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PLAY SYNOPSIS - HENRY VI PART 1
A History
At Henry V's Funeral, Gloucester accuses the church of trying to control young Henry VI, though Winchester of the church denies it. A messenger brings news that the French are revolting, Dolphin (Dauphin) Charles is king, the English Lord Talbot is taken
prisoner and the English army under the Earl of Salisbury is weak and close to mutiny. Bedford vows to go to France to fight. At
Orléans the Dolphin, losing to Salisbury, meets a virgin/prophetess named Pucelle who seems to have God's protection. The Dauphin allows her to help them
fight. He also wants to marry her. At the Tower of London, Winchester will not let Gloucester see Henry VI. They
fight but the mayor breaks them up. At Orléans Talbot, freed from the French, greets Salisbury. While spying on the enemy in a tower they are hit by a cannonball and Salisbury is gravely hurt and dies, while Gargrave is hurt. Talbot swears revenge.
Talbot fights Pucelle and loses, though he doesn't die. The French capture the city and the Dolphin marries Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc), naming her a saint. They
celebrate but the English attack at night by surprise. The Dolphin and Joan of Arc flee and the English recapture the city. Talbot (named "great warrior") visits by invitation the Countess of Auvergne. There she tries to imprison him (she finds him a "silly dwarf" rather than a warrior), but his soldiers rescue him (foreseen by Talbot). The countess, impressed, feeds them all. At a
garden Richard Plantagenet argues with Somerset about whether he (Plantagenet) is base and scum because his father, Richard, Earl of
Cambridge was executed for treason by Henry V - thus starting the War of the Roses.
At the Tower of London Edmund Mortimer, the 5th Earl of March (who's in jail) meets his nephew, Richard Plantagenet. Mortimer explains that Henry IV imprisoned him because the Percies wanted him to be king after Henry IV deposed Richard II. Then, during Henry V's reign, Richard Earl of Cambridge (married to Mortimer's sister, Richard's
mother) rose against Henry V, failed and was beheaded. Mortimer declares Richard his
heir, then dies. In parliament Winchester and Gloucester regrettably make peace and Richard Plantagenet is declared the Third Duke of York by young King Henry VI (though Somerset disagrees). Henry VI goes to France to be crowned King while Exeter (Henry VI's great uncle) repeats the
prophesy that Henry V will win all and Henry VI will lose all. In France, at
Rouen Joan of Arc (la Pucelle) and the Dauphin fight the English. The Duke of Bedford (Henry V's brother) sits,
dying and observing. The French retreat and Bedford, dies happy,
after which Talbot and Burgundy find him. Talbot marches to Paris but la Pucelle convinces Burgundy to fight for France.
In Paris, King Henry VI declares Talbot the Earl of Shrewsbury. Next, Falstaff returns with a letter from Burgundy stating his intentions. Falstaff himself is banished for cowardly
behaviour in battle. Finally, Henry VI tries with little success to calm the furore between Somerset and the Duke of York. Talbot arrives at Bordeaux to fight, only to find that he is surround by French: the Bastard of
Orléans, Charles, Burgundy, Alen‡on and Reignier. York cannot send men without Somerset's horses, and Somerset refuses to help York, so Talbot is greatly outnumbered. Talbot's son John meets his
father at Bordeaux to help fight. They both die in battle.
In London Henry VI agrees to a peace settlement, including marriage to Margaret, the daughter of a Frenchman, the Earl of Armagnac. Reignier Winchester is now Cardinal and plans even more to suppress Gloucester (Lord Protector of Henry VI) and control Henry VI himself. At Angiers, York defeats the French and captures
Pucelle. The Earl of Suffolk catches Margaret of Anjou, daughter of Reignier and gets the idea that she should marry Henry VI, to which her father agrees. York sentences Pucelle to death by burning at the stack. She denies her own
father then claims she is pregnant yet still a virgin, but York is not swayed. She curses England to despair. York is informed of the peace settlement and regrettably makes peace with Charles the Dauphin. In London, Henry VI decides to marry Margaret of Anjou, daughter of Reignier
and not Armagnac's daughter Margaret. Gloucester is very disappointed and fears trouble, as is confirmed by Suffolk's statement of intent to control Margaret (via an affair with her), Henry VI (through
Margaret) and the Realm.
Chronologically, Henry V dies 7 years after Agincourt.
Above: "Julius Caesar's ill-erected Tower" (Richard II), across the river, towards the left at the top; the Tower is referred to in several of Shakespeare's English histories - it is significant in all three parts of Henry VI; it was the place where Bolingbroke confined the King in Richard II and the place where Richard III imprisoned the two little Princes and then murdered them; in Henry VIII Archbishop Cranmer is ordered to the Tower by his enemies but is saved by the intervention of the King
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