ABSTRACT
In W. G. Boswell-Stone's Shakspere's Holinshed and the abridgement by A. and J. Nicoll, The English Chronicles as used by Shakespeare, the excerpts follow the order of events in the plays. This makes for easy reference and the economical use of the sources. But the method has disadvantages: it does not provide an interesting and consecutive story of the several reigns involved, nor does it show the working of cause and effect as the chroniclers saw them. Above all the method prevents our seeing the chronicles as Shakespeare read them, and examining how and why he rearranged events and relationships in accordance with his dramatic design. Any attempt however to present the reign of Henry VI, Richard III or Richard II in the historians' order and words brings its own difficulties, the extent of which I did not realize until I was immersed in the detailed task.
