Shakespeare's English Kings, the People, and the Law: A Study in the Relationship Between the Tudor Constitution and the English History PlaysDemonstrates that knowledge of constitutional history can add to our understanding of the politics of the English history plays and suggests that the nine historical plays that Shakespeare wrote before Elizabeth's death record a transformation in constitutional organization. |
Contents
| 9 | |
| 11 | |
| 21 | |
| 26 | |
| 34 | |
| 35 | |
2 Rebellion | 38 |
3 Prerogative | 41 |
A The Commons | 119 |
BThe Lords | 122 |
C The Crown | 131 |
D The Law | 137 |
The Second Tetralogy | 149 |
A The Commons | 150 |
E The Lords | 168 |
C The Crown | 185 |
D The Law | 44 |
The First Tetralogy | 56 |
B The Lords | 70 |
C The Crown | 88 |
D The Law | 107 |
King John | 118 |
D The Law | 214 |
Conclusion | 228 |
Selected Bibliography | 234 |
Index | 251 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
allegiance Angiers Archbishop Arthur banishment Bastard Boling Bolingbroke Cade Cade's Cambridge citizens claim Clifford common law coronation council court Crown death deposition despite dramatic Duke Earl Edited Edward Edward IV Elizabeth Elizabethan England English Constitutional English history plays fact Falstaff father Faulconbridge fealty feudal France French Gaunt Gloucester Gloucester's Harvard University Harvard University Press hath heir Henry IV Henry V's Henry's Hotspur House of York Hubert Humphrey Huntington Library interpretation John Dover Wilson John's King John king's Lancastrian lineality London Lord Chief Justice Margaret medieval ment Methuen monarchy moral noble Northumberland oath Pandulph Parliament Philip pledge prerogative Prince realm rebel rebellion reign relationship role royal rule Salisbury San Marino sanctions says scene second tetralogy servants Shake Shakespeare's History Plays Shakespeare's plays sixteenth century Society speare speare's Studies succession Suffolk Talbot Thomas Smith thou throne tion VI's Warwick York York's Yorkists
Popular passages
Page 152 - Richard ; no man cried, God save him ; No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home : But dust was thrown upon his sacred head ; Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off, His face still combating with tears and smiles, The badges of his grief and patience, That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted, And barbarism itself have pitied him.
Page 208 - God knows, my son, By what by-paths, and indirect crook'd ways, I met this crown ; and I myself know well How troublesome it sat upon my head : To thee it shall descend with better quiet, Better opinion, better confirmation ; For all the soil of the achievement goes With me into the earth.
Page 130 - This England never did, (nor never shall,) Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, But when it first did help to wound itself. Now these her princes are come home again, Come the three corners of the world in arms, And we shall shock them : Nought shall make us rue, If England to itself do rest but true.
Page 50 - Edw. Third. Mother, you are suspected for his death . And therefore we commit you to the Tower. Till further trial may be made thereof. If you be guilty, though I be your son, Think not to find me slack or pitiful.
Page 139 - I say, comprehendeth all those things which men by the "light of their natural understanding evidently know, or at leastwise may know, to be beseeming or unbeseeming, virtuous or vicious, good or evil for them to do.
Page 63 - Smith, they be made good cheap in this kingdom : for whosoever studieth the laws of the realm, who studieth in the universities, who professeth the liberal sciences, and, to be short, who can live idly and without manual labour, and will bear the port, charge, and countenance of a gentleman, he shall be called master, and shall be taken for a gentleman.
Page 177 - Hereford, requiring him with all conuenient speed to conueie himselfe into England ; promising him all their aid, power, and assistance, if he, expelling K. Richard, as a man not meet for the office he bare, would take, vpon him the scepter, rule, and diademe of his natiue land and region.
Page 51 - If on the other part the regiment were such as all hanged on the king's or queen's will, and not upon the laws written ; if she might decree and make laws alone without her senate ; if she judged offences according to her wisdom,, and not by limitation of statutes and laws ; if she might dispose alone of war and peace ; if, to be short, she were a mere monarch, and not a mixed ruler, you might peradventure make me to fear the matter the more, and the less to defend the cause*.
Page 138 - ... and therefore against this law, prescription, statute, or custom may not prevail : and if any be brought in against it, they be not prescriptions statutes, nor customs, but things void and against justice.