The Earl of Tyrone and 1 Henry IV
Christina Cousins 2011
The first part of Henry IV, written by William Shakespeare, is influenced by the Earl of Tyrone and what was going on with Ireland at the time. At the time, there was a discord going on with Wales, Scotland, and Ireland on one side against England. The people of England at the time would recognize the similarities in the Welsh uprising in the play and the Irish uprising in real life. In the play, the “rebels” unite Wales and Ireland against England. In real life, Tyrone, also known as Hugh O’Neill, was the representative of the queen in Ireland, but was secretly working on uniting Wales and Scotland with Ireland against England (Highley, 88). It is believed that the character Glyndwyr, or Glendower in the play is the representation of Tyrone in Shakespeare’s world, the man that Mortimer lost a battle to in the beginning, through certain clues given throughout the play (Hoenselaars, Kennedy, 48-49). Tyrone was said to be a rebel to the throne, going against the Queen’s wishes after he gained what he wanted from her, which fits with the rebels of the play going against England (Highley, 88). The two men are very similar in their histories, their plots against the English throne, and in their rebellions. The two were raised similarly. The situation between Ireland and England had an impact on Shakespeare’s First part of Henry IV.
1 Henry IV was written at a time when there was a discord between Ireland and England. “In his history cycle, especially Henry IV part 1, Shakespeare tackled past English wars with Celtic neighbors. Elizabethan audiences were attuned to such nuances and could make the topical connection” (Wood, 232). The people of the time were aware of the problems occurring with the Irish, and most likely picked up on the true war better than an audience today would. “In 1 Henry IV it is the specter of rebellion within Ireland that haunts the action and calls forth an extended, if always oblique, consideration of the unrest’s sources, dynamics, and solutions. In reengaging with the problem of Ireland, the play works at a topical level, encoding and exploring various historical figures, events, and patterns.” (Highley, 87). In 1567 Hugh O’Neill was told to go to Ireland and be the representative of England, and made him the Earl of Tyrone in recognition of his hard work for England. After about a decade, Tyrone’s loyalties started coming into question. In 1595 he accepted the title “The O’Neill”, an outlawed Gaelic title. He indirectly opposed the Queen and England by supporting his kinsmen and allies in skirmishes against the English, and was declared a traitor in 1595 when he led his first direct attack against the crown’s forces. He was meant to return to England and prove his loyalties to the crown, then receive a pardon after a year. However, the damage was done. He turned the Irish into a well trained army instead of the primitive army that they had been before. “If Tyrone, “The arch-traitor”, seemed to some observers to be single-handedly confounding English authority, he was n fact the leader of a diffuse coalition of families, factions, and groups including Scots, Welsh, and Spaniards. At the core of this coalition was a ‘developing confederacy’ of the Ulster lords” (Highley, 88). He gave them the means of starting a large uprising against the English, even getting the Irish trained in firearms, ironically by one of the Queen’s men, Sir John Perrot. Tyrone was the driving force behind the uprising of the Welsh, Scottish, and Irish, which is the “rebel” group mentioned in 1 Henry IV (Highley, 88).
In the play, Glendower is one of the rebels. The similarities between him and Tyrone are very close, and suggest that Glendower is based off of the Earl of Tyrone. For example, “Christopher Highley, in an article on ‘Wales, Ireland, and Henry IV’, has astutely noted how remarkably resonant this portrait of the early fifteenth-century Glendower is with the contemporary image of the late sixteenth-century Hugh O’Neill. As Highley observes, hearing this speech of Glendower’s the play’s first audiences could have recalled Tyrone’s similar upbringing” (Hoenselaars, Kennedy, 49). Both Glendower and Tyrone were “civilized” by the English and served English authority. Glendower had originated as a follower of Henry IV, Tyrone was Elizabeth’s man. Upon returning to their home countries, however, the resentment that had been building up inside from becoming “civilized” by England’s standards boiled over, and they rebelled against their “English masters” (Hoenselaars, Kennedy, 49). The men had both originated from a country that was not England, and were both sent back to those countries once the English ruler that had them “civilized” was confident that they had the loyalty of the men. In the play, Glendower’s abilities come into question from Hotspur when they are discussing dividing up England once they conquer it, and Glendower tells him how he was civilized by saying:
“I can speak English, lord, as well as you;
For I was trained up in the English court,
Where, being but young, I framed to the harp
Many an English ditty lovely well,
And gave the tongue a helpful ornament-
A virtue that was never seen in youIn lines 118-123 of Act II, Scene I (Bevington, 393). Tyrone, or O’Neill, was originally an Irisman , and Glendower was originally a Welshman. The similarities between the two men, being born of other countries and being taken to England to be “civilized”, then being sent to their native countries once their loyalty was thought to be to the English crown and ultimately starting a rebellion and bringing Scotland and Wales into it suggests that Glendower is based off of the Earl of Tyrone.
Tyrone was a very crafty man, and a good politician, as was Glendower. Tyrone learned the art of English politics, and managed to fool the Queen into thinking that he was her man through and through while at the same time gathering forces and allies in Ireland and the surrounding countries, planning for a rebellion to overthrow the English crown that he was supposedly loyal to. However, he does eventually show where his true loyalties lie. “His years in England served him well. Not only did he learn to speak English, but he learned to think as an English politician. As overlord of Ulster in the late 1590’s, he continued to feign friendship with the English regime while urgently signaling behind their backs for the long-promised Spanish aid. When it eventually arrived, he led a united country under the Catholic banner in the most serious of the many rebellions against English rule there” (Asquith, 177). He learned his lessons in politics from the English well. Glendower also appears to be versed in English politics, working with Hotspur and Douglas in planning the rebellion and the dividing up of the land that they want when they win the war with England (Bevington, 392-393).
The people of the time would recognize and relate to the fact that the play is at least loosely based on the Irish and Welsh combining forces against England. The fact that Glendower and Tyrone have such similar backgrounds is something that the people of the time would notice because it was occurring during their time. “1 Henry IV coincides with a critical new phase in Elizabeth’s Irish wars when reports of the imminent collapse of English rule were becoming more frequent and alarming…Maurice Kyffin reported that the army was in a state of disarray, and the country approaching anarchy” (Highley 87). The people were hearing all of this and they were sure to know the name of Tyrone, the man who really organized Ireland and Wales as well as started the rebellion against England. The uprisings in the play represent those in real life, but Shakespeare gives the people hope by having the English defeat the Irish-Welsh army in the end and have the true king retain the throne. This was a good move for Shakespeare to make, giving the people hope in a time when rumors about the Irish uprising were flying about and people didn’t really know what was going on.
The play 1 Henry IV, written by Shakespeare, is influenced by the Earl of Tyrone and what is happening between England and Tyrone’s alliances at the time. The play features some of the occurrences of the time, such as Ireland and Wales combining forces and rebelling against the English crown. Glendower, one of the leaders of the rebellion, is also very similar to Tyrone, sharing many characteristics with him, such as being born in another country and brought to England to be civilized, then turning on the ruler that they supposedly followed and were loyal to in order to raise a rebellion. The people of the time were able to relate the play to the problems with Ireland because it was occurring during that time period. The Irish rebellions were a significant problem in that time period and the people would recognize it as what it really was in the play. This is how I believe that the play 1 Henry IV is linked to the Earl of Tyrone, Hugh O’Neill.
WORKS REFERENCED
Asquith, Clare. Shadowplay: the Hidden Beliefs and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare. Public Affairs, 2006.
<http://books.google.com/books?id=XX1LpzEmsusC>Bevington, David. The Necessary Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Pearson Education, Inc., 2005.
Hadfield, Andrew. The English Renaissance, 1500-1620: 1500-1620. Blackwell Publishing, 2001.
<http://books.google.com/books?id=1JKKQnnnXAcC>Highley, Chistopher. Shakespeare, Spenser, and the Crisis in Ireland. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
<http://books.google.com/books?id=0e14vMJkdUgC>Hoenselaars, A. J. and Dennis Kennedy. Shakespeare’s History Plays: Performance, Translation and Adaptation In Britain and Abroad. Cambridge University Press, 2004.
<http://books.google.com/books?id=zE-VjqpCVZoC>Wood, Michael. Shakespeare. Basic Books, 2003.
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