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 Admiral'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).

Wiggins (1213) argues that the preceding play is otherwise unevidenced, and calls it "Henry Richmond, Part One".

For What It's Worth

Who is Mitton?

As Martin Wiggins observes, Greg's mysterious "Mitton Ban" is in fact two different people: Mitton, and "Ban", i.e. the Banaster mentioned earlier in the document (Wiggins, 1213). Who these people are; what their roles might have been in the play; and why Banaster's wife and children are mentioned; are matters all perhaps best illustrated by lengthy quotation from Holinshed's description of the early stages of Richmond's rising, and the last days of the Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham, having broken with Richard III, puts together an army of "wild Welshmen" in the hope of joining up with the other rebels. But he is unable to cross the Severn, and his army abandon him when their food runs short:

The duke (being thus left almost post alone) was of necessitie compelled to flie, and in flight was with this sudden fortune maruellouslie dismaid: and be|ing vnpurneied what counsell he should take, and what waie he should follow, like a man in despaire, not knowing what to doo, of verie trust & confidence conueied himselfe into the house of Humfreie Bana|ster his seruant beside Shrewesburie, whome he had tenderlie brought vp, and whome he aboue all men loued, fauoured, and trusted; now not doubting but that in his extreame necessitie he should find him faithfull, secret, and trustie, intending there couertlie to lurke, till either he might raise againe a new armie, or else shortlie to saile into Britaine to the earle of Richmond.

Richard starts a manhunt, and offers a reward of a thousand pounds for the capture of the fugitive Duke.

While this busie search was diligentlie applied and put in execution, Humfreie Banaster (were it more for feare of life and losse of goods, or allured & prouoked by the auaricious desire of the thousand pounds) he bewraied his guest and maister to Iohn Mitton then shiriffe of Shropshire; which suddenlie with a strong power of men in harnesse apprehended the duke in a little groue adioining to the mansion of Humfreie Banaster, and in great hast and euill speed conueied him apparelled in a pilled blacke cloake to the towne of Shrewesburie, where king Richard then kept his houshold. Whether this Banaster bewraied the duke more for feare than couetous, manie men doo doubt: but sure it is, that shortlie after he had betraied the duke his master; his sonne and heire waxed mad, & so died in a bores stie; his eldest daughter of excellent beautie, was suddenlie striken with a foule leprosie; his second sonne maruellouslie deformed of his lims, and made lame; his yoonger sonne in a small puddle was strangled and drowned; and he being of extreame age, arreigned, and found guiltie of a murther, and by his cleargie saued. And as for his thousand pounds, K. Richard gaue him not one farthing, saieng that he which would be vntrue to so good a maister, would be false to all other: howbeit some saie that he had a small office or a farme to stop his mouth withall.

Holinshed, The Third volume of Chronicles (1586), 743.

Buckingham's capture is mentioned in Shakespeare's Richard III, 4.4.510-535, although Shakespeare omits any mention of Banaster.

Works Cited

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

Holinshed, Raphael. The Third Volume of Chronicles.. London: [Henry Denham], 1586.

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. Addition by Matthew Steggle.