MOWBRAY     My name is Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk,

Who hither come engaged by my oath—

Which God defend a knight should violate—

Both to defend my loyalty and truth

To God, my King and my succeeding issue,

Against the Duke of Hereford that appeals me,

And by the grace of God and this mine arm

To prove him, in defending of myself,

A traitor to my God, my King and me—

And as I truly fight, defend me heaven.

The trumpets sound. Enter [Bolingbroke,] Duke of Hereford, appellant, in armour [with a] herald

RICHARD        Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms

Both who he is and why he cometh hither

Thus plated in habiliments of war,

And formally, according to our law,

Depose him in the justice of his cause. (1.3.16-30)

 

There is a lot of this sort of thing as this scene gets underway, as I’ve already observed: formal, formulaic, repetitive, telling everyone assembled on stage, and the audience, things that they know already, over and over. Order, hierarchy, predictability. How long will that last? But Mowbray does what he’s asked to do, identifying himself and stating the seriousness of his intent. He is swearing the most solemn of oaths, on his honour as a knight, to defend his loyalty and truth to the King, to God, and to his succeeding issue, his lineage, his heirs; his entire identity as knight, noble, man. He will defend himself against Bolingbroke, and in so doing he will prove Bolingbroke the traitor (to God, king, and to Mowbray himself), and he asks for heaven’s blessing and protection. More trumpets; enter Bolingbroke as the appellant, the issuer of the challenge, in armour, with a herald. (This is a crowded stage.) Everyone knows who it is, but he too has to go through the ritual of stating his name and his purpose. He must be deposed, that is, give a deposition, a formal statement, according to our law, as to the justice of his cause, the truth of his accusation of treason against Mowbray. Two things to note in passing: plated in habiliments of war gives a costume note (Bolingbroke is wearing armour) but also has scope for Richard to get a laugh, something about the polysyllabic fussiness of habiliments, especially in conjunction with plated (it’s partly in the repeated ‘l’); he could even be mocking Bolingbroke (and Mowbray), these big angry men in their armour, getting ready to fight it out, clank clank. And, depose him is entirely expectable in this legal, chivalric context. But to a modern ear in particular, it’s a phrase which might stick out…