bond shackle, chain

  121–6 King John’s closing couplets reflect the bravado of his rhetoric; cf. 90–1.

  121 spur amain gallop at full speed

  122 smothered suffocated by sheer weight of numbers and smoke (elaborated at 125–6)

  123 all his ill his only trouble

  124 expounded more fully by Salisbury at 18.123–4; retrospectively ironic (see 18.199–201)

  125–6 TCC has pencil note in margin, ‘Bullets / from / Crossbows’ (see 12.33); however, bullets here must refer to the balls (of metal or stone) discharged from (16th-century) cannon, hence the smoke. Neither Froissart nor Holinshed mentions the use of cannon at Poitiers, but only the shot of archers. See 4.123n., 149n. Cf. 4.153–4n.; also 14.1–2, 18.153–4.

  125 smoke but mere smoke (see Abbott, 129). See 12.4n.

  shot See 4.123n.

  126 choke See 2.472n.; also 12.5n.

  Sc. 14

  Sc. 14 Capell runs this scene into Sc. 15, seeing both location and action as continuous. The cleared stage at 17 and the scene’s structural balance with Sc. 7, however, justify treating both as short separate scenes; see Sc. 7n. Two of the prophecies in Sc. 11 are fulfilled in this scene (see Sc. 11n., 11.68n., 69n.). The failure of the Genoese crossbowmen in Sc. 7 is counterpoised by Prince Edward’s resourcefulness, when the English run out of arrows and turn to flinging flints. The full significance of stone-throwing emerges only at 15.18–19 (see n.).

  0.1 Alarum unclear which side sounds the call to arms, which by synecdoche represents the battle, as the Prince has withdrawn for rest and the French stand amazed (4). See 7.0.1n. and pp. 91–2.

  0.2 ARTOIS last seen at Crécy in Sc. 8. See 6.12.1n., 17.11.1 LN.

  * * *

  120 bond] band Q2 122 smothered] (smoothered) 123 the] thy Oxf 126 SD] Collier subst.; Exit. Q; om. Q2 Sc. 14]Warren; SCENE VI. The same. A Part of the Field of Battle. / Capell

  2–3 pick up 13.125–6 and seem to confirm King John’s prediction; cf. 4.153–4n.

  2 choked See 2.472n.; also 12.5n., 13.126.

  smoke See 12.4n.

  3, 4 breath … Breathe breathing space (OED n. 8a, first cited from R3 4.2.24) … take a breath, rest (v. 5). Cf. 8.3, 18.239; also H5 2.4.145.

  4 amazed amazèd

  5 gazing Cf. 6.200–2, 13.36–8.

  crows i.e. the ravens of 13.28; cf. KJ 5.2.143–5, where the Bastard derides French fear of the English, ‘to thrill and shake / Even at the crying of your nation’s crow, / Thinking this voice an armed Englishman’.

  6, 9 shafts arrows

  7, 17day Cf. 4.117n.

  8 Lord Artois calls for divine aid; see t.n. See 1.118n. and cf. 12.81.

  our want what we lack

  9 a fig for proverbial: ‘A fig for him (it)’ (Dent, F210), signifying ‘anything small, valueless, or contemptible’ (OED n.1 4a)

  10 feathered fowls biblical, varying the sense of feathered, 9: cf. Psalms, 78.27, ‘He rained fleshe vpon them as thycke as dust: and fethered foules like as the sande of the sea.’ ‘The Prince, though unaware of the prophecy, echoes its words’ (Cam): cf. 11.68 and n.

  bandy fight (OED v. 8, citing Tit 1.1.317)

  11 keep a coil make a fuss (OED coil n.2 4a)

  12 adversaries stressed on the first and third syllables

  * * *

  4 to] (too) 8 arrows, Lord!] Collier; arrowes Lord, Q; arrowes; Lord, Q2; arrows, lord! Capell That is] Capell; thats Q our] our one Oxf

  13–17 Biblical precedent for such providential victory is found at Joshua, 10.11, where God hurls ‘great stones’ at the Amorites. At 1H6 1.4.44, Talbot relates how with his nails he ‘digged stones out of the ground’ as weapons. Later, at 3.1.78–80, ‘The Bishop and the Duke of Gloucester’s men, / Forbidden late to carry any weapon, / Have filled their pockets full of pebble stones’.

  13 Up, up, Artois suggests both men may have been sitting. As nothing indicates when they sit, no SD has been added.

  14 Fire-containing flint proverbial paradox: ‘In the coldest flint there is hot fire’ (Dent, F371). See 11.69n. For disyllabic fire, as here, compounded with a present participle, cf. Cornelia, 5.179, 214, ‘A fearfull Hagge, with fier-darting eyes’, ‘With bristled backs, and fire-sparkling eyes’.

  bows archers

  15 *parti-coloured yew from which bows were often made (parti-coloured = variegated in colour). Q’s ‘pretie colored’ arises from mistaken expansion of a ‘par’ contraction. Cf. 2.153; also R2 3.2.116–17, ‘bows / Of double-fatal yew’.

  16 to it with Cf. 4.

  17 My … prophesy Cf. Ham 1.5.40, ‘my prophetic soul’.

  Sc. 15

  Sc. 15 a counterpoise to Sc. 13, in which the second prophecy, of rising flint-stones, is fulfilled (see 11.69n. and LN), ensuring English victory. Holinshed, 3.389, and Froissart, 375, depict King John as resolutely courageous despite the flight of many of his men (prompted by his eldest son Charles’s retreat); only Philip remained with him to the battle’s end (cf. 13.22, 24n.).

  0.1 Alarum signifies continuing battle; unclear which side sounds it: see 13 and nn.; also 7.0.1n.

  1 SP *See 2.1 SPn.

  1–10 King John’s soliloquy expresses feelings he must conceal from his sons and army. Cf. 13.39–40n.

  1 Superior French numbers again prove self-defeating: cf. 7.10–11.

  multitudes contrasted with the English handful at 33: see 12.6n. Cf. also 6.39n.

  in themselves confounded thrown into disorder by themselves (OED v. 1a). Cf. Luc 160.

  2 Dismayed dismayèd

  swift-starting arising rapidly and suddenly; starting is appropriate with fear.

  * * *

  14 Fire-containing flint!] this edn; Fire containing flint, Q; With fire-containing flint; Capell; Fire-containing flint; Delius; Fire-containing flint Parfitt 15 parti-coloured] Winny; pretie colored Q yew] (Ew) Sc. 15]Oxf; SCENE VII. The same. Another Part of the Field of Battle. / WP 1 SP] Q2 (K.Iohn); not in Q

  3–10 buzzed … prophecy … fear Sams notes these words at 3H6 5.6.86–8: ‘For I will buzz abroad such prophecies / That Edward shall be fearful of his life; / And then to purge his fear, I’ll be thy death.’

  3 buzzed whispered, communicated ‘privately and busily’ (OED v.1 4)

  4 petty disadvantage minor setback; see 2.490–1n.

  5 fear-possessed fear-possessèd

  6 Myself even I

  spirit … lead proverbial: ‘As true (trusty, sure) as steel’ (Dent, S840) and ‘As dull as lead’ (Dent, L133.1)

  7 recalling of i.e. recollecting; see 1.125n.

  9–10 attainted / With affected by

  10 oxymoronic: strong vs. weak, surprise (attack) vs. yielding (expressing John’s reluctance to admit fear)

  10.1, 16.1The successive entry of the Princes as messengers builds the sense of a worsening situation. Cf., e.g., 1H6 1.1.57–161, R3 4.4.498–527; also 2.47.1–67n., 8.10–32n.

  11 SP *See 2.1 SPn.

  11–12 See 7.3–11 LN.

  11 Fly, father, fly Holinshed, 3.389, describes how Charles fled the battle early on (avoiding capture) (see also Froissart, 374). Cf. 12.88–100n.

  12 stand hold their ground

  let drive strike out (OED drive v. 11a)

  13 drums drummers

  discouragement i.e. retreat (Riv); not in Shakespeare. Cf. 17.18.

  14 trumpets trumpeters; their instruments

  dishonour and retire hendiadys: dishonourable retreat; cf. 18.235.

  15–16 Cf. 12.134–45 (and 144–5n.).

  15–17 fear … confusion … shame reactions often associated with a brawl or riot: cf. 2H6 5.2.31–3, ‘Shame and confusion! All is on the rout, / Fear frames disorder, and disorder wounds / Where it should guard.’

  15 feareth … death i.e. has no fear of dishonour

  * * *

  11 SP] Q2; not in Q 15 naught] (nought)

  16 Cowardly adverbial

  confusion destruction; shame; disorder (OED n. 1a; 2a; 5a). Cf. 18.152.

  17 SP *See 2.1 SPn.

  17 Pluck … eyes phrase often associated with shame

  17, 27, 35day’s … day See 4.117n.

  18 arm … army a punning hyperbole. Cf. 12.46–9n.

  18–19 one … Goliaths allusion to David’s killing the Philistine giant Goliath with a stone from his sling (1 Samuel, 17.4–54). The modern spelling Goliaths is preferred to Q’s ‘Goliahs’; ‘Golias’ was also current. Cf. 1H6 1.2.33–4 (with reference to ‘the time Edward the Third did reign’ (31)), ‘For none but Samsons and Goliases / It sendeth forth to skirmish’.

  19 foiled defeated

  20 naked starvelings defenceless famished men: naked in military terms = ‘unarmed’ (see OED a. 6a, b). The French stereotype of the English army (cf. 6.159–62, 13.43) now rebounds; cf. 1H6 1.2.34–6, ‘One to ten? / Lean raw-boned rascals – who would e’er suppose / They had such courage and audacity?’

  flints Cf. 11.69n.

  21 Hath The singular form for the plural noun may be induced by anaphora from 19. See 2.134n.

  puissant host powerful army

  22 contrasting with naked (20): deployed and defended with all appropriate equipment

  23 Mort Dieu God’s death; an appropriately French oath, found at 2H6 1.1.120, E2, 1.1.89, and Massacre at Paris, 15.31, 17.28.

  quoit throw stones (a quoit was a flat stone disk thrown as an exercise of strength); cf. 2H4 2.4.192.

  kill us up totally annihilate us (OED v. 2b); see 2.156n. on make up.

  24–5 allusion to the stoning to death of the two elders in the apocryphal book of Susanna, illustrating God’s protection of virtue and justice against ‘wickedness’. See 2.335n. John inadvertently concedes that God is not on the French side.

  forty thousand … forty The odds against the English have grown to one hundred to one. See 2.255–7n.

  25 lean slaves the starvelings of 20

  * * *

  17 SP] Q2 (Phil.); not in Q 19 Goliaths] (Goliahs) 21 Hath] Haue Q2 23Mort Dieu] (Mordiu); Mordieu Q2 quoit] (quait)

  26 some other countryman i.e. anything but a Frenchman

  27 set … French made the French a permanent laughing stock; cf. the Duke of Guise in Massacre at Paris, 17.18–20, ‘if all the proudest kings in Christendom / Should bear me such derision, they should / Know how I scorn’d them and their mocks’.

  28 all the world Cf. 12.42.

  blurt ‘puff in scorn’ (OED v. 2 cites this line)

  30 bury up conceal forever; playing on death. Cf. Jew of Malta, 4.2.63, ‘he hides and buries it up as partridges do their eggs’. See 2.156n. on make up.

  31 Make up get together (OED v.1 phr. 9b, citing 2H6 2.1.39, ‘Make up no factious numbers for the matter’); make complete, supply the deficiencies (phr. 3b, as in Alcazar, l. 1050, ‘Shall make the right wing of the battell up’ (Peele, 2.334)). Cf. 2.156 and n.

  31–3 The … part possibly suggested by Holinshed, 3.389, describing King John after Poitiers, ‘if the fourth part of his men had doone halfe their parts as he did his, the victorie by likelihood had rested … on his side’ (see also Froissart, 375)

  31 The twentieth part one twentieth

  32 enow obsolete plural form of ‘enough’

  quail frighten, daunt (OED v.2 4a)

  33 handful Cf. 5.33–5n., 12.6n.

  on … part of the enemy. Cf. 2Tam, 3.2.81–2, ‘Dismount the cannon of the adverse part, / Murder the foe’; also King Leir, TLN 2617.

  36 Capell proposed ‘On, on, away’ on metrical grounds, making 35–6 one verse line.

  * * *

  28 will] Q2; wilt Q 30 SP] Q2 (Phil.); Pr: Q 31 me.] Melchiori1; me Q; me, Q2; me; Capell 35–6]one line Tyrrell 35 lose] (loose) 36 On,] On, on; Capell

  Sc. 16

  Sc. 16 This vignette of the aged warrior and his faithful attendants (continued in Sc. 17) occurs in Holinshed, 390, and, more elaborately, in Froissart, 375, 381–2, 383–4, 385–6, apparently the principal source here. See 1–10n., 17.61n.

  0.2 two Squires Q’s ‘squirs’ contrasts with Q’s invariable form elsewhere: see 10.49n. See also LR, 13n. Reduced from four in the sources to a theatrical minimum of two; Clark only used one, which understated the gravity of Audley’s condition (see Bennett & Proudfoot, 331).

  1–10 modelled on Froissart, 375, ‘On the Englysshe parte the lorde James Awdeley with the ayde of his foure squyers fought alwayes in the chyefe of the batayle: he was soore hurte in the body and in the vysage: as longe as his breth served hym he fought; at laste at the ende of the batayle his foure squyers tooke and brought hym oute of the felde, and layed hym under a hedge syde for to refresshe hym, and they unarmed hym, and bounde up his woundes as well as they coulde.’

  1, 3 SPs *While distribution of the speeches between the two squires is possible, Q’s ‘Esq.’ suggests a single speaker; Q often differentiates individual speakers: cf. Sc. 5 (‘One’, ‘Two’, ‘Three’); and 18.27, 56 SPs (‘Two’).

  1 How … lord Sams compares 2H6 3.3.1.

  Even just (monosyllabic: ‘e’en’)

  2 dines Audley consciously puns on fares (1), narrowing its sense to feed (OED fare v.1 8). Cf. KJ 5.7.34–5, ‘PRINCE HENRY How fares your majesty? / KING JOHN Poison’d, ill fare’.

  bloody feast i.e. battle; feasting is often associated with deeds of blood (cf., e.g., Tit 5.2.202–3).

  3, 9 scar wound

  4 the … cast the account is drawn up (and about to be presented at Audley’s expected death); or possibly, ‘the time of my death is determined’ (Riv; cf. 12.148–9). The image of accounting is traditionally used for the moral stock-taking of the dying. Cf. the different kind of reckoning at 17.50–3. Cf. also 18.207–8.

  5 mortal man man destined to die; a ‘tautologically emphatic phrase’ (OED mortal a. 2a), playing on mortal at 3

  6 convey need not yet imply that Audley needs to be carried, merely accompanied. Cf. 17.60–1 (and 61n.).

  * * *

  Sc. 16]Oxf; SCENE VIII. The same. Another Part of the Field of Battle. / WP 0.2 Squires] (squirs), WP; Esquires Q2 1 SP1] Capell subst. (1. E.), Warren; Esq. Q; Esquires. Q2 3 SP] Capell subst. (2. E.), Warren; Esq. Q; Esquir. Q2; 1 ESQUIRE Parfitt

  7 crimson … blood Audley’s bleeding body reveals his courage, and his blood serves as an adornment or embellishment of his body (OED bravery 2, 3c). Characterizing the ‘deep red’ of blood, crimson also described a rich cloth (used for fine garments), underlining the pun on bravery (see OED crimson n. 1). Sidney describes ‘the crimson raiment our Knights of the Order first put on’ (Arcadia, 808). Cf. further heraldic references to blood and red at 12.72, 84, 98–9, 17.2.

  8 become honour; cf. 2.446, 561 and nn.

  10 harvest … war i.e. the fruits of Audley’s military effort (his Audley’s = Edward’s Audley’s) (OED harvest n. 5). In the metaphoric language of warfare, the warrior (reaper or sickle) has become the harvest: cf. 6.112, 8.71–2 and nn. Cf. R3 5.2.15–16, ‘reap the harvest of perpetual peace / By this one bloody trial of sharp war’.

  Sc. 17

  Sc. 17 a counterpart to Sc. 12 (66–123): the French Princes’ sardonic gift-giving, rejected by Prince Edward, contrasts with the Prince’s true generosity to Audley and Audley’s to his squires. Audley’s reassurance of Prince Edward in Sc. 12 is now reversed as Edward comforts his wounded mentor. In matching the terms of Sc. 12, this scene departs from both Holinshed, 3.390, and Froissart, 384, where the French King is treated courteously by Prince Edward, and only one son, Philip, is captured with him. Froissart appears to be the main source for the Prince’s treatment of Audley (see Sc. 16n.; but cf. also 49n. on in English land).

  0.2 CHARLES In fact Charles escaped (see 15.11n.), as his absence from Sc. 18 may acknowledge: see 18.186.1–2, 182n.; also LR, 22n. and pp. 31, 33.

  and all The minimum must be English soldiers to guard the captives and bear the ensigns.

  ensigns spread the captured French flags or colours, presumably beside those of the English. Cf. 2, 4.68; also 8.60.3–4n.

  0.3 Retreat unambiguously announces the French defeat: cf. 4.131 SD (and n.; heard by the French King), 8.56 SD (heard by the English King).

  1 For similar contemptuous use of the name John, cf. the Dauphin Lewis’s dismissal of King John of England in 1TR, 2.35–6, ‘England is England, yielding good and bad, / And John of England is as other Johns.’ Cf. 18.167.

  2 bloody ensigns literally bloody: a rejoinder to John’s offer to fold up his bloody colours at 12.72 should the Prince surrender (see n.); see also 12.84 and n.

  colours banners

  * * *

  10 SD] (Ex.), Q2; Exeunt. Other Alarums; afterwards, a Retreat. / Capell Sc. 17]Oxf; SCENE VII. The same. The English Camp. / Capell; SCENE IX. The same. The English Camp. / WP; SCENE FIFTEEN Warren 0.1Enter] Flourish. Enter / Capell 0.3]om. Capell

  3–5 Cf. 12.88–100n.

  3 high-vaunting arrogantly boastful. Cf. 2H6 3.1.50.

  5 subjects … clemency euphemism for ‘at my mercy’

  6–9 recalls the allusion to David’s victory against Goliath (see 15.18–19n.); emphasis on youthfulness may aim to inspire younger spectators with military ambition (cf. 18.216–35 and n.).

  6 Fie possibly extrametrical, unless is it is elided to ‘is’t’

  7 i.e. who are still not old enough to grow a beard; cf. 3.150. Cf. also 12.100, 112n.

  early youthful (OED a. 5a, cited only from 1630)

  9 beat … together have completely thrashed you all; see 2.156n. on make up.

  10–11 See pp. 9–10 on chance vs. divine approval.

  10 Thy King John maintains his verbal disdain for Prince Edward. See 1.55, 57n.

  conquered See 5.64n.

  11 argument proof (OED n. 1, citing MA 2.3.225–6)

  11.1ARTOIS last seen in Sc. 14 (see 14.0.2n.). See LN.

  PHILIP historically the only son captured with his father: see LR, 23n., and Froissart, 379–81, ‘There was a great prease about the kynge, for every man enforsed hym to say, I have taken him, so that the kyng coude nat go forwarde with his yonge sonne the lorde Philyppe’, then finally ‘two lordes … brought hym and his son in peace and rest to the prince of Wales’.