1	“I am Richard II, know ye not that?” October 22, 2002
2	A censored play Evidence of the Quartos and contemporary reports: the Parliament and deposition scenes were written, known about, but not publicly performed in Elizabeth’s lifetime (with one exception).
3	“The play’s the thing / Wherein…” February 7, 1601: The Lord Chamberlain’s Men play Richard II, on special request of the Earl of Essex February 8: Essex attempts to lead a popular rebellion against Elizabeth; the attempt fails February-April: conspirators arrested, tried and beheaded
4	A bit of royal dramatic criticism Elizabeth to William Lambarde, guardian of the records of the Tower of London: “I am Richard II, know ye not that? He that will forget God will also forget his benefactors; this tragedy was played forty times in open streets and houses."
5	Treason Act of 1351 makes “compassing or imagining the death of the king, his queen, or his heir” a capital offense
6	1974 Watergate CReEP Executive privilege How works of art acquire successive meanings: like historical sequence of performances of a play “judicial restraint”
7	Richard II’s “England” “this precious stone set in the silver sea / which serves it in the office of a wall / or of a moat” -- ? Territory: a dispersed “body” of land Inheritance and succession claims Feudal obediences Charters (special grants of power) Negotiation as an art of rulership
8	The king’s body Meeting place of many forces and interests Succession and inheritance Delegation Consent Lawfulness “God’s representative”? (St. Paul: “the powers that be are of God”)
9	The king as a “person” Blackstone, 1778: “Persons are divided by the law into either natural persons, or artificial. Natural persons are such as the God of nature formed us: artificial are such as created and devised by human laws for the purposes of society and government; which are called corporations or bodies politic.”
10	The immortal king “However the crown may be limited or transferred, it still retains its descendible quality, and becomes hereditary in the wearer of it: and hence in our laws the king is said never to die, in his political capacity; though, in common with other men, he is subject to mortality in his natural: because immediately upon the natural death of Henry, William, or Edward, the king survives in his successor.”
11	1381: Wat Tyler’s rebellion “they all cried, as with one voice, that they would not leave until they had the traitors in the Tower, and also charters declaring them free of all manner of service… The king graciously granted their request, and had a clerk write a bill in their presence, which read:…
12	A solution “Richard, king of England and of France, thanks his good commons heartily for their desire to see him and hold him for their king, and pardons them all manner of trespass and offense and felony made until this hour… and wishes and commands that each send to him his grievances in writing…”
13	Did anyone salute? “And when the commons heard the bill, they said it was all trifles and tricks, and therefore they returned to London and announced throughout the city that all men of law… and all who knew how to write a brief of a letter, should be beheaded wherever they might be found” (Anonimalle Chronicle, cited in Stephen Justice, Rebellion and Writing)
14	1399: a different challenge The king’s position above the fray in doubt Confiscation of estates External wars
15	“I am Richard II” -- As if, indeed, the Royal Person were immortal and had survived the years from 1400 to 1600 intact, and bearing the same grudges Every ruler is Richard II?