“Of tendyr hertys been Englysche men”

Abstract

All the plays of the Second Tetralogy have entered into this discussion from time to time, usually at the heels of Henry V. To provide a more coherent context for those scattered references, it is necessary, in the first instance, to shift backward to Richard II – that is, to political and dramatic “origins.” A new dynamic of signification may be set in motion by reconsidering two familiar points from a “French” perspective: first, Marlowe was probably acquainted with the three parts of Henry VI, as well as with Richard III, when he wrote Edward II;1 secondly, the latter play obviously comprises a precursor text for Richard II. It will now, I hope, seem reasonable to postulate Marlowe’s alertness to associations between English historical models and contemporary French politics in the First Tetralogy. In this light (and even apart from Massacre), it appears almost a matter of course that he should then have chosen for his sole English historical drama a subject charged with similar significance. To identify such common ground, however heuristically, is to open a new way of looking at Richard II. For if the dramatic treatments of Henry VI and Edward II both evoke the disastrous reign of Henri III, and caution the English accordingly, the very modifications that Marlowe made to his precursor’s approach help to make visible the French colouring, too, of Edward’s theatrical successor.