Henry IV Part 1 Historical Context The War

Henry IV Part 1 Historical Context The War of the Roses

The Two Feuding Families • While ‘Henry IV Part 1’ was written in 1597, it is set in the early 15 th century (1402 -1403) • The War of the Roses (as it was later named) was a series of civil wars fought in medieval England from 1455 to 1487 • The War was between two houses: the house of Lancaster (red rose) and the house of York (white) and their supporters • The major causes of conflict between the houses revolved around the following: - Both houses were direct descendants of Edward III (and substituents of the House of Plantagenet) - The ruling King Henry VI had fairly unpopular nobles as allies - civil unrest seemed to dominate England at the time (see Henry’s speech in Act 1 Scene 1) • The War of the Roses finally came to an end in 1485 -87, the Tudor

Shakespeare’s Influences (i. e. why he chose to write the way he did…) • In 1597 (when Shakespeare wrote the play), the reigning monarch was Queen Elizabeth • Queen Elizabeth was a member of the Tudor dynasty and therefore a descendent of the House of Lancaster • As Shakespeare wanted to please the Queen (read: brown-nosing ladder climber. Just kidding. ) he rewrote history to basically make her family look good (as their hold on the throne was fairly tenuous)

Shakespeare’s Influences • The play deals with the aftermath of the ascension of King Henry IV to the throne after the reign of Richard II • To get a better understanding of the play, we must first delve into it’s predecessor – ‘Richard II’. • Firstly, note that Richard II was a York • The story of Richard II details the story of a treacherous King whose evil greed and ambition lead to his demise (make sure you read a synopsis of the play – it will make a lot of sense!) • Henry Bolingbroke (aka our own King Henry IV) in ‘Richard II’ was painted as a hero by Shakespeare for his ascension to the throne, taken from the greedy King Richard • The play depicts another nobleman executing Richard in prison for his treachery, however history suggests that King Henry IV may have simply let him starve to death in the tower he was locked in (a fairly horrible death)

Shakespeare’s Influences - the end of Feudalism and the rise of Industrialism • And this is where our play begins. King Henry is in power, but his hold is fairly tenuous. Edward Mortimer (a York) is in fact the rightful heir to the throne (however due to the fact that he is aligned with the rebels, Shakespeare paints him as an unfavourable character. But more on that later in our study!) • Once again, remember that Shakespeare was writing for Queen Elizabeth I (a Tudor and descedent of Lancaster) • However, as we know, the real hero of

Shakespeare’s Influences - the end of Feudalism and the rise of Industrialism • England at this point in time was in the process of moving from the political ideal of Feudalism (basically a system whereby the powerful exchanged land for labour and the nobility of the warrior was valued – think Hotspur) to an Industrialised society (more specifically pre-industrialism – valuing democracy and people’s lives – think about the notion of valour!) • Prince Hal therefore seems to embody the traits that Queen Elizabeth was forced to use as a monarch (democracy, grace) as, due to being a woman, she could not be the ‘noble warrior’ as Hotspur is painted as (however note that Hotspur is painted as the villain by