King Henry V · William Shakespeare
HISTORICAL NOTES TO ACT SECOND.
(A) _----the man that was his bedfellow,_] So, Holinshed: "The said Lord Scroop was in such favour with the king, that he admitted him sometimes to be his _bedfellow_." The familiar appellation, of _bedfellow_, which appears strange to us, was common among the ancient nobility. There is a letter from the sixth Earl of Northumberland (still preserved in the collection of the present duke), addressed "To his beloved cousin, Thomas Arundel," &c., which begins "_Bedfellow_, after my most haste recommendation." --_Steevens_. This unseemly custom continued common till the middle of the last century, if not later. Cromwell obtained much of his intelligence, during the civil wars, from the mean men with whom he slept. --_Malone_. After the battle of Dreux, 1562, the Prince of Conde slept in the same bed with the Duke of Guise; an anecdote frequently cited, to show the magnanimity of the latter, who slept soundly, though so near his greatest enemy, then his prisoner. --_Nares._
(B) _For me,--the gold of France did not seduce;_] Holinshed observes, "that Richard, Earl of Cambridge, did not conspire with the Lord Scroop and Thomas Grey, for the murdering of King Henry to please the French king, but only to the intent to exalt to the crown his brother-in-law Edmund, Earl of March, as heir to Lionel, Duke of Clarence; after the death of which Earl of March, for divers secret impediments not able to have issue, the Earl of Cambridge was sure that the crown should come to him by his wife, and to his children of her begotten; and therefore (as was thought), he rather confessed himself for need of money to be corrupted by the French king, than he would declare his inward mind, &c., which if it were espied, he saw plainly that the Earl of March should have tasted of the same cup that he had drunk, and what should have come to his own children he merely doubted, &c." A million of gold is stated to have been given by France to the conspirators. Historians have, however, generally expressed their utter inability to explain upon what grounds the conspirators built their expectation of success; and unless they had been promised powerful assistance from France, the design seems to have been one of the most absurd and hopeless upon record. The confession of the Earl of Cambridge, and his supplication for mercy in his own hand writing, is in the British Museum.
There might a man have seen in every street, The father bidding farewell to his son; Small children kneeling at their father's feet: The wife with her dear husband ne'er had done: Brother, his brother, with adieu to greet: One friend to take leave of another, run; The maiden with her best belov'd to part, Gave him her hand who took away her heart. The nobler youth the common rank above, On their curveting coursers mounted fair: One wore his mistress' garter, one her glove; And he a lock of his dear lady's hair: And he her colours, whom he did most love; There was not one but did some favour wear: And each one took it, on his happy speed, To make it famous by some knightly deed. (E) Enter the FRENCH KING, _the DAUPHIN, the_ DUKE OF BURGUNDY, _the CONSTABLE, and others._] Charles VI., surnamed the Well Beloved, was King of France during the most disastrous period of its history. He ascended the throne in 1380, when only thirteen years of age. In 1385 he married Isabella of Bavaria, who was equally remarkable for her beauty and her depravity. The unfortunate king was subject to fits of insanity, which lasted for several months at a time. On the 21st October, 1422, seven years after the battle of Agincourt, Charles VI. ended his unhappy life at the age of 55, having reigned 42 years. Lewis the Dauphin was the eldest son of Charles VI. He was born 22nd January, 1396, and died before his father, December 18th, 1415, in his twentieth year. History says, "Shortly after the battle of Agincourt, either for melancholy that he had for the loss, or by some sudden disease, Lewis, Dovphin of Viennois, heir apparent to the French king, departed this life without issue."
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.