The Life and Death of King John (1596)

The Life and Death of King John (1596)

King John, in full The Life and Death of King John, chronicle play in five acts by William Shakespeare, written perhaps in 1594–96 and published in the First Folio of 1623 from an authorial manuscript that may have been copied and supplied with some theatrical touches. The source of the play was a two-part drama generally known as The Troublesome Raigne of John King of England. This earlier play, first printed in 1591, was based on the chronicles of Raphael Holinshed and Edward Hall; Shakespeare also consulted some chronicle materials, as well as John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments (1563), known as The Book of Martyrs. Shakespeare made few changes to the plot in his version, but the dialogue and insights about the characters are all his own.