Henry VI, Part One

TODAY! There is much we can learn from Shakespeare’s much neglected mash and bash play, HENRY VI, PART ONE. 

Henry V of England had conquered France and attempted to meld England and France into one country. Remember, in 1066, the Norman, William the Conqueror crossed the English Channel and conquered England. So, England and France had a long incestuous relationship. 

Henry V died suddenly, creating a secession crises in England and rebellion in France. 

His son:

“Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crowned King

Of France and England, did this king succeed,

Whose state so many had the managing

That they lost France and made his England bleed,

Which oft our stage hath shown.”

(Henry V, Epilogue)

Hubris reigned in England splitting and weakening the country—a defeatist fanatic refusal to compromise. Sound familiar? Divide and be conquered.

“SOMERSET (Red Rose)

Ah, thou shalt find us ready for thee still,

And know us by these colors for thy foes,.

For these my friends in spite of thee shall wear.

PLANTAGENET (White Rose)

And, by my soul, this pale and angry rose,

As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate,

Will I forever, and my faction, wear

Until it wither with me to my grave

Or flourish to the height of my degree.”

The War of Roses begins. 

“Shall send, between the red rose and the white,

A thousand souls to death and deadly night.”

Shakespeare was a poet, not a historian and he exercised poetic license broadly. 

The play moves from location to location, back and forth across the channel, mash and bash;  with a major desertion, Joan of Arc and a marriage tossed in. 

The play was very popular in Shakespeare’s time; they were living with the consequences and so are we. What would have happened if England and France had melded into one country? How would that have changed the colonization of North America? And…?

The play has an open-ended ending.

“SUFFOLK (Red Rose)

Thus Suffolk hath prevailed, and thus he goes

As did the youthful Paris once to Greece,

With hope to find the like event in love,

But prosper better than the Trojan did..

Margaret shall now be queen, and rule the King,

But I will rule both her, the King, and realm.”

Meaning: “To Be Continued”, and it is in Henry VI, Part Two, and Part Three; coming next year, with unintended consequences and people changing loyalties so often that know-one knows who is what. In other words the plot thickens. 

See the play, pause and reflect. There is much to learn.