Bardolph is sentenced to be hung in Act III Scene VI What is his crime?

He has stolen a religious relic from a church in France, in direct contravention of the KIng's edict against looting. This is revealed by Pistol in Act 3 Sc 6 as he seeks to get Fluellen to intercede for his friend.

"Pistol. Fortune is Bardolph's foe, and frowns on him;

For he hath stolen a pax, and hanged must a' be:

A damned death!

Let gallows gape for dog; let man go free

And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate: 1505

But Exeter hath given the doom of death

For pax of little price.

Therefore, go speak: the duke will hear thy voice:

And let not Bardolph's vital thread be cut

With edge of penny cord and vile reproach: 1510

Speak, captain, for his life, and I will thee requite."

Henry's response in unequivocal:

"Henry V. We would have all such offenders so cut off: and we

give express charge, that in our marches through the

country, there be nothing compelled from the

villages, nothing taken but paid for, none of the 1575

French upbraided or abused in disdainful language;

for when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the

gentler gamester is the soonest winner."