Edward III - “… I come to bring thee peace, However thereby I have purchased war.”

 Edward III - “… I come to bring thee peace, However thereby I have purchased war.”

When the summer season of 1593 came and went without the playhouses reopening, Shakespeare knew that he had more time to write for the 1594 season. Shakespeare probably felt despondent during May and June of 1593 not only due to the closure of the theatres and the plague but due to the strange circumstances surrounding the death of Christopher Marlowe. William Shakespeare would have thought of all the great plays which Marlowe had written Dido, Queen of Carthage, Tamburlaine Part 1 and Part 2, The Jew of Malta, Doctor Faustus, Edward II and Marlowe's most recent offering The Massacre at Paris. So, as the days grew shorter and 1593 headed towards December and a mild winter, Shakespeare thought of Marlowe and the multitude of deaths due to the plague and knew he would need a range of plays for the new year that matched the brilliance of Marlowe. So Shakespeare sat down to start work on another history play and a couple more comedies.

Some people claim that Shakespeare did not write The Raign of Kind Edvvard the Third (commonly called Edward III). This play, more than any other attributed to Shakespeare, raises the battle flags of ownership and forces one to defend oneself with the crossbows of critical awareness. I believe that Edward III is mostly Shakespeare’s due to the marriage of a computer and its unassuming mercurial wife – instinct.

I read Edward III in the book I paid for, the printed version of the Complete Works of Shakespeare (if it is published there, surely it is Shakespeare’s) and some nights on my computer screen looking at a free digital version. This makes me think about how we attribute work (and value through paying for it) works to an author such as Shakespeare. It also raises for me questions of ownership.

Having taught many A Level, IB and VCE students, we often check ownership through computer programs and websites like Turnitin.com or through interviewing students. In 2009, Brian Vickers ran most of Shakespeare’s plays through a plagiarism and computer matching program (similar on one level to some used by computer dating firms). He found that Edward III has a 40% chance of being Shakespeare’s. If this was a piece of work from one of my students, I would then want to scrutinize this further and look at other work by the student and interview the student. Since little William Shakespeare has not responded to my emails or texts and has not made a time to come and see me due to his own death, I have to use my instinct.

I could probably go on to explain how my instinct is working when I read a piece of writing. I let the text wash over me (terribly unsophisticated, I know) and probably take in the diction, syntax (in a Chomsky-like fashion), cadence (more musical than literary), rhythms, speed, pace of action, narrative progression and narrative structure (as influenced by Aristotle, Todorov, Propp Levi-Strauss and Joseph Campbell). Hang on, I think my explanation of letting the text wash over me is clearer and more succinct. I have read all of the plays and poetry attributed to Shakespeare and I have acted in 5 Shakespeare plays and directed some 7 different Shakespeare plays so I know a little, but I am not an expert. My instinct tells me that Edward III is not all Shakespeare’s, but that a substantial amount, especially the scenes with Edward and the Countess of Salisbury is little William Shakespeare’s. If he was student, I would probably predictably ask him to cite his sources and rewrite large passages before re-submitting.

Edward III was first published in 1596 but was printed anonymously and was not included in the First Folio version of Shakespeare’s Complete Works. It is now commonly listed in his works including my own printed paid for copy. So did Shakespeare write Edward III. Maybe we should look at why it would not have been included in the First Folio. The play takes so many gibs and swipes at the Scots, that the Shakespeare who embraced and got patronage from James I of England (formerly James VI of Scotland) would probably not want an openly anti-Scottish play heralding his name as a racist.

Another reason could be that Shakespeare pulled a ‘bit of a swifty’ in 1596 and anonymously made some money out of the printing of the play when he wasn’t the sole author of its contents. The printing of plays like Titus Andronicus  and Richard III had probably earned Shakespeare some money over the lean plague-ridden year of 1593. The ‘rights’ for the performance of a play were normally straightforward and since Henslow had probably paid Shakespeare to write the plays, Henslow (having commissioned the plays and owning the theatre) got the majority of the profits from the performances. Actors and playwrights often would anonymously get their scripts copied and printed to make money after a play had been performed. Parts of Edward III seem more like Thomas Kyd and some other parts don’t seem like Kyd or Shakespeare’s. Someone had something to hide as they made money on the 1596 printing of the play and perhaps it was Shakespeare. Now on to the play.

The Raign of Kind Edvvard the Third – Act 1

Right and succession are on the agenda as King Edward III (King of England) and Robert Artois speak. Philip IV of France has died and due to French Sallic Law, the French cannot put a woman on the throne. Isabelle, King Edward III’s own mother (although being the rightful last heir) cannot take up the French throne, so Edward argues that he is owed that throne to add to his collection. King John wants to put a dampener on this as do the Scots who have crossed Hadrian’s Wall and are invading England. Edward takes charge and decides (without the help of NATO, drones or a Tardis) to fight the French and the Scots at the same time.

Meanwhile, in Roxborough, the Countess of Salisbury has been captured by the Scots and she overhears a conversation between King David and Douglas about who should take her jewels and who should ravish her. A messenger arrives to announce that English army has arrived and the Countess reappears and mocks the Scots. Whether due to her biting tongue or the imminent arrival in the wings of actors dressed as English soldiers wielding pikes and sords, the Scots flee. King Edward then arrives and he and the Countess flirt. While her husband is away in the wars so the Countess will play. She entices Edward to stay for a little bit longer.

Edward III Act 2 – “I might perceive his eye in her eye lost,
His ear to drink her sweet tongue's utterance… so much moving hath a Poet's pen…”

Perhaps Shakespeare had Southampton looking over his shoulder when he wrote ‘Venus and Adonis’ and Act 2 Scene1 of ‘Edward III’ is a rendition of real events showing that the aristocracy think that the only ingredients needed to write love poetry are a quill pen, ink, some paper and a heavy heart. Like the good diplomat he is, Lodowick (Edward III’s secretary) thinks that love has taken Edward’s eye off the real game, the campaign against the Scots. Edward decides that Lodowick has skills. No, not the skills for the campaign, but the poetic skills to help him do something much more important, to write a love poem.

“This fellow is well read in poetry,


And hath a lusty and persuasive spirit;


I will acquaint him with my passion…”

But, ultimately, Edward thinks that Lodowick “… has done ill…” and takes over the writing of the poem himself. Then, when his love the Countess enters, Edward III pretends that he has been planning drone strikes and secret raids and Desert Storm-style attacks instead of admitting his more destructive pursuits of attacking, destroying and flattening rhythm, rhyme and metaphors. He then reveals to the Countess that he loves her. She seems to accept his advances until she remembers that she is married and that she should find her “… sovereign in my (her) husband’s love”. She also remembers that Edward is also married and then she promptly exits stage right.

Edward then asks Warwick (the Countess’ father) to do the “… devil's office… “ for him so that the Countess will become his mistress. Warwick reluctantly agrees to this “detestable office” but when Warwick tells this to his daughter, she is taken back that the king means to “stain my (her) honest blood… corrupt the author of my (her) blood…” The Countess is so upset with this “shame” that she proclaims, “… let me die… before I will consent to be an actor in his graceless lust.”

Meanwhile, at least some people are discussing the war. Derby and Lord Audley are discussing strategy and allegiances when the melancholic Edward III arrives. Soon after, Prince Edward arrives and talks of the forces he has assembled to support the king in attacking the French. His son’s resemblance to his mother, makes King Edward, logically, think on war but then the Countess enters again and accepts his love but suggests:

“… Your Queen and Salisbury, my wedded husband,


Who living have that title in our love,


That we cannot bestow but by their death.”

Edward III, not one for subtlety or forethought, resolutely proclaims:

“… thy husband and the Queen shall die.”

The Countess, being a prototype for Lady Macbeth and being from the North of England, believes in separation of duties and unionism and she (a little too eagerly) produces two Wilshire sharp knives and suggests:

“Take thou the one, and with it kill thy Queen…

And with this other I'll dispatch my love…”

She then bizarrely threatens to take her own life if Edward does not desist in making advances towards her.

“
Either swear to leave thy most unholy suit


And never hence forth to solicit me;


Or else, by heaven, this sharp pointed knife


Shall stain thy earth with that which thou would stain,


My poor chaste blood…”

Edward agrees and turns his mind towards his other promiscuous lustful love - unsolicited war on two fronts.

Edward III Act 3 – “Sweet flowering peace, the root of happy life, 
is quite abandoned and expulst the land…”

I realize that many people don’t know where King Edward III sits in the history of England and why Shakespeare would write a play (or contribute 40-80% to a play) about him. Edward III himself, like Edward III the play, has faded a bit into obscurity. He was a Plantagenet king and they come before the Lancaster and York kings and their War of the Roses. Coming after Edward II (of course) Edward III is the precursor to Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, Henry VI (again), Edward IV (again), Edward V, Richard III and, of course, all this happens before the first Tudor rulers of Henry VII and then Henry VIII. But what was he known for and why would an Elizabethan playwright even write about him?

Edward III, like Elizabeth the First, had great military successes that often turned in his favor due to the weather. Like Elizabeth brought stability and authority after Henry VIII and the musical monarch chair game of Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey (the 9 day Queen) and Mary I, Edward III calmed England after the disastrous reign of his own father Edward II. He also, like Elizabeth did during the hard years of 1593, brought in acts and some successful legislation to curb the effects of the Plague. He also reigned for over 50 years and lived until he was 57. Elizabeth the First lived for 69 years and reigned for 45 years. So perhaps the play is a tribute to Elizabeth and her age, her military successes, her long life and her attempts to beat the plague.

On to Act 3 and the French Camp at Flanders. The French discuss preparations to take on the English. King John of France, has the help of all of Europe. Well, maybe not all of Europe but at least the Polonians (the people of Poland), the Danes, the Bohemians and the Sicilians have turned up to the French party though I guess it was moreso for the food than the fight. A Mariner brings news of the arrival of the English fleet sparking desperate preparations and then leaves the stage to change scenery and prepare costumes for the next scene. King John and his son Philip discuss the semantics of Edward being unable to claim the French throne because John already sits on it. This is decidedly unfunny. The Mariner arrives back and tells the bloody tale of the first French defeat. This is a precursor to the bloody Captain in Macbeth who tells of Macbeth’s successes.

We then switch to the roses of Picardy where French citizens, still to discover the joys of coffee, tobacco and the café, which won’t arrive in France until the 17^th century (long after the British style coffee house was established). They discuss who has the best claim to the throne, throw around a few prophecies and, like most citizens, solve all the problems of the world in conversation.

Meanwhile King Edward commends the French traitor Gobin de Grace, for helping him (the English love a good traitor as long as it is not their own). News of more successes arrives. The king is sad to hear of so many deaths but celebrates his success anyway. King John enters and he and Edward trade insults.

“If gall or wormwood have a pleasant taste,


Then is thy salutation honey sweet…”

King John retaliates in kind, matching verbal blow for blow.

“This Champion field shall be a pool of blood,


And all our prospect as a slaughter house.”

Delivering a Henry V style rallying speech to his men, King John bids the English to do battle. Edward accepts the French challenge and arms his son the prince, who is about to participate in his first actual battle. The prince is properly armed and the men prepare to do battle.

We then move onto Cressi and French are retreating and King John is told that the garrison that arrived from Paris wanted time off after their journey from Paris. He seems a little disappointed, heaven knows why. Meanwhile King Edward hears that his son has been captured but he is a bit old fashioned and thinks that his son should be a man and fight for himself. The ‘new age’ lords are upset, but soon prince Edward arrives back with the body of the King of Bohemia. He describes the battle and the king orders the young Prince Edward and Poitiers to chase after King John while King Edward and Derby try to take Calais begirting “…that haven town with siege.”

Edward III Act 4 – “The drops are infinite, that make a flood, and yet, thou knowest, we call it but a Rain.”

There is a definite sense of Shakespeare’s flair in the verse of the deluge of battles in Act 4 of Edward III. Once again he explores the nature of war and questions whether chivalry and goodness has any place on the battlefield. The Frenchmen Lord Mountford thanks Salisbury for killing his rival and swears allegiance to Kind Edward III and gives Salisbury a crown to take to Edward in Calais. This gift proves problematic. Salisbury knows he must pass through French held territory on the way to Calais so he takes the prisoner Villiers to offer him as ransom for his safe passage and he grants Villiers freedom as part of this deal. Salisbury makes Villiers,

“… swear by thy faith,


That, if thou canst not compass my desire,


Thou wilt return my prisoner back again…”

Noble Villiers agrees to these conditions.

Before the walls of Calais, King Edward and Derby realize that they may have to starve the people of Calais out. Ironically, six starving Frenchmen (who the people of Calais had cast out to help preserve the Calais people who were still healthy) arrive and Edward takes compassion on the men and feeds them and gives them money. News of the defeat of the Scots arrives, but the victor John Copland will only give up the Scottish king to King Edward himself. It is also revealed that the queen is about to leave England and join the king at Calais. By this time, the French at Calais have rethought their position and will surrender if they all are given their lives. Edward refuses this at first and asks that six (no coincidence here) of the wealthiest merchants in the town:

“Come naked, all but for their linen shirts,


With each a halter hanged about his neck,


And prostrate yield themselves, upon their knees,


To be afflicted, hanged, or what I please…”

Villiers, after much discussion about honor and the notion of allegiance, keeps his word and Salisbury gets his passage to Calais. King John and his superior numbers seem to be winning the day but the English seem to have a secret weapon. No, not weapons of mass destruction, but a hermit’s prophesy.

'When feathered foul shall make thine army tremble,


And flint stones rise and break the battle ray,


Then think on him that doth not now dissemble;


For that shall be the hapless dreadful day:


Yet, in the end, thy foot thou shalt advance


As far in England as thy foe in France.'

King John obviously never did literary analysis with his tutors because he reads this as predicting a French victory.

Prince Edward and the English are outnumbered and surrounded, but still wearing his lucky cloak of optimism, he fancies his chances and rejects all offers and bibles.

The darkness of a flock of ravens blocks out the sun and King John and his son Charles discuss the meaning of the prophecy. King John has captured Salisbury and wants to kill him, but Charles states that he has given his word that he will let Salisbury pass to Calais and King John finally concedes.

All is not looking well for Prince Edward and he commands that his men use stones from the ground as weapons to win the battle. Needless to say, King John is very disappointed that his men are defeated by small Englishmen armed with stones. Charles tells King John of the battle.

“ …one poor David


Hath with a stone foiled twenty stout Goliahs;


Some twenty naked starvelings with small flints,


Hath driven back a puissant host of men.”

King John presses on but he and Charles are captured by Prince Edward who is feeling a bit cocky about his victory against the odds. The Prince, pumped up from bravado gives the brave and wounded Audley three thousand marks a year in England for his services but Audley is even more gracious and gives this to the two esquires who saved him. It is then Calais or Bust for Prince Edward.

Edward III Act 5 – “… peaceful quietness brings most delight, when most of all abuses are controlled.”

“… peaceful quietness brings most delight,


When most of all abuses are controlled.”

For a Shakespearean history, Edward III is little soppy and under baked at the end, which makes me think that The Bard Rating of 51% is about right for this play. Enough votes for a ruler to govern but not enough for a ruler to rule. It certainly ends all’s well that ends well, as you like it with the females tamed and the play shrewless with two (or more) gentlemen of France captured. But it lacks the shock factor and tortures of a Titus Andonicus or the political machinations and motivated characterization of a Richard III or even the rousing and cleverly staged battle scenes of the Henry VI plays.

Queen Phillipa and King Edward start Act 5 by having domestic at Calais. King Edward wins this argument but then gets upset and states that he will invade the town of Calais. Kings often invade towns when they feel thwarted by their queens. A group of seemingly normal-looking French citizens dressed in rags plead clemency. King Edward, who has probably read many Medieval crime fiction poems, realizes that these men are noblemen in disguise, so he decides to spare the town but put these men to death. Queen Phillipa cuts in and asks for these men to be spared and suggests that they serve King Edward when he takes over France as their king. Queen Phillipa wins this argument and Edward III agrees to release the men. Very un-Shakespearean. Richard III would have never done this.

Copland (remember that he is the guy who drove the Scots back to their side of Hadrian’s wall, captured the Scottish King Davis but would not hand him up to Queen Phillipa) arrives with his captive King David and he hands him over to Edward. Phillipa wants revenge but King Edward asks Copland why he wouldn’t hand King David up to the Queen and Copland sucks up to Edward and states that an important prisoner like King David should be given to a revered regent like King Edward in person.

“His name I reverence, but his person more;


His name shall keep me in allegiance still,


But to his person I will bend my knee.”

Edward, being flattered for the first time that day, likes this answer so much, that he knight’s Copland.

Salisbury, after all his delays and travel problems. enters and gives the king the coronet he received from Mountford (or some reason he didn’t trust either the French or English postal services). After a very long description of his capture, it is revealed that the Prince Edward faces insurmountable odds and is presumed to have died. Phillipa is a bit upset with the men. Suddenly, a herald announces the prince's miraculous survival and Prince Edward approaches with King John and his sons as prisoners. The prince, not to be outdone by Salisbury’s present of a coronet, upstages Salisbury and King Edward and presents his father with King John and Edward as prisoners. King John just wants to get back to some French party and demands to know what his ransom will be. Edward knows all this and states what the ransom will be but states that John must accompany him back to England first. Prince Edward upstages King Edward again, and makes a rousing patriotic speech.

“And, for my part, the bloody scars I bear…

I wish were now redoubled twenty fold,


So that hereafter ages, when they read


The painful traffic of my tender youth…”

King Edward decides to stay a few more days in Calais to celebrate Prince Edward reaching manhood, and to consume French wine and food and maybe even play dress-ups with the half dozen cross dressing local nobles he met earlier in the scene.

Shakespeare returns in The Rape of Lucrece.