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Numismatic Languages and Credit Relations in 1 and 2 Henry IV
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Numismatic languages and credit relations in the Henry IV plays have been generally disregarded by the mainstream scholarships of the plays. However, the Henry IV plays are presumably richer than any other Shakespeare’s play in financial references, alluding to the economic crisis of late-sixteenth-century England. This essay aims to investigate the effect of market economy on the political discourse of Lancastrian power by analysing numismatic languages and credit relations. Frequently, the plays make a metaphoric linkage between the identity of characters and the gold content of coins. Falstaff equates the truthfulness of Hal to the creditability of coins. In Shrewsbury, particularly, Henry IV’s military camouflage is compared to a numismatic counterfeit. On the other hand, the plays propose credit relations as an indispensible agent for the Lancastrian acquisition of sovereign power. Henry IV ascends to the throne by striking credit transactions with the Percies, and Hal accumulates political assets by extending credit networks with Falstaff. However, economic intercourses have a limited utility in their contribution to royal power. The political discourse of the Tudor myth presupposes subjects’ absolute allegiance to their king, but economic transactions are motivated by self-interest. That is why the Lancastrian kings repudiate the credit dealings ultimately when they seize the crown. The conclusion of the plays marks Lancastrian glamourization of political power by dismantling credit economy and exchange value. It returns to the traditional hierarchy of sovereign and subject and re-mystifies royal power into divine kingship. However, the plays do not present the return as an ultimate conclusion. The Epilogue of the plays re-institutes credit relations by aligning the playwright and the audience with a debtor and a creditor. By doing so, the plays suggest that political value should be realigned with economic value: i.e. both values involve themselves in the process of negotiation and exchange.
Abstract
Numismatic languages and credit relations in the Henry IV plays have been generally disregarded by the mainstream scholarships of the plays. However, the Henry IV plays are presumably richer than any other Shakespeare’s play in financial references, alluding to the economic crisis of late-sixteenth-century England. This essay aims to investigate the effect of market economy on the political discourse of Lancastrian power by analysing numismatic languages and credit relations. Frequently, the plays make a metaphoric linkage between the identity of characters and the gold content of coins. Falstaff equates the truthfulness of Hal to the creditability of coins. In Shrewsbury, particularly, Henry IV’s military camouflage is compared to a numismatic counterfeit. On the other hand, the plays propose credit relations as an indispensible agent for the Lancastrian acquisition of sovereign power. Henry IV ascends to the throne by striking credit transactions with the Percies, and Hal accumulates political assets by extending credit networks with Falstaff. However, economic intercourses have a limited utility in their contribution to royal power. The political discourse of the Tudor myth presupposes subjects’ absolute allegiance to their king, but economic transactions are motivated by self-interest. That is why the Lancastrian kings repudiate the credit dealings ultimately when they seize the crown. The conclusion of the plays marks Lancastrian glamourization of political power by dismantling credit economy and exchange value. It returns to the traditional hierarchy of sovereign and subject and re-mystifies royal power into divine kingship. However, the plays do not present the return as an ultimate conclusion. The Epilogue of the plays re-institutes credit relations by aligning the playwright and the audience with a debtor and a creditor. By doing so, the plays suggest that political value should be realigned with economic value: i.e. both values involve themselves in the process of negotiation and exchange.
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