The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro

Author:James Shapiro [Shapiro, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2015-10-05T22:00:00+00:00

11

THE KING’S EVIL

The first reports of the assassination of King James reached London as dawn broke on Saturday, March 22. According to the Venetian ambassador, as word spread “the uproar was amazing” and once again, much like the previous November, “everyone flew to arms.” Catholics and strangers feared mob violence as “cries began to be heard against Papists, foreigners, and Spaniards.” The chronicler Edmund Howes records that upon hearing the “certain news that the king was slain” twenty-five miles southwest of London at Woking, the government acted quickly. The Lord Mayor gave orders “to levy trained soldiers” in every ward and placed armed guards at each of the City’s gates, while the Lieutenant of the Tower raised his drawbridge, secured all of his prisoners, and loaded his cannons to fend off any organized assault. The privy councilors joined the pregnant queen and Prince Henry at Whitehall Palace, where double guards were posted. Where the king was slain was known, but how was as yet unclear, with fresh and conflicting reports claiming that he had been stabbed, smothered in his bed, or “shot with a pistol as he was riding.”

According to Howes, members of Parliament meeting that morning debated what to do. Some wanted to flee, fearful that the building would be targeted again, but others, concerned that “their sudden rising should add more terror . . . to court, city, and country,” persuaded them to “sit still in their accustomed peaceable manner.” Updated reports reaching town provided fresh details, including word that some of the Scots closest to the king had been killed fighting in his defense. While “most reports agreed that the king was stabbed with an envenomed knife,” the identity of the assassins was as yet unknown; some said that the treasonous act “was performed by English Jesuits, some by Scots in women’s apparel, and others said by Spaniards and Frenchmen.” Howes writes that Londoners were at once “exceedingly amazed,” “sore frighted,” and “full of sorrow,” for the “bitter news was more grievous unto all sorts of people than can well be here expressed, great weeping and lamentation both in old and young, rich and poor, maids and wives.”

It was as if the gamut of the emotions collectively experienced at a Shakespearean tragedy had spilled out of the playhouse and into London’s streets. The drama took an unexpected turn by midmorning, when word reached town that the king was alive! The false report had spread after King James had passed through a village where a man was being arrested for some small offense. The offender then escaped on horseback, with sword drawn, and the local constables had pursued him, shouting “Traitor, traitor.” Bystanders thought “that he must have attacked the king, who had passed through a while before,” and some then raced to London to report that “the king was dead.” The normally staid councilors gave a great shout for joy when they heard that the king hadn’t been killed, news that was quickly confirmed by fresh messengers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.