Editing King John (play) (section)

== Sources ==

[[File:First Folio, Shakespeare - 0322.jpg|right|thumb|The first page of ''King John'' from the [[First Folio]] of Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623]]

''King John'' is closely related to an anonymous history play, ''[[The Troublesome Reign of King John]]'' (c. 1589), the "masterly construction"{{sfnp|Tillyard|1956|p=216}} the infelicitous expression of which led [[Peter Alexander (Shakespearean scholar)|Peter Alexander]] to argue that Shakespeare's was the earlier play.{{refn|Alexander (1929),{{sfnp|Alexander|1929|pp=201 ff}} cited in Honigmann (1983){{sfnp|Honigmann|1983|p=56}} and in Alexander (1961).{{sfnp|Alexander|1961|p=85}} }} [[E. A. J. Honigmann]] elaborated these arguments, both in his preface to the second [[Arden Shakespeare|Arden edition]] of ''King John'',{{sfnp|Honigmann|1965|pp=xviii ff.}} and in his 1982 monograph on Shakespeare's influence on his contemporaries.{{sfnp|Honigmann|1983|pp=56–90}} The majority view, however, first advanced in a rebuttal of Honigmann's views by [[Kenneth Muir (scholar)|Kenneth Muir]],{{sfnp|Muir|1977|pp=78–85}} holds that the ''Troublesome Reign'' antedates ''King John'' by a period of several years; and that the skilful plotting of the ''Troublesome Reign'' is neither unparalleled in the period, nor proof of Shakespeare's involvement.{{sfnp|Braunmuller|2008|p=12}}

Shakespeare derived from ''[[Holinshed's Chronicles]]'' certain verbal collocations and points of action.{{efn|Although the author of the ''Troublesome Reign'' also drew upon Holinshed's work, the appearance in ''King John'' of material derived from Holinshed but unexampled in the other play suggests both authors independently consulted the ''Chronicles''.{{sfnp|Honigmann|1965|p=xiii}}}} Honigmann discerned in the play the influence of [[John Foxe]]'s ''[[Acts and Monuments]]'', [[Matthew Paris]]' ''Historia Maior'', and the Latin ''Wakefield Chronicle'',{{sfnp|Honigmann|1965|pp=xiii–xviii}} but Muir demonstrated that this apparent influence could be explained by the priority of the ''Troublesome Reign'', which contains similar or identical matter.{{efn|With the exception of Eleanor's dying on 1 April, which Muir argues was derived not from the ''Wakefield Chronicle'', as Honigmann had argued, but from the conjunction of Eleanor's death and a description of an inauspicious celestial omen on 1 April on a particular page of Holinshed.{{sfnp|Muir|1977|p=82}}}}