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Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1603 - Caius Martius Coriolanus, p.221.

The story of Coriolanus in Shakespeare's source. The central facts for the play of Coriolanus were taken by from North’s translation of Plutarch's Lives. The fable of the belly and its rebellion ...

Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1603 - Julius Caesar, p.712.

The story of Julius Caesar, as read by Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s first knowledge of Latin and the Roman heroes had been acquired at school, and later for his play Julius Caesar he took the story ...

Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1603 - p.1, Theseus.

Theseus is first in North's study of the Greeks as read by Shakespeare. The first story in North’s translation of Plutarch is of the Greek king Theseus whose marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the ...

Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1603 - title page.

Shakespeare’s source for stories of Greece and Rome. Shakespeare’s contemporary, the lawyer and scholar Sir Thomas North (?1535 - 1601) translated the biographies of fifty Greek and Roman ...

Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1612 - Antony and Cleopatra, p. 922, detail.

Shakespeare followed this description of Cleopatra. Shakespeare became very familiar with Plutarch’s stories, and he often followed the wording of sections in North’s translation very ...

Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1612 - Coriolanus's mother, Volumnia, detail, p.238.

Shakespeare's source for Coriolanus's mother, Volumnia. On this page from Plutarch’s ‘Life of Coriolanus’, Volumnia, Patrician mother of Coriolanus, agrees to go with Virgilia, his ...

Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1612 - title page.

A favourite book of William Shakespeare, printed by a fellow Stratfordian. North’s translation of Plutarch’s Lives was first printed by Thomas Vautrollier in 1579. The book's success led ...

Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - 'History of Scotland', title page.

Shakespeare’s ‘Scottish’ play is founded in history. Holinshed’s first edition of The Chronicles, in 1577 included 'The Historie of Scotland' in which Shakespeare found the ...

Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - Kings Cymbeline and Guiderius, 'History of England' p.47.

Shakespeare's source for Cymbeline. Besides the story of Guiderius, which was based on myth and legend, Shakespeare found, in the 'Chronicles of Scotland', a tale of a nobleman and his two sons fighting ...

Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - Macbeth and Banquo, woodcut, 'History of Scotland', p.243, detail.

Shakespeare's source for Macbeth's meeting with the weird sisters. This woodcut, from Holinshed's first edition of 'The Chronicles of Scotland' shows the meeting of Macbeth and Banquo with the three ...

Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - Macbeth and the weird sisters, 'History of Scotland', p.244, detail.

Shakespeare's source for the killing of King Duncan. Macbeth kills Duncan, and has himself crowned at Scone, as Ross and Macduff discuss: ‘the sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth. He is already ...

Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - Macbeth, 'History of Scotland', p.244, detail.

Shakespeare's source for a prophecy: Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor Here the Chronicles describe Macbeth being created Thane of Cawdor, and Duncan proclaiming Malcolm as his heir to the throne, two ...

Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - The thane of Cawdor is condemned, 'History of Scotland', p.244, detail.

The source for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Shakespeare always amended and used his sources to suit the needs of drama. An example of this is Holinshed's tale that Banquo and others, as well as Lady Macbeth, ...

Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - Volume 1 title page

Shakespeare’s major sourcebook for the history plays. Raphael (or Ralph) Holinshed began his career in London as a translator and worked on a history of the world of which the sections on England ...

Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - woodcut of King from page margin, p. 219.

A marginal woodcut that draws attention to an English king studied by Shakespeare. The first edition of Holinshed’s Chronicles woodcuts is illustrated throughout, and the kings are presented ...

Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 After the Romans left Britain, 'History of England', p.46-47.

Shakespeare's source for the story of Cymbeline and his son Guiderius. The Chronicles include ‘history’ of the early mythical rulers of Britain at the time of the Romans, long before the ...

Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1587 - Henry V ,in Vol.3, p. 543

A text that Shakespeare followed closely. William Shakespeare’s history plays, from Richard II to Richard III and Henry VIII, are closely based on aspects of history he found in this later edition ...

Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1587 - Richard II. Vol.3, p.498.

Shakespeare's source for his play of Richard II. The 'black-letter' style of printing text derived from medieval manuscript style and was, by the 1580s very old-fashioned, even in England. Nevertheless ...