Archbishop of York

Play

Henry IV, Part 2

Summary

Richard Scroop, Archbishop of York, leads the northern rebellion against Henry IV in 2 Henry IV, lending the uprising religious legitimacy by arguing that the realm itself is sick under Bolingbroke's usurping rule. He is a more reflective and morally serious rebel than the hot-headed Percies of Part 1. He and his forces are deceived by Prince John of Lancaster at Gaultree Forest, where a false promise of redress lures them to disband their army before they are arrested for treason and sent to execution.

Notable Quotations

"We are all diseased, / And with our surfeiting and wanton hours / Have brought ourselves into a burning fever." *(2H4, 4.1 — the Archbishop's diagnosis of England's body politic)*

"I take not on me here as a physician, / Nor do I as an enemy to peace / Troop in the throngs of military men." *(2H4, 4.1)*

Cross-references

• Henry IV, Part 2 — the play
• Histories — the genre
• character_king_henry_iv — King Henry IV, against whom he rebels