ABSTRACT
The early history and authorship of the play are still much debated. Chambers (WSh 1.288-9, declares that 'the F. texts (of Pts 2 and 3) may rest upon prompt copy either for the Alleyn Company about 1591 or for the Pembroke Company about 1593, and .•. the Q texts must rest on performances by the Pembroke Company about the same time'. The copies passed to the Lord Chamberlain's men, who probably revived the plays be~ore the Epilogue for Henry V was written, which referred to their tragic story 'which oft our stage has shown'. J. D. Wilson believes that this play like Pt. 2 'originated at Burbages's Theatre, and (was) being played in 1591-2 by a company calling itself Lord Pembroke's men'. 2
written before Pt. 1. My own view is that Pt. I was probably written first, but was revised after the other parts had been composed; and that they must have been written before the Easter of 1592. Greene's reference to Shakespeare in his Groatsworth if Witte, where he misapplied a line from Pt. 3 (1.4.137) shows that the play was well known before June, 1592, when the theatres were closed; and suggests that Shakespeare wrote the piece. Meres did not mention the play in Palladis Tamia, but this may merely mean that he had not seen it.
