William Shakespeare

Could a text thought to be by Shakespeare’s father actually be his sister’s writing?

Two fascinating, in-depth studies look, respectively, at representations of the Bard as a historical character and perceptions of his originality and reputation.

Shakespeare’s approach to history and geography is often regarded as something of a joke. But his skill was in reconstructing the medieval Mediterranean for audiences whose horizons were being expanded.

Outside the London of Shakespeare's time, writes Anthony Dent, coaches were few and most travellers were horse-borne.

Robert Knecht revisits an article marking 400 years since the assassination of Henry III of France and asks why the last Valois king has attracted so little attention from English-speaking historians.

When David Garrick, the most distinguished actor of his day, organised a splendid festival in honour of our greatest dramatist, writes Carola Oman, everything favoured him except the weather.

H.A. Monckton offers a taste of the beer of Elizabethan England, a beverage reportedly, ‘dark in colour, not very heavily hopped, and probably rather sweet and vinous’.

Harold F. Hutchison compares fact with fiction in Shakespeare’s historical dramas.

How accurate are Shakespeare’s historical plays? Harold F. Hutchison compares the dramatist’s account of Richard’s downfall with the actual course of events.