The Paradox of Sedition in John Bale's King Johan

Abstract

In John Bale’s King Johan (c. 1538–63) we observe, according to Ivo Kamps, ‘the slow and extraordinary birth of historiography in literature’.1 This evaluation is generous, but not untypical of the critical attention the play has commanded. It is even more suggestive for this study, that Bale’s resort to historical material is compelled by his interest in the threat of sedition. Yet, conceiving of the play as a foundational document — that is, as exemplifying how the national past could be made available for theatre — has also involved emphasizing its ideological inflexibility. Irving Ribner confirmed the play’s status as a progenitor of later historical theatre by stressing three crucial features of its composition: first, Bale’s drama is a formative expression of English national consciousness; second, it demonstrates how ‘to reinterpret history in the light of doctrine’; and, finally, it exemplifies how historical events can be used to illuminate ‘a political problem of the present’.2 Hence, King Johan helps to elucidate the key motive that informs subsequent historical drama: the homiletic potential of the past.