Editing Historical fiction (section)

====History plays====
{{main|History (theatrical genre)}}
History is one of the three main genres in Western [[theatre]] alongside [[tragedy]] and [[comedy]], although it originated, in its modern form, thousands of years later than the other primary genres.<ref name=howard>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PkDccFRob5IC&pg=PA135 |title=Other Voices, Other Views: Expanding the Canon in English Renaissance Studies |access-date=2014-08-07|isbn=9780874136807 |last1=Ostovich |first1=Helen |last2=Silcox |first2=Mary V |last3=Roebuck |first3=Graham |year=1999 |publisher=University of Delaware Press }}</ref> For this reason, it is often treated as a subset of tragedy.<ref name=moarribner>{{cite journal| title = Marlowe's Edward II and the Tudor History Play| first= Irving| last = Ribner | journal = ELH| volume =  22| number = 4 | date = December 1955| pages =  243–253| publisher  = The Johns Hopkins University Press| jstor = 2871887| doi= 10.2307/2871887}}</ref> A play in this genre is known as a [[history (theatrical genre)|history play]] and is based on a [[Narrative history|historical narrative]], often set in the medieval or early modern past. History emerged as a distinct genre from tragedy in [[English Renaissance theatre|Renaissance England]].<ref name=ribner>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l0LHz_Eki_IC&pg=PR9 |title=The English History Play in the Age of Shakespeare|author=Irving Ribner |access-date=2014-08-07|isbn=9780415353144|year=1965|publisher=Psychology Press }}</ref> The best known examples of the genre are the [[Shakespearean history|history plays]] written by [[William Shakespeare]], whose plays still serve to define the genre.<ref name = degroot12>de Groot, 11-13</ref> Shakespeare wrote numerous history plays, some included in the [[First Folio]] as histories, and other listed as [[Shakespearean tragedy|tragedies]], or Roman plays. Among the most famous histories are ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'', and ''[[Henry IV, Part 1]]'', ''[[Henry IV, Part 2]]'', and ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]''. Other plays that feature historical characters, are the tragedy ''[[Macbeth]]'', set in the mid-11th century during the reigns of [[Duncan I of Scotland]] and [[Edward the Confessor]], and the Roman plays ''[[Coriolanus]]'', ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', and ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]''. Another tragedy ''[[King Lear]]'', is based on British [[legend]], as is the [[Shakespeare's late romances|romanc]] ''Cymbeline, King of Britain'', which is set in Ancient Britain.

Other playwrights contemporary to Shakespeare, such as [[Christopher Marlowe]], also dramatized historical topics.<ref name = degroot12/> Marlowe wrote ''[[Edward II (play)|Edward the Second]]'' which deals with the deposition of King [[Edward II of England|Edward II]] by his barons and the Queen, who resent the undue influence the king's favourites have in court and state affairs, and ''[[The Massacre at Paris]]'', which dramatizes the events of the [[Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre]] in France in 1572.<ref>Wilson, Richard (2004). "Tragedy, Patronage and Power". in Cheney, Patrick, 2007, p. 207</ref> Marlowe's ''[[Tamburlaine the Great]]'' (1587 or 1588) is a play in two parts, loosely based on the life of the [[Central Asia]]n emperor, [[Timur]] "the lame".

History plays also appear elsewhere in other western literature. The German authors [[Goethe]] and [[Schiller]] wrote a number of historical plays, including Goethe's ''[[Egmont (play)|Egmont]]'' (1788), which is set in the 16th century, and is heavily influenced by Shakespearean tragedy, and Schiller's ''[[Mary Stuart (Schiller play)|Mary Stuart]]'', which depicts the last days of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]] (1800). This play formed the basis for [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]]'s opera ''[[Maria Stuarda]]'' (1834). Beethoven [[Egmont (Beethoven)|wrote incidental music]] for ''Egmont''.

Later Irish author [[George Bernard Shaw]] wrote several histories, including ''[[Caesar and Cleopatra (play)|Caesar and Cleopatra]]'' (1898) and ''[[Saint Joan (play)|Saint Joan]]'', which based on the life and trial of [[Joan of Arc]]. Published in 1924, not long after the canonization of Joan of Arc by the Roman Catholic Church, the play dramatises what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. One of the most famous 20th-century history plays is ''[[The Life of Galileo]]'' by [[Bertolt Brecht]] which dramatises the latter period of the life of [[Galileo Galilei]], the great [[Italians|Italian]] [[natural philosopher]], who was persecuted by the [[Roman Catholic Church]] for the promulgation of his scientific discoveries; for details, see [[Galileo affair]]. The play embraces such themes as the conflict between [[dogmatism]] and [[Science|scientific evidence]], as well as interrogating the values of constancy in the face of oppression.

More recently British dramatist [[Howard Brenton]] has written several histories. He gained notoriety for his play ''[[The Romans in Britain]]'', first staged at the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] in October 1980, which drew parallels between the Roman invasion of Britain in 54BC and the contemporary British military presence in [[Northern Ireland]]. Its concerns with politics were, however, overshadowed by controversy surrounding a rape scene. Brenton also wrote ''Anne Boleyn'' a play on the life of [[Anne Boleyn]], which premiered at [[Shakespeare's Globe]] in 2010. Anne Boleyn is portrayed as a significant force in the political and religious in-fighting at court and a furtherer of the cause of [[Protestantism]] in her enthusiasm for the [[Tyndale Bible]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/anne-boleyn-shakespeares-globe-london-2315856.html |title=Michael Coveney, The Independent, 19 July 2011 |website=[[Independent.co.uk]] |date=18 July 2011 |access-date=29 August 2017 |archive-date=23 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160723023113/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/anne-boleyn-shakespeares-globe-london-2315856.html |url-status=live }}</ref>