Henry V Past Paper PDF

century until the middle of the fifteenth) to the present day. The question as to whether we 152 should call the language “Old English” or “Anglo-Saxon” is debatable. If we want to stress the continuity, the points of similarity between the older and mo...

century until the middle of the fifteenth) to the present day. The question as to whether we 152 should call the language “Old English” or “Anglo-Saxon” is debatable. If we want to stress the continuity, the points of similarity between the older and modern periods of the language, we will use the first term. If we want to stress the contrast between Anglo-Saxon and present- day culture, and the linguistic differences, we will use the second. Coming back to the invaders, if at first they were fierce, warlike and pagan, they would become - with time - more civilized and learned, strongly influenced by the Church. Christianity had settled in England as a result of a papal mission at the end of the sixth century: Pope Gregory sent one of his priors, St Augustine to preach the gospel (godspel, “good news”) to the Angles in 597. Accompanied by 40 monks, Augustine was received by 153 King Ethelbert of Kent who converted to Christianity and gave Augustine a see at Canterbury (the prior thus becoming the first archbishop of Canterbury). The pope had identified 154 Ethelbert as a strong conversion prospect since he had married a Frankish Christian princess, Bertha. This was not a lightning conversion. Originally, the king kept the missionary isolated from his subjects on the Isle of Thanet. It was only when Augustine and Queen Bertha, praying together, began to attract a following that Ethelbert himself was won over. The literary age flourished after the arrival of the Roman missionaries led by Augustine. At first, large numbers of Latin manuscripts were produced, especially of the Bible and other religious texts. Subsequently, Old English manuscripts began to be written (glossaries of Latin words translated into Old English…). There were two major influences over Old English: i. The Christian missionaries not only introduced literacy. They also brought a huge Latin vocabulary (more than 450 new words), some of which was taken over into Old English. Most of this language had to do with the church and its services, but there were also a number of domestic and biological words : altar, angel, apostle, epistle, psalm, rule, temple, tunic, verse... ii. The second big linguistic invasion came as a result of the Danish (Vikings) raids on Britain, which began in AD 787 and continued at intervals until the beginning of the eleventh century, i.e. some 250 years. The result of this prolonged period of contact was a large number of Danish settlements with Scandinavian names. There are over 1,500 place-names of Scandinavian origin in England, especially in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Over 600 places end in –by, the Danish word for “farm” or “town” – Derby, Grimsby, Rugby, etc. Many of the remainder end in – thorp (“village”), as in Althorp and Linthorpe; - thwaite (“an isolated area”), as in Braithwaite and Langthwaite; or – toft (“a piece of ground”), as in Lowestoft and Nortoft. Many Scandinavian personal names (e.g. surnames ending in – son, such as Davidson and Henderson) are also found in these areas. Some common Scandinavian loan words include : both, give, get, same, sister, sky, take… Among the various authors one can refer to in Anglo-Saxon literature, mention is made here of Aldhelm (c. 639-709), Alcui (735-804) , and particularly the Venerable Bede (673-735), 155 152 On the story of Middle English, see David Crystal, The English Language (London: Penguin Books, 1990), pp. 172 et seq. 153 Not to be confused with St Augustine of Hippo (354-430), author of the Confessions and City of God. 154 Ethelbert (Aethelberht), King of Kent, lived from 560 to 616. Geographically speaking, Kent is in the southeast of England – present-day Dover and Canterbury. 155 Alcuin was an outstanding figure in the Carolingian Renaissance. 54 the author of The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (Historia Ecclesiatica Gentis Anglorum). The title of Bede’s work conveys one of the very manifestations of an English 156 national awareness. All three scholars – Aldhelm, Alcui, and Bede – were extremely 157 important in their day, known throughout Europe: Bede is the only English writer mentioned by Dante, and his manuscripts are scattered throughout Europe (as far as Russia). Because more care was taken to preserve writings in Latin than in English, most of Bede’s manuscripts survive in Latin. Of his English writings, only five lines remain: his “Death Song”, composed and delivered on his deathbed. Fore ðæm nedfere nænig wiorðe ðonc snottora ðon him ðearf siæ to ymbhycgenne ær his hinionge hwæt his gastæ godes oððe yfles æfter deað dæge doemed wiorðe. 158 According to Simon Schama, there is much – at first sight – to suggest that Bede might not be a page turner: his status as a monk, the title of his main work (Historia Ecclesiatica Gentis Anglorum): “In fact, however, Bede is the first consummate English story-teller; an artful retailer of wonders, a writer of brilliantly imaginative prose, capable of conjuring up the fire- light and roasting meat of the timbered halls of the Saxon kings or the death throes of a great war horse. Although he spent virtually his entire life in the Northumbrian monastery of Jarrow, where he had been deposited by his parents when he was seven years’ old, Bede’s was one of the least cloistered minds of early medieval England. He was a clear-eyed observer of the earthiness of the Anglo-Saxon world, of its bloody feuds, its unpredictable, sometimes infantile, dynastic quarrels, as well as its credulous enchantment by magic. It was his acute understanding of the foibles of sinners as well as the virtues of saints and his lack of illusions about the difficulty of keeping the converted to the straight and narrow that makes him so persuasive a narrator”. 159 The following text, on the conversion of King Edwin, illustrates Bede’s narrative talents. It 160 also illustrates English pragmatism (almost a cost-benefit analysis…) as early as 731. Bede sees, without any starry-eyed sentimentality, what kind of incentives could overcome the deep mistrust and anxiety of the pagan kings when they were asked to desert their traditional god. In a world full of fighting the prospect of the Lord of Hosts fighting on their side was, at least, worth pondering. And then there was sheer curiosity. In the following excerpt, Edwin summons a meeting of wise-men to advise him on the adoption or rejection of the new Church and improbably begins with the high priest of the old religion admitting that his cult has “no virtue”. He is followed by a Saxon noble, who makes the single most touching 156 Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (Historia Ecclesiatica Gentis Anglorum) was finished in 731, by which time he had written nearly 40 works, mostly bibical commentaries. A French edition of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation was published in 1995 : 157 Cf. Philippe Chassaigne, Histoire de l’Angleterre : des origines à nos jours (Paris: Flammarion (coll. Champs Flammarion), 2001), at 22. 158 Literally: Before that inevitable journey no one becomes wiser in thought than he needs to be, in considering, before his departure, what will be adjudged to his soul, of good or evil, after his death-day. Cf. Michael Alexander, A History of English Literature (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 200), p. 18. 159 Cf. Simon Schama, A History of Britain, Vol. 1, op. cit., at 51. 160 King Edwin (Eadwine) reigned over Northumbria. Geographically speaking, Northumbria is located much further north – present-day Hull and York. King Edwin reigned from 617 to 633. He married Ethelburga (Aethelburga), the daughter of Ethelbert and Bertha. 55 (clinching) speech in Bede’s entire history, which is all the more credible for being an argument for conversion based on nothing more than a gambler’s fretful hunch. Bede, “The Conversion of King Edwin”, in the Ecclesisatical History of the English Nation (excerpt reproduced from George B. Woods, Homer A. Watt, George K. Anderson, The Literature of England. An Anthology and a History, Vol. 1, 3rd Ed. (Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1947), pp. 63-65) “At this time the nation of the Northumbrians, that is, the nation of the Angles that live on the north side of the river Humber, with their king, Edwin, received the faith, through the preaching of Paulinus. […] For some time he delayed to receive the word of God at the preaching of Paulinus, and used to sit several hours alone, and seriously to ponder with himself what he was to do, and what religion he was to follow. Then the man of God came to him, laid his right hand on his head, and asked whether he knew that sign. The king in a trembling condition, was ready to fall down at his feet, but he raised him up, and in a familiar manner said to him, ‘Behold, by the help of God you have escaped the hands of the enemies whom you feared. Behold you have of His gift obtained the kingdom which you desired. Take heed not to delay that which you promised to perform; embrace the faith, and keep the precepts of Him who, delivering you from temporal adversity, has raised you to the honour of a temporal kingdom; and if, from this time forward, you shall be obedient to His will, which through me He signifies to you, He will not only deliver you from the everlasting torments of the wicked, but also make you partaker with Him of His eternal kingdom in Heaven.’ The king, hearing these words, answered, that he was both willing and bound to receive the faith which he taught; but that he would confer about it with his principal friends and counselors, to the end that if they also were of his opinion, they might all together be cleansed in Christ the Fountain of Life. Paulinus consenting, the king did as he said; for, holding a council with the wise men, he asked of every one in particular what he thought of the new doctrine, and the new worship that was preached. To which the chief of his own priests, Coifi, immediately answered, ‘O king, consider what this is which is now preached to us; for I verily declare to you, that the religion which we have hitherto professed has, as far as I can learn, no virtue in it. For none of your people has applied himself more diligently to the worship of our gods than I; and yet there are many who receive greater favors from you, and are more preferred than I, and are more prosperous in all their undertakings. Now if the gods were good for anything, they would rather forward me, who have been more careful to serve them. It remains, therefore, that if upon examination you find those new doctrines, which are now preached to us, better and more efficacious, we immediately receive them without any delay.’ Another of the king’s chief men, approving of his words and exhortations, presently added : ‘The present life of man, O king, seems to me, in comparison to that time which is unknown to us, like to the swift flight of a sparrow through the room wherein you sit at supper in winter, with your commanders and ministers, and a good fire in the midst, whilst the storms of rain and snow prevail abroad; the 56  sparrow, flying in at one door, within, is safe from the wintry storm; but after a short space of fair weather, he immediately vanishes out of your sight, into the dark winter from which he had emerged. So this of man appears for a short space, but of what went before, or what is to follow, we are utterly ignorant. If, therefore, this new doctrine contains something more certain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed.’ The other elders and king’s counselors, by Divine inspiration, spoke to the same effect. But Coifi added, that he wished more attentively to hear Paulinus discourse concerning the God whom he preached; which he having by the king’s command performed, Coifi, hearing his words, cried out: ‘I have long since been sensible that there was nothing in that which we worshipped; because the more diligently I sought after truth in that worship, the less I found it. But now I freely confess, that such truth evidently appears in this preaching as can confer on us the gifts of life, of salvation, and of eternal happiness. For which reason I advise, O king, that we instantly abjure and set fire to those temples and altars which we consecrated without reaping any benefit from them.’ In short, the king publicly gave his license to Paulinus to preach the Gospel, and renouncing idolatry, declared that he received the faith of Christ; and when he inquired of the high priest who should first profane the altars and temples of their idols with the enclosures that were about them, he answered, ‘I; for who more properly than myself destroy those things which I worshipped through ignorance, for an example to all others, through the wisdom which has been given me by the true God ?’ Then immediately, in contempt of his former superstitions, he desired the king to furnish him with arms and a stallion; and mounting the same, he set out to destroy the idols; for it was not lawful before for the high priest either to carry arms, or to ride on any but a mare. Having, therefore, girt a sword about him, with a spear in his hands, he mounted the king’s stallion and proceeded to the idols. The multitude, beholding it, concluded he was distracted; but he lost no time, for as soon as he drew near the temple he profaned the same, casting into it the spear which he held; and rejoicing in the knowledge of the true God, he commanded his companions to destroy the temple, with all its enclosures, by fire. This place where the idols were is still shown, not far from York, to the eastward, beyond the river Derwent, and is now called Godmundingham, where the high priest, by the inspiration of the true God, profaned and destroyed the altars which he had himself consecrated. King Edwin, therefore, with all the nobility of the nation, and a large number of the common sort, received the faith, and the washing of regeneration, in the eleventh year of his reign, which is the year of the incarnation of our Lord 627, and about one hundred and eighty after the coming of the English into Britain…”. The English nation becomes an inalienable part of European culture and society. The connection with Rome will last until the “submission of the clergy” to Henry VIII in the spring of 1532 (Act of Supremacy of 1534). Pragmatism comes out as an essential feature of the Venerable Bede’s text. There is no lightning conversion behind King Edwin’s espousal of Christianity. The cost-benefit elements come out strongly in his demeanor as well as in the advice of Coifi. Further down the road, 57 there exist a host of illustrations of pragmatism in English culture. One could most notably point to the fact that there is no self-contained, all-encompassing, codified, written Constitution. Having said as much, there is a British constitution. It is made up of different statutes (e.g. Magna Carta of 1215, Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, Human Rights Act of 1998), judicial precedents (e.g. Entick v. Carrington: a very famous precedent that serves as a constitutional guaranty of your rights in terms of searches and seizures, and that also influenced the 4 amendment to the United States Constitution), conventions (difficult to th enforce rights that are not written). Pragmatism may also be illustrated in the law profession in England with its distinction between: solicitors, who basically prepare legal submissions and give legal advice on contracts and conveyancing (sale or purchase of real estate); and barristers, who argue cases before courts and who have not necessarily studied law at university (e.g. Margaret Thatcher, Prime minister from 1979 to 1990, who studied … chemistry at Oxford University before becoming a barrister). For want of time to review British history in great detail, the focus of this course lies on two monarchs: Henry V and Queen Victoria. A. Henry V (1386-1422) By way of summary, the young prince of Wales, son of Henry IV, led a wild, adolescent youth. He visited whores, played games, partied and loved to drink with his friend Falstaff. When his father died in 1413, he naturally succeeded to the throne. Nobody trusted the new King because of his dissolute, boisterous reputation. Most notably, the French Dauphin offered the newly crowned King a chest of tennis balls (viewed as an insult). Shortly thereafter, the King lay territorial claims on parts of France. Henry V lands in France in August 1415. After five weeks, he takes Harfleur and begins a march to Calais. On his way, with a force of maximum 13,000 soldiers, he is met at Agincourt by a French army of 50,000. The night before the battle of Agincourt, King Henry wanders in disguise among his troops and is shocked by what he hears (Act IV, Scene 1). A famous passage of the play may be found in the so-called “Crispin Crispian” speech delivered by Henry V just before the battle of Agincourt (October 25, 1415). Legend has it that French forces outnumbered English troops 5 to 1 (and that the English were further hampered by exhaustion due to the siege of Harfleur, dysentery, and inclement weather). The English nevertheless win due to archers using longbows, and cunning tactics, galvanized by Henry V’s speech. Gloucester: Where is the King? Bedford: The King himself is rode to view the battle. Westmorland: Of fighting men they have full threescore thousand. Exeter: There’s five to one; besides, they are all fresh. Salisbury: ‘Tis a fearful odds. Westmorland: O that we now had here 58  But one ten thousand of those men in England That do no work today! King Henry: What’s he that wishes so? My cousin Westmorland? No, my fair cousin: If we are marked to die, we are enow To do our country loss: and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. God’s will ! I pray thee wish not one man more. (…) Brother, proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host, That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart: his passport shall be made, And crowns for convoy put into his purse. We would not die in that man's company That fears his fellowship to die with us. This day is called the Feast of Crispian: He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a-tiptoe when this day is named, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall see this day, and live old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say, ‘Tomorrow is Saint Crispian.’ Then will he,strip his sleeve, and show his scars, And say, ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’ Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words, Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered – 59  We few, we happy few, we band of brothers: For he today that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now abed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap, whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day. Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 4, Scene III (excerpt) The victory at Agincourt, and Shakespeare’s heart-stirring account of the battle written in 1599, transformed Henry V into one of England’s most iconic figures, an inspirational leader akin to France’s Joan of Arc… A sense of miracle (the few had destroyed the many), holding up two string fingers as an act of defiance and victory, the emergence of the common man as a vital part of the English nation, England’s “finest hour”. Still a sensitive topic today, the French accuse the English of war crimes and exaggeration (over 600 years later…). At the end of the play, Henry will marry the daughter of Charles VI (the French King) who lost a lot of territory. In 1420, the treaty of Troyes is signed: Charles VI recognizes Henry as his heir so he would become the king of England and France. This would not happen because Henry V would die before (2 months before Charles death). But the second agreement was that the son of Henry and Catherine will become king (Catherine was a capital demand). But the son was only 9 months to become a king (and never crowned in Reims), so the heir was Charles’ son: Charles VII. Different lessons may be drawn from Henry V: the first relates to the King overcoming his terrible reputation and becoming a responsible figure-head with dashing qualities, worthy of a stateman. Furthermore, Henry V delivers one of the most iconic speeches in the English language, galvanizing his weary troops into a frenzy, against formidable odds, that will take them into victory. There is a formidable sense of valiance (few vs. many) + combination of noble and humane speech. Finally, the play is about the unification of the peoples of Britain (the character of Fluellen, from Wales, is often depicted with a leek on his helmet). This was a major concern when the play was written, what with the fallout of the Protestant Reformation and Queen Elizabeth in her dying days, leaving no heirs: where would the crown go…? At her death in 1603, the crown went to James VI of Scotland, becoming James Ist of England and Scotland, i.e. union of the crowns. Nothing is innocent in these symbols. Remarkable comparisons can be made if we fast-forward to Winston Churchill. The man had an impulsive character, with partisan swerves (moved from the Conservatives to the Liberals, and then back to the Conservatives). He played an important role in WWI as First Lord of the Admiralty: huge disaster in Gallipoli (further to the massive loss of people in the trenches of France and Belgium, Churchill decided to fight Germany and the Ottoman Empire on the southern front, eventually losing thousands of troops). Ultimately, Churchill lost all credibility and became a simple soldier (not to mention his “black dog days: suffered from bipolar disorder and depression until his death). 60 Having said as much, Churchill is renowned for his steadfast confrontation of Nazism and appeasement in the 1930s. The term “appeasement policies” (to appease = to pacify an enemy by granting concessions), refers to the cowardly attitude of many European leaders during the 1930s, as understood against the backdrop of historical events such as: Abyssinia, 1935; The Spanish Civil War, 1936; Rhineland, 1936; The invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1938 Following Nazi Germany’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, we have the - infamous - Munich Accords of September 1938: Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier, Hitler and Mussolini. Indeed, Neville Chamberlain, who served as Prime Minister from May 1937 to May 1940, met Hitler three times in September 1938 and came back with a policy of appeasement that said that Hitler would calm down. It was a crucial moment and Churchill was very critical about it. He gave Hitler a host of concessions to appease his opponents. At the same time, during the 1930s, England was flirting with Fascism, most notably through the figure of Oswald Mosley (1896-1980). After his military service, Mosley became the youngest member of Parliament, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster in the Labour Government of 1929-31. He married one of the Mitford sisters and invited Hitler to his wedding. Progressively, Mosley became involved in a more anti-Semitic approach. As head of the British Union Fascists (BUF), he sent out “black-shirts” to intimidate people, culminating in the battle of Cable Street of October 4 , 1936. Eventually, Mosley became a th figure of humor (shouting and silly uniforms), He was imprisoned in 1940 and the BUF was banned. Mention should also be made of King Edward VIII. He became King but was never crowned bc he wanted to marry an American – Wallis Simpson – who had already divorced twice so he abdicated in 1936. Perhaps not a bad thing since he was pro-German and close to Hitler. His brother, George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth, became the king. Perfect symbol of modernization and glamour. B. Queen Victoria (1819 – 1901) Longest reign in British history (63 years), 5 in the line of succession (she became Queen in th 1838). Reign during industrialization made Britain the richest country in the world. She illustrated duties and morals. Also emerging middle class and urban underworld (child labor, unemployed and destitute people). She was assisted by her husband, Albert of Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha (1819-1861, related to the Belgian monarchy) and they created a visible constitutional monarchy to stem a republican movement (republican sentiment was quite strong in the 19 century). Working for “the firm”, th Victoria became patron of 150 institutions, including dozens of charities (Albert supported the development of educational museums). She supported the armed forces and undertook civic visits to industrial towns. 61