Chapter: ACT V. SCENE 1.

Northampton. A Room in the Palace.

[Enter KING JOHN, PANDULPH with the crown, and Attendants.]

KING JOHN.
Thus have I yielded up into your hand
The circle of my glory.

PANDULPH.
[Give KING JOHN the crown.]
Take again
From this my hand, as holding of the pope,
Your sovereign greatness and authority.

KING JOHN.
Now keep your holy word: go meet the French;
And from his holiness use all your power
To stop their marches 'fore we are inflam'd.
Our discontented counties do revolt;
Our people quarrel with obedience;
Swearing allegiance and the love of soul
To stranger blood, to foreign royalty.
This inundation of mistemper'd humour
Rests by you only to be qualified.
Then pause not; for the present time's so sick
That present medicine must be ministr'd
Or overthrow incurable ensues.

PANDULPH.
It was my breath that blew this tempest up,
Upon your stubborn usage of the pope:
But since you are a gentle convertite,
My tongue shall hush again this storm of war
And make fair weather in your blustering land.
On this Ascension-day, remember well,
Upon your oath of service to the pope,
Go I to make the French lay down their arms.

[Exit.]

KING JOHN.
Is this Ascension-day? Did not the prophet
Say that before Ascension-day at noon
My crown I should give off? Even so I have:
I did suppose it should be on constraint;
But, heaven be thank'd, it is but voluntary.

[Enter the BASTARD.]

BASTARD.
All Kent hath yielded; nothing there holds out
But Dover Castle: London hath receiv'd,
Like a kind host, the Dauphin and his powers:
Your nobles will not hear you, but are gone
To offer service to your enemy;
And wild amazement hurries up and down
The little number of your doubtful friends.

KING JOHN.
Would not my lords return to me again
After they heard young Arthur was alive?

BASTARD.
They found him dead, and cast into the streets;
An empty casket, where the jewel of life
By some damn'd hand was robb'd and ta'en away.

KING JOHN.
That villain Hubert told me he did live.

BASTARD.
So, on my soul, he did, for aught he knew.
But wherefore do you droop? why look you sad?
Be great in act, as you have been in thought;
Let not the world see fear and sad distrust
Govern the motion of a kingly eye:
Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire;
Threaten the threatener, and outface the brow
Of bragging horror: so shall inferior eyes,
That borrow their behaviours from the great,
Grow great by your example, and put on
The dauntless spirit of resolution.
Away, and glister like the god of war
When he intendeth to become the field:
Show boldness and aspiring confidence.
What, shall they seek the lion in his den,
And fright him there? and make him tremble there?
O, let it not be said!--Forage, and run
To meet displeasure farther from the doors,
And grapple with him ere he come so nigh.

KING JOHN.
The legate of the pope hath been with me,
And I have made a happy peace with him;
And he hath promis'd to dismiss the powers
Led by the Dauphin.

BASTARD.
O inglorious league!
Shall we, upon the footing of our land,
Send fair-play orders, and make compromise,
Insinuation, parley, and base truce,
To arms invasive? shall a beardless boy,
A cocker'd silken wanton, brave our fields,
And flesh his spirit in a warlike soil,
Mocking the air with colours idly spread,
And find no check? Let us, my liege, to arms;
Perchance the cardinal cannot make your peace;
Or, if he do, let it at least be said
They saw we had a purpose of defence.

KING JOHN.
Have thou the ordering of this present time.

BASTARD.
Away, then, with good courage! yet, I know
Our party may well meet a prouder foe.

[Exeunt.]

 Welcome to the royal court of England. King John is kneeling before Pandolf. He gives his crown to Pandolf, who then gives it back to him. Okay. It looks like King John and the Pope are buddies again--but there's a catch. Now, officially, the Pope owns England; it just so happens that he's kind enough to let John keep ruling it. History Snack: Remember how we said back in Act 3, Scene 1 that King John and the Pope fought about who should get to be the Archbishop of Canterbury? That whole argument started in 1207. By the year 1213, it had become clear that John wasn't going to back down; thus, Pope Innocent III excommunicated King John, basically told his subjects that they didn't have to be loyal to him anymore, and put a bounty on his head. The Pope also threatened to get other European monarchs to go to war with England. All of this happened over a 6-year period but Shakespeare smooshes the events together so they'll fit in his 5-act play. Anyway, King John realized that he was no match for the Pope so, just like Shakespeare shows in his play, King John gave England to the Pope; from then on, he would rule it as the Pope's tenant. In the language of the day, this meant that he would hold England as a "fief." On top of that, King John had to make annual cash payments to the Pope. Bummer. Now back to the play. Once all this business of giving-the-crown-away-and-getting-it-back is done, King John says to Pandolf, "All right: I've lived up to my half of the bargain; now it's time for you to do your part. Help me get these darned rebels and Frenchmen off my back." In response, Pandolf says, "No worries. I'm the one who stirred up this trouble; it'll be easy enough for me to set things right again. Mark my words: on this very Ascension Day, I'll solve all your problems." Then Pandolf leaves. Once Pandolf is gone, King John starts saying to himself, "Ascension Day, Ascension Day... why does that ring a bell? Oh, I know! That's the day when that crazy man Peter of Pomfret said I'd give up my crown!" Then King John has an idea: "But--I just gave up my crown... and got it right back. Winning!" King John seems to have forgotten that he ordered Peter of Pomfret to be hanged on this day. Could there still be time to save the man's life? We'll never know, because just at that moment, John gets distracted by the Bastard walking on to the scene. The Bastard brings bad news: throughout the land, people are flocking to support the invading French and their allies, the rebel English noblemen. King John asks if the news that Arthur is still alive had the effect of calming people down. The Bastard replies that Arthur is dead. King John now thinks that Hubert betrayed him by telling him that Arthur was alive. The Bastard sticks up for Hubert, telling John that he doesn't think he did the deed. Then the Bastard tells John to stop being such a downer: if the people are going to fight on his behalf, he has to show them that he's a strong and powerful leader. King John responds by telling the Bastard how Pandolf has promised to set things in order again. The Bastard doesn't like the sounds of that; he considers such an alliance with the Pope dishonorable. The Bastard says that the English people should at least get an army ready, to show that they aren't total pushovers. King John says, "Fine. But you take care of it." The Bastard promises to do so. He and King John both leave the stage.

