Conundrum: Henriad

England has had eight kings named Henry, all before Shakespeare was born.

How many of the eight appear as characters in Shakespeare’s 37 canonical plays?

For your answer to be valid, please list each such Henry, and at least one play in which he appears. It is not necessary to list all of the plays in which each Henry appears, but maybe we can do that after the Conundrum is solved.

Note: The Henry does not need to have been king at the time – nor, for that matter, called Henry.

UPDATE: Question answered by K-Lyn. See comments for answer.

6 Responses to “Conundrum: Henriad”

  1. K-Lyn Says:

    OOOOoooh. Yay!!!
    I have no recollection of the first King Henry being mentioned but I’ll have to go look. However I can venture the following:

    King Henry II – King John
    King Henry III – King John
    King Henry IV – Got the title if not the staring roll
    King Henry V – Hal, all grown up
    King Henry VI – Hal was his daddy
    King Henry VII – Richard III? I seem to recall that the Earl of Richmond became this Henry but I’ll have to go look it up
    King Henry III – Got his own play (only one of the cannon I have never seen live)

  2. Bill Says:

    Nicely done! Most of this is right on the money, but your answer to the question I asked is incorrect. It’s not seven. So either Henry I was in a play, or at least one of your Henrys was not.

    (Note: I assume the last entry on the list was King Henry VIII, which obviously is correct.)

  3. K-Lyn Says:

    Ok, I reread the question. He must be IN the play not just mentioned. So then Henry III was in King John but II was not. I am still not able to come up with the first being in a play but you allude that the answer is 6 and I can only identify 5.

  4. Bill Says:

    SIX is correct, and you did name all six. Way to go, K-Lyn!

    Now we can move on to the second part of the challenge – finding each appearance of each Henry.

    So far we have…

    King Henry III – King John
    King Henry IV – 1H4; 2H4
    King Henry V – 1H4; 2H4; H5
    King Henry VI – 1H6; 2H6; 3H6
    King Henry VII – R3
    King Henry VIII – H8

    There are three more, if anyone wants to try to identify them.

  5. K-Lyn Says:

    OK, I know my Shakespeare but can’t count. I’m ok with that…

  6. Bill Says:

    Henry I and Henry II do not appear in Shakespeare, but it is correct that the latter is the father to King John.

    King Henry III appears in King John as the young prince. At the end of the play, he is to become king.

    King Henry IV first appears as Bolingbroke in Richard II. He is also a character in the two plays that bear his name.

    King Henry V appears in the two Henry IV plays as Prince Hal. He becomes king at the end of the second one. He is also the title character in Henry V.

    King Henry VI appears in the three plays that bear his name, and also makes an appearance as a ghost in Richard III.

    King Henry VII is Richmond in The Third Part of Henry VI and in Richard III. He becomes king at the end of Richard III.

    And King Henry VIII, of course, has his own eponymous play as well.

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