Of the three parts of King Henry VI, Dr Johnson thought ‘the second the best’. Certainly it is a powerful play, though one that modern audiences have had little chance to see. When played at all, it has usually been cut and adapted, as in John Barton’s two-part The Wars of the Roses (1963), tailored from the three parts of King Henry VI, or in 1986 by the English Shakespeare Company and in 1988 by the Royal Shakespeare Company, both of whom also condensed the three plays into two. In 1977, however, Terry Hands directed all three plays in sequence at Stratford-upon-Avon, and in 2000–1 the RSC staged them as part of its ambitious series ‘This England, the Histories’, comprising all the histories from Richard II to Richard III in chronological order.

  The 2000 Arden text is based on the 1623 First Folio.

  LIST OF ROLES

  LANCASTRIANS

  KING Henry the Sixth

  QUEEN Margaret

  Humphrey, Duke of GLOUCESTER

  uncle of the King

  ELEANOR, Duchess of Gloucester

  CARDINAL Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester

  great-uncle of the King

  Marquess of SUFFOLK

  Duke of SOMERSET

  Duke of BUCKINGHAM

  OLD CLIFFORD

  YOUNG CLIFFORD

  his son

  VAUX

  YORKISTS

  Richard, Duke of YORK

  his sons

  Earl of SALISBURY

  Earl of WARWICK

  his sons

  PETITION AND COMBAT 1.3, 2.3

  Thomas HORNER

  armourer

  PETER Thump

  his apprentice

  PETITIONERS, PRENTICES, NEIGHBOURS

  CONJURATION 1.4

  John HUME

  John SOUTHWELL

  Margery JOURDAIN

  a witch

  Roger BOLINBROKE

  a conjuror

  SPIRIT

  THE FALSE MIRACLE 2.1

  Simon SIMPCOX

  Simpcox’s WIFE

  MAYOR of St Albans

  BEADLE

  TOWNSMEN

  ELEANOR’S PENANCE 2. 4

  Sir John STANLEY

  SHERIFF of London

  HERALD, SERVANTS

  Officers, Commoners

  GLOUCESTER’S MURDER 3. 2

  Two MURDERERS

  Commons

  SUFFOLK’S MURDER 4.1

  LIEUTENANT

  MASTER

  Master’s MATE

  Walter WHITMORE

  Two GENTLEMEN

  CADE’S REBELLION 4.2–10

  GEORGE

  NICK

  Jack CADE

  Dick the BUTCHER

  Smith the WEAVER

  Sawyer

  Rebels

  Emmanuel the CLERK of Chartham

  MICHAEL

  Sir Humphrey STAFFORD

  Stafford’s BROTHER

  Lord SAYE

  Lord SCALES

  Matthew GOUGH

  Alexander IDEN

  Drummers, Soldiers, Trumpeter

  CITIZENS

  OTHERS

  Attendants, Falconers, Guards

  POST, MESSENGERS

  King Henry VI, Part 2

  1.1 Flourish of trumpets; then hautboys. Enter the KING, GLOUCESTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK and CARDINAL Beaufort, on the one side; the QUEEN, SUFFOLK, YORK, SOMERSET and BUCKINGHAM, on the other; with attendants.

  SUFFOLK As by your high imperial majesty

  I had in charge at my depart for France,

  As procurator to your excellence,

  To marry Princess Margaret for your grace;

  So, in the famous ancient city Tours,

  5

  In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil,

  The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne and Alençon,

  Seven earls, twelve barons and twenty reverend bishops,

  I have performed my task and was espoused,

  And humbly now upon my bended knee, [Kneels.]

  10

  In sight of England and her lordly peers,

  Deliver up my title in the Queen

  To your most gracious hands, that are the substance

  Of that great shadow I did represent;

  The happiest gift that ever marquess gave,

  15

  The fairest queen that ever king received.

  KING Suffolk arise. [Suffolk rises.]

  – Welcome, Queen Margaret:

  I can express no kinder sign of love

  Than this kind kiss. [Kisses her.]

  – O Lord, that lends me life,

  Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!

  20

  For thou hast given me in this beauteous face

  A world of earthly blessings to my soul,

  If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.

  QUEEN Great King of England, and my gracious lord,

  The mutual conference that my mind hath had

  25

  By day, by night, waking and in my dreams,

  In courtly company, or at my beads,

  With you mine alderliefest sovereign,

  Makes me the bolder to salute my King

  With ruder terms, such as my wit affords

  30

  And overjoy of heart doth minister.

  KING Her sight did ravish, but her grace in speech,

  Her words y-clad with wisdom’s majesty,

  Makes me from wondering fall to weeping joys,

  Such is the fulness of my heart’s content.

  35

  Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love.

  ALL [Kneel.]

  Long live Queen Margaret, England’s happiness!

  QUEEN We thank you all. [Flourish.]

  SUFFOLK My Lord Protector, so it please your grace,

  Here are the articles of contracted peace

  40

  Between our sovereign and the French King Charles,

  For eighteen months concluded by consent.

  GLOUCESTER [Reads.] Imprimis, it is agreed between the

  French King Charles and William de la Pole, Marquess

  of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry, King of England,

  45

  that the said Henry shall espouse the Lady Margaret,

  daughter unto Reignier, King of Naples, Sicilia and

  Jerusalem, and crown her Queen of England, ere the

  thirtieth of May next ensuing. Item, that the duchy of

  Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released and

  50

  delivered to the King her father.

  [Lets the paper fall.]

  KING Uncle, how now?

  GLOUCESTER Pardon me, gracious lord.

  Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart

  And dimmed mine eyes, that I can read no further.

  KING Uncle of Winchester, I pray read on.

  55

  CARDINAL [Reads.] Item, it is further agreed between them

  that the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine shall

  be released and delivered to the King her father, and she

  sent over of the King of England’s own proper cost and

  charges, without having any dowry.

  60

  KING

  They please us well. – Lord Marquess, kneel down.

  [Suffolk kneels.]

  We here create thee the first Duke of Suffolk,

  [Suffolk rises.]

  And girt thee with the sword. – Cousin of York,

  We here discharge your grace from being regent

  I’th’ parts of France, till term of eighteen months

  65

  Be full expired. – Thanks, uncle Winchester,

  Gloucester, York, Buckingham, Somerset,

  Salisbury and Warwick.

  We thank you all for this great favour done,

  In entertainment to my princely Queen.

  70

  Come, let us in, and with all speed provide

  To see her coronation be performed.

  Exeunt King, Queen and Suffolk with attendants.

  Gloucester stays all the rest.

  GLOUCESTER

  Brave peers of England, pillars of the state,

  To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief,

  Your grief, the common grief of all the land.

  75

  What! Did my brother Henry spend his youth,

  His valour, coin and people, in the wars?

  Did he so often lodge in open field,

  In winter’s cold and summer’s parching heat,

  To conquer France, his true inheritance?

  80

  And did my brother Bedford toil his wits

  To keep by policy what Henry got?

  Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,

  Brave York, Salisbury and victorious Warwick,

  Received deep scars in France and Normandy?

  85

  Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself,

  With all the learned council of the realm,

  Studied so long, sat in the council house

  Early and late, debating to and fro

  How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe,

  90

  And had his highness in his infancy

  Crowned in Paris in despite of foes?

  And shall these labours and these honours die?

  Shall Henry’s conquest, Bedford’s vigilance,

  Your deeds of war and all our counsel die?

  95

  O peers of England, shameful is this league;

  Fatal this marriage, cancelling your fame,

  Blotting your names from books of memory,

  Razing the characters of your renown,

  Defacing monuments of conquered France,

  100

  Undoing all, as all had never been!

  CARDINAL

  Nephew, what means this passionate discourse,

  This peroration with such circumstance?

  For France ’tis ours; and we will keep it still.

  GLOUCESTER Ay, uncle, we will keep it if we can,

  105

  But now it is impossible we should.

  Suffolk, the new-made duke that rules the roast,

  Hath given the duchy of Anjou and Maine

  Unto the poor King Reignier, whose large style

  Agrees not with the leanness of his purse.

  110

  SALISBURY Now by the death of Him that died for all,

  These counties were the keys of Normandy.

  But wherefore weeps Warwick, my valiant son?

  WARWICK For grief that they are past recovery.

  For were there hope to conquer them again

  115

  My sword should shed hot blood, mine eyes no tears.

  Anjou and Maine! Myself did win them both;

  Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer;

  And are the cities that I got with wounds

  Delivered up again with peaceful words?

  120

  Mort Dieu!

  YORK For Suffolk’s Duke, may he be suffocate,

  That dims the honour of this warlike isle!

  France should have torn and rent my very heart

  Before I would have yielded to this league.

  125

  I never read but England’s kings have had

  Large sums of gold and dowries with their wives;

  And our King Henry gives away his own,

  To match with her that brings no vantages.

  GLOUCESTER A proper jest, and never heard before,

  130

  That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth

  For costs and charges in transporting her!

  She should have stayed in France, and starved in France

  Before –

  CARDINAL

  My Lord of Gloucester, now ye grow too hot:

  135

  It was the pleasure of my lord the King.

  GLOUCESTER

  My Lord of Winchester, I know your mind.

  ’Tis not my speeches that you do mislike,

  But ’tis my presence that doth trouble ye.

  Rancour will out: proud prelate, in thy face

  140

  I see thy fury. If I longer stay

  We shall begin our ancient bickerings. –