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THE CITY AND THE CROWN

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Primary Reading: Heywood, Edward IV, Parts 1 and 2
Secondary Reading: Browse the introduction to Rowland’s edition. Rowland sums up the reason we are reading this play in a course on London: Edward IV’s privileging of the local, both urban and provincial, was an innovatory achievement analogous to and almost exactly contemporaneous with the unprecedented contribution to cultural history that Stow’s Survey of London provided (Rowland, Introduction 12).
Other References: Rowland, Howard, Lander, Wall, and Corrigan. There are few critical articles on Edward IV, Parts 1 and 2. As chronicle history plays, they are given only glancing reference in the monographs on city comedy. Richard Rowland, editor of the plays for The Revels Plays series, is also most important recent critic of the plays; the first chapter of Thomas Heywood’s Theatre argues that Heywood mapped a London overlooked by the prose chronicles. See also Jean Howard’s positioning of the plays within the chronicle history tradition. Note! These references are for information only. I may draw upon them in my discussion, but I do not expect you to read them for class. If you plan to write your research paper on this play, you might profitably start with these references.

Discussion Questions

  1. The Shakespearean scholar and editor David Bevington has pointed out that Heywood’s plays magnify the roles of citizens, and the consequences of their actions, in English history in a way that Shakespeare’s drama does not (242). Does this emphasis make Edward IV a history play or a domestic tragedy? How does Heywood use questions of loyalty to unify his play? Must the loyal subject unquestioningly submit to the absolute will of the King even when a monarch violates his own obligations to the res publica and communitas? (KSJ)
  2. John Hobs subverts the accepted social order by his ability to make the distinctions of rank vanish in familiarity. He famously informs Edward IV on first meeting that if he does not know him then thou knows nobody (1.2.121). The tanner gains by refusing the King’s flattery and entreaties to accompany him to Court. How does this resistance increase the bond between King and subject? Is permissible opportunity for a provincial tanner treason for a citizen of London? (KSJ)
  3. The character of Jane Shore figures centrally in the plotline of Edward IV. She is desired alike by the rebel Falconbridge and King Edward himself, both of whom are non-Londoners, and both of whom connect her to their ambitions to either explicitly or subtly exploit the culture of the city. How do the two men’s characterizations of Jane differ? Falconbridge refers to Jane as the flower of London for her beauty (1.4.41), and quickly goes on to taunt Shore that he will be sleeping in his bed with his wife that night. Conversely, Edward describes Jane as [a] bright twinkling spark of precious diamond, of greater value than all India (1.17.31-32). Does Heywood appear to be sympathetic to Falconbridge over Edward? What is implied by the way in which Edward reduces Jane to a material object of great value? Finally, is it possible that Jane is accepted back into the City of London following Edward’s death and Gloucester’s ascension to the throne only because of her ultimate ability to convince Edward to free Stranguidge and her old husband (as well as her ability to settle Mistress Bladge’s land dispute with the King)? (AG)
  4. The Lord Mayor and the Goldsmith Matthew Shore are London’s two most pre-eminent citizens. How do they demonstrate a mastery over the City via their movements through it, especially in relation to how they control its access points and its liminal structures? Shore refuses to allow Tyrell and his men access to the Tower when he states God bless the princes, if it be his will. I do not like these villains (2.16.30-31). How does Shore’s protection of royal interests here reflect negatively on Edward’s behaviour towards the city, especially when he makes Shore’s wife his mistress? Further, how does Shore’s disguising himself as Flood mirror Edward’s disguise as the butler Ned when the King decides to go slumming in the city? (AG)
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References

  • Citation

    Bevington, David. Tudor Drama and Politics: A Critical Approach to Topical Meaning. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1968. Print.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Corrigan, Nora L. The Merry Tanner, the Mayor’s Feast, and the King’s Mistress: Thomas Heywood’s 1 Edward IV and the Ballad Tradition. Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 22 (2009): 27–41.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Heywood, Thomas. The First and Second Parts of King Edward IV. Ed. Richard Rowland. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2005. The Revels Plays.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Howard, Jean E. Other Englands: The View from the Non-Shakespearean History Play. Other Voices, Other Views: Expanding the Canon in English Renaissance Studies. Ed. Helen Ostovich, Mary V. Silcox, and Graham Roebuck. Newark: U of Delaware P, 1999. 135–153. Print.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Lander, Jesse M. Faith in Me unto This Commonwealth: Edward IV and the Civic Nation. Renaissance Drama 27 (1996): 47–78. doi:10.1086/rd.27.41917327.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Rowland, Richard. Thomas Heywood’s Theatre, 1599–1639: Locations, Translations, and Conflict. Farnham: Ashgate, 2010. Print. [See especially chapter 1, A London that yee see hourely: Heywood, Stow, and the Invention of the City Staged.]

    This item is cited in the following documents:

  • Citation

    Wall, Wendy. Forgetting and Keeping: Jane Shore and the English Domestication of History. Renaissance Drama 27 (1996): 123–156. doi:10.1086/rd.27.41917330.

    This item is cited in the following documents:

Cite this page

MLA citation

Jenstad, Janelle, Kerra St. John, and Aleta Gruenewald. 520 Class 8. The Map of Early Modern London, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 15 Sep. 2020, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EIG1.htm.

Chicago citation

Jenstad, Janelle, Kerra St. John, and Aleta Gruenewald. 520 Class 8. The Map of Early Modern London. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed September 15, 2020. https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EIG1.htm.

APA citation

Jenstad, J., St. John, K., & Gruenewald, A. 2020. 520 Class 8. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London. Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EIG1.htm.

RIS file (for RefMan, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

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PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/09/15
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/EIG1.htm
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RefWorks

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TEI citation

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