Shakespeare's English Kings: History, Chronicle, and Drama

• Publisher:   Oxford University Press, USA
• Number Of Pages:   304
• Publication Date:   2000-04-20
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0195123190
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780195123197

Far more than any professional historian, Shakespeare is responsible for whatever notions most of us possess about English medieval history. Anyone who appreciates the dramatic action of Shakespeare's history plays but is confused by much of the historical detail will welcome this guide to the Richards, Edwards, Henrys, Warwicks and Norfolks who ruled and fought across Shakespeare's page and stage. Not only theater-goers and students, but today's film-goers who want to enrich their understanding of film adaptations of plays such as Richard III and Henry V will find this revised edition of Shakespeare's English Kings to be an essential companion.

Saccio's engaging narrative weaves together three threads: medieval English history according to the Tudor chroniclers who provided Shakespeare with his material, that history as understood by modern scholars, and the action of the plays themselves. Including a new preface, a revised further reading list, genealogical charts, an appendix of names and titles, and an index, the second edition of Shakespeare's English Kings offers excellent background reading for all of the ten history plays.

This book proved to be a very helpful resource in making sense of both Shakespeare's historical context and the somewhat cloudy issue of the War of the Roses. I know longer will have to ask myself just who all those Edwards and Richards were anyway. Excellent book even if it was somewhat brief. I will look for more works by this author in the future.

I am also listening to Professor Saccio's lectures on Shakespeare. He makes everything finally make sense.

"Shakespeare's English Kings" is a good guide to the tumultuous stretch of English history from the 1490s into the 1580s, with a brief Tudor detour into the reign of Henry VIII. The fact that this book is specifically designed to help one better understand Shakespeare's historical plays on the kings of that time is almost a bonus. While it's not exactly a scholarly work of historiography or literary study, I'd highly recommend this book for Shakespeare fans and casual British history buffs.

One of the foremost experts on Shakespeare, Peter Saccio, has written a fantastic book on the history and intricacies of relationships between royal families in the works of Shakespeare. I reiterate the same positive things said by other reviewers...an essential book, by a brilliant man, for anyone serious about getting to know Shakespeare's kings much better.

This reviewer first became acquainted with Dr. Peter Saccio by viewing his 36 class course on Shakespeare in the Learning Company DVD series.
Intrigued by his skill in making Shakespeare understandable I picked up a copy of Shakespeare's English Kings. This slim volume provides the historical knowledge needed of each of the king's reigns to enhance appreciation of the Shakespearean plays.
The kings covered are:
Richard II-The Fall of the King
Henry IV-The King Embattled
Henry V-The King victorious-deals with his victory at Agincourt in 1415.
Henry VI-a good survey of this weak headed king's long and disastrous reign.
Henry VI-Edward IV-Deals with the War of the Roses rivalry between the dynastic houses of Lancaster and York.
Richard III-the last Plantagenet-Shakespeare made use of several myths about this king who was nevertheless anything but a boy scout!
John-the Angevin king who succeeded his brother Richard of Lionheart as King-Magna Charta and all that!
Henry VIII-The dissolute but astute Tudor king who made England a modern nation through diplomacy, governmental reform and dissolution of papal ties.
Some readers will be perplexed by all the Richards, Edwards, Henrys and
become confused. A close reading will help as well as ample use of the dynastic geneological charts provided by Saccio.
The book was written in 1977 and revised over twenty years later. If I was teaching a course on the English history plays this book would be required reading.

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