For those who don't know, HALL & HOLINSHED weren't a firm of lawyers in London, (with a branch in Stratford) who represented our William. They were the historians who supplied him with much of his material on which his historical plays were based.
EDWARD HALL or HALLE (1497-1547) was an MP, a lawyer and a historian who is best known for his history book, The Union of the two Noble and Illustre Houses of Lancaster and Yorke. Today this worthy tome is usually referred to as Hall's Chronicle. Unfortunately, Hall never lived to see the published version of his work as it was first printed in 1548, a year after he died.
Hall was born into a Protestant family in Shropshire and was educated at Eton and King's College where he studied law. He became an MP and wrote his famous history book which covered the period 1399-1532, in other words, the period which covered the reigns of Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, Henry VII and the first half of the reign of Henry VIII. This period also included the thirty-two year on-off War of the Roses from 1455-1487.
He wrote this book in order to glorify the Tudors and to show
that by discord greate thinges decaie and fall to ruine, so by the same by discord be revived and erected.' Hall's rather than the later Holinshed's history was Shakespeare's main sourrce for his earlier historical plays such as Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV and Henry V. Shakespeare also noted Hall's moral pattern of the discord that followed after any revolution, the Bard being a great believer in the importance of civil stability and order.
Hall shows Henry VIII in a very favourable light, either because that is what he really thought or because he wanted to keep his head on his shoulders. As a historian, he describes the later contemporary scene as it was during his own lifetime.
In June 1940, Alan Keen, an antiquarian book dealer found an annotated copy of Hall's Chronicle and it is thought that the remarks in the margins re. Henry IV, V and Vi were made by Shakespeare. Today, this volume is to be found in the British Library, London.
In contrast to Hall, Raphael Holinshed's life bordered Shakespeare's own. He was born in 1529 and died in 1580 when Shakespeare was sixteen. We know very little about his private life except that he was thought to have been born in Shakespeare's own county, Warwickshire, although he may also have been born in Cheshire to the north.
Raphael Holinshed
Holinshed worked for a printer called Reyner Wolf who commissioned him to write a history of the world from The Flood to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Holinshed never completed this enormous task, but in 1577, three years before he died, he published The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. William Harrison, John Hooker and Richard Stanyhurst also contributed to this volume.
This work was reprinted ten years later in 1587 and it is believed that Shakespeare based his later historical plays and Macbeth and parts of Cymbeline and King Lear on this edition. However, this second edition contained several parts that were offensive to the queen so the Privy Council ordered them to be removed. A complete reprint was finally made in 1807. It is also thought that Christopher Marlowe also based some of his own historical plays on Holinshed's work.
From Holinshed: Macbeth & Banquo meeting the Three Witches
In A Shakespeare Companion, 1564-1964, F.E. Halliday writes that Shakespeare may have met Holinshed when the historian came to the manor of Packwood (near Stratford) in Warwickshire.
Next time: Helena in "All's Well" & "Midsummer Night's Dream."
Fror comments: wsdavidyoung@gmail.com
EDWARD HALL or HALLE (1497-1547) was an MP, a lawyer and a historian who is best known for his history book, The Union of the two Noble and Illustre Houses of Lancaster and Yorke. Today this worthy tome is usually referred to as Hall's Chronicle. Unfortunately, Hall never lived to see the published version of his work as it was first printed in 1548, a year after he died.
Hall was born into a Protestant family in Shropshire and was educated at Eton and King's College where he studied law. He became an MP and wrote his famous history book which covered the period 1399-1532, in other words, the period which covered the reigns of Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, Henry VII and the first half of the reign of Henry VIII. This period also included the thirty-two year on-off War of the Roses from 1455-1487.
He wrote this book in order to glorify the Tudors and to show
that by discord greate thinges decaie and fall to ruine, so by the same by discord be revived and erected.' Hall's rather than the later Holinshed's history was Shakespeare's main sourrce for his earlier historical plays such as Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV and Henry V. Shakespeare also noted Hall's moral pattern of the discord that followed after any revolution, the Bard being a great believer in the importance of civil stability and order.
Hall shows Henry VIII in a very favourable light, either because that is what he really thought or because he wanted to keep his head on his shoulders. As a historian, he describes the later contemporary scene as it was during his own lifetime.
In June 1940, Alan Keen, an antiquarian book dealer found an annotated copy of Hall's Chronicle and it is thought that the remarks in the margins re. Henry IV, V and Vi were made by Shakespeare. Today, this volume is to be found in the British Library, London.
In contrast to Hall, Raphael Holinshed's life bordered Shakespeare's own. He was born in 1529 and died in 1580 when Shakespeare was sixteen. We know very little about his private life except that he was thought to have been born in Shakespeare's own county, Warwickshire, although he may also have been born in Cheshire to the north.
Holinshed worked for a printer called Reyner Wolf who commissioned him to write a history of the world from The Flood to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Holinshed never completed this enormous task, but in 1577, three years before he died, he published The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. William Harrison, John Hooker and Richard Stanyhurst also contributed to this volume.
This work was reprinted ten years later in 1587 and it is believed that Shakespeare based his later historical plays and Macbeth and parts of Cymbeline and King Lear on this edition. However, this second edition contained several parts that were offensive to the queen so the Privy Council ordered them to be removed. A complete reprint was finally made in 1807. It is also thought that Christopher Marlowe also based some of his own historical plays on Holinshed's work.
In A Shakespeare Companion, 1564-1964, F.E. Halliday writes that Shakespeare may have met Holinshed when the historian came to the manor of Packwood (near Stratford) in Warwickshire.
Next time: Helena in "All's Well" & "Midsummer Night's Dream."
Fror comments: wsdavidyoung@gmail.com
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