By William Shakespeare

• Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597.

• It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV (two plays), and Henry V.

• Henry IV, Part 1 depicts a span of history that begins with Hotspur's battle at Homildon against the Douglas late in 1402 and ends with the defeat of the rebels at Shrewsbury in the middle of 1403.

• Shakespeare's primary source for Henry IV, Part 1, as for most of his chronicle histories, was the second edition (1587) of Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles.

The main characters are divided into three groups:

• King Henry the Fourth – King of England;

• Henry, Prince of Wales – eldest son of Henry IV; nicknamed "Hal" or "Harry",

• John of Lancaster – represented in the play as the King's second son, although he was actually the third; called "John" by Hal

• Earl of Westmorland

• Sir Walter Blunt

• Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland

• Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester – Northumberland's brother

• Henry Percy – Northumberland's son, surnamed Hotspur

• Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March – Hotspur's brother-in-law and Glendower's son-in-law

• Owen Glendower – leader of the Welsh rebels

• Archibald, Earl of Douglas – leader of the Scottish rebels

• Sir Richard Vernon

• Scroop, Archbishop of York

• Sir Michael – a friend to the Archbishop of York

• Sir John Falstaff – a cowardly fat knight who befriends Prince Hal; a fictional character.

• Poins – also called Ned and Yedward

• Bardolph

• Peto

• Mistress Quickly – hostess of the Boar's Head Tavern, where Hal and his friends congregate

• Francis – tapster

• Vintner – tavern keeper

• Gadshill

• Henry Bolingbroke – now King Henry IV – is having an unquiet reign. His personal disquiet at the murder of his predecessor Richard II would be solved by a journey or crusade to the Holy Land to fight Muslims, but skirmishes on his borders with Scotland and Wales prevent that.

• Moreover, he mistreats the Earls Northumberland and Worcester, heads of the Percy family, and Edmund Mortimer, the Earl of March. The first two helped him to his throne, and the third claims to have been proclaimed by Richard, the former king, as his rightful heir.

• Adding to King Henry's troubles is the behaviour of his son and heir, the Prince of Wales. Hal (the future Henry V) has forsaken the Royal Court to waste his time in taverns with low companions.

• This makes him an object of scorn to the nobles and calls into question his royal worthiness.

• Hal's chief friend and foil in living the low life is Sir John Falstaff. Fat, old, drunk, and corrupt as he is, he has a charisma and a zest for life that captivates the Prince, born into a world of hypocritical niceties and mortal seriousness.

• As Henry Bolingbroke is mishandling the affairs of state, his son Hal is joking, and drinking with Falstaff and his associates. He likes Falstaff but makes no pretense at being like him.

• He enjoys insulting his dissolute friend and makes sport of him by joining in Poins’ plot to disguise themselves and rob and terrify Falstaff and three friends of loot they have stolen in a highway robbery, purely for the fun of watching Falstaff lie about it later, after which Hal returns the stolen money.

• Rather early in the play, in fact, Hal informs us that his riotous time will soon come to a close, and he will re-assume his rightful high place in affairs by showing himself worthy to his father and others through some (unspecified) noble exploits. Hal believes that this sudden change of manner will amount to a greater reward and acknowledgment of prince-ship, and in turn "earn" him respect from the members of the court.

• The revolt of Mortimer and the Percys very quickly gives him his chance to do just that. The high and the low come together when the Prince makes up with his father and is given a high command. He vows to fight and kill the rebel Hotspur, and orders Falstaff (who is, after all, a knight) to take charge of a group of "foot" - infantry and proceed to the battle site at Shrewsbury.

• There have been three BBC television films of Henry IV, Part 1. First, the 1960 mini-series An Age of Kings.

• The 1979 BBC Television Shakespeare version [VIDEO]

• In the 2012 series The Hollow Crown, comprising the second tetralogy, Henry IV, Part 1 [VIDEO]

• Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight (1965) [VIDEO] compiles the two Henry IV plays into a single, condensed storyline, while adding a handful of scenes from Henry V and dialogue from Richard II and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

So shaken as we are, so wan with care.King Henry, scene i

Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know.

Prince Henry, scene iiThou hast the most unsavory similes; and art, indeed, the most

comparative, rascalliest, sweet young prince.Falstaff, scene ii

And now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked.

Falstaff, scene ii’T is my vocation, Hal; ’t is no sin for a man to labour in his vocation.

Falstaff, scene iiSir John stands to his word, the devil shall have his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs: he will give the devil his due.

Prince Henry, scene iiFresh as a bridegroom; and his chin, new reap’d,

Showed like a stubble-land at harvest-home;He was perfumed like a milliner,

And ’twixt his finger and his thumb he heldA pouncet-box, which ever and anon

He gave his nose, and took ’t away again.Hotspur, scene iii

And, as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,He called them untaught knaves, unmannerly,

To bring a slovenly unhandsome corseBetwixt the wind and his nobility.

Hotspur, scene iiBy heaven, methinks, it were an easy leap,

To pluck bright honour from the pale-fac'd moon,Or dive into the bottom of the deep,

Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,And pluck up drowned honour by the locks;

So he, that doth redeem her thence, might wearWithout corrival, all her dignities:

But out upon this half-fac'd fellowship!Hotspur, scene iii

O! the blood more stirs,To rouse a lion, than to start a hare.

Hotspur, scene iiiIt would be argument for a week, laughter for a month, and a good jest

for ever.Prince Henry, scene ii

Falstaff sweats to death,And lards the lean earth as he walks along.

Prince Henry, scene ii

I was now a coward on instinct.Falstaff, scene iv

The better part of valour is, discretion.Falstaff, scene iv

What doth gravity out of his bed at midnight?Falstaff, scene iv

A plague of sighing and grief! It blows a man up like a bladder.Falstaff, scene iv

Why dost thou converse with that trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swoln parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that

stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that

vanity in years?Prince Henry, scene iv

An if we live, we live to tread on kings;If die, brave death, when princes die with us!

Hotspur, scene ii

This sickness doth infectThe very life-blood of our enterprise.

Hotspur, scene i

Where is his son,The nimble-footed mad-cap prince of Wales,

And his comrades, that daff'd the world aside,And bid it pass?

Hotspur, scene i

All plum'd like estridges, that with the wind;Baited like eagles having lately bath'd;Glittering in golden coats, like images;As full of spirit as the month of May,

And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer;Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.

I saw young Harry, with his beaver on,His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm’d,

Rise from the ground like feather’d Mercury,And vaulted with such ease into his seat,

As if an angel dropp’d down from the clouds,To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,

And witch the world with noble horsemanship.

Vernon, scene i

• In creating the character of the larger-than-life Falstaff, Shakespeare drew upon the real-life person of Sir John Oldcastle, but when Lord Cobham, a descendant of Oldcastle, complained, Shakespeare was forced to change the name.

• A liar, drunkard, and scoundrel, Falstaff was such a popular character in Henry IV part 1, that Shakespeare expanded the part for Henry IV part 2, and later, at the request of Queen Elizabeth, created an entire new play expressly for Falstaff: The Merry Wives of Windsor!

• Shakespeare’s character has inspired several operas, symphonies, movies, and novels based upon his exploits.

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