Act 4, Scene 7

Another part of the field.

[Enter Fluellen and Gower.]
Fluellen
2326 Kill the poys and the luggage! 'Tis expressly against the
2327 law of arms. 'Tis as arrant a piece of knavery, mark you now,
2328 as can be offer't; in your conscience, now, is it not?
Gower
2329 'Tis certain there's not a boy left alive; and the cowardly
2330 rascals that ran from the battle ha' done this slaughter.
2331 Besides, they have burned and carried away all that was in the
2332 King's tent; wherefore the King, most worthily, hath caus'd every
2333 soldier to cut his prisoner's throat. O, 'tis a gallant king!
Fluellen
2334 Ay, he was porn at Monmouth, Captain Gower. What call you
2335 the town's name where Alexander the Pig was born?
Gower
2336 Alexander the Great.
Fluellen
2337 Why, I pray you, is not pig great? The pig, or the great, or the
2338 mighty, or the huge, or the magnanimous, are all one reckonings,
2339 save the phrase is a little variations.
Gower
2340 I think Alexander the Great was born in Macedon. His father
2341 was called Philip of Macedon, as I take it.
Fluellen
2342 I think it is in Macedon where Alexander is porn. I tell you,
2343 Captain, if you look in the maps of the 'orld, I warrant you
2344 sall find, in the comparisons between Macedon and Monmouth,
2345 that the situations, look you, is both alike. There is a river in
2346 Macedon; and there is also moreover a river at Monmouth; it is
2347 call'd Wye at Monmouth; but it is out of my prains what is the
2348 name of the other river; but 'tis all one, 'tis alike as my fingers
2349 is to my fingers, and there is salmons in both. If you mark
2350 Alexander's life well, Harry of Monmouth's life is come after it
2351 indifferent well; for there is figures in all things. Alexander,
2352 God knows, and you know, in his rages, and his furies, and his
2353 wraths, and his cholers, and his moods, and his displeasures, and
2354 his indignations, and also being a little intoxicates in his prains,
2355 did, in his ales and his angers, look you, kill his best friend,
2356 Cleitus.
Gower
2357 Our King is not like him in that. He never kill'd any of
2358 his friends.
Fluellen
2359 It is not well done, mark you now, to take the tales out
2360 of my mouth, ere it is made and finished. I speak but in the
2361 figures and comparisons of it. As Alexander kill'd his friend
2362 Cleitus, being in his ales and his cups; so also Harry Monmouth,
2363 being in his right wits and his good judgements, turn'd away the
2364 fat knight with the great belly doublet. He was full of jests,
2365 and gipes, and knaveries, and mocks; I have forgot his name.
Gower
2366 Sir John Falstaff.
Fluellen
2367 That is he. I'll tell you there is good men porn at Monmouth.
Gower
2368 Here comes his Majesty.
[Alarum. Enter King Henry and [forces; Warwick, Gloucester, Exeter, with prisoners. Flourish.]
King Henry V
2369 I was not angry since I came to France
2370 Until this instant. Take a trumpet, herald;
2371 Ride thou unto the horsemen on yond hill.
2372 If they will fight with us, bid them come down,
2373 Or void the field; they do offend our sight.
2374 If they'll do neither, we will come to them,
2375 And make them skirr away, as swift as stones
2376 Enforced from the old Assyrian slings.
2377 Besides, we'll cut the throats of those we have,
2378 And not a man of them that we shall take
2379 Shall taste our mercy. Go and tell them so.
[Enter Montjoy.]
Duke of Exeter
2380 Here comes the herald of the French, my liege.
Duke of Gloucester
2381 His eyes are humbler than they us'd to be.
King Henry V
2382 How now! what means this, herald? Know'st thou not
2383 That I have fin'd these bones of mine for ransom?
2384 Com'st thou again for ransom?
Montjoy
2385 No, great King;
2386 I come to thee for charitable license,
2387 That we may wander o'er this bloody field
2388 To book our dead, and then to bury them;
2389 To sort our nobles from our common men.
2390 For many of our princes—woe the while!—
2391 Lie drown'd and soak'd in mercenary blood;
2392 So do our vulgar drench their peasant limbs
2393 In blood of princes; and their wounded steeds
2394 Fret fetlock deep in gore, and with wild rage
2395 Yerk out their armed heels at their dead masters,
2396 Killing them twice. O, give us leave, great King,
2397 To view the field in safety, and dispose
2398 Of their dead bodies!
King Henry V
2399 I tell thee truly, herald,
2400 I know not if the day be ours or no;
2401 For yet a many of your horsemen peer
2402 And gallop o'er the field.
Montjoy
2403 The day is yours.
King Henry V
2404 Praised be God, and not our strength, for it!
2405 What is this castle call'd that stands hard by?
Montjoy
2406 They call it Agincourt.
King Henry V
2407 Then call we this the field of Agincourt,
2408 Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus.
Fluellen
2409 Your grandfather of famous memory, an't please your
2410 Majesty, and your great-uncle Edward the Plack Prince of
2411 Wales, as I have read in the chronicles, fought a most prave
2412 pattle here in France.
King Henry V
2413 They did, Fluellen.
Fluellen
2414 Your Majesty says very true. If your Majesties is rememb'red of
2415 it, the Welshmen did good service in garden where leeks did grow,
2416 wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps; which, your Majesty know,
2417 to this hour is an honourable badge of the service; and I do
2418 believe your Majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint
2419 Tavy's day.
King Henry V
2420 I wear it for a memorable honour;
2421 For I am Welsh, you know, good countryman.
Fluellen
2422 All the water in Wye cannot wash your Majesty's Welsh plood out
2423 of your pody, I can tell you that. Got pless it and preserve it,
2424 as long as it pleases His grace, and His majesty too!
King Henry V
2425 Thanks, good my countryman.
Fluellen
2426 By Jeshu, I am your Majesty's countryman, I care not who know it.
2427 I will confess it to all the 'orld. I need not be asham'd of your
2428 Majesty, praised be God, so long as your Majesty is an honest man.
King Henry V
2429 God keep me so!
[Enter Williams.]
King Henry V
2430 Our heralds go with him;
2431 Bring me just notice of the numbers dead
2432 On both our parts. Call yonder fellow hither.
[Exeunt Heralds with Montjoy.]
Duke of Exeter
2433 Soldier, you must come to the King.
King Henry V
2434 Soldier, why wear'st thou that glove in thy cap?
Michael Williams
2435 An't please your Majesty, 'tis the gage of one that I
2436 should fight withal, if he be alive.
King Henry V
2437 An Englishman?
Michael Williams
2438 An't please your Majesty, a rascal that swagger'd with me
2439 last night; who, if alive and ever dare to challenge this
2440 glove, I have sworn to take him a box o' the ear; or if I can
2441 see my glove in his cap, which he swore, as he was a soldier,
2442 he would wear if alive, I will strike it out soundly.
King Henry V
2443 What think you, Captain Fluellen? Iis it fit this soldier keep
2444 his oath?
Fluellen
2445 He is a craven and a villain else, an't please your Majesty, in
2446 my conscience.
King Henry V
2447 It may be his enemy is a gentlemen of great sort, quite from
2448 the answer of his degree.
Fluellen
2449 Though he be as good a gentleman as the devil is, as Lucifier
2450 and Belzebub himself, it is necessary, look your Grace, that he
2451 keep his vow and his oath. If he be perjur'd, see you now, his
2452 reputation is as arrant a villain and a Jacksauce, as ever his
2453 black shoe trod upon God's ground and His earth, in my
2454 conscience, la!
King Henry V
2455 Then keep thy vow, sirrah, when thou meet'st the fellow.
Michael Williams
2456 So I will, my liege, as I live.
King Henry V
2457 Who serv'st thou under?
Michael Williams
2458 Under Captain Gower, my liege.
Fluellen
2459 Gower is a good captain, and is good knowledge and
2460 literatured in the wars.
King Henry V
2461 Call him hither to me, soldier.
Michael Williams
2462 I will, my liege.
[Exit.]
King Henry V
2463 Here, Fluellen; wear thou this favour for me and stick it in thy
2464 cap. When Alencon and myself were down together, I pluck'd
2465 this glove from his helm. If any man challenge this, he is a
2466 friend to Alencon, and an enemy to our person. If thou encounter
2467 any such, apprehend him, an thou dost me love.
Fluellen
2468 Your Grace doo's me as great honours as can be desir'd in the
2469 hearts of his subjects. I would fain see the man, that has but
2470 two legs, that shall find himself aggrief'd at this glove; that
2471 is all. But I would fain see it once, an please God of His grace
2472 that I might see.
King Henry V
2473 Know'st thou Gower?
Fluellen
2474 He is my dear friend, an please you.
King Henry V
2475 Pray thee, go seek him, and bring him to my tent.
Fluellen
2476 I will fetch him.
[Exit.]
King Henry V
2477 My Lord of Warwick, and my brother Gloucester,
2478 Follow Fluellen closely at the heels.
2479 The glove which I have given him for a favour
2480 May haply purchase him a box o' the ear.
2481 It is the soldier's; I by bargain should
2482 Wear it myself. Follow, good cousin Warwick.
2483 If that the soldier strike him, as I judge
2484 By his blunt bearing he will keep his word,
2485 Some sudden mischief may arise of it;
2486 For I do know Fluellen valiant
2487 And, touch'd with choler, hot as gunpowder,
2488 And quickly will return an injury.
2489 Follow, and see there be no harm between them.
2490 Go you with me, uncle of Exeter.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 2326historical topical
“Kill the poys and the luggage”
Fluellen is outraged that the French have attacked and killed the English boys left to guard the baggage train ('the luggage') — a serious violation of the recognized laws of war. 'Poys' is Fluellen's Welsh-accented pronunciation of 'boys.' Holinshed's Chronicles records that during the actual battle of Agincourt French raiders attacked the English baggage camp, where the unarmed servants and boys were stationed, and Henry's order to kill the French prisoners followed in part from this.
historical The Battle of Agincourt (1415)
TLN 2334cultural context
“he was porn at Monmouth”
Fluellen's Welsh accent converts every English 'b' into 'p': 'porn' = born, 'poys' = boys, 'prains' = brains, 'pattle' = battle. This is consistent throughout the scene and is Shakespeare's theatrical shorthand for a Welsh accent. Henry V was indeed born at Monmouth in Wales in 1387, making him a countryman of Fluellen — a point the scene exploits comically and warmly.
TLN 2335classical allusion
“Alexander the Pig was born”
Fluellen means 'Alexander the Great' — 'Pig' is his Welsh-accented 'Big' (just as 'b' becomes 'p' throughout). He then comically defends the title: 'is not pig great? The pig, or the great, or the mighty, or the huge, or the magnanimous, are all one reckonings.' Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE), king of Macedon, was the ancient world's supreme military conqueror, subjugating the Persian Empire, Egypt, and reaching into India. Fluellen wants to compare him to Henry V.
classical Alexander and Caesar returned to dust
TLN 2351classical allusion
“there is figures in all things. Alexander, God knows”
Fluellen claims that history contains 'figures' — analogies or typological patterns linking one great person to another. He then lands on the comparison's dark pivot: Alexander, 'being a little intoxicates in his prains,' killed his best friend Cleitus. Cleitus the Black was one of Alexander's most loyal generals, who saved his life at the Battle of the Granicus; Alexander stabbed him during a drunken quarrel in 328 BCE when Cleitus praised Philip II over his son. Fluellen is about to argue that Henry's rejection of Falstaff was similar — but milder, since Henry was sober.
classical Alexander and Caesar returned to dust
TLN 2363historical topical
“turn'd away the fat knight with the great belly doublet”
Fluellen draws his parallel: as the drunken Alexander killed his old friend Cleitus, so the clear-headed Henry 'turned away' (rejected) his old companion Sir John Falstaff — the 'fat knight with the great belly doublet.' Fluellen has forgotten Falstaff's name, and Gower has to supply it. The rejection occurred at the end of Henry IV Part 2 (5.5), when the newly crowned Henry publicly disavows Falstaff before a crowd. A 'doublet' was a close-fitted jacket; a 'great belly doublet' is one stretched out by an enormous paunch.
historical Falstaff and Sir John Oldcastle
TLN 2383archaic vocab
“I have fin'd these bones of mine for ransom”
Henry means he has already 'fined' (settled, fixed, pledged) his person — literally 'these bones' — against being held for ransom. Before the battle, when Montjoy had brought the first French demand that Henry pay ransom to avoid destruction, Henry refused, saying his body was all he had to pledge. Now, after the English victory, he greets the herald's return with bitter irony: 'Have you come again for ransom? I already wagered my bones on this fight.' 'To fine' here means to put an end to the matter by pledging, from Latin finire.
TLN 2387archaic vocab
“wander o'er this bloody field To book our dead, and then to bury them”
Montjoy asks permission to walk the battlefield and 'book' (count and record in writing) the French dead before burying them. 'To book' = to register in a list or account. After a medieval battle, heralds and clerks moved through the field recording the dead by name and rank, both to notify families and to establish the legal questions of ransom, inheritance, and honours. Sorting 'nobles from common men' was especially important because noble corpses commanded ransoms and required separate burial rites.
TLN 2394archaic vocab
“Fret fetlock deep in gore, and with wild rage Yerk out their armed heels”
Montjoy describes wounded warhorses standing in blood up to their fetlocks, kicking out their heels at their dead masters. The 'fetlock' is the tuft of hair and joint just above the horse's hoof. 'Fret' means to chafe or wear against. 'Yerk' (also 'jerk') means to kick or lash out suddenly. The image is vivid and grim: the horses, maddened by wounds, are accidentally trampling the very men who rode them — 'killing them twice.'
TLN 2407historical topical
“call we this the field of Agincourt, Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus”
Henry formally names the battlefield 'Agincourt' (the castle nearby gives the field its name) and fixes it to the feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian — 25 October. Both Crispin and his twin Crispinian are named: 'Crispianus' is the Latinate form of Crispinian. The St. Crispin's Day speech in the scene before this one (4.3) already made the feast day the centerpiece of Henry's rallying of his troops. The battle of Agincourt was fought on that date in 1415.
historical Saint Crispin's Dayhistorical The Battle of Agincourt (1415)
TLN 2410historical topical
“your great-uncle Edward the Plack Prince of Wales”
Fluellen reminds Henry that his ancestors — Henry's grandfather Edward III and his great-uncle the Black Prince — fought a great battle in France in the same region. Fluellen has read 'in the chronicles' about it, meaning Holinshed. 'Plack' is Fluellen's pronunciation of 'Black.' The Black Prince (Edward of Woodstock, 1330-1376) was the eldest son of Edward III, Prince of Wales, and the greatest English warrior of his generation. The battle Fluellen alludes to is Crécy (1346) or possibly Poitiers (1356).
historical Crécy, Poitiers, and the Black Princehistorical Edward III and his seven sons
TLN 2435archaic vocab
“'tis the gage of one that I should fight withal”
A 'gage' is a pledge — typically a glove or gauntlet — thrown down to challenge an opponent to combat. Picking it up means accepting the challenge; the challenger must wear the gage until the fight is settled. Williams exchanged gloves with the disguised Henry the night before the battle (4.1) as a pledge to fight after the battle was won. 'Withal' is an archaic form meaning 'with' (used at the end of a phrase). Williams wears his opponent's glove in his cap as the visible mark of the pledge.
historical Trial by combat and the gage
TLN 2451archaic vocab
“his reputation is as arrant a villain and a Jacksauce”
'Jacksauce' (also written 'jack-sauce') is an Elizabethan insult for an impudent, sauce-faced rogue — a combination of 'Jack' (a common nickname for a low-class man, a knave) and 'sauce' (short for 'saucy,' meaning insolent, rude, impertinent). Fluellen means: if Williams breaks his oath, his reputation will be that of the worst kind of brazen scoundrel. 'Arrant' means thoroughgoing, out-and-out.
TLN 2464historical topical
“When Alencon and myself were down together, I pluck'd this glove from his helm”
Henry tells Fluellen that the glove he is giving him was taken in single combat from the Duke of Alencon during the battle. 'Down together' means they were in close, grappling combat, both fallen. John I, Duke of Alencon (d. 1415), was a French commander at Agincourt who, according to some accounts, came close enough to Henry to strike off a piece of the king's crown during hand-to-hand fighting before being killed. The glove as a token from his helm (helmet) is Henry's invention: he is now giving Fluellen a booby trap — William's matching glove — dressed up as a war trophy.
historical The Battle of Agincourt (1415)
TLN 2486historical topical
“Fluellen valiant And, touch'd with choler, hot as gunpowder”
'Choler' (also spelled 'choler' or 'cholera') was one of the four bodily humours in the medical theory inherited from ancient Greece and still current in Shakespeare's day. The choleric humour — yellow bile — was associated with quick temper, aggression, and passionate anger. A person 'touch'd with choler' is short-fused and prone to violent reaction. Henry is predicting, accurately, that if Williams strikes Fluellen (who is wearing Williams's challenge-glove), the proud Welshman's choleric temperament will flare up into open violence rather than any diplomatic backing-down.