116 recompense return, repayment

  117 gracious with divine grace/with favor

  117 prostrate either figurative ("adoring, submissive"), or Charles may literally still be on the floor after the fight 117 thrall slave

  119 shrives hears confession and grants absolution/undresses/has sex with 119 smock undergarment

  120 protract extend (plays on notion of penile erection) 121 mean limit, measure

  122 know perhaps with sexual connotations (to know: to have sex with) 123 shrewd cunning, artful

  123 tongues speech/tongues used sexually

  124 where are you what are your intentions

  124 devise you on do you decide upon, are you planning 125 give o'er abandon, leave

  126 recreants cowards, deserters, those who abandon the true cause 129 scourge one sent by God to punish

  131 Saint Martin's summer a late spell of fine weather; Saint Martin's day is 11 November 131 halcyon's days a period of calm (from the legend that the kingfisher laid its eggs in a nest on the surface of the water; while they incubated the waters remained untroubled) 138 insulting exultant, mocking

  139 Caesar ... once in a story related by the ancient writer Plutarch, Caesar tells a sea captain not to fear the rough weather as his ship contains both Caesar and Caesar's good fortune

  140 Mahomet ... dove Mohammed, the prophet and founder of Islam who received divine revelations from a dove that whispered in his ear; skeptics said that he had merely trained the bird to nibble corn lodged there 141 with by eagle a Christian symbol

  142 Helen mother of the emperor Constantine; after being led by a vision to the discovery of the true cross, she converted her son to Christianity, which he made the official religion in the Roman Empire 143 Saint Philip's daughters four virgins said to have prophetic powers (Acts 21:9) 144 Venus Roman goddess of love; the planet Venus is known as the Morning Star

  148 immortalized gain immortal fame

  149 Presently immediately

  Act 1 Scene 3

  1.3 Location: the Tower of London

  1.3 blue coats Gloucester's livery and the typical color of Elizabethan servants' uniforms 2 conveyance trickery, theft

  3 warders guards

  8 Villains scoundrels/base servants

  10 willed ordered

  12 none no other

  13 Break up open

  13 warrantize guarantee, surety

  14 flouted mocked, taunted

  19 Cardinal an error; he has only just been made a cardinal in Act 5 Scene 1

  22 prizest him 'fore do you esteem him more than

  24 brook endure

  26 shut ... shortly have you dismissed immediately

  28 tawny yellowish brown, the color of the uniform worn by summoners or officers of an ecclesiastical court 29 umpire one who sets himself up as arbitrator (Second Folio's emendation of Folio's "Vmpheir"; some editors emend to "Humphrey," but there is no reason for the bishop to use his adversary's Christian name) 30 Peeled bald, tonsured

  31 proditor traitor

  34 contrived'st plotted

  34 dead lord i.e. Henry V

  35 whores ... sin the see of the Bishop of Winchester owned and leased land in Southwark, an area south of the Thames notorious for brothels; prostitutes were known as "Winchester geese"

  35 indulgences official documents, purchasable from the Church, that granted absolution from sin 36 canvass entangle in a net/sift, examine, as through a canvas sieve/punish (literally toss in a canvas sheet) 36 cardinal's hat also the name of a long-standing Southwark brothel; the Bishop of Winchester does not actually become a cardinal until later in the play 39 Damascus ... Cain the city of Damascus, in Syria, was thought to have been built at the place where Adam and Eve's son Cain murdered his brother Abel

  42 bearing-cloth christening robe

  44 beard defy (literally, pull insultingly by the beard)

  45 dared challenged

  46 for all this despite this being

  46 privileged place i.e. royal residence, where it was illegal to draw swords 50 dignities dignitaries

  53 Winchester goose syphilitic swelling in the groin/client of prostitutes 53 A rope i.e. for flogging (dominant sense); also "hangman's noose/penis/parrot's cry (abusive)"

  56 hurly-burly tumult, uproar

  57 Fie expression of impatience

  58 contumeliously disgracefully, insolently

  61 distrained seized

  63 still constantly, always motions promotes, urges 64 O'ercharging ... fines i.e. overburdening with heavy taxation (levied to fund war) 64 free generous

  68 prince ruler, king

  70 rests remains

  75 repair return

  76 several various

  80 break reveal, broach

  80 at large in full

  83 call for clubs give the rallying cry for apprentices armed with clubs (used to suppress a riot) 86 Abominable loathsome (often popularly "inhuman, unnatural") 87 ere before

  89 stomachs tempers, anger

  Act 1 Scene 4

  1.4 Location: Orleans, France

  1 Sirrah sir (used to inferiors)

  2 suburbs outskirts, areas outside the city walls

  7 grace honor/favor

  8 espials spies

  9 close entrenched securely dug-in/fortified nearby

  10 Wont are accustomed

  14 inconvenience harm, injury

  15 ordnance cannon, artillery

  15 gainst aimed at

  21 take ... care do not worry

  30 baser of lower birth or rank

  30 man of arms soldier

  32 craved entreated

  33 pilled peeled, i.e. reduced, worthless, deprived of honor 34 In fine in short, to sum up

  34 redeemed ransomed

  38 entertained treated

  39 contumelious contemptuous, insolent

  47 grisly grim, terrifying

  48 sudden immediate

  52 spurn kick

  52 adamant a legendary substance of unsurpassed hardness 53 Wherefore for which reason

  53 chosen shot specially selected marksman

  54 every minute while at one-minute intervals

  56 linstock forked stick for holding the gunner's lighted match 64 express precise, considered

  65 batt'ry assault, bombardment

  67 bulwark manned fortification

  68 aught anything, what

  69 enfeebled weakened

  72 chance unfortunate event crossed thwarted 74 mirror i.e. model, image

  76 fatal deadly/that deals fate

  80 trump trumpet

  86 wants lacks

  93 As as one

  95 Plantagenet Salisbury (Thomas Montacute) was a descendant of Edward III 96 Nero ... burn Roman emperor, Nero supposedly played music (popularly "fiddled") while Rome burned 97 only in at the mere sound of

  97 lightens lightning flashes

  100 gathered head raised an army, drawn their forces together 103 power army

  105 irks distresses

  107 Puzzel or pucelle though it means the opposite, the word had in England taken on a slang sense of "whore"

  107 dolphin i.e. Dauphin (pronounced in the same way) 109 mingled mixed together/mangled

  110 Convey me convey (me is emphatic)

  Act 1 Scene 5

  2 stay prevent

  4 bout of fighting/of sex

  5 dam mother conjure control with incantations, exorcise (perhaps "have sex with") 6 Blood ... witch superstition held anyone who drew blood from a witch was then protected from her spells 7 him the devil/the dauphin

  10 courage vigor, spirit

  12 high-minded arrogant

  14 victual supply with provisions

  17 testament will

  21 Hannibal famous third-century Carthaginian general who once outwitted his Roman enemies by tying firebrands to the horns of a vast herd of oxen so that they thought they were outnumbered 22 lists pleases

  23 noisome noxious

&
nbsp; 26 whelps puppies

  28 England's coat coat of arms, in which three lions featured, quartered with the French fleur-de-lis 29 give display

  29 stead place

  30 treacherous cowardly

  32 subdued overcome, subjugated

  33 It ... be i.e. it is useless

  34 consented unto conspired to bring about

  35 his revenge revenge of him

  38 would if only, I wish

  Act 1 Scene 6

  1.6 walls city walls

  1 Advance raise aloft colours military banners or flags 4 Astraea Greek goddess of justice

  6 Adonis' garden mythical garden of extraordinary fertility

  10 hap chance, fortune

  16 played the men performed our role of soldier, displayed manliness 22 pyramid ... Memphis Rhodope was a Greek courtesan, who married a king of Memphis and supposedly built the third Egyptian pyramid 25 rich-jewelled ... Darius King of Persia, conquered by Alexander the Great; the coffer is either Darius' jeweled treasure chest (in which Alexander stored the works of Homer), or his coffin 26 high elaborate, important

  28 Saint Denis patron saint of France

  Act 2 Scene 1

  2.1 band company of soldiers guarding the town 3 apparent clear, manifest

  4 court of guard guardhouse

  5 servitors soldiers, those who perform military service

  7 Constrained obliged

  7 scaling-ladders used by soldiers to climb defensive fortifications 7 dead march funeral march or simply march played on muffled drums 8 redoubted revered/feared

  9 approach arrival

  10 Wallon region that is now part of southern Belgium

  11 happy fortunate

  11 secure carefree/overconfident

  14 quittance requite, repay

  15 art magic

  15 baleful malignant, deadly

  16 Coward of France! i.e. the dauphin

  16 fame reputation

  17 fortitude strength

  23 prove not masculine does not turn out to be a man/turns out to be a woman (by getting pregnant) 24 standard military banner/soldier who carries the banner/erect penis 25 carry armour wear armor/bear the weight of a man in armor (during sex) 26 practise and converse scheme and talk, associate/have sex 28 flinty hard, stony

  31 several separate, various

  34 yond yonder, that (over there)

  40.1 ready dressed

  43 I trow I am sure

  47 venturous risky

  47 desperate reckless, hazardous

  50 marvel ... sped wonder how he fared

  51 holy may pun on "holey" (i.e. "with a vagina," imaging Joan in her sexual capacity) 52 cunning magic/skill/craftiness

  53 flatter falsely encourage

  53 withal with it

  56 impatient angry

  57 alike in the same way

  58 prevail be victorious

  60 Improvident careless, short-sighted

  61 mischief calamity, harm

  61 fall'n befallen, happened

  62 default failure, negligence

  64 weighty charge important responsibility

  65 quarters part of an army camp/rooms, apartments

  65 kept guarded, secured

  66 government control, management

  67 surprised ambushed, assaulted

  71 her quarter Joan's rooms (possibly plays sexually on sense of "hindquarters") 71 precinct sector, area of control

  72 passing moving

  73 About concerned with

  73 relieving ... sentinels possibly plays on the sense of "sexually relieving my erection"

  77 But only

  78 rests remains shift strategy

  80 platforms plans

  80 endamage them harm the enemy

  83 spoils plunder, booty

  Act 2 Scene 2

  2 pitchy black (as pitch, a tarlike substance)

  3.1 Retreat trumpet signal recalling the pursuing force 5 advance display/raise

  7 vow i.e. of vengeance

  11 ruin death, destruction

  16 mournful sorrowful, causing grief

  19 muse wonder

  20 champion one who fights for another, defendant

  20 virtuous said with irony

  28 trull whore

  30 turtle-doves emblematic of faithful love, they supposedly formed couples for life 33 power military force

  40 vouchsafe grant, deign

  41 poor humble

  41 lies lives

  43 report plays on the sense of "explosion of a gun or cannon"

  45 comic sport amusing entertainment (sport plays on the sense of "sexual activity") 46 encountered with met/fought with/had sex with

  47 despise scorn

  47 gentle kind/courteous/honorable

  48 world i.e. great number

  49 oratory eloquence, rhetorical skill

  50 overruled prevailed

  52 attend on visit, wait on

  55 unbidden uninvited

  57 remedy alternative

  58 prove try/test sexually

  60 mind intention

  61 mean mean to act

  Act 2 Scene 3

  2.3 Location: the castle of the Countess of Auvergne, near Orleans, France

  1 gave in charge ordered

  6 Tomyris ... death in revenge for her son's death, Queen Tomyris killed his murderer, the Persian King Cyrus, and put his head in a wineskin full of blood 9 Fain willingly

  10 censure opinion (not necessarily negative)

  10 rare exceptional/splendid

  16 abroad everywhere, out in the world

  17 still silence

  18 fabulous fantastical, fictitious

  19 Hercules famous Greek hero and demigod, possessed of exceptional strength 20 Hector famed Trojan warrior

  20 for in terms of grim aspect stern expression 21 proportion size, bulk

  21 strong-knit powerfully built, well constructed

  22 silly feeble, weak

  23 writhled wrinkled

  27 sort arrange, choose

  31 Marry by the Virgin Mary

  31 for that because

  31 in ... belief under a misapprehension

  32 I ... here i.e. by leaving I demonstrate that I am the real Talbot, independent-minded and not inclined to listen to insults/I go as a means of demonstrating my presence 36 trained lured

  37 shadow portrait/(illusory) image built on reputation/insubstantial thing 37 thrall slave

  41 tyranny cruelty, oppressive violence

  42 Wasted ravaged/exhausted

  43 captivate into captivity

  46 fond foolish

  47 aught nothing

  55 least ... humanity smallest part of humankind (here referring to the army) 56 frame structure, i.e. the body/the army

  57 pitch height

  59 merchant fellow/trader (in riddles) for the nonce as the occasion requires 61 contrarieties paradoxes, contradictions

  62 presently immediately

  62 Winds blows

  62 ordnance artillery

  66 yoketh subjects, imprisons, yokes like an animal

  67 Razeth wipes out, obliterates

  67 subverts overthrows

  69 abuse insulting, aggressive behavior/delusion, misconception 70 bruited reported, proclaimed

  74 entertain receive

  75 misconster misconstrue

  80 patience permission

  81 cates delicacies

  82 stomachs appetites

  Act 2 Scene 4

  2.4 Location: London, a garden at the Temple (area west of the City that housed the Inns of Court, where young men studied law)

  2 case of truth legal term for a case that is to be resolved by considering the facts rather than any ethical implications; given the ensuing dialogue, the dispute may have been one concerning Plantagenet's claim to the throne 3 were would have been

  6 Or else perhaps "or alternatively, to put it another way," but probably Plantagenet simply inquires, "Was I right
or was Somerset wrong?" to which he can only receive a favorable answer 6 wrangling quarreling/disputing (formally on an academic issue) 7 a truant negligent

  8 frame adapt

  11 pitch height (falconry term: highest point in the flight of a bird of prey) 12 mouth bark

  13 blades swords' blades

  13 temper quality, hardness

  14 bear him carry himself

  16 shallow naive

  17 nice precise, fastidious

  17 sharp subtle, discerning

  17 quillets fine distinctions

  18 daw jackdaw, a proverbially stupid bird

  19 mannerly forbearance courteous reluctance (to be involved) 20 naked evident, palpable

  21 purblind partially blind

  22 apparelled dressed (as opposed to being naked)

  24 blind i.e. totally blind as opposed to merely purblind

  26 significants signs

  28 stands insists

  29 pleaded stated (legal sense)

  30 white rose badge of the Mortimers (from whom Richard is descended) and then the House of York 32 party side

  33 red rose badge of the House of Lancaster

  34 colours literally, hues/corroborative evidence (legal sen se)/military banners 34 colour outward appearance

  38 withal with it

  42 yield concede in law

  43 objected urged, brought forward as an argument

  44 subscribe submit, agree (literally, sign a document)

  47 maiden unblemished, pure

  53 Opinion public opinion, reputation (a shift from the usual sense in the previous line) 54 still always

  60 scabbard sheath for a sword

  60 meditating that thinking on that which

  62 counterfeit imitate

  69 canker parasitic grub that destroys plants

  71 his its

  75 false dishonest (also continues Somerset's accusation that Richard is counterfeit)

  77 fashion sort/fashion of wearing a red rose

  77 peevish foolish/stubborn

  79 Pole Suffolk's family name

  80 turn ... throat throw the slanders back down your throat 82 grace favor, ennoble

  82 yeoman man who owns properly but is not a gentleman

  84 grandfather ancestor (actually his great-great-grandfather) 86 crestless without heraldic crest/without a top to his family tree (an image picked up on in root)/with lowered (cock's) crest, i.e. cowardly 87 bears ... privilege relies on the fact that this is a privileged place (where it was forbidden to draw swords) 88 craven cowardly

  89 maintain standby, defend

  93 attainted tainted, corrupt/subject to attainder (legal term), i.e. unable to inherit properly or title from a relative who received the death penalty 96 be restored have title and property returned, be reinstated 97 attached, not attainted arrested, but not made legally subject to attainder (perhaps having been executed on the king's orders, without being formally indicted by bill of attainder) 100 Were ... will i.e. given the opportunity

  101 partaker part-taker, supporter

  102 note record/brand

  103 apprehension opinion

  104 Look to it beware it, expect it

  107 spite contempt

  109 cognizance badge, distinguishing mark

  112 degree rank