Richard II by Laura Ashe

Author:Laura Ashe
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141979908
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2015-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

As is the hive full of honey sweet;

Well was the wench with him might meet.

At every bridal would he sing and hop;

wedding party

He loved better the tavern than the shop.

For when there any riding was in Cheap,

Cheapside

Out of the shop thither would he leap –

Till that he had all the sight y-seen

And dancèd well, he would not come again –

And gathered him a mesnée of his sort

company

To hop and sing and maken such disport.7

When the apprentice’s master grows exasperated with his behaviour and throws him out, he moves in with a friend whose wife keeps a shop for the look of the thing, but actually works as a prostitute – and there the little story ends abruptly, unfinished. This is another London, seen from beneath, but nevertheless participating in the spectacle and festival of the grand pageants, tournaments and ceremonies; these are the people who cheered in the streets as Richard and his bride rode past.

Shakespeare’s Prince Hal memorably moves through the London of taverns and whorehouses, but Richard II in literature and in life can barely be imagined in such a setting. He did, however, try to involve himself in London politics, often punishing the city for episodes of disorder, and he expected the Londoners’ support at times of difficulty, with unreliable results.8 He repeatedly intervened in mayoral elections, which were riven by faction throughout the period; in 1384 he supported the mayor, Nicholas Brembre, in a showpiece summary trial and execution of one of his rival’s supporters:

Richard, by the grace of God etc. … when of late a great outbreak of our people, against our peace, was threatened in our city … one John Constantyn, cordwainer, [is charged with] going among, counselling, comforting, and inciting the people of the said city to close their shops, and through his iniquitous contrivances, in the way of rumour, commotion, disturbance, and insurrection … he was therefore taken … and upon this was recently arraigned, and on the testimony of witnesses sworn and examined, and upon his own acknowledgement thereon, and for other reasons, sentenced to death, and beheaded; – we would ratify and confirm the judgement given in this behalf … by way of strengthening from henceforth the governance of the said city … 9

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