Philip Lee explains that in Richard III (1592) and in Henry V (1599) Shakespeare links the same character i.e. a Bishop of Ely, with strawberries, and Lee informs that Richard III may actually have suffered from an allergic reaction caused by the proteins in strawberries given to him by a Bishop of Ely, and that another Bishop of Ely believed the newly crowned king Henry V to be hypocritical and possess adder-like qualities.

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Lee writes regarding Richard III:
 

'The gardens of St Etheldreda were said to produce the finest strawberries in London, and a Strawberry Fayre is still held here every June. In Shakespeare’s Richard III, the as yet uncrowned Gloucester tells the Bishop of Ely:

My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn,
I saw good strawberries in your garden there.
I do beseech you send for some of them.

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The strawberries are fetched and Richard eats them. A little while later he returns in a foul mood, claiming that his arm has withered. According to Sir Thomas More’s History of King Richard III – written a hundred years after Richard’s death – the incident actually took place:

"And soon, after one hour, between ten and eleven he returned into the chamber among them, all changed, with a wonderful sour angry countenance, knitting the brows, frowning and froting [chafing] and gnawing on his lips… And therewith he plucked up his doublet sleeve to his elbow upon his left arm, where he showed a werish [deformed] withered arm and small, as it was never other."'

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Lee quotes Amy Licence for writing in “Was the downfall of Richard III caused by a strawberry?” (New Statesman, 31 August 2013) that 'strawberries may have been responsible for causing Richard’s arm to appear withered:

"The allergic reactions caused by the proteins in strawberries can produce tingling limbs, breathing difficulties and red, puffy, itchy skin. These symptoms usually occur within two hours of eating the fruit, which is compatible with the timescale of the meeting… Internal distress, breathing difficulties following the closing of bronchial tubes and congestion can follow. Sufferers also experience itching, with limbs becoming red, puffy and blighted… It is quite possible that Richard had a latent allergy to strawberries which emerged with the first crop that June, causing the sudden physical responses in his body."'

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As to Henry V, then Lee this time quotes Karen Newman for stating in Essaying Shakespeare (2009) that:

"In the Renaissance, strawberries signified virtue or goodness but also hypocritical virtue as symbolized by the frequently occurring design and emblem of a strawberry plant with an adder hiding beneath its leaves."

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 So when a Bishop of Ely says of Henry V  ... :

"The strawberry grows underneath the nettle,
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best
Neighbor’d by fruit of baser quality…"

... he might have had an adder in mind.

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Source: Lee, ‘There’s More to Wild Strawberries than Meets the Eye’.

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