ACT I

SCENE I.

Northampton. 2 A Room of State in the Palace.

Enter King JoHN, Queen ELINOR, PEMBROKE, ESSEX, SALISBURY, and Others, with CHATILLON.

K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would France 3 with us?
Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of France,

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In my behaviour, to the majesty,

The borrow'd majesty of England here.

Eli. A strange beginning; -borrow'd majesty!

K. John. Silence, good mother: hear the embassy.
Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf 5

Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son,

Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim
To this fair island, and the territories, 6

To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine;
Desiring thee to lay aside the sword

Which sways usurpingly these several titles,
And put the same into young Arthur's hand,

Thy nephew and right royal sovereign.

K. John. What follows, if we disallow of this?

Chat. The proud control of fierce and bloody war,

To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.

2) Diese in den alten Ausgaben fehlende Ortsbezeichnung ergiebt sich nicht aus Sh.'s Texte und ist erst von den spätern Hggn., den Chroniken gemäss, notirt.

3) France ist der König von Frankreich, Philipp, hier in familiärer Sprache so genannt, worauf der Gesandte mit um so grösserem Nachdruck dessen königliche Würde betont in the king of France.

*) in my behaviour, eigentlich = in meiner Haltung oder Vorstellung, durch mich repräsentirt.

Sh. fand in dem alten King John schon: in the behalf of the

6) territories, die ausser der Britischen Insel (this fair island) in Anspruch genommenen Landgebiete werden in der folgenden Zeile genauer angegeben. Die Fol. hat ein Kolon hinter territories.

7) proud control ist hier der imposante kriegerische Zwang, der dem König Johann angethan werden soll. In demselben Sinne, Zwang, Gewalt, steht auch bald nachher Der Gleichklang zwischen enforce und forcibly ist von Sh. offenbar

controlment.

beabsichtigt.

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K. John. Here have we war for war, and blood for blood, Controlment for controlment: so answer France.

Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth,

The farthest limit of my embassy. 8

K. John. Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace.
Be thou as lightning 9 in the eyes of France;
For ere thou canst report I will be there,

The thunder of my cannon shall be heard.
So, hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,
And sullen presage 10 of your own decay.
An honourable conduct let him have:
Pembroke, look to 't. Farewell, Chatillon. 11

[Exeunt CHATILLON and PEMBroke.

Eli. What now, my son? have I not ever said,
How that ambitious Constance would not cease,
Till she had kindled France, and all the world,
Upon the right and party of her son?

This might have been prevented, and made whole,
With very easy arguments of love,

Which now the manage 12 of two kingdoms must
With fearful bloody issue arbitrate.

K. John. Our strong possession, and our right, for us. 13
Eli. Your strong possession much more than your right,

Or else it must go wrong with you and me:

So much my conscience whispers in your ear,

Which none but heaven, and you, and I, shall hear.

Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers Essex. 14

Essex. My liege, here is the strangest controversy,

Come from the country to be judg'd by you,

That e'er I heard: shall I produce the men?

8) Bis zur Herausforderung, Kriegserklärung geht die Vollmacht (limit) des französischen Botschafters.

9) So rasch wie dem Blitz der Donnerschlag folgt, so rasch wird auf die durch Chatillon überbrachte Kriegserklärung der Anfang des Kriegs selbst folgen.

10) sullen presage = finstere Weissagung, ist eigentlich Apposition zu trumpet of our wrath, wobei Sh. an die Trompete des Weltuntergangs gedacht hat, und nach einer unserm Dichter geläufigen Construction durch die Copula and mit dem Hauptwort verbunden.

11) Chatillion in der Fol., viersylbig gesprochen, giebt einen vollständigern Vers. 12) manage = Rüstung, kriegerische Aufbietung zweier Reiche, ist hier den freundlichen Unterhandlungen (arguments of love) gegenübergestellt. So in K. Richard II. (A. 1, Sc. 4) for the rebels || Expedient manage must be made, my liege.

13) scil. our right is for us.

14) Diese Bühnenweisung rührt von Steevens her; sie folgt einer im alten King John: Enter the Shrive and whispers the Earl of Salisbury in the eare. Die Fol. hat nur ; Enter a Sheriff und bezeichnet dessen nächstes Exit und Re-enter nicht.

K. John. Let them approach.

Our abbeys, and our priories, shall pay

[Exit Sheriff.

Re-enter Sheriff, with ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, and PHILIP, his bastard

This expedition's charge.

Bast.

Brother.

What men are you?

Your faithful subject I, a gentleman
Born in Northamptonshire, and eldest son,
As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge,
A soldier, by the honour-giving hand

Of Cordelion 15 knighted in the field.

K. John. What art thou?

Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge.
K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?

You came not of one mother then, it seems.

Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty king;

That is well known: and, as I think, one father:
But, for the certain knowledge of that truth

I put you o'er 16 to heaven, and to my mother:

Of that I doubt, as all men's children may.

Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou dost shame thy mother, And wound her honour with this diffidence.

Bast. I, Madam? no, I have no reason for it:

That is my brother's plea and none of mine;
The which if he can prove, 'a 17 pops me out
At least from fair five hundred pound a-year.
Heaven guard my mother's honour, and my land!
K. John. A good blunt fellow.
Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?

Why, being younger born,

Bast. I know not why, except to get the land.

But, once, 18 he slander'd me with bastardy:
But whe'r I be as true-begot, 19 or no,
That still I lay upon my mother's head;
But, that I am as well-begot, my liege,

15) So die Fol., deren Schreibung Rowe noch beibehielt.

Die späteren Hgg. französiren den Namen in Coeur-de-lion. Auch der alte K. John nennt den König Richard Löwenherz einfach Cordelion, ohne den eigentlichen Namen hinzuzusetzen. 15 Ich verweise Euch, wegen der sichern Erkenntniss dieser Wahrheit, an den Himmel und an meine Mutter.

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1) 'a für he, aus der Sprache des gemeinen Lebens, die der Bastard hier und im Folgenden anklingen lässt.

18) once ist hier schwerlich eine Zeitbestimmung, sondern kurz und gut, einmal für allemal. So in Coriolanus (A. 2, Sc. 3) Once, if he do require our voices, we ought not to deny him.

19) whe'r aus whether zusammengezogen; in der Fol. where.

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= recht

Dem true-begot gut oder glücklich erzeugt, entgegengestellt.

(Fair fall 20 the bones that took the pains for me!) Compare our faces, and be judge yourself.

If old Sir Robert did beget us both,

And were our father, and this son like him;

O! old Sir Robert, father, on my knee

I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee.

K. John. Why, what a madcap hath heaven lent us here.
Eli. He hath a trick 21 of Cordelion's face;

The accent of his tongue affecteth 22 him.
Do you not read some tokens of my son

In the large composition of this man?

K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts, And finds them perfect Richard.

Sirrah, speak;

What doth move you to claim your brother's land?

Bast. Because he hath a half-face, like my father! 23
With half that face would he have all my land,
A half-fac'd groat five hundred pound a-year!

Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father liv'd,
Your brother did employ my father much.

Bast. Well, Sir; by this you cannot get my land:
Your tale must be, how he employ'd my mother.
Rob. And once despatch'd him in an embassy
To Germany, there, with the emperor,

To treat of high affairs touching that time.

The advantage 24 of his absence took the king,
And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's;
Where how he did prevail I shame to speak,

But truth is truth: large lengths of seas and shores
Between my father and my mother lay,

As I have heard my father speak himself,

When this same lusty gentleman was got.

20) scil. fair fall to the bones = gut ergehe es den Gebeinen. Fall ist abgekürzt aus befal, wie bei Sh. öfter fair befal in diesem Sinne vorkömmt.

=

21) trick individueller Zug, charakteristische Eigenheit. So in All's well that ends well (A. 1, Sc. 1) every line and trick of his sweet favour. 22) to affect

zur Schau tragen, sich äusserlich etwas aneignen. him geht auf Cor

delion.

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23) Diese Zeile enthält die Antwort auf die Frage des Königs, indem der Bastard statt seines Bruders das Wort nimmt. Dann vergleicht er, auf Robert's mageres Gesicht deutend, dieses halbe Gesicht half that face steht im Gegensatz zu all my land mit einer Silbermünze, die das Bild nur im Profil zeigt. Solche half-faced groats kamen erst unter Heinrich VII. in England vor, während man vorher die Königsköpfe en face, also ganz, auf den Münzen darstellte. Für half that face lesen die meisten Hgg. mit Theobald that half face, und verbinden auch wohl den ersten Vers mit den beiden folgenden zu einem Satze.

21) Der König ergriff die günstige Gelegenheit, dass mein Vater abwesend war.

Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd

His lands to me; and took it on his death 25
That this, my mother's son, was none of his;
An if 26 he were, he came into the world

'Full fourteen weeks before the course of time. 27
Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine,
My father's land, as was my father's will.

K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate;
Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him;
And if she did play false, the fault was hers,
Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands
That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother,
Who, as you say, took pains to get this son,
Had of your father claim'd this son for his?
In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept
This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world;
In sooth, he might: then, if he were my brother's,
My brother might not claim him, nor your father,
Being none of his, refuse him. This concludes: 28
My mother's son did get your father's heir;
Your father's heir must have your father's land.

Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force
To dispossess that child which is not his?

Bast. Of no more force to dispossess me, Sir, Than was his will to get me, as I think.

Eli. Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge,

And, like thy brother, to 29 enjoy thy land,

Or the reputed son of Cordelion,

Lord of thy presence, 30 and no land beside?

25) er nahm es auf seinen Tod, er starb in dem Glauben.

Die Hgg. setzen took it,

=

dafür halten, meinen.

on his death, in einer loseren Verbindung, und fassen to take 26) Das alterthümliche an if schreibt die Fol. hier And if, wie in einer folgenden Zeile dieser Scene: Madam, and if my brother had my shape. Die Hgg., welche dort an if setzen, lesen hier And, if und, wenn. 27) course of time = der regelmässige Verlauf der Schwangerschaft und Niederkunft. So kommt time öfter vor, z. B. Merchant of Venice (A. 1, Sc. 1) nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time. Der alte King John hat hier: six weeks before the account my father made.

2) This concludes erklärt Johnson mit ausschliesslicher Beziehung auf das Vorhergehende als This is a decisive argument. Nach der Interpunction der Fol. ist es jedoch auch mit dem Folgenden zu verbinden dies ergiebt folgenden Schluss, dies lässt schliessen u. s. w.

25) to ist eingeschoben, weil auf hadst thou rather nicht unmittelbar der dazu gehörige Infinitiv folgt. Manche Hgg. construiren dagegen hadst thou rather be like thy brother (in order) to enjoy thy land.

30) als der Besitzer deiner selbst, deiner Person: wie du dich als der geachtete Sohn des Löwenherz darstellst, und als Besitzer keiner liegenden Gründe daneben.