Theatre vs. Real Life
Kathleen Cancelino 2008
Henry IV part one is only one story of the many historical plays Shakespeare wrote. It is the second part of his three part tetralogy, the first one being Richard II, the second one is Henry IV, which has two parts, and then finally Henry the V. Shakespeare’s first part of Henry the IV as well as most of his other historical plays are based off of Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles, which was based from Edward Hall’s The Union of the Two Illustrious Families of Lancaster and York. The story is based mainly on The War of the Roses, consisting of historical based events and techniques. Due to this commonality between history and the play, the idea and manners of war can be studied from the play. Before getting into specific details, it is important to understand what happened during The War of the Roses.
The War of the Roses is commonly classified as a civil war, which lasted from 1455-1485. It was caused by many different factors all stemming from the effects of the Hundred Years War. The Hundred Years War lasted from 1337-1453. The Hundred Years War was between France and England. The war lasted through the reign of five French kings as well as five English kings. It started with the French king Philip VI and the English King Edward III. The war finally ended with French king Charles VII and English king Henry VI, when the English lost to France and created the treaty of Arras. (Jokinen).
During the Hundred Years War the fighting between the English and the French was pretty even and constant, each country having their own major wins and losses. During the beginning of the reign of Charles VI the fighting between the two countries had slowed a little. As a try to make peace by marrying Richard II and Isabelle of France, but because Henry of Lancaster, Henry the IV dethroned him, the fighting resumed. The fighting again was pretty even until 1423 when Charles the VII suffered a series of defeats. From the first defeat in the series until the end of the war in 1453 the English steadily lost ground to the French, ending with the defeat of the English after Talbot’s death at Castillon. This is when the English became more concerned with the war of the roses, which started in 1455. (Jokinen)
The War of the Roses started in 1455 and ended in 1485 in England following the end of the Hundred Years War. The War of the Roses saw the reign of three kings, Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III. “They were marked by a ferocity and brutality which are practically unknown in the history of the English wars before and since.”(Jokimen)
After fighting for one hundred years and five kings, The Hundred Years War took a big toll on England, mostly by way of financial crisis. The land owners had suffered a huge lost when they lost their land to the French. The Black Plague, which first appeared in 1348, had caused a major decrease in population, in turn decreasing the labor force used to harvest the crops. There was a major increase in inflation in the price of labor and agricultural products, and when in times of crop loss, great famines. Also the Black Plague caused a shift in the way society worked and the fall of feudalism. The fall of Feudalism made it so that anyone could call upon an army, which made it inevitable that they would start fighting with each other. This is where The War of the Roses started.
The first battle between the two houses took place on May 22 1455 at St. Albans. The battle consisted of 2000 Lancastrians and 3000 Yorkists. The weaker of the two forces collapsed and the king fell into the hands of the Yorkists. Four years later, the next important battle took place at Blore Heath on September 23 1459, during which battle the Yorkists won, but their leaders ended up being exiled anyway, making the victory useless. Almost a year later the Yorkists attacked again, this time winning and recapturing the king, Henry VI. After thirty years of fighting the Yorkist finally won the throne and control of England. (Jokinen)
It is the battles and techniques of The War of the Roses that are described in one Henry IV. The story talks about knights, artillery and guns, and armor among other weapons. The most important part of a country’s military is its army, at this time in history, which would have been considered the knights. Since the fall of Feudalism the knights no longer fought for their lord, but for themselves and worked under contracts. One Henry IV talks about Knights with armor and big plumes. During this time the knights did in fact have big plumes on their helmets and ride horses into battle. This is the time period of the timeless romantic idea of a “knight in shining armor” comes from. Boys started training to become knights as early as the age of seven. They learned proper manners, how to sing, dance, serve a lady, and keep proper company. Another characteristic of “the knight in shining armor”. As the boys got older they we trained on the weapons they had learned to take care of at a younger age, starting their journey into the life of a knight. They were taught to fight with swords as well as riding skills. Around the ages of 18- 21 they boys were now officially considered a knight. This was followed with an elaborate feast and tournaments. (Gravett P.4)
More importantly, the armor they wore at the time was completely different than previous styles. Before this time the armor was made out of metal plates riveted together under a canvas type material. The armor was made out of steel plate. These steel plates covered the knight’s whole body, they had an external breast plate that was usually adorned with some kind of design representing their lineage. Under the armor they wore a long sleeve mail coat and a padded aketon to help absorb the impacts. Although I knight without a sword is basically useless. (Gravett P.8)
The knight’s main weapon was his sword. The most popular swords were those from Cologne, Milan, and Savoy. The sword evolved over the century from a long tapering sword to a wider blade word, and everything in between. The swords also changed in length and weight depending on how you wanted to fight with it. (Gravett P. 15)
The helmet was also another very important piece or armor the knight wore. Most knights wore the basinet, which is an open faced cone shaped helmet, which was connected to a removable mesh neck guard, up until the 1440s when the sallet and armet started to replace the basinet. The armet opened at the sides to make it easier to put on and the visor came down lower providing more protection. Sadly, during this time shields were not really used except for a tournament. (Gravett P.12-13)
Another weapon that is mentioned in the play is artillery and guns. The use of gunpowder weapons, or the lack of, posed many problems. “yet for all the growing importance of gunpowder artillery, it remains true that this arm played only a minor role in campaigns of the Wars of the Roses. The reason for this was the fact that in England battle could be decisive. Once the enemy’s forces had been cleared from the fields, his castles and towns proved relatively easy to capture.”(Biggs P.22) Due to the fact that armies were gathered rather quickly, the use of gunpowder became a problem because they did not have the time to train people to use them. The use of gunpowder weapons could have made a substantial difference to the outcome of the Wars. (Biggs)
After analyzing and considering all the events that happened before Henry IV and the War of the Roses, it is no surprise that the events that took place did. The Hundred Years War was a very tough time for England, having to fight for over a hundred years definitely takes a toll. It takes and even larger toll on the country when the other country wins and not only have you lost money because you had to fight the war, but also you now have to give spoils to the other country. The Hundred Years war left England in shambles. Everything that had been set in stole like feudalism and the monetary system was now changed. Feudalism had fallen and the English economy was shot. The inflation rate was ridiculous and they had a very small labor force. Then on top of all of this much of the noble lineages had been killed in battle, so people started fighting over the throne, the War of the Roses. One Henry IV does an excellent job in showing the effects of war on a country as well as how things were handle during times of war.
Works Consulted
Biggs, Douglas, Sharon D. Michalove, and Albert Compton Reeves. Traditions and Transformations in Late Medieval England. New York, NY: Brill Academic, 2002. 21-23.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Ed. Vol XXIII.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910. 736-.Gravett, Christopher, and Graham Turner. English Medieval Knight 1400-1500. Grand Rapids, I: Osprey, Limited, 2001. 4-16.
Jokinen, Anniina. "Causes of the Wars of the Roses: An Overview."
Luminarium Encyclopedia. Online Resource. 26 Apr 2007. [Date you accessed this article].
<http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/roseswarcauses.htm>Wise, Terence, and Gerry Embleton. The Wars of the Roses. Grand Rapids, MI: Osprey, Limited, 1983. 3-12.