Blood and Roses: Shakespeare's Henry VI

Adapted by Brian B. Crowe from Shakespeare's Henry VI trilogy (1589-1591)

Setting: England and France , 1422-1471.

Synopsis:

The first part of Shakespeare's trilogy spans the greatest number of years of the three, ranging from Henry VI's coronation (historically, he was just 9 months old) to his marriage to Margaret of Anjou in 1445. This section of the play is a prelude to the Wars of the Roses themselves, with most of the action concerned with the English losses in the final phase of the Hundred Years' War in France and the disputes within the English court during Henry's minority.

The play opens in 1422 with the funeral of King Henry V. His young son Henry VI has just ascended the throne, and many noblemen and lords see the opportunity to advance their own standing, not least the child king's great-uncle, Thomas Beaufort, the Bishop of Winchester. As Winchester lays his plans, news is brought to the court that the English war effort in France is in dire peril. Several English possessions in France have been captured by the French, led by Joan of Arc, and the Dauphin has been crowned king.

As the heroic English general, Lord Talbot, attempts to regain the lost ground in France, his peers at the court are increasingly consumed with their own disputes. The King's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, has a heated dispute with Winchester , but both men grudgingly agree to suppress their dislike of one another for the public good, at the Lord Mayor's entreaty. Even as this quarrel temporarily subsides, another erupts between two more royal relatives, the king's cousin Richard Plantagenet of York and Winchester 's nephew the Duke of Somerset. Meeting in the Temple Garden , Plantagenet and Somerset pluck a white rose and a red rose, respectively, as the emblems of their causes, and spur their friends to do the same.

Parliament is called so that Gloucester and Winchester can formally and publicly ratify their truce, but their quarrel merely breaks out again during the session, resulting in a street riot between their respective followers. Appalled by the violence, the young king begs his uncles to reconcile, and they grudgingly go through the motions of doing so. In the spirit of peacemaking (but really at the urging of Gloucester , who wants an ally against the Beaufort faction), the king clears Richard Plantagenet of his father's treason and grants him the title of Duke of York.

In France, Talbot makes modest gains against Joan of Arc's forces, and Henry is sent to be crowned King of France in Paris in hopes of solidifying his wavering support in the English-occupied territories. The coronation is marred, however, by an ominous quarrel between Vernon and Basset, two minor noblemen, adherents of the two opposing “rose” factions. Henry reminds them that they are in a hostile France , urges them to forget their differences, and, impolitically, puts on a red rose himself. “I see no reason, if I wear this rose, that anyone should therefore be suspicious I more incline to Somerset than York ,” the king naively offers. However, York is suspicious of exactly that, and the incident only intensifies the factionalism.

Still trying to forge an awkward peace between his feuding cousins, Henry assigns York and Somerset to lead armies in support of Talbot. When Talbot is outmaneuvered and trapped by French forces in the province of Bordeaux, messengers appeal to both Somerset and York to come to his rescue, but each commander stalls, blaming the other for his lack of preparation. Talbot and his son John are killed by the French, and England 's hope of victory in France is all but extinguished.

With the aid of the Pope, Winchester (now Cardinal Beaufort) negotiates a peace with France whereby Henry would marry the French king's cousin, the wealthy daughter of the Earl of Armagnac. Henry agrees, but in the war's final days, York wins a battle against Joan's forces in Angiers. Joan is captured by the English, along with the beautiful young Margaret of Anjou. While Joan is to be burned at the stake for witchcraft, Margaret falls into the hands of the Earl of Suffolk to be ransomed.

Suffolk sees an opportunity to both have Margaret as his lover and to advance his own power in the court. He convinces the ever-wavering Henry to choose Margaret over Beaufort's match, despite her relative poverty, intending to use her to control Henry and to effectively rule England himself.

Shakespeare's part two begins with the return of Suffolk from France , with both Margaret and a new peace treaty in hand. Gloucester begins to read the treaty but breaks off, choked with emotion. In exchange for Margaret, Suffolk has agreed to give up England 's claim to both Maine and Anjou , two of its last remaining possessions in France . With Gloucester publicly humiliated, his old enemy Cardinal Beaufort moves against him again, securing the support of his brother Somerset and the Duke of Buckingham.

Meanwhile, York and Warwick privately discuss their fears of the growing influence of Suffolk and the Beauforts. York explains that it is not yet the right time or political climate for him to advance his own claim to the throne, and that he must “sit and fret and bite his tongue” until the time is ripe. Meanwhile, he and Warwick will oppose Suffolk and the Beauforts as they can.

Gloucester 's wife, Eleanor, who has dreamt of being crowned Queen, begins to pressure her husband to advance his own claim to the throne. But Gloucester too has had a dream, which ominously predicts the shattering of his staff of office as Protector. He urges Eleanor to abandon her treasonous thoughts, but, dissatisfied, the Duchess decides to hire a witch and a conjurer to look into the future of King Henry's rule. Unfortunately, the agent she uses to hire them has been paid off by Beaufort and Suffolk to have her arrested for suborning witchcraft, thereby destroying her and her husband.

Meanwhile, Somerset is in competition to replace York as Regent of France. When a rumor surfaces that York has begun to advance his own claim to the throne, Gloucester unexpectedly throws his support behind Somerset . In retaliation, York joins Suffolk and Somerset in carrying out the arrest and exposure of Eleanor, who is banished. With his own reputation thus tarnished, Gloucester sadly resigns as Protector.

In Parliament, Somerset announces that England has been driven from all its territories in France . The rest of the king's council turns on Gloucester , accusing him of treason and arguing that he accepted bribes from the French. Gloucester protests his innocence, and Henry meekly wishes that he will be found so, but Gloucester is arrested and placed in Cardinal Beaufort's custody. As soon as Henry leaves the chamber, Margaret and the council agree to put Gloucester to death. York , meanwhile, is dispatched to Ireland with an army to quell rebellions there.

With an army at his command, York realizes that all the ingredients will be in place for an open challenge to Henry's rule upon his return. In the meantime, he will test the waters of national sympathy for the Yorkist cause by hiring a commoner, Jack Cade, to pose as an imaginary Yorkist cousin, “John Mortimer,” and raise a rebellion against Henry.

Gloucester is murdered by agents of Suffolk , and the king is told that he died of a sudden illness. Almost immediately, however, Warwick arrives with a mob of angry commoners to accuse Suffolk of murder. Examination of the body supports Warwick 's claims of murder, and the people beg the king to banish Suffolk . Ignoring Margaret's pleas, Henry pronounces the sentence. News quickly follows that Cardinal Beaufort has taken ill, and he dies in agony, haunted by visions of Gloucester 's ghost. As Suffolk attempts to flee to France , he is captured by soldiers loyal to the king and is beheaded.

Jack Cade gathers some popular support as the royal pretender “John Mortimer,” although the rabble following him are motivated more by greed and bloodlust than they are by his presumed Yorkist descent. The rebellion reaches London , and forces the king to flee the city, before Cade's followers finally turn against him when reminded of their loyalty to Henry V.

Even as Cade's rebellion is put down, news comes that York has returned from Ireland with his army and is demanding that his old enemy Somerset be removed from office and imprisoned. Henry agrees to Somerset's imprisonment, but Margaret sets him free again, and York, infuriated by the deception, denies his allegiance to Henry and names himself king. Somerset attempts to have York arrested, but Warwick and York 's sons say they will protect him. Open battle erupts between the Lancastrian and Yorkist factions for the first time, during which York and his son Richard kill the Lancastrian leaders Clifford and Somerset, causing the Lancastrian forces to panic and flee. Shakespeare's second part concludes with the victorious entry of York and Warwick into London .

The third part of the Shakespearean trilogy opens immediately after the battle, as Henry and his allies enter London to find York already seated in the throne. They demand that York descend, but Henry is unable to verbally justify his own claim. A compromise is reached by which York swears allegiance to Henry for life while Henry makes York his heir (disinheriting his own son by Margaret, Edward).

The furious Margaret leads an army against York at Wakefield , where his young son Edmund of Rutland is killed by Clifford (avenging the death of his own father) and York is taken prisoner. After taunting and tormenting York , Margaret has him killed and orders his head placed over the gates of his native city.

York 's three surviving sons— Edward, George and Richard— rally their troops and rejoin Warwick to again challenge the Lancastrians. Their next battle, at Towton, proves disastrous for the Lancastrian side, as Clifford is killed and Henry captured. The Yorkists return to London in triumph, and Edward is crowned King Edward IV.

Margaret goes to France to beg for support from her cousin the king, but Warwick outmaneuvers her, promising a new alliance between England and France if Edward marries the French king's sister. Even as the Lancastrians hopes are slipping away, however, Edward is secretly negotiating his own marriage to Lady Grey, the widow of a minor nobleman. When this news arrives from England , Warwick is humiliated and enraged. He defects to the Lancastrian side and begins plotting with Margaret to overthrow Edward.

Edward's brother George of Clarence also defects, and Edward and Richard are driven from London . Warwick frees Henry from the Tower of London and briefly restores him to the throne. Edward returns with reinforcements from Brittany , and Richard convinces their brother George to return to the Yorkist cause. They meet Warwick in battle, defeating and killing him, then rout Margaret's forces as well, capturing her and her son Prince Edward. In revenge for the deaths of their father and Rutland , they put Prince Edward to death before her eyes. As King Edward orders the executions of the few remaining Lancastrian leaders, Richard of Gloucester sneaks off to the Tower of London where Henry is once again a prisoner.

Major Characters:

The Lancastrian Royal Family:

King Henry VI — the son of Henry V; he is crowned as an infant, but struggles to live up to the legacy of his famous father

Margaret of Anjou — a poor relative of the king of France , she is captured during the wars there and married to King Henry in hopes of uniting the realms

Prince Edward of Lancaster — Henry's son by Margaret and heir to the English throne

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester — the king's uncle, named Lord Protector by Henry V

Eleanor of Gloucester — Gloucester 's ambitious wife

Duke of Exeter — the king's great-uncle and one of his councillors

Thomas Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester (later Cardinal Beaufort)— the king's great-uncle, who hungers for political power

Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset — Winchester 's nephew, one of the royal cousins

Lancastrian Supporters:

Lord Talbot — a heroic English general who dies battling the French

Earl of Suffolk — captures Margaret in France , arranges her marriage to Henry, and becomes her clandestine lover

Duke of Buckingham — an ally of Somerset

Lord Clifford — an ally of the king who dies battling the Yorkists

Young Clifford — his son, who swears revenge on the House of York

Earl of Northumberland — a Lancastrian nobleman who participates in York 's murder

Lord Saye — a Lancastrian nobleman killed during Cade's rebellion

Basset — a knight who supports the Lancastrian faction

The Yorkist Royal Family:

Richard Plantagenet (Richard of York )— the king's cousin, he is later named Duke of York and challenges Henry for the throne

Edward Plantagenet, Earl of March — the eldest son of Richard of York, he inherits his title and overthrows Henry VI, becoming King Edward IV

George Plantagenet — Richard's son, later made Duke of Clarence

Richard Plantagenet — Richard's son, later made Duke of Gloucester (and the future Richard III)

Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland — Richard's son who is murdered by the Lancastrians during the Battle of Wakefield

Elizabeth Woodville, Lady Grey — marries Edward and becomes queen when her first husband is killed in the war

Yorkist Supporters:

Earl of Warwick — Richard of York's friend and closest ally, he later turns against Richard's son Edward

Marquess of Montague — Warwick 's brother

Vernon — a knight who supports the Yorkist faction

Commoners:

Mayor of London — tries to keep the peace

Walter Whitmore — kills the fugitive Suffolk to avenge Gloucester 's murder

Thomas Horner — an armorer who is accused of supporting York 's claim to the throne

Peter Thump — Horner's apprentice and accuser

Jack Cade — peasant who claims to be Richard of York's cousin and heir to the thone, he leads a rebellion against King Henry

Dick the Butcher — Cade's lieutenant

Margery Jourdain — witch who conjures a spirit that prophesies the fall of Henry

The French:

Joan la Pucelle — peasant girl who leads the French in driving the English from their nation, she is later captured and burned at the stake as a witch

King Lewis XI — king of France who supports Henry's restoration after Edward IV marries Elizabeth Woodville

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