King John

A messenger from France arrives in the English court, demanding that King John abdicate his throne in favor of his nephew Arthur. The messenger speaks for King Philip of France, who supports Arthur's claim as the rightful heir to the throne; when John refuses to step down, France threatens war. The Bastard and his younger brother enter to dispute their inherited lands. John rules that the Bastard has the right to the lands, because a wife's offspring become a father's heir, no matter who the actual father. John's mother, Eleanor, takes a liking to the Bastard, because it is rumored that his father was her son and John's brother, Richard the Lionhearted. She proposes that he leave his lands to his younger brother and join her armies under the name of the Bastard of Richard the Lionhearted. He agrees, and John knights him.