Edward III

Edward III
By William Shakespeare.




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Dramatis Personae


Edward the Third, King of England


Edward, Prince of Wales, his son


Earl of Warwick


Earl of Derby


Earl of Salisbury


Lord Audley


Lord Percy


Lodwick, Edward’s confidant


Sir William Mountague


Sir John Copland


Two Esquires, and a herald, English


Robert, styling himself Earl, of Artois


Earl of Mountford (or Montfort)


Gobin de Grey


John, King of France


Charles, his son


Philip, his son


Duke of Lorraine


Villiers, a French lord


King of Bohemia, Aid to King John


A Polish Captain, Aid to King John


Six citizens of Calais


A Captain, and a poor inhabitant, of the same


Another Captain; a mariner


Three heralds; and four other Frenchmen


David, King of Scotland


Earl Douglas


Two messengers, Scotch


Philip, Edward’s Queen


Countess of Salisbury


A French woman


Lords, and divers other attendants; heralds, officers, soldiers,  etc.


Scene: dispersed; in England, Flanders, and France.


Edward III


Act I

Scene I
London. A room of state in the palace.




Flourish. Enter King Edward, attended; Prince of Whales, Warwick, Derby, Audley, Artois, and others.


King Edward

Robert of Artois, banish’d though thou be

From France, thy native country, yet with us

Thou shalt retain as great a signiory;

For we create thee Earl of Richmond here.

And now go forwards with our pedigree;

Who next succeeded Philip Le Beau?



Artois

Three sons of his; which all, successfully,

Did sit upon their father’s regal throne,

Yet died and left no issue of their loins.



King Edward
But was my mother sister unto those?


Artois

She was, my lord; and only Isabel

Was all the daughters that this Philip had:

Whom afterward your father took to wife;

And from the fragrant garden of her womb,

Your gracious self, the flower of Europe’s hope,

Derived is inheritor to France.

But note the rancour of rebellious minds.

When thus the lineage of Le Beau was out,

The French obscur’d your mother’s privilege;

And, though she were the next of blood, proclaim’d

John, of the house of Valois, now their king:

The reason was, they say, the realm of France,

Replete with princes of great parentage,

Ought not admit a governor to rule

Except he be descended of the male;

And that’s the special ground of their contempt

Wherewith they study to exclude your grace:

But they shall find that forged ground of theirs

To be but dusty heaps of brittle sand.

Perhaps it will be thought a heinous thing

That I, a Frenchman, should discover this:

But Heaven I call to record of my vows;

It is not hate nor any private wrong,

But love unto my country and the right,

Provokes my tongue thus lavish in report:

You are the lineal watchman of our peace,

And John of Valois indirectly climbs:

What then should subjects, but embrace their king?

And wherein may our duty more be seen,

Than striving to rebate a tyrant’s pride

And place the true shepherd of our commonwealth?



King Edward

This counsel, Artois, like to fruitful showers,

Hath added growth unto my dignity:

And, by the fiery vigour of thy words,

Hot courage is engender’d in my breast,

Which heretofore was rack’d in ignorance,

But now doth mount with golden wings of fame,

And will approve fair Isabel’s descent

Able to yoke their stubborn necks with steel

That spurn against my sovereignty in France.⁠—Sound a horn.

A messenger?⁠—Lord Audley, know from whence. Exit Audley, and returns.



Audley

The Duke of Lorraine, having cross’d the seas,

Entreats he may have conference with your highness.



King Edward
Admit him, lords, that we may hear the news.⁠—Exeunt Lords. King takes his state.



Re-enter Lords; with Lorraine, attended.



Say, Duke of Lorraine, wherefore art thou come?


Lorraine

The most renowned prince, King John of France,

Doth greet thee, Edward: and by me commands,

That, for so much as by his liberal gift

The Guyenne dukedom is entail’d to thee,

Thou do him lowly homage for the same:

And, for that purpose, here I summon thee

Repair to France within these forty days,

That there, according as the custom is,

Thou may’st be sworn true liegeman to our king;

Or, else, thy title in that province dies,

And he himself will repossess the place.



King Edward

See, how occasion laughs me in the face!

No sooner minded to prepare for France,

But straight I am invited, nay, with threats,

Upon a penalty, enjoin’d to come:

’Twere but a childish part to say him nay.⁠—

Lorraine, return this answer to thy lord:

I mean to visit him, as he requests;

But how? not servilely dispos’d to bend,

But like a conqueror to make him bow.

His lame unpolish’d shifts are come to light,

And truth hath pull’d the vizard from his face

That set a gloss upon his arrogance.

Dare he command a fealty in me?

Tell him, the crown, that he usurps, is mine,

And where he sets his foot, he ought to kneel:

’Tis not a petty dukedom that I claim,

But all