The Raigne of King Edward the Third, often shortened to Edward III, is an Elizabethan play printed anonymously in 1596, believed to have been partly written by William Shakespeare, its inclusion in publications of the complete works of Shakespeare dating only to the late 1990s.Dunton-Downer, Leslie. Riding, Alan. Essential Shakespeare Handbook. Publisher: DK 2004. P. 97 Scholars supporting this attribution include Jonathan Bate, Edward Capell, Eliot Slater, Eric Sams,Sams, Eric. Shakespeare's Edward III: An Early Play Restored to the Canon (Yale UP, 1996) Giorgio MelchioriMelchiori, Giorgio, ed. The New Cambridge Shakespeare: King Edward III, 1998, p. 2. and Brian Vickers. The play's co-author remains the subject of debate and speculation; suggestions have included Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, Michael Drayton, Thomas Nashe and George Peele.
The play contains several gibes at Scotland and the Scottish people, which has led some critics to suggest that it incited George Nicholson, Queen Elizabeth's agent in Edinburgh, to protest against its portrayal of Scots on the London stage in a 1598 letter to William Cecil, Lord Burghley. This could explain why the play was not included in the First Folio of Shakespeare's works, published after the Scottish King James had succeeded to the English throne in 1603.
The play also contains an explicit reference to its having been produced not only for the stage, but also for the page. In the final sequence, the Black Prince states: "So that hereafter ages, when they read / The painful traffic of my tender youth, / Might thereby be inflamed" (scene 18).Stanco, Michele. "Il regno di Re Edoardo III: copione teatrale o testo letterario?", in William Shakespeare: artigiano e artista, a cura di Franco Marenco, il Mulino, 2021, pp. 229–241.
Characters
The English King Edward III Queen Philippa – his wife Edward, the Black Prince – their son Earl of Salisbury – partially based on Sir Walter de Manny; Salisbury was deceased by the events of the second half of the play.See Melchiori, passim. Countess of Salisbury – Salisbury's wife (although the story of Edward III's infatuation with her is based on an incident involving Alice of Norfolk, Salisbury's sister-in-law)See Melchiori, p. 186 Earl of Warwick – her father (fictitiously) Sir William Montague – Salisbury's nephew Earl of Derby Lord Audley – portrayed as an old man, though he was historically no older than 30 at the time of the play Lord Percy John Copland – esquire, later Sir John Copland Lodwick or Lodowick – King Edward's secretary Two Esquires Herald
Supporters of the English Robert, Count of Artois – partially based on Sir Godfrey de Harcourt; Artois was deceased by the events of the second half of the play Lord Mountford – Duke of Brittany Gobin de Grace – French prisoner
The French King John II – some of his actions in the play were actually undertaken by his predecessors King Charles IV and King Philip VI. Prince Charles – Duke of Normandy, his son Prince Philip – his youngest son (historically not yet born) Duke of Lorraine Villiers – Norman lord Captain of Calais Another Captain Mariner Three Heralds Two Citizens from Crécy Three other Frenchmen Woman with two children Six wealthy citizens of Calais Six poor citizens of Calais
Supporters of the French King of Bohemia Polonian Captain Danish troops
The Scots King David the Bruce of Scotland Sir William Douglas Two Messengers
There are several references made to "the Emperor". This is Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
Synopsis
King Edward III is informed by the Count of Artois that he, Edward, was the true heir to the previous king of France. A French ambassador arrives to insist that Edward do homage to the new French king for his lands in Guyenne. Edward defies him, insisting he will invade to enforce his rights. A messenger arrives to say that the Scots are besieging a castle in the north of England. Edward decides to deal with this problem first. The castle is being held by the beautiful Countess of Salisbury, the wife of the Earl of Salisbury. As Edward's army arrives, the rampaging Scots flee. Edward immediately falls for the Countess, and proceeds to woo her for himself. She rebuffs him, but he persists. In an attempted bluff, the Countess vows to take the life of her husband if Edward will take the life of his wife. However, when she sees that Edward finds the plan morally acceptable, she ultimately threatens to take her own life if he does not stop his pursuit. Finally, Edward expresses great shame, admits his fault and acquiesces. He dedicates himself to use his energies to pursue his rights and duties as king.
In the second part of the play, Edward joins his army in France, fighting a war to claim the French throne. He and the French king exchange arguments for their claims before the Battle of Crécy. King Edward's son, Edward, the Black Prince, is knighted and sent into battle. The king refuses to send help to his son when it appears that the young man's life is in danger. Prince Edward proves himself in battle after defeating the king of Bohemia. The English win the battle and the French flee to Poitiers. Edward sends the prince to pursue them, while he besieges Calais.
In Poitiers the prince finds himself outnumbered and apparently surrounded. The play switches between the French and English camps, where the apparent hopelessness of the English campaign is contrasted with the arrogance of the French. Prince Edward broods on the morality of war before achieving victory in the Battle of Poitiers against seemingly insurmountable odds. He captures the French king.
In Calais the citizens realise they will have to surrender to King Edward. Edward demands that six of the leading citizens be sent out to face punishment. Edward's wife, Queen Philippa, arrives and persuades him to pardon them. Sir John Copland brings Edward the king of the Scots, captured in battle, and a messenger informs Edward that the English have secured Brittany. However, the successes are undercut when news arrives that Prince Edward was facing certain defeat at Poitiers. King Edward declares he will take revenge. Prince Edward arrives with news of his victory, bringing with him the captured French king. The English enter Calais in triumph.
Sources Like most of Shakespeare's history plays, the source is Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles, while Jean Froissart's Chronicles is also a major source for this play. Roger PriorConnotations Volume 3, 1993/94, No. 3: Was The Raigne of King Edward III a Compliment to Lord Hunsdon? has argued that the playwright had access to Lord Hunsdon's personal copy of Froissart and quoted some of Hunsdon's annotations. A significant portion of the part usually attributed to Shakespeare, the wooing of the Countess of Salisbury, is based on the tale "The Countesse of Salesberrie" (no. 46) in the story-collection Palace of Pleasure by William Painter. Painter's version of the story, derived from Froissart, portrays Edward as a bachelor and the Countess as a widow, and concludes with the couple marrying. Painter's preface indicates that he knew that this was "altogether untrue", since Edward had only one wife, "the sayde vertuous Queene Philip", but reproduces Froissart's version with all its "defaults". The author of the play is aware that both were married at the time. Melchiori (p. 104) points out the similarity of the playwright's language to that of Painter in spite of the plotting differences.
The play radically compresses the action and historical events, placing the Battle of Poitiers (1356) immediately after the Battle of Crecy (1346), and before the capture of Calais. In fact, Poitiers took place ten years after the earlier victory and capture of Calais. The compression necessitates that characters are merged. Thus the French king throughout the play is John II of France. In fact, Crecy had been fought against his predecessor, Philip VI of France. Many other characters are freely depicted at events when they could not have been present. William Montague, 1st Earl of Salisbury and John de Montfort were both dead even before Crecy. While Sir John Copland did capture the Scottish King David and bring him to Calais in 1346, shortly after Crecy, complete Anglo-Montfort victory in Brittany, alluded in the same scene, was not achieved until the Battle of Auray in 1364.
The author or authors of The Reign of King Edward III also used John Eliot’s 1591 translation of Bertrand de Loque’s Discourses of Warre and single Combat for inspiration and guidance.Ambrose Murphy, A Possible New Source for Shakespeare’s The Reign of King Edward III, Notes and Queries, April 19, 2024;, gjae046, https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gjae046
Authorship
Edward III has only been accepted into the canon of plays written by Shakespeare since the 1990s.Dunton-Downer, Leslie. Riding, Alan. Essential Shakespeare Handbook. Publisher: DK 2004, p. 97 In 1596, it was published anonymously, which was common practice in the 1590s (the first Quarto editions of Titus Andronicus and Richard III also appeared anonymously). Additionally, Elizabethan theatre often paid professional writers of the time to perform minor additions and emendations to problematic or overly brief scripts (the additions to the popular but brief Doctor Faustus and Shakespeare's own additions on the unperformed Sir Thomas More being some of the best known). No holographic manuscript of Edward III is extant.
The principal arguments against Shakespeare's authorship are its non-inclusion in the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays in 1623 and being unmentioned in Francis Meres's Palladis Tamia (1598), a work that lists many (but not all) of Shakespeare's early plays. Some critics view the play as not up to the quality of Shakespeare's ability, and they attribute passages resembling his style to imitation or plagiarism.Stater, Elliot, The Problem of the Reign of King Edward III: A Statistical Approach, Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 7–9. Despite this, many critics have seen some passages as having an authentic Shakespearean ring. In 1760, noted Shakespearean editor Edward Capell included the play in his Prolusions; or, Select Pieces of Ancient Poetry, Compil'd with great Care from their several Originals, and Offer'd to the Publicke as Specimens of the Integrity that should be Found in the Editions of worthy Authors, and concluded that it had been written by Shakespeare. However, Capell's conclusion was, at the time, only supported by mostly German scholars.Melchiori, p. 1.
In recent years, professional Shakespeare scholars have increasingly reviewed the work with a new eye, and have concluded that some passages are as sophisticated as any of Shakespeare's early histories, especially King John and the Henry VI plays. In addition, passages in the play are direct quotes from Shakespeare's sonnets, most notably the line "lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds" (sonnet 94) and the phrase "scarlet ornaments", used in sonnet 142.Melchiori, George, King Edward III, Cambridge University Press, 28 Mar 1998, p. 94.