land, but recalled after nine months. John does not appear to have joined his brothers in their rebellion against their father until 1188. Early next year, peace being concluded between Henry II. and Philip Augustus of France, a list of barons who had joined the French king was at Henry's request handed to him. The very first that his eye fell upon was that of his youngest and favourite son, John, the discovery of whose treachery broke his father's heart. On June 6th of that same year Henry II. died, and was succeeded by Richard Coeur-deLion. John appears to have been as faithless to his brother as to his father, for he was always intriguing against him. As early as 1190, when Richard was absent at the Crusades, John had resolved to seize the throne on the earliest opportunity. On the death of Cœur-de-Lion, in 1199, he immediately declared himself heir to the throne, in spite of the undoubted right of Arthur, the son of his elder brother, Geoffrey. It was pretended that Richard on his deathbed had declared John his successor, and heir to one third of his property. It is to this that Queen Eleanor alludes, when she tells Constance (ii. 1. 191, 192): Thou unadvised scold, I can produce John reigned from 1199 to 1216, and died in the fortyninth year of his age. John was married first (in 1189) to Isabel, or Havisia, as some of the chroniclers call her, daughter and heiress of the Earl of Gloucester, by whom he had no issue. In 1201 he married Isabella, daughter of Aymar, Count of Angoulême, she being at that time privately espoused to Hugh le Brun, Count de la Marche. She bore him three sons and three daughters. Henry, the eldest son, alone figures in this play. Four years after John's death she married her old love, the Count de La Marche. 2. PRINCE HENRY was born October 1st, 1206. He was therefore just ten years old when, on October 26th, 1216, he was crowned king; the Earl of Pembroke being chosen as protector. He married Eleanor, daughter of Raymond Count of Provence, in 1236; and by her was father, amongst other children, of Edward I., and Margaret, who married Alexander, King of Scotland. He reigned fifty-six years; and died on November 16th, 1272. 3. ARTHUR DUKE OF BRETAGNE was the posthumous son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, fourth son of Henry IL, who, according to some historians, was trampled to death at a tournament, on August 19th, 1185. Holinshed, however, says: "his death was occasioned (as men iudge) by a fall which he caught at a tournie, for he was sore bruised therewith; and neuer had his health, but finallie fell into a flix and so died" (vol. ii. p. 190). Arthur had one sister, the Princess Eleanor, who was taken prisoner by John and confined in Bristol Castle for many years. Mr. Russell French, in his Shakespeareana Genealogica, (p. 6) says: "she afterwards took the veil, and became Superior of the nunnery of Ambresbury, where she died in 1235." Arthur was in his fourteenth year when the action of this play begins. At first King Philip Augustus of France strongly supported his just claim to the throne; but having become reconciled to John, in 1200, he withdrew his support. Soon afterwards Arthur fell into his uncle's hands, as he was engaged in besieging the town of Mirabeau, in which his grandmother, Queen Eleanor, was beleaguered. He was confined first at Falaise, and afterwards at Rouen, where he died (see note 236). With regard to the question of John's having had anything to do with Arthur's death, Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy has proved that the king was at Rouen from the 3d to the 7th April, 1203, Arthur's death having taken place on the 34 April of that year. (See Russell French, p. 6.) 4. EARL OF PEMBROKE. William Marshall was the second son of John Marshall, Lord Mareschal to Henry II He became Earl Mareschal at the death of his elder bro ther, 1199. William Marshall became Earl of Pembroke by his marriage with Isabel de Clare, daughter of Richard Strongbow; he had five sons by her-William, Richard, Walter, Gilbert, and Anselm, who were in succession Lords Mareschal and Earls of Pembroke. According to Holinshed on the day of his coronation King John "inuested William Marshall with the sword of the earledome of Striguille' (Strigull) "and Geffrey Fitz Peter," (see below) "with the sword of the earledome of Essex" (vol. ii. p. 276). Further on (p. 349) he thus records the death of this nobleman: "The next yeare, which was after the birth of our lord 1219, William Marshall the foresaid earle of Pembroke died, gouernour both of the realme and also of the kings person, a man of such worthinesse both in stoutnesse of stomach and martiall knowledge, as England had few then liuing that might be compared with him. He was buried in the new temple church at London vpon the Ascension day." French says (p. 7): "The noble in this play did not fall away as therein implied, to the French interest; on the contrary, he remained faithful to King John, and it was chiefly through his steady valour, aided by Hubert de Burgh, that England was cleared of her foreign foes. His eldest son, of the same name, one of the TWENTY-FIVE BARONS who obtained MAGNA CHARTA from John, was among the nobles who joined the Dauphin. and hence the mistake of the Poet." 5. EARL OF ESSEX. Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, or Fitz-Fiers, was created Earl of Essex in 1199, in the first year of King John's reign, and died in 1212. The earldom of Essex came to him by "his marriage with Beatrice, granddaughter of William de Say, by Beatrice, only sister of Geoffrey de Mandeville, created Earl of Essex by King Stephen" (French, p. 8). In 1198, when Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, resigned the office of High Justiciary, Geoffrey Fitz-Peter was appointed in his place. The holder of this office was second in rank only to the king himself. The eldest son of this nobleman, also named Geoffrey, assumed the name of Mandeville, and was one of the Twenty-five Barons. His only sister Maud Fitz-Peter married Henry de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, who was the ancestor of Humphrey de Bohun, last Earl of Hereford, whose daughter and heiress Henry Boling broke (afterwards Henry IV.) married. Holinshed gives the following character of Essex: "Vpon the second of October, Geffrey Fitz Peter earle of Essex and lord cheefe iustice of England departed this life, a man of great power and autoritie, in whose politike direction and gouernement, the order of things perteining to the common-wealth cheefelie consisted. He was of a noble mind, expert in knowledge of the lawes of the land, rich in possessions, and ioined in blood or affinitie with the more part of all the Nobles of the realme, so that his death was no small losse to the commonwealth: for through him and the archbishop Hubert, the king was oftentimes reuoked from such wilfull purposes, as now and then he was determined to haue put in practise, in so much that the king, as was reported (but how trulie I cannot tell) seemed to reioise for his death, bicause he might now worke his will without anie to controll him" (vol. ii. p. 313). 6. EARL OF SALISBURY. William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, was the natural son of Henry II. by Rosamond Clifford (Fair Rosamond) He married Ela, daughter of William Devereux, Earl of Salisbury, to which title he succeeded on the death of his father-in-law. He was, at the beginning of John's reign, sheriff of Wiltshire, and warden of the Welsh Marches He was one of the lords who represented the king in the negotiations with the twenty-five barons concerning Magna Charta. He ravaged the counties of Essex, Hertford and Middlesex, Cambridge and Huntingdon, in 1216, with his army. afterwards revolted from King John's side, and joined the discontented barons, who had invited the Dauphin to claim the English crown; but, on the death of John, and accession of Henry III., he returned to his allegi ance. He 7. EARL OF NORFOLK. Roger Bigot not Robert as he is generally called--second Earl of Norfolk, was the son of Hugh Bigot, steward to King Stephen. He was created Earl of Norfolk, and died, in 1177, in the Holy Land. He was also one of the twenty-five barons who coalesced against King John. He married Isabel, daughter of Hanielyn Plantagenet, Earl of Warren and Surrey. His eldest son, Hugh Bigot, who was also one of the twentyfive barons, married Maud Marshall, daughter of the Earl of Pembroke. (See above.) 8. HUBERT DE BURGH. Shakespeare has scarcely given us any idea of the importance of this nobleman; for though he had no title in the reign of King John, he was subsequently created Earl of Kent by Henry III. in 1226. He was the great grandson of Robert, Earl of Cornwall, half brother of William the Conqueror. He was also descended from Charlemagne, so that he was of the very noblest blood. French says (p. 9): "he was made Lord Chamberlain, Warden of the Welsh Marches, Sheriff of five counties, Seneschal of Poitou, and governor of several castles." He was one of John's securities for the fulfilment of Magna Charta; and, unlike most of the nobility, remained uniformly faithful to his king to the end. With only 140 soldiers he defended for four months the Castle of Dover, defying all the efforts of the French to take it. Though he appears to have been a most devoted servant to Henry III.; yet he was stripped of all his dignities, employments, and possessions by that king, in consequence of the jealousy which his wealth and honours had excited among the barons. He died in 1243. He was married four times, his last wife being Margaret, daughter of William the Lion, King of Scotland. 9. ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE OF FAUCONBRIDGE. About this character nothing historic is known. The most reVOL. III. markable thing about him seems to have been that he was the son of his father. In the old play, Look About You, quarto, 1600 (see Dodsley, vol. vii. p. 389-506), the husband of Lady Faulconbridge is called Sir Richard Faulconbridge. That play deals very fully with the intrigue between Prince Richard and Lady Faulconbridge, so that, probably, there was some story or tradition on the point, of which the author of Look About You and the author of The Troublesome Raigne (on which Shakespeare founded his King John) both made use. In Shakespeare the father of Robert Faulconbridge is called Sir Robert Faulconbridge. 10. PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE. The chief historical ground for this character seems to be a paragraph in Holinshed: Philip bastard sonne to king Richard, to whome his father had giuen the castell and honour of Coinacke, killed the vicount of Limoges, in reuenge of his father's death" (vol. ii. p. 278). French says, p. 11: "The continuator of Hardyng's Chronicle calls him one Faulconbridge, th' earle of Kent, his bastarde, a stoute-harted man.' Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas identifies him as a baron by tenure; -I. John, FOULKE DE BREANTE, ob. circa 1228, s. p. m. Eve, his sole daughter and heir, married Llewellyn, Prince of N. Wales.' This same Foulke de Breante is one of the managers and disposers' in King John's will, dated at Newark; and he is also one of the noble persons' named in the 'First Great Charter' of Henry III. Matthew Paris speaks of him as 'Falcasius de Brente,' in his General History, and Rymer, in his Fœdera, gives several letters in Latin respecting 'Foulke de Breante." Holinshed frequently mentions "Foukes de Brent," especially, in connection with the Earl of Salisbury, as fighting on the side of the king against the barons in 1216. If this Foulke, or Fawkes, as he is called in Lingard, who describes him as "a ferocious and sanguinary ruffian" (vol. ii. p. 391), was the same as the Faulconbridge of this play, his character must have altered considerably for the worse. Holinshed thus describes his end: "Howbeit at length the foresaid Fouks, hauing obteined his purpose at Rome (by meanes of his chapleine Robert Paslew an Englishman, who was his solicitor there) as he returned towards England in the yeare insuing, was poisoned and died by the waie, making so an end of his inconstant life, which from the time that he came to yeares of discretion was neuer bent to quietnes" (vol. ii. pp. 356, 357). 11. JAMES GURNEY. Nothing is known historically of this personage. The name Gurney or Gourney is a very old one. 12. SHERIFF OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. French says (p. 13): "There can be no difficulty in naming this official, as Sir Simon de Pateshull was Sheriff of N. Hants for the last four years of King Richard's reign, and during the first four years of King John. One of the witnesses to two charters. . . is 'Simon de Pateshull,' no doubt this Sheriff, who was also Justice of the King's Court from 7 Richard I. to 16 John; and is called by Matthew of Westminster 'a noble faithful honest man.'" gives the following account of his death: "Herevpon being committed to prison within the castell of Corf, when the day by him prefixed came, without any other notable damage vnto King John, he was by the kings commandement drawne from the said castell, vnto the towne of Warham, & there hanged togither with his sonne" (vol. ii. p. 311). 14. PHILIP, KING OF FRANCE. Philip Augustus succeeded his father in 1180 at the age of fifteen. He married Isabella of Hainault, daughter of Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, who brought him the county of Artois as part of her dower. He encouraged the sous of Henry II. in their rebellion against their father. He joined in the Third Crusade with Richard Coeur-de-Lion, of whom he was very jealous. After the siege of Acre in 1191 he returned hurriedly to France; and immediately commenced to intrigue with John against Richard, supporting him in his endeavour to seize the crown of England in his brother's absence; in return for which support Philip himself was to obtain possession of Normandy. He died in 1223. 15. LEWIS, THE DAUPHIN, was the son of Philip Augustus by his wife Isabel. He married Blanch of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VIII. of Castile, and of Eleanor, the sister of Richard I. and John. Having been invited over to England by the discontented barons in 1216, he landed with a large body of troops, and was joined by many of the English nobles; but soon after the accession of Henry III. he was deserted by his English allies and was compelled to conclude a peace and return to France. In 1223 he succeeded to the throne as Lewis VIII., but only reigned three years, dying in 1226. He was the father of Louis IX., generally known as Saint Louis. 16. LYMOGES, ARCHDUKE OF AUSTRIA. Shakespeare has here followed the author of The Troublesome Raigne in confusing two personages, both of whom were enemies of Richard Coeur-de-Lion. Lymoges, as this character is called both in the Troublesome Raigne and in Shakespeare's King John, was really Vidomar, Viscount of Lymoges: "whose vassal having found, as was reported to King Richard, a treasure of golden statues, representing a Roman emperor with his wife, sons and daughters, seated at a golden table, was required to yield up the prize to Richard Suzerain of the Limousin, and on Vidomar's refusal he was besieged in his castle at ChaluzChabrol, before which the heroic king received the wound of which he died twelve days after, viz. April 6, 1199" (French, p. 16). This Lymoges was killed by Faulconbridge in 1200. The Archduke of Austria from 1194 to 1230 was Leopold VI., son of Leopold V. The latter died in consequence of a fall from his horse in 1194, five years before the death of his enemy Richard; so that, historically speaking, the Archduke of Austria, who lived in the time of King John, had nothing on earth to do with the death of Coeur-de-Lion. 17. PANDULPH. He was, when he is first introduced in this play, only an envoy and not a legate of the pope's. According to Lingard he was never a cardinal; but according to French (p. 17) ** Pandulphus de Masca, a native of Pisa, was made 'Cardinal of the Twelve Apostles' in 1182." When he was appointed envoy he had the title of "subdiaconus Domini Papa" (see Lingard, vol. ii. p. 338, note 2). He was not even in deacon's orders till later. In November, 1218, he succeeded Gualo or Walter, cardinal of St. Martin's, as legate; and after rendering considerable services to the young king, Henry III., he returned to Rome in 1221. Holinshed tells us: "Pandulph, who (as before is expressed) did the message so stoutlie from pope Innocent to king John, was also made bishop of Norwich" (in 1219). Lingard does not mention this latter circumstance. 18. MELUN. The Viscount de Melun is referred to in the passage from Holinshed given in note 295. French says (pp. 17, 18): "The Count de Melun' is mentioned in a treaty, dated A.D. 1194, between the kings of England and France, and is probably the same person as the Melun of this play." 19. CHATILLON. There is no historic mention of the em bassy of Chatillon. French (p. 18) says: "In the treaty between King Richard and Philip Augustus, dated July 23, 1194, the concluding article sets forth:-'Now Gervais de Chatillon, as representative of the King of France, has sworn to observe all the articles above recited, and maintain the truce.' He therefore might be the person sent as ambassador to England, five years after the above date." The family was a very distinguished one; Jacques de Chatillon, Admiral of France, was killed at the battle of Agincourt. 20. QUEEN ELINOR.1 This princess, generally known as Elinor of Guienne, was the daughter and heiress of William V., Duke of Aquitaine, and Count of Poitou. She was born in 1122, and married, at the age of fifteen years, Lewis VII. of France. Guienne appears to have been the name for that part of Aquitaine which belonged to the Counts of Poitou. When Lewis VII. went to the Crusades she accompanied him; but her conduct was so scandalous that he sued for and obtained a divorce in 1152. Six weeks after, Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet, afterwards Henry II. Her husband, to whom she was at first passionately attached, subsequently gave her so much cause for jealousy by his numerous infidelities, that she conceived an aversion to him, and excited her sons to rebel against their father. The story of her jealousy of Rosamond Clifford (Fair Rosamond), the mother of William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, and of the vengeance she took against her, is well known. In 1173 she was confined in a convent by the king, and not released till her son Richard came to the throne. In 1202 she took the veil in the Abbey of Fontevraux, where she died in 1204, above eighty years of age. Although she was jealous of Constance, she is said to have done all she could to obtain kind treatment for Arthur after he was taken prisoner by his uncle. 21. CONSTANCE was the daughter of Conan le Petit, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond in Yorkshire, and his 1 We have adopted in the text the spelling Elinor, usually adopted by Editors; but in the body of the notes we have spelt the name Eleanor, the more usual form. In F. I the name is written in fal Elinor, but variously in abbreviated form, Eli., Ele., Elen., Elea. |