Notes

Summary of Historical Facts. In 1452 began the Wars of the Roses, the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster for the throne of England. The reigning king, Henry VI, held the throne by right of his grandfather, Henry IV, who was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Edward III. Henry IV had obtained the crown by deposing Richard II, son of the first son of Edward III. York's claim to the throne rested upon descent from the third son of Edward III, Lionel, Duke of Clarence, whose great-great-grandson was Richard, Duke of York. October 2, 1452, was born York's son, who became Richard III. In 1455 York was victorious in the first battle of St. Albans. In 1460, as a compromise between the parties, York was declared by Parliament heir to the throne, to succeed upon the death of Henry. This unsatisfactory settlement was again followed by war; and on December 30, 1460, York was defeated and slain, with his son Rutland, in the battle of Wakefield. His young sons, George (Clarence) and Richard, were at once sent by their mother to Utrecht for safety. Their elder brother, Edward, now succeeded to his father's claim and effort. In the battle of Mortimer's Cross, 1461, he was victorious: in the second battle of St. Albans he was defeated by the forces of Queen Margaret. He reached London, however, and assumed the crown as Edward LV; and in the battle of Towton won a great victory and drove Henry into Scotland. George

and Richard now returned to England. In 1464, Margaret, who had formed an alliance with France, returned to the contest; but the Lancastrians were defeated in the battle of Hexham, Henry was imprisoned in the Tower, and Margaret filed to France. In the same year Edward married Elizabeth Grey, thereby estranging Warwick, who, upon commission of the king, had arranged for him a marriage with Bona, sister of the Queen of France. In 1469 Clarence abandoned his brother for Warwick, whose eldest daughter, Isabel, he married. In 1470 Warwick and Clarence espoused Margaret's cause, Edward was driven over seas, Henry was restored to the throne, and Clarence was declared his heir, should the direct heir, Prince Edward, fail. In 1471 Edward again took up the strife, won Clarence over, and in the battle of Barnet defeated and killed Warwick. In this battle, his first appearance in the war, Richard led his brother's van. In the next month, Margaret having returned to England, came the battle of Tewksbury, Richard again leading the forces of York. Margaret's troops were defeated, Prince Edward was killed, and Edward and Richard arrived together in London, May 21, 1471. On the same day died Henry VI, in the Tower. Margaret was confined in the Tower until 1475, and was then banished to France, whence she never returned, and where she died in 1482.

In 1473 Richard married Anne, younger daughter of Warwick and formerly the betrothed, not wife, of Edward, son of Henry VI. Clarence excited the suspicion of the king, and in 1478 was by the king's orders attainted and executed for treason, his heirs being barred from any

In 1483 occurred the

claim to succession to the throne. death of Edward IV. Prince Edward was brought from Wales to London, and on the way Rivers, his uncle, and Grey, his stepbrother, who were charged with intending to rule affairs through the young king in opposition to Richard, who had been named Protector in the will of Edward IV, were captured, and subsequently executed. Richard's appointment as Protector was confirmed by the Council; and the young Duke of York was taken to his brother in the Tower. On June 26, with the consent of the peers, Richard mounted the throne. His coronation took place July 6. In the same year followed the death of the princes, the unsuccessful revolt of Buckingham, the real cause of which is still unknown, and the first, unsuccessful, attempt of Richmond to land in England. Richmond was the son of Edmund Tudor, half-brother of Henry VI, and thus a representative of the house of Lancaster. His exceedingly remote claim to the throne he strengthened by attacking Richard as a usurper and tyrant, and subsequently by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, thus uniting the two houses. In 1485 Richard's queen, Anne, died; and he is said by some authorities to have proposed marriage with Elizabeth, his niece. But the second and successful attempt of Richmond followed at once; and on August 22 was fought the battle of Bosworth, in which Richard was slain. Richmond then mounted the throne as Henry VII.

A list of Dramatis Persona was first added by Rowe in 1709. The acts and scenes are indicated in the Folio, except III. v, vi, vii; IV. iii; V. iii, iv, v. Place indications are by modern editors.

The play opens, as shown by the merry-making, immediately after the conclusion of 3 Henry VI.

I. i. 2. sun of York. A reference to the heraldic device

of Edward, three suns in one.

25-40.

I. i. 36. be . . . true and just.

Cf. 3 Henry VI, II. i.

Keep his word.

I. i. 61. Clarence's attainder and death, in 1478, are here made synchronous with the death of Henry VI, in 1471.

I. i. 64. Lady Grey. The queen was the widow of Sir John (whom Shakespeare, perhaps by copyist's or printer's error, calls Richard) Grey. Cf. 3 Henry VI, III. ii. 2 et seq.

I. i. 67. Anthony Woodville. Earl Rivers.

I. i. 73. Mistress Shore. Jane Shore, Edward's mistress, was the wife of a London citizen. After the king's death she became the mistress of Hastings, and subsequently of Dorset. Her beauty, amiability, and pitiable end were celebrated in many chronicles, plays, and poems.

I. i. 98-102. Richard's pun on "nought" and "naught" (wickedness), with the plain reference of the " excepting one," leads Brakenbury, precisely as Richard intends, to ask the incautious question whose answer must be a direct accusation of the king. The clever avoidance of the difficulty, and the savage "Wouldst thou betray me?" warn Brakenbury effectively not to match himself against the power of Richard.

66

I. i. 109. widow. A scornful reference to the queen. I. i. 112. Touches. Two meanings,

moves," and

concerns"; one of Richard's characteristic equivocations. There is another in l. 115.

I. i. 137. fear.
I. i. 154. father.

Fear for.

Father-in-law, Henry VI.

I. i. 158. secret close intent. Not made clear by the dramatist. Actually, Richard seems to have desired Anne's share of the estate of her father Warwick. It was from the lands in Yorkshire, held in her right, that he drew his most faithful troops. Possibly, also, he is conceived as thinking to strengthen himself thus by an indirect alliance with the house of Lancaster.

I. ii. 5. key-cold. A proverbial expression.

I. ii. 29, 30. Henry's corpse rested for a night in St. Paul's Cathedral, and was conveyed thence by way of Black-Friars, on the Thames, by boat, to the abbey at Chertsey, in Surrey.

I. ii. 55-59. It was common belief that the body of one murdered bled afresh in the presence of the murderer. I. ii. 158. Rutland. Richard's brother, nine years older than he, but represented as a mere child. Cf. 3 Henry VI, I. iii. and iv.

I. ii. 160-165. Cf. 3 Henry VI, II. i. 79, et seq.

I. ii. 213. Crosby House. The residence of Richard, in Bishopsgate Street; built by Sir John Crosby.

I. ii. 227. White-Friars. Substituted — by mistake?· for Black-Friars, mentioned by the chronicle.

I. ii. 231–238. Shakespeare was perfectly aware of the difficulties that have caused so many to declare this scene impossible. Its chief dramatic purpose is to convey an impression of Richard's absolute irresistibility character-drawing, rather than advance of plot.

I. iii. 20. Derby's wife was formerly wife of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, half-brother of Henry VI, and