In William Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part 2, the character Jack Cade declares himself Lord Mortimer of London by striking London Stone and then sitting upon the stone to declare his royalty. While it makes a dramatic scene for a theatrical play, this story was based in actual history and the way Shakespeare tells the story tells us as modern theater goers something interesting about the Tudor opinion of the real Jack Cade that was present as Shakespeare was writing. While Shakespeare seems to base his plays, and his portrayal of Jack Cade, on the history of Holinshed’s Chronicles, there are some first hand accounts of people who witnessed Jack Cade’s procession into London from actual history, as well as some variances between Shakespeare’s quarto and folio versions of Henry VI Part 2 which shine light on exactly what Shakespeare thought about his colorful figure from English history. 

 

London Stone that Jack Cade chooses to strike as he declares himself Lord of the city was more than just a passing fictional narrative by Shakespeare. The real London Stone was a major landmark for England, with native travellers using it in a similar fashion to how Big Ben is used today--people all over the world not only recognized this stop in London as a representative of England herself, but many foreign dignitaries from the 16th century went out of their way to visit London Stone as an important stop on their visit to the city.

Here today to walk us through some of the portraits of Jack Cade from Shakespeare’s lifetime as well as additional items from the Medieval Collections at the Museum of London to tell us the real story of London Stone and its place in the popular culture from Shakespeare’s lifetime is our guest, John Clark