Henry VI, Part 3Shakespeare’s First Folio
Scans: Bodleian Libraries, Arch. G c.7.
The First Folio
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On the page
Source transcription. Original spelling retained.
Reading Henry VI, Part 3
Histories · First Folio, 1623
Henry VI, Part 3 follows the repeated transfer of power between Lancaster and York. Victories fail to produce a stable settlement, and agreements over succession threaten the hopes of children as well as their parents. Margaret's campaign for her son and Richard's developing ambitions keep family interests close to the struggle for the crown. Read the battle scenes alongside the encounters in which characters recognise the human cost of their allegiance. The Folio makes this a continuation of the histories, but the recurrence of violence should not be mistaken for simple repetition: each return changes who can claim a future.
The opening brings armed Yorkists into the space of royal authority. Their accounts of battle include blood and severed flesh as evidence of achievement, followed by the demand that York occupy the throne. The scene turns military success into a claim about inheritance in full view of others.
Context: Henry VI, Part 3 at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Scans and transcription: Bodleian Libraries, Arch. G c.7.
On the opening page
The third Part of Henry the Sixt, with the death of the Duke of YORKE. Actus Primus. Scœna Prima. [Act 1, Scene 1] Alarum. Enter Plantagenet, Edward, Richard, Norfolke, Mount ague, Warwicke, and Souldiers. Warwicke. I Wonder how the King escap'd our hands? Pl. while we pursu'd the Horsmen of yͤ North, He slyly stole away, and left his men: Whereat the great Lord of Northumberland, Whose Warlike eares could neuer brooke retreat, Chear'd vp the drouping Army, and himselfe. Lord Clifford and Lord Stafford all a‑brest Charg'd our maine Battailes Front: and breaking in, Were by the Swords of common Souldiers slaine. Edw. Lord Staffords Father, Duke of Buckingham, Is either slaine or wounded dangerous. I cleft his Beauer with a down‑right blow: That this is true (Father) behold his blood. Mount. And Brother, here's the Earle of Wiltshires (blood, Whom I encountred as the Battels ioyn'd. Rich. Speake thou for me, and tell them what I did. Plan. Richard hath best deseru'd of all my sonnes: But is your Grace dead, my Lord of Somerset? Nor. Such hope haue all the line of Iohn of Gaunt. Rich. Thus do I hope to shake King Henries head. Warw. And so doe I, victorious Prince of Yorke. Before I see thee seated in that Throne, Which now the House of Lancaster vsurpes, I vow by Heauen, these eyes shall neuer close. This is the Pallace of the fearefull King, And this the Regall Seat: possesse it Yorke, For this is thine, and not King Henries Heires. Plant. Assist me then, sweet Warwick, and I will, For hither we haue broken in by force. Norf.
An opening excerpt from the Bodleian transcription, with original spelling retained. Continue in the reader. Text CC BY 3.0.