King Edward the Third
The Reign of King Edward the Third, attributed in part to William Shakespeare.
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
EDWARD THE THIRD, King of England. EDWARD, Prince of Wales, his Son. Earl of WARWICK. Earl of DERBY. Earl of SALISBURY. Lord AUDLEY. Lord PERCY. LODOWICK, Edward’s Confident. Sir WILLIAM MOUNTAGUE. Sir JOHN COPLAND. Two ESQUIRES, and a HERALD, English. ROBERT, styling himself Earl, of Artois. Earl of MONTFORT, and GOBIN DE GREY. JOHN, King of France. CHARLES, and PHILIP, his Sons. Duke of LORRAIN. VILLIERS, a French Lord. King of BOHEMIA, Aid to King John. A POLISH CAPTAIN, Aid to King John. Six CITIZENS of Calais. A CAPTAIN, and A POOR INHABITANT, of the same. Another CAPTAIN. A MARINER. Three HERALDS; and Four other FRENCHMEN. DAVID, King of Scotland. Earl DOUGLAS; and Two MESSENGERS, Scotch.
PHILIPPA, Edward’s Queen. Countess of SALISBURY. A FRENCH WOMAN.
Lords, and divers other Attendants; Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, &c.
Scene, dispers’d; in England, Flanders, and France.
ACT I. SCENE I. London. A Room of State in the Palace. Flourish.
[Enter King Edward, Derby, Prince Edward, Audley, and Artois.]
KING EDWARD. Robert of Artois, banished though thou be From France, thy native Country, yet with us Thou shalt retain as great a Seigniorie: For we create thee Earl of Richmond here. And now go forwards with our pedigree: Who next succeeded Phillip le Bew?
ARTOIS. Three sons of his, which all successfully Did sit upon their father’s regal Throne, Yet died, and left no issue of their loins.
KING EDWARD. But was my mother sister unto those?
ARTOIS. She was, my Lord; and only Isabel Was all the daughters that this Phillip had, Whom afterward your father took to wife; And from the fragrant garden of her womb Your gracious self, the flower of Europe’s hope, Derived is inheritor to France. But note the rancor of rebellious minds: When thus the lineage of le Bew was out, The French obscured your mother’s Privilege, And, though she were the next of blood, proclaimed John, of the house of Valois, now their king: The reason was, they say, the Realm of France, Replete with Princes of great parentage, Ought not admit a governor to rule, Except he be descended of the male; And that’s the special ground of their contempt, Wherewith they study to exclude your grace: But they shall find that forged ground of theirs To be but dusty heaps of brittle sand. Perhaps it will be thought a heinous thing, That I, a French man, should discover this; But heaven I call to record of my vows: It is not hate nor any private wrong, But love unto my country and the right, Provokes my tongue, thus lavish in report. You are the lineal watchman of our peace, And John of Valois indirectly climbs; What then should subjects but embrace their King? Ah, where in may our duty more be seen, Than striving to rebate a tyrant’s pride And place the true shepherd of our commonwealth?
KING EDWARD. This counsel, Artois, like to fruitful showers, Hath added growth unto my dignity; And, by the fiery vigor of thy words, Hot courage is engendered in my breast, Which heretofore was raked in ignorance, But now doth mount with golden wings of fame, And will approve fair Isabel’s descent, Able to yoke their stubborn necks with steel, That spurn against my sovereignty in France.
[Sound a horn.]
A messenger?—Lord Audley, know from whence.
[Exit Audley, and returns.]
AUDLEY. The Duke of Lorrain, having crossed the seas, Entreats he may have conference with your highness.
KING EDWARD. Admit him, Lords, that we may hear the news.
[Exeunt Lords. King takes his State. Re-enter Lords; with Lorrain, attended.]
Say, Duke of Lorrain, wherefore art thou come?
LORRAIN. The most renowned prince, King John of France, Doth greet thee, Edward, and by me commands, That, for so much as by his liberal gift The Guyen Dukedom is entailed to thee, Thou do him lowly homage for the same. And, for that purpose, here I summon thee, Repair to France within these forty days, That there, according as the custom is, Thou mayst be sworn true liegeman to our King; Or else thy title in that province dies, And he him self will repossess the place.
KING EDWARD. See, how occasion laughs me in the face! No sooner minded to prepare for France, But straight I am invited,—nay, with threats, Upon a penalty, enjoined to come: Twere but a childish part to say him nay.— Lorrain, return this answer to thy Lord: I mean to visit him as he requests; But how? not servilely disposed to bend, But like a conqueror to make him bow. His lame unpolished shifts are come to light; And truth hath pulled the vizard from his face, That set a gloss upon his arrogance. Dare he command a fealty in me? Tell him, the Crown that he usurps, is mine, And where he sets his foot, he ought to kneel. Tis not a petty Dukedom that I claim, But all the whole Dominions of the Realm; Which if with grudging he refuse to yield, I’ll take away those borrowed plumes of his, And send him naked to the wilderness.
LORRAIN. Then, Edward, here, in spite of all thy Lords, I do pronounce defiance to thy face.
PRINCE EDWARD. Defiance, French man? we rebound it back, Even to the bottom of thy master’s throat. And, be it spoke with reverence of the King, My gracious father, and these other Lords, I hold thy message but as scurrilous, And him that sent thee, like the lazy drone, Crept up by stealth unto the Eagle’s nest; From whence we’ll shake him with so rough a storm, As others shall be warned by his harm.
WARWICK. Bid him leave of the Lyons case he wears, Least, meeting with the Lyon in the field, He chance to tear him piecemeal for his pride.
ARTOIS. The soundest counsel I can give his grace, Is to surrender ere he be constrained. A voluntary mischief hath less scorn, Than when reproach with violence is borne.
LORRAIN. Degenerate Traitor, viper to the place Where thou was fostered in thine infancy, Bearest thou a part in this conspiracy?
[He draws his sword.]
KING EDWARD. Lorrain, behold the sharpness of this steel:
