{l-sl t THE THEATRICAL AT{D DRA}IATIC FOR}I OF TIIE SI{ORDFIGHT III TIIE CHRONICLE PLAYS OF SHAÍESPEARE CHARLES EDEL}IAN SubmÍLted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English The University of Adelaide January 1988 TABLE OF CONTEI.TTS ABSTRACT...... 111 vl- ACKNOI.¡LEDGEI"ÍEI.¡TS . AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE . a v11 PART ONE. AN OVERVIE\.I OF ST^IORDFIGHTING ON THE ELIZABBTHAN STAGE Chapter I. THE STYLE OF ELIZABETHAN THEATRICAL SI^IORDFIGHTING . I II. SI.¡ORDFIGHTING IN ELIZABETHAN DRAMA BEFORE SHAKESPEARE 25 III. MILITARY SWORDFIGHTING IN SHAKESPEAREIS ENGLISH HISTORIES--ARMS AND ARMOR . 64 IV. ELIZABETHANNEO-MEDIEVALISM .. .. 90 PART TI^/0. THE PLAYS V. MTLITARY SWORDFIGHTING--I HENRY VI . 115 VI. MILITARY SWORDFIGHTING-.2 AND 3 HENRY VI . O 151 VII. MILITARY SI{ORDFIGHTING--RICHARD III . L77 VIII. MILITARY SI,J0RDFIGHTING--KING JOHN . 195 IX. MILITARY SI^/ORDFIGHTING--THE HENRY V PLAYS 208 X. MILITARY SWORDFIGHTING--TROILUS AND CRESSIDA . 246 XI. MILITARY SWORDFIGHTING--MACBETH . 293 Appendix to Chapter XI . 306 XII. TOURNEYS AND FORMAL COMBATS . 309 Appendix to Chapter XII . 343 XIII. BRAI.ILS AND SUDDEN FIGHTS . 346 CONCLUSION . o . .''' 358 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 360 11 ABSTRACT This study of the swordfíghting sequences in Shakespearets chronicle plays has three interrelat,ed purposes: (l) to reconstruct, as accurately as possible, the enactment of Ehe swordfights as the Elizabethans would have seen them, (2) to examine t,he manner in which Shakespeare uses Ehis form of stage combat to illuminate plot, character, and theme in the relevant plays, and (3) to offer some opinions as Eo how these swordfights can best be presented on the contemporary st,age in Ehe light of (1) and (2). Essentially, then, my dissertation is a study of Elizabethan stage business, and it is wri-tten with the view that t,he stage business, however ephemeral, is as íntegral a part of Shakespearers plays as are the printed texts. The work is divided inEo two parE,s: Part One ís inEended to give a general overview of swordfighting in Elizabethan drama, including a discussion of Ehe sEyle of such swordfights, and an investigation of the manner in which Elizabet,han dramatists before Shakespeare included or failed to include dísplays of swordfighting in their plays. Distinctions are drawn beEween the various Èypes of swordfight: battle scenes, the brawl or sudden fight, trial by battle, the duel, and combat sport. Other matters undertaken in Part One are an attenpE to learn what armor and rr/eaponry the actors would have used in Shakespearers chronicle plays when engaged in stage combat, and 1l-t finally, given that the visual aspect, of a Shakespearean play is essenEially a part of the visual imagery of the Elizabethan age, ocher facets of chis imagery, which, it will be argued, was essentlally rrneo- medievalist,rrr are discussed in an endeavor Èo find some thematic connection between it and the swordfighting sequences of Shakespearets chronicle plays. ParE Two is an examination of the plays themselves: the eight prays of the Lancastrian history cycle, King John, Troilus and Cressida, King Lear, and Macbeth--the reasons for including t.hese as chronicle plays while excluding ot,hers are given in the course of the scudy. 1V ERRATA nlike p. 16, 1. 1: "!iþ t{ill ro Likerr for tüill ro Eg" P. 32, 1. 10: nsuch as nornallytr for nas nornallytl p. 35, 1. 9: n spoken byn for rgiven torl p. 39, L. ZLz ttintt for ttistt Hsonehou tsomehou p. 66, L. 7z to shovn for shovn p. 7L, L. 2i nflghtlng, and werett for nfighting, verett p. 73, 1. 6: tnanoeuvrelt for tlnanouvren p. 742 1. 19: insert commas after the vords t'sott and ttOrleanst trand p. 77, L. 242 the armorerstr for rrvith the armorerstl p. 94, 1. l0: nconroversy . .n for flcontrover8y.n p. 136, 1. 3: tAngersn for nAngíerst p. 144, L, 2?z tttemporary capture ofil for tttenporary oft' p.1491 1.8: trshovntt for nexplicatedtl p. 260, 1. 7: t'Banboroughn for nBramboroughtr p. 262, 1. 6: rGreeks wastf for rrGreeks verett I hereby affirm t.hat this dissertaEion cont,alns no material which has been accept.ed for an award of any other degree or diploma in any UniversiÈy. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the dissertat.ion contains no naterial previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text. I consent to this dissertation being made available for phot.o- copying and loan if accepted for the degree of Doctor of philosophy. Charles Edelman v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It would be impossible to overestimate Lhe value of the contribu- tion of my supervisor, Dr. Alan Brissenden, to this sÈudy. I am also deeply indebted to his colleague, Mr. K.B. Magarey, for so admirably filling in during the time Dr. Brissenden'was overseas, and to Mr. F.H. Mares, for his advice and encouragement. I have also benefit.ed from t,he expert advice of Ms. Robin Eaden, Mrs. Rosemary Luke, and Dr. Llilfrid Prest. Most of my research has been conducted at the Barr Smit.h Líbrary of the University of Adelaide, and I must give particular t,hanks to reference librarian Ms. ElizabeEh Lee and to the highly professional sÈaff at the Inter-Library Loans desk, while the courteous and patient assistance I received at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the New York Public Library did credit Eo these famous institutions. v1 AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE In preparing this dissertation, I have followed the recommend- ations of Kate L. Turabian in A Manual for l.Jriters of Term Papers, Theses, and DisserÈations, 5th ed. (Chicago: UniversiEy of Chicago Press, 1987). lrrhere Turabian does not, offer advice on a particular matter, ï have consulted Joseph Gibaldi and tlalter S. Achtert, MLA Handbook for ldrit.ers of Research Papers, 2d ed. (New York: Modern Language Association, 1984), and Eheir MLA Stvle Manual (New York: Modern Language Association, 1985). A fourth and final reference has been the dictates of simplicity and common sense. Abbreviations for Shakespearean and Chaucerian titles are those recomnended in che MLA l{andbook, and I have used the abbreviated title of journals for which such abbreviations are commonly accepced. Unless indicated otherr¿ise, all quotations from Shakespeare are as given in G. Blakemore Evans, êd., The Riverside Shakespeare (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, I974) following Evansf act, scene, and line references, and his modern American spelling. In a sEudy such as this one, spelling is a difficult, and at t,imes vexing, problem. Both primary and secondary quotations are in Èhe original spelling, with Èhe exception of subsÈituting the modern "utl andtr¡trfor the olderttvtt and ttitt where appropriate. My own text ls in American spelling. I have reached the great majority of my conclusions by Èhe v]-1 Eraditional method of examining t,he EexEs of the plays and the critical and historical literat,ure, as well as by viewing the magnificent. collecEions of arns and armor at the Royal Armouries, H.M. Tower of London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Some conclusions, however, are Ehe result of personal experimentation: I was director of stage combat aE the Utah Shakespearean FesEival in 1966 and L967, and held the same post aE Lhe Ashland, Oregon, Festival in 1968 and 1969. I have also acted several Shakespearean roles for which some swordfighting is required. Deciding what would have occurred in Elizabethan t,imes by lookÍng at whaE appears Eo work best in the modern t,heat,re is a practice fraught with difficulti.es, even when working in a playhouse which is designed, as the Ashland stage is, with a view to simulating Elizabethan performance conditions. In Èhe absence of other textual or historical evidence, however, and with this caveat in mind, I will occasionally look to t.he modern theatre for indications of ElizabeEhan staging--although some conventions have changed since Shakespearets day, e.g. the use of female actors and controlled lighting, the most important dramatic conventions are, of course, conmon Eo all periods and genres of drama. vl-11 PART ONE AN OVERVIEI'J OF SI^IORDFIGHTING ON THE ELIZABETHAN STAGE CHAPTER I THE STYLE OF ELIZABETHAN THEATRICAL SIdORDFIGHTING The Pla vhousers AssociaEion with Comba t, Soort This study will begin with an attempt Èo establish the dominanE st.yle of presenEation of Shakespearean swordfights in the Elizabethan period.l Qne is faced, whenever investigat.ing the original s¡age business of shakespearers p1ays, wiÈh the necessity of reconstructing a theatrical ent.iEy without documentary evidence; sEage business is always ephemeral, but aE least in more recenE eras' as Ehe valuable work of Arthur Colby Sprague has shown, there are prompE-books and revie,¡s to consuIt.2 l¡Jithin the very few eyewitness accounts of Shakespearets plays in Elizabethan times, however, Lhere is not a single descriptive reference Eo any of the many swordfights therein' Generally, scholars point. to the well-known cornment in sidneyrs Defence of Poesie (c. 1583) as being the earliest published critical opinion of swordfighting on the ElizabeLhan stage: lAlthough the age of Shakespeare covers both late Elizabethan and early Jacobeãn times, the word 'rElizabethan'r will be used throughout this study, unless otherwise indicated' to cover not only Ehe reign of ElizabeÈh, Uut the years of Jamests reign during which Shakespeare vtas acLive. 2Arthur Colby Sprague, Shakespeare and the Actp¡q: The. Stage Business in hís Plays 1660- t@11 & Russell, 1963). 1 . whlle in the meanetime two Armies flie in, represenEed rriÈh foure swords & bucklers, and then whaÈ hard hart will not receive it for a pit,ched field?3 At flrst glance, it might appear that Sidney is decrying the lack of good, realistic stage swordfighting, hence giving the impression that the theatrical fighÈs of Elizabethan times were unconvincing.