ABSTRACT
This chapter considers illegitimacy associations in three different dramatic representations of King John Plantagenet from the sixteenth century, to explore the ways in which illegitimacy and legitimacy were used to construct or subvert contemporary images of English national identity. It discusses early sixteenth-century representations of King John with reference to John Bale's play. The chapter shows how illegitimacy was associated with treachery and hence with xenophobic Catholicism. Bale, George Peele, and Shakespeare all address the reign of King John from slightly different perspectives in their three plays: Bale's King Johan, Peele's The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England, and Shakespeare's King John. The relationship between Shakespeare's King John and Peele's Troublesome Reign has been recently resolved by Brian Vickers and Charles R. Forker, who ascribe the authorship of the Troublesome Reign to Peele and establish that it acted as a source for Shakespeare's play.
