MOWBRAY     For you, my noble lord of Lancaster,

The honourable father to my foe,

Once did I lay an ambush for your life,

A trespass that doth vex my grievèd soul;

But ere I last received the sacrament

I did confess it and exactly begged

Your grace’s pardon, and I hope I had it.

This is my fault. (1.1.135-142)

Now that Mowbray’s started confessing, it seems, he can’t stop: he turns to John of Gaunt, the noble lord of Lancaster (another opportunity for reinforcing exposition from the beginning of the scene, in the reminder that Bolingbroke is Gaunt’s son). I tried to kill you, and I’m really sorry; it’s a sin, a trespass (echoing the words of the Lord’s Prayer) which vexes my grievèd soul, torments my conscience. (Again the scene casts transgression in spiritual terms: not simply crime, but sin, an offence against God’s law as well as human.) But—but—but—he says. I made a proper confession of all this ere I last received the sacrament, before I took communion: I’m in good standing with the Church (and, therefore, with God; my slate is clean). (A big deal in terms of both medieval Catholic practice and late sixteenth-century Protestantism: lay people in early modern England might communicate quarterly or even less frequently, but were exhorted by the Book of Common Prayer to be in charity with their neighbours, as well as to have examined their consciences and confessed their sins, albeit in the general confession rather than individually to a priest. By invoking the sacrament here, Mowbray is also giving his statements the quality of an oath: to make a promise or swear an oath and then receive communion was especially binding, a practice which will return near the play’s end.) And I begged your grace’s pardon exactly, going into specifics, precisely, not just asking for forgiveness in general. I hope I had it, your pardon for my intended crime, as well as forgiveness for my sins. This is my fault, he concludes, echoing sacramental language again, mea culpa, my fault, my most grievous fault. It’s as if he’s holding his hands up, coming clean about this particular transgression so as to give credibility to his denial of the main charge. But, too much detail? And certainly a dodgy record. The biblical, spiritual, liturgical vocabulary will continue to mark this play.