<\/b>Comments on\u00a0Richard II<\/i>\u00a0without exception identify the play\u2019s usurper as\u00a0Henry Bolingbroke, who deposed King Richard in 1399. This is historically\u00a0correct: the Earl of March, Richard\u2019s little nephew Edmund Mortimer, was\u00a0at the time the first in line of succession. The boy being too young to\u00a0answer the realm\u2019s urgent need for a strong ruler, served Bolingbroke as\u00a0the justification to seize the crown for himself. But I wouldn\u2019t recommend to\u00a0apply this knowledge when analysing the play; it doesn\u2019t even mention young Edmund\u00a0to begin with.<\/p>\n
The next point of interest is that\u00a0King Richard violates the law by confiscating all property his full cousin Bolingbroke was entitled to inherit from his father John of Gaunt. This is also\u00a0recorded history, but Shakespeare Studies tend to forget that \u2018usurpation\u2019 is a\u00a0legal term for illegally taking possession in general. A fact that enables the\u00a0author to reverse the obvious as if he were a barrister: when the king is\u00a0forced into restitution of what does not legaly belongs to him, the play has him to add voluntarily his crown to the returned valuables. Of course\u00a0he has no option but to abdicate; abuse of power to squeeze money out of people fully justifies impeachment from any governmental office. Him to step\u00a0down in favour of Bolingbroke, however, is an artistic liberty that presents\u00a0Henry IV as the legitimate successor.<\/p>\n
When Shakespeare wrote this play in 1595 this was a sound opinion, because the reigning monarch for her legitimacy in the end depended on\u00a0Bolingbroke\u2019s. In 1601, however, this special account of the violent 1399\u00a0transfer of power served as the upbeat for armed rebellion; in a performance by the very same theatre company that only thirty-two days\u00a0before had accused Queen Elizabeth I of usurpation.<\/p>\n
Leaving little doubt that the author of\u00a0Twelfth-Night<\/i>\u00a0has been deeply\u00a0involved in the preparations to make Essex the next Bolingbroke.<\/p>\n
—<\/span><\/p>\n Klaas Alberts <\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n back to the previous chapter<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Comments on\u00a0Richard II\u00a0without exception identify the play\u2019s usurper as\u00a0Henry Bolingbroke, who deposed King Richard in 1399. This is historically\u00a0correct: the Earl of March, Richard\u2019s little nephew Edmund Mortimer, was\u00a0at the time the first in line of succession. The boy being … Continue reading
\n\u00a9 21 March 1996<\/span><\/p>\n