Henry Richmond, Part 2

Robert Wilson (1599)

Historical Records

Payments to Playwrights (Henslowe's Diary)

F. 65 (Greg I.113)

Receaued of m^r Ph: Hinchlow by a note

vnder the hand of m^r Rob: Shaw in full

payment for the second pt of Henrye

Richmond sold to hime & his Companye

the som[m]e of eight powndes Current moneye

the viij^t daye of November 1599 ... viij^li

          By me R Wilson

Henslowe Papers

Greg, Papers (MS. I. 27, Art. 26, p. 49)

Autograph note, Robert Shaa (Shaw) to Philip Henslowe, 8 November 1599:

m^r Henshlowe we haue heard their booke and lyke yt their pryce is eight poundes, w^ch J pray pay now to m^r wilson, according to our promysse, J would haue Come my selfe, but that J ame trobled w^th a seytation.

yo^rs Robt Shaa

[on the back of Shaa's note, also in his hand]

1. Sce W^m Wor; & Ansell & to them y^e plowghmen

2. Sce: Richard Q. & Eliza: Catesbie, Louell, Rice ap Tho: Blunt, Banester

3. Sce: Ansell Dauye Denys Hen: Oxf: Courtney Bou^rchier & Grace to them Rice ap Tho: & his Soldiors

4. Sce: Mitton Ban : his wyfe & children

5. Sce: K Rich : Catesb : Louell. Norf. Northumb : Percye

^{[6. C. and Q. Eliza.     7. Dauye. C. Daugr (in Memoirs, omitted in Papers).   9. C. Milton.]}

Theatrical Provenance

The Amiral's Men bought this play in November 1599 while they were still at the Rose, before the move to the Fortune in the fall of 1600. Across Maid Lane, they could see the newly-built Globe in operation, where a likely offering was (or had recently been) Shakespeare's Henry V. They bought "Owen Tudor," a play related in historical and genealogical subject matter, the following January (1600).

Probable Genre(s)

History

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

In addition to identifying Richard III and Henry Richmond, Greg offers the following identification of characters in the rough outline provided with Robert Shaa's authorization of payment (II.207-8, Item #189):

• Wm Wor[sley]: William Worsley, dean of St. Paul's, 1479-93
• Ansell: perhaps a confusion of Friar Anselem, whose ghost appears in Edward IV, with Dr. Shaw, prebendary of London and brother of the Lord Mayor; Shaw was employed by Richard Duke of Gloucester to preach at Paul's cross, 22 June 1493, against the legitimacy of the children of Edward IV
• Q[ueen]: Anne Neville, wife of Richard
• Eliza[beth]: probably Elizabeth, widow of Edward IV; but possibly his daughter, later wife of Henry Duke of Richmond after his attainment to the throne as Henry VII
• Rice ap Tho[mas]: Rhys ap Thomas, the supporter of Richmond
• Blunt: Sir James Blount, younger son of Walter, first baron Mountjoy
• Oxf[ord]: John de Vere, thirteenth earl; supporter of Richmond
• Courtney: Edward Courtenay, created Earl of Devonshire on Henry’s accession; or, his son William, knighted of the Bath in 1487, a courtier of Henry’s; or Peter Courtenay, bishop of Exeter, keeper of the privy seal to Henry VII
• Bourchier: Cardinal Thomas Bourchier, great uncle of Henry, second Earl of Essex, in Henry VII’s privy council; he crowned Richard III, and married Henry VII
• Catesby: William Catesb[y], a favorite of Richard III, beheaded after Bosworth Field
• Louell: Francis Lovell, first Viscount Lovell, a favorite of Richard III
• Norf[olk]: John Howard, first duke of that family, privy councilor and earl-marshal under Richard III, slain at Bosworth
• Northumb[erland]: Henry Percy, fourth Earl, a follower of Richard III, who switched to Henry VII after Bosworth
• Percye: his son, afterwards the fifth earl

Greg does not offer historical counterparts for the ploughmen, Banester, Davye, Denys, Grace, and Mitton Ban.

References to the Play

None known.

Critical Commentary

Greg, in addition to providing possible identifications of characters, explains the designation of the play as a second part by suggesting that it might have been "intended as a sequel to Edward IV," the two-part play owned by Derby's Men and written by Thomas Heywood (II.208 Item #189).

Knutson suggests a different serial connection (23-24). She offers "Owen Tudor" as a plausible first part, based on the familial relationship of Tudor as grandfather to Richmond (Owen Tudor married Catherine of Valois, widow of Henry V; their son, Edmund, was Richmond's father). In a note on the possible serial relationship (35n), Knutson points out that Robert Wilson was one of the dramatists on the "Owen Tudor" project, the payment for which (80s.), if added to that for the Richmond play (160s.) equals 240s. or the equivalent of two completed plays. Considering the rather loose connection between the historical characters featured, she adds that "Elizabethan audiences didn't seem to mind if their serials were not all that sequential" (35n).

Bradley characterizes the handwritten note as a "unique 'doodle' of a Plot," and the story itself as focused on "the flight and capture of the Duke of Buckingham and the landing of Henry Richmond" (20). In a note on these comments, Bradley refers to "the chronicle and ballad material on which the story is based" but does not name specific sources; he posits "an acting complement of sixteen men and four boys" from the narrative outline in Shaa's hand on the back of the note to Henslowe (249-50, n27).

Works Cited

Bradley, David. From Text to Performance in the Elizabethan Theatre. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Knutson, Roslyn L. “Toe to Toe Across Maid Lane: : Repertorial Competition at the Rose and Globe, 1599-1600,” in June Schlueter and Paul Nelsen (eds) Acts of Criticism: Performance Matters in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries (Madison & Teaneck: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2005), 21-37.

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 9 February 2012.