William Shakespeare, the Wars of the Roses and the Historians

by Keith Dockray

Overview

For historians of the Wars of the Roses William Shakespeare is both a curse and a blessing: a curse because he immortalized Tudor spin on fifteenth-century civil wars that helped justify Elizabeth I's occupation of the English throne; a blessing because, without Shakespeare's 8 -play Plantagenet history cycle, hardly anyone beyond specialists in the history of the period would know of their existence. Moreover, no mere historian will ever paint a more compelling and dramatic picture of England's Lancastrian and Yorkist kings, and the Wars of the Roses, than William Shakespeare.The book begins with an examination of the context, content and significance of each of the plays from Richard 2nd to Richard 3rd, and then considers the contemporary, near-contemporary and Tudor sources on which Shakespeare drew; how such authors chose to present 15th Century kings, politics and society; and in what ways historians since Shakespeare have sought to reinterpret the Wars of the Roses era. The book ends with a retrospective assessment of Shakespeare's Plantagenet plays, both in performance and as a result of their impact on historical writing.The Plays: Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Henry V, Henry VI Parts I1, 2 and 3 and Richard III.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781781554159
Publisher:	Fonthill Media
Publication date:	05/05/2016
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Keith Dockray was formerly a senior examiner in medieval history and early modern history at the University of Huddersfield. He has written extensively on Fifteenth Century history and appeared in numerous television documentaries including the Channel 4 'courtroom' programme Trial of Richard III.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 6

The Dynastic Dimensions of the Wars of the Roses 7

Introduction 9

1 William Shakespeare, the Later Plantagenet Kings and the Wars of the Roses 13

2 Richard II, Henry IV and the Establishment of the Lancastrian Dynasty 40

3 Henry V, Henry VI and the Hundred Years War 53

4 Henry VI, Richard of York and the Wars of the Roses 69

5 Edward IV, Warwick the Kingmaker and the Wars of the Roses 85

6 Richard III, Henry VI and the Wars of the Roses 99

7 Tudor Historians and the Wars of the Roses 113

8 The Wars of the Roses in Stuart and Hanoverian Times 130

9 The Victorians and the Wars of the Roses 140

10 Twentieth-Century Historians and the Wars of the Roses 154

11 William Shakespeare's Plantagenet History Plays in Perspective 179

Bibliography 186