Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Ely.[4540]
Cant. God and his angels guard your sacred throne,[4541]
And make you long become it!
K. Hen. Sure, we thank you.
My learned lord, we pray you to proceed
And justly and religiously unfold10
Why the law Salique that they have in France[4542]
Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim:
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading,
Or nicely charge your understanding soul15
With opening titles miscreate, whose right
Suits not in native colours with the truth;
For God doth know how many now in health
Shall drop their blood in approbation
Of what your reverence shall incite us to.20
Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,[4543]
How you awake our sleeping sword of war:[4544]
We charge you, in the name of God, take heed;
For never two such kingdoms did contend
Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops[4545]25
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint
'Gainst him whose wrong gives edge unto the swords[4546][4547]
That make such waste in brief mortality.[4547]
Under this conjuration speak, my lord;[4548]
For we will hear, note and believe in heart[4549]30
That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd
As pure as sin with baptism.[4550]
Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign, and you peers,
That owe yourselves, your lives and services[4551]
To this imperial throne. There is no bar35
To make against your highness' claim to France
But this, which they produce from Pharamond,
'In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant:'[4552]
'No woman shall succeed in Salique land:'
Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze40
To be the realm of France, and Pharamond
The founder of this law and female bar.
Yet their own authors faithfully affirm
That the land Salique is in Germany,[4553]
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe;[4554]45
Where Charles the Great, having subdued the Saxons,
There left behind and settled certain French;
Who, holding in disdain the German women
For some dishonest manners of their life,[4555]
Establish'd then this law; to wit, no female[4556]50
Should be inheritrix in Salique land:
Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,[4554]
Is at this day in Germany call'd Meisen.
Then doth it well appear the Salique law[4557]
Was not devised for the realm of France;55
Nor did the French possess the Salique land
Until four hundred one and twenty years
After defunction of King Pharamond,
Idly supposed the founder of this law;
Who died within the year of our redemption60
Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the Great
Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French
Beyond the river Sala, in the year
Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say,
King Pepin, which deposed Childeric,65
Did, as heir general, being descended
Of Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair,[4558]
Make claim and title to the crown of France.
Hugh Capet also, who usurp'd the crown[4559]
Of Charles the duke of Lorraine, sole heir male70
Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great,
To find his title with some shows of truth,[4560]
Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,[4561]
Convey'd himself as heir to the Lady Lingare,[4562]
Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son75
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son[4563]
Of Charles the Great. Also King Lewis the tenth,[4564]
Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied80
That fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare,
Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorraine:[4565]
By the which marriage the line of Charles the Great[4566]
Was re-united to the crown of France.85
So that, as clear as is the summer's sun,
King Pepin's title and Hugh Capet's claim,
King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear[4567]
To hold in right and title of the female:
So do the kings of France unto this day;[4568]90
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law
To bar your highness claiming from the female,
And rather choose to hide them in a net
Than amply to imbar their crooked titles[4569]
Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.95
K. Hen. May I with right and conscience make this claim?
Cant. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign!
For in the book of Numbers is it writ,[4570]
When the man dies, let the inheritance[4571]
Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord,100
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;
Look back into your mighty ancestors:[4572]
Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsire's tomb,[4573]
From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit,
And your great-uncle's, Edward the Black Prince,[4574]105
Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy,
Making defeat on the full power of France,
Whiles his most mighty father on a hill[4575]
Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility.[4576]110
O noble English, that could entertain
With half their forces the full pride of France[4577]
And let another half stand laughing by,
All out of work and cold for action![4578]
Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead115
And with your puissant arm renew their feats:
You are their heir; you sit upon their throne;
The blood and courage that renowned them
Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege
Is in the very May-morn of his youth,120
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.
Exc. Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth
Do all expect that you should rouse yourself,
As did the former lions of your blood.
West. They know your grace hath cause and means and might;[4579][4580]125
So hath your highness; never king of England[4580]
Had nobles richer and more loyal subjects,
Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England
And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France.[4581]
Cant. O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege,[4582]130
With blood and sword and fire to win your right;[4582][4583]
In aid whereof we of the spiritualty[4584]
Will raise your highness such a mighty sum
As never did the clergy at one time
Bring in to any of your ancestors.135