Preface. The following pages, especially those of Part I, may seem to require some word of explanation, if not of apology. The book has grown out of a study which had for its object to determine exactly what was the nature of the raw material ready to Shakespeare's hand when he began to write his Richard III. That the Richard whose character and career were the subject of Shakespeare's work was not the Richard of history has long been well known. His story had been moulded and remoulded by successive chroniclers down to the Hall and Holinshed from whom the great dramatist drew most of his material. But Richard had also been the subject of literary treatment before Shakespeare's, in the Mirror for Magistrates, for example, and in two other still extant plays: and it was thought that a careful analysis of these, with a study of their relations to each other and to Shakespeare's play, would be an assistance of some value in the appreciation of the latter. It had not been intended to consider in detail the work of the chroniclers, but the attempt to determine the historical sources of the material presented by the plays soon led to the discovery that none of Shakespeare's commentators has presented this material completely or even without considerable error so far as he has gone. It was necessary, therefore, first to analyze the growth of the Richard saga in the chronicles. The results of this study appear in Part I. Where others of such note have failed, I cannot hope that my own work will be found wholly free from mistakes; but I venture to hope that the reader will here be able to trace without essential error the development of Richard's story in the various chronicles and histories, and to perceive clearly the contributions of each. The product in the complete form that lay before Shakespeare may be seen in BoswellStone's Shakspere's Holinshed, if to the citations there given are added certain omitted passages which I have noted elswhere (Herrig's Archiv, Bd. XCVIU, p. 159) and the special contributions of Hall (cf. p. 206). The exigencies of the press and the author's distance from the place of publication, which have prevented him from reading his own proof-sheets, will, I trust, be considered sufficient excuse for the rather large number of misprints, the most important of which are recorded in the Corrigenda, and for certain uncorrected inconsistencies in the spelling of proper names, such as Fabyan and Hardyng. I wish here to record my hearty appreciation of obligation to Prof. Brandl, to whom the book owes its origin and from whom I have received constant help and encouragement; to Dr. Wolgang Keller, from whom came the information of the date assigned by the Caius College Ms. to Legge's Richardus Tertius, and many other friendly suggestions; to Prof. A. Keller of the German University of Prague, who furnished me the source of Rous's quotation from Claudian (cf. p. 46) and the note on André's quotation from Seneca (cf. p. 60); and to Mr. Wilfrid Perrett, who has with unfailing kindness performed the difficult and tedious task of correcting the proof-sheets. Amherst College, Mass., October 20, 1899. Page 1 Introduction Contents. The Lancastrian chroniclers. 1 ... the Richard saga, 2. . . historical table. 3. 1. Historie of the Arrival of Edward IV Authorship, date, use by later chroniclers, 6 contents, 7-11 . . . summary, 11–13 . . . Yorkist ... Date, authorship, 13 . . . use by Stow and Hol- inshed, 14 ... contents, 14-19 summary, 19, 20. III. Ms. References to the death of Henry VI IV. A Chronicle of London from 1089 to 1483 VI. The Second Continuation of the History of Authorship, date, 24. . . contents, 24-41 summary, 41-46 . . . characterization of Richard, 42... Richard's crimes, 42 ... contributions to the VII. Rous's Historia Regum Angliae Date, 46. contents, 46-49... summary, 49-52 ....... Tudor flattery, characterization of Richard and Richmond, 49 ... Richard's deformity, his crimes, 50... classical influence in Rous, 51. VIII. The Memoirs of Philippe de Comines Date, use by Hall, 52. . . contents, 52–57 ... summary, 57-59 ... Clarence's death in the butt IX. Bernard André's History of Henry VII. Date, 59... contents, 59-63... summary, 64-66... contributions to the saga, 64. . . characterization of Richmond, the messenger of God, and of Richard, the "blood-sucker", 64 ... Richard's crimes, 65 ... Date, 66 ... contents, 67-73 ... summary, A. The English version - author, publication, 75... relation to the Latin version, 76 . . . date, B. The Latin version contents, 116-118 . . . summary, 118-127. . . use by later chroniclers, 119... contributions to the saga, 119 ... Richard's person 119 ... his character, 120 his protector- ship, 123 ... his conscience, 124 ... little reference Date, 127 ... English translation, 128 ... use by Hall and the Hardyng continuator, 128 ... contents, 128-155 ... summary, 155–161 ... importance of Vergil's work in the development of the saga, 155 ... use by later chroniclers and Shakespeare, 156 account of Richard's early life, 156 . . . varying accounts of the character and death of Warwick, 157 . . . comparison of Vergil with More, 157 . . . Richard's later life, person and character in Vergil, 158 ... his conscience, 159... the motives of divine vengeance and of destiny, and their use by XIV. The Continuation of Hardyng's Chronicle. Authorship, 163. . . translation and adaptation of Vergil, 164 ... contents, 164-172 ... summary, . 162 173 |