Northumberland: The Kingmaker Who Backed the Wrong King
First appears: Act 2, Scene 1
Northumberland is Bolingbroke's chief ally and the one who does the practical work. He brings the army. He relays demands to Richard at Flint Castle in Act 3, Scene 3 with a bluntness that constitutes its own form of humiliation. He is the face of the transition from Richard's reign to Bolingbroke's.
Richard, watching him from the castle walls, calls him 'the ladder wherewithal the mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne.' Then he prophesies, correctly, that Bolingbroke will eventually turn on Northumberland too. In Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, this is exactly what happens: the Percy family rebels against the king they helped create.
He is not a villain. He is an ambitious lord who backed a winner and was surprised to find the winner needed him less once he had won.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“The king is not himself, but basely led by flatterers.”
Northumberland — Act 2, Scene 1
“My lord, in the base court he doth attend to speak with you.”
Northumberland — Act 3, Scene 3