Henry VIII (Play)
The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight is a history play by
William Shakespeare and (allegedly) John Fletcher, based on the life of Henry VIII
of England. An alternative title, All is True, is recorded in contemporary
documents, the title Henry VIII not appearing until the play's publication in the
First Folio of 1623. Stylistic evidence indicates that the play was written by
Shakespeare in collaboration with, or revised by, his successor, John Fletcher. It is
also somewhat characteristic of the late romances in its structure.
During a performance of Henry VIII at the Globe Theatre in 1613, a cannon shot
employed for special effects ignited the theatre's thatched roof (and the beams),
burning the original building to the ground.
Sources
As usual in his history plays, Shakespeare relied primarily on Raphael Holinshed's
Chronicles to achieve his dramatic ends and to accommodate official sensitivities
over the materials involved. Shakespeare not only telescoped events that
occurred over a span of two decades, but jumbled their actual order. The play
implies, without stating it directly, that the treason charges against the Duke of
Buckingham were false and trumped up; and it maintains a comparable ambiguity
about other sensitive issues. The disgrace and beheading of Anne Boleyn (here
spelled Bullen) is carefully avoided, and no indication of the succeeding four wives
of Henry VIII can be found in the play. However, Katherine of Aragon's plea to
Henry before the Legatine Court seems to have been taken straight from historical
record.
Date and performances
Most modern scholars date Henry VIII to 1613, the year in which the Globe
Theatre burned down during one of the play's earliest known performances. One
contemporary report states that the play was relatively new at the time of the
fire, having "been acted not passing 2 or 3 times before".
Before the discovery of this evidence, most leading 18th and 19th century
scholars, including Samuel Johnson, Lewis Theobald, George Steevens, Edmund
Malone and James Halliwell-Philips, dated the play's composition to before 1603,
claiming that the pro-Tudor nature of the play makes it highly unlikely it would
appear during the reign of King James, [citation needed] whose mother was beheaded by
the Tudors. However, plays offering positive portrayals of major Tudor figures like
Henry VIII (When You See Me You Know Me, 1605) and Queen Elizabeth (If You
Know Not Me, You Know Nobody, also 1605) were in fact performed, published,
and re-published throughout the Stuart era.
Henry VIII is one of the twenty or so Shakespearean plays for which an early
performance can be precisely dated. In the case of Henry VIII, the performance is
especially noteworthy because of the fire that destroyed the Globe Theatre during
the performance, as described in several contemporary documents. These confirm
that the fire took place on 29 June 1613.
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Fifteen years to the day after the fire, on 29 June 1628, The King's Men performed
the play again at the Globe. The performance was witnessed by George Villiers,
the contemporary Duke of Buckingham, who left halfway through, once the play's
Duke of Buckingham was executed. (A month later, Villiers was assassinated.)
One often reported tradition associated with the play involves John Downes,
promptor of the Duke of York's Company from 1662 to 1706. In his Roscius
Anglicanus (1708), Downes claims that the role of Henry VIII in this play was
originally performed by John Lowin, who "had his instructions from Mr.
Shakespeare himself." However, the personal involvement of "Mr.
Shakespeare" has not been substantiated by any contemporary source.
During the Restoration era, Sir William Davenant staged a production, starring
Thomas Betterton, that was seen by Pepys. Subsequent stagings of the play by
David Garrick, Charles Kean, Henry Irving (who chose to play Wolsey, the villain
and perhaps the showier role of the play, in 1888, with Ellen Terry as the noble
Katherine of Aragon), and Herbert Beerbohm Tree grew ever more elaborate in
their exploitation of the play's pageantry.
Since the nineteenth century, however, the play has fallen from favour, and
productions of it remain extremely rare. The positive critical response to a recent
production (1996–1997) by the Royal Shakespeare Company, however, indicates
that the play may be more stage worthy than its current reputation suggests.
The play is to be staged at The Globe Theatre London from May until 21 August
2010. It was staged at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre (Washington, D.C.) from
October 12 until November 28, 2010; this production added a puppeter-narrator,
named for Henry VIII's jester, Will Somers.
Authorship
The play is generally believed to be a collaboration between Shakespeare and
John Fletcher, the writer who replaced him as the principal playwright of the
King's Men. There is no contemporary evidence for this; the evidence lies in the
style of the verse, which in some scenes appears closer to Fletcher's typical style
than Shakespeare's. It is also not known whether Fletcher's involvement can be
characterized as collaboration or revision.
The possibility of collaboration with Fletcher was first raised by James Spedding,
an expert on Francis Bacon, in 1850. Spedding and other early commentators
relied on a range of distinctive features in Fletcher's style and language
preferences, which they saw in the Shakespearean play. For the next century the
question of dual authorship was controversial, with more evidence accumulating in
favor of the collaborative hypothesis. In 1966, Erdman and Fogel could write that
"today a majority of scholars accept the theory of Fletcher's partial authorship,
though a sturdy minority deny it."
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An influential stylistic or stylometric study was undertaken by Cyrus Hoy, who in
1962 divided the play between Shakespeare and Fletcher based on their
distinctive word choices, for example Fletcher's uses of ye for you and 'em for
them.[ In the mid-nineteenth century, James Spedding had proposed a similar
division based on the use of eleven-syllable lines; he arrived at the same
conclusions Hoy would reach a century later. The Sped
ding-Hoy division is generally accepted, although subsequent studies have
questioned some of its details.
The most common delineation of the two poets' shares in the play is this:
Shakespeare: Act I, scenes i and ii; II,iii and iv; III,ii, lines 1-203 (to exit of
King); V,i.
Fletcher: Prologue; I,iii; II,i and ii; III,i, and ii, 203-458 (after exit of King);
IV,i and ii; V ii–v; Epilogue.
Stage history
Henry VIII is believed to have been first performed as part of the ceremonies
celebrating the marriage of Princess Elizabeth in 1612-1613, although the first
recorded performance was on 29 June 1613, when cannon fire called for in Act I,
Scene iv (line 49) set fire to the thatched roof of the Globe Theatre and burned it
to the ground. Thomas Betterton played Henry in 1664, and Colley Cibber revived
it frequently in the 1720s. The play's spectacle made it very popular with
audiences of the nineteenth century, with Charles Kean staging a particularly
elaborate revival in 1815, and Henry Irving counting Cardinal Wolsey amongst his
greatest characterizations.
The play's popularity has waned in the twentieth century, although Charles
Laughton played Henry at Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1933 and Margaret Webster
directed it as the inaugural production of her American Repertory Company on
Broadway in 1946 with Walter Hampden as Wolsey and Eva Le Gallienne as
Katherine. John Gielgud played Wolsey, Harry Andrews the king and Edith Evans
Katharine at Stratford in 1959. The longest Broadway run the play has had is
Herbert Beerbohm Tree's 1916 production in which Lyn Harding played Henry and
Tree played Wolsey, running 63 performances. Another notable production was
the first at the reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe from 15 May to 21 August
2010, as part of the theatre's first season of Shakespeare's history plays, with
cannon fire at the same point as the 1613 production and a cast including Dominic
Rowan as Henry, Miranda Raison as Anne, Ian McNeice as Wolsey and Kate
Duchêne as Katherine (with Raison also playing Anne in the same season's Anne
Boleyn).
Synopsis
The play opens with a Prologue, (a figure otherwise unidentified), who stresses
that the audience will see a serious play, and appeals to the audience members,
"The first and happiest hearers of the town," to "Be sad, as we would make ye."
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Act I opens with a conversation between the Dukes of Norfolk and Buckingham
and Lord Abergavenny. Their speeches express their mutual resentment over the
ruthless power and overweening pride of Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey passes over the
stage with his attendants, and expresses his own hostility toward Buckingham.
Later Buckingham is arrested on treason charges— Wolsey's doing.
The play's second scene introduces King Henry VIII, and shows his reliance on
Wolsey as his favorite. Queen Katherine enters to protest Wolsey's abuse of the
tax system for his own purposes; Wolsey defends himself, but when the King
revokes the Cardinal's measures, Wolsey spreads a rumor that he himself is
responsible for the King's action. Katherine also challenges the arrest of
Buckingham, but Wolsey defends the arrest by producing the Duke's Surveyor,
the primary accuser. After hearing the Surveyor, the King orders Buckingham's
trial to occur.
At a banquet thrown by Wolsey, the King and his attendants enter in disguise as
masquers. The King dances with Anne Boleyn.
Two anonymous Gentlemen open Act II, one giving the other an account of
Buckingham's treason trial. Buckingham himself enters in custody after his
conviction, and makes his farewells to his followers and to the public. After his
exit, the two Gentlemen talk about court gossip, especially Wolsey's hostility
toward Katherine. The next scene shows Wolsey beginning to move against the
Queen, while the nobles Norfolk and Suffolk look on critically. Wolsey introduces
Cardinal Campeius and Gardiner to the King; Campeius has come to serve as a
judge in the trial Wolsey is arranging for Katherine.
Anne Boleyn is shown conversing with the Old Lady who is her attendant. Anne
expresses her sympathy at the Queen's troubles; but then the Lord Chamberlain
enters to inform her that the King has made her Marchioness of Pembroke. Once
the Lord Chamberlain leaves, the Old Lady jokes about Anne's sudden
advancement in the King's favor.
A lavishly-staged trial scene portrays Katherine's hearing before the King and his
courtiers. Katherine reproaches Wolsey for his machinations against her, and
refuses to stay for the proceedings. But the King defends Wolsey, and states that
it was his own doubts about the legitimacy of their marriage that led to the trial.
Campeius protests that the hearing cannot continue in the Queen's absence, and
the King grudgingly adjourns the proceeding. Wolsey and Campeius confront
Katherine among her ladies-in-waiting; Katherine makes an emotional protest
about her treatment.
Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, and the Lord Chamberlain are shown plotting against
Wolsey. A packet of Wolsey's letters to the Pope have been re-directed to the
King; the letters show that Wolsey is playing a double game, opposing Henry's
planned divorce from Katherine to the Pope while supporting it to the King. The
King shows Wolsey his displeasure, and Wolsey for the first time realizes that he
has lost Henry's favor. The noblemen mock Wolsey, and the Cardinal sends his
follower Cromwell away so that Cromwell will not be brought down in Wolsey's fall
from grace.
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The two Gentlemen return to observe and comment upon the lavish procession for
Anne Boleyn's coronation as Queen, which passes over the stage in their
presence. Afterward they are joined by a third Gentleman, who updates them on
more court gossip — the rise of Thomas Cromwell in royal favor, and plots against
Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Katherine is shown, ill; she has a vision
of dancing spirits. Cardinal Campeius visits her; Katherine expresses her
continuing loyalty to the King despite their divorce, and wishes the new Queen
well.
The King summons a nervous Cranmer to his presence, and expresses his
support; later, when Cranmer is shown disrespect by the King's Council, Henry
reproves them and displays his favor of the churchman. Anne Boleyn gives birth
to a daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth. In the play's closing scenes, the Porter
and his Man complain about trying to control the massive and enthusiastic crowds
that attend the infant Elizabeth's christening; another lush procession is followed
by a prediction of the glories of the new born princess's future reign, and the
play's Epilogue.
Henry VIII (opera)
Operas
Henry VIII is an opera in four acts by Camille Saint-Saëns, from a libretto by
Léonce Détroyat and Armand Silvestre, based on El cisma en Inglaterra (The
schism in England) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca.
Composition history
The action covers the period in Henry VIII's life when the king was discarding
Queen Catherine of Aragon in favour of Anne Boleyn, a move rejected by the
Church.
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In an effort to evoke the historical context, Saint-Saëns researched English music
from the period and incorporated several English, Scottish, and Irish folk melodies
into his score, as well as an air by William Byrd, contained in the Fitzwilliam
Virginal Book.
Performance history
Henry VIII received its first performance on 5 March 1883 at the Opéra de Paris,
where it remained in the repertoire until 1919. It was seen at the Royal Opera
House, London in 1889 with Maurice-Arnold Renaud in the title role, Lina Pacary
as Catherine d'Aragon, and Meyriane Héglon as Anne Boleyn. It was revived in
1991 at the Théatre Impérial de Compiègne in a production by Pierre Jourdan,
with Philippe Rouillon as Henry VIII, Michèle Command as Catherine of Aragon
and Lucile Vignon as Anne Boleyn. The production was made into a film.
Performances were given at the Liceu in Barcelona in 2002 where it was staged
once again by Pierre Jourdan with Montserrat Caballé as Catherine, Simon Estes
as Henry and Nomeda Kazlaus as Anne Boleyn, with José Collado conducting.
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Henry VIII
1509-47 AD
Henry VIII, born in 1491, was the second son of Henry VII and
Elizabeth of York. The significance of Henry's reign is, at times,
overshadowed by his six marriages: dispensing with these forthwith
enables a deeper search into the major themes of the reign. He
married Catherine of Aragon (widow of his brother, Arthur) in 1509,
divorcing her in 1533; the union produced one daughter, Mary. Henry
married the pregnant Anne Boleyn in 1533; she gave him another
daughter, Elizabeth, but was executed for infidelity (a treasonous charge in the
king's consort) in May 1536. He married Jane Seymour by the end of the same
month, who died giving birth to Henry's lone male heir, Edward, in October 1536.
Early in 1540, Henry arranged a marriage with Anne of Cleves, after viewing Hans
Holbein's beautiful portrait of the German princess. In person, alas, Henry found
her homely and the marriage was never consummated. In July 1540, he married
the adulterous Catherine Howard - she was executed for infidelity in March 1542.
Catherine Parr became his wife in 1543, providing for the needs of both Henry and
his children until his death in 1547.
The court life initiated by his father evolved into a cornerstone of Tudor
government in the reign of Henry VIII. After his father's staunch, stolid rule, the
energetic, youthful and handsome king avoided governing in person, much
preferring to journey the countryside hunting and reviewing his subjects. Matters
of state were left in the hands of others, most notably Thomas Wolsey,
Archbishop of York. Cardinal Wolsey virtually ruled England until his failure to
secure the papal annulment that Henry needed to marry Anne Boleyn in 1533.
Wolsey was quite capable as Lord Chancellor, but his own interests were served
more than that of the king: as powerful as he was, he still was subject to Henry's
favor - losing Henry's confidence proved to be his downfall. The early part of
Henry's reign, however, saw the young king invade France, defeat Scottish forces
at the Battle of Foldden Field (in which James IV of Scotland was slain), and write
a treatise denouncing Martin Luther's Reformist ideals, for which the pope
awarded Henry the title "Defender of the Faith".
The 1530's witnessed Henry's growing involvement in government, and a series of
events which greatly altered England, as well as the whole of Western
Christendom: the separation of the Church of England from Roman Catholicism.
The separation was actually a by-product of Henry's obsession with producing a
male heir; Catherine of Aragon failed to produce a male and the need to maintain
dynastic legitimacy forced Henry to seek an annulment from the pope in order to
marry Anne Boleyn. Wolsey tried repeatedly to secure a legal annulment from
Pope Clement VII, but Clement was beholden to the Charles V, Holy Roman
Emperor and nephew of Catherine. Henry summoned the Reformation Parliament
in 1529, which passed 137 statutes in seven years and exercised an influence in
political and ecclesiastic affairs which was unknown to feudal parliaments.
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Religious reform movements had already taken hold in England, but on a small
scale: the Lollards had been in existence since the mid-fourteenth century and the
ideas of Luther and Zwingli circulated within intellectual groups, but continental
Protestantism had yet to find favor with the English people. The break from Rome
was accomplished through law, not social outcry; Henry, as Supreme Head of the
Church of England, acknowledged this by slight alterations in worship ritual
instead of a wholesale reworking of religious dogma. England moved into an era
of "conformity of mind" with the new royal supremacy (much akin to the
absolutism of France's Louis XIV): by 1536, all ecclesiastical and government
officials were required to publicly approve of the break with Rome and take an
oath of loyalty. The king moved away from the medieval idea of ruler as chief
lawmaker and overseer of civil behavior, to the modern idea of ruler as the
ideological icon of the state.
The remainder of Henry's reign was anticlimactic. Anne Boleyn lasted only three
years before her execution; she was replaced by Jane Seymour, who laid Henry's
dynastic problems to rest with the birth of Edward VI. Fragmented noble factions
involved in the Wars of the Roses found themselves reduced to vying for the
king's favor in court. Reformist factions won the king's confidence and vastly
benefiting from Henry's dissolution of the monasteries, as monastic lands and
revenues went either to the crown or the nobility. The royal staff continued the
rise in status that began under Henry VII, eventually to rival the power of the
nobility. Two men, in particular, were prominent figures through the latter stages
of Henry's reign: Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer. Cromwell, an efficient
administrator, succeeded Wolsey as Lord Chancellor, creating new governmental
departments for the varying types of revenue and establishing parish priest's duty
of recording births, baptisms, marriages and deaths. Cranmer, Archbishop of
Canterbury, dealt with and guided changes in ecclesiastical policy and oversaw the
dissolution of the monasteries.
Henry VIII built upon the innovations instituted by his father. The break with
Rome, coupled with an increase in governmental bureaucracy, led to the royal
supremacy that would last until the execution of Charles I and the establishment
of the Commonwealth one hundred years after Henry's death. Henry was beloved
by his subjects, facing only one major insurrection, the Pilgrimage of Grace,
enacted by the northernmost counties in retaliation to the break with Rome and
the poor economic state of the region. History remembers Henry in much the
same way as Piero Pasqualigo, a Venetian ambassador: "... he is in every respect
a most accomplished prince."
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KING ALFRED THE GREAT
King Alfred the Great (849, ruled 871-899) was one of the best kings ever to rule
mankind. He defended Anglo-Saxon England from Viking raids, formulated a code
of laws, and fostered a rebirth of religious and scholarly activity. His reign exhibits
military skill and innovation, sound governance and the ability to inspire men and
plan for the future, piety and a practical commitment to the support of religion,
personal scholarship and the promotion of education.
"Desire for and possession of earthly power never pleased me overmuch, and I
did not unduly desire this earthly rule, but that nevertheless I wished for tools and
resources for the task that I was commanded to accomplish, which was that I
should virtuously and worthily guide and direct the authority which was entrusted
to me. You know of course that no one can make known any skill, nor direct and
guide any authority, without tools and resources; a man cannot work on any
enterprise without resources. In the case of the king, the resources and tools with
which to rule are that he have his land fully manned: he must have praying men,
fighting men and working men. You also know that without these tools no king
may make his ability known. Another aspect of his resources is that he must have
the means of support for his tools, the three classes of men. These, then are their
means of support: land to live on, gifts, weapons, food, ale, clothing, and
whatever else is necessary for each of the three classes of men. Without these
things he cannot maintain the tools, nor without the tools can he accomplish any
of the things he was commanded to do. Accordingly, I sought the resources with
which to exercise the authority, in order that my skills and power would not be
forgotten and concealed: because every skill and every authority is soon obsolete
and passed over, if it is without wisdom; because no man may bring to bear any
skill without wisdom. For whatever is done unthinkingly, cannot be reckoned a
skill. To speak briefly: I desired to live worthily as long as I lived, and to leave
after my life, to the men who should come after me, the memory of me in good
works."
-- from Alfred's translation of Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, chapter XVII.
[Keynes & Lapidge, pp 132-33.] This is an interpolation by Alfred, not in Boethius.
As Alfred says in his preface, he has sometimes translated word for word, and
sometimes sense for sense. In a footnote (p. 298), Keynes & Lapidge caution that
this paragraph should not be taken as King Alfred's personal credo. However, it
rings true for me, and I acknowledge the man behind the words.
"The just man builds on a modest foundation and gradually proceeds to greater
things."
-- Asser cites this saying when he is describing King Alfred's method of learning
(chapter 88). Keynes and Lapidge say that the source of this quotation is
unknown. I can imagine that this saying originated with Alfred himself. It perfectly
expresses his practical approach to development of his kingdom. In this saying
"the just man" is to be understood, in more modern language, as meaning "the
man of sound judgement".
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