The Second Part of Henry the Sixth

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1. ACT I

   Margaret arrives with a ruinous peace; the lords divide; Eleanor of Gloucester's ambition leads her to witchcraft and a trap.

   1. Scene 1 — London. The palace

      Suffolk delivers the new queen, Margaret, to King Henry — but the marriage articles surrender Anjou and Maine and bring no dowry. Gloucester is appalled, and the assembled lords lament the squandering of France. As they disperse, the Cardinal, Suffolk, and Buckingham agree to pull down the over-mighty Protector, and York, left alone, unfolds his secret resolve to claim the crown himself.

   2. Scene 2 — The Duke of Gloster's House.

      At Gloucester's house his wife Eleanor goads him with dreams of the throne; he rebukes her dangerous ambition. Once he is gone she sends the priest Hume to fetch a conjurer and a witch — not knowing Hume is secretly paid by the Cardinal and Suffolk to ensnare her.

   3. Scene 3 — London. The palace.

      Petitioners are turned away by Suffolk and Margaret; the queen frets at her saintly husband and at Eleanor's pride. The council quarrels over who shall be regent of France, York or Somerset, and the armorer Horner is accused by his apprentice Peter of saying York is rightful king — a charge to be tried by combat.

   4. Scene 4 — Gloster's Garden

      In Gloucester's garden the witch Margery Jourdain and the conjurer Bolingbroke raise a spirit for the Duchess; it answers in riddles — the king shall be deposed by one who 'shall depose,' Suffolk shall die by water, Somerset should shun castles. York and Buckingham break in, seize the conjurers and the prophecies, and spring the trap on Eleanor.

2. ACT II

   Gloucester exposes a fake miracle; York wins Salisbury and Warwick to his claim; Eleanor does penance and the Protector loses his staff; the armorer's duel goes by heaven's judgment.

   1. Scene 1 — Saint Alban's.

      Hawking at St Alban's, Gloucester and the Cardinal trade veiled threats and nearly fall to a duel. A man named Simpcox claims a miraculous cure of lifelong blindness at the shrine; Gloucester exposes the fraud — a blind man could not name colors — and has him whipped. Word comes that Eleanor is taken for witchcraft.

   2. Scene 2 — London. The Duke of York's Garden.

      In his garden York lays out for Salisbury and Warwick the full genealogy of his claim — his descent from Edward III's elder line through the Mortimers — and the Nevilles pledge to support him when the time is ripe.

   3. Scene 3 — A Hall of Justice.

      The king sentences Eleanor to public penance and banishment to the Isle of Man, and forces Gloucester to surrender his Protector's staff. Then the armorer's trial by combat is fought: the drunken Horner is killed by his apprentice Peter and confesses his treason as he dies.

   4. Scene 4 — A Street.

      Gloucester meets his wife as she walks the streets in a penitential sheet; she warns him that he is the next target. Summoned to a parliament at Bury St Edmunds, he goes with foreboding, and Eleanor is led away to her island prison.

3. ACT III.

   Gloucester is arrested and murdered; the people rise and Suffolk is banished; the Cardinal dies in guilty terror; York reveals he has loosed Jack Cade upon the land.

   1. Scene 1 — The Abbey at Bury St. Edmund's.

      At the Bury parliament Gloucester is arrested on trumped-up charges of treason while the helpless king grieves. With the Protector removed, the lords give York an army to quell an Irish revolt — and York, alone, reveals that he has already stirred up the Kentish rebel John Cade to claim the crown as 'John Mortimer' and gauge the commons.

   2. Scene 2 — Bury St. Edmund's. A Room of State.

      Gloucester is found dead; Warwick examines the body and proves he was strangled, not taken by a fit. The outraged commons force the king to banish Suffolk. Suffolk and Margaret part in a scene of strange tenderness, and news arrives that the Cardinal lies mortally sick.

   3. Scene 3 — A Bedchamber.

      Cardinal Beaufort dies raving and clutching at the air, tormented by his guilt for Gloucester's death; the king prays for him, appalled that he makes no sign of grace.

4. ACT IV.

   Suffolk is beheaded by pirates; Jack Cade's commoners storm London, kill Lord Say, and then desert him; the starving rebel is killed in a Kentish garden.

   1. Scene 1 — The Coast of Kent.

      Captured at sea, the banished Suffolk is recognized and beheaded by the pirate Walter Whitmore — making good the spirit's prophecy that he should die 'by water' (Walter). His head is sent back to the grieving queen.

   2. Scene 2 — Blackheath.

      On Blackheath Jack Cade proclaims his rebellion, boasting a royal descent and promising cheap bread, common ownership, and the death of all lawyers. The mob hangs the Clerk of Chartham for the crime of being able to read and write.

   3. Scene 3 — Another part of Blackheath.

      Cade defeats and kills Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother in a skirmish, and dons Stafford's armor as he marches on London.

   4. Scene 4 — London. The Palace.

      News of Cade's advance empties the court; the king withdraws toward Kenilworth, while the loyal Lord Say stays behind in the threatened city.

   5. Scene 5 — London. The Tower.

      Lord Scales, holding the Tower of London, sends Matthew Goffe to help give the rebels battle in the city.

   6. Scene 6 — London. Cannon Street.

      Cade enters London, strikes his staff on London Stone, and proclaims himself lord of the city — then kills a soldier who innocently calls him by his name instead of 'Lord Mortimer.'

   7. Scene 7 — London. Smithfield.

      At Smithfield Cade's mob sacks the Savoy and the Inns of Court; the captured Lord Say is condemned for promoting learning and beheaded, his head carried on a pole to 'kiss' another in the streets.

   8. Scene 8 — Southwark.

      At Southwark, Buckingham and old Clifford turn the crowd with the offer of a royal pardon and the magic name of Henry V; the fickle commons abandon Cade, who curses them and flees.

   9. Scene 9 — Kenilworth Castle.

      At Kenilworth the king pardons the dispersing rebels, only to hear that York has landed from Ireland with an army, demanding the arrest of the 'traitor' Somerset.

   10. Scene 10 — Kent. Iden's Garden.

       Starving after five days in hiding, Cade breaks into the garden of the squire Alexander Iden to forage; Iden, not knowing him, kills the rebel in a fair fight and carries his head to the king.

5. ACT V.

   York throws off the mask and claims the crown; at the first battle of St Albans the Wars of the Roses begin in earnest.

   1. Scene 1 — Fields between Dartford and Blackheath.

      York returns in arms, claiming he means only to remove Somerset. But when he finds Somerset at liberty he drops the pretense and lays open claim to the crown; his sons Edward and Richard and the Nevilles, Salisbury and Warwick, stand with him, while Clifford and the loyal lords defy him. The factions arm.

   2. Scene 2 — Saint Alban's.

      At the battle of St Albans the young Richard kills Somerset beneath an alehouse sign — the 'castle' the spirit bade him shun — and York slays old Clifford. Finding his father's corpse, Young Clifford swears merciless revenge on the whole house of York.

   3. Scene 3 — Fields near Saint Alban's.

      The Yorkists, victorious, resolve to pursue the fleeing king and queen to London; Warwick looks ahead to a 'famous victory' and the parliament that will follow.

Characters

• King Henry VI major

  The gentle, devout king, now grown but no stronger, who marries Margaret of Anjou and looks on helplessly as his uncle Gloucester is destroyed, his court splinters into factions, and the Duke of York's claim hardens into open war. He would rather be a subject than a king.

• Queen Margaret major

  Henry's French queen, brought to England by the infatuated Suffolk, with whom she conducts a barely-veiled affair. Contemptuous of her weak husband and of 'good Duke Humphrey,' she emerges as a fierce political player; she cradles the severed head of the murdered Suffolk.

• Duke of Gloucester major

  Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the Lord Protector — 'good Duke Humphrey' — the honest anchor of the realm and the commons' darling. Undone by his wife's witchcraft and his enemies' conspiracies, he is stripped of office, arrested, and murdered in his bed at Bury St Edmunds.

• Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester supporting

  Eleanor Cobham, Gloucester's ambitious wife, who dreams of the crown and dabbles in witchcraft, employing a priest, a conjurer, and a witch to raise a prophesying spirit. Caught, she does humiliating public penance through the London streets and is banished, pulling her husband down with her.

• Duke of Suffolk major

  William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, the queen's lover and the architect of Gloucester's fall. Banished for the murder, he is captured at sea and beheaded by a pirate crew who scorn his pride; his head is sent back to the grieving Margaret.

• Richard, Duke of York antagonist

  Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, who lays out his hereditary claim to the crown in soliloquy, secretly foments Jack Cade's rebellion as a trial of strength, and finally returns from Ireland with an army — opening the Wars of the Roses at the first battle of St Albans.

• Cardinal Beaufort major

  Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, Gloucester's great-uncle and bitter enemy, who engineers the Protector's arrest and murder. Tormented by guilt, he dies raving and grasping at the air, signing for mercy he cannot ask.

• Earl of Warwick supporting

  Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick — the future 'Kingmaker' — who proves from the corpse that Gloucester was strangled and rallies the commons against Suffolk. He throws in his lot with York at St Albans.

• Earl of Salisbury supporting

  Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, Warwick's father, a respected elder peer who comes to accept York's title and joins the Yorkist cause.

• Duke of Buckingham supporting

  A loyal Lancastrian peer sent to disperse Cade's rebels with a royal pardon and to treat with the returning York.

• Duke of Somerset supporting

  York's rival, blamed for the loss of France; York makes Somerset's removal his price for peace, and at St Albans Young Clifford and the Yorkists hunt him down.

• Lord Clifford supporting

  A staunch Lancastrian lord who helps disperse Cade's rebels and is slain by York at the first battle of St Albans, igniting his son's vow of revenge.

• Young Clifford minor

  Finding his father's body at St Albans, he swears pitiless vengeance on the house of York — 'York not our old men spares; no more will I their babes' — foreshadowing the savagery of the sequels.

• Jack Cade antagonist

  The Kentish rebel, secretly set on by York, who claims descent from the Mortimers and leads a bloody, anti-literate uprising — promising seven halfpenny loaves for a penny and the death of all lawyers. His mob takes London before deserting him; he is killed, starving, in Iden's garden.

• Dick the Butcher minor

  Cade's brutal lieutenant, who utters the rebellion's most famous line: 'The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.'

• Smith the Weaver minor

  One of Cade's followers, given to dry asides that puncture his leader's grand claims.

• John Holland minor

  A commoner who joins Cade's rebellion, lamenting that honest tradesmen have fallen on hard times.

• George Bevis minor

  One of Cade's rebel band from the Kentish commons.

• Michael minor

  Cade's follower who brings word that Sir Humphrey Stafford and the King's forces are near.

• Lord Say minor

  Lord Say, the learned royal treasurer, condemned by Cade for the crimes of building a grammar school and using printed paper; he is beheaded and his head paraded on a pole.

• Lord Scales minor

  Commander of the Tower of London, who holds it against Cade's rebels and sends Matthew Goffe to fight them in the city.

• Sir Humphrey Stafford minor

  A royal officer sent with his brother to crush Cade; both are killed, and Cade mockingly wears Stafford's armor.

• William Stafford minor

  Sir Humphrey Stafford's brother, killed beside him by Cade's rebels.

• Alexander Iden minor

  A contented Kentish squire who, walking in his garden, kills the starving fugitive Cade and is knighted for carrying his head to the King.

• Walter Whitmore minor

  The pirate who claims Suffolk as his prize and beheads him, fulfilling a prophecy that Suffolk should die 'by water' (Walter).

• Sea-Captain minor

  Captain of the pirate ship that takes Suffolk, who denounces the duke's crimes before handing him to Whitmore.

• Ship-master minor
• Master's Mate minor
• Peter Thump minor

  Thomas Horner's apprentice, who accuses his master of saying York is the rightful king; the dispute is settled by a judicial duel, which the drunken Horner loses.

• Thomas Horner minor

  An armorer accused of treason by his apprentice Peter; he is killed in their trial by combat, confessing as he dies.

• Saunder Simpcox minor

  An impostor who pretends to have been born blind and miraculously cured at St Alban's shrine; Gloucester exposes the fraud by proving he could not name colors he claims only just to have seen, then has him whipped.

• Simpcox's Wife minor

  Simpcox's wife, who pleads that poverty, not malice, drove the false miracle.

• John Hume minor

  A corrupt priest who arranges the conjuring for the Duchess while secretly in the pay of her enemies, the Cardinal and Suffolk.

• Roger Bolingbroke minor

  A conjurer (NOT the usurping king of Richard II) who, at the Duchess of Gloucester's bidding, raises a spirit to prophesy the fates of the King and the great lords; he is taken in the act and executed.

• Margery Jourdain minor

  A witch who assists the conjuring of the spirit for the Duchess; she is condemned to be burned at Smithfield.

• Spirit (Asnath) minor

  The fiend raised by the conjuring, which answers in riddling prophecies — that the King shall be deposed by one who 'shall depose,' and that Suffolk shall die by water — before being dismissed back to hell.

• Richard Plantagenet minor

  York's deformed youngest son — the future Richard III — who fights for his father at St Albans and kills Somerset there.

• Edward Plantagenet minor

  York's eldest son, the future Edward IV, who joins the Yorkist victory at St Albans.

• Sir John Stanley minor

  The officer charged with escorting the banished Duchess of Gloucester to her imprisonment on the Isle of Man.

• Vaux minor

  A messenger who brings word that the Cardinal lies dying and raving.

• Mayor of Saint Alban's minor
• Sheriff minor
• Herald minor
• Post minor
• Beadle minor

  The officer who whips the impostor Simpcox out of St Alban's.

• Clerk of Chartham minor

  A literate clerk whom Cade's rebels hang for the crime of being able to read and write his own name.

• Townsman minor
• Messenger minor
• First Petitioner minor
• Second Petitioner minor
• First Neighbour minor
• Second Neighbour minor
• Third Neighbour minor
• First Prentice minor
• Second Prentice minor
• First Murderer minor
• Second Murderer minor
• First Gentleman minor
• Second Gentleman minor
• First Citizen minor
• Soldier minor
• Serving-men ensemble
• The Commons ensemble
• All ensemble
• Both ensemble

Cross-references

• Folger Shakespeare
• MIT plain text
• Wikipedia