Henry VI, Part II

By William Shakespeare.

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Dramatis Personae

  • King Henry the Sixth

  • Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, his uncle

  • Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, great-uncle to the King

  • Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York

  • Edward and Richard, his sons

  • Duke of Somerset

  • Duke of Suffolk

  • Duke of Buckingham

  • Lord Clifford

  • Young Clifford, his son

  • Earl of Salisbury

  • Earl of Warwick

  • Lord Scales

  • Lord Say

  • Sir Humphrey Stafford, and William Stafford, his brother

  • Sir John Stanley

  • Vaux

  • Matthew Goffe

  • A Sea-captain, Master, and Master’s-Mate, and Walter Whitmore

  • Two gentlemen, prisoners with Suffolk

  • John Hume and John Southwell, priests

  • Bolingbroke, a conjurer

  • Thomas Horner, an armourer. Peter, his man

  • Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Alban’s

  • Simpcox, an impostor

  • Alexander Iden, a Kentish gentleman

  • Jack Cade, a rebel

  • George Bevis, John Holland, Dick the butcher, Smith the weaver, Michael, etc., followers of Cade

  • Two murderers

  • Margaret, Queen to King Henry

  • Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester

  • Margaret Jourdain, a witch

  • Wife to Simpcox

  • Lords, ladies, and attendants, petitioners, aldermen, a herald, a beadle, sheriff, and officers, citizens, ’prentices, falconers, guards, soldiers, messengers, etc.

  • A spirit

Scene: England.

Henry VI, Part II

Act I

Scene I

London. The palace.

Flourish of trumpets: then hautboys. Enter the King, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Salisbury, Warwick, and Cardinal Beaufort, on the one side; the Queen, Suffolk, York, Somerset, and Buckingham, on the other.
Suffolk

As by your high imperial majesty
I had in charge at my depart for France,
As procurator to your excellence,
To marry Princess Margaret for your grace,
So, in the famous ancient city Tours,
In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil,
The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne and Alençon,
Seven earls, twelve barons and twenty reverend bishops,
I have perform’d my task and was espoused:
And humbly now upon my bended knee,
In sight of England and her lordly peers,
Deliver up my title in the queen
To your most gracious hands, that are the substance
Of that great shadow I did represent;
The happiest gift that ever marquess gave,
The fairest queen that ever king received.
King

Suffolk, arise. Welcome, Queen Margaret:
I can express no kinder sign of love
Than this kind kiss. O Lord, that lends me life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!
For thou hast given me in this beauteous face
A world of earthly blessings to my soul,
If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.
Queen

Great King of England and my gracious lord,
The mutual conference that my mind hath had,
By day, by night, waking and in my dreams,
In courtly company or at my beads,
With you, mine alder-liefest sovereign,
Makes me the bolder to salute my king
With ruder terms, such as my wit affords
And over-joy of heart doth minister.
King

Her sight did ravish; but her grace in speech,
Her words y-clad with wisdom’s majesty,
Makes me from wondering fall to weeping joys;
Such is the fulness of my heart’s content.
Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love.
All Kneeling. Long live Queen Margaret, England’s happiness!
Queen We thank you all. Flourish.
Suffolk

My lord protector, so it please your grace,
Here are the articles of contracted peace
Between our sovereign and the French king Charles,
For eighteen months concluded by consent.
Gloucester Reads. “Imprimis, It is agreed between the French king Charles, and William de la Pole, Marquess of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry King of England, that the said Henry shall espouse the Lady Margaret, daughter unto Reignier King of Naples, Sicilia and Jerusalem, and crown her Queen of England ere the thirtieth of May next ensuing. Item, that the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released and delivered to the king her father”⁠—Lets the paper fall.
King Uncle, how now!
Gloucester

Pardon me, gracious lord;
Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart
And dimm’d mine eyes, that I can read no further.
King Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on.
Cardinal Reads. “Item, It is further agreed between them, that the duchies of Anjou and Maine shall be released and delivered over to the king her father, and she sent over of the King of England’s own proper cost and charges, without having any dowry.”
King

They please us well. Lord marquess, kneel down:
We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk,
And gird thee with the sword. Cousin of York,
We here discharge your grace from being regent
I’ the parts of France, till term of eighteen months
Be full expired. Thanks, uncle Winchester,
Gloucester, York, Buckingham, Somerset,
Salisbury, and Warwick;
We thank you all for the great favour done,
In entertainment to my princely queen.
Come, let us in, and with all speed provide
To see