makes John a martyr to Roman tyranny; this poem anticipates Bale's conception of John by several centuries. Then too, there is a Latin poem, written in England shortly after John's death, in which John is treated with charity, and emphasis is placed on the necessity of a united Englandquite in the spirit of Shakespeare's Faulconbridge. 21 On the other hand, a Latin poem, Planctus super Episcopis, vehemently attacks the Bishops of Norwich, Bath, and Winchester for adhering to John in his struggle with the Church.22

In the minor chronicles the interdict is the outstanding event of John's reign, and since these chroniclers were churchmen, they by no means whitewashed the King's contumacy. While these lesser annalists hold John duly responsible for the continental losses, they are not generally aware of Arthur's claim or of his murder. 23 Fifty years after John's death, Robert of Gloucester, whose chronicle may be considered fairly representative, incorporated the story of Arthur's murder in his chronicle; thus making this incident universally accredited. Pity for Arthur established a belief in his just claim to the crown, and accordingly John looms as a weak and vicious usurper in almost all subsequent chronicles.24 While each succeeding chronicle repeats the story of John, political and controversial literature recalls his story only occasionally, and then usually by way of example. Thus, the story of John is enmeshed in a tradition, which ranges from a virulently unfavorable to a lenient and even to a favorable view of that King and his reign.

Perhaps the immediate precursor of Bale's Kynge Johan is The Image of Ypocresye, 25 a long poem written in 1533 by an anonymous author. The poem is a scathing denunciation of the Church. The clergy and bishops, cardinals and popes, preachers and prelates, monks and friars are successively trounced and roundly condemned. In the course of the poem, approximately one hundred lines are devoted to a protest against John's excommunication. In this protest, the Pope is the "great bloodsucker," who through his underlings oppresses countries with bell, book and candle, just as he did to King John in order to bring England as well as the King into his power. 26

The Image of Ypocresye showed that the time was ripe for Bale. John Bale (1495-1563) had been a monk, but with the Reformation he turned Protestant, and eventually he became the Protestant Bishop of Ossory, Ireland. "Bilious Bale," as he was called, devoted his pen to anti-Catholic propaganda. Neither exile nor imprisonments dampened the ardor of his bitter, untiring and redoubtable spirit. The most notorious product of his spleen is his play Kynge Johan, which, from a literary point of view is important, since it is the first play in which materials from the English chronicles are utilized.27

Bale studied the chronicles, which he condemned for having "more Romish blasphemy than godliness." Nevertheless, he selected his facts from them. The spirit of Kynge Johan is not original with Bale. Its spirit is much the same as that in the Provencal poem, which made John a martyr to papal tyranny.

In itself Bale's play is a perversion of history. He adapted for his purpose a few of the leading and popular events in the reign of King John, such as his dispute with the Pope, the suffering of his kingdom under the interdict, his subsequent submission to Rome, and his alleged death by poison from the hands of a monk of Swinstead Abbey. He does not mention "Magna Charta," because this, of course, did not fit into his purpose. In Kynge Johan, the characters of the churchmen are made evident by their introduction to the audience as abstract qualities. Thus Raymundus first appears as Dissimulation, Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, as Sedition, who seems to be the arch-enemy of King John; Cardinal Pandulph is called Private Wealth and the Pope is Usurped Power. In the very beginning the audience is given the keynote of the play. Thus "Ynglond vidua" beseeches King John to protect her from her oppressors in these words:

Such lubbers as hath dysgysed heads in their hoodes
Whych in ydleness do lyve by other menns goodes,
Monkes, chanons and nones in dyvers colours and shap-

pe,

Bothe whyght blacke and pyed, God send their increase yll happe.28

The important feature of Kynge Johan is that John is a Protestant hero, who is to be deeply commiserated as the noble victim of papal chicanery and exactions. To make John a hero, required some careful twisting of facts. In the first place John's notoriously bad character was whitewashed by giving the lie to the monastic chroniclers: "King John is like to rue it sore for vexing of the clergy." Then, enough charges were insinuated against Peter of Pomfret that he deserved hanging. The loss of the French possessions was minimized by emphasizing John's victories in Wales and Scotland. Finally, John's surrender of crown and kingdom to Rome was attributed to the command of Rome, supported by the oppression of adverse circumstances, which were also attributed to Rome's machinations.29

Now, in all this there is much anti-Catholic virus, which could easily enough be read into Shakespeare's King John.

28 John Bale, "Kynge Johan", The Malone Society Reprints (Oxford, 1931) 3.

29 Ruth C. Wallerstein, King John in Fact and Fiction (Philadelphia, 1917) 37.

In fact, there are a few critics, who seemingly suppose that some relation closer than a chance treatment of the same subject-exists between Shakespeare and Bale, and that Shakespeare had the same purpose in producing King John, as Bale had in producing his Kynge Johan, the only difference being that Bale produced a morality and Shakespeare a very actable historical play.

But to summarize the evidence in the case. It has been pointed out dozens of times perhaps that Shakespeare most probably never heard of Bale's Kynge Johan. And it is also very improbable that the anonymous author of the Troublesome Raigne had any contact whatsoever with the play. Scholars base these statements on the following facts. Kynge Johan is usually dated 1548, although Schelling believes that it was acted at least ten years earlier.30 It may be the play acted in Cranmer's house in 1539, which play an admiring Protestant described as "one of the best matiers that ever he sawe touching King John."31 Be this as it may, Kynge Johan was apparently never printed in the sixteenth century. The manuscript of the play was recovered about 1835 from old papers probably belonging to the Corporation of Ipswich. Now, according to the Court Calendar, Queen Elizabeth visited Ipswich from August 5-11, 1561, and there is no record of any other visit. It was suggested therefore that Bale's Kynge Johan was revived and acted

30 Felix E. Schelling, Elizabethan Drama: 1558-1642 (Boston, 1908) I, 70. However, Furness-Variorum of King John (Philadelphia, 1919) ix-places the date of composition between 1558 and 1563. In this Furness is doubtlessly following Frederick G. Fleay, Chronicle History of the London Stage: 1559-1642 (London, 1890) 62.

31 Edmund K. Chambers, History of Mediaeval Stage (Oxford, 1903) II, 221. In view of this fact, it may be significant that Thomas Kirchmayer, a fiery heretic, dedicated his Pammachius to Archbishop Cranmer. This play was translated into English by John Bale, and it was Pammachius, which proved so offensive to Bishop Gardiner, when it was staged at Christ's College in 1537. Furthermore, Bale himself informs us that he won Cromwell's favor ob editas comedias, for Cromwell encouraged interludes to further the Protestant cause. -Ibid. II, 219-220.

before the Queen. 32 This suggestion gains weight by the fact that the last twenty-one lines in the manuscript are a prayer for the Queen, and they are clearly a later addition.33 Such are the facts. Consequently, in all this there is no positive evidence to indicate that Shakespeare and the anonymous author of The Troublesome Raigne were in any way acquainted with Bale's Kynge Johan.34

4. "The Troublesome Raigne"

The next notable landmark in tracing the King-John tradition is The Troublesome Raigne of John, King of England. This play was published anonymously in London for Sampson Clarke in 1591. According to the title-page, it had been "sundry times publicly acted." The play was probably written a few years previous to 1591, it being usually assumed that it had some connection with the Armada scare in 1588. The authorship of The Troublesome Raigne is still a matter of speculation. The main incidents in this play were taken from Holinshed's The Historie of England (1586).35

The Troublesome Raigne is definitely a play of propaganda. It is usually considered to have the same purpose as Bale's Kynge Johan, but actually its purpose seems far wider in scope. King John is once again a Protestant martyr. The prologue announces its bitter brand of anti-Catholicism:

Vouchsafe to welcome, with like courtesy,

A warlike Christian and your countryman.
For Christ's true faith endur'd he many a storm,
And set himself against the Man of Rome..

32 Frederick G. Fleay, op. cit., 62.

36

33 Edmund K. Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage (Oxford, 1923)

I, 245.

34 Furness, Variorum of King John (Philadelphia, 1919) ix.
35 Ibid., ix.
36Ibid., 472.