The Life of King Henry V. William Shakespeare

Send for him, good uncle.

      WESTMORLAND.

       Shall we call in th’ ambassador, my liege?

      KING HENRY.

       Not yet, my cousin. We would be resolved,

       Before we hear him, of some things of weight

       That task our thoughts concerning us and France.

      Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Ely.

      CANTERBURY.

       God and his angels guard your sacred throne

       And make you long become it!

      KING HENRY.

       Sure, we thank you.

       My learned lord, we pray you to proceed

       And justly and religiously unfold

       Why the law Salic that they have in France

       Or should or should not bar us in our claim.

       And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,

       That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading,

       Or nicely charge your understanding soul

       With opening titles miscreate, whose right

       Suits not in native colours with the truth;

       For God doth know how many now in health

       Shall drop their blood in approbation

       Of what your reverence shall incite us to.

       Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,

       How you awake our sleeping sword of war.

       We charge you in the name of God, take heed;

       For never two such kingdoms did contend

       Without much fall of blood, whose guiltless drops

       Are every one a woe, a sore complaint

       ’Gainst him whose wrongs gives edge unto the swords

       That makes such waste in brief mortality.

       Under this conjuration speak, my lord,

       For we will hear, note, and believe in heart

       That what you speak is in your conscience washed

       As pure as sin with baptism.

      CANTERBURY.

       Then hear me, gracious sovereign, and you peers,

       That owe yourselves, your lives, and services

       To this imperial throne. There is no bar

       To make against your Highness’ claim to France

       But this, which they produce from Pharamond:

       In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant, “No woman shall succeed in Salic land;” Which Salic land the French unjustly gloze To be the realm of France, and Pharamond The founder of this law and female bar. Yet their own authors faithfully affirm That the land Salic is in Germany, Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe; Where Charles the Great, having subdu’d the Saxons, There left behind and settled certain French; Who, holding in disdain the German women For some dishonest manners of their life, Establish’d then this law, to wit, no female Should be inheritrix in Salic land; Which Salic, as I said, ’twixt Elbe and Sala, Is at this day in Germany call’d Meissen. Then doth it well appear the Salic law Was not devised for the realm of France; Nor did the French possess the Salic land Until four hundred one and twenty years After defunction of King Pharamond, Idly suppos’d the founder of this law, Who died within the year of our redemption Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the Great Subdu’d the Saxons, and did seat the French Beyond the river Sala, in the year Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say, King Pepin, which deposed Childeric, Did, as heir general, being descended Of Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair, Make claim and title to the crown of France. Hugh Capet also, who usurp’d the crown Of Charles the Duke of Lorraine, sole heir male Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great, To find his title with some shows of truth, Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught, Convey’d himself as the heir to the Lady Lingare, Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son To Lewis the Emperor, and Lewis the son Of Charles the Great. Also, King Lewis the Tenth, Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet, Could not keep quiet in his conscience, Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied That fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother, Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare, Daughter to Charles, the foresaid Duke of Lorraine; By the which marriage the line of Charles the Great Was re-united to the crown of France. So that, as clear as is the summer’s sun, King Pepin’s title and Hugh Capet’s claim, King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear To hold in right and title of the female. So do the kings of France unto this day, Howbeit they would hold up this Salic law To bar your Highness claiming from the female, And rather choose to hide them in a net Than amply to imbar their crooked titles Usurp’d from you and your progenitors.

      KING HENRY.

       May I with right and conscience make this claim?

      CANTERBURY.

       The sin upon my head, dread sovereign!

       For in the Book of Numbers is it writ,

       “When the man dies, let the inheritance

       Descend unto the daughter.” Gracious lord,

       Stand for your own! Unwind your bloody flag!

       Look back into your mighty ancestors!

       Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsire’s tomb,

       From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit,

       And your great-uncle’s, Edward the Black Prince,

       Who on the French ground play’d a tragedy,

       Making defeat on the full power of France,

       Whiles his most mighty father on a hill

       Stood smiling to behold his lion’s whelp

       Forage in blood of French nobility.

       O noble English, that could entertain

       With half their forces the full pride of France

       And let another half stand laughing by,

       All out of work and cold for action!

      ELY.

       Awake remembrance of these valiant dead,

       And with your puissant arm renew their feats.

       You are their heir; you sit upon their throne;

       The blood and courage that renowned them

       Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege

       Is in the very May-morn of his youth,

       Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.

      EXETER.

       Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth

       Do all expect that you should rouse yourself,

       As did the former lions of your blood.

      WESTMORLAND.

       They know your Grace hath cause and means and might;

       So hath your Highness. Never King of England

       Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects,

       Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England

       And lie pavilion’d in the fields of France.

      CANTERBURY.

       O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege,

       With blood and sword and fire to win your right;

       In aid whereof we of the spiritualty

       Will raise your Highness such a mighty sum

       As never did the clergy at one time

       Bring in to any