Henry V by William Shakespeare

Act 1 - Scene 2

The same. The Presence chamber.

Archbishop of Canterbury : God and his angels guard your sacred throne [p]And make you long
become it!

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

Archbishop of Canterbury : The sin upon my head, dread sovereign! [p]For in the book of Numbers
is it writ, [p]When the man dies, let the inheritance [p]Descend unto
the daughter. Gracious lord, [p]Stand for your own; unwind your bloody
flag; [p]Look back into your mighty ancestors: [p]Go, my dread lord,
to your great-grandsire's tomb, [p]From whom you claim; invoke his
warlike spirit, [p]And your great-uncle's, Edward the Black
Prince, [p]Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy, [p]Making defeat
on the full power of France, [p]Whiles his most mighty father on a
hill [p]Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp [p]Forage in blood of
French nobility. [p]O noble English. that could entertain [p]With half
their forces the full Pride of France [p]And let another half stand
laughing by, [p]All out of work and cold for action!

Bishop of Ely : Awake remembrance of these valiant dead [p]And with your puissant arm
renew their feats: [p]You are their heir; you sit upon their
throne; [p]The blood and courage that renowned them [p]Runs in your
veins; and my thrice-puissant liege [p]Is in the very May-morn of his
youth, [p]Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.

Archbishop of Canterbury : O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege, [p]With blood and sword and
fire to win your right; [p]In aid whereof we of the
spiritualty [p]Will raise your highness such a mighty sum [p]As never
did the clergy at one time [p]Bring in to any of your ancestors.

Archbishop of Canterbury : They of those marches, gracious sovereign, [p]Shall be a wall
sufficient to defend [p]Our inland from the pilfering borderers.

Archbishop of Canterbury : She hath been then more fear'd than harm'd, my liege; [p]For hear her
but exampled by herself: [p]When all her chivalry hath been in
France [p]And she a mourning widow of her nobles, [p]She hath herself
not only well defended [p]But taken and impounded as a stray [p]The
King of Scots; whom she did send to France, [p]To fill King Edward's
fame with prisoner kings [p]And make her chronicle as rich with
praise [p]As is the ooze and bottom of the sea [p]With sunken wreck
and sunless treasuries.

Archbishop of Canterbury : Therefore doth heaven divide [p]The state of man in divers
functions, [p]Setting endeavour in continual motion; [p]To which is
fixed, as an aim or butt, [p]Obedience: for so work the
honey-bees, [p]Creatures that by a rule in nature teach [p]The act of
order to a peopled kingdom. [p]They have a king and officers of
sorts; [p]Where some, like magistrates, correct at home, [p]Others,
like merchants, venture trade abroad, [p]Others, like soldiers, armed
in their stings, [p]Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds, [p]Which
pillage they with merry march bring home [p]To the tent-royal of their
emperor; [p]Who, busied in his majesty, surveys [p]The singing masons
building roofs of gold, [p]The civil citizens kneading up the
honey, [p]The poor mechanic porters crowding in [p]Their heavy burdens
at his narrow gate, [p]The sad-eyed justice, with his surly
hum, [p]Delivering o'er to executors pale [p]The lazy yawning drone. I
this infer, [p]That many things, having full reference [p]To one
consent, may work contrariously: [p]As many arrows, loosed several
ways, [p]Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town; [p]As many
fresh streams meet in one salt sea; [p]As many lines close in the
dial's centre; [p]So may a thousand actions, once afoot. [p]End in one
purpose, and be all well borne [p]Without defeat. Therefore to France,
my liege. [p]Divide your happy England into four; [p]Whereof take you
one quarter into France, [p]And you withal shall make all Gallia
shake. [p]If we, with thrice such powers left at home, [p]Cannot
defend our own doors from the dog, [p]Let us be worried and our nation
lose [p]The name of hardiness and policy.

First Ambassador : May't please your majesty to give us leave [p]Freely to render what we
have in charge; [p]Or shall we sparingly show you far off [p]The
Dauphin's meaning and our embassy?

First Ambassador : Thus, then, in few. [p]Your highness, lately sending into
France, [p]Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right [p]Of your
great predecessor, King Edward the Third. [p]In answer of which claim,
the prince our master [p]Says that you savour too much of your
youth, [p]And bids you be advised there's nought in France [p]That can
be with a nimble galliard won; [p]You cannot revel into dukedoms
there. [p]He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit, [p]This tun
of treasure; and, in lieu of this, [p]Desires you let the dukedoms
that you claim [p]Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks.

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