Historical Chronicles: The Big Three
Owen Davis
In the 15th and 16th century, historical chronicles began to become prevalent and demanded. These different chronicles were essentially created to give historical background to different countries and their kings. Based off of our findings on Raphael Holinshed, his research behind the compilation of the different chronicles would have taken between 20 and 40 years , depending on the content of each. Holinshed’s Chronicles would have taken closer to 35 or 40 years since he had multiple volumes of histories , while the chronicles written by Hall would have taken closer to 20 years, due to his subject matter being more focused and centralized.
During our research course based on Shakespeare’s Henriad plays, which are a stylized representations of the lives of Richard II, Henry IV part 1 and 2, and Henry V, we analyzed the source texts that Shakespeare would have used to obtain his perception of these different kings. These sources texts, written by Raphael Holinshed, Edward Hall, and Robert Fabyan, have been deemed “The Big Three,” by myself and fellow contributors on the website. It is interesting to note that each of the authors conducted their research from a different angle, and thus created their historical chronicles differently. For example, Holinshed wrote about English history, as well as the history behind Ireland and Scotland, while Hall wrote primarily on the lineage behind Henry VIII, starting with Henry IV.
During our research course based on Shakespeare’s Henriad plays, which are a stylized representations of the lives of Richard II, Henry IV part 1 and 2, and Henry V, we analyzed the source texts that Shakespeare would have used to obtain his perception of these different kings. These sources texts, written by Raphael Holinshed, Edward Hall, and Robert Fabyan, have been deemed “The Big Three,” by myself and fellow contributors on the website. It is interesting to note that each of the authors conducted their research from a different angle, and thus created their historical chronicles differently. For example, Holinshed wrote about English history, as well as the history behind Ireland and Scotland, while Hall wrote primarily on the lineage behind Henry VIII, starting with Henry IV.
It was convenient for us as researchers to have these three differently focused source texts to work with, as we were given the opportunity to cross-analyze the material and obtain different perceptions from the information. For example, Holinshed and Hall have conflicting viewpoints regarding different kings within the Henriad. For example, Holinshed views Richard II as a good king and Henry IV as a bad king while Hall views these kings as the opposite . Using the different opinions from these two authors, we can dissect the ideas Shakespeare implemented and try to see which source texts he used for the different kings.
These history chronicles helped us fully grasp early British history from different authors and their experience, research methods, and source texts. It’s a lot of fun to look back and see what happened with all of these different kings, compare and contrast them, and learn about early English history. A gripe that arose from working with the source texts was due to their present day application. We know that Shakespeare used these different texts as a muse for his history plays, these are essentially only used to analyze Shakespeare’s characters, rather than read as histories . They are extremely rich with historical stories and information, and it’s a shame they aren’t used for their original purpose.
These history chronicles helped us fully grasp early British history from different authors and their experience, research methods, and source texts. It’s a lot of fun to look back and see what happened with all of these different kings, compare and contrast them, and learn about early English history. A gripe that arose from working with the source texts was due to their present day application. We know that Shakespeare used these different texts as a muse for his history plays, these are essentially only used to analyze Shakespeare’s characters, rather than read as histories . They are extremely rich with historical stories and information, and it’s a shame they aren’t used for their original purpose.