Shakespeare and his Anglo-Scottish Politics

Natasha Jones, 2010

“By the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith” is title of the current monarch of Britain, Queen Elizabeth II (Official Website).  The sequence of events in 1 Henry IV predates the War of the Roses, but is essential to Elizabeth’s reign.  Elizabeth I was the ruler during much of the time that Shakespeare wrote his plays, particularly the Henriad and the last monarch to bear the title of ruler of England.  Her successor, James VI of Scotland ( also known as James I of England) untied the crowns of Scotland and England to create the “United Kingdom”.  The territory of Scotland felt far from united with England, however.  1 Henry IV displays for the reader growing tension between Scotland and England that reflect the contemporary activities of Shakespeare’s time.

In writing 1 Henry IV Shakepeare did what any writer would do in his situation; he took many liberties with the historical matter he chose to write about.  He did give himself a rather large task in trying to navigate the tumultuous history of the Lancastrian King Henry IV.  It’s true that Henry IV usurped Richard II as king through Richard’s abdication in 1399 and his claim to the throne was not necessarily as legitimate as some other claims. Richard Hosley’s edition of Holinshed’s Chronicles phrases this change of kings by saying “When King Richard had resigned (as before is specified) the scepter and crown, Henry Plantaganet, born at Bolingbroke… [was] declared King of England and of France and Lord of Ireland” (Hosley 98).  In reading Holinshed’s account of history, I have to say that it is obvious that imagination and a careful reading of events by Shakespeare was required.  Throughout his work, Holinshed constantly refers to “strange wonders”, “magic”, and prophecies of “blazing stars” across the sky (Hosley 99-101). These references could have been an influence for Shakespeare’s interpretation of Glendower as not just a guerilla fighter, but as a powerful magician.  Glendower asserts himself with Hotspur by shouting that he “can call spirits from the vasty deep” (III, i, 50).

Henry’s accession to the throne would not have been successful if it weren’t for some very powerful friends.  The Percy family in particular was instrumental in donating money and manpower to his cause.  Henry needed to make himself independent of his reliance on the Percy family and others that had donated to his cause.  To do this, he “introduced the solemn farce of a hereditary title which deceived no one” (Green 242).  The task Henry had of becoming a “legitimate” king would be similar to what we experience today in a presidential election and the campaigning for popular votes.  Green says of Henry

“he had to be Richard’s natural opposite.  Where Richard ruled with a clique, Henry had to consult the barons, the wise men of his realm.  Where Richard had extorted money without consulting his subjects, and had subsequently frittered it away, Henry must keep within the bounds of admitted custom.  As a result, he found himself with increased financial obligations and a smaller income than the king he had displaced” (242).

This binary opposition also forced Henry to resume the war with France, which meant an offensive Scotland.

Green comments that “Anglo-Scottish relations were largely determined by a weary cycle of desultory warfare and uneasy peace…English tactics were more determined by the desire to vanquish the French than to bring Scotland under the English crown” (373).  As Shakespeare wrote 1 Henry IV (c. 1596-7), the people of England enjoyed a relatively peaceful time.  The Spanish Armada had been defeated twice at this point.  The main contender for the throne, Mary, Queen of Scots, has been dead for about ten years.  In 1586, the same year of the Babington plot in which the assassination of Elizabeth and her replacement by Mary were planned, Elizabeth formed a league of amity with James VI of Scotland (Queen Elizabeth I).  This league of amity foreshadows Elizabeth’s choice for succession upon her death.  Lisa Hopkins says of the time in which Shakespeare was writing that upon James VI becoming James I of England, “the Border should logically have entirely ceased to function” (59).  Interestingly, Hopkins notes this Border

“is still one of the only three borders to be afforded a capital letter by the Oxford English Dictionary.  This capitalization marks the historical importance of the Border, which in one sense continues to this day – and yet in another sense the Border is not there at all, and never really has been, since nothing marks it and even in the days when it was a political reality its location was never securely established” (59).

This can be seen in III, i of 1 Henry IV where Mortimer, Glendower, and Hotspur are dividing up the land of England prematurely.  The discussion of boundaries is remarkable considering “even the divisions between England, Scotland, and Wales are no longer clear through the tangle of rebel alliances” (59).  This desire to create borders is most blatant in Hotspur’s comment that his share of the land is intersected by a river.

“I’ll have the current in this place dammed up,
And here the smug and silver Trent will run
In a new channel fair and evenly;
It shall not wind with such a deep indent,
To rob me of so rich a bottom here” (III, I, 98-101).

The Border of Scotland is not so fortunate to have a river or any kind of geographical marker present to make itself known.  Hopkins says of the Border

“there is no unfordable river or unclimable mountain range…it has always been the despair of both English and Scottish wardens that their unruly charges not only crossed [the Border] at will but cheerfully intermarried and built up extensive cross-national networks of alliance and friendship” (73).

In 1 Henry IV, the Scots are badly mistreated by the king’s allies, the Percy family.  In events occurring immediately before the play begins, Hotspur has taken captive Archibald, earl of Douglas in the battle of Homildon Hill.  The dispute over ransoming the prisoners that we see in I,iii is noted in history even as a primary reason for the fracturing of the alliance between the King and the nobles of the north loyal to him (Green 378).  The Scots are one part of the battle of Shrewsbury .  Henry IV’s son, Hal, does the intelligent and very princely thing of releasing the Earl of Douglas.  At the end of the play, we are on the cusp of yet another battle, but there seems to be more hope about the outcome.

Some other things to consider when reading 1 Henry IV would include some facts about Elizabeth’s reign.  She called herself the Queen of France, but this was a fictitious title given that her sister Mary who ruled prior to her had lost Calais and the expulsion of the English from Le Havre in 1563.  This tension most likely influenced feelings toward Scotland, who remained allied with France until James I took the throne.  By James I ascending to the throne, the English were asked to be a “happily united Britain” with their recent enemies, the Scots (Hopkins 6-7).  To try and explain the political situation that Shakespeare was writing in means considering the respective histories of Scotland and England prior to that.  It requires a careful puzzle-piecing together of historical accounts, such as Holinshed, and recent scholarly work.  In doing the research for this paper, I believe that V.H.H. Green sums everything up best: “I doubt whether any period in English history is as uncharted or as full of unsuspected reefs as the period with which this book tried to deal” (5).

Works Consulted

Boling, Ronald J. “Shaespeare and Scotland (Review)”. Shakespeare Quarterly. 57.1 (2006): 88-91.

Green, Vivian Hubert Howard. The Later Plantaganets: A Survey of English History between 1307 and 1485. London: Edward Arnold LTD, 1966.

Hopkins, Lisa. Shakespeare on the Edge: Border-crossing in the Tragedies and the Henriad. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005.

Hosley, Richard. Shakespeare’s Holinshed: An Edition of Holinshed’s Chronicles (1587).  New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1968.

Rae, T.I. Scotland in the Time of Shakespeare. Folger Shakespeare Library. Cornell: Cornell University Press, 1965.

The Official Website of the British Monarchy. Ed. Royal Household at Buckingham Palace. British Monarchy. 12 November 2008. <http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page1.asp>.

Queen Elizabeth I. Ed. Heather Thomas. November 2008. 12 November 2008. <http://www.elizabethi.org/>.