Act 3, Scene 2

The same. Plains near Angiers

[Alarums. Excursions. Enter the BASTARD with AUSTRIA'S head.]
Philip the Bastard (Faulconbridge)
1246 Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous hot;
1247 Some airy devil hovers in the sky
1248 And pours down mischief.—Austria's head lie there,
1249 While Philip breathes.
[Enter KING JOHN, ARTHUR, and HUBERT.]
King John
1250 Hubert, keep this boy.—Philip, make up:
1251 My mother is assailed in our tent,
1252 And ta'en, I fear.
Philip the Bastard (Faulconbridge)
1253 My lord, I rescu'd her;
1254 Her highness is in safety, fear you not:
1255 But on, my liege; for very little pains
1256 Will bring this labour to an happy end.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 1247cultural context
“Some airy devil hovers in the sky”
The Bastard pictures an evil spirit riding the air above the battle, stirring up disaster. Elizabethans believed the atmosphere between earth and the moon was populated by spirits — some demonic — who could influence weather, madness, and the outcome of battles. 'Airy devil' is not just a colorful phrase: it draws on real contemporary cosmology.
TLN 1248historical topical
“Austria's head lie there, While Philip breathes”
The Bastard enters carrying Austria's severed head. Throughout the play, he has taunted Austria as the man who killed his father, Richard Coeur-de-lion; killing Austria and reclaiming the lion's hide is his private act of revenge alongside the larger English war. The grim trophy display was a recognized signal of battlefield victory.
historical Richard the Lionheart (Coeur-de-lion)classical The Nemean lion (Hercules' first labour)
TLN 1250historical topical
“Hubert, keep this boy”
John hands Arthur over to Hubert de Burgh with a terse 'keep this boy' — one of the play's most consequential stage directions in dialogue. Arthur, captured in the battle offstage, is John's nephew and the rival claimant to the throne championed by France; his capture removes the French casus belli and leaves John free to hold him in secret. What 'keep' will come to mean — imprisonment, blinding, or murder — is the hinge of the play's second half.
historical The Angevin succession and Arthur's claim
TLN 1250archaic vocab
“Philip, make up”
'Make up' here means 'advance' or 'press forward' — a military command to push ahead with the attack. John is telling the Bastard to rejoin the fighting rather than linger.