. The " Lord Seymour " is named as being with the Duke of York in Berkeley Castle; this noble was Richard de St Maur, fifth baron of that surname, summoned to Parlia- ment from 1380 to 1400. He might properly be introduced on the stage in the representation of the play; his Arms were, Argettt two chevrons Gules, a file of three points Azure. The "Blount" alluded to in the company of Bolingbroke's opponents was Sir THOMAS Blount, whose execution at Cirencester was attended by circumstances of great barbarity, and he was cruelly taunted by . Sir Thomas Erpingham in the midst of his torments, which he endured with great heroism. He was one of the persons present at the Abbot of West- minster's supper. At the coronation of Richard the Second, July 16, 1377, Sir Thomas Blount (as deputy for the Countess of Pembroke) held the napkin for the king, when he washed his hands before the banquet. A Sir John Blunt was " Custos of the City of. London," in place of Mayor, from 1301 to 1307 inclusive. Stow. It is worthy of notice that the bailiff of Cirencester, Tho- mas Cousyn, had an annual grant of 100 marks out of the Exchequer for his service in defeating "the rebels" against Bolingbroke. The names of two of King Richard's adherents, who suf- fered for their loyalty, deserve to be mentioned ; Lord Fitz- walter tells Bolingbroke, in the last scene, — " My lord, I have from Oxford sent to London The heads of Brocas, and Sir Bennet Seely." The former of these was Sir Bernard Brocas, son of Sir Bernard Brocas, chamberlain to King Kichard's first queen, and Master of the Buck-hounds, an office which he obtained by marriage with Mary, daughter and heir of Sir John de Roche, and their son. Sir Bernard, succeeded to the office, which became hereditary in the family of Brocas until the reign of James the First. There is a fine raised-tomb to the memory of the elder Sir Bernard Brocas, who died in 1396, in Westminster Abbey, with this inscription : — 4—2 52 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS, &c. " ^ic jactt ^tmatbwi iStoca^ J^ile^ HL, ®. quonDam @am. ^nnae iSit^nx Snglia: cb|u9 anime proptdetur Wtnfi. ^men." The second Sir Bernard was carver to Richard II., and by his wife, Joan, daughter of Gilbert Banbury, left a son, William Brocas, of Denton and Beaurepaire, co. Hants., where the family was long seated. Sir Richard Brocas, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1730, bore the same Arms, viz. Sable a lion rampant guardant Or. The name of the companion in the fate of Brocas is variously given. By some writers he is called Sir John Scheveley (CarTE) ; by others Sir Benedift Sely (Hume and Rymer), and many historians agree that his name was John. Sir Richard Broun, K.J.J., states that he was Sir JOHN Shel- ley, ancestor of the family of that name, who became ba- ronets, and of whom Sir Philip Charles Shelley, taking the name of Sidney, was created, in 1855, Lord de LTsle and Dudley. The name of Shelley, rather than Sely, is confirmed by the canting coat of the former family, namely. Sable a fesse engrailed between three whelk-shells Or. Broun's Baronetage. FIRST PART OF KING HENRY IV. Time of A£lion from A. D. 1402 to 1403. KING HENRY tJte FOURTH. BoLINGBROKE had been seated for three years on his ill- gotten throne when the aftion of this play opens; the first scene recording the recent battle of Homeldon, now Hamble- ton, near Wooler, co. Northumberland, fought on Holy-rood day, Sept. 14, 1402 ; and the drama closes with the viftory at Shrewsbury, July 21, 1403. The former battle was gained for the king by the Percies, who were arrayed against him in the latter confli6l. Henry IV. behaved with signal valour at Shrewsbury, killing, it is said, sixteen, or according to some writers thirty-six, of the enemy with his own hand, thus per- forming the part of a gallant knight as well as of a skilful leader. Henry the Fourth's first wife was the great co-heiress, Mary de Bohun, second daughter of Humphrey, the last Earl of Hereford, to whom he was married in 1384. It is said that after he came to the throne he ordered 10,000 masses to be sung for the repose of her soul under the style of "Queen Mary," although she never enjoyed that title, as she died in 1 394. The children of this marriage were four sons, and two daughters ; of the latter, Blanche became the wife of Lewis II., Barbatiis, Duke of Bavaria; and Philippa married Eric X., King of Norway. The sons were, i, Henry of Monmouth, born in the Norman castle there, according to the inscription upon his statue in that town, "August ix., 1387," although 54 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS most writers place his birth a year later. Rapin ascribes it to the year 1386, and Buswell to 1385. One hardly reconciles the date usually given, 1388, for the birth of "Prince Hal," for that would only make him eleven years old when he is represented as boasting, that in a tournament — "He would unhorse the lustiest challenger." King Richard II., Act v. Scenes. 2. Prince THOMAS, born in 1388, afterwards Duke of Clarence, a charafter in the next play; 3. "Prince JOHN of Lancaster" in this play; 4. Prince HUMPHREY, the " Duke of Gloucester" in the Second Part. Henry IV. married secondly, Feb. 7, 1403, the widow of his friend John de Montfort, Duke of Britany; she was Joan, daughter of Charles le Mauvais, King of Navarre, and was crowned Feb. 25, 1403: she died in the reign of Henry VI., 1437, and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, in the splendid tomb of her royal husband, whereon are their life-like effigies. Joan of Navarre had no issue by her second marriage. Arms of King Henry tke Fourth. — Quarterly i and 4, Azure semee-de-lis Or, France aticient ; 2 and 3, Gules three lions passant guardant Or, England. HENRY PRINCE of WALES. In the preceding play we have a slight glimpse of the "Prince Hal" of this drama, in the anxious enquiry of Bo- lingbroke, Aft V. Scene 3 : — " Can no man tell of my unthrifty son?" Shakspeare has drawn a lively portrait of this " mad-cap prince," who afterwards so nobly redeemed the follies of his youth. The death of his mother, when he was but seven or eight years old, must have left him early without sufficient control, but his grandmother, the Coimtess of Hereford, sister of Archbishop Arundel, bestowed some pains on his educa- tion, and at eleven years of age he was entered a student at Queen's College, Oxford, a faft which is recorded by an inscription on one of the windows : — IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 55 " In Perpetuam Rei MemorianH : — Imperator Britanniae, Triumphator Galliae, Hostium Victor et sui, Henricus V., Parvi Hujus Cubiculi, Olim magnus incola." Wood's Athence Oxoniensis. Fuller alludes to the chamber over the gateway as the one used by Henry when a scholar at Oxford. Shakspeare, in his. portrait of "Prince Hal," has taken the groundwork of his fafts chiefly from Holinshed and Stow, with some few hints from the old drama, called The Famous ViSlories of Henry the Fifth; but these fails apd hints have been clothed in the poet's own immortal language with sin- gular felicity and beauty. The Prince of Wales, who was so created the day after his father's coronation, won his spurs at Shrewsbury, where he behaved with great bravery, and v.as "hurt in the face by an arrow" (Holinshed), a wound which the young hero calls in the play "a shallow scratch," and refuses to quit the field. Anns of tJie Prince of Wales. — Quarterly France ancient and England, a label Argent. PRINCE JOHN of LANCASTER. John Plant AGENET, third son of Henry the Fourth, born in 1389, is here rightly called as above, since he did not receive any other style until the reign of his brother, who created him " Duke of Bedford," under which name he is a cha- rafter in Kiiig Henry V.; but he figures more prominently in the First Part of King Henry VI., as the "Regent of France." He was however made by his father Constable of England, Governor of Berwick, Warden of the East Marches towards Scotland, and a K.G. Arms of Prince John of Lancaster, K.G. — Quarterly France ancient and England, a label of five points Ermine charged with nine fleurs-de-lis Or. t,6 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS EARL of WESTMORELAND. This nobleman may be well called, in the usual lists of the charafters, one of the " Friends to the King." He was the head of that great Northern house of Nevill, which exer- cised so much sway in this and several succeeding reigns. .Gilbert de Nevill came in with the Conqueror, and his grand- son, Gilbert de Nevill, married the daughter and heir of Ber- tram de Bulmer, a powerful Northern baron, by which alli- ance Brancepeth Castle came to the Nevills*. Their daugh- ter, Isabel de Nevill, married Robert Fitz-Maldred, Lord of Raby, and their son Geoffrey took his mother's name, and his great-grandson, Ranulph de Nevill, was summoned to Parlia- ment 22 Edward I., 1294, as Baron Nevill of Raby; his son and grandson were distinguished persons in the reigns of Ed- ward III. and Richard H.; and the grandson, Ralph Nevill, fourth baron, is the character in this play. He was born in 1365, succeeded his father, John NeviU, in 1389, was created Earl of Westmoreland in 1397, by Richard II., but was the first to join Bolingbroke's standard, and the earl became his most powerful supporter against the rebellious Percies. The further consideration of this great baron, and his numerous family, will be resumed in the next play. Anns of Nevill, — Gules a saltier Argent. SIR WALTER BLUNT. This gallant knight, standard-bearer to Henry the Fourth, fell on the battle-field of Shrewsbury, mistaken for his royal master, being — " Semblably furnish'd like the king himself." He was one of the ancient family of Blount of Sodington, which came to his father. Sir Walter Blount, by marrying ' Several monuments exist in Brance- says: "Of Sheriff-Hutton Castle the peth church to the memory of the ruins are extensive, and principally of earlier Nevills. "BrancepethCastle Perpendicular character." This was has been added to, and the interior built by Bertram de Bulmer, and be- mostly rebuilt, but a large portion of came one of the vast possessions of the the ancient exterior remains." RicK- Nevills. >1AN. The same excellent authority IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 57 Joan, daughter and sole heir of Sir William de Sodington, his first wife. By his second wife, Eleanor, daughter and heir of Sir John Beauchamp, he was father of the charafter in this play. Sir Walter Blount's last male descendant. Sir Harry Pope Blount, Baronet, died in 1757, without issue, when the family estates passed to his niece Katherine Freeman, who married the Hon. Charles Yorke, father of Philip, third Earl of Hardwicke. The knight in this play was one of the exe- cutors to the will of John of Gaunt, who left him a bequest ; " a Mons' Waut' Blount, Mons' Chambleyn, cent marcs." Arms of Sir Walter Blount.— rBa^rry nebiily of six Or and Sable. But in Act V. Scene 3, he should appear with a sur- coat similar to that worn by the king. THOMAS PERCY, Earl of Worcester. This noble was a younger brother of the Earl of Northum- berland in this play. He had been distinguished in war and embassies in the reign of Edward HI., serving with the Black Prince, and in 1387 was admiral of the fleet. King Richard II. created him Earl of Worcester in 1397, and made him steward of his household, but the earl "broke his staff of office," as recorded in the preceding play, when his brother was "proclaimed traitor" for joining Bolingbroke. From being one of the warmest supporters of the new king, Wor- cester became the most bitter of his opponents; Holinshed terms him, — "the procurer and setter-forth of all the mis- chief;" and he wilfully distorted to his nephew Hotspur, " The liberal kind offer of the king," and thus brought on the decisive battle of Shrewsbury, so fatal to the fortunes of the Percies. Being taken prisoner, he was beheaded two days after the fight, viz. July 23, 1403. He was defied in 1376 a Knight of the Garter, though his name is omitted by some writers. Worcester seems to have had some private grudge against Henry the Fourth's consort, Joan of Navarre, whom he accompanied to England in his capacity of lord chamberlain, when she came over from Britany to be married to her second husband. 58 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Arms of Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester— Azure five fusils in fesse Or, a crescent for difference. HENRY PERCY, Earl of Northumberland. The prophetic words of King Richard in the preceding play find their accomplishment in this : — "Northumberland, thou ladder wherewithal The mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne, . thou shalt think, Though he divide the realm, and give thee half, It is too little, helping him to all." " The impatient spirit of Henry Percy, and the faftious dis- position of the Earl of Worcester, younger brother of Nor- thumberland, inflamed the discontent of that nobleman, and the precarious title of Henry tempted him to seek revenge by overturning that throne which he had at first established." Hume. The illness of the earl, the command of his troops devolving on his fiery son, and the defeat of their army, are admirably described in the play. This powerful noble married first, Margaret Nevill, young- est daughter of Ralph, second Lord Nevill of Raby, by whom he had four sons : — r. Henry Peixy, surnamed " Hotspur ;" 2. Sir Thomas Percy, and 3. Sir Ralph Percy, Knights ; these two brothers married their father's wards, Elizabeth and Philippa de Strabolgi, daughters and co-heirs of David, last Earl of Athol of that surname; 4. Alan Percy. The Earl of Northumberland married secondly, Maud Lucy, daughter of Thomas, second Baron Lucy ; she brought Cockermouth Castle to the Percies, and the arms of Lucy, Gules three lucies Argent, still borne on the shield of the dukes of Northumber- land. There was no issue by this second marriage. The earl is a chara<5ler in the next play. Arms of Percy. — Azure five fusils in fesse Or. HENRY PERCY, surnamed " Hotspir." This famous soldier is like one of the paladins of old, from the romantic chivalry with which the poet has invested him, IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 59 and with justice, for he was esteemed " the most valiant and approved knight in England." Shakspeare however evi- dently supposes that "young Harry Percy" and "Prince Hal" were of the same age ; thus King Henry reproaches his son, in allusion to Hotspur's martial exploits, — " Being no more in debt to years than thou." In A£l III. Scene 2, the king speaks of the younger Percy as — "this Hotspur Mars, in swaddling clothes. This infant warrior;" and the prince alludes to his rival as — " This northern youth." Lord Bardolf and Travers use similar language respedling Hotspur's age, in the Second Part. But Hotspur was as old as Bolingbroke himself, having been bom about A.D. 1366 — Collins says in 1364 — and was knighted at the coronation of Richard II., in 1377. Hotspur is called "Henri de Percy le Fitz," in a writ 13 Richard II., dated August li, 1389, in which he is named as Captain of Berwick ; and he is found as " Henricus de Percy," together with his father, uncle, and other lords, in a letter to the Pope, dated 1390. The year after the Prince of Wales was born Hotspur was engaged in the famous battle of Otterbourne, August 15, 1388, in which he and his brother. Sir Ralph Percy, were taken prisoners by the Scots', commanded by James Douglas, Earl of Douglas, who was slain in the battle, which was fought by moonlight : — " This deed was done at the Otter-bourne, About the breaking of the day; Earl Douglas was buried at the braken bush. And the Percy led captive away." The Battle of Otterbourne. The previous fortunes however of the houses of Percy and Douglas were reversed at Homildon, where the former pre- vailed, and Archibald, the Earl of Douglas in this play, was taken prisoner by Hotspur, with many illustrious Scottish 1 " Sir Ralph Percy was made pri- after Hotspur was taken by Sir Hugh soner by the earl mareschal, and shortly Montgomery. "— Sir Walter Scott. 6o NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS nobles ; and it was the refusal of the Percies to give up their captives to the king which led to the quarrel between him and his powerful subje6ls. At Shrewsbury Hotspur, who with Douglas chiefly sought out the king's person, " supported that fame which he had acquired in many a bloody combat;" and his death " by an unknown hand decided the viflory, and the royalists prevailed." Hume. This renowned warrior, who is called by the old chroniclers, " Harre Hatespurre from hys muche prickynge," married ELIZABETH MORTIMER, eldest daughter and co-heir of EDMUND MORTIMER, third Earl of March, by the Lady Philippa Plantagenet, only child of Lionel of Antwerp, third son of Edward IH. By his wife, the " Lady Percy" in this play. Hotspur left a son and one daughter, Elizabeth Percy, married first to John, Lord Clifford, and secondly to Ralph Nevill, second Earl of West- moreland. The son of Hotspur, Henry Percy, became second Earl of Northumberland in 1414 ; he was slain at the battle of St Alban's, 1455 ; and his eldest son is the " Earl of Northumberland" in the Third Part of King Henry VI. Sir N. Harris Nicolas states that Sir Henry Percy, " Hotspur," was ele6led in April, 1388, a Knight of the Garter ; he is not named by Anstis, Gwillim, or Buswell, as a K.G. It has been ascertained from charters and other docu- ments, that there are twenty-three variations in spelling the name of this great family, and one of these, Piercy, would suggest itself to Shakspeare, when he makes Falstaiif, who boasts that he had killed Hotspur, reply to Prince Hal's demur, "Well, if Percy be alive, I'll pierce him." The late and present Dukes of Northumberland are de- scended from Hotspur, thus : — Their ancestor. Sir Hugh Smithson, Bart, (created Duke of Northumberland, 1766), married Lady Elizabeth Seymour, whose father, Algernon, Duke of Somerset, was the son of Charles, Duke of Somerset, and his wife, the Lady Elizabeth Percy, only daughter and heir of Jocelyn Percy, eleventh and last Earl of Northumber- land, and was, in her own right. Baroness Percy, Poynings, Fitz-Payne, Bryan, and Latimer. Arms of Sir Hcnrj' Percy, Hotspur. — Azure five fusils in fesse Or, a label Argent. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 6i EDMUND MORTIMER. The usual addition to this name in the list of charafters is a mistake of person for the real " Earl of March," and it runs all through the play. There cannot be the slightest hesitation in stating that the Mortimer who takes so a6live a part in this drama is Sir Edmund Mortimer, born in 1 374, the second son of Edmund Mortimer, third Earl of March, and Philippa Plantagenet, and uncle to Edmund Mortimer, the young Earl of March at the period of this play, who was entitled to the crown at the death of Richard II. The same Christian name, repeated for three generations, has perplexed historians ; the poet however has correftly made Lady Percy speak of this charafter as her " brother Mortimer," but she is wrong when she expresses her fear that he "doth stir about his title" to the crown, for that was with their nephew, Edmund Mortimer, fifth Earl of March, at this time a lad of ten years old. Sir Edmund Mortimer, according to some writers, married one of the daughters of Owen Glendower, and he had been — " By the rude hands of that Welshman taken," at Pilleth, co. Radnor, June 22, 1402, leading the retainers of his nephew,. "the men of Herefordshire," against that doughty chieftain, who had ravaged the estates of the Earl of March ; the latter, "though a mere boy, took the field with his fol- lowers, fell also in Glendower's hands, and was carried by him into Wales." HuME. Ralph de Mortemer {Mortuo-Mari) accompanied his kinsman, William of Normandy, and held a chief command in his army at Hastings. He was made Constable of Eng- land, and rewarded with the lands of Edric, the great Saxon Earl of Shrewsbury, whose castle at Wigmore, co. Hereford, became the chief residence of the Mortimers, who were Barons Mortimer of Wigmore before they were created Earls of March. Arms of Sir Edmund Mortimer. — Barry of six Or and Azure, on a chief as the first two pallets between as many based esquires like the second, over all an escutcheon Argent. J. W. Papworth. 62 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS SCROOP, Archbishop of York. This prelate, RICHARD LE SCROPE, was the second son of Richard, Lord SCROPE of Bolton, who had been chancellor in the reign of Richard II. The archbishop had two brothers, the eldest of whom, Roger, became second Lord Scrope of Bolton ; and his youngest brother was Sir Stephen le Scrope of Bentley and Castle-Combe. Nearly all historians and the commentators of Shakspeare have made the mistake, fallen into by the poet, in calling the archbishop a brother of the Earl of Wiltshire, who was a Scrope of Masham, as shown in the memoir of Sir Stephen Scrope in RicJiard II. The name of the Earl of Wiltshire was William le Scrope, who had only one brother. Sir Stephen Scrope, the loyal charafter in Ricliard II. DUGD ALE, NICOLAS, &c. Even the admirable Fuller commits the error, when he talks of the prelate's joining the enemies of Henry IV., "being nettled with the news of his earl-brother's beheading." This agrees with Shakspeare's language, Aft L Scene 3, — " who bears hard His brother's death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop." The archbishop only appears in one scene of this play, but takes an aftive part in the next, where his memoir will be resumed. Arms of Scrope of Bolton. — Azure a bend Or. This coat, borne by the archbishop's father. Lord Scrope, gave rise to the memorable controversy between that baron and Sir Robert Grosvenor, who claimed a right to bear the same arms, but the decision was given in favour of Lord Scrope, in whose behalf two hundred witnesses came forward, including the greatest names among the living chivalry of England, from the veteran Sir John Sulby, K.G., 105 years of age, to " Hotspur," then about twenty. Among those who were present when the sentence was pronounced by John of Gaunt in this famous trial, which lasted several years. Hotspur is called "Henri Perci le Fitz" in the writ, dated at Westminster, June 4, 1390. Rymer'S /^^^«'«. ARCHIBALD, Earl of Douglas. The great house of Douglas was long the most powerful IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 63 clan in Scotland, rival in splendour and influence to the throne itself, and threatening at times to replace the dynasty of Stuart by that of Douglas. The charafter in this play, Archibald Douglas, was fourth Earl of Douglas, who, though a brave soldier, was so unfortunate as a commander that he was called "the Tine-man." At Holmedon he lost an eye, and was taken prisoner by Hotspur; and when he fought on his side at Shrewsbury, which he did right valiantly, he was taken prisoner by the royal party, but out of respeft to his courage was released without paying ransom. He was present in 142 1 at the battle of Beauge, in Anjou, where the Duke of Clarence was killed ; and he lost his own life at the battle of Verneuil, August 17, 1724, where he fell with the flower of the Scottish nobility, then serving as aux- iliaries to Charles VH., who had created Douglas Duke of Touraine. This celebrated person jnarried the Princess Mar- garet Stewart, eldest daughter of Robert IH., King of Scots, by whom he had a son and two daughters ; the former, Archi- bald, became fifth Earl of Douglas ; his male line ceased in 1488, in the person of James, ninth earl, K.G., the first of his nation who received that distin6lion. Arms of Douglas. — Argent a heart Gules royally crowned Or, on a chief Azure three mullets Argent. The "bloody heart" was added to the ancient arms of Douglas, "the starrds three," in memory of the mission of " the good Syr James of Douglas" to carry, the heart of his heroic master. King Robert the Bruce, to the Holy Land. OWEN GLENDOWER. This great Welsh chieftain, the life-long and formidable enemy of Henry the Fourth, born in 1349, was the son of Gryffyd Vyclian (Griffith Vaughan), who married Elena, granddaughter of Llewellyn, the last Prince of N. Wales. Owen entered the Inns of Court in London, and became an "utter barrister," but quitted the study of the law for the service of Richard H., to whorii he was appointed " esquire of the body," an office which implied a close attendance on the royal person ; thus Shakspeare properly makes Glendower say, in reply to a taunt of Hotspur, — 64 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS " For I was train'd up in the English court ;" and Stow and Holinshed state that he served King Richard at Flint. His resentment at the murder of his royal master, to whom he was strongly attached, and the rudeness -with which Henry's Pariiament treated his petition for redress, when Reginald Lord Grey de Ruthyn seized his estates, combined to make Glendower enter readily into the plans of Mortimer and Hotspur to place their nephew the Earl of March on the throne, instead of the "ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke." The scene where the three confederates, with Worcester, meet to divide the realm between them. Aft IIL Scene i, is laid at "Bangor, tlte Arckdeacoiis house'' The meeting was really held at Aber-daron, co. Carnarvon, in the abode of David Daron, Dean of Bangor, who was much attached to the cause of Glendower, who had recently caused himself, in 1402, to be crowned as Prince of North Wales, in virtue of his descent from Llewellyn. And at this time the prophecies of Merlin, derided by Hotspur as "a deal of skimble-skamble stuff," were revived, that Henry, under the style of " Gog-magog," — "must be brought in thrall, By a wolf, a dragon, and a lion strong, \\1iich should divide his kingdom them among." The dragon was the badge of Glendower, the lion was the crest of Percy, and Mortimer was called the wolf, from his crest, a white wolf. Glendower was not present at Shrews- bury, though he is said to have witnessed the conflia: from a distant tree, the rapid march of the king having prevented the junftion of the great Welshman's forces with those of the Percies ; but he carried on a petty war during the reign of Henry IV., and suffered two defeats from Henry of ^Mon- mouth. Li all the proclamations in this reign of pardon to his Welsh rebels, Henry IV. always exempts " Owyn de Glen dourdy." Rymer's Fa^dera. It is supposed that he died Sept. 20, 141 5, and was buried in the churchyard of Monin^- ton-upon-Wye, co. Hereford. Shakspeare places his deatli much too early, when he makes the Earl of Warwick in the Second Part of King Henry IV., tell the kin^r, in Aft in Scene i, — o . IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 65 " To comfort you the more, I have receivVi A certain instance that Glendower is dead." But it is evident that he outlived Henty IV., for a writ of 3 Henry V. direfls Gilbert, Lord Talbot, to treat for Owen Glendower's return to his allegiance ; it is dated at Porchester Castle, July 5, 1415, Rymer's Foedera. By his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir David Hanmer*, one of the Justices of the King's Bench, Glendower had five sons, and four daughters. His eldest son, Griffith, was de- feated in 1404, and his youngest son, Meredith, concluded a peace with Gilbert, Lord Talbot, 3 Henry V., Feb. 24, 1416. Rymer's Fcedera. Of Glendower's daughters it is usual to state that the eldest, Elizabeth, married Sir John Scudamore, Knight of Holm-Lacy, governor of Goodrich Castle ; the second, Jane, is said to have become the wife of Sir Edmund Mortimer; the third, Janet, to have married Sir John Croft, Knight, of Croft Castle; and the fourth, MARGARET, to be the wife of Roger Monington of Monington, whose descendants, two ladies, were visited at that place by Mr Pennant. The Rev. Thomas Thomas, in his Memoir of Glendower, confirms the marriages of his daughters Elizabeth, Janet and Margaret, as above stated; he however gives Jane to Regi- nald, Lord Grey de Ruthyn, Glendower's old enemy, whoni he had captured, and who was obliged to marry his daughter. Fabyan, Carte, and other writers agree in this respeft. Glen- dower's eldest daughter is now represented by her lineal descendant. Sir Edwin Francis Scudamore-Stanhope, baronet, of Holm-Lacy; and Janet, by .her descendant. Sir Herbert George Denman Croft, ninth baronet, 1865. Arms of Owen Glendower. — Quarterly Or and Gules four lions passant guardant counter-changed, adopted by him, being the arms of his maternal grandfather, Llewellyn, Prince of North Wales. * The descendants of the second Hanmer, Speaker of the Hotise of son of Sir David Hanmer became ba- Commons in the reign of Queen Anne, ronets (1629), and the fourth and last 1712, and Editor of Shakspeare's Plays, baronet of this line was Sir Thomas 66 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS SIR RICHARD VERNON. The very ancient family of Vernon held the lordship of Shipbrook and fourteen other manors co. Chester, before " Dooms-day Survey." The charafter in this play was grand- son of Sir Ralph Vernon, called Old Sir Ralph, to distinguish him from others of that name, who by his second wife, Maud, sister of Sir Robert Grosvenor, was father of Richard Vernon, who had two sons, Sir Ralph, who died without issue, and Sir Richard Vernon, the personage in this play, who be- came Baron of Shipbrook, though not a peer of the Imperial Parliament'. He had considerable influence in the North, and, joining the confederacy against Henry IV., was one of the principal leaders at Shrewsbury, where he was taken prisoner after the battle, and "upon the Mondaie foloAvyng the erle of Worcester, the Baron of Kinderton, and Sir Richard Vernon, Knights, were condemned and beheaded." HoLlNSHED. Sir Richard Vernon married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Sir Piers Malbank, and left a son. Sir Richard Vernon, whose only daughter and heir, Johanna, married Sir Richard Foulshurst, Knight. Arms of Vernofi of Shipbrook. — Or on a fesse Vert three garbs of the^7'j-/. The garbs were added by Old Sir Ralph to the ancient coat of the Vernons. Sir Michael, a friend to the Archbishop of York, There is nothing to denote tlie particular calling of this person, who is styled " a Gentleman " in the usual editions, but from the manner in which he is addressed by the archbishop, in Aft IV. Scene 4, as " good Sir Michael," he was most probably his chaplain, the title "Sir" being often given to priests, as will be explained under the memoir of Christopher Urswick in Richard III. • Shipbrook was one of the eight Tliese dignities were Malbank, Mont- baronies of Cheshire, whose holders sat halt, Halton, Malpas, Shipbrook, Dun- in the Parliaments of the Earls of Ches- ham-Massy, Kinderton f\'enables), and ter. Counts Palatine, from the time of Stockport. Hugh Lupus, nephew of the Conqueror. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 67 SIR JOHN FALSTAFF. Shakspeare has imparted so much vitality to this won- derful creation of his genius, that he appears to belong to real history. Some curious association between this charadter and Sir John Fastolfe must have existed in the poet's mind. The name of the latter is spelt " Falstaffe " in the folio of 1623, exaflly like ithat of .the humourous knight, sirho is spoken of by Justice Shallow, as havirig .been "jiage to Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk." The Fastolfe of his- tory really served in ±hat capacity in -the duke's household. The tavern wherein the knight of .Shakspeare'S fancy takes his ease has the same name as one in Southwark, which was built on the property of the historical Fastolfe, and to this association of person and tavern we are probably indebted for the seleftion by the poet of the knight's name, afterwards slightly altered, and by commentators for that of the .cele- brated hostelry. In the Epilogue to Part II. the poet hints that he ' may- continue the charafler of Falstaff, "unless already £['i>e skilled with your hard opinions ; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man." We are {therefore bound .to accept this disclaimer, though Fuller, alluding to .the .notion that had obtained to :the contrary, remarks ^that — "Stage poets have themselves been yery bold vwitli, and others very merry at, the memory of Sir John Oldcastle, whom they have fancied a boon companion, a jovial royster, and a coward to boot The best is Sir John Falstaff hath relieved the memory of Sir John Oldcastle, and of late is substituted buffoon in his place." Church History. In the Famous Victories, Oldcastle is one of Erince Hal's riotous companions, but there is .not a particle .of wit in his charafter, whereas of .SHAKSPEARE'S Falstaff it has been aptly said, " the dramatic world cannot furnish his equal." Well does Washington Irving, in his charming Sketch-Book, exclaim, — "I would not give up fat Jack for half the great men of ancient chronicle." In the Paston Letters is one, written in 1^59, by Henry Windsor, a member of Fastolfe's household, to Sir John Paston, reminding him " of my master's own motion he said that I should set cijp in the Bore's Head:" Arms of Sir John Falstaff. — Although a fi6litious cha- 5—2 68 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS rafter, it will hardly be correft that he should appear on the stage without the distinftive marks of the rank assigned to him by the poet, and as he would wear the spurs of a knight, so he might be allowed a coat of arms; and as there appears to have been a family of the name of Falstofe in Norfolk and Suffolk, their arms would be sufficiently distinfl from those of Sir John Fastolfe, K.G. to suit the humourous knight. Quarterly Or and Azure. BERRY. POINS. In the edition of 1623 the " Aftors' Names" are given at the end of the Second Part of King Henry tfie Fourth, and at the head of the " Irregular Humourists " is Pointz ; and the name occurs in this First Part, spelt " Pointz, Poynes, and Poines." As this favourite companion of Prince Hal is evi- dently of more gentle blood than Gadshill or Bardolph, " the worst that they can say of me is that I am a second brother," it is probable that Shakspeare intended him for a cadet of the family of Poyntz, one of high antiquity, found in Dooms- day Book, under Gloucestershire. Nicholas de Poyntz, and his son Hugh de Poyntz, were among the feudal barons in arms against King John; and Hugh's grandson, Hugh Poyntz, was summoned to Parliament as a baron from 1295 to 1 307, and his descendants for three generations were also barons. The family continued to flourish in the county of Gloucester, of which they were sheriffs, from the time of Richard II. to that of Elizabeth. Thomas Poyntz was one of the lances at Agincourt in the train of Lord Maltravers. The Arms of Poyntz of Iron-Aflon, co. Gloucester, were, Barry of eight Or and Gules; these arms are the same as those borne by Hugh Poyntz, the first baron ; who accom- panied Edward the First to Scotland in 1299, and whose ban- ner is described in the ancient poem, The Siege of Carlaverock, " E la baniere Hue Poinz, Estoit barree de viij poinz, De Or e de geules oulement" IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 69 PETO. The name of "Peito" occurs on the "Roll of Battel Abbey," and the family appears to have been seated in the county of Warwick from an early period. In 6 Edward I. Richard de Peito held lands at Drayton, near Stratford-upon- Avon; and 23 Edward I. 1294, William de Peto, who married Margaret, daughter of Richard Langley, was seated at Wolp- hamcote, co. Warwick; and in 1398, a descendant, William de Peto, cousin and heir to Geoffrey de Langley, gave a re- lease of the manor of Milcote, in the same shire, to William Grevill. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Humphrey Peyto was of Chesterton, where he is buried with his son and grandson, William and Edward Peyto ; and Sir Edward Peito was governor of Warwick Castle for the earl. It is therefore likely that the poet selefted the name from its connexion with his native county, and that he intended Peto to take a better rank than Pistol, Bardolph, and Nym ; thus he is classed, in the list of charafters of the Second Part, in the usual editions, with Poins, as "Attendants on Prince Henry," whilst the others are called "formerly servants to Falstaff," in King Henry V. Peto, in this play, holds the rank of " lieutenant " to Falstaff in his " charge of horse." Arms of Peito, co. Warwick. — Barry of six Argent and Gules per pale indented and counterchanged. On a seal temp. Ric. II. GADSHILL. This is a charafter in the Famous ViSlories, in which he is the person who robs the carrier, is taken before Judge Gascoinge, and for whose rescue Prince Hal involves himself in disgrace. He is called in that play "The Thefefe," but Derrick addresses him by his name, — "Whoop, hallo, now Gadshill, knowest thou me?" BARDOLPH. The poet evidently does not imply that this person's name had any affinity with that of the noble house of Bardolf ^o NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS It was probably suggested by that of a townsman of Shaks- PEARE'S native place, who is known to have been a contem- porary. Falstaff says of Bardolph, " I bought him m Paul s ; and in Ben Jonson's Eveiy Man in his Humour, the famous swaggerer is called "Captain Bobadill, a Paul's man," which is explained in the editor's note;— "the middle aisle of St Paul's Cathedral was the common resort of cast captains, sharpers, gulls, and gossips of every description." LADY PERCY, Wife to Hotspur, and Sister to Mortimer. The name of this lady, who was bom in 1371, was Eliza- beth, so called after her grandmother, Elizabeth de Burgh, wife of Lionel of Clarence. In the play Hotspur always calls his wife " Kate." She was the eldest daughter and co-heir of Edmund Mortimer, third Earl of March, and Philippa Planta- genet, granddaughter of Edward III. This noble lady is continued in the Secojul Part as the widow of her celebrated husband. LADY MOR TIMER. It is by no means certain that a daughter of Glendower was married to Sir Edmund Mortimer, as supposed in this play, and so often asserted by commentators. Some his- torians declare that she became the wife of the Earl of March, and the poet, supposing that nobleman to be the Mortimer of this play, adopts the version ; thus the king, in Aft I. Scene 3, says of the " great magician," Glendower, — "Whose daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March Hath lately married." Other writers state that she was only contrafted to him, being but a lad, but it is well-known that he married the lady Anne Stafford. Mr Carte observes that Welsh historians do not bear out a marriage of Glendower's daughter with Sir Edmund Mortimer, to whom, in fa6t, the best English genea- logists do not assign any wife. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 71 MISTRESS QUICKLY, Hostess of a Tavern in East- cheap. At the time of the aftion of this play, as Stow informs us, there were np taverns in Eastcheap, the places for refresh- ment were only " cooks' dwellings." These are alluded to by Lydgate, who wrote in the reign of Henry IV., in his London Lackpenny, describing the visit of a country person to the metropolis, — "Then I hyed me into Est-chepe, One cryes ribbes of befe, and many a pye, Pewtar pottes thay clattered on a heape." The name of the tavern in Southwark,' which belonged to the historical Sir John Fastolfe, was the " Boar's Head," which . Shakspeare would constantly pass in his way to the Globe Theatre. The name was selected in 1733 by Theobald, the first commentator, who assigns the " Boar's Head" as the resort of FalstafF, for Shakspeare does not aftually give it a name, .though he may be supposed to allude to it, when Prince Hal questions Bardolph about the knight's proceed- ings, — " Doth the old Boar feed in the old frank 1 " to which Bardolph replies, — "At the old place, my lord, in Eastcheap." 2 Km£- Henry IV., Aft li. Scene 2. The locality is well chosen for Prince Hal's revelries, as it was close to the man- sion which Henry IV., in 1410, gave to his son, called " Cold Harbour," in Upper Thames Street, an ancient possession of the De Bohuns. It has been ascertained that a tenement, known as "the Boar's Head in Eastchepe," is mentioned in the will of William Warden, stock-fishmonger, in the time of Richard II., but it does not appear to have been then used as a tavern. As such the first known mention of it occurs in a lease, dated in 1537, of "all that tavern called the Bore's Hedde, cum cellariis sollariis et aliis suis pertinentiis in Est- chepe in parochia Sanfti Michaelis prasdifli, et in tenura Johanna Broke, viduse." In 1588 it was kept by one Thomas Wright'. ^ In K€t II. Scene 4, where the within." Mr J. O. Halliwell takes this Prince and Poins amuse themselves in person to be the husband of the genial perplexing the drawer Francis, "a hostess, and places him in the index as vintner" enters, evidently hU master, "Quickly." In the next play Dame and orders him to "look to the guests Quickly appears as a widow, "a poor 72 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS The "Boar's Head Tavern" of Shakspeare's own time, which really did exist in Eastcheap, was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, and rebuilt two years afterwards, but taken down in 1 831; and the sign of the "Boar's Head," carved in stone, having the initials of the landlord, or mine host, I. T. and the date 1668, is preserved in the Museum of the Corporation of London, attached to the Library, at Guildhall. In the First Scene the names are given of the Scottish nobles who were taken prisoners by Hotspur: — lone woman," whilst in this part both Prince Hal and Falstaff allude to her husband as then living, Acl in. Sc 3; thus the prince addresses Mrs Quickly : " What sayest thou, Mistress Quick- ly? How does tliy husband? I love him well, he is an honest man ;" and tlie knight tells her : — "Go, make ready breakfast; l"v= thy husband; look to thy servants," &c. And when Falstaff wishes to know from her who picked his pocket, she replies, — "Do you think I keep thieves in my house? I have searched, I have inquired, so has my husband," &c IN SHAKSPE ARE'S PLAYS. 73 "Mordake, the Earl of Fife, and eldest son To beaten Douglas ; and the Earls of Athol, Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith." ShakspeARE's list is taken from Holinshed,—" Mordake Earle of Fife, son to the governor Archimbald Earle of Doug- las, which m the fight lost one of his eies, Thomas Earle of Murrey, Robert Earle of Angus, and as some writers have, the Earles of Athol and Menteth." The first of these noble captives was MURDACH STEWART, eldest son of Robert Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland, who was the third son of King Robert II. Murdach could not, therefore, be "eldest son of beaten Douglas." " Angus " was George Douglas, the only son of Wil- liam, first Earl of Douglas by Margaret Stewart, his third wife, who was Countess of Angus in her own right. At the date of the battle of Homeldon, there was virtually no " Earl of Athol," that dignity having been resigned to the crown in 1341, and it was not revived until 1408, in the per- son of Walter Stewart, second son of Xing Robert II., by his second marriage with Euphemia Ross. There is, however, in Rymer's Fesdera, a safe-condu£l, dated June 8, 1404, granted to Walter Stewart, Earl of Athol and Caithness, to enable him to visit the shrine of Thomas ci Becket. "Murray" was Thomas Dunbar, second Earl of Moray, grandson of Patrick, ninth Earl of Dunbar and Marche, whose wife was Agnes, daughter of the brave Sir Thomas Randolph, who at Bannockburn commanded the left wing of the army of his uncle King Robert Bruce, who created his nephew Earl of Moray. " Menteith" was one of the titles held by Murdach Stewart, as well as that of Fife, his mother, Margaret Graham, being Countess of Menteith in her own right He was detained a captive in England for thirteen years, and was exchanged in 141 5 for the Earl of Northumberland. The writ addressed to Sir Thomas Rempston, Constable of the Tower, to receive as a prisoner Murdac, Earl of Fife, is dated Feb. 9, 1404. Ry- MER'S Fmdera. Mr P. Fraser Tytler names more correftly the prisoners of rank : — " Douglas, Murdach Stewart (Earl of Fife), and the Earls of Murray and Angus;" and he states that there were 74 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS taken eighty knights, among whom was Sir James Douglas, Master of Dalkeith. The following reading, though still im- perfeft, would solve some difficulty: — " Mordake, the Earl of Fife, the Regent's son ; — With beaten Douglas ; and the Earls of Athol, Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith." In the account of the desperate battle of Shrewsbury' the names of some eminent persons are mentioned, though not found in the list of dramatis personce. One of those warriors who were slain, mistaken for the king, who had " many marching in his coats," was the " Lord of Stafford ;" this was Edmund Stafford, fifth Earl of Stafford, K.G., descended from a race of warlike ancestors; his grandfather, Ralph, who held high command at Cressy and Poitiers, was created Earl of Stafford, K.G., "a First Founder." Arms of Stafford, Or a chevron Gules. A " Shirley " is also named as one who fell in the royal guise; this was Sir Hugh Shirley, Knight, Master of the Hawks to Henry IV. and son of Sir Thomas Shirley and his wife Isabel Basset, sister of Ralph, the last Lord Basset of Drayton, K.G., who left his estates to his nephew and heir, Hugh Shirley, who is ancestor of the present Earl Ferrers (Shirley). John of Gaunt left a bequest in his will to this knight:^" a Mons'r Hugh Shireley cent marcs." Arms of Shirley. — Paly of six Or and Azure, a. canton Entiifte. Two commanders of high rank are spoken of as requiring succour, and the king tells his son, — " Make up to Clifton; I'll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey." Hume calls the latter " Gausel," who was slain in the battle ; this knight was Sir NICHOLAS Goushill, of Hoveringham, co. Notts., father of Sir Robert Goushill, Knt., also killed in the field, who was the fourth husband of the Lady Elizabeth Fitzalan, great-great-granddaughter of Edward the First, and widow of the " Duke of Norfolk" in Kin£- Ricliard II. There ' The ailual scene of confliifl was and where Henry IV., in memory of four miles N. E. of Shrewsbury, at a his- viftory, founded in 1403 a college place which is called "Battle- Field," for a master and five chaplains. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 75 is a fine monument in Hoveringham Church, with the effigies of Sir Robert and Lady Elizabeth Goushill. Their daughter Joan married Sir Thomas Stanley, K.G., ancestor of the pre- sent Earl of Derby. " Robert de Goushill " is named as one of the "attornies" of the banished Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, in a writ dated 06t 15, 1398. Rymer's Feeder a. Another daughter of Sir Robert and Lady Elizabeth Goushill, Elizabeth, married Sir Robert Wingfield, of Letheringham, CO. Suffolk, M.P., and from them is descended the present Viscount Powerscourt, Baron Wingfield, Mervyn Wingfield, 1865. Arms of Sir Nicholas Goushill. — Barry of six Or and Azure, a canton Ermine ; as borne on his seal. "Clifton" was Sir John Clifton, who was Knight. of the Shire of Nottingham, 4 Henry IV. ; he was also killed in the battle, having been made a banneret on the field. By his wife Catherine, daughter and heir of Sir John de Cressy, he had a son. Sir Gervas Clifton, ancestor of the present Sir Robert Juckes Clifton, of Clifton, Baronet. One of the family. Sir Gervas Clifton, suffered for the House of Lancaster at Tewkes- bury ; and another Sir Gervas Clifton perished at Bosworth, following Richard HI. in his last desperate charge. Arms of Clifton. — Sable semee of cinque-foils and a lion rampant Argent. In Aft III. Scene 2, Sir Walter Blunt tells the king, — " Lord Mortimer of Scotland hath sent word. That Douglas and the English rebels met The eleventh of this month at Shrewsbury." There was no person with such a title, but GEORGE Dunbar, tenth Earl of MarcHE in Scotland, as well as Earl of Dunbar, was really the person who warned the king, and also attended him at Shrewsbury, where he rescued him from the fierce on- slaught of the Douglas, and carried King Henry out of danger. His title of " Marche" has led historians, followed by the poet, into the mistake that he must be a Mortimer ; he was the eldest son of Patrick, ninth Earl of Dunbar and Marche by •]6 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS, &c. Agnes Randolph, and had become a subje6l of England, having renounced his fealty to Robert III., King of Scots, because that monarch preferred Margery, daughter of Archi- bald, third Earl Douglas, as a wife for his son. Prince David, instead of Dunbar's own daughter Elizabeth. By writ dated July 25, 1400, Henry IV. agreed to confer on George Earl of Dunbar, and Christian his wife, the castle and lordship of Somerton, co. Lincoln. Rymer's Fcedera. In A61 II. Scene 4, Falstaflf tells Prince Hal, — " Here was Sir John Bracy from your father." There was a family of this name seated at Madresfield, and other places in the county of Worcester, from the time of King John, whose chief line seems to have ended in an heiress, Joan Bracy, daughter of William de Bracy, who be- came the wife of Thomas Lygon, ancestor of the present Earl Beauchamp, whose principal seat is at Madresfield Court Several members of the Bracy family were buried at Great Malvern Church, and their coats of arms are preserved in the windows of that beautiful building ; one of the inscriptions runs thus : — " Orate pro animabus Johannis Braci, Willielmi et Thomae, filiorum ejus." Their Arms were. — Gules a fesse Or, in chief two spur rowels Argent. SECOND PART OF KING HENRY IV. Tiu^—from A.D. 1403 to 1413. KING HENRY THE FOURTH. The aspiring Bolingbroke and aftive general of the two preceding plays is in this drama represented in failing health and broken spirits, subjeft to epileptic attacks, of which the poet speaks, — "these fits Are with his highness very ordinary;" and his latter years are said to have been haunted by remorse for the " indirect crook'd ways" by which he obtained the crown. He was praying, " as was his wont of late," before the shrine of St Edward the Confessor, in Westminster Abbey, March 20, 1413, when he was seized with his last fit, and it was supposed at first that he was dead, but being car- ried into the Jerusalem Chamber, and laid before a fire, he revived sufficiently to give his parting advice to his successor; his asking the name of the apartment in which he was dying is from history*. In this most interesting room, the Jerusa- lem Chamber, is still preserved the fine original portrait of Richard the Second, upon which his rival must have often looked in his visits to the Abbey*. English writers, as Wal- ^ " Then said the king, ' Loving be and died shortly after." — Fabyan's to the Father of Heaven, for now I Chronicle. Ed. 1559. know tliat I shall die in this chamber, ' In Dart's time this portrait was according to the prophecy of me before hung up "on the south side of the said, that I should die in Jerusalem,' choir, by the pulpit." and so after he made himself ready. 78 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS singham and Hardyng, and the French historian, Mezeray, state that Henry IV. died of a dreadful leprous disease, affefting the lower part of his face. Arms of King Henry IV.— As given in the First Part. HENRY PRINCE of WALES, afterwards King Henry V. Stow mentions his robbing his father's receivers of rents, and he was arrested by John Hornesby, Mayor of Coventry, and placed in gaol for a riot. The prince had near that town the manor of Cheylesmore, which was the scene of frequent disturbances. His great poverty has been alleged as the cause of his excesses. The taking away of the crown by the prince, who imagines that his father is dead, is from Holin- shed. The early chroniclers lead us to believe that Prince Henry and his father were not on cordial terms, and that the king's mournful reproach in the play, A£l IV. Scene 4, was but too well deserved ; — " Thy life did manifest thou lovedst me not, And thou wilt have me die assured of it." Arms of Henry Prince of Wales. — Quarterly FRANCE ancient and England, a label of three points Argent. THOMAS DUKE of CLARENCE. This prince and his next brother, John, were frequently engaged, according to the chroniclers, in uproars in the cit}^ Stow mentions a riot on St John's Eve, 1410, in Eastcheap, wherein both these princes were foremost and violent aftors. Shakspeare does not include them in the disorderly pro- ceedings of their elder brother ; and Falstaff speaks of Prince John as "a sober-blooded boy," for which he quite accounts, — "he drinks no wine." Thomas PlantagENET, born in 1388, was created July 9, 141 1, by his father, Earl of Albemarle and Duke of Clarence. As this prince does not figure in the succeeding plays, though he is addressed by his brother as if present at the meeting of the kings at Troyes, King He7iry V., Aft V. Scene 2, a few words are needful in this place. He was chosen President of his father's Council when Prince Hal IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 79 was in disgrace, and had been made a K.G. about the year 1400. He was sometime Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Cap- tain of Calais, and Lieutenant-General of France and Nor- mandy. He was a distinguished commander, and was killed at the battle of Beaugd in Anjou, March 23, 142 1. The spear with which the Duke of Clarence was unhorsed by Sir John Swinton was presented by that knight's descendant to Sir Walter Scott. The Duke of Clarence married Margaret Hol- land, second daughter of Thomas, second Earl of Kent, but had no issue by her. Arms of T/wmas Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, K. G. — France ancient and England Quarterly, a label of three points Ermine each charged with a canton Gules. PRINCE JOHN of LANCASTER. This prince, third son of King Henry IV., was made a Knight of the Bath, with his brothers, the day before their father's coronation, the Institution of the Order dating from Oft. 12, 1399. He was ailso made a K.G. in the same reign, circa 1400, Constable of England, Governor of Berwick, and Warden of the East Marches towards Scotland. As his career belongs chiefly to the subsequent reigns of his brother and nephew, his memoir will be resumed in the two next plays. Arms of Prince John of Laticaster. — ^As given in the First Part. PRINCE HUMPHRE Y of GLO UCESTER. This prince, fourth and youngest son of King Henry IV., was named after his maternal grandfather, Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. He does not appear to have taken part in the excesses of his elder brothers. He was made a K.G. by his father; he is only introduced towards the close of this play, but takes an aflive part in the two next reigns, and will be found under the title bestowed upon him, "Duke of Gloucester," by his brother, in the three following plays. Arms of Pri7tce Humphrey Plantagenet, K^G. — :France a7tcient and ENGLAND Quarterly, a border Argent. ■ ■ 8o NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS EARL of WAR WICK. Shakspeare is under a mistake as to the identity of this charafter, when he makes the king address him, in Aft III. Scene i, — "You, cousin Nevil, as I may remember;" — but the title at the time was held by RICHARD Beauchamp, fifth Earl of Warwick of his name. His youngest daughter, Anne Beauchamp, married Richard Nevill, the famous "king- maker," who became Earl of Warwick, but not until the reign of Henry VI., and hence the mistake of the poet as to sur- name. The illustrious Warwick of this play, bom in 1381, descended from Hugh de Beauchamp, who had large grants from the Conqueror, and received his name from his sponsors. King Richard II. and Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York. Like his ancestors, he was a famous warrior; he behaved with great valour against Glendower, whose person he nearly cap- tured, taking his standard ; and at Shrewsbury, " he notably and manly behaved himself to his great laud and worship." In 9 Henry IV. he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and during his progress displayed the highest accomplishments of chivalry at different tournaments, wherein he had no supe- rior for courtesy and valour. Southey alludes to his fame in his poem, yoaa of Arc, — "Warwick, he whose wide renown, Greece knew, and Antioch, and the holy soil Of Palestine, since there in arms he went On gallant pilgrimage." In the last year of Henry IV. he was sent to Scotland to treat of peace with the Regent Albany. At the coronation of Henry V, with which this play concludes, April 9, 14 13, the Earl of Warwick afted as Lord High Steward of England. As he is a charafter in the next play, his memoir will be then carried on. Arms of Ricliard Beatichamp, Earl of Warwick. — Gules a fesse between six cross-croslets Or. EARL of WESTMORELAND. This nobleman, the Ralph Nevill of the First Part, is .IN SHAKSPE ARE'S PLAYS. 8r an important diarafter in this play, and ShakspeaRe has followed history in the account of the suppression of the con- federacy between the archbishop and Mowbray; but the unworthy stratagem by which they were induced to disband their forces belongs entirely to Westmoreland. This potent baron was amply rewarded for his great services by Henry IV., who gave him the county of Richmond for life, made him Earl Marshal, Governor of Carlisle, Warden of the West Marches towards .Scotland, Governor of ^Roxburgh Castle, and a K.G. By his two wives he had twenty-two children ; many of the sons were eminent charaSers in history, whilst the marriages of his daughters increased the influence of the Nevills. His first wife was Margaret Stafford, daughter of Hugh, second Earl of Stafford, K.G., by whom he had two sons and seven daughters; the eldest son, John Lord Nevill, died before his father, leaving a son, Ralph, who succeeded his grandfather as second "Earl of Westmoreland," under which title he is a charafter m the Third Part -of King Henry VI. The earl's second wife was the Lady Joan Beaufort, osly daughter of John of Gaunt and CatherineSwynford ; the issue of this marriage were eight sons and five daughters. Of the former, — i. Richard Nevill is the " Earl of Salisbury" in the Second Part of King Henry VI. ; 2. William Nevill became Lord Fauconberg, and a K.G. ; 3. George Nevill became Lord Latimer; 4. Edward Nevill was sumnioned to Parliament, jure uxoris, as Baron Bergavenny ; 5. Robert Nevill -was Bishop of Durham ; 6, 7, 8. Ciithbert, Henry, and Thomas, died without issue. Of the daughters, the youngest, CiCELY Nevill, called the "Rose of Raby," by her marriage with Richard Plantagenet, the "Duke of York" in King Henry VI., was mother of two kings, Ed- ward IV. and Richard HI. The Earl of Westmoreland is continued in the next play. A rms of Nevill. — Guks a saltier Argent EARL of SURREY. In the list of the "A6lors' Names" placed at the end of this play, in the Folio of 1623, is "Surrey of the King's 82 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS partie," and Shakspeare, in Aft in. Scene i, brings him on the stage ; the King says to an attendant, — " Go, call the Earls of Surrey and of War\vick^ ;" and then we have the stage direftion, "Enter Warwick and Surrey" Doubtless the poet intended Surrey, who does not utter a word, for THOMAS Fitz-Alan,. eleventh Earl of Arundel, descended from the Earls of Warren and Surrey, and who, according to Sir N. Harris Nicolas, was Earl of Arundel and Surrey. But the earldom of Surrey as an only dignity is not known until it was so created by Richard III., in favour of the gallant Thomas Howard, son of " Jockey of Norfolk." Thomas Fitz-Alan, best known in history as Earl of Arundel, descended from a long line of distinguished ancestors, was made a K.B. at the coronation of Henry IV., who sent him in 141 1 at the head of 1200 lances and a large body of cross-bow men to assist John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, against the Duke of Orleans. He was made a K.G. in the same reign, and in that of Henry V. was Con- stable of Dover Castle, Warden of the Cinque Ports, and Lord Treasurer. He died in 14 15 without issue. Arms of Fitz-Alan. — Argent a lion rampant within a border Or. GO WER, of the King's Party. Thomas Gower, eldest son of Sir Thomas Gower, of Stitenham, co. York, Knight, was 1 1 Henry IV. one of the Commissioners of Array in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and he afterwards served with Henry V. in France, and was made Governor of Mans, a place which he nobly defended in the reign of Henry VI. He may be the person intended in this play; he was one of the family of Gower, now repre- ^Inthe/sOTOTif Vtaoriis, instead of RicharddeVere (born 1386, died 1417); Surrey and Warwick, the nobles who he served in the French wars of Henry attend the king's summons are "Exeter V., who made him a K.G. ; but liis re- and Oxford." Hut " Exeter" could not lationship (cousin) to the nmth earl, the be correa, because that title had ceased favourite of Richard II., would not be in 14CO, and was not revived until 1416. likely to commend him to the favour of " Oxford" would be the eleventh earl, Henry IV. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. \ 83 seated by the Duke of Sutherland, whose ancestor. Sir John Gower, 'Standard-bearer to Edward Prince of Wales at Tewkesbury, was there taken by the Yorkists and beheaded. In the list given in the Monasticon, VoL II., under "Tewkes- bury Monastery," of the " capti et decoUati " of the disastrous field, occurs the name, "Johannis Gower Ensiger Principis Edwardi." Arms of Gower of Stitenham. — Barry of eight Argent and Gules, a cross pat^e Sable. HARCOURT, of tlie King's Party. The late Right Hon. T. P. Courtenay, who drew up some valuable notes on Shakspeare'S historical plays thirty years ago, says of this character, — " I do not know why the drama- tist selefled Harecourt as the bearer of the news of Rokeby's success. The Harecourts were considerable persons in this reign. I apprehend that Shakspeare took the name at ran- dom. I cannot identify any member of the family as the person intended." Sir Thomas Harcourt, of Stanton, co. Oxford, was Sheriff of Berkshire, 9 Henry IV. 1407, and it is possible that he is the charafler in this play, as he would not have held that high office unless he had been "of the king's party;" he was succeeded at his death in 1417 by his son of the same name. Arms of Harcourt. — Or 'cwo bars Gules. BLUNT. In A£l IV. Scene 3, Prince John of Lancaster, direfting that Sir John Colevile should be sent "to York, to present execution," tells an officer, — " Blunt, lead him hence, and see you guard him welL" This person may be a younger son of the " gallant knight" in the First Part, Sir Walter Blunt, and if so he was Sir John Blunt, or Blount, who afterwards served at Harfleur with "20 lances and 60 foot-archers" (Sir N. H. Nicolas), 6—2 84 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS and was made a K.G.by Heniy V. in 141 7. and died in 141 8. His garter plate bore the arms of Blount and Sanchet quar- terly. There was also "James Blount, Esquire," in the retinue of Henry V. in France. Misled by false reports from "rumour's tongues," Lord Bardolf tells the Earl of Northumberland of "both the Blunts Kill'd by the hand of Douglas :" thus confirming the conjefture that "Sir Walter" and the " Blunt" addressed by Prince John were father and son ; and it may not be without interest to notice that the stage direc- tion in Aft ni. Scene i, reads, in some quartos, (see foot-note, page 414, Camb. Shaksp. 8vo. Vol. IV.) — " Enter Warwike, Surry, .and Sir lohn Blunt." LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE of tJie KING'S BENCH. This upright magistrate, whose name deserves to be recorded with respeft, and to whose " bold, just and impartial spirit " the poet bears tribute, was Sir William Gascoigne, grandson of William Gascoigne, who married Mansild, the daughter and heir of John 'ear of Henry the Sixth stiled Earl of Shrews- bury and Washford." This latter is meant for the earl's Irish title, Wexford, to which allusion is also intended in I40 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Shakspeare's recital of Talbot's dignities, Aft IV. Scene 7, where Sir William Lucy calls him, — " Great Earl of Washford, Waterford, and Valence." Among other nobles, charafters in these plays. Scales, Rivers, and Hastings, had their poursuivants, named after them ; Fastolfe had his herald, William de Wycestre ; and Sir Matthew Gough had one called " Buel." SIR WILLIAM GLANSDALE. This knight is called by French historians " Glacidas," by Stow " Gladesdale ; " and Southey, in his Joan of Arc, speaks of him, under the name of " Gladdisdale,'' as — " the last of all his race, Slain in a foreign land, and doom'd to share A common grave." This alludes to his fate at Orleans, where he perished by the breaking of a draw-bridge, struck by a cannon-shot, when he was drowned, with many knights and soldiers, who sank in the Loire, oppressed by the weight of their armour. Shak- SPEARE makes Glansdale, in the only words spoken by him, take up his position at the place whence he was to assault the town, and where he lost his life, A£l I. Scene 4, — " And I here, at the bulwark of the bridge." Serle calls this charafler "a stern rude soldier of for- tune," which may account for the compiler of these memoirs not finding the name of Glansdale, or Glasdale, as he is some- times styled, in any Ordinary of Arms : and in answer to an enquiry, Mr J. W. Papworth says — " I believe you will not find anywhere, except by the merest accident, a coat for Gladdesdale or Glansdale." SIR THOMAS GARGRAVE. The fatal shot which struck down the Earl of Salisbury, before Orleans, also wounded one of his chief officers, SiR Thomas Gargrave, who died from the blow within two IN SHAKSPEARKS PLAYS. 141 days. The family was seated at Gargrave and Nosthall, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, of which county another Thomas Gargrave was sheriff 7 and 1 1 Queen Elizabeth ; and afterwards the office was filled by members of the family. The Priory at Nostell, for Augustine Friars, was founded by Ilbert de Lacy, temp. William Rufus. In 1625 the site was sold by Sir Richard Gargrave to the Ireland family; it was afterwards purchased by Sir Rowland Wynne, Bart. MONASTICON. Arms of Gargrave of Nosthall. — Lozengy Argent and Sable, on a bend of the first three crescents of the second. Fuller's Worthies, CO. York. MA YOR of LONDON. This is the first time that this important funftionary is introduced in Shakspeare's plays. The events in Aft i. Scene 3, and Aft III. Scene i, both really occurred in 1425, during the time that the Lord Mayor was JOHN COVENTRY, citizen and mercer ; and it is recorded in history that he behaved manfully on the occasions, and put the Bishop of Winchester's faftion to flight. The title of " Lord Mayor " was first allowed 28 Edward III., 1354. In Aft i. Scene 3, the stage direftion in the Folio of 1623 reads, — "Enter in the hiirly burly the Maior of London, and his officers ;" among whom no doubt the sheriffs would appear; these in 1425 were William Milred and John Brockle, who became Mayor in 1433. Stow. Arms of John Coventry, Lord Mayor of London. — Argent on a chevron Sable between three columbine flowers slipped proper, a bezant WOODVILE, Lieutenant of tJie Tower. Richard de Widvill, or Woodvile, of a good North- amptonshire family, of whom several had served as sheriff, was 7 Henry IV. Governor of Northampton Castle ; he was afterwards one of the esquires of the body to Henry V., and subsequently became chamberlain and councillor to the Duke 142 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS of Bedford, under whom he served in the French wars. In 3 Henry VI. he was appointed Constable of the Tower, he was therefore of higher rank than " Lieutenant," as he is styled in the play (and in the year 1424 Robert Scot was the Lieu- tenant) ; Woodvile was created a K.G. by Henry VI., and in 1448 Baron Rivers. Monstrelet calls him the handsomest man in all England. In 1436 he married the youthful widow of his patron the Duke of Bedford, JACQUELINE of Luxem- bourg, by whom he had five sons and six daughters. The former were : i. Sir Anthony Woodvile, who is the " Earl Rivers" in Kmg Richard III.; 2. Sir John Woodvile, who was slain with his father in 1469 ; 3. Lionel Woodvile, Bishop of Salisbury ; 4, Sir Edward Woodvile, K.G. ; 5. Sir Richard, afterwards third Earl Rivers, at whose death in 1491, without issue, the title became extinft. Of the other children of Earl Rivers by the Duchess Jacqueline, Fuller says, — "Almost all our ancient nobility may be traced to his six daughters." These were : i. Elizabeth, the wife first of Sir John Grey, and afterwards Queen to Edward IV. ; 2. Margaret, who married Thomas Fitz-alan, sixteenth Earl of Arundel ; 3. Anne, thrice married, viz., to William Lord Bourchier, George Grey, Earl of Kent, and Sir Anthony Wingfield ; 4. Jacquetta, who married John Lord Strange ; 5. Mary, the wife of William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon ; 6. Katharine, who married first Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, secondly Jaspar Tudor, and thirdly Sir Richard Wingfield, K.G. Richard Woodvile was created Earl Rivers by his son-in-law, Edward IV., in 1466, and was beheaded by Robin of Riddesdale at Northampton, 1469. The Duchess Jacqueline died in 1472. Arms of Woodvile. — Argent a fesse and a canton Gules. VERNON, of tlte White Rose, or York faclion. Mr T. P. Courtenay says, — " I presume that the person intended is Sir Richard Vernon, Speaker of the House of Commons in the Leicester Parliament, ancestor of Lord Vernon; he died 1452." This chara6ler, therefore, was Sir Richard Vernon, of Haddon, Knight of the Shire of Derby in 1433. He married his cousin, Benedifla, daughter of IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 143 William Ludlow, by whom he had a son, Sir William Vernon, Treasurer of Calais, and Constable of England for life, who died in 1467, and was succeeded by his son, Sir Henry Ver- non, K.B., who was Governor and Treasurer to Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry VI L, and who by his wife Anne, daughter of John Talbot, second Earl of Shrewsbury, was father of Humphrey Vernon, whose second son, Thomas, was ancestor of the present Lord Vernon. In the east window of the chapel at Haddon, which was built by Sir Richard Vernon, there is an inscription, — " Orate pro animabus Ricardi Vernon militis et Benedi6lse uxoris ejus, qui fecerunt istam capellam, A.r). 1427:" Duke's Shropshire, under TONG, in which church there is a splendid effigy of Sir Richard Vernon, in armour, one of the finest examples of the kind ; it is given in Shaw'S Decor, of Mid. Ages. " HaddoN Hall, near Bakewell, is kept up in a habitable state, with much ancient furniture, and is one of the most curious mansions in the kingdom. The most ancient portions, the hall and chapel, were built soon after 1427, and no part of it appears later than the reign of Henry VIII., except some interior fittings, which may be nearly as late as the end of that of Elizabeth. The buildings are very irregular, and surround two courts. The situation is fine; and the great variety of outline, combining with some very fine trees, renders the view of the hall in almost every, direction peculiarly interesting." RiCKMAN. Arms of Sir Richard Vernon of Haddon. — Argent fretty Sable a canton Gules. FULLER. BASSET, of the Red Rose, or Lancaster faction. The family of Basset was one of great eminence in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, and several of its members were barons, highly distinguished in the wars of Henry III. and of the three Edwards. The person in this play may have been one of the heroes of Agincourt, either Robert Basset, who was one of the lances in the train of the earl marshal, or Philip Basset, a lance in the retinue of Lord Botreaux. A Red Rose was the badge of John of Gaunt, as the White Rose was of his brother, Edmund of Langley; hence 144 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS the origin of their adoption afterwards by the partizans of their families, as symbols of strife. These badges are found as illustrations in the Missal of Nicholas Litlington, Abbot of Westminster, written between A.D. 1373 and 1377. Shak- SPEARE has given a poetical charm to the seleflion of the Red and White Roses, by the Lancaster and York faftions, in the Temple Garden. Anns of Basset of Drayton. — Or three piles Gules, a can- ton Ermine. CHARLES, DAUPHIN, and afterwards KING of FRANCE. This prince, third son of Charles VI., became Dauphin in 1417, in succession to his brothers, Louis and John. Although at the date when the second scene of this play occurred he was really king by the death of his father, and had been crowned at Poitiers in 1423, he continued to be styled the Dauphin, until he was condu(5led by Joan of Arc, according to her promise, to be solemnly inaugurated at Rheims, where the kings of France had been usually crowned. This cere- mony occurred July 17th, 1429, although it is prematurely alluded to in the first scene: — " The Dauphin Charles is crowned king in Rheims." Charles VII. married Mary of Anjou, sister of King Ren^ and by her was father of Louis XL, who is a charafter in the Third Part of King Henry VI. Arms of Charles VII., King of FRANCE. — Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or, called FRANCE modern. REGNIER, DUKE of ANJOU, and titular KING of NAPLES. This prince, usually called " le bon Roi Ren4" was second son of Louis II., King of both the Sicilies, Naples, Arragon, and Jerusalem, Duke of Calabria and Anjou, and Count of Provence. Ren6 married Isabella, daughter and heir of Charles, Duke of Lorraine, at whose death his brother An- IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 14S thony de Vaudemont claimed that province, and a war ensued between him and his nephew Ren4 who was taken prisoner in 1429 at the battle of Balgenville, after fighting valiantly, and he was not released until 1438; he is therefore out of place in some of the scenes in this play. His eldest daughter Yolande married her cousin, Ferrand, son of Anthony de Vaudemont; his youngest MARGARET of Anjou became the Queen of Henry VI. Of this alliance Holinshed remarks, — " the Earl of Suffolk condescended that the duchy of Anjou, and the county of Maine, should be delivered to the king, the bride's father, demanding for the marriage neither penny nor farthing." The "good King Ren4" who was an excellent poet and musician, died in 1480; his charafter is well sketch- ed by Sir Walter Scott in Anne of Geierstein. Arms of King Regnier. — ^It will probably be correct to emblcizon his sur-coat with the arms of Naples and Jerusalem ; viz. Quarterly, i and 4, Azure sem6e-de-lis Or, a label of three points Gules, NAPLES; 2 and 3, Argent a cross potent between four crosses couped Or, JERUSALEM. According to Francis de Rosiers, King Ren^ in a charter dated 143S, used a seal Quarterly of four, viz. the Arms of Arragon, Sicily, Jerusalem, and Anjou. The arms of "Jerusalem" afford a rare instance of the exception to the general rule of blazonry, " that metal should not be placed upon metal." This coat was first borne by Godfrey of Bouillon, and the exception in question is said to have been made in his favour; out of regard to his valour as well as the exalted rank to which he was called. Cleveland the Poet alludes to this very instance: — " Metal on metal is false heraldry ; And yet the known Godfrey of Boulogn's coat Shines in exception to the heralds' vote." D UKE of BURG UND Y. In this play the duke is the Count de Charolois of the preceding drama, Philip, called "the Good," born in 1396, who succeeded his father, John the Fearless, in 1418. Duke Philip for a long time was in alliance with England, and the Duke of Bedford resigned to him the Regency of France in 10 146 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS 1429; but though the defeftion of Burgundy from the English is in the play made to occur through the persuasion of Joan of Arc, he did not really fall off, and become reconciled to France, until 1435. In reality the only interview between Burgundy and Joan of Arc was at her capture ; the " fair persuasions, mix'd with sugar'd words," employed by the heroine in A6t III. Scene 3, were addressed to the duke in a letter, wherein she implored him, as first vassal to the crown of France, to return to his allegiance. Barante. The Duke of Burgundy's first wife was Michelle, daughter of Charles VI.; she died in 1422; he married secondly. Bona, daughter of Philip, Count of Eu, who died in 1425; and thirdly, in 1430, Isabella of Portugul, daughter of John I. and Philippa, the daughter of John of Gaunt by his first duchess, Blanche of Lancaster. By his third wife, a woman of great talent and spirit, Duke Philip had two sons, who died during infancy, and a third son, who succeeded at his father's death in 1467 as Duke of Burgundy, and is known in history as "Charles the Bold;" he is alluded to in the Third Part of King Henry VI., A6t IV. Scene 6, — " I like not of this flight of Edward's, For doubtless Burgundy will yield him help." Charles the Bolefs third wife was Margaret Plantagenet, 1467, sister of Edward IV. ; she was the Duchess of Burgundy, who supported, if she did not suggest, the impostures of Lambert Simnel, and Perkin Warbeck. In honour of his third marriage Philip t/ie Good establish- ed the Order of the Golden Fleece of Burgundy, at Bruges, Jan. 18, 1430. He was elefted a Knight of the Garter in the reign of Henry V. as his son, Charles the Bold, was in that of Edward IV. Arms of Burgundy, ancient. — Bendy Or and Azure. DUKE of ALENQON. This was John II., son of the brave prince, John I., who was slain at Agincourt, after his personal encounter with Henry V., who endeavoured to save the life of his noble IN SHAK SPE ARE'S FLAYS: . 147 enemy. The charadler in this play was released on farole after he was taken prisoner by Fastolfe, in 1424, at Verneuil j and he commanded the French forces in 1429 at Jergeau, where the Earl of Suffolk was taken prisoner. He was pre- sent at the coronation of Charles VII. at Rheims, but joined the faftion of Louis the Dauphin against the royal authority in 1440, but was allowed to retire to his apaiiage. In 1456 Alen^on was arrested on a charge of intriguing with the English cabinet, tried and pronounced guilty of treason, Oft. 10, 1448, and condemned to die; but though his life was spared, he was kept in close confinement, and did not regain his liberty until the accession of his friend the Dauphin as Louis XI. in 146 1, against whom in turn he rebelled, and being once more arrested, this time by the celebrated Tristan I'Hermite, this turbulent prince ended his days in prison, in 1476. By his wife Joan, daughter of Charles, Duke of Orleans, and Isabel of France, he left a son. Rend, who succeeded as Duke of Alengon. Anns of iJie Duke of Alettgon. — France modern, a border Gules charged with bezants. BASTARD of ORLEANS. This renowned warrior, "the brave Dunois," was JOHK, an illegitimate son of Louis, Duke of Orleans, by Marie D'Engheim, wife of his chamberlain, Albert, Lord of Cawny. In 1439 he was legitimated as of the blood-royal, and created Count of Dunois and Longueville. It is under the first title that he is known as the best knight in France, and one of the greatest captains of the age; Monstrelet calls him, " one of the most eloquent men in all France." He compelled the Earl of Warwick to raise the siege of Montargis in 1429, and chiefly direfted the sallies of Joan of Arc from Orleans. Dunois gained many important viflories in Normandy and Guienne, and his martial exploits have made him the hero of song and romance. The count by his second wife, Mary, daughter of James, Count of Tancarville, had a son, Francis, Count of Dunois,. ftearly as famous a soldier as his warlike father; he is introduced by Sir Walter Scott in Queniin Dur- ward. He married Agnes of Savoy, a. younger sister of the 10 — 2 148 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS "Lady Bona" in the Third Part of King Henry VI., and their son, Francis II., was created Duke of Longueville. Arms of Dunois. — France modern, a label Argent^ de- bruised with a baton sinister. GOVERNOR of PARIS. John, Duke of Bedford, when Paris was captured by the Engh'sh, appointed as its governor JOHN of LUXEMBURG, who may therefore be the person introduced, as present at the coronation of Henry VI., Dec. 7, 1431, to take the oath of fealty to him, as King of France, in Afl IV. Scene i. GENERAL of tJu Fremh Forces in Bordeaux. The great Talbot surprised the garrison of Bordeaux, and captured the city, 06t 23, 1452. At the battle of Castillon, where he and his son John Talbot were slain, fighting against overwhelming numbers, the French forces were commanded by two Marshals, Andreas de Valle, Lord of Loheauc, and the Sieur de Jalognes, July 7th, 1453. MASTER GUNNER of Orleans and his SON. The incident recorded in Aft I. Scene 4, is taken from Holinshed ; — " The son of the master-gunner perceiving men looking out of the window took his match as his father had taught him, who was gone down to dinner, and fired the gun, the shot whereof broke, and struck the iron bars of the grate, so that one of the same bars struck the earl so violently on the head, that it struck away one of his eyes, and the side of his cheek." Serle, in his Life of Joan of Arc, calls the father of the young gunner, " Mattre Jean." A very significant stage direftion is found in the folio of 1623, which does not occur in some editions ; Talbot recounting his captivity, and his being stri6lly guarded, concludes, — "And if I did but stir out of my bed, Ready they were to shoot me to the heart ;" IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 149 but before his noble friend Salisbury replies, a direftion, in- teresting as marking the gunnery praftice of the day, is in- serted, — " Enter the boy with a linstock^ AN OLD SHEPHERD, Father to Joan la Pucelle. The parents of the French heroine were JACQUES D'Arc, a small farmer, and his wife, ISABEL RoMEE, who lived at Domremy, a village near Vaucouleurs, on the Marches of Bar, Champagne. De Serres, &c. Charles VI., in grateful testi- mony of Joan's vast services, granted a patent of nobility to her father, brothers, and their descendants, even in the female line; they were to take the sur-name of De Lys, and the village of Domrdmy was to be for ever free from taxation. Montaigne, writing in 1580, saw the house in which Joan's father lived ; — " Ses descendans furent ennobles par faveur du Roi, et nous monstrarent les Armes que le Roi leur donna, qui sont, D'Azur a une espde droite couronnee et poign^e d'or, et deux fleurs de lis d'or au cotd de ladite espde." Voy- ages. The last male descendant of the family is said to have died in 1761, namely COULOMBE DE Lys, Prior of Coutras. It is however stated by Mr Sneyd, in Notes and Queries, voL VII. p. 295, 3rd series, that "the representative of the ancient and noble family of Du Lys D'Arc, derived from a brother of the Maid of Orleans, is the Rev. J. T. Lys, Fellow of Exeter College (Oxford), whose ancestors, after the period of their settlement in England, thought proper to drop the foreign title, and to curtail their name to its present form." MARGARET, daughter to REGNIER, afterwards married to KING HENR Y. " The history of Margaret of Anjou, from her cradle to the tomb, is a tissue of the most striking vicissitudes, and replete with events of more powerful interest than are to be found in the imaginary career of any heroine of romance!" Miss Strickland. King Henry had caused a portrait to be taken of his future queen, who was as celebrated for her beauty as for her commanding intelleft; and it appears that 1,50 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS a prisoner belonging to Sir John Fastolfe, Champchevrier by name, was very instrumental in obtaining her miniature. This princess was born March 23, 1429; the treaty for her marriage was concluded in 1444; her further history belongs to the Second Part. COUNTESS of A UVERGNE. Mr T. P. Courtenay says, — " I do not know where Shak- speare found the story of Talbot and the Countess of Au- vergne." This lady, introduced in A61 II. Scene 3, may be intended for Mary, daughter of Godefroi D'Auvergne, wife of Bertrand III., Lord de la Tour, Count of Auvergne; from a branch of this house have descended the Princes De la Tour- Auvergne. 'JOAN LA PUCELLE, commonly called JOAN OF ARC. Modern writers have atoned for the unjust charafter assigned by the early chroniclers to this noble heroine, the most remarkable female in French history. Southey has paid a tribute to her memory in his Joan of Arc, in fine con- trast to the infamous epic of Voltaire. JOAN D'Arc was born at Domremy about the year 1410; one of her many biogra- phers says of her deportment; "II n'y a qu' une voix sur la douceur de son characlere, la sagesse de sa conduite, et son amour pour le travail." Berriat Saint-Prix. .Another wrrter, BONFINIUS, speaks of her receiving the revelation, in a vision, to free her country, when she took shelter in a chapel from a storm, whilst feeding her flock'. This vision is alluded to in the play, A61 1. Scene 2, when Joan is introduced to the Dauphin, in the passage, — " Lo, whilst I waited on my tender Iambs," &c. In cpnsequence of this vision Joan applied to the Lord of Vaucouleurs, Robert de Baudricourt, afterwards a Marshal of ^ "Joanna, Gallica puella, dum liberandae Galliae mandatum divinitus oves pascit, tempestate coadla in proxi- accepit." BoXFlxius. -mum sacellum coufugit, ibi abdonniens IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 151 France, who sent her under an escort to Chinon, where Charles then held his court. Her sele6lion of the Dauphin from a crowd of knights and courtiers, is recorded by Daniel ; — " Ce prince pris expres ce jour un habit fort simple, et il se mela sans distinflion dans la foule des courtizans. La fiUe entra dans la chambre sans paroitre aucunement etonnee, et quoiqu' elle n'e6t jamais vu le roi elle lui adressa la parole, et lui dit d'un ton ferme que Dieu I'envoyoit pour le decouvrir, pour faire lever le siege d'Orleans, et le conduir a Rheims pour y ^tre sacrd" Her finding the sword is mentioned by Polydore Vergil ; it was discovered in the Church of S". Ca- tharine, at Fierbois, a village of Touraine, which was the burial-place of the family of Bouciqualt, one of whom had been taken prisoner at Agincourt; and whose Arms were " five crosses," which in reality was the bearing on the weapon found by Joan, though called by her " five flower-de-luces." The enthusiasm with which " the Holy maid " inspired her own countrymen, and the panic struck into the English by her supposed miraculous powers, are matters of history ; the early chroniclers of our own nation, and the English commanders, ascribed her successes to witchcraft, the Duke of Bedford called her " a disciple and lymbe of the fiende, that used false enchantments and Sorcerie.'' Rymer. After her relief of Orleans, her sallies from that city in which she was twice wounded, and her defeat of Fastolfe at Pataye, she conduced the "Gentil Dauphin," as she till then called him, to be crowned at Rheims, and during tlie ceremony stood by the high altar, holding her famous banner, emblazoned with fleurs-de-lis of gold on a white ground, and having thereon a figure of the Saviour seated in glory, with the words JHESVS Maria, beneath. In a sortie, May 25, 1430, from Compiegne, then besieged by John de Luxemburg, Count de Ligny, Joan, after bravel}' covering the retreat of her detachment, was not properly sup- ported, or rather as suspefted was purposely deserted, and being unhorsed by a Picard, or as some say by an English archer, she gave herself up to Lionel de Venddme, by whom she was yielded to his general, de Luxemburg, who sent his prisoner to Marigny; — "the shouts of joy which announced her capture summoned the Duke of Burgundy from his quar- ters ;" "he went," continues Monstrelet, "to the lodgings where 152 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS she was confined, and spoke some words to her ;" and he pro- vokingly adds, " but what they were I do not now recolleft, ahhough I was present." Three days after her capture the Vicar-General of the Inquisition demanded her from the Duke of Burgundy, but he sold his prisoner for io,000 francs to the English, who delivered the heroine to an ecclesiastical com- mission, at the head of which was her bitter enemy, Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais. Joan was tried for sorcery and heresy, and for wearing male attire ; she had to undergo fifteen examinations, and her simple honest replies often baffled the talent and subtilty arrayed against her. One of her answers deserves notice for its piety and humility. When the Bishop of Beauvais sternly asked her, " Are you in God's grace V — the maid replied, " If I am so may God keep me in it, if I am not, may He admit to it." Joan was finally con- demned to suffer at the stake as a relapsed heretic, and was burnt in the old market-place at Rouen, May 30, 143 1, en- during her torments with pious fortitude, the name of Our Saviour being the last word on her lips. Cardinal Beaufort was present at her trial, and execution, and ordered her ashes to be flung into the Seine. The cruel fate of this heroic woman reminds one of the words of the great Poet, who often comprises an entire homily in a single sentence, — " It is an heretic that makes the fire, Not she which burns in't." Winter's Tale, Adl in. Scene 3. A touching tribute to the memory of this noble martyr in her country's cause was raised in Orleans, Sept. 13, 185 1, in the well-known statue of the heroine, sculptured by the daugh- ter of King Louis Philippe, the Princess Marie Christine. The day of Joan's deliverance of the city with which her name is so closely associated, May 8th, is still observed there as an annual fete. A monument, with her statue, was also erefted in her honour, on the scene of her execution at Rouen. Two renowned English commanders are named in A61 i. Scene i, as prisoners taken with Lord Talbot ; — "And Lord Scales with him, and Lord Hungerford." The former of these nobles is a charafler in the next play ; the IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 153 latter is Sir Walter Hungerford, K.G., who has been already- noticed as one of the heroes of Agincourt. He was Steward of the Household in the beginning of the reign of Henry VI., and afterwards Treasurer ; he died in 1449, having had by his wife Catharine, daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas PeveftU, three sons, of whom the second, Robert, succeeded as second Lord Hungerford. Sir Thomas Peverell married Margaret Courtenay, eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Courtenay (younger son of Hughj first Earl of Devon), by his wife Muriel, eldest daughter and co-heir of John, fourth and last Baron de Moels ; her sister, Isabel de Moels, married William, Lord Botreaux, and their great-granddaughter, Margaret Botreaux, became the wife of Robert, second Lord Hungerford. The famous sword of Talbot, alluded to by Fuller, in his Worthies, as having "good steel within, and bad Latin without," is no longer in existence. Camden states that " it was found not long since in the river of Dordon, and sould by a peasant to an armorer of Bordeaux." A portrait of Talbot was long preserved in a castle built by him in France, in which he is represented with his drawn sword, on the blade of which is engraved : — SVM TALBOTI Miiii" XLlii PRO VINCERE INIMICO MEO. This date is ten years before the great captain's death. The pi6lure was engraved as early as the year 1584, in The True Portraits and Lives of Illustrious Men, written by Andr^ Thevet. SECOND PART OF KING HENRY VI. Thne of Aclion, from A.D. 1445 to 1455. KING HENR Y THE SIXTH. The date of 144S may be assigned to the opening scene, since Margaret of Anjou, introduced as Henry's consort, who reached England March 9th in that year, having been mar- ried to him by proxy, "in the famous ancient city^ Tours," in November, 1444, was espoused by him, April 22, 1445, at Southwick, in Hampshire. Margaret was crowned at West- minster, May 30th following. This ceremon}^ is referred to in this first scene by the king, — " Come, let us in, and with all speed provide To see her coronation be perform'd." Henry VI., who is supposed to have inherited from his ma- ternal grandfather, Charles VI., a taint of insanity, gave him- self up to the guidance of his queen, who took part with Car- dinal Beaufort against his rival kinsman, Duke Humphrey, whom she disliked for his opposition to her marriage, and this feeling is made to appear throughout the play. The King's own words, in A61 IV. Scene 9 ; — " Was never subje<5l long'd to be a king, As I do long and wish to be a subjecl," convey a good idea of the unfitness of this feeble son of a great sire for the cares of state. Anns of Kmg Henry the Sixth. — As given in Part I. NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS, &c. 155 HUMPHREY, DUKE of GLOUCESTER. "The Good Duke Humphrey," called also "the darling of the people," fell a viftim to the combined influence of Queen Margaret, Cardinal Beaufort, and the Duke of Suffolk. At the Parliament held Feb. 11, 1447, at Bury St Edmund's, Duke Humphrey was arrested on a charge of high treason, not by Suffolk, as in the play, A£l III. Scene i, but by the Viscount Beaumont, Constable of England, and seventeen days after he was found dead in his bed. LiNGARD. Fabyan says six days after his arrest ; Stow twenty-four days ; and Hall and Rapin place his death the day after his arrest. Lin- gard's statement however is confirmed by the inquisition held post mortem, whereby the Duke of Gloucester's death is named " ult Febr." Duke Humphrey's natural daughter, Antigone, married Henry Grey, second Earl of Tankerville. Arms of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, K.G. — ^As given in the Second Part of King Henry IV. CARDINAL BEAUFORT. Six weeks after the death of his nephew, " the good Duke Humphrey," his life-long enemy, the haughty Cardinal, breathed his last, April 11, 1447, preyed upon, it is supposed, by remorse for the fate of his viftim ; — " Sometimes he talks as if Duke Humphrey's ghost, Were by his side." The charge urged against him by Gloucester, in the First Part, A£l III. Scene i, — " Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems A man of thy profession and degree," was not without foundation, for the Cardinal left a natural daughter, Joan, who became the wife of Sir Edward Stradling, Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, and their descendants were baronets, of St Donat's Castle, creation of 161 1, extina in 1735- Fuller is very angry with this great Churchman for calhng himself by "his insolent title of Cardinal of England," espe- cially as there was another English Cardinal at the time. 156 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham. In the writs of Henry the Sixth's reign Henry Beaufort is as often styled " Cardinal of England," as he is called by his real title, "Cardinal of St Eusebius." Arms of Cardinal Beaufort. — As given in the First Part RICHARD PLANTAGENET, DUKE of YORK. This prince, the rightful claimant to the throne, through the family of Mortimer, was well suited by his valour and abilities to contest the title with the feeble Henry, — " WTiose church-like humours fit not for a crown." The Duke of York was popular, not only in England, but in Ireland, where he had been sent as Lord Lieutenant in 1448 ; and his large fortune, and powerful family connexions, especially through the Nevills, rendered him a formidable rival for the crown of his ancestors, which though lost, when so nearly in his grasp, was finally to rest with his posterity. In this Part, the War of tJie Two Roses, foreshadowed by the scene in the Temple Garden, in the First Part of King Henry VI. A61: II. Scene 4, has its commencement, as the Play closes with the first battle of St Alban's, fought May 22, 145s, between the Houses of York and Lancaster, in which the latter suffered a signal defeat. King Henry, wounded in the neck by an arrow, falling into the hands of the Duke of York. This noble prince is continued in the Third Part, wherein his career is closed, being brought about through his own rashness. Arms of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. — As given in the First Part. EDWARD and RICHARD PLANTAGENET, sons of the DUKE of YORK. These two princes were in reality too young to take the part which tlie Poet has assigned to them ; for Richard, at the date of the battle of St Alban's, was only three years of age. IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 157 and his brother was but ten years older. As they figure pro- minently, and in their right places in some of the scenes in the Third Part, their memoirs will be then more fitly entertained. DUKE of SOMERSET. This personage is Edmund Beaufort, brother of John Beaufort, who in the " First Part" was Earl, and afterwards Duke, of Somerset, at whose death, in 1444, the charafter in this play became fourth Earl, and in 1448 was created Duke of Somerset. He was an eminent commander in France, and was appointed Regent there in 1445 ; he became Constable of England, and a K.G. He was slain, fighting on the Lancas- trian side, at the first battle of St Alban's, 1455. By his wife Alianor, second daughter and co-heir of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, he had three sons, and five daughters ; of the former, Henry and Edmund Beaufort became third and fourth Dukes of Somerset ; the third son, Sir John Beaufort, was killed at Tewkesbury. The five daughters were: i. Ali- anor, the wife, first of James Boteler, Earl of Wiltshire, secondly, of Sir Robert Spencer, Knight; 2. Joan, married first to Robert St Lawrence, fifteenth Lord Howth, and secondly to Sir Richard Fry, Knight ; 3. Anne, married to Sir William Paston, Knight ; 4. Margaret, the wife, first of Hum- phrey, Earl of Stafford, and secondly of Sir Richard Darell, Knight; 5. Elizabeth, married to Sir Henry Lewis, Knight. Arms of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, K.G. — Quarterly France and England, a border compbny Argent and Azure. DUKE of SUFFOLK. This charafler, the "Earl of Suffolk" in the i^«>.f//'(2r/, William DE la Pole, was created in 1444 Marquess, and in 1448, June 2, Duke, of Suffolk, although in this play that title is conferred upon him by the King in the first scene, somewhat prematurely ; — " We here create thee the first Duke of Sufifolk, And girt thee with the sword." 158 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS This is an interesting instance of the early custom of bestow- ing a dignity by the cin6lure of a sword. The Duke of Suffolk, after filling many important offices at home, and serving with the highest distinftion abroad, perished in the miserable manner recorded in the play ; his body was found on the sea-shore, by his chaplain, who conveyed it to Wing- field, CO. Suffolk, where the family of De la Pole had a castle ; in the church are several monumental records in memory of the Wingfields and De la Poles ; the first Earl of Suffolk, Michael de la Pole, grandfather of the personage in this play, married Catharine, daughter and heir of Sir John Wingfield, Knight. The wife of the Duke of Suffolk was the widow of Thomas Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, Alice, daughter and heir of Thomas Chaucer, son of the Poet ; and their son, John de la Pole, married Elizabeth Plantagenet, daughter of the Duke of York in this play; and their son John, Earl of Lincoln, was declared heir to the crown by his uncle Richard the Third, in default of issue to his own son the Prince of Wales. Mrs Jameson observes, that " the Queen's criminal passion for Suffolk is a dramatic incident, and not an historical fa£t." A few words from Holinshed, "the Queen which entirely loved the duke," may have furnished the idea to the Poet for this passion; Suffolk was really older than King Ren4 and his own wife, Alice Chaucer, accompanied him to France, when he went to " marry Princess Margaret," as the proxy for King Henry. The plays of Shakspeare abound with in- stances where the word " lover " merely means a friend, as in the Bible, and our good old writers. Suffolk had been made a Knight of the Garter by Henry v., and he alludes, just before his murder, to this noblest of all orders of chivalry, — " Look on my George, I am a gentleman." In The First Part of tJie Contention, Suffolk says, — " I am a gentleman ; look on my ring," which, no doubt, would be his signet, bearing his coat of arms. This would be a better reading than that usually given; as a nobleman in disguise would hardly carry about him the insignia of an Order so limited as to betray the IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 159 wearer's rank at once. Capell proposed ring instead of the George. The duke's death occurred May 2, 1450; his widow, Alice, died June 9, 1475, about the time that Queen Margaret, to whom she had long been principal lady of honour, left Eng- land for ever. Antts of William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, K.G. — Azure a fesse between three leopards' heads Or. DUKE of BUCKINGHAM. This personage, Humphrey Stafford, was only son of the brave Edmund Stafford, fifth Earl of Stafford, K.G., who is alluded to in the First Part of King Henry I V. as one of the commanders at . Shrewsbury, slain there in guise resem- bling that of the king. Humphrey Stafford's mother was Anne Plantagenet, eldest daughter of Thomas of Wood- stock, youngest son of Edward HI. ; and he was created Duke of Buckingham, Sept. 14, 1444, with precedence of all peers, except princes of the blood. The duke, who was a K.G. and held many important offices, married Anne Nevill, third daughter, by his second wife, of Ralph first Earl of West- moreland, and had three sons, and three daughters; of the latter, i. Anne Stafford married first, Aubrey de Vere, eldest son of John, twelfth Earl of Oxford, and secondly, Sir Thomas Cobham, knight; 2. Joan Stafford, married first, William Vis- count Beaumont, secondly. Sir William, or Sir John Knevet, knight; 3. Catharine Stafford, who married John Talbot, third Earl of Shrewsbury. Of the sons, the eldest, Humphrey Staf- ford, married Margaret Beaufort, daughter of Edmund, Duke of Somerset, and left a son Henry, who succeeded his grand- father, and is the " Duke of Buckingham," in King Ricliard III. The second son. Sir Henry Stafford, married in 1459, Margaret Beaufort, the celebrated Countess of Richmond, and died in 148 1; and the third son, John Stafford, was created by Edward IV. in 1470, " Earl of Wiltshire," under which title he is alluded to in the Third Part, Aft I. Scene i. The Duke of Buckingham of this play* was slain at the 1 In Tlie First Part of the Con- " Alarmes again, and then enter three teiition there is a stage dire(£tion, — or foure, bearing the Duke of Buehing- i6o NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS battle of Northampton, July 27, 1460 ; and his eldest son was killed at the first battle of St Alban's, May 22, 1455, with which this Part concludes. They both fell in the cause of the Red Rose of Lancaster. Arms of Humphrey Stafford, Duke of BuckingJiam, K.G. — Or a chevron Gules. LORD CLIFFORD. This staunch adherent of the House of Lancaster was Thomas Clifford, eighth Baron Clifford, descended from the feudal lords of Clifford Castle, co. Hereford, of whom Robert was summoned as Baron Clifford, in 1299, 23 Edward I., whom he accompanied to Scotland, and who made him governor of that renowned fortress, Carlaverock Castle, which so long with a small garrison withstood the mighty hosts of the English monarch in 1300. This warlike lord fell at the battle of Bannockburn, in 1314. From him descended John, seventh Lord Clifford, K.G., who was killed at the siege of Meaux, 10 Henry V., 1422, leaving by his wife, Elizabeth Percy, only daughter of " Hotspur," a son, who is the charafter in this play', who distinguished himself greatly in France, and when the War of the Roses broke out in England this great baron gave his powerful support to Henry VI., in whose cause he fell at the first battle of St Alban's, 14SS, leaving by his wife, Joanna, daughter of Thomas, sixth Lord Dacre of Gilles- land, a son, who is the " Young Clifford " in this Part, and the " Lord Clifford" in the next play. The Cliffords were here- ditary Sheriffs of Westmoreland, from the time of Edward the First. Roger de Clifford, father of the first baron (by writ, 1299), married Isabel, daughter and co-heir of Robert de Vipont, hereditary Sheriff of Westmoreland. The widow of John, ham wounded to his tent." In The Is either slain or wounded dan- True Tragcdic, answering to TIu Third gerouslie." /'a«?,tlie opening scene represents "Ed- ' In The First Part of the Con- ward Earle of Marche," sa}-ing that he tention this character is called "Lord had wounded him : Clifford, the Earle of Cumberland;" " Lord Stafford's father, Duke of but the latter title was first given to his Btickingham, great-grandson, in 1525. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. i6i seventh Lord Clifford, married secondly Ralph Nevill, second Earl of Westmoreland, a charafter in the Third Part. Arms of Lord Clifford. — Chequy Or and Azure a fesse Gules. EARL OF SALISBUR Y. This charafter is Richard Nevill, eldest son by his second marriage of Ralph, first Earl of Westmoreland, and marrying Alice Montacute, only daughter and heir of the valiant Earl of Salisbury in the First Part, had that title revived in his favour. May 4, 1442. Up to the Fifth A61 the earl is rightly represented as being attached to Henry VI., who had bestowed upon him many honours and rewards, but the earl deserted the royal cause for that of his brother-in- law, the Duke of York, and was one of his chief commanders at the first battle of St Alban's.. This powerful nobleman gained a signall viftory at Blore-heath in Staffordshire, Sept: 23, 1459, over the Lancastrians under Lord Audley, and he greatly contributed to the defeat of the king's forces at Nor- thampton, July 10, 1460; but the fortune of war changed at the battle of Wakefield,, where the Duke of York was slain Dec 24, 1460, and Salisbury being wounded, was taken pri- soner, and beheaded shortly after the battle. By Alice Montacute the Earl of Salisbury had six sons, and six daughters; of the latter, i. Joan married William Fitz-alan, fifteenth Earl of Arundel; 2. Cicely, married first Henry Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick, secondly, John Tibe- toft, the learned Earl of Worcester; 3. Alice, who married. Henry, fifth Lord Fitz-hugh ; 4. Eleanor, the first wife of Thomas, "Lord Stanley," the chara6ler In King Richard IIL; 5. Catharine, who married the "Lord Hastings," in that play; and 6. Margaret, who became the wife of John de Vere, the " Earl of Oxford," in the Third Pari. The Earl of Salisbury's sons were, i. RICHARD, the next chara6ler; 2. Sir Thomas Nevill, slain at Wakefield, whose death is alluded to in the Third Part, A61 II. Scene 3 ; — " Thy brother's blood the thirsty earth hath drunk, Broach'd with the steely point of CKfford's lance'." ' In Tke True Tragedie of Rithard - who is said to be slain, and from whom Duke of Yorke it is Warwick's father Richard conveys a dying message, — ir i62 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS 3. John Nevill, who is the " Marquess of Montague," in the Third Part; 4. GEORGE Nevill, alluded to in the next play, as " fell Warwick's brother ;" he was Archbishop of York; 5. and 6. Ralph, and Robert Nevill, who died young. Arms of Richard Nevill, Earl of Salisbury, K.G. — Gules a saltier Argent. EARL OF WARWICK. This great baron, eldest son of the preceding character, and named after him Richard Nevill, was a staunch sup- porter of the claims of the Duke of York to the throne. Having married the daughter of the " Earl of Warwick," of the three preceding plays, Richard Nevill was confirmed in that title in 1449, ^"^^ though he became, at the death of his father in 1460, second Earl of Salisbury of the name, he is best known in history, as he is called by Shakspeare, as the stout "Earl of Warwick." He was made a Knight of the Garter when the Duke of York became Proteftor. As he performs a more conspicuous part in the next play, his me- moir will be there resumed. Arms of Richard Nevill, Earl of Warwick, K.G. — Gules, a saltier Argent, a label Argent. LORD SCALES. This famous soldier was THOMAS SCALES, seventh LORD Scales. His ancestor, Robert de Scales was summoned as a baron, 27 Edward I., 1299, and his descendant, the fifth baron, Robert Scales, married Elizabeth, daughter of William, fourth Lord Bardolph, by whom he had two sons, Richard, sixth lord, who died in 141 8, and Thomas, the charafter in this play, who succeeded his brother. He was much engaged in the wars of Henry V, in France, serving with Talbot, and Fastolfe, in many viflorious fields, but sharing in their defeat at Pataye. He continued his great services in the reign of Henry VI., who made him a K.G., and whose cause he "Commend me to my And still lie cride Waraiike revenge valiant sonne, my death." IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 163 warmly espoused against the House of York. Lord Scales took a prominent part in putting down Jack Cade's rebellion in 1450; and ten years later having thrown himself again into the Tower, when it was assailed by the Yorkists under the Earl of Salisbury, in attempting to escape to san6tuary when the fortress was surrendered for want of provisions. Lord Scales was discovered by some watermen belonging to the Earl of War^vick, and slain by them, July 13, 1460. Middleton, co, Norfolk, a few miles from Lynn Regis, " was long the property and residence of the family of Scales; a part of the ancient hall, which is called Middleton Castle, still remains, consisting of the gateway, with a tower flanked by a turret at each end. This edifice was eredted by Thomas Lord Scales, Knight of the Garter, in the time of Henry VI., in which, as well as in the preceding reign, he distinguished himself in the French wars." GORTON, Topog. Dili. By his wife, Emma, eldest daughter of Sir John Wales- borough, Knight, Sheriff co. Cornwall, 37 Henry VT., Lord Scales had a son Thomas, who died in his father's life-time, and an only daughter, his great heiress, Elizabeth Scales, who married first. Sir Henry Bourchier, and secondly, Anthony Woodvile, the " Lord Rivers," in King Richard III., and who became Lord Scales jure uxoris. Lord Scales is called, in many editions, "Governor of the Tower;" he was entrusted with the defence of that important fortress when the king left for Kenilworth, but he did not hold the post of Constable of the Tower. Arms of Thomas Scales, Lord Scales, K.G. — Gules six escallops Argent, three, two, and one. LORD SA y. This nobleman was JAMES FlENNES, summoned as Lord Say and Sele, 25 Henry VI., 1446 ; his grandfather. Sir William Fiennes married Joan, third daughter and co-heir of Geoffrey de Say, second Baron Say. The personage in this play was Constable of Dover Castle, Warden of the Cinque Ports, "to him and his heirs for ever," and Lord Treasurer. He married Emmeline^ daughter of Sir William Cromer, of Willingham, co. Kent, who is called by some writers Sheriff II — 2 i64 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS of that county, in the year of Jack Cade's rebellion, and being taken prisoner by that insurgent, was committed to the Fleet; and afterwards beheaded, as was Lord Say, who had been dragged out of the Tower, and their heads were set on London-bridge, by the rebels. Shakspeare, following Hall, calls the fellow-viftim of Lord Say, " Sir James Cromer," and his "son-in-law." There is great discrepancy in the state- ments of authors respefting the conneftion between the families of Say and Cromer. Dugdale says that " Sir James Fiennes married Emmeline, daughter of. Cromer, and had three daughters, Elizabeth, Emelye, and Jane." The first of these became the wife of Alexander Iden, who is said by Hasted and other writers to have married the widow of his predecessor, the sheriff, who certainly could not be Sir William Cromer above-mentioned. Fuller states that the son-in-law of Lord Say was William Cromer of Tunstall, co. Kent, who, according to him and Hasted, was Sheriff, 23 Henry VI., which answers to the year 1445, and his brother Henry Cromer was Sheriff, 28 Henry VI., 1450, which is the year of Cade's rebellion, Iden therefore was the immediate succes- sor of Henry, not of William, Cromer. The pedigree in Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire makes out that Elizabeth Fiennes, widow of William Cromer, of Tunstall, married secondly, Laurence Rainsforth. Lord Say and Sele's eldest son and successor, William Fiennes, second lord, was killed at the battle of Barnet, 1471; his great granddaughter, Eli- zabeth Fiennes, married Sir John Twisleton, and their de^r scendant, the Rev. Frederick Twistleton Wykeham Fiennes, is the present Lord Say and Sele, 1865. Arms of Fiemtes. — Azure three lions rampant Or. SIR HUMPHREY STAFFORD, and WILLIAM, his Brother. These brothers were members of the great House of Stafford, which had produced many eminent soldiers. The founder of the family was one of the Conqueror's favourite captams, Robert, son of Duke William's standard-bearer at Hastmgs, Roger de Toeni, and to whom the successful Nor- man confided the custody of the castle which he erefted at IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 165 Stafford, and from which place the family took their surname and title. A descendant, Ralph Stafford, who held high com- mands at Cressy and Poitiers, was selefted by Edward the Third to be one of the " First Founders " of the Order of the Garter, and was by him created Earl of Stafford; this valiant noble married a descendant of Edward the First, Margaret de Audley, by whom he had several children, of whom his second son and successor, Hugh Stafford, is an ancestor of the immortal Nelson; and from his third daughter, Joan Stafford, married to John, Lord Cherlton, is descended the illustrious WELLINGTON*; and from the fourth daughter, Margaret Stafford, who married her kinsmsin. Sir John Staf- ford, knight, are derived the two characters in this play, her great grandsons. They were the sons of Sir Humphrey Stafford, of Grafton (ob. 7 Henry VI.), by his wife Elizabeth, daughter and co- heir of Sir John Burdett, of Huncote The elder of the brothers, Sir Humphrey, was sheriff of the county of Glou- cester, 2 and 9 Henry VI. Fuller, classing him among " the Worthies" of that shire, says of him, — "Being afterwards knighted he was by King Henry the Sixth made Governour of Callice, and coming over in England was slain by Jack Cade; but God hath blessing for those whom rebels curse. Sir Humphrey Stafford, his grandchild, fixed himself at Bla- therwick, in Northamptonshire, where his posterity doth flourish to this day." Sir Humphrey (of this play) married Eleanor, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, knight, of Blatherwick, and their son, Sir Humphrey Stafford of Graf- ton and Blatherwick, for taking part with Richard III. at Bosworth, was attainted and beheaded, i Henry VII. His second son. Sir William Stafford, was grandfather of Sir Francis Stafford, of Portglenone, and Governor of Ulster, whose great grandson, the Right Hon. Edmund Francis Stafford, one of the defenders of Londonderry, was father of Anne Stafford, who married Arthur Hill Trevor, Viscount Dungannon, and their daughter Anne married Garret Colley Wellesley, first Earl of Mornington, one of whose sons was Field-Marshal Arthur, Duke of Wellington, K.G. 1 These descents are given, in ftill. Descent of Ndson and Wdlington. G.R, in Tables IV, vnr, and Y., \n. The Rayal French, 1855. i66 N.OTES ON THE CHARACTERS Sir Humphrey Stafford, the charafter in this play, was buried at Bromsgrove, co. Worcester, under a raised tomb in the chancel, whereon are the effigies in alabaster, of himself, in a complete suit of plate-armour, and of his wife Eleanor. Nash's Worcestershire. Arms of Sir Humphrey Stafford of Grafton.— Or a chev- ron Gules and canton Ermine, as carved on the tomb at Bromsgrove. Jack Cade calls the two valiant Staffords "silken-coated slaves," evidently in allusion to their emblazoned surcoats, with which therefore they should appear on the stage in A<5t IV. Scenes 2 and 3. SIR JOHN STANLEY. This is the first mention in ShakSPEARE'S plays of a family, as illustrious for descent as for personal merit, and which derives its name from Stanlegh, co. Chester ; William de Audley, seated there in the time of Henry I., assuming _with the lordship the name of Stanley. Sixth in descent from him was Sir John Stanley, a K.G. in 1405, in the reign of Henry IV., who gave him the Isle of Man in 1406, made him Steward of his household, and twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, where he died, Jan. 6, 1414, leaving by his wife Isabel, daughter of Sir Thomas Lathom, a son. Sir John Stanley, who was Governor of Carnarvon Castle, and married Isabel, daughter of Sir Robert Harrington, of Hornby, by whom he had a son. Sir Thomas Stanley, who was created 9 Henry VI. Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for six years ; and 28 Henry VI. Lord Chamberlain ; afterwards Chief Justice of Chester; in 1456 created Baron Stanley, and a K.G. in 1457 ; he died in 1458, leaving issue by his wife, Joan, daughter and heir of Sir Robert Goushill, and the Lady Elizabeth Fitz-alan, descended from Edward I., three sons, all Shakspearean cha- rafters, namely, i. THOMAS STANLEY, the " Lord Stanley," in King Richard III.; 2. SiR WILLIAM STANLEY, a charafter in the Third Part of King Henry VI. ; 3. SiR JOHN STANLEY, the personage in this play, to whom was confided the custody of the disgraced Duchess of Gloucester, Eleanor Cobham, who was " adjudged to perpetuall prisone in the Isle of Man, IN SHAKSPE ARE'S PLAYS. 167 under the kepyng of Sir Jhon Stanley, Knight." Hall, Sir John Stanley, who married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Weever, of Weever, co. Chester, is the ancestor of the present Lord Stanley of Alderley, and of Dr Stanley, Dean of Westminster ; as his brother Thomas is of the Earl of Derby. Anns of Sir John Stanley. — Argent on a bend Azure three bucks' heads caboshed Or, a mullet for difference. VAUX. This chara£ler was SiR William Vaux, of a family seated in Normandy, in the eighth century, and of which several members accompanied Duke William to England ; one of them, Hubert de Vaux, acquired the barony of Gillesland, co. Cumberland, and his brother Robert is ancestor of the pre- sent Lord Vaux of Harrowden. One of the descendants of Robert was Sir William Vaux of Harrowden, who married Matilda, daughter of Sir Walter Lucy, Knight; by whom he had a son, the character in this play, of whom Dugdale says ; — " William Vaux in the time of those great and sharp con- tests between the Houses of York and Lancaster lost all for his adherence to King Henry the Sixth ; but at length, Henry Earl of Richmond obtaining the crown, Nicholas his Son and Heir had restitution thereof" That son is a charafter in King Henry VIII. Sir William was killed at Tewksbury, 147 1. Under Tewksbury Monastery, among the list of the slain in the fatal field, is found, — " Gul. Vaulz miles occisus campo et ibidem sepultus." MONASTICON, Vol. IL Arms of Vaux. — Chequy Or and Gules on a chevron Azure three roses Or. MA TTHE W GOUGH. The name of this valiant captain does not usually appear in the lists of the dramatis persona, though he is brought on the stage in A61 IV. Scene 7. Lord Scales, then guarding the Tower, in Scene 5, tells the citizens, who had applied to him for aid against the rebels : — i68 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS " Get you to Smithfield and gather head, And thither I will send you Matthew Goffe." In Scene 7, in many modern editions the stage direftion is, "Enter on one side Cade and his company, on the other Citizens, and tlie King's Forces headed by Matthew Gough. They fight, the Citizens are routed, and Matt/tew Gough is slain." This eminent soldier, who was really killed by the rebels on London-bridge, had served in France with Talbot, Scales, Willoughby, Fastolfe, and other leaders of fame, and he is constantly mentioned in conjunftion with those worthies, by the French historians, who write his name, " Matago," being the nearest approach they could make in spelling a name which they could not pronounce. Sir Matthew Gough, this charafter, w£is the second son of Innerth Goch, or John Gough, of Wales, and his son Richard Gough became a citizen of London, and merchant of the staple; from him descended Sir Henry Gough, of Egbaston, CO. Warwick, M.P. for Totness, who was created a Baronet in 1728, and married Barbara, only daughter of Reynolds Cal- .thorpe, and their son, Henry Gough was created Baron Cal- tliorpe in 1796, taking the name of Calthorpe in addition to .that of Gough. Shaw's Staffordshire. " Matthew Gough and Fulk Eyton, Esquires," are named in a writ, 26 Hen. VI., 1448, as Commissioners in the King's service. Rymer's Feeder a. The learned antiquary, Richard Gough was descended from Sir Matthew Gough. Anns of Sir Mattliew Gough, Knight. — Gules on a fesse Argent between three boars' heads couped Or a lion passant Aztire. These arms are borne by his lineal descendant, the present Lord Calthorpe, quarterly with those of Calthorpe. ALEXANDER WEN, a Kentish Gentleman. In his History of Kent, Mr Hasted under Ripley, says — " The Idens were a family of great antiquity and good estate about Iden, in the county of Sussex, and Rolveden in this county, and in them it continued down to Alexander Ideri, who resided here in the 28* year of K. Henry VI., the latter half of which year he was Sheriff of this county, being ap- pointed to that office on the death of William Crowmer, esq. IN SHAKSPE ARE'S PLAYS. 169 who had been put to death by the rebel Cade and his followers." Under Hothfield, the same writer says, — "Jack Cade, deserted by his followers, concealed himself in the woods near this place, belonging to Ripley manor, in Westwell, soon after which he was discovered by Alexander Iden, esq.. Sheriff of this county, as some say, in a field belonging to that manor in Westwell parish, but by others in a field of this parish, still named from that circumstance Jack Cad^s field" Holinshed states that Cade was slain by Iden at Hothfield in Sussex. The father of the Sheriff was William Iden, Justice of the Peace, seated at Ripley (Phillipott) ; the Sheriff received the price set on Jack Cade's head according to proclamation, and as noticed in the play, — " We give thee for reward a thousand marks." In Rymer's Fcedera is given the writ 28 Henry VI., dated 1 1; July, 1450, " The reward of mil. marc, paid to Alexander Iden, Sheriff of our said co. of Kent" He was also, according to Weever, appointed for his good service Governor of Rochester Castle ; he was Sheriff of Kent again 35 Henry VI., 1456-7. He married the widow of his predecessor in that office, who is said by several authorities to be Elizabeth Fiennes, daughter of the Lord Say in this play, by whom he left a son, William Iden of Westwell, whose son, Thomas Iden, of that place, was Sheriff 16 Henry VII., 1500; and the manor remained in the family until it was alienated to the Darells of CalehilL A branch of the Idens settled at Stoke, in Kent; and in Penshurst Church there is a memorial to Pavie Iden, son of Thomas Iden and Agnes his wife, 1564- Arms of Akxander Iden. — Azure a fesse between three close helmets Or. College of Arms. The Idens of Stoke had a chevron instead of a fesse. WALTER WHITMORE. Mrs Lennox says, — "Shakspeare probably borrowed his story from the same tale that furnished him with the loves of Suffolk and the Queen ;" and Mr T. P. Courtenay remarks,— "the truth is that Shakspeare's version and that of more lyo NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS authentic history are equally mysterious." The account in Aft IV. Scene i, of the Duke of Suffolk's capture and death is from Hall ; — " when he shipped into Suffolke, intendynge to be transported into France, he was encountered with a shippe of warre appertayning to the Duke of Excester, the Constable of the Towre of London, called the Nicholas of the Towre\ The captain of the same bark with small fight entered into the duke's shyppe, and perceyving his person present brought him to Dover rode, and there on the one syde of a cocke-bote caused his head to be stryken off, and left his body with the head upon the sandes of Dover." In the play Walter Whit- more claims to be a gentleman, as bearing arms ; — " Therefore when merchant-like I sell revenge, Broke be my sword, my arms torn and defac'd." The Whitmores of Cheshire and Shropshire were a very ancient family; they bore for Arms, Vert fretty Or. The Compiler has not succeeded in identifying Walter Whitmore. A HERALD. In Aft II. Scene 4, the sad interview between the Duke of Gloucester and his " punished duchess," is interrupted by the entrance of a herald ; — " I summon your grace to his ma- jesty's parliament, holden at Bury, the first of this next month." This parliament, however, did not meet until Feb. 1 1, 1447, some years after the disgrace of the Duchess Elea- nor. HUME and SOUTHWELL, Priests. BOLINGBROKE, a Conjuror. MARGARET JOURDAIN, a WitcJiK It will save repetition to class these persons together. * TfuNuholas of the Tower was the Henry VI, May 9, 1433, Margery Jour- name of one of the ships of war which dcmayn, with two others, a clerk and a accompanied Henry V. from South- friar, was accused of sorcery before the ampton to Harfleur. lords of council ; she was discharged on ' This woman was an old offender ; her husband's finding security for her .Rymer states that in the tenth year of good behaviour. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 171 Speaking of Eleanor Cobham's arrest; Hall says in conti- nuation, — " At the same season were arrested as ayders and counsailers to the sayd duchesse, Thomas Southwel, prieste and chanon of S*. Stephen's in Westmynster, Jhon Hum prieste, Roger Bolyngbroke a conyng nycromancier, and Mar- gerie Jourdayne, surnamed the witche of Eye, to whose charge it was laied y' thei at the request of the duchesse had devised an image of waxe representing the kyng, which by their sorcerie a litle and litle consumed, intendyng therby in conclusion to waist and destroy the kynges person, and so to bryng hym to death ; for the which treison they wer ad- judged to dye, and so Margery Jordayne was brent in Smith- felde, and Roger Bolyngbroke was drawn and quartered at Tibome, takyng upon his death that there was never no such thing by theim ymagined ; Jhon Hum had his pardon, and Southwel died in the Towre before execution." This scene took place, 19 Henry VI., 1441. Sir E. L. Bulwer Lytton calls Bolingbroke, " the greatest clerk of his age ;" and his learning is highly commended by a contemporary writer, William Wycestre. THOMAS HORNER, an Armourer. PETER, his Man. Shakspeare, following Grafton and Holinshed, has miss- ed the real names of these combatants, which are known, " William Catur, an armourer, was accused of high treason by his own servant, John David, who for want of other proof offered to make good his charge by combat. The defendant's friends, knowing his timorous nature, fortified his spirits with plenty of wine. Catur, on entering the lists intoxicated, was killed by his servant, who, being afterwards convi6led of felony, confessed the falsehood, of the charge against his un- happy master." NORTHOUCK's History of London. Stow, giving the story with the same names, adds, — " myself have had the like servant, that likewise accused me of many arti- cles, he liveth yet, but hath hardly escaped hanging since." The incident so quaintly recorded in the play took place in Smithfield, in 1446, and the whole of the expenses incurred by the sheriffs, Robert Home, and Geoffrey Boleyn, are 172 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS printed in Illustrations of the Manners and Expences of An- cient Times in England, in the i^th, \6th and lyth Centuries. Printed for John Niclwls, 1797." It appears by the list of charges that after " y= battail was doon," the armourer's body was treated as that of a traitor, — " Also paid for i pole and naylis and for settyng up of y= said mannys hed on London Brigge, v^." MA YOR OF ST ALBANS. This town, in reality, was not incorporated until the reign of Edward the Sixth, in 1552, when John Locky was ap- pointed the first mayor. " The year 1459 was rendered me- morable by a visit from the King (Henry VI.) to the Abbey, who came hither to pass the Easter holidays,, and at his departure ordered the keeper of his robes to deliver to the Prior his best robe, which he had only worn one day." CluT- terbuck's Hertfordshire. At this date probably, the chief official of the town would be a bailiff, in the service of the Prior. In Dooms-day Survey St Alban's was part of the pos- sessions of the Abbot and Convent of St Alban's, who held it of the king iti capite; it then contained forty-six burgesses, who were the demesne men of the Abbot. SIMCOX, an Impostor. Wife to Sinicox. Grafton, quoting Sir Thomas More, gives the story of the blind man and his wife. " In the time of King Henry the sixt as he roade in progresse there came to the towne of Saint Albons a certaine begger with hys wyfe, and there walking about the towne begging five or sixe dayes before the kinges comming thether, saying that he was borne blinde, and never sawe in all his life, "and was warned in his dreame that he should come out of Berwicke, where he sayd that he had ever dwelled, to seeke Saint Albon, and that he had been at his Shrine and was not holpen, and therefore he would go seeke him at some other place ; for he had heard some saye since he came that Saint Albons body was at Colyn But to tell you foorth,.when the king was come, and the towne IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 173 full of people, sodainly this blind man at Saint Albones shiyne had his sight, and the same was solempnly song for a miracle." Duke Humphrey however placed Simcox in the stocks as a " faytour," or vagabond. It will be seen how the dry account of the old chronicler has been expanded into a humourous scene by the Dramatist. The "Good Duke's" deteflion of the blind man's imposture was deemed worthy of being recorded ; for on the wall, near his vault in St Alban's Abbey, is an inscription, which begins : — " Memoriae V. Opt. Sacrum. Hie jacet Umphredus Dux ille Glocestrius olim, Henrici Regis Protedlor, fraudis ineptae deteflor, Dum fidla notat miracula coeci." Buswell's Knights of the Garter. CLERK OF CHATHAM. In the Folio of 1623 this person is called, "the Clearke of Chartam," and there seems to be no reason why the name should be altered to " Chatham," as in modem editions, since Chartham is the name of a place between Canterbury and Ashford, and formerly of some importance, from having in it the residence of the Priors of Christ Church, and which was aftenvards that of the Deans of Canterbury. " It still exists Under the name of the Deanery, but greatly altered and en- larged." Gorton. Chartham would be well known to Cade, an Ashford man, and to some of his followers, as " men of Kent." But it is possible that Shakspeare had in view another place, for in A61 IV. Scene 2, where the seizure of the unlucky penman is recorded, one of Cade's followers tells his leader, — " We took him setting of boys' copies ;'' from which passage it may be inferred that the clerk, who from his "pen and ink-horn" was without doubt a school- master, pursued his calling near Blackheath, where Cade's army was encamped ; and a name similar to Chartham sug- gests itself as a still more likely locality, namely, CHARLTON, a parish adjoining the scene "of the rebels' gathering on the heath. 174 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS JACK CADE, a Rebel. Hall says of him, — "A certaine young man, of a goodly stature and pregnant wit, was induced to take upon him the name of John Mortimer, although his name was John Cade." Mr Carte observes, — "Jack Cade called himself John Mor- timer, pretending perhaps to be a son of Sir John Mortimer,, who had been put to death about twenty-five years before, at least to be a near relation of Richard, Duke of York." Rymer states that he sometimes styled himself "Sir John Amend-all," and continues, "now am I master of London, said Cade, striking his staff on London stone. This turbulent mob-leader had been a dependent on Sir Thomas Dacre in Sussex, but having murdered a woman and child, and in con- sequence having abjured the realm, he had served in the French army." Alluding to his success over the royal troops at Blackheath, given in A£l IV. Scene 3, Hall says, — " When the Kentish captain, or the covetous Cade, had thus obtained viftory, and slain the two valiant Staffords, he apparelled himself in their rich armour, and so with pomp and glory re- turned again towards London." The king's proclamation of pardon being accepted by the rebels, their leader was fain to seek his safety in flight, having been proscribed ; and hiding in the woods of his native county, Kent, was discovered by the sheriff I den, and slain. Several of Jack Cade's followers are mentioned by name, or craft ; thus we find, George Bevis ; John Holland ; Dick the Butcher of Ashford, where Cade was born ; Smith the Weaver ; a Sawyer ; Michael Best's son the Tanner of Wing- ham, a town between Canterbury and Ashford. Cade was " a clothier," or "dyer." "London Stone," sitting on which ancient relic of bye- gone ages the rebel captain issued his absurd commands as " Lord Mortimer," formerly stood on the south side of the street, but was removed to the opposite side, in Cannon- street, some years ago ; it is probably as old as the time of the Roman Londinium. In a book given by Athelstan, King of the West Saxons, some lands belonging to Christ-Church, Canterbury, are described to "lye near unto London Stone." Stow. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLA YS. 175 MARGARET, Queen to King Henry. The charadler of this high-minded woman, as drawn by Shakspeare, agrees in many respefls with her description by Enghsh and French writers. " Queen Margaret excelled all others as well in beauty and favour, as in wit and policy, and was in stomach and courage more like to a man than to a woman." Hall. Miss Strickland quotes from the French historian, Orleans, — "No woman surpassed her in beauty, and few men equalled her in courage." Another French writer, Barante, observes, — "there was no princess in Chris- tendom more accomplished than my lady Margaret of An- jou." Michael Drayton has a neat allusion to the delicate homage paid to this princess, under the guise of the humble flower which bears her name ; — " Of either sex who does not now delight To wear the daisy for Queen Marguerite?" Before the terrible "War of the Roses" broke out, which, called forth the energies of the intrepid queen in so striking a manner, as to deserve the title of " Captain Margaret," which. Clarence bestows upon her in scorn, she founded, in 1448, the- splendid institution in Cambridge University, called after her, "Queen's College," following the example of her meek and pious husband, who. in 1441 had erefted the great pride, of Cambridge, the noble "King's College," of which the Chapel is the most beautiful specimen of its style in England.. " King's College Chapel, the greatest beauty of Cambridge, and in many respe(5ls of its age." RiCKMAN. ELEANOR, Duchess of Gloucester. As Queen Margaret did not arrive in England until 1445, and the Duchess of Gloucester was arraigned and disgraced in 1441, the angry interview betwen them, in A61 I. Scene 3, is quite out of place. This unfortunate lady was the third daughter of Sir Reginald Cobham, of Sterborough, co. Surrey, eldest son of Reginald, second Lord Cobham, who is alluded to in King Richard II. as one of the companions of Boling- broke when he returned from exile. This second lord was son of Sir Reginald Cobham, who commanded the van of -the 176 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS English both at Cressy and Poitiers ; made by Edward III. a banneret, with a grant oi £SOO per annum to support the dig- nity; summoned ifl-i-342 to Parhament as Baron Cobham of Sterborough; ekaed a KG. in 1352; and with other posts held the office of Warden of the Cinque Ports. This great warrior died of the plague in 1361, leaving by his wife Joan, daughter of Thomas, first Lord Berkeley (by writ), a son, the second Lord Cobham, who by his first wife, Elizabeth Staf- ford, widow of Sir Fulke Strange, and daughter of Ralph, Earl of Stafford, K.G., was father of the third Sir Reginald, who is usually styled third Lord Cobham, though he does not appear to have been summoned to Parliament. This personage by his first wife, Eleanor, daughter of Sir Thomas Culpeper, Knight, had two sons, and foiir daughters. Of the latter, the third, ELEANOR COBHAM, is the charafter in this play, who was married to the good Duke Humphrey in 1428. Although her trial, upon the absurd charges brought against her through the malignity of her husband's enemies, took place in 1441, the " Hall of Justice," in the play, being St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, the duchess was not imme- diately sent to her place of banishment, the Isle of Man, but was first imprisoned in the Castles of Chester and Kenil- worth, and finally was removed to Peel Castle, in Man, where she died in 1454. Her confinement there seems to have been of a rigorous nature, the miserable pittance of 100 marks- yearly being all that was allowed for the maintenance of one who was the second lady in the kingdom, a very different treatment to that promised in the play, — A£t II. Scene 4 ; — " Like to a duchess, and Duke Humphre)''s lady ; According to that state you shall be used." There was no issue of the marriage of the Duke of Gloucester and Eleanor Cobham, who both fell vi6lims to the unrelent- ing liatred of Cardinal Beaufort. In The First Part of the Contention, is the stage direction ; " Enter Dame Elnor Cobham, bare-foote, and a white sheete about her, with a waxe candle in her hand, and verses written on her backe, and pind on, and accompanied with the Sheriffes of London, and Sir John Standi^, and Officers, with billes and holberds." In Aft II. Scene 4, of the play, "a Sheriff and officers" are IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 177 in attendance on Eleanor Cobham, who is represented as per- forming penance. The precise locality is not defined, being merely termed " a Street." As the duchess had to perform " three days' open penance," it may be taken for granted that this scene represents the last of the series, as the sheriff states that his commission is at an end, when on Friday, Nov. 17, 1441, "she landed at Queen Hive, and so went through Cheap to St Michael's, Cornhill, at which time the Maior, Sheriffs, and Crafts of London received her and accompanied her :" Stow, who however says nothing about the white sheet, the bare feet, or the papers pinned upon her back, mentioned in this play, though to be found in The First Part of tlie Contention, as above quoted. The Lord Mayor from Oftober 28, 1441, to 06lober 28, 1442, was Sir John Paddesley, and the Sheriffs were JOHN Sutton, and William Wetynghale. Grafton. The Arms of Sir John Paddesley were. Argent three fleurs-de-lis Azure, each charged with an Annulet Or. He was a member of the Goldsmiths' Company, and held the office of Master of the Mint. Stow, however, places Sir John Paddesley and the above-named Sheriffs one year earlier, and makes the officials for 144 1-2 to be Robert Clopton, Mayor, Gules a fesse Ermine between six mascles Or, and the Sheriffs, Wil- liam Combie and Richard Rich. Some interesting particulars have been recently published (1868, Kent and Sussex Archceological TransaSlions) by Mr W. Durrant Cooper, F.S.A., respe6ling "Cade's Rising in 1450," from which it appears that his followers were not merely "the filth and scum of Kent," but included persons of good position in that county and in Sussex, whose names, with those of inferior rank, are given to the amount of several hundreds, taken from the Patent Roll, 28 Hen. VI. 12 THIRD PART OF KING HENRY VI. Time of ASlion, from A.D. 1460 to 1471. KING HENRY THE SIXTH. Nothing but the untiring energy of his queen could have maintained Henry on a throne for which he was quite un- fitted, but which her dauntless courage so long upheld. The king himself was almost a helpless speflator of passing events, whether he was in the hands of his queen, of the Duke of York, of the Earl of Warwick, or of his young and successful rival, Edward the Fourth. Having been placed, when Edward obtained possession of London, in the Tower, the unhappy king is supposed to have been killed twelve days after the death of his son at Tewksbury. The Poet follows Holinshed, — " Poor King Henry VI. a little before deprived (as we have heard) of his realm and imperial crown, was now in the Tower spoiled of his life by Richard Duke of Gloster, as the constant fame ran." This deed is placed to the date of May 22, 147 1. Fleetwood attributes Henry's death to grief "No sovereign seems to have possessed purer feelings, or more up- right intentions than the meek and gentle Henry." SHARON Turner. Arms of King Henry VI. — As given in the First Part. EDWARD, Prince of Wales. This unfortunate heir to a throne was born at West- minster, 0(5t 13, 1453 ; he possessed much of his mother's bold spirit as well as her beauty, and was regarded as a prince of great promise. The Poet's description of the young NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS, &c. i7(j prince's personal merits quite agrees with the account given by historians ; — " A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman, Fram'd in the prodigality of nature, Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal. The spacious world cannot again afford." King Richard III. Ail I. Scene 2. Habyngton says, " the composition of his body being guilty of no fault but a too feminine beauty." Some writers con- sider that he was only affianced, not aftually married to Anne of Warwick. According to the Burgundian historian, George Chastellain, the marriage was suggested by Louis XI., who had a great esteem for the Earl of Warwick ; and by that king's persuasion Queen Margaret was induced, though after a long entreaty, to consent to a reconciliation with the great earl, and to the union of his youngest daughter to her son, which tock place at Amboise in July, 1470. After the great and decisive battle of Tewksbury, where the hopes of the Lancastrians were finally crushed, the queen and her son, according to the old chroniclers, were brought before the conquering Edward, and Shakspeare in his ac- count of the prince's death follows Holinshed ; after Edward struck him with his gauntlet, "incontinently George, Duke of Clarence, Richard, Duke of Gloster, Thomas Grey, Marquis Dorset, and William Lord Hastings, that stood by, suddenly murthered." George Bucke, the historian of Richard III., and whose grandfather, Sir John Bucke fought for that king at Bosworth, maintains that Gloster, though standing by, did not strike the young prince, who had in reality been taken prisoner by Sir Richard Croft, who only gave him up on the repeated promise that his life should be spared. Sir Richard Croft was the grandson and heir of Sir John Croft of Croft Castle, who married Janet, one of the daughters of Owen Glendower. SHAKSPEARE alludes to the promise held out by Edward IV. of safety for the prince \— " Is proclamation made— that who finds Edward, Shall have a high reward, and he his life.'" The death of this young prince is generally dated May 11, 147 1 ; he was the last legitimate male descendant of the House of Lancaster, and was buried at Tewksbury Abbey. 12 — 2 i8o NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Mr Sharon Turner inclines to the version of Bernard Andreas (1509) that Prince Edward was slain in fight during the battle of May 4. De Comines is apparently of tlie same opinion ; " he was killed on the spot," alluding to the fight. Anns of Edward Prince of fF«Z?J.— Quarterly FRANCE and England, a label Argent. LOUIS XL, King of France. This subtle prince succeeded his father Charles VII., July 22, 1461, and as he died August 30, 1483, his reign ran parallel with that of Edward IV. Although Louis supported Warwick when he quarrelled with Edward, who in turn was assisted by his brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, yet when the White Rose triumphed, and Edward marched at the head of a splendid army into France, with the avowed intention of claiming that kingdom, Louis contrived in the interview which he had with his rival king at Perquigny, 1475, not only to conclude a peace with him, but to lessen Edward's friendship for Burgundy. The assistance promised by Louis XI. to Henry VI. and Queen Margaret, to each of whom he was nearly related', had as might be expedled from his politic charafber an objeft of ulterior benefit to himself, or, as he expressed it to one of his ministers, showed that he " meant to play the game to some purpose." A deed is in the Archives of France, drawn up between Louis and Mar- garet, dated at Chinon, Juin... 1460, by which Margaret acknowledged the sum of 20,000 livres lent by Louis, for which she engaged that as soon as her husband should re- cover the town of Calais, then held for Edward IV., he will appoint either Jaspar Tudor, or Jean de Foix, as its Captain, who should surrender the town to Louis, within- one year, or pay double the sum lent The charafter of Louis XI. is drawn with a master's hand in Quentin Durward, by Sir Walter Scott. By his second wife, Charlotte of Savoy, Louis had three children, namely, a son, who succeeded him as Charles VIII.; and two daughters, I. Anne, who married Pierre de Bourbon, Lord of Beaujeu ; ^ Louis XI. was first cousin, on the in the same relationship, on his mother's father's side, to Henry VI., and stood side, to Queen Margaret. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. i8i and 2. Jeanne, who was married to Louis, Duke of Orleans, who on his accession to the throne, as Louis XII., obtained a divorce from the unhappy princess in order to espouse the great heiress, Anne of Bretagne, the widow of his predecessor Charles VIII. The first wife of Louis XI., when he was Dauphin, was the Princess Margaret, daughter of James I., King of Scots. Arms of Louis XI. — Azure \Sa.ree fleurs-de-lis Or. DUKE OF SOMERSET. This personage must be EDMUND BEAUFORT, fourth and last Duke of Somerset, brother of Henry, third Duke, who was taken prisoner at Hexham, 1464, and beheaded by the Yorkists the day after the battle. The charafter in this play commanded the archers of the Lancastrian army at Barnet, April 14, 147 1 ; after their defeat he joined Queen Margaret's forces, and held a high command at the disastrous battle of Tewksbury, fought May 4, 147 1 ; and being taken prisoner was beheaded by order of Edward IV., A6t V. Scene 5, — " For Somerset, off with his guilty head." Somerset, always faithful to the House of Lancaster, is quite out of place in A6t iv. Scene i, where he appears at the court of Edward IV. Arms of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. — Quarterly France and England, a border compony Argent and Azure. DUKE OF EXETER. This noble was HENRY HOLLAND, son of John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon, who is noticed in King Henry V., as present at Troyes, and was created Duke of Exeter, 1445, Constable of the Tower, Lord High Admiral, K.G. ; he died in 1446, leaving by his first -wife, Avidow of Edmund Mortimer, the last Earl of March, Anne Stafford, an only son, the cha- rafter in this play, second Duke of Exeter. Although he married Anne PlantagENET, sister to Edward IV., Henry i82 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Holland always remained faithful to Henry VI., sharing his triumph at Wakefield, but also his defeats at Towton, and Barnet ; at the latter place he was severely wounded, and left for dead until discovered by a retainer. He was attainted by Edward IV. and fell into the deepest poverty ; De Comines the historian records that he saw the Duke of Exeter begging for a morsel of bread. He died in 1473 ; his only daughter, Anne Holland was contrafted to Thomas Grey, first Mar- quess of Dorset, but died before marriage. The duke's widow married secondly, Sir Thomas St Leger, knight, and their daughter Anne married Sir George Manners, ancestor of the Dukes of Rutland, &c. Arms of Heniy Holland, Duke of Exeter, K.G. — ENGLAND and a border of FRANCE. EARL OF OXFORD. This nobleman was JOHN DE Vere, thirteenth Earl of Oxford, hereditary Lord Chamberlain of England, an office which had been held by his ancestors since the time that Henry I. appointed Alberic de Vere to that high post, to himself and his heirs ; and that person's son, Aubrey de Vere was created Earl of Oxford in 1135, by Henry II. Several members of this family filled a distinguished rank in history ; John, seventh earl, was one of the heroes of Cressy and Poi- tiers ; Robert, ninth earl, was the chief favourite of Richard II., who created him Marquess of Dublin, and Duke of Ire- land ; and the eleventh earl, Richard, who ser\fed at Agin- court, was father of John, twelfth earl, who by Elizabeth, only daughter and heir of Sir John Howard, knight, had five sons, and three daughters. His eldest son, Aubrey de Vere, was beheaded with him, and the second son, John, is the earl in this play ; a third son, Sir George de Vere, married Margaret, daughter of William Stafford of Frome, and their second son, John, became fourteenth earl. The father of the charafter in this play was attainted on the accession of Edward IV. and with his eldest son, was beheaded on Tower Hill, in 1461. The earl in this play alludes to their fate, when he is required by Warwick to acknowledge Edward as his king ; Aft III. Scene 3 ; — IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 183 " Call him my king, by whose injurious doom, My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere, Was done to death ? and more than so, my father, Even in the downfall of his mellow'd years, When nature brought him to the door of death?" The thirteenth earl, a most able captain, and a man of high character, commanded a wing of King Henry's army at Barnet ; he afterwards defended Saint Michael's Mount, and upon its surrender was sent as a prisoner to the castle of Hammes, or Ham, in Picardy ; this is alluded to in Aft V, Scene 5, though somewhat out of date ; King Edward di- re6ls — "Away with Oxford to Hammes' Castle straight." The earl escaped from his prison in 1484, and joined the Earl of Richmond; and as he will be found in the next play his memoir will be then resumed. This excellent nobleman, truly called by Queen Margaret "another anchor" of her husband's cause, is introduced by Sir Walter Scott, in Anne of Gierstein, under the assumed name of Philipson ; his only son, John de Vere, is in the novel called Arthur. The stately castle at Castle Hedingham, co. Essex, was erefted by the first Aubrey de Vere, and remained in pos- session of the family until 1625. The massive keep only remains; it is 62 feet by 55 feet, and lOO feet high, arid the wails are nearly 12 feet thick. Mr Rickman speaks of it as " one of the finest and best preserved of the Norman keeps, in which there are many fine Norman enrichments, and the building generally deserves attentive examination." The same great authority highly commends St Nicholas' Church, no doubt erefted by one of the family of De Vere, many of whom are there buried. Arms of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford. — Quarterly Gules and Or, in the first quarter a mullet Argent. GLOVER. EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND. This charafter, HENRY Percy, grandson of " Hotspur," is the third earl, whose father Henry, the second earl, fell at the first battle of St Alban's, May 22, 1455, fighting for the House of Lancaster. His death is alluded to in the opening i84 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS scene of this play, by the Duke of York, and also by King Henry, who reminds the son, — "Earl of Northumberland, he slew thy father." The second earl's wife was Eleanor Nevill, daughter of Ralph the great Earl of Westmoreland, by his second countess, Joan Beaufort, and by whom he had nine sons, and three daughters ; of the' former the chara6ler in this play was the eldest. He led the van of the Lancastrians at the battle of Towton, March 29, 1461, and fell sword in hand at that fatal field, leaving an only son, Henry Percy, who became fourth earl, and a K. G. and whose mother, Eleanor, sole daughter and heir of Richard Poynings, brought the baronies of Poynings, Bryan, and Fitz- Payne, to the House of Percy. King Edward, in A61 V. Scene 7, nobly alludes to the -deaths of this cha- rafter and his father, his " valiant foemen," — "And two Northumberlands ; two braver men Ne'er spurr'd their coursers at the trumpet's sound." Arms of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. — Azure five fusils in fesse Or. EARL OF WESTMORELAND. This personage was the second earl, who succeeded his grandfather in 1425, the charafter in the First and Second Parts of King Henry VI., and also in King Henry V. His father John Lord Nevill died in the great earl's lifetime, in 1423, leaving by his wife, Elizabeth Holland, daughter of Thomas second Earl of Kent, three sons, RALPH, Sir John Nevill, killed at Towton, and Thomas. Of these the eldest, Ralph Nevill, is the charafter in this play; his first wife was Elizabeth Percy, widow of Lord Clifford, and daughter of " Hotspur," by whom he had a son, John Nevill, who died in his father's life-time. The second earl died in 1485, and leaving no issue by his second wife, Margaret daughter of Sir Reginald Cobham, was succeeded as third earl by his nephew, Ralph Nevill, who was son of Sir John Nevill, slain at Towton. Arms of Nevill — As given in King Henry V. IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 185 LORD CLIFFORD. This is the " Young Clifford" of the preceding play, JOHN, ninth lord, the relentless foe of the House of York. After the battle of Wakefield, he slew in cold blood, the Earl of Rutland, for which cruel deed he was ever after called " the Butcher," a title to which Richard, afterwards Duke of Gloster, alludes in Aft II. Scene 2, — "Are you there, butcher?" Clifford was slain before the battle of Towton, namely, hear Ferry-bridge, where he had defeated the Yorkists under Lord Fitz-walter, but was in turn routed by Lord Faucon- berg, uncle to Warwick, in 1461. John, Lord Clifford, mar- ried Margaret Bromflete, daughter and heir of Henry, Lord Vescy, by whom he left a son, Henry, tenth Lord Clifford, who from the romantic nature of his early life was ever after- wards called the " Shepherd lord ;" he was father of Henry Clifford, created Earl of Cumberland, in 1525, K.G. whose last male descendant, Henry Clifford, fifth earl, died in 1643. Lord Clifford's widow, Margaret Bromflete, married se- condly a Northern knight. Sir Launcelot Threlkeld, of Threlk- eld, CO. Cumberland, by whom she had three daughters. Arms of Clifford. — Chequy Or and Azure a fesse Gules. RICHARD PLANTAGENET, Duke of York. This great prince, worthy of the throne to which he was entitled, closes his career in this part The opening scene wherein he occupies "the regal seat," occurred three days after the meeting of Parliament, held Oft. 7, 1460. Queen Margaret was in the North when she heard that the Duke of York was named to succeed to the throne to the exclusion of her son, and assembling a large army she was opposed with a much smaller force by the duke, who instead of defending himself in Sandal castle, and waiting for the expefted re- inforcements under his son Edward, as strongly urged by his friends, with a rash contempt of the queen descended into the plain, at Wakefield, where his army was routed, and he was slain, Dec 24, 1460. His head was placed on the top 1 86 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS of Mickle-gate bar, York ; Queen Margaret in the play gives order to that effeft, Aft I. Scene 4, — " Off with his head, and set it on York gates ; So York may overlook the town of York." The heads of the Earl of Salisbury, Sir Ralph Stanley, and other eminent Yorkists, were set up in the same ghastly manner. Drake's Eboracum. The body of the Duke of York was re-buried (from Pontefraft) at his principal seat, Fotheringay, July 29, 1466, his sons Edward and Richard being chief mourners at the stately funeral ceremony. At Wakefield, on the eastern side of the handsome stone bridge of Edward the Third's time, is a Gothic chapel, small but highly enriched, built by Edward IV., in memory of his noble father and followers slain in the battle. The relative numbers of the Queen's army and York's forces are correftly stated in KSt I. Scene 2. — Gabriel reports : — " The queen is hard by with twenty thousand men ;" and York says to Sir John Mortimer ; — " Five men to twenty ! — though the odds be great, I doubt not, uncle, of our victory." Sandal castle, two miles from Wakefield, was built, circa 1320, by John Warren, Earl of Warren and Surrey ; it was besieged by the Parliamentary forces afling against Charles I., and dismantled in 1645 ; a few remains exist. The compiler cannot identify the messenger, called in the Folio, of 1623, " Gabriel." Arms of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, K. G. — Quarterly FRANCE modern and ENGLAND, a label Gules, charged with nine torteauxes. EDWARD, Earl of March, afterwards King Edward IV. This prince was born April 29, 1442 ; under his title of March, derived from the Mortimers, he displayed not only the highest personal courage, but also the qualities of a con- summate general ; he was not twenty years of age when he IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 187 seconded Warwick to defeat the Lancastrians at Northampton, July 10, 1460. At the death of his " princely father" he suc- ceeded to the great title of his House ; — " No longer Earl of March, but Duke of York." Having defeated Jaspar Tudor at Mortimer's Cross, Feb. 2, 1461^ he rapidly advanced on London, despite the issue of the second battle of St Alban's, gained this time by Queen Margaret over the Earl of Warwick, Feb. 17, as alluded to in A61 II. Scene i, by that great baron himself, and Edward, received with great joy by the citizens, was condufted on the 4th of March to Westminster Hall, where " being set in the kinges seate with St Edward's scepter in his hande,'' he was saluted as king. But he still had to do battle for the throne, and having gained a decided viflory at Towton, March 29, he returned to London in triumph, and was crowned in West- minster Abbey, June 29, 1461. In A<51 II. the battle of Towton is given, and in Scene 6, Warwick, then his friend, says to the conquering Edward, — "And now to London with triumphant march. There to be crowned England's royal king." In Aft IV. Scene l, Edward's marriage with the beautiful widow, Elizabeth Grey, is announced ; it was first publicly declared at Reading, Sept. 29, 1464, having taken place in a private manner at Grafton on the first of May. Queen Eliza- beth was crowned May 26, 1465, and the play closes soon after the birth of her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, Nov. 1 1, 1470, who is brought in the arms of his Nurse on the scene. Arms of Edward Plantagenet. — In the earlier part of the " This battle is given in AcS II. With purple falchion, painted to Scene i, "A plain near Mortimer's the hilt," &c. Cross, in Herefordshire," and a mes- But Edward was then levying forces senger enters with tidings to Edward of in the borders of Wales, and after her the Duke of York's defeat and death, viclory Queen Margaret sent one di- at Wakefield. But in the previous scene vision of her army against him under York is made to speak of his eldest Jaspar Tudor, who encountered the new son as having thrice assisted him in the Duke of York not far from Wigmore ^,j^j(.]g . Castle, and where a stone records the " And full as oft came Edward to memorable battle of Mortimer's Cross, my side, i88 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS play the Earl of March would bear the arms of the House of York, and in the latter scenes the royal arms of ENGLAND. EDMUND, Earl of Rutland. This unfortunate young prince, third son of the Duke of York, was seventeen years old when he was slain by the ruthless Lord Clifford, having been born May 17, 1443. Nearly all writers follow Hall, who says that he was " scarce of the age of Xli. yeares." Carte gives his age correftly, — "Edmund Plantagenet, a youth but of 17 years old, was killed upon Wakefield-Bridge, in cold blood, after the battle was over, by the lord Clifford." He was buried by the side of his princely father at Fotheringay. In the opening scene of TIte Trtie Tragedie, "the yong Earle of Rutland" accompanies his father and brothers, to the Parliament House, " with White Roses in their hats." Arms of Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland. — Quar- terly France modern and ENGLAND, a label of five points of Leon and York. GEORGE, afterwards Duke of Clarence. This prince was born 061. 21, 1449, at Dublin castle, when his father was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; he was the sixth, though usually called the third son of the Duke of York. He was really too young to take the part assigned to him in the earlier scenes of this play. He was created Duke of Clarence by his brother, Edward IV., in 146 1, and a K.G. lord lieutenant of Ireland. After fighting for his brother he turned to Henry VI. ; again joined his brother, and was present with him at Tewksbury. He married Isabel Nevill, eldest daughter and co-heir of the great Earl of War- wick in this play, by whom he had a son and daughter, who will be noticed in the next play, where Clarence also will be found. Arms of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, K.G. — Quarterly France modern and England, a label charged on each point with a canton Gules. IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 189 RICHARD, afterwards Duke of Gloucester. He was the eighth though generally said to be the fourth son of the Duke of York, and was born at Fotheringay castle, the noble seat of the family, 06t. 2, 1452 ; his introdu6lion therefore in the preceding play, which closes with the first battle of St Alban's, fought May 22, 1455, is premature, as it is in the earlier scenes of this Part, the battle of Wakefield dating in 1460, of Mortimer's Cross in 1461, and that of Towton in the same year. In faft the young princes, George and Richard, had been taken by their widowed mother, the Duchess Cicely, after the battle of Wakefield to the court of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, where they remained until after the accession of their brother Edward to the throne. In 1461 Richard was created, by his brother, Duke of Glou- cester, the ominous title to which he objefls in the play, A61 II. Scene 6, — " Let me be Duke of Clarence, George of Gloucester, For Gloucester's dukedom is too ominous ;" alluding to the fate of the former holders of the dignity, Thomas of Woodstock, and the "good Duke Humphrey," both smothered in their beds. Richard, made a K.G. in 1465, commanded Edward's left wing at Barnet, and led his van at Tewksbury, and on each occasion behaved with great skill and valour. In the next play Gloster appears as Proteftor to his nephews, and finishes his blood-stained career, having obtained the objeft of his deep-laid schemes, hinted at by him in this Part, as " England's royal king." Arms of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, K.G. — Quarterly FRANCE modem and ENGLAND, a label Ermine charged on each point with a canton Gules. Garter Plate. DUKE _0F NORFOLK. At the date of the opening scene, 061. 10, 1460, this title was held by John Mowbray, third duke, but as he died in 146 1, it would be his son by Eleanor Bourchier, daughter of William Lord Bourchier, who is the personage intended, John Mowbray, fourth duke, much employed in France by Edward IV. who made him a K.G. He died in 1475, the I90 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS last male descendant of the ancient race of Mowbray, and by his wife, Elizabeth Talbot, daughter of John, second Earl of Shrewsbury, had an only child, Anne Mowbray,' who was affianced in early infancy, January 15, 1477, to the second son of Edward IV., Richard, Duke of York, who was also created Duke of Norfolk. After the deaths of this young prince and his infant bride, the former in 1483, the latter in 1482, Margaret Mowbray, eldest daughter of the Duke of Norfolk in King- Richard II., having become eldest co-heir to the ancient honours of the family, her son, by Sir Robert Howard, Knight, JOHN HOWARD, was created Duke of Nor- folk in 1483, and under that title he is a chara6ler in the next play. Arms of John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, K.G. — Gtdes a lion rampant Argent. MARQUESS OF MONTAGUE. This nobleman. Sir JOHN Nevill, was third son of Rich- ard, the Earl of Salisbury in the preceding play. He was summoned to Parliament in 1460, as Baron Nevill of Mon- tague; and in 1470 was created by Edward IV., Marquess of Montague ; he had been made a K.G. in 1462. At first he supported the cause of the House of York, and defeated the Lancastrians at Hexham, 1463, but he went over to the latter party, when the indignity was offered to his brother, the Earl of Warwick, by Edward IV, and he shared the fate of that great baron at Barnet, April 14, 147 1. In A61 V. Scene 2, his death is related by Somerset, — " Ah, Warwick ! Montague hath breath'd his last ; And to the latest gasp cried out for Warwick. And said, ' Commend me to my valiant brother.' " The bodies of the two great brothers, after having been exposed to public view in St Paul's Cathedral, were removed to the ancient burial-place of the Montacutes, Bisham Priory, CO. Berks, founded in 1338 by William de Montacute, first Earl of SaHsbury, and where Richard Nevill, Earl of Salis- bury, father of Wanvick and Montague, was buried. The Marquess of Montague married Isabel, daughter of IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 191 Sir Edmund Ingbldsthorp, Knight, whose wife, Johanna Tibetoft, was descended from Edward III. by whom he had two sons, and five daughters ; the eldest son, GEORGE Nevill, to whom Edward IV. had promised his eldest daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, and created by him, in 1469, Duke of Bedford, was degraded from his rank at his father's attainder, and died in 1483. Arms of yokn Nevill, Marquess of Montague, K.G. — Quarterly, i, and 4, MONTACUTE and MONTHERMER; 2, and 3, Nevill with a label ; the whole being charged with two annulets interlaced, for difference. Garter Plate. EARL OF WARWICK. This is the powerful nobleman called by Sir E. L. Bulwer Ljd;ton, " The last of the Barons," in the historical romance of that title, — " a man who stood colossal amidst the iron images of the age, — the greatest and the last of the old Norman chivalry, — kinglier in pride, in state, in possessions, and in renown than the king himself, Richard Nevill, Earl of Salis- bury and Warwick." The real cause of this potent baron falling away from Edward IV. is stated by most of the old chroniclers to have arisen from some insult offered by that amorous monarch to a female member of Warwick's family'; the Poet makes him say, no doubt in allusion to this rumour, in A(5l III. Scene 3, — " Did I let pass the abuse done to my niece," — it is however supposed, as his nieces were quite children, that the insulted lady was one of his own daughters; Mr Carte says Isabel, but Sir E. L. Bulwer Lytton suggests that, as Isabel was then the wife of Clarence, it was Warwick's young- est daughter, Anne Nevill, " then in the flower of her youth." In A61 IL Scene 3, of the Third Part, where the scene is — " A field of battle between Towton and Saxton in York- shire," the Earl of Warwick says, — " 111 kill my horse, because I wiU not fly." At a place called Tysoe, in the county of Wanvick, " on the ^ " The certainty was not for both their honours openly known." Hall. 192 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS side of a hill, opposite the church, is cut the figure of a horse which from the colour of the soil is termed the Red Horse, and the adjacent lowlands are called the Red Horse Vale. It is supposed that this figure was designed in commemoration of the well-known aft of Richard Nevill, Earl of Warwick, who killed his horse at the battle of Towton, fought on Palm Sunday, 1461, on which day it has been customary for the people to assemble for the purpose of 'scouring the horse,' or clearing it from the encumbrances of vegetation." GORTON, Topog. Diet. The great earl also killed his horse at Barnet Field, and fought on foot to encourage his soldiers. The great earl, who was a K.G., and died at Barnet Field, April 14, 1 47 1, married the heiress of the Earl of Warwick, in Parts I. and //., Anne Beauchaaip, and by her had two daughters, the eldest ISABEL Nevili., born 145 1, became the wife of George, Duke of Clarence ; and the second is the " Lady Anne " of the next play. From the attainder of the Earl of Warwick his vast estates were seized by the crown, and his countess lived in distress and obscurity until the reign of Henry VII., who restored to that great heiress her family possessions, which she afterwards transferred to him and his heirs male. Arms of Ricliard Nevill, Earl of Warwick, K.G. — Gules a saltier Argent. His well-known cognizance, — " The rampant bear chain' d to the ragged staff, — "^ came to him from the Beauchamps, although in the play, Warwick says of it, A61 V. Scene i, in Part II., — " Now, by my father's badge, old Nevill's crest." But the crest of the Nevills was a dun bull's head. EARL OF PEMBROKE. Two persons at this time enjoyed the title; one was Jaspar Tudor, created Earl of Pembroke by his half-brother, Henry VI. in 1452 ; the other was WILLIAM HERBERT, Lord Herbert, upon whom Edward IV. conferred the title, May 27, 1468. As Jaspar Tudor was ahrays a staunch Lancastrian, it must be William Herbert who is introduced in A61 IV. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 193 Scene i, in the suite of Edward IV. to whose cause he was strongly attached. He was taken prisoner after the battle of Danesmoor, co. Northampton, where he was defeated by the Lancastrians, and beheaded at Northampton, July 26, 1469, leaving by his wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Walter Devereux, his eldest son, William Herbert, second Earl of Pembroke, three other sons, of whom Sir Walter Herbert is a cha- rafter in the next play, and six daughters, to one of whom it was in contemplation that Henry Tudor should be married. Anns of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. — Per pale Azure and Gules three lions rampant Argent, a border com- pony Or and of the second bezant^e. LORD HASTINGS. This eminent person, WILLIAM HASTINGS, K.G., the faithful Chamberlain of Edward IV., and the firm adherent of his children, belongs chiefly to the next play, wherein his memoir will be resumed. He held high commands in Ed- ward's great battles, was much in his confidence, and is well styled in this play, — " The Lord Hastings, the king's chiefest friend." Arms of William, Lord Hastings, K.G. — Argent a maunch Sable. LORD STAFFORD. This nobleman was Sir Humphrey Stafford of Suth- wyck, a cousin of the two valiant Staffords, slain in Jack Cade's rebellion, and was son of William Stafford and Cathe- rine, daughter of Sir John Chidiock, Knight. Sir Humphrey was summoned to Parliament as a baron in 1464, and created Lord Stafford of Suthwyck, April 24, 1464, and Earl of Devon, May 7, 1469; but soon after deserting the royal banner under the Earl of Pembroke, and thereby causing his defeat at Danesmoor, Edward IV. enraged at his defeftion gave orders for the attainder and arrest of Stafford, who being taken near Bridgewater was there beheaded, August 17, 1469. He married Isabel, daughter of Sir John Barre, 13 194 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Knight, but had no issue. In the play, Stafford, like Pem- broke, is a silent speaator in the only scene wherein they appear. Aft iv. Scene i ; and were it not that they are addressed by King Edward, they might be omitted ; — " Pembroke, and Stafford, you in our behalf. Go, levy men, and make prepare for war." In The True Tragedie of Richard, Duke of Yorke, Lord Stafford is not introduced, and the king merely says to the other noble, — " Pembrooke, go raise an amiie presentlie." This order had in reality reference to the northern insurrec- tion under Robin of Riddesdale, who confronted the Earl of Pembroke at Danesmoor, and defeated him, owing to the desertion of Stafford. An air of romance and mystery surrounds the name of Robin of Riddesdale, who is considered by Wotton and other genealogists to be the son of Sir Robert Hildj-^ard, a knight of ancient family in the county of York. Robin, in revenge for some personal wrongs, became a leader of the people ; he figures largely in Sir E. Buhver Lytton's Last of the Barons. Sir James Mackintosh styles him " a hero among the moss-troopers of the borders." Arms of Lord Stafford of Soiithwyk. — Or a chevron with- in a border engrailed Sable. SIR JOHN MORTIMER SIR HUGH MORTIMER ' j- Uncles to tlie Duke of York. Mr T. P. Courtenay says of these worthies, " these were two bastard uncles by the mother's side," the Duke of York being the son of Anne Mortimer, but it does not appear who was the father of these charafters, who both fell at Wakefield, Dec. 30, 1460. The legitimate male issue of the Mortimers, Earls of March, ceased with Edmund, fifth earl in 1424. Arms. — These charaflers would bear the arms of MOR- TIMER, as before given, debruised with a baton sinister. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 195 HENR Y, Earl of Richmond, a Youth. The future King of England is here introduced no doubt for the sake of bringing in the prophecy of Henry VI. re- spefting his destined greatness. Speaking of Jaspar Tudor, Dugdale quoting from Polydore Vergil says, — " Finding Henry Earl of Richmond in the custody of William Herbert's widow, he brought him from her, and carried him to King Henry, who looking upon him prophetically said. This is Jie who shall quietly possess what we aiid our adversaries do now contend for." It will be seen that in the play, A61 IV. Scene 6, the Earl of Richmond appears under the "tender care" of the Duke of Somerset, his near kinsman, the last male of the Beauforts, through whom Henry Tudor founded his pretensions to the throne. Lord Bacon says of Henry VII. coming to the throne, — "he rested on the title of Lan- caster in the main, using the marriage and viftory as sup- porters." It is very significant that Henry VII. adopted for one of his chief badges the cognizance of the Beauforts, a portcullis, with the addition of a motto, " Altera securitas." Arms of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. — Quarterly France modem and England, in a border Azure eight martlets Or. LORD RIVERS, Brother to Lady Grey. This chara6ter was Sir Anthony WooDAaLE, eldest son of the "Woodvile, Lieutenant of the Tower," in the First Part of King Henry VI., at whose death in 1469, the cha- racter in this play succeeded as second Earl Rivers, but until then he was known as " Lord Scales," by which title he was summoned to Parliament in 1462, having married the rich heiress, Elizabeth Scales, daughter of the " Lord Scales " of the preceding play. This marriage is bitterly alluded to by Gloster, who upbraids his brother, Edward IV. in Aft IV. Scene i ; — "And yet, methinks, your grace hath not done well. To give the heir and daughter of Lord Scales Unto the brother of your loving bride, She better would have fitted me, or Clarence." Anthony, Lord Scales, who was made a K.G. by Edward IV., 13—2 196 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS fills an important part in the next play, under the style of " Earl Rivers." Gloster taunts the Woodvile family as if they were of mean origin, applying to them the expressions ; — "And the queen's kindred are become gentlefolks." " Since every Jack became a gentleman, There's many a gentle person made a Jack ;" but on the mother's side their ancestry justifies the language of Queen Elizabeth Woodvile ; — " Do me but right, and you must all confess That I was not ignoble of descent" The Duchess Jacqueline, mother of the Woodviles, was daughter of Peter, Count of St Pol, son of Guy of Luxem- burg, whose ancestor Waleran, Count of Luxemburg, mar- ried Maud, daughter of Guy de Chatillon, Count of St Pol, by Mary, second daughter of John de Dreux, Duke of Bri- tany, whose wife was Beatrice, second daughter of Henry III. King of England. Arms of Anthony Woodvile, K.G. — Argent a fesse and canton Gules, for WOODVILE, impaling Gules six escallops Argent three two and one, for SCALES. SIR WILLIAM STANLEY. This personage is brother of "Sir John Stanley," in the preceding Part, and also of " Lord Stanley," in the next play. He obtained in 1460 from Edward IV. the lordship and castle of Skipton, co. York, on the attainder of Lord Clifford. The only scene wherein he figures agrees with the relation of some chroniclers, by whom it is said that Sir William Stanley and Sir Thomas Borough rescued Edward IV. from Middle- ham Castle ; other writers state that his escape was really made from the More, in Hertfordshire, a seat of Archbishop Nevill, to which the king had been removed from Middleham. Tradition is chiefly in favour of Middleham Castle, being the place whence Edward made his escape ; in the scene he asks whither his friends propose to take him, to which Lord Hast- ings replies, — " To Lynn, my lord, And ship from thence to Flanders." IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 197 Lynn (Regis) would be a convenient port for Edward to take ship in route from Yorkshire, whereas he would hardly go northwards for a place of embarkation if his escape had been from Hertfordshire. Hume, however, makes Edward's escape to Lynn to have been effefted through the advice of Lord Hastings, when Warwick's brother Montague surprised their quarters near Nottingham. This answers to Aft IV. Scene 3, where Edward is seized by the king-maker, and sent to Mid- dleham, a story which the historian treats as a fiftion. Sir William Stanley is named in the next play, as among the persons of " great fame and worth," who joined the Earl of Richmond, and his opportune arrival at Boswprth with his 3000 tall men of Cheshire turned the tide of battle against Richard IH. Well might Richmond when he became king reward Sir William with many honours, making him a K.G. and Lord Chamberlain ; but joining the conspiracy of Eerkin Warbeck, Sir William Stanley, accused of high treason, was beheaded on Tower Hill, Feb. 16, 1495, and his large estates, rich plate, and valuable possessions were seized by the ava- ricious king. A few months after the death of Sir William Stanley, Henry VII. paid a visit to Lathom House, co. Lan- caster, a seat of the Earl of Derby, his step-father, who con- duced the king to view the extensive prospefl from the leads of the mansion ; these were unprotefted by parapets, and the earl's jester, who had been warmly attached to Sir William, came behind his master, and with a menacing gesture towards the king muttered, "TOM, remember Will!" Henry over- heard the ominous suggestion, and quitted rapidly the dangerous spot. Memoirs of the HOUSE of Stajstley. Sir William Stanley married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Hopton, and had a son, Sir William Stanley, whose only child, Jane, by his wife Jane, daughter and heir of Sir Geoffrey Massy of Tatton, married Sir Richard Brereton of Malpas. Ormerod's Clieshire. Arms of Sir William Stanley, K.G. — Argent on a bend Azure three bucks' heads caboshed Or, a crescent for differ- ence. SIR JOHN MONTGOMERY. The name of this knight, who has been mistaken for his 198 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS brother, should be Thomas Montgomery, who joined King Edward IV. at Nottingham with a considerable force, and was also with him at the battle of Barnet'. The declaration of this chara6ler in A6t IV. Scene 7,— " I came to serve a king, and not a duke,"— is recorded in history as his language on the occasion, as it was also of Sir James Harrington, and Sir Thomas Borough, at the same time. Sir Thomas Montgomery was the second son of Sir John Montgomery, K.B. of Falkbourn, co. Essex, by Eliza- beth his wife, sister of Ralph Boteler, Lord Sudely, by whom he had two sons, Sir John, beheaded 3 Edward IV., and Sir Thomas, the charafler intended in this play, who had been "esquire of the body" to Henry VI.° ; he was Sheriff of Hants. 23 Henry VI., and of Norfolk, 2, 3, and 7 Edward IV. and 6 Henry VII. He became one of the most intimate councillors of Edward IV., and De Comines speaks of him as " un Chivalier fort privd de luy." That king appointed him Steward of Hadley for life. Treasurer of Ireland for life. Captain of Carnarvon ; he accompanied Edward to France, and was afterwards his Ambassador to Louis XI. Sir Tho- mas was sele6led to escort Queen Margaret to France, when she left England for ever in 1475, although her departure, in the last scene, is made to take place much earlier, — "Away with her, and waft her hence to France.'" Edward IV. made Sir Thomas Montgomery a K.G. April 22, 1475, and appointed him one of the executors to his will. He attended the coronation of Richard III. to whom he was one of tlie " knights of the body," and he died 9 Henry VII., Jan. I r, 1495. Anstis. Sir Thomas Montgomery married first, Philippa, daughter and heir of John Helion, of Bumsted- Helion, co. Essex ; and secondly, Lora, reli£l of John Blount, Lord Mountjoy, and daughter of Sir Edward Berkeley, of Beverston, but had no issue by either of his wives ; and his sister Alice, wife of Robert Langley, became his heir. ' This knight is called " Sir Thomas squier, Thomas Montgomery, son of Montgomerie" by HoUnshed. the mareschal of his liall, for his en- * Henry VI., in his 25th year, tendance upon the Duke of Norfolke, gave forty pounds "to his well-beloved at Killingworth." Anstis. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 199 Arms of Sir T/wmas Montgomery, K.G. — Gules a chevron between three fleurs-de-lis Or. SIR JOHN SOMER VILLE. This knight probably belonged to the ancient family of Somerville, seated at Wichnor, co. Stafford, and at Aston- Somerville in the county of Gloucester, soon after the Con- quest. The latter manor was purchased in 1742 by James, thirteenth Lord Somerville, from the then owner, the Poet, William Somerville, author of The Chase. An ancestor, in common. Sir Philip Somerville, who died 29 Edward III.j I3SSj was obliged by his tenure to give a flitch of bacon, in his hall at Wichnor, to all couples who had been married a year, and would make oath that they had not quarrelled, or repented of their union, &c. A similar custom prevailed at Little Dunmow, Essex. A Robert Somerville was Sheriff co, Gloucester in 1401, he was son of a Sir John Somerville. In early editions no Christian name is assigned to the chara<5ler in this play. In The True Tragedie he is simply styled " Summerfield," and in the Folio of 1623, "Somervile." It may be remarked that if Somerville brought up his re- tainers from Aston-Somerville, which is four miles south of Evesham, he would probably pass very near Stratford-upon- Avon, and cross the Roman Foss Way to Southam, thus avoiding the town of Warwick, and reaching Coventry before the Duke of Clarence, who in his belief was following to the assistance of his noble father-in-law ; thus he tells the Earl of Warwick, — "At Southam I did leave him with his forces, And do expe(fl him here some two hours hence" It is the Compiler's impression that " Somerville," in the play, was Sir Thomas, who died 16 Henry VII., 1500, a descend- ant of Robert, the Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1401. Arms of Somerville, of Aston-Somerville. — Argent on a fesse between three annulets Gules as many leopards' heads Or. In the Chancel window of Aston-Somerville Church. 200 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS TUTOR TO RUTLAND. "Whilst this battail was fighting, a priest, called Sir Robert Aspall, chapellaine and scholemaster to the yonge erle of Rutlande, ii sone to the above-named duke of York, scarce of the age of xii yeres, a fair gentleman, and mayden- like person, perceyving that flyght was more safe-guard than tarrying both for hym and his master, secretly conveyed the erle out of the felde," &c Hall. The Aspalls were of an old family, and well allied ; John Lord Tiptoffs second wife Elizabeth was daughter of Sir Robert Aspall, Knight, time of Edward III. The Aspalls of Norfolk bore for Arms, Azure three chevrons Or. These Arms are seen on the tomb of Sir Humphrey Bourchier in Westminster Abbey. The family seated in Northamptonshire had the chevrons Argent. MAYOR OF YORK. This official was THOMAS BEVERLEY, Merchant of the Staple; he was Sheriff of the City of York in 145 1, and Lord Mayor in .1460, and again in 147 1, the date of King Edward's visit. Drake's Eboraaim. The Mayor at first was inclined to resist his entrance, but he obtained admittance on the plea set forth in the drama, A61 IV. Scene 7, — " I challenge nothing but my dukedom, As being well content with that alone." The title of " Lord Mayor " was first bestowed on the chief magistrate by Richard H., at his visit to York in 1389, on which occasion he gave his own sword to the Mayor. In Tlu True Tragedie this official has his proper title applied, " Enter the Lord Maire of Yorke upon the walls," and Edward and Hastings address him, — "My lord Maire," but in the usual editions they style him — " Master Mayor." MA YOR OF COVENTR Y. In Aflv. Scene i, where the aftion is laid at Coventry, a town much devoted to the interests of Henry and his Queen, the stage direction is, " Enter upon t/ie walls WARWICK, the IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 201 Mayor of Coventry, two Messengers, attd others'' As this occurs, as we learn from the context, just before the battle of Barnet, April 14, 1471, it may be concluded that the Mayor was John Brett, who served 1470-1, and who for his adher- ence to Henry VI. was deprived of his sword of state by Edward IV., and the citizens had to pay a fine of SCX) marks to recover the sword, and their franchise. Four years later Edward IV. kept the festival of St George at Coventry, and became sponsor to the infant child of the Mayor. LIEUTENANT OF THE TOWER. The two chief officers of this important place, which was a royal residence, a fortress, a state prison, and containing an armoury, and the Royal Mint, were the Constable, and his Lieutenant ; the former was generally ?. person of very high rank, and the latter was usually of knightly degree. Unfortu- nately the records of the Tower are defeftive, and at this period the names of the "lieutenants" are rarely mentioned. John Chauncey was lieutenant under Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, 31 Henry VI. 1452, but for how long after does not appear. From the language used in A61 iv. Scene 6, by " master lieutenant," and the reply of Henry VI. to his apo- logy, we may infer that this officer is intended for John Tibe- toft, first Earl of Worcester, of that name, who was appointed " Constable of the Tower," by Edward IV. at. his accession ; the Earl, who was a zealous Yorkist, was beheaded in 14.71, when the Lancastrians were in power for a brief space. His successor was John Sutton, Lord Dudley, K.G., who will be " the Lieutenant," attending in A61 v. Scene 6, when he is ordered by Gloucester to leave him alone with the ill-fated Henry VI.— " Sirrah, leave us to ourselves ; we must confer." In this century the post of " Constable of the Tower" has been filled by the most eminent soldiers of the day, having been held in succession by the Marquess Cornwallis, the Mar- quess of Hastings, the Duke of Wellington, and Viscount Combermere. The present Constable is Field Marshal Gene- 202 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS ral Sir John F. Burgoyne, G.C.B. ; and the Lieutenant is Lt.-Gen. Lord de Ros, Premier Baron. A NOBLEMAN. The title of " Nobleman," in the sixteenth century would not be confined to a member of the peerage, and in these plays Shakspeare applies the term to knights ; thus in I King Henry IV., A61 II. Scene 4, Mrs Quickly tells Prince Hal, "My lord, there is a nobleman of the court at door, would speak with you ;" this person, as we afterwards learn from Falstaff, was " Sir John Bracy." In his Accidence of Armorie, Gerard Leigh classes as Nobiles, "Gentleman, Esquire, Knight, Baron, Lorde," 1597. And by other heraldic authorities a knight was accounted one among the " Nobiles Minores." By the person introduced in KSt III. Scene 2, where he tells King Edward, — " My gracious lord, Henry your foe is taken, And brought your prisoner to your palace gate;" we may probably understand Sir James Harrington, whose servants captured the unhappy monarch during his retreat in the North, at Waddington Hall. Edward IV. bestowed on " Sir James Haryngton, Knight, for taking his great rebel Henry lately called Henry the Sixth, the castle, manor, and lordship of Thurland, and other lands in the counties of Lan- caster, York and Westmoreland, which belonged to Richard Tunstall." The writ is dated July 29, 1465. Rymer's Fcedera. In the previous scene the " two keepers," who take the king, are mentioned by name, in the edition of 1623, — " Entei' Sinclo and Huinfrey, with crosse-bowcs in their hands;" Holinshed, speaking of King Henry's arrest, says, — "he was taken of one Cantlow ;" and in the Ponton Letters, one of the persons who were with Queen Margaret in Scotland is men- tioned as " Giles Senclowe." Sir William Cantlow was Sheriff of London in 1448, and died in 1462. WeeVER. ShakSPEARE therefore seems to have had authority for one name at least of Henry's captors. Many critics however consider that " Sinclo IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 203 Boot of King Henry VI. 204 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS and Humfrey " are the names of aftors belonging to Shak- SPEARE's company. The boots and gloves worn by Henry VI. during his retreat in the North were left by him at Bolton Hall, co. York, the seat of Sir Ralph Pudsey, when the ill-fated king, fearing deteftion, fled onwards to Waddington Hall. These relics, of tanned leather lined with deer-skin, are still preserved by Captain Pudsey Dawson, a descendant of Sir Ralph Pudsey. The king's leather pen-case was left behind at Waddington Hall, a seat of the Tempest family, and the relic now belongs to the Hon. Robert Curzon. QUEEN MARGARET. Probably no female ever passed through such scenes of alternate splendour and misery as Margaret of Anjou ; but her joys may be said to have been exceeded in intensity by her griefs, and thus Voltaire speaks of her, as " the most un- happy wife, mother, and queen in Europe." George Chastel- lain, the Burgundian historian, who Avas personally known to Margaret in her exile, tells us, — "the sufferings she endured from hunger, cold, and poverty, had many times, she said, endangered her life quite as much as if she had fallen into the hands of her foes." She assured the Duchess of Bourbon that, " on one occasion King Henry, the little prince, and herself, were reduced to such abject misery and destitution, that for five days they had but one herring between the three, and not more bread than would have sufficed for one day's nourish- ment:"— Chastellain, who relates the incident of the robber affording proteflion to the fugitive queen and her son, as it was told to the historian by Margaret herself Shakspeare continues her in the next play, although she had left England for the last time before the death of Edward the Fourth. LADY GREY, afterwards Queen to Edward IV. Elizabeth Woodvile was the first subject raised to the throne of England, as the wife of the reigning sovereign. She was the eldest daughter of Richard Woodvile, Earl Rivers, and Jacqueline, widow of the Duke of Bedford,- and IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 205 was born in 1437, at the family seat, Grafton, co. Northamp- ton. Although Elizabeth Woodvile was some years older than Edward IV., it is evident that those writers who place her birth in 143 1, forget that her mother's first husband, the Duke of Bedford, did not die until Sept. 14, 1435 ; and at her second marriage in the following year the Duchess Jacqueline was little inore than seventeen years of age. Elizabeth Woodvile was appointed a maid of honour to Queen Margaret, and married Sir John Grey, eldest son and heir of Edward, Lord Grey of Groby, by whom she had, with a daughter, two sons, who are chara6lers in the next play. In this Fart King Edward enquires of his future queen, — " How many children hast thou, widow ? tell me ;" — to which she replies, — " Three, my most gracious lord." The daughter probably died young, as no genealogist, within the Compiler's search, records anything of her. Sir John Grey died Feb. 28, 1461, of wounds received in the second battle of St Alban's, Feb. 17 ; where he had the leading of Queen Margaret's cavalry ; in the play however it is wrongly stated by King Edward, — " in quarrel of the house of York The worthy gentleman did lose his life." This is so stated in Tke True Tragedie, where the knight is called " Sir Richard Gray," as he is, unfortunately, in many editions ; Pope very correftly suggested his right style, " Sir John Grey." Miss Strickland gives an interesting account of the first interview between the widow Grey and Edward IV. in Whit- tlebury Forest, near Grafton, where she waited with her two young sons, under a noble tree, still known as "the Queen's Oak," to urge the restitution of their father's lands at Brad- gate. Elizabeth not only obtained her request, but also the hand of the King ; their marriage was strongly opposed by his mother, the Duchess Cicely, " who letted it as much as in her lay " (Hall) ; and it gave great offence not only to the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, but also to Warwick, who deemed that if Edward intended to marry a subjefl:, his eldest 2o6 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS daughter Isabel would have been a fitter choice. Edward did not declare his marriage publicly until Michaelmas day, 1464 ; his queen was crowned May 26, 1465. Miss Strickland says of her, "the advancement of her own relations, and the de- preciation of her husband's friends and family, were her chief objeas." Shakspeare, in this and the next play, describes the ill-will arising from her partiality, which in the end wrought so much evil to her race. BONA, Sister to the French Queen. The Princess Bona, or Bonne of Savoy, was the third daughter of Louis, first Duke of Savoy ; her eldest sister, Charlotte was the Queen of Louis XI. Mr T. P. Courtenay says, — " With one exception, however, of doubtful authority, there is no ground in contemporary historians, French or Lnglish, for Edward's suit to the lady Bona. It was probably taken from Polydore Vergil \" Dr Lingard rejefts the story of Warwick being sent to ask for the hand of the Lady Bona, and says, — " to me the whole story appears a fiftion." De Comines is silent on the subjefl, but SHAKSPEARE would find the hints for Warwick's mission in Grafton. In the play, A61 III. Scene 3, lady Bona, in return for the scorn put upon her by Edward's marriage to Lady Grey, sends a message to that king, — " Tell him, in hope he 11 prove a widower shortly, I 'U wear the willow garland for his sake." She however in 1468 married Galeazzo-Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, and died in 1485 ; one of their daughters, Mary, became the second wife of the Emperor Maximilian the First. Among the persons mentioned in the course of this play, though not taking part in the aftion, is in the first scene the "Earl of Wiltshire," who was wounded by Montague. This nobleman was James Butler, eldest son of James, fourth ' Polydore Vergil's history was com- turalization, i Henry VIII. 061. i, menced in 1505, and finished in 15 17. 1510, "sit indigena et ligeus noster." This foreigner received letters of na- Rymer's Fcedera. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 207 Earl of Ormonde, whom he succeeded as fifth earl in 1452, but was created, in his father's lifetime, Earl of Wiltshire, 1449; he was also Lord Treasurer, and a K.G. A staunch Lancastrian, he was wounded at St Alban's, 1455, and being taken prisoner by the Yorkists at Towton, was beheaded May 1st, 1460. The noble house of Butler has an illustrious pedigree. Henry the Second, in 1177, conferred the office, since heredi- tary in the family, of Chief Butler of Ireland, upon Theobald le Boteler, whose descendant Edmund was created Earl of Carrick in 1315, and his eldest son, James Butler, created Earl of Ormonde in 1328, married Eleanor, eldest daughter and co-heir of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, whose wife was the Princess Elizabeth, seventh daughter of Edward the First. The present Marquess of Ormonde is descended from the third Earl of Ormonde through his second son. Sir Richard Butler, who is an ancestor of the Duke of Wei:- lington. In the same scene Queen Margaret says, — " Stem Falconbridge commands the narrow seas." This would be meant for WILLIAM Nevill, second son of Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland, by his second wife, Joan Beaufort, and created by Henry VI., in 1439, Baron Faucon- berg, and a K.G. He was a great commander, and for his services at Towton, Edward IV. created him Earl of Kent, and Admiral of England ; he died in 1462. Some commen- tators think that the person here intended is Thomas Nevill, base son of Lord Fauconberg, and who figures in history as one of the last adherents of the Lancastrian cause, under the name of the "Bastard Fauconberg," but it is evident that Queen Margaret speaks of one who did not belong to King Henry's side, £is in the preceding line she also says, alluding to the opposite fa(5tion, — " Warwick is chancellor, and the lord of Calais;" that great noble being the nephew of Lord Fauconberg, and Calais, the important gate by which to enter France, was then held by Warwick as its captain, who being also Constable of Dover Castle, had thus the command of " the narrow seas," the Channel, his uncle being Admiral, and a Yorkist. 2o8 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS, &c. In the second scene the Duke of York direfls his son, — " You, Edward, shall unto my Lord Cobham, With whom the Kentishmen will willingly rise.'' That nobleman was SiR Edward Brooke, summoned to Parliament as Lord Cobham of Kent, from 1445 to 1460. He supported the cause of the house of York at St Alban's, and commanded their left wing at Northampton, 1469. In Adt III. Scene 3, a stage direftion is found in the edition of 1623, which should be retained in all modern editions; — "Enter Lewis the French King, his Sister Bona, his Adtnirall call'd Bourbon" &c. ; and this latter person is addressed by the French monarch as present, — " These soldiers shall be levied, And thou, Lord Bourbon, our high admiral, Shall waft them over with our royal fleet" This personage was LOUIS, Count of ROUSSILLON, a natural son of Charles, Duke of Bourbon, whose father is the charafter in King Henry V., John, Duke of Bourbon, taken prisoner at Agincourt. The Admiral Bourbon, who married Joan, natu- ral daughter of Louis XI., bore for arms, France, a baton raguly Gules, debruised with a bend sinister. In A61 IV. Scene 3, King Edward, taken prisoner by Warwick, then in arms against him, is sent to Middleham Castle, — " See that forthwith Duke Edward be convey'd Unto my brother. Archbishop of York." This prelate was GEORGE Nevill, fourth son of Richard, Earl of Salisbury, to whom the castle belonged. At the attainder of the great Earl of Warwick, to whom the castle came, Edward IV. bestowed it upon his brother, Richard of Gloucester, whose son, Edward Prince of Wales was born there. The ruins of the place attest its former grandeur, the massive keep being still very fine, and commanding an extensive view. KING RICHARD III. Time of Aiiion, from A.D. 1471 to 1485. KING EDWARD THE FOURTH. Although the death of Henry VI. did not take place till 1471, the reign of his fortunate rival has always dated from March 4, 1461, and no parliaments were summoned in the name of Henry VI. after that of 06t 7, 1460. By his queen, Elizabeth Woodvile, to whom he was mar- ried May I, 1464, Edward the Fourth had three sons and seven daughters ; the former were, i. Edward, Prince of Wales, born Nov. 4, 1470; 2. Richard, Duke of York, born August 17, 1472 ; 3! GEORGE, Dulce of Bedford, died an infant\ The daughters were, I. ELIZABETH, afterwards queen to Henry VII., born Feb. 11, 1466; 2. Mary, born in 1467, died unmarried in 1482 ; 3. Cicely, born m 1468, who married first, Jolin, Viscount Welles, K.G., and secondly. Sir John Kyme, but died without issue ; 4 Anne, bom 1474, married Thomas Howard, third Duke of Norfolk, K.G., but left no surviving issue ; 5. Catherine, born 1479, who mar- ried William Courtenay, Earl of Devon, their line ended in 1556; 6. Bridget, bom 1480, took the veil, and became Abbess of Barking, she died in 1517; 7. MARGARET, born and died in 1482. The only descendants of Edward the 1 The princes, Richard and George, were bom at Shrewsbury, a town well affefted to Edward IV. 14 2 10 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Fourth and his queen Elizabeth Woodvile, spring from the marriage of their daughter Elizabeth of York with Henry the Seventh. One of the artifices by which Gloster sought to prejudice the claims of his nephews was to urge their father's " contra6l with the Lady Lucy." George Bucke says that Elizabeth Lucy was the daughter of " one Wyat, of Southampton, a mean gentleman, if he were one," and the wife of " one Lucy, as mean a man as Wyat." By Elizabeth Lucy Edward IV. had a son, Arthur Plantagenet, who was created by Henry Vn. in 1538, Viscount Lisle, and a K.G. about 1524. He died in 1541, a date which would make him JJ years old, sup- posing that his mother had really married the king before he became acquainted with Elizabeth Woodvile ; but Lord Lisle is always called Edward's base sQn, and his royal arms were borne with the baton sinister. The alleged marriage of Edward IV. to the Lady Eleanor Boteler, daughter of John Talbot, third Earl of Shrewsbury, rests only on the very suspicious evidence of Bishop Stilling- ton (Bath and Wells), who stated that he performed the cere- mony, " no person being present but they t^vain and he." But the Earl of Shrewsbury's only daughter was Anne Talbot, who married Thomas Boteler, Lord Sudeley, and she did not become a widow until his death in 1473, or nine years after Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodvile. Moreover Bishop Stillington did not speak of this secret marriage, until the death of Edward IV., or twenty years after its presumed occurrence. " This malicious prelate smothered his revenge in his heart near twenty years together." De Comines. His motive for making the assertion evidently was prompted by revenge, for he had been disgraced by Edward ; he had also ambitious views, for he is said to have bargained with the Proteflor Gloster, that the hand of the Princess Elizabeth; when she should be reduced to the grade of a private gentle- woman, was ■ to be given to his own base-born son, who perished miserably in France, according to De Comines. King Edward IV. died April 9, 1483. In stature he re- sembled his ancestor, Lionel of Clarence, being nearly seven feet high, and De Comines says of his personal appearance, — " he was the most beautiful prince my eyes ever beheld." Arms of Edward IV. — Quarterly France and England. TN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. ' 211 EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, afterwards King Edward V. RICHARD DUKE OF YORK. Shakspeare follows the old chroniclers in describing the short career of these hapless young princes, after they fell into the hands of their uncle Gloster. In spite of the doubts, enter- tained by Bucke, Carte, Horace Walpole, and some other modern writers, against the testimony of contemporaneous and powerful authorities, there is too much reason to believe that the young princes were — "by their uncle cozen'd Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life." Fabyan, who was Sheriff of London in 1493, speak- ing on the subject, says, — " In which passe tyme the prynce, or of ryght kynge Edwarde the V., with his bro- der the duke of Yorke, were put under suer kepynge within the Tower, in such wyse that they never .came abrode after." No one ever ventured to personate the Prince of Wales, in after time, and the attempt of Perkin Warbeck to pass him- self off as the Duke of York, was by his own confession an imposture, as it is regarded by Sir Thomas More, Lord Bacon, Fuller, Dugdale, and the older chroniclers, and among modern writers by Hume, Gibbon, Lingard, Sharon Turner, Nicolas, &c. Sir Walter Scott's opinion may be gathered from his lines in Marmion ; — "James back'd the cause of that mock prince, Warbeck, that Flemish counterfeit. Who on the gibbet paid the cheat." The death of the two princes is considered to have occurred June 22, 1483. Abroad the opinion also prevailed that they met their fate as described by SHAKSPEARE. The great con- temporary chronicler, Philip de Comines, then attached to the Court of Louis XL, says — " Our king was presently informed of King Edward's death, but he still keipt it secret, and ex- pressed no manner of joy upon hearing the news of it. Not long after he received letters from the duke of Gloucester, who was made king, styled himself Richard III., and had barbarously murdered his two nephews." Collins, Gray, and Mason, the poets, men of great learning, and varied informa- 14 — 2 2IZ NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS tion, held a similar belief as to the deaths of the princes. The testimony of Gray is very valuable ; his brother-poet and biographer, Mason, says of him — " Perhaps he was the most learned man in Europe, he knew every branch of history and was a great antiquarian." It is also to be remarked that Gray was the intimate friend of Horace Walpole, whose "his- toric doubts " he did not share, at all events respecting the mode of deaths of Edward's sons. The beautiful line in Tyrrell's description of the " gentle babes " in their last slumber — "A book of prayers on their pillow lay," — is finely echoed by Thomas Heywood in his drama, King Edward IV., where he makes the elder prince say to his brother — " Then let us to our prayers, and go to bed." This play, written in 1599, only two years after ShakSPEARE's King Richard III., is another witness against that king. But perhaps the strongest evidence of his crime is the faft that all the agents employed in it received great rewards, according to their station, for " the tyrannous and bloody deed;" Tyrrell was made Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall, and Sheriff of that county. Governor of Glamorganshire, and had several rich wardships. Brakenbuiy was " bribed to silence " by numerous manors belonging to Earl Rivers, and the Cheneys, and was made Steward of all the forests in Essex, Constable of Tonbridge Castle, &c. Even Tyrrell's brother had a grant of £40 per annum. SHARON TURNER. The rewards to the subordinates will be noticed hereafter. GEORGE, DUKE OF CLARENCE. A YOUNG SON OF CLARENCE. George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, by his mar- riage, July II, 1469, with the great co-heiress of the potent Earl of Warwick, ISABEL Nevill, had a prospedl of sharing a throne with her, as her father, the " Setter-up and puller-down of kings," at one time avowed his intention of proclaiming his son-in-law IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 213 in place of Edward IV. The eldest child of this marriage, the " young son of Clarence," was Edward Plantagenet, the unfortunate Earl of Warwick, imprisoned by Henry VII., and beheaded, through his jealous fear, Nov. 21, 1499 : he was bom in 1470, on board ship, whilst off the coast of France ; a second child, the " young daughter of Clarence," MARGARET Plantagenet, will be noticed hereafter. According to Sandford, two other children, a son and a daughter, died in their infancy. This son, Richard, was born in Tewkesbury monastery. The Duke of Clarence lost his wife Isabel, Dec. 12, 1476, and her death had a great effeft upon his mind. Miss Strick- land states that he gave way to intemperance to drown his grief, and suggests that " he was the vi£Um of his own frailty," when the butt of his favourite malmsey was placed in his prison-cell. His death is supposed to have occurred Feb. 18, 1477. DUGDALE. In the play. Aft i. Scene 4, Clarence is made to allude to the Duchess Isabel as if she survived him, when just before his death he ofifers up a prayer to heaven — " O spare my guiltless wife, and my poor children!" Arms of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, K.G. — Quarterly France and England, a label Argent, on each point a canton Gules. Garter Plate. RICHARD, 'DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, afterwards King Richard III. Shakspeare has been accused of having drawn the charafter of this remarkable prince under the influence of Lancastrian prejudices. Such a charge might be worth some- thing if the Poet stood alone, whereas he has only followed the universal opinion, formed both at home and abroad, long before his time, of the charafter of the Usurper, for even his modern apologists must yield him that title. Shakspeare also had the advantage of having been able to consult a con- temporary authority, who drew Richard in person as well as in mind. John Rous, antiquary, painter, and chronicler, who was a chauntry priest in the household of the great Earl of Warwick, has given us Richard's aftual portrait, and has also 214 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS described his person in Latin ; " the Rous Roll " is preserved in the College of Arms*. In it he says of Richard, "he was of small stature, having a short face, shoulders of unequal height, the right being the higher." Sir Thomas More, who seems to have gained his information from Cardinal Morton, in whose household he was brought up, describes Richard — " his face was hard-favoured, or warly." Hall says of him — "He was little of stature, evil-featured of limbs, crook-backed," &:c. In the two early portraits of Richard III. belonging to the Society of Antiquaries, he is depifted as a harsh-featured man, with a forbidding countenance But if the Poet, in his masterly sketch, has shown Richard as entirely without scruples in clearing away all obstacles which stood between him and a crown, he has done ample justice to his subtle wit, his great eloquence, his vigorous intelleft, and his intrepid courage ; and the description of his conduft at Boswbrth Field, — " The king ena6ls more wonders than a man, Daring an opposite to every danger," — agrees with what Speed says of him — "he obtained more honour in this his two hours' fight than he had gained by all the aftions of his whole life." His personal encounter with his rival — " Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death," is given by Hall, who also states that Richard slew Sir William Brandon. The language of Sir Thomas More, that Richard, after the murder of his nephews, " never had quiet in his mind," — and also of the old writers, Polydore Vergil, Croyland Chronicle, Hall, &c., that the night before the battle, " he had a dreadful and terrible dream," has been expanded by Shakspeare into the magnificent tent scene, wherein the ghosts of Richard's many vidlims appear to him and to his rival, bidding one to "despair and die," but speaking of "success, and happy vic- tory " to the other. ' Fuller says of John Rous,— "He tures limned with his own hand. He was as good with the Petisill as ihe fen, died a very aged man, anno Domini and could draw persons as well as de- 1491." IVorlhics. scribe them, as appears by lively Pic- IN SHAKSPEARE-S PLAYS. 215 Besides the Prince of Wales, his son by Anne of Warwick, Richard III. had two, if not three illegitimate children. John of Gloucester, or as he was sometimes called, John of Pomfret, was knighted by him at his second coronation at York, 1483, and was appointed Governor of Calais, Captain of Guisnes and Hammes Castles, under the style of " our beloved son, John of Gloucester;" writ dated March 11, 1485. Rymer's Foedera. Nothing certain is known of him after his father's death, and it is presumed that he changed his name for safety. Richard's only daughter is styled " Dame Katherine Plan- tagenet" in a deed of settlement by which he agreed to defray the expenses of her marriage with William Herbert, second Earl of Pembroke, and to endow her with 400 marks a year. She however died before the union could take place. Sandford. Another son, called Richard Plantagenet, is the subjefl of the romantic story of his working as a mason's labourer when Eastwell House, in Kent, was being built by Sir Thomas Moyle, whose eldest daughter Katherine married Sir Thomas Finch, ancestor of the present Earl of Winchelsea, of Eastwell Park. Young Richard confided to Sir Thomas Moyle the secret of his birth, stating that after the battle of Bosworth, which he had witnessed at a distance, he hastened to London, and apprenticed hiniself to a mason. In the parish Register of Eastwell the entry still exists, — "sicb anno Domini 1550 Rychard Plantagenet was buried the XXII day of Decembre anno di supra." Arms of King RicJiard III. — In the early scenes he would have the arms, as already given, as Duke of Gloucester ; after- wards, when king, Quarterly FRANCE and England. HENRY, EARL OF RICHMOND, afterwards King Henry VII. This " pretty lad " of the preceding play, born July 26, 1456', in Pembroke Castle, was about fourteen years of age 1 This date, as given by his mother, thorities make him a posthumous child, answer to St Anne's Day, and is so stating that he was bom January 21, stated as that of Henry's birth in How- 1457. Bernard Andreas. The latter ard's Colleaion of Letters ; other au- date is St Agnes' Day, which may have 2i6 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS when he took refuge with his uncle Jaspar Tudor at the court of Francis IL, Duke of Bretagne, where he remained for nearly fourteen years. King Richard speaks of him as — " A paltry fellow, Long kept in Bretagne at our mother's cost* ;" probably the text should be at "his mother's cost," as it is not likely that it would be at that of the Duchess Cicely. Although it was through the avowed prospeft of his union with Elizabeth of York that Richmond was chiefly indebted to obtaining the throne, he took care to be crowned. Oft. 30, 1485, before his marriage, which was solemnized January 18, i486. Cardinal Bourchierj a lineal descendant of Edward III., joining the hands of the heirs of the White and Red Roses, or as the Poet calls them, " The true succeeders of each royal house," and thus putting an end to the desolating war, which had been carried on under those innocent emblems for thirty years, and had made — " poor England weep in streams of blood." The children of this auspicious marriage were three sons, and four daughters : i. ARTHUR, born Sept. 20, i486, died April 2, 1502 ; 2. Henry, afterwards king, born June 28, 149 1 ; 3. Edmund, born in 1499, died in 1500. The daughters were : i. Margaret Tudor, who became the queen of James IV., King of Scots ; from which union de- scended James the First of Great Britain; 2. Elizabeth, born 1492, died 1495 ; 3. Mary Tudor, born May 1498, who married first, in 15 14, Louis XII., King of France, and secondly Charles Brandon, the "Duke of Suffolk" in the next been by mistake set down instead of the fa(5l that Edward IV. paid a pen- St Anne's Day. As, however, Henry sion to the Duke of Bretagne to detain Tudor is generally said to have been the Earl of Richmond in safe custody, about fifteen weeks old when his father It should, however, be stated, that died, Nov. 4, 1456, St Anne's Day best Holirished's language agrees with the agrees with that reckoning, whilst his usual reading, for he makes Richard mother's evidence must l>e taken as call his rival "a Welch milk-sop conclusive. brought up by my mother's means and • Mr Capell's suggestion to read mine, like a captive in a close cage, in "at our brother's cost," is justified by the court of Francis, duke of Britain." IN SHAKSFEARE'S PLAYS. 217 play; 4. CATHERINE, born Feb. 2, 1502, died an infant Nine days after the birth of this last daughter, the Queen herself expired on her birthday, Feb. 11, 1502. Henry VII. died April 21, 1509, and was buried with his consort in the magnificent Chapel, which bears his name, attached to the east end of Westminster Abbey. Arms of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. — Quarterly France and England, a border oi Azure charged with eight martlets Or. CARDINAL BOURCHIER, Archbishop of Canterbury. This prelate was THOMAS BOURCHIER, second son of William Bourchier, Earl of Eu, by his wife Anne Plan- TAGENET, daughter and eventually sole heir of Thomas of Woodstock, youngest son of Edward the Third. The lady Anne Plantagenet was the widow of Edmund Stafford, fifth Earl of Stafford, K.G., who was slain at Shrewsbury. Her mother, Eleanor de Bohun, is the " Duchess of Gloucester" in King Ricltard II. Thomas Bourchier was appointed to the see of Worcester in 1434, translated to Ely in 1443, and pro- moted to Canterbury in 1454 He was Lord Chancellor in 1445, and again in 1460 ; Cardinal of St Cyriacus in 1464. He died in i486, very soon after he had united Henry VII. to Elizabeth of York. He had crowned three kings, namely, Edward IV., Richard III., and Henry VII., and the queens of the two first named kings. Arms of Cardinal Bourchier. — Quarterly, i and i^. Argent a cross engrailed Gules between four water-budgets Sable, for Bourchier ; 2 and 3, Gules sem^e of billets a fesse Or, for LOUVAIN ; the prelate's grandfather, William Bourchier, hav- ing married Alianor, daughter and heir of Sir John Louvain, Knight. THOMAS ROTHERAM, Archbishop of York. According to some writers the real name of this prelate was Scot, but being born in 1423 at Rotheram, col York, where he afterwards founded a College, he is said to have 2i8 NOTES ON. THE CHARACTERS .assumed the harae o£ his birth-place, in lieu of his own patro- nymic. But in Cooper's Atlience Cantabrigietises he is called "the son of Sir Thomas Rotheram, Knight, and Alice his wife." Thomas Rotheram was "a lance" in the retinue of Lord Ros at Agincourt (NicOLAS), and he was probably the bishop's father. The prelate, by his will, bequeathed to his brother's eldest son, Sir Thomas Rotheram, several manors in the counties of Bedford, Herts, and.. Bucks. This prelate was at first Re6lor of Hadleigh, in Suffolk, Provost ,of Beverley, Bishop of Rochester in 1460, translated to Lincoln in 1472, and promoted to York in 1480. He was made Lord Chan- cellor in 1475, and is considered by Lord Campbell to have been " the greatest equity lawyer of the day." The Pope made him " Cardinal of St' Cecilia" about 1480. He died at Cawood Castle, co. York, May 29, 1 500, at the age of "j^. Arms of tJie Archbishop of York. — Some writers describe them. Argent three Catherine-wheels Sable, within a border engrailed Gules, which are those of SCOT. But in the Public Library, at Cambridge University, of which he was for several years chancellor, and a great benefaftor, his ARMS, placed inside the book-covers, are, Vert three Roebucks trippant Or, which are those of ROTHERAM. JOHN MORTON, Bishop of Ely. This eminent person, though known to some readers of Shakspeare chiefly for the " good strawberries " in his gar- den in Holborn, asked for by Gloster, bore a very prominent part in the events of five reigns. He was the eldest son of Richard Morton, a gentleman of good family, at Milborne St Andrew, co. Dorset, where he was born in 1410.; he be- came in succession a Prebendary of Salisbury, Lincoln, St. Paul's, and York ; Bishop of Ely in 1478, and translated to Canterbury in i486. He was afterwards Master of the Rolls, and Lord Chancellor in 1487. He was made " Cardinal of St Anastasius" in 1493, and died in Oflober 1500, at the age of ninety years. His highest honours in Church and State were the rewards of the important services he had rendered to -Henry V^IL, to whose marriage with the heiress of the House IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 219 of York he was so greatly instrumental'. King Richard al- ludes to the dread he had of the bishop's influence, when he learns of his flight to his rival — " Ely with Richmond, troubles me more near, Than Buckingham and his rash-levied strength." Some writers consider that Cardinal Morton is the author of the History of Richard III., written in Latin, and which was translated by Sir Thomas More. It is from this work that the account of Richard has been taken by succeeding chroni- clers, to whom the Poet is indebted for the materials of his grand drama, which has furnished the popular notion of Richard's character, down to the present day, despite the " historic doubts " of later authors. Bishop Morton had been held in great esteem by Henry VI., and went into exile with Queen Margaret ; yet notwithstanding his well-known Lan- castrian inclinations he was much respefted by Edward IV., who appointed him to be one of the executors to his will; and even Gloster, when Lord Proteftor, was anxious to conciliate his good-wilL Sir Thomas More, who was twenty years old at the Cardinal's death, says of him, " the excellent talents with which nature had furnished him were improved by study and discipline." Fuller describes him as " magnificent in his buildings." In conjun6lion with Prior Goldstone, Archbishop Morton ere6led the noble, central tower of his cathedral at Canterbury, whereon is sculptured the rebus of his name, the letters " M O R " and " a tun." He built largely at the man- sions of the see, at Charing, in Kent, and Lambeth. The descendants of the Archbishop's brother, Richard Morton, Sheriff" co. Dorset, 22 Edward IV., became baronets, and continued to reside at Milborne St Andrew, until the death of Sir John Morton, Bart in 1698, when the estates came to the family of Pleydell, by the marriage of his only daugh- ter and heir, Ann Morton, to Edmund Pleydell, M.P. Arms of John Morton, Bisliop of Ely. — Quarterly Gules and Ermine, in the sinister chief and dexter base a goat's head erased Argent, attired Or. ^ Two other persons were a(Sive and Dr Lewis, a Welch physician, who agents in promoting this alliance, name- carried the proposals to Queen Eliza- ly, Reginald Bray, afterwards a K.G., . beth Woodvile. steward to the Countess of Richmond, 220 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. This charafter is HENRY STAFFORD, who became second duke at the death of his grandfather in 1460, his father Hum- phrey Stafford having died vitA patris. Devoting himself to the interests of the Duke of Gloster, it was mainly by Buck- ingham's aid that the Proteflor was raised to the throne, as his ghost says in the tent-scene, — " The first was I that help'd thee to the crown." Richard rewarded his " Cousin of Buckingham " for his im- portant service by making him Constable of England, and Chamberlain of North and South Wales ; he had become a K.G. in the reign of Edward IV. As the direft descendant of Humphrey de Bohun, Buckingham reminds King Richard to bestow upon him, — " The earldom of Hereford, and the moveables, Which you have promised I shall possess." But though he obtained the earldom and other honours, it does not appear that he enjoyed "the moveables," which were of great value ; and displeased at not being better re- warded, and becoming, through the fate of Hastings, fearful for his own head, he resolved to join the Earl of Richmond's eriterprize ; but deserted by his " rash-levied strength," and his disguise betrayed by his servant, the duke was delivered up to Richard, by whose orders he was beheaded at Salisbury, on "All-Souls' day," Nov. i, 1483'. The "wretch," as he is called in the next play, who betrayed his noble master, was rewarded by " usurping Richard," out of the duke's estates ; — the manor and lordship of Yalding, in Kent, "late belonging to our great rebel and traitor, the Duke of Buckingham," were granted by the king, as he states in the writ, " to our well-beloved Raufe Banastre." Harleian MSS. By his wife, Catherine Woodvile, sixth daughter of Richard, Earl Rivers, the duke had two sons, and two daughters ; the eldest son, EDWARD STAFFORD, is the "Duke of Bucking- ham " in the next play ; the second son, Henry Stafford, was created Earl of Wiltshire by Henry VI H. in 1509, but died ^ Under "Brecknockshire," Fuller, seized this Duke in Shropshire, where ill his Worthies, says,— "The sheriff he was digging a ditch in disguise.'' IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. " 221 without issue in 1523. Of the daughters, Elizabeth Stafford married Robert Ratcliffe, second Lord Fitzwalter of that name ; and Anne Stafford was the wife, first of Sir Walter Herbert, and secondly of George Hastings, first Earl of Hunt- ingdon. Grafton states that it was agreed between Gloster, when Proteftor, and Buckingham, that the former's son, after- wards Prince of Wales, should espouse one of the duke's daughters. Through his mother, a Margaret Beaufort, Buck- ingham, as well as Henry Tudor, son of another Margaret Beau- fort, represented the claims, such as they were, of the House of Lancaster, and this descent probably excited the king's jealous suspicion of "high-reaching Buckingham," who more- over was the lineal representative of Thomas of Woodstock. Arms of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, K.G. — Or a. chevron Gules. DUKE OF NORFOLK. This is the first time that a member of the house of Howard, destined to take the highest rank next to princes of the blood, is brought upon the scene in one of Shakspeare'S plays. The father of this chara6ler was Sir Robert Howard, a zealous Lancastrian, who married the great heiress, Mar- garet Mowbray, eldest daughter of the banished Duke of Norfolk in King Richard II. The male line of the ancient Mowbrays having become extinft in 1475, King Richard III. rewarded the services of JOHN HOWARD, the chara6ler in this play, only son of Sir Robert and Margaret Howard, by creat- ing him Duke of Norfolk, June 28, 1483', and Earl Marshal of England, honours which have remained in the family of Howard to the present day. John Howard had been sum- moned, for his support of the House of York, to Parliament, as Baron Howard, in 1470, by Edward IV., who made him a K.G., Treasurer of his household. Constable of the Tower, * This date is well worthy of re- Was not King Richard therefore cer- mark, as it \\-as only six days after the tain that his nephew was no more be- time which is usually given for the fore he raised his own friend to that death (with his brother) of Edward the young prince's dignity? Richard was Fourth's second son, Richard, Duke of founder of the Heralds' College. York, who was also Duke of Norfolk. 222 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS and Admiral of England. He commanded the van of Richard's army at Bosworth, where he was killed by an arrow from one of Richmond's archers. In the battle Norfolk and the Earl of Oxford fought hand to hand ; the latter was wounded in the left arm, but in return cleft the beaver from Norfolk's helmet, whose face being thus exposed was struck by an arrow, as before stated. In his poem, Bosworth Field, Sir John Beau- mont says, — *' Here valiant Oxford and fierce Norfolke meete, And with their speares each other rudely greete." The noble Howard thus shared the fate of his royal master, whom he would not desert, despite the warning notice placed on his gate, the night before the battle, — " Jacke of Norffolke, be not so bolde, For Dykon thy maister is bought and solde." The Diike of Norfolk was twice married ; by his first wife, Catharine Molines, daughter of William, fourth Lord Molines, he had one son, the next charafler, and four daugh- ters, viz. I. Anne Howard, wife of Sir Edmund Gorges, Knight ; 2. Isabel Howard, married to Sir Robert Stonor, Knight ; 3. Jane Howard, to John Timperley, of Kintlesham, CO. Suffolk ; 4. Margaret Howard, to Sir John Wyndham, of Felbrigg, ancestor of the Earls of Egremont The duke's second wife was Margaret, daughter of Sir John Chedworth, Knight, by whom he had a daughter, Ca- therine Howard, who married John Bourchier, second Lord Bemers, the translator of Froissart, and their descendant is the present Lord Berners, Henry William Wilson, 1865, who in virtue of his royal and noble ancestry bears for Arms, Quarterly of six, viz. i. Wilson; 2. Knevet; 3. Bour- chier; 4. France and England, for Thomas of Woodstock; 5. Berners ; 6. Wilson. Arms of John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, K.G. — Gules ^ bend between six cross-croslets fitchde Argent. EARL OF SURREY. This personage is the celebrated THOMAS HOWARD, who was created by Richard III. Earl of Surrey, on the day that IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 223 his father was made Duke of Norfolk. He held one of the chief commands of Richard's army, with his noble father ; the king says, — " John Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Earl of Surrey, ShaU have the leading of the foot and horse." Surrey behaved with signal gallantry ; thus Sir John Beau- mont records his valour, in his Bosworth Field, — " Young Howard single with an army fights." Attempting to avenge his father's death Surrey was hemmed in by his foes ; in coming to his rescue. Sir Richard Claren- don, and Sir William Conyers, Knights, were slain, and Sur- rey, after fighting until he was faint, yielded his sword to a noble enemy. Sir Gilbert Talbot'. He was attainted by Henry VII., and imprisoned in the Tower for three years, but was then released, and restored to his title of Surrey in 1489. His great renown arises from his achievement at Flod- den, Sept. 9, 1513, where he commanded the English forces against James IV., the chivalrous King of Scots, who lost his life on that disastrous field, with the flower of his nobility. For this important viftory Henry VIII. restored Surrey to his father's rank, as Duke of Norfolk, Feb. i, i S 14, and gave him the honourable augmentation to his paternal coat, which has been ever since borne by his descendants. Surrey, who was made a K.G. by King Richard, is a chara6ler in the next play as " Duke of Norfolk." Arms of Thomas Howard, K.G. — Gules on a bend be- tween six cross-croslets fitch^e Argent, an escutcheon charged with a demi-lion rampant pierced through tJie mouth with an arrow, within a double tressure jlory counter-flory. These Arms are herein described as Thomas Howard became duke before the next play begins, but in this drama he would only bear his father's arms with a label. 1 Sir Gilbert Talbot, afterwards a archers was imder the Earl of Oxford, K.G., led the right wing of Richmond's and the Earl of Richmond was in the army; the left was commanded by Sir main body with his experienced general, John Savage, also a K.G. in the reign his uncle, Jaspar Tudor, of Henry "VII. The van-guard of 224 NOTES ON THE CHA RA CTER S EARL RIVERS. This most accomplished knight, and learned nobleman, under whose auspices Caxton produced the first book printed in England, The Game of Chess^, was Anthony Woodvile, eldest brother to the queen of Edward IV., who made him a K.G., gave him a grant in tail of the Isle of Wight, appointed him Chief Butler of England, and Governor to his son, the Prince of Wales. As one of the faithful friends, as also being uncle to the young princes. Earl Rivers was looked upon with great dislike by the Duke of Gloster, who scornfully styles him "that good man of worship ;" and at the death of King Edward, Rivers was seized at Northampton, according to some writers, by Richard's orders, and beheaded at Pon- tefrafl, as noticed in Aft III. Scene 3, June 13th, 1483. An- thony Woodvile's first wife was the heiress of Lord Scales, as mentioned in the last play ; and he. married secondly, Mary, daughter and heir of Henry Fitz-Lewis ; but had no issue by either wife. A line occurs in some early copies. Aft II. Scene i, which is very properly omitted in modern editions ; — the Duke of Gloucester, desiring "true peace" of his supposed enemies, says, — " Of you, Lord Rivers, and Lord Grey, of you, Of you, Lord IVoodvill, and Lord Scales of you;" — but the last two names belong to the Lord Rivers of the pre- ceding line. Arms of Anthony Woodvile, Earl Rivers, Lord Scales, K.G. — As given in the preceding play. MARQUIS OF DORSET. This personage was THOMAS Grey, eldest son of Eliza- beth Woodvile's first marriage, and created by Edward IV. in 147 1, Earl of Huntingdon, and in 147S, Marquess of Dorset, and K.G. After the death of King Edward, Dorset, attainted by Richard III., escaped to the Earl of Richmond, and assist- ' The second work printed by Cax- Philosophers, translated out of Fretuh ton was, The Dicles and Saydngs of the by AntOTie Erie R)-vyers. Folio 1477. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 225 ed in raising him to the throne. He died in 1 501, having had by his wife, Cicely, daughter and heir of William Bon- vile, Lord Harington, three sons, and seven daughters. This marriage is alluded to in the preceding play, where Clarence reproaches Edward IV. with lack of brotherhood ; — " Or else you would not have bestow'd the heir Of the Lord Bonville on your new wife's son, And leave your brothers to go speed elsewhere.'' The eldest son was Thomas Grey, second Marquess of Dorset (died 1530), whose son Henry Grey, made Duke of Suffolk in 1551, married the lady Frances Brandon, a granddaughter of Henry VII., and their daughter, the amiable Lady jANE Grey, was Queen of England for a few days, in pursuance of the patent of succession, obtained from Edward VI., in his last hours of illness, by her father-in-law, Dudley. Several legal documents are dated " in the first year of Jane, Queen of England," who was proclaimed on the lOth of July, 1553. Anns of Thomas Grey, Marquess af Dorset, K.G. — Barry of six Argent and Azure three -torteauxes in chief, a label Ermine. Grey of Groby. LORD GREY. This charafter, sometimes styled the "Lord Richard Grey," was striftly speaking only of knightly degree, Sir Richard Grey, youngest son of Elizabeth Woodvile and Sir John Grey. After the death of Edward IV. it was de- cided that his eldest son, who was immediately proclaimed as Edward V. at Ludlow Castle, where he then v/as, should be brought to London, Buckingham advising — " that with some little train Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetch'd. Hither to London, to be crown'd our king." On their arrival at Northampton, Lord Rivers sent forward the young prince under the care of Sir Richard Grey, but being overtaken at Stony-Stratford' by the Prote6lor, that 1 In Act n. Scene 4, Archbishop At Stony-Stratford will they be to- Rotheram says, — night, " Last night, I hear, they lay at North- To-morrow, or next day, they will be ampton, here. 226 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS hypocritical personage, after supping in apparent friendship with Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan, had them arrested, and sent to prison, for no fault but their fidelity to their late master's children, a heinous crime in Richard's eyes. Ratcliffe soon after received his orders to have them executed without pro- cess or judgment, and they were beheaded at Pontefraft, — " Fatal and ominous to noble peers," Ratcliffe carrying out the sentence with equal promptitude and rudeness, June 13th, 1483. "The Duke of Gloster sent the Lord Rivers, the Lord Richard (Grey), Sir Thomas Vaughan, and Sir Richard Hawte, into the north parts, into divers prisons ; but at last all came to Pomfret, where they all four were beheaded with- out judgment." Hall. Sir Richard Hawte had been Lieu- tenant of the Tower, and Sheriff 18 and 22 Edward IV., of Kent, where, at Waddenhall, his family had been seated from the time of Richard H. Arms of Sir Richard Grey. — Those of his brother, Ihe Marquess of Dorset, a crescent for difference. EARL OF OXFORD. This is the chara6ler in the preceding play, JOHN DE Vere, thirteenth Earl of Oxford. After a captivity of twelve years in Hammes Castle, Picardy, that place was delivered up by its captain, Sir James Blount, to the Earl of Richmond, with whom Oxford returned to England, becoming his most important adherent and general, commanding his vanguard at Bosworth. Henry VII. rewarded his eminent services with many honours ; among them was the post of Constable of the Tower, and the distinflion of K.G. He commanded in the same reign against the rebels under Lambert Simnel, and defeated Lord Audley at Blackheath. This reading, wliich agrees with his- intending to rest the next night at tory, is that of the quartos, and has Northampton, quite confounding the been adopted by many editors ; in the relative situation of the two places to- folio of 1623 the young king is said wards London, to li.nve arrived first at Stony-Stratford, IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 2^7 "Oxford was the most important adherent whom Rich- mond could possibly have obtained, not only because of his high nobility, and experience in war, but because of his cha- ra6ter, and constant fidelity to the House of Lancaster." SOUTHEY. The Earl of Oxford married Margaret Nevill, sixth daugh- ter of Richard, Earl of Salisbury, by whom he had a son, John de Vere, who died young, in his father's life-time. The earl died in 1513, without surviving issue, and was succeeded in the hereditary honours of the family by his nephew, John de Vere, as fourteenth Earl of Oxford, son of Sir George de Vere, by his wife Margaret, daughter of William Stafford. Arms of John Vere, Earl of Oxford, K.G. — Quarterly Gules and Or, in the first quarter a mullet Argent. LORD HASTINGS. Sir William Hastings, called by Stow " a good knight and gentle, but somewhat dissolute of living," was the son of Sir Leonard Hastings, Knight, [whose ancestor took the name, soon after the Conquest, from one of the Cinque Ports], by his wife, Alice, daughter of Lord Camoys. William Hast- ings was created Lord Hastings of Ashby de-la-Zouch, co. Leicester, i Edward IV., 1461, who made him in the next year Master of the Mint ; appointed him Steward of several royal manors. Captain of Calais, Chamberlain of North Wales, and Chester, and Lord Chamberlain of the Household, K.G. Although Hastings was a bitter foe to the Woodviles, a feel- ing which is shown in the play, by the dying king insisting upon a reconciliation, — "Rivers, and Hastings, take each other's hand, Dissemble not your hatred, swear your love'," he was firmly attached to the children of Edward IV., and Gloucester sought in vain to shake his fidelity ; thus when sounded by Catesby to sanftion Richard's wearing " the gar- land of the realm," he loyally answers, — ' In the folio of 1623 the text noble kinsmen, and in answer to the j-gads king's request it is Hastings who prof- " Dorset and Rivers, take, each other's fers his love to Rivers, as we find in hand," — modem readings, but there was no enmity between these IS— 2 228 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS " But, that I'll give my voice on Richard's side. To bar my master's heirs in true descent, God knows, I will not do It, to the death." Gloucester therefore determined to remove him as an obstacle to his designs, and ShaksPEARE closely follows history in the scenes in which Hastings appears ; and the chronicler. Hall, relates that " he made a short shrift, for a longer would not be suffered." This great noble was beheaded on Tower Hill, June 13, 1483, and was buried at Windsor, by the side of his royal friend, Edward IV. In most editions the stage direflion in Aft III. Scene 5, is — "Enter Lovell and Ratcliffe with Hastings^ head." Mr Theobald properly remarks, that on the very same day Rat- cliffe was carrying out at Pontefrafl the execution of Rivers, Vaughan, and Grey, to whose fate Lord Hastings himself alludes, telling his herald, — " This day those enemies are put to death." The first Quarto has, — "Enter Catesby with Hast, head." This agrees with the ungrateful condu6l of that man towards his early benefaftor, and with his whole language in the play, as well as with Gloster's peremptory order for the beheading of Hastings, — " Lovel, and Catesby, look that it be done ;" as in the Quarto and some modern editions. By his wife, Catherine Nevill, relifl of William Lord Bon- vile of Harington, K.G., fifth daughter of Richard, Earl of Salisbury, Lord Hastings left a son, Edward, who became second Lord Hastings of Ashby de-la-Zouch, and married Mary, only daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Hungerford, fourth Lord Hungerford, and their eldest son, George Hast- ings, third baron, was created Earl of Huntingdon, in 1529, and is ancestor of the present earl, and also of the Marquess of Hastings, who holds the baronies of Hungerford, Botreaux, and Molines, by virtue of his descent from Mary Hungerford and Edward Hastings. ShakspeaRE has been misled in as- cribing the marriage of this great heiress to the father instead of the son ; when after a patriotic sentiment uttered by Lord Hastings, Clarence observes, 3 Kirtg Henry VI., Aft iv. Scene i; — IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 329 " For this one speech Lord Hastings well deserves, To have the heir of the Lord Hungerford." Robert, third Lord Hungerford, the faithful adherent of Henry VI., married AHanor, daughter and heir of William, fifth and last Lord Molines, and his father, Robert, second Lord Hungerford, married a great heiress, Mary, only daughter of William Lord Botreaux, and thus three baronies with their estates centred in the wife of Edward Hastings. William, Lord Hastings, "better known as one of Shak- speare's chara6lers than by his historical fame," rebuilt the magnificent Castle of Ashby de-la-Zouch, "of which the stately ruins still interest the traveller." Sir Walter Scott, Ivan/we. Like other great nobles. Lord Hastings had "a poursuivant of his own, called Hastings :" Hall, who de- scribes the meeting, which is given in Aft III. Scene 2 ; and also that with the " Priest," who is addressed by Hastings as "good Sir John," and who was probably his chaplain, from the expression, — " I am in debt for your last exercise." Arms of William, Lord Hastings, K.G. — Argent a maunch Sable. LORD STANLEY. This eminent person, THOMAS STANLEY, is the elder brother of Sir John Stanley in the Second Part of King Henry VL (where a memoir of the ancestry of the family will be found), and also of Sir William Stanley, K.G., who figures in the Third Part. Thomas Stanley succeeded his father, in 1458, as second baron ; he was Steward of the Household to Edward IV., and also to Richard III., who made him a K.G. and Constable of England. Lord Stanley was present at the council held in the Tower, on the memorable Friday, June 13, 1483, given in Aft IIL Scene 4, where Hastings was seized, and in the tumult Stanley narrowly escaped death. "One let flie at the lord Stanley, which shronke at the stroke, and fell under the table, or else his head had been cleft to the teeth, for so shortlie as he shranke, yet ranne the bloud about his eares." Sir THOMAS MORE. On this occasion Stanley was imprisoned in the Tower, together with the Bishops 230 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Rotheram and Morton, but was released on his son, George Stanley, being given up as a hostage for his fidelity to King Richard. This captivity is alluded to in the play more than once, and the fear lest his son might be beheaded, according to Richard's threat, kept back the father from openly declar- ing for Richmond until the latest moment, at Bosworth, when his brother. Sir William Stanley, coming in opportunely with his tall men of Cheshire, turned the tide of battle, which had been well nigh won by the desperate valour of the in- trepid Richard, whose crown, full of dents, found in a haw- thorn-bush, after the fight, was set on the Earl of Richmond's head, by Lord Stanley, who was created, a few weeks after the vi6lory, by Henry VII., 061. 27, 1485, Earl of Derby, and Lord High Steward. In the play, Shakspeare, who like other writers was not particular in applying correft terms of relationship, makes Richmond speak of Stanley as his " noble father-in-law," whereas he was step-son to him, and became son-in-law to Edward IV. at his marriage with Elizabeth of York. The " crown in a hawthorn-bush," was adopted as a cognizance by Henry VII. By his first wife, Eleanor Nevill, sister, not daughter, as sometimes stated, of the great king-making Warwick, Thomas Stanley had a daughter, Margaret, married to Sir John Os- baldeston, and three sons, i. GEORGE Stanley; 2. Sir Edward Stanley, and 3. James Stanley, Bishop of Ely in 1506. The second son, Sir Edward, commanded the left wing of Lord Surrey's army at Flodden, where the day had been nearly lost to the English but for the vigorous assault of Stanley with his archers against the Scots, — " Let Stanley charge with spur of fire, With Chester charge, and Lancashire." Marmioti, Canto vr. St. XXIX. For this well-timed service Sir Edward Stanley was created by Henry VIII. in 141 S, Lord Monteagle, and a K.G. The eldest son, alluded to in the play as "tender George," and who narrowly escaped the axe, was a K.B. in the reign of Edward IV. and became a K.G. in that of Henry VII. He distinguished himself at the battle of Stoke, 1487, and having married Joan le Strange, only daughter and heir of John, eighth Lord Strange of Knockyn (a barony by writ, of IN SHAKSPE ARE'S PLAYS. 231 1299), was in her right summoned to Parliament as Lord Strange; he died before his father, viz. Nov. 9, 1504, leaving a son, Thomas, who became second Earl of Derby ; but it is from Lord Strange's second son, Sir James Stanley, that the present Lord Derby is descended, the male line of the second earl having ceased in James, tenth earl, in 1735. The charadler in this play married secondly the mother of Henry VII., Margaret Beaufort, the celebrated Countess of Richmond, then the widow of Sir Henry Stafford. She survived the Earl of Derby, who died Nov. 9, 1505, and also her royal son, her death taking. place July 3, 1509. She was buried in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, where is her effigy, carved by Torregiano, on a raised tomb of black marble, with a Latin epitaph from the pen of Erasmus. This noble and pious lady is but slightly alluded to by Shakspeare, but her name will always be kept in remembrance through her endowments of Christ's College, and St John's College, Cam- bridge, and the " Lady Margaret Professorship," established by her munificence at each University. Arms of Thomas, Lord Stanley, afterwards Earl of Derby, K.G. — Argent on a bend Azure three bucks' heads caboshed Or. LORD LOVEL. This staunch supporter of King Richard was Sir Francis LovEL, ninth and last Baron Lovel of Tichmersh, co. North- ampton, and created Viscount Lovel, Jan. 4, 1483. King Richard made him his Chamberlain, Constable of Walling- ford Castle, Chief Butler of England, and a K.G. He escaped from the field of Bosworth, and taking part in Lambert Sim- nel's afiair was present at the battle of Stoke, 1487 ; and while some writers assert that he was there slain, others state that he made his escape, and took refuge in a secret vault at his manor-house, Minster-Lovel, co. Oxford, where a skeleton, presumed to be his, was found about the year 1708, with remnants of jars, &c. as if he had been starved to death. He is one of the persons alluded to in the lines which William Collingboume, a gentleman of family, sheriff co. Dorset, 16 Edward IV., posted on the church-door of Colling- 232 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS bourne-Ducis, co. Wilts. He was executed for the lampoon by Gloster. " The Cat, the Rat, and Lovel our Dog, Doe rule all England, under the Hog. The crooke backt boare the way hath found To root our roses from our ground ; Both flower and bud will he confound, Till king of beasts- the same be crown'd : And then the dog, the cat, and rat, Shall in his trough feed and be fat;" The satirist himself explains the allusions, in some lines com- posed before his execution, and called " CoUingbourne's Com- plaint ;" — " Catesbye was one whom I call'd a cat, A craftie lawyer, catching all he could ; The second Ratcliffe, whom I nam'd a rat, A cruel beast to gnaw on whom he should ; Lord Lovel barkt and byt whom Richard would. Whom I therfore did rightly teime a dog, Wherwith to ryme I call'd the king a hog." Lord Lovel left no issue by his wife Anne, daughter of Henry, fifth Lord Fitz-hugh ; his. eldest sister and co-heir, Joan Lovel, married Sir Brian Stapleton, ancestor of the pre- sent Lord Beaumont, Henry Stapleton, 1868. His second sister, Fridiswide Lovel, married Sir Edward Norris, Knight Arms of Francis Lovel, Lord Lovel of Tichmersh, K.G. — Barry nebuly of six Or and Gules. SLR THOMAS VAWGHAN. Miss Strickland, alluding to this charafter says, "This faithful Chamberlain, who carried the prince in his infancy everywhere after his father's steps, is the same Sir Richard Vaughan who testified his fidelity to his beloved charge in the bloody tower of Pontefra6l, during the usurpation of Richard of Gloucester. He belonged to a very fierce and hardy clan of Welch Marchmen." Shakspeare, however, is corre6l in calling this knight Sir THOMAS VAUGHAN, as wit- ness his monument in Westminster Abbey, where his efiigy is engraved on a brass, in plate-armour, the hands Joined in prayer, and having the following remains of the original in- scription :.... Thomas Vaughan — et Thesaur. Camer. Edwardi IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 233 ttuatti ac Gtamcrara 'pttntipts t\ jrtmogenttt Ijtctt ngtg: Te=. quiescat in pace, glmen. On the only remaining shield is a coat of Arms ; — Quar- terly I and 4, Argent a Saltire Sable 2 and 3, Sable a bend engrailed between three fleurs-de-lis Argent Hard- ing's Westininster Abbey. The charafler in this play was the son of Sir Roger Vaughan, Knight, of Tretower, co. Brecon, by his second wife, Dennis, daughter of Thomas ap Philip Vaughan, Knight, of Tyloglas. Sir Thomas Vaughan, the Chamberlain, also of Tretower, married Cicely, daughter of Morgan ap Jenkin ap Phillip, and had three sons, of whom Henry carried on the line of Tretower, and two daughters, viz. Katherine Vaughan, married to Richard Harley; and Elizabeth Vaughan, who married first John, Lord Grey of Wilton, and secondly. Sir Edward Stanley, Lord Monteagle, K.G. Harleian MSS., British Museum, 1 140, 1 142. The name of "Thomas Vaughan, Squier" is found with those of the Duke of York, his sons, and " other rebels " of note, proclaimed traitors by Henty VI. on his short resumption of power, dated March 17, 1460. Rymer's Fcedera. Sir Thomas Vaughan was sent, in 1462, as Ambassador to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good; and in 1470 Edward IV. sent him, with Sir John Scot, to in- vest his brother-in-law, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, with the Order of the Garter. Sir Thomas was beheaded, June 13, 1483. From Richard Harley and Katherine Vaughan was de- scended, in the sixth generation. Sir Robert Harley, first Earl of Oxford, K.G. A rms of Vaughan, of Pedwardine, Tretower, and Tyloglas. — S«^/i? three children's heads couped at the ^ovX^&ts Argent, enwrapped about the necks with as many snakes proper. Brit. Mus. SIR RICHARD RATCLIFFE. Of this ready minister of King Richard's cruel designs Sir Thomas More says, — " A man that had been long secrete with hym, havynge experience of the world, and a shrewde wyt, slaort and rude in speeche, rough and boysterous of behaviour, botli in mischiefe as farre from pittie as from alle 234 NOTES. ON THE CHARACTERS feare of God." He was slain at Bosworth Field in the cause of his master, who had made him a K.G. From his coat of arms he must have belonged to a branch of the family who became Earls of Sussex ; and he is most probably identical with Richard, younger son of Sir John Ratcliffe (qui obiit 20 Hen. VI.), of Worsall, by his wife Clemence, daughter of Hugh Standish of Duxbury. BERRY'S Herts. With all their faults Richard's minions behaved like true knights on the field of battle. Lovel, Ratcliffe, Catesby, and Brakenbury, together with Lord Ferrers, and Sir Gervas Clifton, followed their master in his last desperate charge. Brakenbury was killed by Sir Walter Hungerford, and of the devoted band Lovel alone lived to after-time. But for the treason and desertion of the Stanleys, and other sworn sub- jefts of Richard, the fate of Bosworth Field might have been very different. Arms of Sir RicJiard Ratcliffe, K.G. — Argent a bend en- grailed Sable. Of the seven Knights of the Garter made by Richard IH. four are charafters in this play. In defiance of time and space Ratcliffe is introduced, A61 III. Scene 4, as present at the Council held in the Tower, June 13, 1483, the very day when he was carrying out the execution of Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan at Pontefrafl Castle, of which he was Governor. In some modern editions this violation of truth has been correfted by placing the name of Catesby for Ratcliffe, who in fadt was engaged in looking after his master's interests in the North, whilst Catesby was Richard's agent in all his dealings with Lord Hastings ; and, by this change of name, everj^thing will read consistently with the fadls. Moreover had Ratcliffe been in London Richard would not have needed to employ Tyrrell to perform his behest on the young princes, who perished nine days after the fate of their faithful relatives and friends. SIR WILLIAM CATESBY. Mr T. P. Courtenay says, respefting this charafter, " I can find nothing of the family of Catesby." FULLER, in his Worthies, under NorthamptonsJure, states of him ; " Sir William Catesby was born in this county, where his family long flourished in Ashby St Leger. He was first advanced IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 235 by William Lord Hastings, by whose countenance he came to the notice, then favour of Richard the Third, though ill re- quiting it, when betraying him who caused his preferment." The family takes its name from a parish in the county of Northampton, about four miles from Daventry, and descends from Simon de Catesby, in the reign of Henry I. In the time of Henry IV. the family was seated at Ashby St Leger ; John Catesby of that place, and of Althorp, which he pur- chased, was father of Sir William Catesby, Knight, sheriff of the county, 21, 30, and 34 Henry VI., and knight of the shire 27 and 31 of that reign ; he died in 1470, leaving by his wife Philippa, daughter and co-heir of Sir William Bishopton, Knight, of Bishopton, co. Warwick*, a son and heir, who is the chara6ler in this play. He was sheriff of the county 18 Edward IV. ; esquire of the body to Richard III., who ap- pointed him Chancellor of the Exchequer for life, and, as he was "learned in the law," his Attorney-generaP. He was taken prisoner at Bosworth, and beheaded three days after the battle, August 25, 1485, at Leicester. He married Mar- garet, second daughter of William, seventh Lord Zouch of Harringworth, by whom he had a son, George Catesby, to whom his father's forfeited estates were restored, by Henry VII., probably through the interest of that king's minister. Sir Richard Empson, whose daughter Elizabeth was George Catesby's wife. After his death, she married secondly, Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote, and their grandson is the Justice Shallow of Shakspeare's time. George Catesby's descendant in the fourth generation was Robert Catesby, the prime mover in the Gunpowder Plot with Guido Fawkes, and other conspirators. There is a very fine monumental brass in the church at Ashby St Leger, with the effigies of Sir William Catesby and his wife Margaret Zouch ; and it is singular that the time of .his death is placed two days before the date of the battle of ^ Bishopton, or Bishopston, is il was sheriff co. Warwick, 5 Hemy V. mile N.W. from Stratford-upon-Avon, ^ According to Haydn {Book of and is mentioned in Shakspeare's will ; Dignities), Catesby was not Attorney- half the tithes of the place had been general to Richard III., but Speaker of purchased by him in 1605, and he the House of Commons in his first year,, seems also to have possessed other pro- 1483. perty there. Sir William Bishopton 236 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Bosworth ; which was fought August 22, 1485 : the inscrip- tion is — " obiit vicesimo die mens' August© anno D'ni mill'mo CCCC octogesimo quinto." Arms of Sir William Catesby. — Azure two lions passant Sable, crowned Or. SIR JAMES TYRRELL. Sir Thomas More thus describes him ; — " He was a brave handsome man, who deserved a better master, and would have merited the esteeme of alle men had his vertues been as greate as his valour;" adding that Tyrrel "sawe wth regret Sir Richard Ratcliff soare above him in his master's favour." Mr T. P. Courtenay says, — " I do not find a Sir James in that family (Tyrrell of Springfield), unless he was one of the many sons of Sir Thomas Tyrrell, who married Constance, daughter of John Blount, Lord Mountjoy." The excellent authority Vincent, however, in the pedigree he gives of the family, shows that the Tyrrells of Springfield were descended from Thomas, eldest son of Sir John Tyrrell of Heron, Treasurer of the Household to Henry VI., whilst the second son, William Tyrrell, of Gipping, co. Suffolk, of which he was Sheriff, 24 Henry VI., by his wife, Margaret, daughter of Robert D'Arcy, was father of the charafter in this play, and of Thomas Tyr- rell, who afled as Master of the horse at the coronation of Richard HI. The account which the Poet gives of the share which James Tyrrell had in the death of the young princes in the Tower, is taken from Hall, who derived it from Sir Thomas More, who relates that when, many years after, Sir James Tyrrell, for taking part in Perkin Warbeck's imposture, was committed to the Tower for high treason, both he and his surviving accomplice, Dighton, " were examined, and con- fessed the above murder." Tyrrell was beheaded May 6, 1502. Stow records his interment, in the Church of Augustin Friars, " Sir James Tirell, beheaded, 1502." By his wife, Anne, daughter of Sir John Arundell, Knight, he left a son. Sir Thomas Tyrrell of Gipping, who was restored in blood by Henry VII. Sir Thomas Tyrrell, of Gipping, married Margaret, daughter of Christopher, Lord Willoughbj'-, and had a son, Sir John Tyrrell, who married Elizabeth, IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLA YS. 237 daughter of Sir John Munday. Vincent. The Tyrrells of Springfield, Gipping, and Boreham (Baronets), are supposed to derive their descent from the Walter Tyrrell, whose arrow is said to have slain William Rufus in the New Forest. Arms of Sir James Tyrrell. — Argent two chevronels Azure, within a border engrailed Gules. SIR JAMES BLOUNT. This knight, who was the captain of Hammes Castle^, seems to be the same person as the "James Blount Esquire," whose name is on the list of the friends of William, the Lord Hastings in this play, pledged to defend him against all per- sons, the king excepted, his enemies. DUGDALE. He was third son, by Helena, daughter of Sir John Byron, of Sir Walter Blount, first Lord Mountjoy, K.G., whose father. Sir Thomas Blount, Treasurer of Normandy, was son of the brave Sir Walter Blount, slain at Shrewsbury. Sir James Blount was made a knight banneret by Henry VI H., after the battle of Newark, 15 10. At the attainder of Sir William Catesby, Blount received a grant of his manor of Ashley St Leger. He does not appear to have been married. Anns of Sir James Blount. — Barry nebuly of six, Or and Sable, a mullet for difference. SIR WALTER HERBERT. Sir Thomas More speaks of this knight as a person of great influence with the Welch, and hints that the Earl of Richmond had an intention to marry one of his sisters. This was the Lady Maud Herbert, with whom an attachment sprang up, during the time that young Henry Tudor was living in her father's castle ; and this intended union is alluded to in the Earl of Pembroke's will. Lady Maud however be- came the wife of Henry Percy, " the melancholy Lord North- 1 The citadel of Hammes, or Ham, latter days as the place of confinement in Picardy, now Department of the of Prince Polignac, and of Louis Napo- Somme, 15 miles S.E. of Peronne, was leon, now Emperor of the French. Ion" a state-prison, and is famous in 238 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS umberland," as King Richard calls the fourth earl. So con- vinced was Richmond, for the time, of Richard's determination to marry the Princess Elizabeth, that he once more turned his attentions to a daughter of his early friend, the Lady Kathe- rine Herbert, who was afterwards married to George Grey, Earl of Kent Sir Walter Herbert was the second son of Sir William Herbert, a staunch Yorkist, created by Edward IV., in 1461, Baron Herbert, and in 1468, Earl of Pembroke, and who is no doubt the nobleman in the preceding play of that title, al- though some Shakspearean critics make him to be Jaspar Tudor, who would hardly place himself in the power of Edward IV., the enemy of his family, by whose orders his father, Owen Tudor, had been put to death, and he himself had been attainted. Sir Walter Herbert married Anne Stafford, second daugh- ter of the Duke of Buckingham in thi': play, but it does not appear that he had any children, and his widow married secondly George Hastings, first Earl of Huntingdon. Arms of Sir Walter Herbert. — Per pale Azure and Guks, three lions rampant Argent, a crescent for difference. SIR ROBERT BRAKENBURY. The family is said to be descended from one of the com- panions of William the Conqueror. Mr Surtees, however, in his History of tJie County of Dtcrham, only begins with Robert Brakenbury, who died in 1222, whose descendant Nicholas married Agnes daughter and co-heir of Nicholas Denton, of Denton, and their son became Thomas Brakenbury of Den- ton, CO. Durham. He had two sons, the eldest was Thomas of Denton, from whom descended the family seated at Sellaby Hall, represented by the late Lt. Col. Sir Edward Braken- bury, K.T.S., who died June i, 1864. The second son is the charafler in tliis play, who by his wife Joan, had only two daughters, of whom the eldest, Joan, married John Penne. In some biographies the Constable of the Tower has been wrongly described as the ancestor of the Brakenburys of Sellaby. One of the Privy Council to Henry VIII. was John Penne, to whom the King bequeathed " C. marks." IN SHAKSPE ARE'S PLAYS. 239 Mr Surtees says, — "It is easy to conceive how a cadet of a good family in the immediate neighbourhood of Barnard Castle, where Richard's cognizance still remains carved on bay-window and buttress, might enter the service and acquire the confidence of Gloucester The Tower of London was entrusted to him, and according to the common tale, he re- fused to be the agent in admitting Dighton and Forrest to do their bloody work, and the keys were delivered over for the night to the less scrupulous Tyrrel. Yet Sir Robert adhered faithfully to Richard, and died with his sovereign on Bosworth field." Brakenbury had command of the rear-guard, consist- ing of 1500 men. BUCKE. The writ appointing Robert Brakenbury, Constable of the Tower, with a salary of £100 per annum, is dated i Richard III., March g, 1484. Rymer's Feeder a. In the play Brakenbury is addressed as "Lieuten- ant," and Shakspeare probably was led to give him this rank only, as he does in earlier instances, from the fa6t that during the greater part of Queen Elizabeth's reign the ofiSce of " Constable " was not filled up, consequently in the Poet's time the chief guardian of the Tower would be styled the " Lieutenant." Arms of Sir Robert Brakenbury. — Argent three chevronels interlaced in base Sable, a crescent for difference. CHRISTOPHER URSWICK, a Priest. Mr Lysons, in his Environs of London, says, — " Christopher Urswick, presented to the Reftory of Hackney, by Bishop Hall, anno 1502, was a man of very considerable eminence. His abilities as a statesman which had been evinced in his ■successful endeavour to promote the union between Henry yiL, to whom he was chaplain, and Elizabeth of York, in- duced the King to employ him in various important negocia- tions and embassies. He was installed Dean of Windsor in 1495, and enjoyed at the same time the archdeaconry of Richmond in Yorkshire. After he became Reftor of Hackney he fixed his residence there, and spent the remainder of his days in religious retirement, having resigned his other prefer- ments, and refused a proffered bishopric. By his will he desired to be buried in the church of Hackney, before the 240 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS image of St Austin." He was also chaplain to the Countess of Richmond ; he died 061. 21, 1521 ; on his tomb the Latin epitaph records his refusal of the see of Norwich. The brother of this chara6ter, Sir Thomas Urswick, was Recorder of London in 1454, and Chief Baron of the Ex- chequer from 1472 to 1484. Robert Urcewyk, as Sheriff of Lancashire, raised 500 foot-archers from that palatine county, and served with them in the retinue of Henry V., in France. Sir Nicholas Hariris Nicolas. It will be observed that in Aft IV. Scene $, Lord Stanley greets the priest as " Sir Christopher ;" this prefix properly belonged to such ecclesiastics as had taken the University degree of " Bachelor of Arts," or " Dominus," and the title " Sir " is still preserved at Colleges for bachelors. It may be interesting to quote some instances of bye-gone times. On a monumental brass in Stoke D'Abernon Church, Surrey, is the inscription, — " This chauntrie foundyt Syr John Norbury, The first Prest was Syr John Pynnock truly.'' In the will of Eleanor Arundel, Lady Cobham, 1404, she says, — " Also I appoint Sir William Dorvaunt, Vicar of Sper- tisbury, and John Quynton, my executors," &c. Still earlier, Joan, Lady Cobham, in her will, 1370, speaks of her "chap- lain, Sir William de Wrotham." Such notices are numerous even at more remote dates, and we especially find the " Sir," and "Dominus," in the lists of the incumbents, or "parsons," of livings. Thus under the reflors of East Herling we read, "1349, 17 July, Sir John Gonvile, priest." Weever, in his A 7icient Funeral Monuments, gives the epitaph of " Sir Peter L.a.cy, priest," at Northfleet, Kent, — "Hie jacet Dominus Petrus de Lacy, quondam Reftor istius ecclesiae...i8 Oct. 1327." Sir John Fastolfe's confessor, and executor to his will, was Sir Thomas Howes, Reftor of Blofield, Norfolk, and in the windows of that church were inscriptions requesting per- sons to pray for the souls of Sir John and his wife Milicent, "et domini Thomae Howes istius ecclesiae reftoris." At the dissolution of the religious houses, the list of "the chapelyns " of Winchester Monastery contains the names of — "M' John Hasard, Confessor, S' John Hylton, S' Walter IN SHAKSPE ARE'S PLAYS. 241 Bayly, S' Walter. Dashwood, S' W" Orton." MONASTICON Vol. 2. " In some of his Comedies Shakspeare introduces clerical, though not very reverend, charaflers, with the prefix " Sir." Thus we have " Sir Nathaniel, a curate," in Love's Laboiir's Lost; the amusing " Sir Hugh Evans, a Welch Parson," in the Merry Wives of Windsor; the flouted " Sir Oliver Mar-text, a Vicar," in As You Like It; whilst in Twelfth Night, the Clown dons a "beard and gown," to personate "Sir Topas the Curate." LORD MA YOR OF LONDON. This official, Sir Edmund Shaa, or Shaw, Citizen and Goldsmith, Sheriff of London 15 Edward IV., was a great partizan of the house of York, as was his brother, Doflor Shaw, mentioned by Gloster, in Aft iii. Scene 5 ; — " Go, Lovel, with all speed, to Doiflor Shaw, — Go thou {to Catesby) to Friar Penker." Sir Thomas More says of these two famous preachers of the day ; — " Raufe Shaa, Clarke, brother to the Maior, and Friar Pynkie, provinciall of the Augustin Friers, both Doctors in divinity, both great preachers, both of more learning then vertue, of more fame then learning, and yet of more learn- ing then truth." According to Heywood, Dr Shaw was chap- lain and confessor to Edward IV., whose children he sought to brand with illegitimacy, afling upon their uncle Gloster's suggestion to — " Infer the bastardy of Edward's children." Shakspeare makes Buckingham use much of the very language, in favour of Gloucester, which was employed by Do6tor Shaw in his sermon at St Paul's, when he took for his text, "Bastard slips shall not thrive." This passage is no doubt borrowed from the Apocryphal book, the Wisdom of Solomon, ch. iv. 3, — " the multiplying brood of the ungodly shall not thrive, nor take deep rooting from bastard slips, nor lay any fast foundation;" AUTHORIZED VERSION. In the Douay Bible, the passage reads, — "bastard slips shall not take deep root." 16 242 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Ralph and Edmund Shaw were the sons of John Shaw, of Dronkenfield, co. Chester. Sir Edmund Shaw, in 1482, founded and endowed a free grammar-school at Stockport, co. Chester. He was Lord Mayor 1482-3. In the play the mayor tells Buckingham — " the people were not wont To be spoke to, but by the recorder ;" that official was Thomas Fitzwilliam, " a sad man and an honest, which had newly come to the office:" June 19, 1483. Hall. Arms of Sir Edmund Shaw. — Argent a chevron between three lozenges Ermines, within a border Gules. SHERIFF OF WILTSHIRE. This person, introduced in A£l V. Scene i, was HENRY Long, of Wraxall, co. Wilts., who was Sheriff in 1457, 1476, and lastly in i Richard IH., 1483. He died in 1490, and having no children by either of his three wives, his nephew. Sir Henry Long, of Draycot, who was present at the " Field of the Cloth of Gold," became eventually possessor of Wrax- all ; from him descended a long line of " Knights and men of great worship." Camden. Arms of Henry Long of South Wraxall. — Sable a lion rampant between ten cross-crosslets .^r^^w^, as carved on the shields at South Wraxall Manor-house, an interesting specimen of the domestic architefture of the time of Henry VIII. The "Page" addressed by King Richard in Aft IV. Scene 2, — " Know'st thou not any whom corrupting gold Would tempt unto a close exploit of death?" and who introduces James Tyrrell, as — " a discontented gentleman. Whose humble means match not his haughty mind," — is no doubt intended for John Green, probably an esquire of the body to Richard, and who for the share he had in the IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 243 transaftions which led to the murder of the young princes was appointed receiver of the lordship of the Isle of Wight, and of the lordship and castle of Porchester, John Green had been employed to tamper with Brakenbury, "that he should put the two children to death. This John Green did his errand to Brakenbury, kneeling before Our Lady in the Tower, who plainly answered that he would never put them to death." Hall, Shakspeare has consigned to lasting infamy the names of the two aflual assassins, who also received rewards from their royal employer for their deed of "ruthless butchery." John Dighton was made bailiff of Aiton in Staffordshire ; and Miles Forrest, "a fellow flesh-bred in murther before- time," (Hall), was appointed keeper of the wardrobe in one of Richard's royal residenceSj Barnard Castle, and dying soon after, an annuity of five marks was settled on his widow, and her son, Edward Forrest. Sharon Turner. The contrivers, performers, and gainers in the dark deed perished by violent or fearful deaths. Forrest, it is said by the old chroniclers, " by piecemeal miserably rotted away ;" Tyr- rell, and his horse breaker, Dighton, suffered ignominiously on the scaffold ; the great arch-plotter Richard, and, the least guilty, Brakenbury, fell more gloriously on the field of battle. An anonymous writer asserts that John Green was walled up alive by order of Henry the Seventh. ELIZABETH, Queen to King Edward IV. Fuller says of this lady, — " She got more greatness than joy, height than happiness, by her marriage, for she lived to see the death of her husband, murder of her two sons, and restraint of herself and rest of her children." This agrees with her foreboding language in the play ; — " Small joy have I in being England's queen." Miss Strickland says of her, — " there never was a woman who contrived to make more personal enemies." After Richard's usurpation she was styled by him, " Dame Elizabeth Grey, late calling herself Queen of England." She retired to the Monastery of Bermondsey, where she died in the reign of her 16 — 2 244 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS son-in-law, much neglefted by him, June 8, 1492. In only one instance has the Compiler met with the time of Elizabeth Woodvile's death, and then it was merely stated to have occurred the Friday before Whitsuntide. As Easter Day in 1492 fell on the 22nd of April, the exa6l date of her decease was the 8th of June. Her will, dated April 10, 1492, exhibits a touching pifture of her maternal afife6ton, and her poverty, having nothing but her blessing to bequeath to her children, for — " I have no worldly goods," is her mournful confession. She was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor, where on a flat stone, at the foot of her royal husband's tomb, is inscribed : — Ittng lEMnarU anir f)(g ©ueen ISUjatrtS asattrfaile. Southey's lines would form an appropriate epitaph ; — " Thou, Elizabeth, art here. Thou ! to whom all griefs were known, Who wert placed upon the bier. In happier hour than on a throne.'' MARGARET, Widow of King Henry VL For the sake of a striking stage efifefl Shakspeare brings together on the scene — "Anjou's heroine, and the paler rose. The rival of her crown, and of her woes,'' as Gray finely terms the two bereaved queens, Margaret and Elizabeth ; but the majestic widow of Henry VI. left England for ever in 1475, on the payment of her ransom, by Louis XI. of 50,000 crowns, for which sum, only half its value, King Ren6 sold his inheritance, Provence, to redeem his daughter; In the last scene of the preceding play, Clarence is made to say, alluding to Queen Margaret, — " Reignier, her father, to the king of France Hath pawn'd the Sicils and Jerusalem, And hither have they sent it for her ransom." .But Louis XI. was too astute to accept a shadow when he could obtain a substance. Queen Margaret, since the battle of Tewksbury, had been IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 245 kept a prisoner either in the Tower of London, or at the royal castle of Wallingford, under charge of the dowager-duchess of Suffolk, Alice Chaucer; and the high-minded woman, destined to die, using the words she applies to her rival, — " neither mother, wife, nor England's queen," — had descended to the tomb two years before the death of Edward IV, Sir Walter Scott has introduced her in Anne of Gierstien in the decline of her age, and in the loss of her power, but not of her intelleft ; and he speaks of her as one "who, if she occasionally abused viflory by cruelty and revenge, had made some atonement by the indomitable reso- lution with which she had supported the fiercest storms of adversity." After the death of her father. Queen Margaret sold her reversionary interest in some provinces which had still remained to him, her sister and nephew surviving, to Louis XI. for a pension of 6cxx) livres, but it was badly paid, and she had to find a refuge for her remaining days in the ch&tea'u of Dampierre, near Saumur, belonging to an old officer of King Rent's household, Fran9ois VignoUes, lord of Moreans, under whose roof Margaret of Anjou breathed her last, August 25, 148 1. DUCHESS OF YORK. This mother of a line of kings, CiCELY Nevill, was as remarkable for pride as for the beauty from which she vtzs, called " the Rose of Raby." She had a throne room in her baronial residence, Fotheringay Castle, where she held recep- tions with the state of a queen, a title which she had at one time a reasonable hope to enjoy, as the consort of her princely husband, who had been declared heir to Henry VI. This great lady survived all her sons, and also outlived all her daughters excepting Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy; and though she had not, at the time of her son Richard's usurpa- tion, in 1483, arrived at the age she ascribes to herself in the play,— " Eighty odd years of sorrow have I seen," the Duchess of York must have reached an advanced period 246 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS when twelve years later she died at Berkhampstead, in 1495 ; her will, made on the first of April in that year, was proved August 27, following. She was buried at Fotheringay beside her husband, and their son Edmund. Horace Walpole admits that she was " a princess of spotless charafter," thus refuting the slur attempted to be cast upon his mother's reputation by Richard III., who had the efifrontery to give out that he alone of all the sons of the Duke of York was legitimate ; in the play he tells his friend Buckingham to throw a doubt on his late brother Edward's parentage, adding — " Yet touch this sparingly, as 'twere far off ; Because, my lord, you know, my mother lives." LADY ANNE. The popular name given by Shakspeare, will always cling to this unhappy lady, although she had been a Princess of Wales, and a Queen-consort. Anne Nevill, youngest daughter and co-heir of the great Earl of Warwick, was bom in Warwick Castle, June 11, 1452. She was in her seven- teenth year when she visited the court of Louis XI. in com- pany with her father, mother, and Clarence, then married to her sister Isabel ; and whilst at the court which was held at Angers, the treaty of marriage was contrafled between her- self and the Prince of Wales, to whom she was united at Amboise, in July or August, 1470. The introduftion of "L,ady Anne," as chief mourner in the funeral procession. May 24, 147 1, of Henry VI., is a dramatic fiftion, as at that time she was placed in hiding by Clarence, for fear of the Duke of Gloucester, who at length discovered her in the dis- guise of a cook-maid. CONTINUATOR of the Croyland Chronicle. Richard, who is stated by Bucke and other writers to have been early attached to Anne of Warwick, his cousin and playmate, born in the same year, married her in 1473, and she was crowned with him at Westminster, July 6, 1483 ; their only child, Edward Prince of Wales, born at Middleham CastleMn 1474, died there March 31, 1484, and ' Gloster, before he became king, towards Scotland, into which country resided chiefly at Middleham Castle, he made frequent expeditions and con- beingGovemorof the Northern Marches quests. IN SHAKSPE ARE'S PLAYS. 247 his mother's death, supposed to arise from a tendency to con- sumption increased by grief at his loss, occurred March 16, 1485. As if he were not sufficiently burthened with other crimes, some writers attribute to Richard III. his wife's death by poison*; but there is good reason to believe that he was sincerely attached to her. Shakspeare does not adopt this suspicion, he merely makes Richard say to Catesby, A61 IV. Scene 2, — " rumour it abroad, That Anne, my wife, is very grievous sick ; . I say again, give out, That Anne, my queen, is sick, and like to die." After the death of his queen and heir, to whom there is no allusion throughout the play, Richard entertained the idea of marrying his niece, the heir to her murdered brothers ; — " I must be married to my brother's daughter. Or else my kingdom stands on brittle glass." Richard's apologists, George Bucke, and Horace Walpole, do not deny his intention, but the latter writer suggests that the king only "amused the young princess with the hopes of making her his queen," to prevent her union with his hated rival, Richmond. But it is evident that Ratcliffe and Catesby believed their royal master to be in earnest, for they remon- strated warmly against marrying with his niece. A YOUNG DA UGHTER OF CLARENCE. This personage, as illustrious for her misfortunes as for her royal birth, was the last of the Plantagenets, MARGARET, born August 14, 1473, only surviving daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, and Isabel Nevill, and eventually sole heir of her grandfather, Richard Nevill, the famous Earl of Warwick and Salisbury, and in 15 13 she was created Countess of Salisbury. She married Sir Richard Pole, K.G. (son of Sir Geoffrey Pole), Chamberlain to Prince Arthur, and had issue, i. Henry Pole, created Lord Montague, whose 1 Fuller says of Lady Anne,— grain was given her, to quicken her in "Some think she went her own pace her journey to her long ,4<7)W." to the grave, while others suspedt a 248 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS eldest daughter, Katherine Pole, married Francis Hastings, second Earl of Huntingdon, ancestor of the present Mar- quess of Hastings ; the second daughter, Winifred Pole, married Sir Thomas Barrington ; 2. Sir Geoffrey Pole, arraigned for high treason ; 3. Sir Arthur Pole; 4. Reginald, who was the famous Cardinal Pole, Archbishop of Can- terbury in the reign of his cousin, Queen Mary ; 5. UR- SULA Pole, who married Henry, Lord Stafford, son of the Duke of Buckingham in the next play, and whose male line became extinfl in 1640. Several families in the present day can claim a descent from the houses of Plantagenet and York, through George, Duke of Clarence, either by the line of Hastings or Barrington. Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, having incurred the dis- pleasure of Henry VHI., was to his lasting disgrace beheaded on Tower Hill, May 27, 1541. Her marriage is prematurely alluded to twice in the course of this play, first where Richard instru6ts his minion Catesby, A61 IV. Scene 2, — " Inquire me out some mean-born gentleman, Whom I will marry straight to Clarence' daughter:" and again, when the usurping king sums up his dark and un- scrupulous deeds against his family. Scene 3, — " The son of Clarence have I penn'd up close, His daughter meanly have I match'd in marriage ;" but at this date, 1483, Margaret Plantagenet was only ten years old. In A£l n'^. Scene 4, several Messengers enter to King Richard, with news of those persons of note who have taken up arms for the Earl of Richmond ; the first Messenger mentions — " Sir Edward Courtney, and the haughty prelate, Bishop of Exeter, his brother there." These persons, however, were not brothers, but cousins ; the first-named, who assisted Richmond at Bosworth, was the eldest son of Sir Hugh Courtenay (slain at Tewksbury), of the ancient family of that name, of whom his ancestor, Hugh ..IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 249 Courtehay, was created Earl of Devon by Edward III. in 1335. Sir Edward Courtenay, the knight named in the text, was created Earl of Devon, by Henry VII. in 1485, and made a K. G., his only son William married the Princess Katherine, youngest daughter of Edward IV. The bishop was Peter Courtenay, son of Sir Philip Courtenay (ances- tor of the present Earl of Devon), who was sixth son of Hugh, second Earl of Devon, by his wife Margaret de Bohun, grand- daughter of Edward I. Peter Courtenay, who became Bishop of Exeter in 1478, was a zealous Lancastrian, and had to seek refuge in Britany, whence he returned with the Earl of Richmond. Another messenger tells the King, — " In Kent, my liege, the Guildfords are in arms." This was a family seated at Hemsted, in Kent, soon after the conquest ; William de Guldford was Sheriff of the County, 1 1 Richard II. His great grandson, Sir John Guildford, was Comptroller of the Household to Edward IV., and he and his son, Sir Richard, supported the cause of the Earl of Rich- mond. The father died in 1493 ; the son was made by Henry VII., Master of the Ordnance, K. G., and Comptroller of the Household ; his third son. Sir Henry Guildford, is a charafter in the next play. The last of the Messengers informs King R.ichard that " Sir Thomas Lovel" is in arms against him. Mr T. P. Cour- tenay observes — " I do not know who this was;" but it seems tolerably certain that he is the charafter of that name in the next play. A most important adherent of Richmond is mentioned among the persons " of great fame and worth," who resorted to him, namely. Sir Gilbert Talbot, who for his great ser- vices at Bosworth, where he commanded the right wing, was rewarded by Henry VII. "with fair lands at Grafton, in Worcestershire, and made Governor of Calais :" Fuller's Worthies. Grafton manor belonged to Sir Humphrey Stafford (son of the knight who was killed in Cade's rebellion), who having fought for Richard III. at Bosworth, was attainted, and his forfeited manor bestowed on Sir Gilbert Talbot, who became also a K. G. He was second son of John Talbot, second Earl of Shrewsbury, and from him descended the 250 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS earls of Shrewsbury and the earls Talbot, both titles being now united in Sir Gilbert's lineal descendant, the first Earl of Shrews- bury and Talbot, the present premier earl of England, 1867. "Redoubted Pembroke" is Jaspar Tudor, uncle of the Earl of Richmond. After the viftory at Bosworth, to which he so greatly contributed, he was created Duke of Bedford, Q6L 27, 1485, and obtained from Henry VII. many high appointments, and valuable grants. He married Catherine Woodvile, youngest daughter of Richard, Earl Rivers, widow of the Duke of Buckingham in this play, but had no children by her ; he died in 1495. The poet also speaks of — " Rice ap Thomas, and a valiant crew," among Richmond's supporters. Fuller, in his Worthies, says of him, — "Sir Rhys ap Tliomas, of Elmelin in Carmarthen- shire was never more than a knight, yet little less than a Prince in his Native Country ; to King Henry VII., on his landing with contemptible forces at Milford Haven^, Sir Rhys repaired with a considerable accession of choice soldiers, marching with them to Bosworth Field, where he right valiantly behaved himself." For this assistance he was made a knight banneret on the field of battle, aftenvards a K. G., and Governor of Wales. He married Catherine Howard, fourth daughter of Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk, by his second wife, Agnes Tilney, and is ancestor of the present Lord Dynevor, George Talbot Rice (1865), who is also de- scended from Sir Gilbert Talbot, of Grafton, K. G., and therefore quarters the arms of Rice aud Talbot with those of De CardonelL Shakspeare introduces on the stage a knight, whose name is not usually placed by editors among the dramatis persojKZ, but Richmond addresses him as present. Aft V. Scene 3, — " Sir William Brandon, you shall bear my standard." He was the eldest son of Sir William Brandon, Knt, by his ^ The earl of Richmond, in reality, western shore of the magnificent har- landed at a place called Dale, four hour, Milford Haven, miles S.W. from Milford, and on the IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 251 wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert Wingfield, Knt. Sir William, the knight in this play, who fell by the hand of Richard III., left by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Bruen, Knt., a son, Charles Brandon, who is the "Duke of Suffolk" in the next play. Anns of Sir William Brandon, who might be brought upon the scene, according to the stage dire6lion, Barry of ten, Argent and Gules, over all a lion rampant Or, crowned per pale Argent. In the list of the slain is mentioned "Walter Lord Ferrars;" this was Sir Walter Devereux, K. G., who married Anne, only daughter and heir of William, sixth Lord Ferrars of Chartley, after whose death his son-in-law was summoned to Parliament, 2 Edward IV., by that title. He is the ancestor of Viscount Hereford, Robert Devereux, 1865'. In Afl I. Scene 2, Lady Anne is attended by "two gentle- men," whom she addresses as " Tressel and Berkley." The latter person was no doubt meant for one of the noble family of that name, and may be intended for one of the sons of James, sixth Lord Berkley, who were Lancastrians. " Tres- sel," a name not found, at least by the Compiler of these memoirs, in any county history, is probably a misprint for "Trussel," an eminent and ancient family seated in the county of Warwick in the time of Henry II., when Osbert Trussel held Billesley, and from him descended the Trussels of Cublesdon and Afton-Trussel, in Staffordshire, and of Floore and Gayton, in Northamptonshire. The Trussels were of con- sequence in the reigns of the three first Edwards ; Sir William, much employjsd abroad by Edward III., was made a baron, and admiral of the fleet ; another Sir William Trussel was at Poitiers among the principal commanders ; and John Trussel, and " Mons' William Trussel," were at Agincourt. Sir Wil- liam Trussel was sheriff co. Warwick, 16 Edward IV., and he is probably the same knight who signed the Indenture to aid Lord Hastings against his enemies ; he, or his brother, Ed- mund Trussel, may be the person intended in this play. The 1 At Llanmaes, co. Glamorgan, battle of Bosworth Field, and resided " there is an entry in the parish r^s- afterwards at Llantwit Major, where he ter of the burial of Ivan Yorath, on the supported himself by fishing." GOR- I2th of July, 162 1, in the iSoth year of TON, Topog. DUl. his age. He had been in the famous 2S2 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS, &c. Arms home by theTrussels of Gayton were, y a chevron Guks, for Stafford. DUKE OF SUFFOLK. This personage, Charles Brandon, is the son of Sir William Brandon, who was slain at Bosworth. He was brought up with Henry VIII., with whom he was a great favourite, and like his royal friend excelled in all manly and knightly accomplishments, and was deemed to be the hand- somest man of the age. At the tournament held at Paris, in honour of the Princess Mary Tudor's nuptials with Louis XII. Charles Brandon carried off all the prizes ; and Draj^on thus makes the princess to compare him with the most renowned knights of France ; — " Alansan, a fine-timbered man and tall. Yet wants the shape thou art adom'd withal ; Vendome's good carriage, and a pleasing eye, Yet hath not Suffolk's pleasing majesty ; Courageous Bourbon, a sweet manly face. But yet he wants my Brandon's courtly grace ; Proud LongaviU our court judg'd hath no peer, A man scarce made was thought whilst thou wert here ; Countie St Paul, a peerless man in France, Would yield himself a squire to bear thy lance ; Gallas and Bonnearme, matchless for their might. Under thy tow'ring blade have couch' d in fight." Charles Brandon was created Viscount Lisle in 1513, and Duke of Suffolk in 1514; he married in 1515 the king's sister, Mary, then recently the widow of Louis XII. The following lines were written on what was regarded as an un- equal alliance between a Queen Dowager of France, and the son of a simple knight ; — " Cloth of frieze, be not too bold. Though thou art match'd with cloth of gold ; Cloth of gold, do not despise, Though thou art match'd with cloth of frieze." 17—2 26o NOTES ON' THE CHARACTERS From this marriage, the last instance of an English princess wedding a subject, some of our most distinguished noble fami- lies are descended. By Mary Tudor Charles Brandon had one son, Henry, Earl of Lincoln, who died young ; and three daughters, — i. The lady Frances Brandon, who married Henry Grey, afterwards Duke of Suffolk ; 2. Lady ELEANOR Brandon, who married Henry Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, and their only surviving child, Margaret Clifford, became the wife of Henry Stanley, fourth Earl of Derby, K.G. ; 3. Lady Mary Brandon, married to Martin Keys. Henry VHI. left the succession of the crown, in default of his own children having issue, to his niece, Frances Brandon, and her heirs. The third daughter Mary Brandon, who left no issue, is hardly ever named, probably on account of her personal deformity. Mr Froude tells us that Lady Mary Brandon was married in the palace by an old priest in a short gown to Martin Keys, the Serjeant Porter, who was the largest man in the court, as Mary Brandon was the smallest woman. The unfortunate pair were separated, and confined in different prisons. Charles Brandon had been twice married before the Prin- cess Maty became his wife, and after her death, in 1533, he married fourthly. Queen Katherine's goddaughter, Catherine, only daughter and heir of William Lord Willoughby de Eresby, by whom he had two sons, Henry, who became second duke, and Charles ; they both died unmarried. The character in this play, who was a K.G. and held many im- portant appointments, died August 24, 1545. Arms of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, K.G. — Barry oi ten Argent and Gules, over all a lion rampant Or crowned per pale Argent. EARL OF SURREY. This personage -i\-as Sir Thomas Howard, eldest son of the Duke of Norfolk in this play ; he commanded the van at Flodden under his father, and he afterwards served in the wars in France, and was appointed Lord Admiral of England S Henry VHI., and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 12 Henry VHI. ; in the play Surrey accuses Wolsey of having obtained IN SHAKSPEARE'S PL A YS. 261 this post for him to remove him from afifording succour to his father-in-law, the Duke of Buckingham, whose daughter, Katherine Stafford, was Surrey's second wife, by whom he was father of the celebrated Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, the great soldier, scholar, and poet of his age, ancestor of the future dukes of Norfolk. The charafter in this play became third duke at the death of his father in 1524; he narrowly escaped the fate of his accomplished son, beheaded in 1547, intended also for himself by Henry VIII., whose own death the evening before alone prevented the duke's execution from being carried out. He died, August 25, 1554, and was suc- ceeded by Surrey's son, Thomas Howard, as fourth duke, the friend of Maiy Stuart, Queen of Scots, Arms, of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, K.G. — Quarterly of four, viz. i. Howard; 2. Thomas of Brotherton ; 3. Warren ; 4. Mowbray. LORD CHAMBERLAIN. In the time of the early scenes of this play this high official's post was held for Hfe, by Sir Charles SOMERSET, who was created Earl of Worcester in 1515, and was a K.G. ; he died April 15, 1526. He married Elizabeth Herbert, eldest daughter of William, second Earl of Pembroke, and is ancestor of the Dukes of Beaufort. At his death the appoint- ment was bestowed on Lord Sandys, a charafter in this play; but probably the Poet only intended to represent the lord chamberlain throughout by the Earl of Worcester. Arms of Sir Charles Somerset. — Quarterly FRANCE and England, a border gobony Argent- and Azure, a baton sinister. LORD CHANCELLOR. After the disgrace of Cardinal Wolsey, in 1529, his secre- tary Cromwell tells him, A61 III. Scene 2, — " Sir Thomas More is chosen Lord Chancellor in your place." This upright judge and learned man, son of Sir John More, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, was Speaker of the. 262 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS House of Commons in 1523, and appointed Lord Chancellor, Ode. 17, 1529; he resigned the Great Seal, May 16, 1532, when he was succeeded by Sir Thomas Audley, at whose death, 1544, Sir Thomas Wriothesley became Chancellor, and he it was who held the Great Seal at the date of the Scene, A61 V. Scene i ; he was a bitter enemy of Cranmer, to whom on the contrary More was a fast friend. At the coronation of Anne Boleyn Sir Thomas Audley walked in the procession as Chancellor, though no doubt Shakspeare intended but one person, and that Sir Thomas More, to fill the office, through- out the play, after Wolsey's dismissal. Sir Thomas More was beheaded July 5, 1535; by his first wife, Jane, daughter of John Colt, he had a son, and three daughters, of whom the eldest was the learned and devoted Margaret Roper. Arms of Sir Ttiomas More. — Argent a chevron engrailed between three moor-cocks Sable, quartering Argent, on a chevron between three unicorns' heads erased Sable as many bezants. GARDINER, Bishop of Wincltester. This prelate, STEPHEN Gardiner, is called by some writers a natural son of Richard Woodvile, third and last Earl Rivers ; by others a son of the earl's brother, Lionel, Bishop of Salisbury. But most authors consider him to be the son of a citizen of London, William Gardiner, and his wife Helen, natural daughter of Jaspar Tudor. He was well versed in the canon and civil law, and was sent to Rome by Henry VIII., to obtain the Pope's consent to the divorce from Queen Katherine, and he wrote a treatise in defence of the measure. He became Bishop of Winchester in 1531 ; his strong dislike to Cranmer as " a most arch-heretic," and his harshness of disposition, are shown in the play. In the reign of the pious Edward VI., Gardiner wcis sent to prison as an enemy to the Reformed Faith, but released by Queen Mary, who was crowned by him in. 1553, in which year she appointed him Lord Chancellor, .and by him she was united to Philip of Spain. Gardiner died Sept. 2, 1555 ; on his death-bed he is stated by Bishop Burnet to have exclaimed, "Erravi cum Petro, sed non flevi cum Petro." IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 263 Arms of Stephen Gardiner, Bis/top of Witukester. — He assumed the coat of GARDINER of Glemsford, co. Suffolk ; namely, Per fesse Or and Sable a pale counterchanged, and three griffins' heads erased Sable. BISHOP OF LINCOLN. This prelate was John Longland, born at Henl^, co. Oxford, in 1476; he became a canon of Windsor in 15 19. He was confessor to Henry VIIL, and Bishop of Lincoln from 1528 to his death in 1547. He is said to have first suggested Henry's divorce ; in the play the King says, Aft II. Scene 4 : — " First I began in private With you, my lord of Lincoln." The bishop, who was Chancellor of the University of Ox- ford from 1532, was a great lover of architefture, and designed the beautiful chapel, called after him, in his noble cathedral ; he assisted Wolsey greatly in planning his splendid founda- tions at "those twins of learning," Oxford and Ipswich.. Arms of Bishop Longland. — ^^;^««^ a chevron Gules, be- tween three pellets, on a chief Azure a pellet between two leopards' faces. These appear in the "Longland Chapel," Lincoln Cathedral. LORD ABERGA VENNY. Sir Edward Nevill, fourth son of Ralph, first Earl of West- moreland (by his second wife Joan Beaufort), married Eliza- beth, only daughter and heir of Richard Beauchamp, Lord Abergavenny, and was summoned by that title in 1450. His grandson, GEORGE Nevill, is the charafter in this play ; he was summoned from 1497 to 1534, and was a K.G. in 15x3 ; Con- stable of Dover Castle, and Warden of the Cinque Ports. He died in 1535, and by his wife Mary Stafford, daughter of the Duke of Buckingham in this play, had, with another son who died without issue, a second son. Sir Edward Nevill, ancestor of the present Earl of Abergavenny. George Nevill was pre- sent at the " Field of the Cloth of Gold," and in the first scene alludes to the profuse extravagance of the nobles there. 264 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Arms of Lord Abergavenny, K.G. — Gules on a saltire Argent a rose of the first. But his Garter Plate has Quar- terly, I. Nevill ; 2. Warren ; 3. Quarterly Clare aad Spencer; 4. Beauchamp. LORD SANDS. Descended from an ancient family, of whom many were Sheriffs of Hampshire from the time of Richard II., this per- sonage, Sir William Sandys', who had highly distinguished himself in the French wars of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., was created Baron Sandys of the Vine (near Basingstoke), in 1523, according to Dugdale ; he was also a K.G. and trea- surer of Calais. George Cavendish, in his account of the Masque given by Wolsey at York Place, shows that this character, and not the Earl of Worcester, was the Lord Chamberlain at the time ; — " All which order and device was done by lorde Sandes, chamberlaine to the king, and by Sir Henry Guildforde, controller to the king's majestie's household." In Aft I. Scene 2, the Lord Chamberlain tells Sir Thomas Lovell, in allusion to this entertainment, — " I was spoke to with Sir Henry Guildford, This night to be comptrollers." Lord Sandys died in 1542, leaving by his wife, Margaret, only daughter and heir of John Bray, a son, Thomas, second Lord Sandys ^ whose male line ceased in Edwin, the eighth lord, in 1700, whose sisters, Margaret, and Margery, married Sir John Mill, Bart., and Sir Edmund Eortescue, Bart Arms of Lord Sandys, of the Vine, K.G. — A rgait a. cross raguly Sable. ' This charafter is ^vrongly called married Elizabeth Manners, daughter of " Sir Walter Sands," in A<3: II. Scene Geoige Lord de Ros, leaving a son, 1, where he is mentioned as one who Heniy Sandj-s, ob. viid patris, who by accompanied the Duke of Buckingham his wife Elizabeth, daughter of AVilliam, " from his arraignment." Theobald cor- Lord Windsor, had a son William, who redlly proposed, " Sir William Sands." became third Lord Sandys. * Thomas, second Lord Sandys, IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. .265 SIR HENR Y GUILDFORD. Sir John Guldeford, of a family seated in Kent soon after the Conquest, was Comptroller of the Household to Edward IV., an office held by his son Richard in the reign of Henry VII., who made him a K.G. ; and by his second wife, Joan, sister of Sir Nicholas Vaux, a charafter in this play. Sir Richard was father of the above-named Sir Henry Guildford, Master of the Horse to Henry VIII., Standard-Bearer for England for life, and a K.G. He was an eminent soldier in the wars against the Moors in Spain ; he was twice married, but died's. p. 1533. Sir Henry's elder brother, son of a first marriage. Sir Ed- ward Guildford, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, was father of Jane, who married John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, and their fourth son. Lord Guildford Dudley became the hus- band of the amiable Lady Jane Grey, who was proclaimed Queen of England by her ambitious father-in-law, for which all three perished on the scaffold. Arms of Sir Henry Guildford, K.G.^Or a saltire between four martlets Sable, on a canton Argent a pomegranate slip- ped proper; this augmentation was granted by King Ferdi- nand of Spain, for Sir Thomas's services in Grenada. In his Garter Plate his coat is quartered with Haldon. SIR THOMAS LOVELL. This knight, fifth son of Sir Ralph Lovell of Burton-Ben- dish, CO. Norfolk, was esquire of the body to Henry VII., who made him Chancellor of the Exchequer for life, in 1485 ; knighted him after the battle of Stoke, 1487 ; made him Trea- surer of the Household in 1502 ; one of the Privy Council, a K.G., and named him one of his executors. He was Marshal of the House to Henry VIII., Surveyor of the Court of Wards, and Constable of the Tower\ and was held by that king in ^ At the Duke of Bucldngham's ar- Lovell says, — rest Sir Thomas Lovell was the con- " To the water-side I must coridudl; stable, ^^-ith Sir Ridiard Cholmondeley your grace ; as his lieutenant. In A(5l II. Scene i. Then give my charge up to Sir Sir Thomas appears in the discharge of Nicholas Vaux, his hifh office, but Sir Nicholas Vaux Who undertakes you to your end." seems to adl as his subordinate officer : 266 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS the highest esteem for his valour and wisdom. He married Isabel, daughter and co-heir of Edward, Lord Ros, of Ham- lake, but does not appear to have left any issue at his death, May 25, 1524, as he bequeathed his mansion at Haliwell (Shoreditch), Middlesex, and divers manors to his nephew and heir. Sir Francis Lovell. He was a great benefaftor to the Priory at Haliwell, "which he endowed with fayre lands, and was there buried in a large chapell by him builded for that purpose." Stow. Blomefield says that the following lines were inscribed on the walls ; — " All ye nunns of Haliwell, Praye ye both day and night. For the soul of Sir Thomas Lovell, Whom Harry the Seventh made knight." His funeral was on a splendid scale, being attended by the Lord Mayor, all the Aldermen, and certain of the crafts of London, and celebrated with all the gorgeous ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church, of \yhich Sir Thomas Lovell was a member. In the play. Bishop Gardiner alludes to this faith, as common to them both, — " Sir Thomas, you are a gentleman Of mine own way." Arms of Sir Thomas Lovell, K.G. — Argent a chevron Azure between three squirrels sejant Gules; carved on the Gateway of Lincoln's Inn, London, built by Sir Thomas Lovell. SIR ANTHONY DENNY. He was, according to some authorities, fourth son by Mary, daughter and heir of Robert Troutbeck, of Sir Edmond Denny of Cheshunt, Baron of the Exchequer in the reign of Henry VII., whilst Clutterbuck {History of Hertsi) calls him grandson of Sir Edmund\ Sir Anthony Denny became Groom of the Stole to Henry VIII., and one of his Privy ^ According to Clutterbuck Sir Ed- nock, of Gifford's Hall, co. Suffolk, and mond Denny's son, Thomas, married their son was Sir Anthony Denny, of Elizabeth, daughter of George Man- this play. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 267 Council. He alone of the courtiers ventured to warn the king of his approaching death. Sir Anthony, who died Sept. 10, 1547, by his wife Joan, daughter of Sir Philip Champer- noun, had a son, Henry, whose descendants became Barons Denny ; their male line failed in i68a Sir Anthony's younger son. Sir Edward Denny, who settled in Ireland, was made a Knight Banneret, and had a grant of the manor of Desmond, and Tralee Castle, for taking prisoner, in 1582, Gerald Fitz- gerald, sixteenth Earl of Desmond, the great rebel against Queen Elizabeth. Sir Edward's lineal descendant is the pre- sent Sir Edward Denny, Baronet, of Tralee Castle. Arms of Sir AntJwny Denny. — Gules a saltire between twelve crosses pat^e Or. SIR NICHOLAS VAUX. This charafler, son and heir of the " William Vaux™ inlhe Second Part of King Henry VI., was knighted for his con- du£l at the battle of Stoke, and Henry VHI. made him Governor of Guisnes, and created him Lord Vaux of Harrow- den, in 1524, in which year he died. Fuller thus describes him ; — " he was a jolly Gentleman, both for camp and courts ; a great Reveller, good as well in a March as a Masque." Worthies, under Nortliamptonshire, of which county he was four times Sheriff. By his second wife, Anne, daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Green, of Boughton and Green's-Nor- ton, he was father of Thomas, second Lord Vaux, ancestor, through Mostyn, of the present Lord Vaux of Harrowden, George Mostyn, 1865. Arms of Sir Nicholas, Lord Vaux of Harrowden. — Chequy Or and Gules, on a chevron Azure three roses Or. CROMWELL, Servant to Wolsey. Like his great master, the Cardinal, THOMAS CROMWELL, born about 1490, was of mean parentage, his father, Walter Cromwell, being a blacksmith at Putney. In a play, some- times ascribed to ShakspearE, called Tftomas Lord Cromwell, 1602, young Cromwell refuses to work at his father's craft, but 268 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS remains idle, meditating with ambitious views, he soliloquises thus : — " And likewise Wolsey, the wonder of our age, His birth as mean as mine, a butcher's son, Now who within this land a greater man ? " Going abroad he became a trooper in the army of the Consta- ble Bourbon, and was present at the sacking of Rome, 1527. He rendered while still abroad an essential service to Sir John Russell, by whom he was introduced to Wolsey, who placed him in his household, and afterwards recommended him to the king's service. In A6t III. Scene 2, the cardinal says, — " I have told him What and how true thou art ; he will advance thee.'' Cromwell's rapid rise in his royal masters favour is alluded to by Lovell in the. play, A61 IV. Scene i : — " Beside that of the jewel-house, he's made master O' the rolls, and the king's secretary ; further, sir. Stands in the gap and trade of more preferments." In 1536 he was created Lord Cromwell, and in 1539 Earl of Essex. But the most important favour bestowed upon him was the post of "Vicar-General in Spirituals," i.e. in ecclesias- tical affairs, in 1535, in which capacity he had the chief hand in the dissolution of the religious houses : Fuller styles him, " the Mauler of the Monasteries." His fall was as rapid as his rise ; he lost the royal favour for promoting the king's mar- riage with the ill-favoured Anne of Cleves, was tried for high treason, and beheaded on Tower hill, July 24, 1540. By his wife..... daughter of one Williams of Wales, Thomas Cromwell left a son, Gregory, who was created Lord Cromwell; his male line ceased in 1687. Anderson, Betham, Gough, Clut- terbuck (in his Herts.), followed by later writers, derive Oliver Cromwell, the Proteflor, from a nephew of the earl of Essex ; but this seems very doubtful, and Fuller relates that when it was once suggested to the Proteftor that such an affinity existed, he in some passion replied, "that Lord was not related to my family in the least degree." Worthies, Cam- bridgeshire. Arms of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, K.G. Argent IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 269 on a fesse between three lions rampant Or a rose Gules be- tween two Cornish chou^s proper. SECRETARIES to Wolsey. These persons were Do6tor RICHARD PACE, and WiLLIAM BURBANK, who became Archdeacon of Carlisle. The former, who was sometime Dean of St Paul's, 1519, was much em- ployed abroad by Henry VIII., who sent him to Rome in 1524, to procure the papal crown for Wolsey. Holinshed speaks of him as a learned man, " courteous, pleasant, delight- ing in music, highly in the king's favour, and well heard in matters of weight." The same author states that Dr Pace " fell out of his right wits," and Shakspeare has seized this fa6i: in the account of his death, A6t 11. Scene 2', where Cam- peius tells Wolsey, — " They will not stick to say, you envied him. And fearing he would rise, he was so virtuous, Kept him a foreign man still, which so griev'd him. That he ran mad, and died." Dr Pace was Vicar of Stepney, where he died, 1532, and where there is, or was, a Latin epitaph to his memory, which is given in Weever'S Funeral Monuments. Among the attendants on the "king-cardinal," GEORGE Cavendish should appear as his "Gentleman-usher," espe- cially in A61 II. Scene 4. The late Mr John Holmes, of the British Museum, has proved that George, and not his brother,- Sir William Cavendish, as frequently stated, was Wolsey's. biographer. Lord Herbert, and Francis Thynne, Lancaster Herald, had both declared that George Cavendish wrote Wolsey's Ufe. George Cavendish married Margery Kemp, daughter of William Kemp, whose wife Mary Colt was sister to Jane, who married Sir Thomas More. Anthony Wood calls Wolsey's biographer "Thomas Cavendish;" Mr E. Philip Bliss (1815) corrects this mistake by another, "it should be William Cavendish," 1 The death of Do(5lor Pace is made it did not take place until three years to occur before the queen's trial, whereas after it. 270 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS GRIFFITH, Gentletnan-Usher to Queen Katlurine. George Cavendish says of the Queen's quitting the Court of Trial, Aft II. Scene 4, — " she toke her way straight out of the courte, leaning upon the arme of one of her servantes, who was her General Receiver, called Mr Griffithe." Shakspeare has rendered the name of this gentleman for ever memorable by the noble eulogy which he pronounces on the " great child of honour," Wolsey. The Compiler has in vain sought for the family of which this character was a member ; nor does any name occur, in the published Households of Henry VIH. and his first Consort, which can apply to him. The only record found which seems to identify him is the following : — " The Report of the Lorde Mountjoye, Richarde Gryffyth, and Thomas Vaulx, of such aunswere as the Pryncesse Dowa- gier made unto theym at Ampthill, the Fryday beyng the 4th day of July, there beyng present also. Sir Robert Dymmok, Knight, and John Tyrell, Esquire." State Papers of King Henry VIII., Vol. \.page 402, under the year 1533. William Blount, fourth Lord Mountjoy, had been Cham- berlain to the Queen, and Sir Thomas Tyrrell was her Master of the Horse. The name of Richard does not occur in the pedigree of Sir George Griffith, who was knight of the body to Henry VIII. DOCTOR BUTTS, Physician to the King. This personage. Sir WILLIAM BUTTS, is doubly fortunate, in that he is mentioned by SHAKSPEARE, and handed down to posterity by the favourite painter of King Henry VIII., Hans Holbein. The valuable discovery, in i86r, by Mr W. H. Black, F.S.A., of Hans Holbein's will, dated 06t 7, 1543, ^nA proved the 29th of the month following, places the great artist's death eleven years earlier than the date, 1554, usually assigned ; and consequently many pictures ascribed to his hand must be the works of other painters. Dr Butts is the leading figure in the group of medical men to whom the King is presenting the Charter of the Barber-Surgeons' Company in 1541. This fine and undoubted ^\Soxxe. by Holbein hangs in their Court-room, which was designed by Inigo Jones, whose striking portrait by Vandyke adorns the noble apartment. IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 271 Dodlor Butts attended Anne Boleyn in a very dangerous illness, and he was expressly sent by the King to Esher, when Wolsey lay sick there after his disgrace. Butts was a firm friend to Cranmer and the Reformation. Henry VIII. be- stowed upon his favourite physician, in 1537, the manor and advowson of Thornage, co. Norfolk, which remained in the family until Anne, only daughter and heir of Sir William's third son, Edmund Butts, brought it by her marriage to Sir Nicholas Bacon, the first person who was created a baronet, May 22, 161 1, and their fourth son. Butts Bacon is ancestor of the present premier baronet. Bacon of Redgrave. Sir Wil- liam Butts died Nov. 17, 1545, and was buried in Fulham Church, where his monument, with a Latin inscription, was restored by Leonard Butts, in 1627, as recorded on the tomb. The three sons of the king's physician, William of Thornage, Thomas of Risborough, and Edmund of Barrow, married three co-heiresses, Joane, Bridget and Anne, daughters of Henry de Bures and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir William Waldgrave. Arms of Sir William Butts. — Azure on a chevron between three estoiles Or as many lozenges Gules. GARTER, King at Arms. As this important official is introduced in the Coronation procession of Anne Boleyn which occurred June ist, 1533, Garter will be Thomas Wriothesley, who was appointed by Henry VIII. in 1529. He was eldest son of John Wriothesley, who was Falcon herald in the reign of Edward IV., and Garter King at arms in that of Richard III., who founded the College of Arms. John's second son, William was York herald, and he had a son Thomas who became Lord Chancellor, a peer, and KG., and whose grandson, Henry Wriothesley, third earl of Southampton, earned the proud title of "the FRIEND of Shakspeare." Arms of Wriothesley. — Azure a cross Or between four falcons Argent. SUR VE YOR to the Duke of Buckingham. This faithless servant of a noble master was Charles 272- NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Krievet, who had been dismissed from his office of Steward to the duke's estates, as alluded to by Queen Katherine. Such an appointment was held by persons of good family, and in this instance the "Surveyor" was allied to the Duke. Grafton speaks of him as " Charles Knivet, Esquier, Cosyn to the Duke of Buckingham." This relationship is established by the pedigree of the family ; Sir William Knevet of Bokenham, Norfolk, had by his wife Joan, or Jane, daughter of Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Bucldngham, two sons. Sir Edward, his heir, and Charles the ^' Surveyor." By his will, proved 19 June, 15 16, Sir William leaves his principal estates to Edward, and to his second son, Charles Knevet and his wife Anne, the manors of Hamerton and Wymoke, " for their lives." In the will of Sir Edward Knevet, Kt, proved 10 Dec, 1528, who speaks of his mother Dame Jane, his executors are directed "to bryng upp yong Antony Knyvet, my nevew, the son of my late brother, Charles Knyvet deceased." They were also to pay "C marks to his niece Elizabeth Knyvet, daughter of my brother, Charles Knyvet," if she married with the consent of the Duchess of Norfolk, in whose household she was placed. Sir N. H. Nicolas. Testamenta Vehtsta, VoL II. p. 547. An- thony Knevet was one of the two Gentlemen-ushers to K. Henry VIII., in whose household were several members of the family. Arms of Knevet of Bokenham. — Argent a. bend Sab/e, a border engrailed of the second. BRANDON, and a Serjeant at Arms. ]\Ir T. P. Courtenay, alluding to Aft I. Scene i, says, — " In the play the Duke is arrested by Brandon ; the name does not occur in the chronicles. Sir Henry Marne, or Mar- ney, captain of the King's guard, made the arrest." This Knight, of a family seated at Layer-Mamey, co. Essex, time of Edward III., was one of the chief royalist commanders at the battle of Stoke, and also at Blackheath. On the attainder of the Duke of Buckingham Sir Henry Marney ob- tained a grant of some of his forfeited estates ; he afterwards became lord keeper of the privy seal, a K.G., and Lord Mar- IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 271 ney, in 1533. Mr Capell suggested thaf'Marney" should be substituted for " Brandon." In the trial scene of Queen Katharine, Aft II. Scene 4, May 31, 1529, several prelates are introduced, who merit a brief notice. " The A rchbishop of Canterbury alone" — ^this was Dr William Warham, who was Bishop of I^ndon in 1502, and appointed to the primacy in 1504: he died in 1532. The "Bishop of Lincoln" was Dr John Longland, already noticed. The "Bishop of Ely" was Dr Nicholas West, 15x5 to 1533 ; the "Bishop of Rochester" was Dr John Fisher, 1509 to 1535, in which year he was beheaded. The " Bishop of St Asaph" was Dr Henry Standish, 1518 to 1535. George Cavendish gives a minute account of the arrangement of the Court, de- scribing it as an eye-witness*. He states that the advocates, or " doflors for the King were Dr Sampson, that was after Bishop of Chichester, and Dr Bell, who after was Bishop of Worcester." The proftors, he says, on the king's part were, "Dr Peter, who was after made the king's chief secretary, and Dr Tregonwell, and divers others. Now on the other side stood the counsel for the queen, Dr Fisher, Bishop of Roches- ter, and Dr Standish, sometime a grey friar, and then Bishop of St Asaph, in Wales, two notable clerks in divinity, and in especial the Bishop of Rochester, a very godly man, and a devout person . . . there was also another ancient doSor, called, as I remember, Dr Ridley, a very small person of stature, but surely a great and excellent clerk in divinity." Cavendish also states that the chief of the " two scribes," was " Dr Ste- phen, afterwards Bishop of Winchester," this in reality was Gardiner, who was for some time called " Dr Stevens, or Stephen." The apparitor "was one Cooke, most commonly called Cooke of Winchester." Of the persons mentioned above by Cavendish it may be explained, that Dr Peter was Sir William Petre, who became ' In the grand Procession of this was a standard-bearer to Henry Tudor scene there are " two priests, each at Bos worth. In the church of Yspytty- bearing a silver cross;" one of these EVan, co. Denbigh, are monuments with would be attached to Cardinal Wolsey, the effigies of Rhys ap Meredith, his whosfi chaplain and cross-bearer was wife, and their son Robert. Robert, son of Rhys ap Meredith, who 18 274 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Secretary of State to Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Queen Mary ; he is ancestor of the lords Petre. Dr John Tregon- well became one of the three Auditors to the Augmentation Office (with Dr John London, and Sir William Cavendish), 30 Henry VIIL, who knighted him, and gave him the revenues of the dissolved Abbey of Middleton, co. Dorset Dr John Ridley was uncle of Nicholas Ridley, bishop first of Roches- ter, afterwards of" London. Dr John Fisher is supposed to have written the work which procured for its reputed author, Henry VIIL, that title, "Fidei Defensor," which has descended to his successors. The original Manuscript is or was preserved in the Vatican, with this distich, written by the king's own hand, — " Anglorum Rex Henricus Leo Decimo mittit Hoc opus, et fidei testem et amicitise." Mr Richard Lassels, in his Voyage of Italy, printed in 1670, mentions among the treasures in the Library of the Vatican; "The letters oi Henry the VIII. oi England to Anne Bolen his mistresse then, in his owne hand-writeing. Some in English, some in French, but all amatory." As to King Henry's treatise, Mr H. Bray, in a note to his Edition of Evelyn's Diary, 1854, states that he had seen in England this book, which had been purchased for a few shillings at a book- stall in Italy ; the Pope had run his pen through " Defender of the Faith " wherever it occurred The " Lord Mayor " who is introduced in the Coronation procession of Anne Boleyn, A61 IV. Scene i, and again at the christening of her daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, Aft V. Scene 4, was Sir Stephen Peacocke, 1532 — 3, who bore for Arms, Gtdes on a fesse engrailed Argent between three be- zants each charged with a peacock's head erased Azure as many mascles pierced Or. At the arrest of the duke of Buckingham, Brandon says — " Here is a warrant from The king to attach Lord Montacute." He is called by the old chroniclers " the king's cousin ; " he was Henry Pole, grandson of George, Duke of Clarence, IN SHAKSPEARES PLAYS. 275 and created Lord Montagu ; "he was reconciled to his grace's favour," but was beheaded in 1539. QUEEN KATHERINE. This ill-used Princess was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the king and queen of Spain j the latter was the daughter of John II., King of Leon, grandson of Henry III., King of Castile and Leon, by his wife, Catherine Plantagenet, daughter of John of Gamii and Constance of Castile. The Princess Katherine of Arragon, born Dec. 16, 1485, was married to Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII., Nov. 14, 1 501 ; after Arthur's death in 1502, his widow, to save her dowry being returned, was affianced to his brother Henry, and their marriage took place June 3.. 1509, and on the 24th of the same month they were crowned by Archbishop War- ham. The early deaths of her two sons born to Henty are alluded to by him, A£l II. Scene 4, — " Her male issue Or died where they were made, or shortly after This world had air'd them." The surviving child of this marriage was the PRINCESS Mary, bom Feb. 8, 1515, who succeeded her half-brother, Edward VI., on the throne, July 6, 1553, and died Nov. 17, 1558. Henry VIII. having formed an attachment to Anne Bo- leyn, resolved to get rid of Katherine of Arragon, under the plea that, though discovered after she had "hung twenty years about his neck," — " The marriage with his brother's wife Has crept too near his conscience." After her divorce. May 23, 1533, Katherine "chose the palace of Ampthill in Bedfordshire for her residence, and the monas- tery of Kimbolton, at no great distance, for her religious resorts ; in these she passed the remainder of her life, beloved by all around her, and respedled by none more than by the king himself, whose passions, rather than judgment and con- science, constrained him to prefer the youth and beauty of anotlier." Fox's A£ls and Monuments. The incidents and 18—2 276 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS speeches in the play connefted with the queen are found in Cavendish. In her letter to her " most dear lord and hus- band " (given in Polydore Vergil), she commends " his young daughter," Mary, "to his goodness ;" her women, and her other servants, for whom she besought " a year's pay besides their due." Though following history in the main, the Poet has invested Katherine with a dignity and pathos which are his own, and has thus produced, in the words of Dr Samuel Johnson, "the most perfefl female charafter in the whole range of our drama," Miss Strickland says, " Shakspeare alone has properly appreciated and vividly pourtrayed the great talents, as well as the moral worth of the right royal Katherine of Arragon." The queen died at Kimbolton, Jan. 8, 1536, and was buried in Peterborough Cathedral, where, half a century later, the same sexton, Scarlett, placed Mary Queen of Scots in her grave ; his epitaph records this faft, and his great age ; " He had interred two queens \yitliin this place ;" and his death is stated ; "July 2, 1 594, R. S. ^tatis suae 98." ANNE BOLE YN. This lady had an illustrious ancestry, being descended from Edward the First. Her great grandfather. Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, Lord Mayor of London, 1457 — 8, married Anne, daughter of Lord Hoo and Hastings, K.G., and purchased Blickling, co. Norfolk, of Sir John Fastolfe ; their eldest son. Sir William Boleyn, married the lady Margaret Butler, daughter of Thomas, seventh Earl of Ormonde, whose lineal ancestor, James, first earl, married Eleanor de Bohun, daugh- ter of Humphrey, Earl of Hereford, and the princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I. The son of Sir William and Margaret Boleyn, was Sir THOMAS BOLEYN, of Blickling, and of Hever, in Kent, whose wife was lady Elizabeth Howard, eldest daughter and co-heir of Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk, and their children were, one son, George Boleyn, Viscount Roch- ford, beheaded 1536; and two daughters, Anne, the charafter in this play, and lady Mary BoleYN, who married Sir Wil- liam Carey, Knt, and their son. Sir Henry Carey, first Lord IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 277 Hunsdon, K.G., was grandfather of Blanche Carey, who married Sir Thomas Wodehouse, and their daughter Anne became the wife of Robert Suckling, Sheriff of Norfolk, 1661, and their great granddaughter, Catherine Suckling married the Rev. Edmund Nelson, and one of their sons was HORATIO, Admiral Lord Viscount NELSON \ . According to Fox, Camden, Miss Benger, and other writers, Anne Boleyn was born in 1507, at Rochford Hall, Essex, a seat which came to the family through the Butlers. Miss Strickland inclines to the opinion of Spelman, and Lord Herbert, that Anne was born in 1501, at Blickling Hall. Ac- cording to Fox, and those who follow his date, Anne Boleyn was only seven years old, but as other writers say, fourteen, when she accompanied the Princess Mary Tudor (sister of Henry VIII.) to France in 15 14, when she went to be married to Louis XII.; at whose death, January i, 1 5 15, Anne became Maid of honour to Claude, queen of Francis the First. Alto- gether she remained in France about eight years and then returned to England. "She was much admired in both courts, was more beautiful than graceful, and more cheerful than discreet" Fox. It is not likely that Anne Boleyn would be chosen when only seven years old to be a Maid of honour to the Queen of France, and her history confirms the date of 1501, as that of her birth, making her to be only ten years younger that Henry VIII., and thus disposing of an infamous scandal respeSing her parentage. Lord Herbert of Chirbury expressly states that she was twenty years old when she re- turned from France in 1521. Life of K. Henry VIII. i64g. Anne Boleyn, like other persons of her period, wrote her name in various ways ; Ann Bollein ; Anna de Boullan ; Ann Boleyn ; 1528, Anna BoUen ; when in the Tower Ann Bulen ; and she , sometimes subscribed, Anne Rochford. In 1522, Anne was appointed Maid of honour to Queen Katherine, and notwithstanding Wolsey's opposition, Henry without waiting for the formal decree of his divorce was married privately to Anne Boleyn, at Whitehall, January 25, 1533, by 1 The descent of the immortal sea- Table V. of " Tie Royal Descent of 'S.^l.- man from Edward the First, through SON and Wellington. G. R. French. Bohun, Butler, Boleyn, Carey, Wode- 1855." house, and Stickling, is given" in full in 278 NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS Dr Rowland Lee, afterwards Bishop of Coventry and Lich- field, in the presence only of Anne Savill, afterwards Lady Berkeley, and of Norris and Heneage, two grooms of the king's chamber. MisS STRICKLAND. According to some writers the marriage occurred Nov. 14, 1532, which date is probably the corre6l one. Anne Boleyn was created Marchioness of Pembroke by her royal lover, Sept. ist, 1532 — " To which title A thousand pounds a year, annual support, Out of his grace he adds." The newly-created peeress attended the meeting of the Kings of England and France at Calais, which was held from the 20th to the 30th of 06lober, 1532, and at this interview Francis I. encouraged Henry to proceed with his marriage to Anne Boleyn without delay, and assured him " that he would stand by him in it." Fox. The conflifting dates of marriage may be reconciled by ascribing the first ceremony in November, as that performed in private by Dr Lee, and the second marriage, in January following, as that solemnized by Cranmer, as is frequently alleged, in a more public manner, in the presence of Anne Boleyn's father and mother, her brother and her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, the " earl of Surrey," in this play. Queen Anne Boleyn was crowned by Cranmer, with great splendour, June i, 1533, the king viewing the ceremony from a little cloister of St Stephen's chapel. The new queen did not long enjoy her elevation, for the capricious monarch's fancy being attra£led by a new favourite, her own Maid of honour, Jane Seymour, Anne was accused of unfaithfulness to Henry's bed, and condemned to die; but as her early admirer. Sir Thomas Wyatt says, — "for the evidence, as I never could hear of any, small I believe it was." Anne Boleyn was be- headed on Tower Hill, May 19, 1536, and on the following day Henty married again ! AN OLD LADY, friend to Anne Boleyn. It would be difficult to identify this chara6ler, as the scene, A61 III. Scene 3, is probably a creation of the Poet's fancy. At the end of Scene i. Aft 5, " an Old Lady " enters to the IN, SHAKSPE ARE'S PLAYS, 279 king with tidings "of Anne Boleyn's having given birth to "a girl;" and Stevens in a note observes, "this I suppose, is the same old cat that appears with Anne Boleyn" in a former scene. In the modern representation of the play on the stage the part of the "Old Lady " is sometimes assigned to " Lady Denny," but what warrant there is for such personation the Compiler has not been able to discover. FA TIENCE, Woman to Queen Kdtherine. Women attending upon the Queen. The principal Lady to the Queen was one of her own country-women, Mary de Salucci, of an illustrious family, who had married William Lord Willoughby de Eresby, but was now his widow, and the faithful attendant upon her royal mis'tressy who expired in her arms. The queen's three maids, true to her in all fortunes, were two Spanish ladies, Blanche and Isabel de Vergas, and " Mistris Elizabeth Darell," of an old Kentish family. Miss Strickland suggests that " Patience"' may have been one of the "little maidens," to whom the Queen left legacies in her will, "£\o to every one of them." " The old duchess of Norfolk," who is named as one of the sponsors to the Princess Elizabeth, was not, as sometimes stated, Anne Boleyn's maternal grandmother,. Elizabeth Til- ney, first wife of the Duke of Norfolk in this play, but his second wife, Agnes TiLNEY, now his widow, as he died in 1524. The other godmother, whoni the king calls the "lady marquis Dorset," was the second wife, and now the widow of Thomas Grey, second Marquess of Dorset (who died 1530), Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert Wotton. The stage direftion, in A6t V. Scene 4, respefting the christening ceremonies, mentions, "Four noblemen bearing a canopy, under which tJie Ducluss of Norfolk, godmother, bearing the child" &c. These nobles were Lord Rochford, brother to Anne Boleyn ; Lord Hussey ; Lord William Howard ; and Lord Thomas Howard. The "tivo Noblemen bearing great standing bowls for tlie christening gifts" were doubtless, Robert Ratcliffe, Lord Fitz-walter ; and Henry .Somerset, Earl of Worcester. " The Countess of Kent bare the train of the child's mantle." Grafton. 28o NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS, &c. The "Duchess of Alengon," to whom Wolsey wished to see his royal master united, was Margaret, sister of Frajicis I., and widow of Charles II., Duke of Alengon, grandson of John II., the " Duke of Alengon" in the First Part of King Henry VI. But this princess had married, secondly, 24 January, 1527, Henri II., King of Navarre. Holinshed furnished the hint to the Poet of this alliance. In the play Wolsey arrogantly .assumes the right to pre- scribe a consort for his royal master, — " It shall be to the duchess of Alengon, The French king's sister; he shall marry her. — Anne Bullen ! No ; 111 no Anne Bullens for him : There is more in it than fair visage. — Bullen ! No, we '11 no BuUens." Act HI. Sa 2. It must however have been some other Princess than the sister of the chivalrous Francis, to whom the Cardinal wished to ally his master. On his disgrace Wolsey is informed of "the King's pleasure" by the Duke of Norfolk ; — " Who commands you To render up the great seal presently Into our hands; and to confine yourself To Asher-house, my lord of Winchester's, Tin you hear further from his highness." Act HI. Sc. 2.. Esher House was built by Cardinal Wolsey, as a residence for the Efshops of Winchester, to whom the manor belonged ; his Gate-house still remains. NOTES ON MACBETH AND HAMLET, NOTES ON MACBETH. Date of ASlion, A.D. 1039 ^ ioS4- DRAMATIS PERSONS. DUNCAN, King of Scotland, The early history of Scotland is much obscured by fable,; and Sir Walter Scott observes that Kenneth Mac Alpine " might justly be termed the first King of Scotland, being the first who possessed such a territory as had title to be termed a- kingdom." At his death, in 859, he was succeeded by his bro- ther Donald, who was followed in 863 by Kenneth's son, Con- stantine II., who was slain in battle in 881, leaving a son, Donald IV., who reigned till 904, and was succeeded by Con- stantine III., who on his defeat at the famous battle of Bru- nan-burgh, by Athelstan of England, retired into a cloister, and was succeeded by a son of Donald IV. as Malcolm the First, who added Cumberland and Westmoreland to his do- minions, for which counties he did homage to Edmund t/te Elder. Malcolm I., who is the common ancestor of the chief personages in this drama, died in 953, having had two sons, King Duff", and Kenneth III. ; the latter was murdered in 994 by St Finella. Constantine IV., and Kenneth IV., next filled the throne ; the latter was son of King Duff, and left a son, Bodhe, whose daughter, Gruoch, is the "Lady Macbeth" of ShaksPEARE. Kenneth IV. was dethroned, and slain in 1003, by his cousin-german Malcolm II., son of Kenneth III. Malcolm II. was an able prince, and a re- nowned general, and was very successful against the Danes ; 284 NOTES ON MACBETH. he agreed with Canute of England that his grandson Dun- can should do homage for Cumberland. Malcolm II. was slain in 1033 ; he had two daughters, Bethog or Beatrice, who married a person of great importance, Crinan, Abbot of Dun- keld, and their son is the " gracious Duncan " of the play ; the other daughter, according to Boetius, Buchanan, and Bishop Lesley, was Doada, who married Finley, the Maormor, or Thane of Ross, and their son is the " Macbeth " of the play. Sir Walter Scott considers that Macbeth's claini to the throne was better than Duncan's ; but that of the Lady Gruoch, whose father was son of-Kenneth IV. must have been more valid than either Duncan's or Macbeth's title. It is not true that Macbeth murdered Duncan in his own castle, which is generally placed in the play at Inverness, (Dr Johnson, Stevens, etc.), but he attacked and slew him in fair fight, in 1039, at Bothgowran, near Elgin. An earlier monarch. King Duff, was murdered in 972 by his general, Donwald, Captain of the Castle of Fores, who slew the king's chamberlains, whilst in a state of drunken stupor, that the blame might be attached to them ; and this deed was done, according to the old chro- niclers, at the instigation of Domvald's wife, who is styled " very ambitious, burning in unquenchable desire to bear the name of queen." In these fa6ls we have the ground-work of the splendid play before us, in which the names of the chief personages are altered, and the indelible brand of inhospitable treason is fixed upon Macbeth and his wife, by the hand of genius. King Duncan, to whom the poet has justly assigned a charafler for gentleness, married a sister, some writers say a daughter, of the " warlike Siward " of the play, by whom he had two sons, Malcolm and Donald, and a daughter, Mar- garet, who married Edgar Atheling, an alliance seldom noticed by historians. GEORGE Chalmers, in his Caledonia, says that no castle was built at Inverness until the twelfth century. MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, r \ Sons of King Duncan. When Macbeth ascended the'^throne in 1039, 3-t the death of Duncan, " Malcolm fled to Cumberland, and Donal found NOTES ON MACBETH. 28s H W o . < Q ;?; -< ffi* w u ■< 5.0 g Wt Ht ^ .fc.-^ ON K S a o ^ s> ►^So; CI ^1^ "^ ■u e E-i si ^ « U CO W Q o - O z a 5" ■C-3 o a ^ O . Z S : II — ^ ro (TS M ^ bo a s? £ HH 3 a KH ci U -3 d.'- rj a uj ^ a rt o j^ \\ — - < o ■ . en ■« Ovo J3 boo s .S "K 5s c •iJ ^ s s ^ c _E- ca S a 'S a ? 53 .S'S. ^ 6 o ■ d -■_§ g E- O S g Q J