Shakespeare A to Z | Holinshed’s Chronicles
Elizabethan dramatists, including William Shakespeare, relied heavily on Holinshed’s Chronicles for historical source material. First published in 1577, the Chronicles quickly became the most respected source on the history of Britain. In fact the book was so popular that it was enlarged and reprinted in 1587. It is this second edition, which contained more than 3.5 million words, that Shakespeare is most likely to have used. Along with Plutarch’s Lives, the Chronicles provided crucial material for many of Shakespeare’s plays.
Holinshed’s...
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