John II of France

“ So wrong shall be suborned by trust of strength; A tyrant’s practice to invest himself, Where weak resistance giveth wrong the way, To check the which, in holy lawful arms, I in the right of Arthur Geoffrey’s son, Am come before this city of Angiers, To bar all other false supposed claim, From whence or howsoe’er the error springs. And in his quarrel on my princely word, I’ll fight it out unto the latest man. John
Know, king of France, I will not be commanded By any power or prince in Christendom, To yield an instance how I hold mine own, More than to answer, that mine own is mine. ”

“ O peers of England, know you what you do? There’s but a hair that sunders you from harm, The hook is baited, and the train is made, And simply you run doting to your deaths. But lest I die, and leave my tale untold, With silence slaughtering so brave a crew, This I aver, if Lewis win the day, There’s not an Englishman that lifts his hand Against King John to plant the heir of France, But is already damned to cruel death. ”

“ Therewith receive this favor at my hands, T’encourage thee to follow Richard’s fame. Arthur
Ye citizens of Angiers, are ye mute? Arthur or John, say which shall be your king! Citizen
We care not which, if once we knew the right, But till we know we will not yield our right. Bastard
Might Philip counsel two so mighty kings, As are the kings of England and of France, He would advise your graces to unite And knit your forces ‘gainst these citizens, Pulling their battered walls about their ears. The town once won, then strive about the claim, For they are minded to delude you both. ”

“ Pandulph, as gave his Holiness in charge, So hath the Dolphin mustered up his troops And won the greatest part of all this land. But ill becomes your grace, Lord Cardinal, Thus to converse with John that is accursed. [Cardinal] Pandulph
Lewis of France, victorious conqueror, Whose sword hath made this island quake for fear: Thy forwardness to fight for holy Rome, Shall be remunerated to the full. But know, my lord, King John is now absolved; The pope is pleased, the land is blessed again, And thou hast brought each thing to good effect. ”

“ Become thy great birth, nor deserve a crown.
But thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy,
Nature and Fortune join’d to make thee great.
Of Nature’s gifts thou mayst with lilies boast,
And with the half-blown rose. But Fortune, O,
She is corrupted, chang’d, and won from thee;
She adulterates hourly with thine uncle John,
And with her golden hand hath pluck’d on France
To tread down fair respect of sovereignty,
And made his majesty the bawd to theirs.
France is a bawd to Fortune and King John,
That strumpet Fortune, that usurping John!
Tell me, thou fellow, is not France forsworn? ”

“ Lewis, the Dolphin and the heir of France, A man of noted valor through the world, Is yet unmarried: let him take to wife The beauteous daughter of the King of Spain, Niece to King John, the lovely lady Blanche, Begotten on his sister Eleanor. With her in marriage will her uncle give Castles and towers as fitteth such a match. The kings thus joined in league of perfect love, They may so deal with Arthur, duke of Brittany, Who is but young, and yet unmeet to reign, As he shall stand contented every way. ”

“ Thus England’s peace begins in Henry’s reign, And bloody wars are closed with happy league. Let England live but true within itself, And all the world can never wrong her state. Lewis, thou shalt be bravely shipped to France, For never Frenchman got of English ground The twentieth part that thou hast conquered. Dolphin, thy hand; to Worster we will march. Lords all lay hands to bear your sovereign With obsequies of honor to his grave. If England’s peers and people join in one, Nor Pope, nor France, nor Spain can do them wrong. ”

“ KING JOHN.
Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads,
I like it well. France, shall we knit our powers
And lay this Angiers even with the ground;
Then after fight who shall be king of it?
BASTARD.
An if thou hast the mettle of a king,
Being wrong’d as we are by this peevish town,
Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery,
As we will ours, against these saucy walls;
And when that we have dash’d them to the ground,
Why then defy each other, and pell-mell,
Make work upon ourselves, for heaven or hell. ”

“ Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim
To this fair island and the territories,
To Ireland, Poitiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,
Desiring thee to lay aside the sword
Which sways usurpingly these several titles,
And put the same into young Arthur’s hand,
Thy nephew and right royal sovereign.
KING JOHN.
What follows if we disallow of this?
CHATILLION.
The proud control of fierce and bloody war,
To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.
KING JOHN.
Here have we war for war and blood for blood,
Controlment for controlment: so answer France. ”

“ AUSTRIA.
By how much unexpected, by so much
We must awake endeavour for defence,
For courage mounteth with occasion.
Let them be welcome, then; we are prepar’d.
Enter King John, Eleanor, Blanche, the Bastard, Pembroke, Lords and Forces.
KING JOHN.
Peace be to France, if France in peace permit
Our just and lineal entrance to our own;
If not, bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven,
Whiles we, God’s wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that beats his peace to heaven.
KING PHILIP.
Peace be to England, if that war return
From France to England, there to live in peace. ”

“ A smile of France will feed an English fool. Bear them in hand as friends, for so they be; But in the heart like traitors as they are. Enter the English Lords.
Now famous followers, chieftains of the world, Have we solicited with hearty prayer The heaven in favor of our high attempt. Leave we this place, and march we with our power To rouse the tyrant from his chiefest hold; And when our labors have a prosp’rous end, Each man shall reap the fruit of his desert. And so resolved, brave followers, let us hence. Scene 17 Enter King John, Bastard, [Cardinal] Pandulph, and a many priests with them. ”

“ On returning to England, John raised an army to support his pretensions, while his confederate, Philip, took up arms in his behalf in France, and, entering Normandy, overran a great part of that duchy, although Rouen, the capital, was preserved principally by the exertions of the Earl of Essex, lately one of Richard's companions in the Holy Land. In England, also, John met with a general opposition to his usurpation of the regal authority, which soon compelled him to conclude an armistice with a council of regency that had been appointed by the prelates and barons. ”

“ Had John inherited the great qualities of his father, of Henry Beauclerc, or of the Conqueror, nay, had he even possessed the martial courage of Stephen or of Richard, and had the King of France at the same time been as incapable as all the other successors of Hugh Capet had been, the House of Plantagenet must have risen to unrivalled ascendancy in Europe. But, just at this conjuncture, France, for the first time since the death of Charlemagne, was governed by a prince of great firmness and ability. ”

“ More frights and fears, whate’er thy tidings be, I am prepared: then Philip, quickly say, Mean they to murder, or imprison me, To give my crown away to Rome or France? Or will they each of them become a king? Worse than I think it is, it cannot be. Bastard
Not worse my lord, but every whit as bad. The nobles have elected Lewis king, In right of Lady Blanche your niece, his wife. His landing is expected every hour. The nobles, commons, clergy, all estates, Incited chiefly by the cardinal, Pandulph that lies here legate for the pope, Thinks long to see their new-elected king. ”

“ BLANCH. That she is bound in honour still to do What you in wisdom still vouchsafe to say. KING JOHN. Speak then, Prince Dauphin; can you love this lady? LEWIS. Nay, ask me if I can refrain from love; For I do love her most unfeignedly. KING JOHN. Then do I give Volquessen, Touraine, Maine, Poictiers, and Anjou, these five provinces, With her to thee; and this addition more, Full thirty thousand marks of English coin. Philip of France, if thou be pleas'd withal, Command thy son and daughter to join hands. KING PHILIP. It likes us well; young princes, close your hands. ”

“ Arthur
As please my god, so shall become of me. Queen Eleanor
My son to England, I will see thee shipped, And pray to God to send thee safe ashore. Bastard
Now wars are done I long to be at home To dive into the monks’ and abbots’ bags, To make some sport among the smooth-skin nuns, And keep some revel with the Fanzen Friars. John
To England, lords; each look unto your charge And arm yourselves against the Roman pride. Exeunt.
Scene 10 Enter the King [Philip] of France, Lewis his son, Cardinal Pandulph Legate, and Constance. ”

“ In September 1356 John gathered the flower of his chivalry and attacked the Black Prince at Poitiers. The utter defeat of the French was made the more humiliating by the capture of their king, who had bravely led the third line of battle. Taken to England to await ransom, John was at first installed in the Savoy Palace, then at Windsor, Hertford, Somerton, and at last in the Tower. He was granted royal state with his captive companions, made a guest at tournaments, and supplied with luxuries imported by him from France. ”

“ Among the baronage hardly a man would commit himself to treason. In vain John hired foreign mercenaries, garrisoned his castles, and leagued himself with the king of France when the latter returned from the Crusade. It was only the news of his brother’s captivity in Austria which gave the intriguing prince a transient hope of success. Boldly asserting that Richard would never be seen alive again he went to France, and did homage to King Philip for Normandy and Aquitaine, as if they were already his own. ”

“ The allusion to the Scottish king as one among “our other barons of England” need not be pressed against Alexander any more than similar expressions should be pressed against John, whose position as Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine in no way made England a fief of the French Crown. In questions affecting his feudal position in France, John’s peers were the dukes and counts of that country; and similarly those who had a right to sit in judgment as Alexander’s peers over his claims to English fiefs were the English earls and barons. ”

“ The miserable reign of John, and the tyrannical use he made of the power thus placed in his hands, called attention to the dangers which beset the administrative arrangements of his father. The total severance of England from France, which took place in his reign, and his rash quarrel with the Church, completed the work of national consolidation, but placed the united nation in antagonism to the throne. The nobility, which in other countries were the natural enemies of all classes below them, were thus forced to assume the lead of all who desired a reasonable amount of national freedom. ”

“ The blood, and dearest-valu’d blood, of France.
KING PHILIP.
Thy rage shall burn thee up, and thou shalt turn
To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire.
Look to thyself, thou art in jeopardy.
KING JOHN.
No more than he that threats. To arms let’s hie!
[Exeunt severally.]
SCENE II. The same. Plains near Angiers Alarums. Excursions. Enter the Bastard with Austria’s head.
BASTARD.
Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous hot;
Some airy devil hovers in the sky
And pours down mischief. Austria’s head lie there,
While Philip breathes.
Enter King John, Arthur and Hubert. ”

“ John became king by the will of his brother Richard, and by the wish of the people of England, rather than by hereditary right; for, though Richard left no legitimate issue, there was a nearer heir in the person of Geoffrey Plantagenet (son of Henry II.) , by Constance, Duchess of Brittany. The cause of his son Arthur was espoused, feebly and half-heartedly by Philip Augustus, and more generously by the nobles of Anjou, Maine and Touraine, so that John's accession involved the almost immediate breaking of the truce with France, and the renewal of the war. ”

“ A war broke out which took a turn especially dangerous to the kingdom, because the barons called the heir of France to the English throne and did him homage. So little were the feelings of nationality yet developed, that the barons fought out the war against their King, supported by the presence and military Power of a foreign prince. For the interests of the English crown it was perhaps an advantage that King John died in the midst of the troubles, and his rights passed to his son Henry, a child to whom his father's iniquity could not be imputed. ”

“ As was inevitable, a feeling of intense jealousy sprang up between the two sovereigns. The French king was ever watching for some pretext upon which he might deprive his rival of his possessions in France. The opportunity came when King John, in 1199, succeeded Richard the Lion-hearted upon the English throne. That odious tyrant was accused, and doubtless justly, of having murdered his nephew Arthur. Philip Augustus, who then held the French throne, as John's feudal superior, ordered him to clear himself of the charge before his French peers. ”

“ John here early in his reign received the homage of David the King of Scotland. During the struggle with the barons in 1216 the citizens remained loyal to their sovereign; but their city was taken at last in 1217, and invested by the barons under Gilbert de Gaunt, afterwards created Earl of Lincoln. After the disaster that overtook John's army in the passage across the Wash, and his death, which took place soon afterwards, his son Henry III. was loyally assisted by the inhabitants against the barons, who had summoned to their aid Louis, the Dauphin of France. ”