44 even completely

  48 cheer appalled face pale

  49 wrought worked, brought about

  49 offence harm

  53 Ordainèd destined, appointed by God

  53 raise put an end to

  53 tedious harrowing, lengthy

  54 forth out of

  54 bounds territory

  56 nine sibyls female prophets from classical times, not exclusively from Rome and usually said to be ten in number

  57 descry discern, see

  60 try test

  62 proudly haughtily, with authority

  63 sound probe, measure

  63 Joan [la] Pucelle i.e. Joan of Arc; pucelle is French for “maid, virgin,” with play on “puzzel,” i.e. “whore”

  65 beguile deceive

  69 apart aside

  71 takes upon her takes the initiative boldly/plays her part splendidly

  71 at first dash from the outset, at the first encounter (with sexual connotations)

  73 wit intellect

  73 art scholarship, learning

  74 our Lady gracious the Virgin Mary, God’s (Christ’s) mother

  75 contemptible estate lowly, humble condition

  76 Lo look (a general speech marker; may pun on “low”)

  76 tender young

  83 complete perfect

  84 black and swart dark, unattractive, and swarthy

  85 infused on shed on, poured into

  88 unpremeditated spontaneously

  91 Resolve on be assured of

  92 mate companion, brother-in-arms (with play on the sense of “sexual partner”; warlike may pun on “whore-like”)

  93 high terms lofty/eloquent words

  94 proof test

  95 buckle fight at close quarters, grapple (plays on sense of “have sex”)

  96 vanquishest overcome me

  97 confidence trust, belief/intimacy

  98 keen-edged sharp

  99 Decked adorned

  99 flower-de-luces fleurs-de-lis, the lily on French coat of arms

  100 Touraine region in central France

  100 Saint Katherine fourth-century saint and virgin martyr who was beheaded for her Christian faith; Joan of Arc claimed to have seen her in a vision

  102 a in

  103 I’ll … man unwitting sexual innuendo

  104 Amazon mythical race of female warriors

  105 Deborah Old Testament prophetess who led the Israelites in revolt against their Canaanite oppressors (Judges 4 and 5)

  106 else otherwise

  108 thy desire the same urge to fight that you feel/sexual desire for you

  111 servant plays on the notion of sexual service

  112 sueth to begs, woos

  114 profession religious calling, profession of faith

  116 recompense return, repayment

  117 gracious with divine grace/with favor

  117 prostrate either figurative (“adoring, submissive”), or Charles may literally still be on the floor after the fight

  117 thrall slave

  119 shrives hears confession and grants absolution/undresses/has sex with

  119 smock undergarment

  120 protract extend (plays on notion of penile erection)

  121 mean limit, measure

  122 know perhaps with sexual connotations (to know: to have sex with)

  123 shrewd cunning, artful

  123 tongues speech/tongues used sexually

  124 where are you what are your intentions

  124 devise you on do you decide upon, are you planning

  125 give o’er abandon, leave

  126 recreants cowards, deserters, those who abandon the true cause

  129 scourge one sent by God to punish

  131 Saint Martin’s summer a late spell of fine weather; Saint Martin’s day is 11 November

  131 halcyon’s days a period of calm (from the legend that the kingfisher laid its eggs in a nest on the surface of the water; while they incubated the waters remained untroubled)

  138 insulting exultant, mocking

  139 Caesar … once in a story related by the ancient writer Plutarch, Caesar tells a sea captain not to fear the rough weather as his ship contains both Caesar and Caesar’s good fortune

  140 Mahomet … dove Mohammed, the prophet and founder of Islam who received divine revelations from a dove that whispered in his ear; skeptics said that he had merely trained the bird to nibble corn lodged there

  141 with by eagle a Christian symbol

  142 Helen mother of the emperor Constantine; after being led by a vision to the discovery of the true cross, she converted her son to Christianity, which he made the official religion in the Roman Empire

  143 Saint Philip’s daughters four virgins said to have prophetic powers (Acts 21:9)

  144 Venus Roman goddess of love; the planet Venus is known as the Morning Star

  148 immortalized gain immortal fame

  149 Presently immediately

  Act 1 Scene 3

  1.3 Location: the Tower of London

  1.3 blue coats Gloucester’s livery and the typical color of Elizabethan servants’ uniforms

  2 conveyance trickery, theft

  3 warders guards

  8 Villains scoundrels/base servants

  10 willed ordered

  12 none no other

  13 Break up open

  13 warrantize guarantee, surety

  14 flouted mocked, taunted

  19 Cardinal an error; he has only just been made a cardinal in Act 5 Scene 1

  22 prizest him ’fore do you esteem him more than

  24 brook endure

  26 shut … shortly have you dismissed immediately

  28 tawny yellowish brown, the color of the uniform worn by summoners or officers of an ecclesiastical court

  29 umpire one who sets himself up as arbitrator (Second Folio’s emendation of Folio’s “Vmpheir”; some editors emend to “Humphrey,” but there is no reason for the bishop to use his adversary’s Christian name)

  30 Peeled bald, tonsured

  31 proditor traitor

  34 contrived’st plotted

  34 dead lord i.e. Henry V

  35 whores … sin the see of the Bishop of Winchester owned and leased land in Southwark, an area south of the Thames notorious for brothels; prostitutes were known as “Winchester geese”

  35 indulgences official documents, purchasable from the Church, that granted absolution from sin

  36 canvass entangle in a net/sift, examine, as through a canvas sieve/punish (literally toss in a canvas sheet)

  36 cardinal’s hat also the name of a long-standing Southwark brothel; the Bishop of Winchester does not actually become a cardinal until later in the play

  39 Damascus … Cain the city of Damascus, in Syria, was thought to have been built at the place where Adam and Eve’s son Cain murdered his brother Abel

  42 bearing-cloth christening robe

  44 beard defy (literally, pull insultingly by the beard)

  45 dared challenged

  46 for all this despite this being

  46 privilegèd place i.e. royal residence, where it was illegal to draw swords

  50 dignities dignitaries

  53 Winchester goose syphilitic swelling in the groin/client of prostitutes

  53 A rope i.e. for flogging (dominant sense); also “hangman’s noose/penis/parrot’s cry (abusive)”

  56 hurly-burly tumult, uproar

  57 Fie expression of impatience

  58 contumeliously disgracefully, insolently

  61 distrained seized

  63 still constantly, always motions promotes, urges

  64 O’ercharging … fines i.e. overburdening with heavy taxation (levied to fund war)

  64 free generous

  68 prince ruler, king

  70 rests remains

  75 repair return

  76 several various

  80 break reveal, broach

  80 at large in full

  83 call for clubs give the rallying cry for apprentices armed with clubs (used to suppress a riot)

  86 Abominable loathsome (often popularly “inhuman, unnatural”)

  87 ere before

  89 stomachs tempers, anger

  Act 1 Scene 4

  1.4 Location: Orléans, France

  1 Sirrah sir (used to inferiors)

  2 suburbs outskirts, areas outside the city walls

  7 grace honor/favor

  8 espials spies

  9 close entrenched securely dug-in/fortified nearby

  10 Wont are accustomed

  14 inconvenience harm, injury

  15 ordnance cannon, artillery

  15 gainst aimed at

  21 take … care do not worry

  30 baser of lower birth or rank

  30 man of arms soldier

  32 cravèd entreated

  33 pilled peeled, i.e. reduced, worthless, deprived of honor

  34 In fine in short, to sum up

  34 redeemed ransomed

  38 entertained treated

  39 contumelious contemptuous, insolent

  47 grisly grim, terrifying

  48 sudden immediate

  52 spurn kick

  52 adamant a legendary substance of unsurpassed hardness

  53 Wherefore for which reason

  53 chosen shot specially selected marksman

  54 every minute while at one-minute intervals

  56 linstock forked stick for holding the gunner’s lighted match

  64 express precise, considered

  65 batt’ry assault, bombardment

  67 bulwark manned fortification

  68 aught anything, what

  69 enfeeblèd weakened

  72 chance unfortunate event crossed thwarted

  74 mirror i.e. model, image

  76 fatal deadly/that deals fate

  80 trump trumpet

  86 wants lacks

  93 As as one

  95 Plantagenet Salisbury (Thomas Montacute) was a descendant of Edward III

  96 Nero … burn Roman emperor, Nero supposedly played music (popularly “fiddled”) while Rome burned

  97 only in at the mere sound of

  97 lightens lightning flashes

  100 gathered head raised an army, drawn their forces together

  103 power army

  105 irks distresses

  107 Puzzel or pucelle though it means the opposite, the word had in England taken on a slang sense of “whore”

  107 dolphin i.e. Dauphin (pronounced in the same way)

  109 mingled mixed together/mangled

  110 Convey me convey (me is emphatic)

  Act 1 Scene 5

  2 stay prevent

  4 bout of fighting/of sex

  5 dam mother conjure control with incantations, exorcise (perhaps “have sex with”)

  6 Blood … witch superstition held anyone who drew blood from a witch was then protected from her spells

  7 him the devil/the dauphin

  10 courage vigor, spirit

  12 high-minded arrogant

  14 victual supply with provisions

  17 testament will

  21 Hannibal famous third-century Carthaginian general who once outwitted his Roman enemies by tying firebrands to the horns of a vast herd of oxen so that they thought they were outnumbered

  22 lists pleases

  23 noisome noxious

  26 whelps puppies

  28 England’s coat coat of arms, in which three lions featured, quartered with the French fleur-de-lis

  29 give display

  29 stead place

  30 treacherous cowardly

  32 subduèd overcome, subjugated

  33 It … be i.e. it is useless

  34 consented unto conspired to bring about

  35 his revenge revenge of him

  38 would if only, I wish

  Act 1 Scene 6

  1.6 walls city walls

  1 Advance raise aloft colours military banners or flags

  4 Astraea Greek goddess of justice

  6 Adonis’ garden mythical garden of extraordinary fertility

  10 hap chance, fortune

  16 played the men performed our role of soldier, displayed manliness

  22 pyramid … Memphis Rhodope was a Greek courtesan, who married a king of Memphis and supposedly built the third Egyptian pyramid

  25 rich-jewelled … Darius King of Persia, conquered by Alexander the Great; the coffer is either Darius’ jeweled treasure chest (in which Alexander stored the works of Homer), or his coffin

  26 high elaborate, important

  28 Saint Denis patron saint of France

  Act 2 Scene 1

  2.1 band company of soldiers guarding the town

  3 apparent clear, manifest

  4 court of guard guardhouse

  5 servitors soldiers, those who perform military service

  7 Constrained obliged

  7 scaling-ladders used by soldiers to climb defensive fortifications

  7 dead march funeral march or simply march played on muffled drums

  8 redoubted revered/feared

  9 approach arrival

  10 Wallon region that is now part of southern Belgium

  11 happy fortunate

  11 secure carefree/overconfident

  14 quittance requite, repay

  15 art magic

  15 baleful malignant, deadly

  16 Coward of France! i.e. the dauphin

  16 fame reputation

  17 fortitude strength

  23 prove not masculine does not turn out to be a man/turns out to be a woman (by getting pregnant)

  24 standard military banner/soldier who carries the banner/erect penis

  25 carry armour wear armor/bear the weight of a man in armor (during sex)

  26 practise and converse scheme and talk, associate/have sex

  28 flinty hard, stony

  31 several separate, various

  34 yond yonder, that (over there)

  40.1 ready dressed

  43 I trow I am sure

  47 venturous risky

  47 desperate reckless, hazardous

  50 marvel … sped wonder how he fared

  51 holy may pun on “holey” (i.e. “with a vagina,” imaging Joan in her sexual capacity)

  52 cunning magic/skill/craftiness

  53 flatter falsely encourage

  53 withal with it

  56 impatient angry

  57 alike in the same way

  58 prevail be victorious

  60 Improvident careless, short-sighted

  61 mischief calamity, harm

  61 fall’n befallen, happened

  62 default failure, negligence

  64 weighty charge important responsibility

  65 quarters part of an army camp/rooms, apartments

  65 kept guarded, secured

  66 government control, management

  67 surprised ambushed, assaulted

  71 her quarter Joan’s rooms (possibly plays sexually on sense of “hindquarters”)

  71 precinct sector, area of control

  72 passing moving

  73 About concerned with

  73 relieving … sentinels possibly plays on the sense of “sexually relieving my erection”

  77 But only

  78 rests remains shift strategy

  80 platforms plans

  80 endamage them harm the enemy

  83 spoils plunder, booty

  Act 2 Scene 2

  2 pitchy black (as pitch, a tarlike substance)

  3.1 Retreat trumpet signal recalling the pursuing force

  5 advance display/raise

  7 vow i.e. of vengeance

  11 ruin death, destruction

  16 mournful sorrowful, causing grief

  19 muse wonder

  20 champion one who fights for another, defendant

  20 virtuous said with irony

  28 trull whore

  30 turtle-doves emblematic of faithful love, they supposedly formed couples for life

  33 power military force

  40 vouchsafe grant, deign

  41 poor humble

  41 lies lives

  43 report plays on the sense of “explosion of a gun or cannon”

  45 comic sport amusing entertainment (sport plays on the sense of “sexual activity”)

  46 encountered with met/fought with/had sex with

  47 despise scorn

  47 gentle kind/courteous/honorable

  48 world i.e. great number

  49 oratory eloquence, rhetorical skill

  50 overruled prevailed

  52 attend on visit, wait on

  55 unbidden uninvited

  57 remedy alternative

  58 prove try/test sexually

  60 mind intention

  61 mean mean to act

  Act 2 Scene 3

  2.3 Location: the castle of the Countess of Auvergne, near Orléans, France

  1 gave in charge ordered

  6 Tomyris … death in revenge for her son’s death, Queen Tomyris killed his murderer, the Persian King Cyrus, and put his head in a wineskin full of blood

  9 Fain willingly

  10 censure opinion (not necessarily negative)

  10 rare exceptional/splendid

  16 abroad everywhere, out in the world

  17 still silence

  18 fabulous fantastical, fictitious

  19 Hercules famous Greek hero and demigod, possessed of exceptional strength

  20 Hector famed Trojan warrior

  20 for in terms of grim aspect stern expression

  21 proportion size, bulk

  21 strong-knit powerfully built, well constructed

  22 silly feeble, weak

  23 writhled wrinkled

  27 sort arrange, choose

  31 Marry by the Virgin Mary

  31 for that because

  31 in … belief under a misapprehension

  32 I … here i.e. by leaving I demonstrate that I am the real Talbot, independent-minded and not inclined to listen to insults/I go as a means of demonstrating my presence

  36 trained lured

  37 shadow portrait/(illusory) image built on reputation/insubstantial thing

  37 thrall slave

  41 tyranny cruelty, oppressive violence

  42 Wasted ravaged/exhausted

  43 captivate into captivity

  46 fond foolish

  47 aught nothing

  55 least … humanity smallest part of humankind (here referring to the army)

  56 frame structure, i.e. the body/the army

  57 pitch height

  59 merchant fellow/trader (in riddles) for the nonce as the occasion requires

  61 contrarieties paradoxes, contradictions

  62 presently immediately