King John

King John is one of Shakespeare's history plays. The play details the history of Richard the Lionhearted's younger brother, King John I of England.

The play opens with a demand from the French King that King John abdicate in favor of his elder brother, Geffery's son, Arthur. The five acts follow a dizzying change of alliances, Papal excommunication and subsequent acceptance, and ends finally with King John's death at the hands of a monk.

Throughout the play, a character known as "The Bastard" delivers a commentary on nobility, "commodity" and English sovereignty.

Cast

• King John
• Prince Henry, son to the King (the future Henry III)
• Arthur, Duke of Britain, nephew to the King (Arthur I, Duke of Brittany)
• Earl of Pembroke (William Marshal)
• Earl of Essex (Geoffrey FitzPeter[?])
• Lord Bigot
• Hubert de Burgh
• Robert Faulconbridge, son of Sir Robert Faulconbridge
• Philip the Bastard, his half-brother (also called Richard)
• James Gurney, servant to Lady Faulconbridge
• Peter of Pomfret, a prophet

• Philip, King of France (Philip II of France)
• Louis, the Dauphin (future Louis VIII of France)
• Lymoges, Duke of Austria
• Cardinal Pandolph, the Pope's Legate
• Melune, a French Lord
• Chatillion, ambassador from France to King John

• Queen Elinor, widow of Henry II, mother to King John (Eleanor of Aquitaine)
• Constance, widow to Geffrey (John's elder brother), mother to Arthur
• Blanch of Spain, daughter to the King of Castile, niece to King John
• Lady Faulconbridge, widow of Sir Robert Faulconbridge

• Lords, heralds, etc.

External Links

• Complete Text of King John at MIT (http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/john/full.html)
• King John (http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/King_John/index.html) - searchable, indexed e-text

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See also:

• King John of England