Editing Edward III (play)

{{short description|1596 play often attributed to Shakespeare}}
{{For|the later play|Edward III (1690 play){{!}}''Edward III'' (1690 play)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox play
| name       = Edward III
| image      = Edward the third title page (2).jpg|
|image_size =
| caption    = Title page of the first [[quarto]] (1596)
| writer     = possibly: [[William Shakespeare]], [[Thomas Kyd]]
| genre      = [[history play]]
| setting    = Fourteenth century: England and France
| subject    = King Edward III experiences personal and military struggles
| premiere   = {{circa|1592}}
| place      =
| orig_lang  = English
}}

'''''The Raigne of King Edward the Third''''', often shortened to '''''Edward III''''', is an [[Elizabethan theatre|Elizabethan play]] printed anonymously in 1596, and possibly at least partly written by [[William Shakespeare]]. It began to be included in publications of the complete works of Shakespeare only in the late 1990s.<ref>Dunton-Downer, Leslie. Riding, Alan. ''Essential Shakespeare Handbook''. Publisher: DK 2004. P. 97 {{ISBN| 978-0789493330 }}</ref> Scholars who have supported this attribution include [[Jonathan Bate]], [[Edward Capell]], [[Eliot Slater]],<ref name="slat"/> [[Eric Sams]],<ref>Sams, Eric. ''Shakespeare's Edward III: An Early Play Restored to the Canon'' (Yale UP, 1996) {{ISBN|978-0300066265}}</ref> [[Giorgio Melchiori]]<ref name="Melchiori, Giorgio 1998, p. 2">Melchiori, Giorgio, ed. ''The New Cambridge Shakespeare: King Edward III'', 1998, p. 2.</ref> and [[Brian Vickers (academic)|Brian Vickers]].<ref name="Melchiori, Giorgio 1998, p. 2" /> The play's co-author remains the subject of debate: suggestions have included [[Thomas Kyd]], [[Christopher Marlowe]], [[Michael Drayton]], [[Thomas Nashe]] and [[George Peele]].

The play contains several gibes at [[Scotland]] and the [[Scottish people]], which has led some critics to suggest that it incited [[George Nicholson (diplomat)|George Nicholson]], [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth's]] agent in [[Edinburgh]], to protest against the portrayal of Scots on the [[London]] stage in a 1598 letter to [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|William Cecil]], Lord Burghley. This could explain why the play was not included in the [[First Folio]] of Shakespeare's works, which was published after the Scottish King [[James I of England|James]] had succeeded to the English throne in 1603.

The play also contains an explicit reference to its having been produced not only for the stage, but also for the page. In the final sequence, the Black Prince states: "So that hereafter ages, ''when they read'' / The painful traffic of my tender youth, / Might thereby be inflamed” (scene 18).<ref>Stanco, Michele. "Il regno di Re Edoardo III: copione teatrale o testo letterario?", in ''William Shakespeare: artigiano e artista, a cura di Franco Marenco, il Mulino'', 2021, pp. 229–241.</ref>

== Characters ==
{{div col |colwidth =20em|rules=yes}}
;The English
* [[Edward III of England|King Edward III]]
* [[Philippa of Hainault|Queen Philippa]] – his wife
* [[Edward, the Black Prince]] – their son
* [[William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury|Earl of Salisbury]] – partially based on [[Walter de Manny, 1st Baron Manny|Sir Walter de Manny]]; Salisbury was deceased by the events of the second half of the play.<ref name="See Melchiori, passim">See Melchiori, passim.</ref>
* [[Catherine Montagu, Countess of Salisbury|Countess of Salisbury]] – Salisbury's wife (although the story of Edward III's infatuation with her is based on an incident involving [[Alice of Norfolk]], Salisbury's sister-in-law)<ref>See Melchiori, p. 186</ref>
* [[Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick|Earl of Warwick]] – her father (fictitiously)
* [[William de Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury|Sir William Montague]] – Salisbury's nephew
* [[Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster|Earl of Derby]]
* [[James Audley (died 1369)|Lord Audley]] – portrayed as an old man, though he was historically no older than 30 at the time of the play
* [[Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy|Lord Percy]]
* [[John de Coupland|John Copland]] – [[esquire]], later Sir John Copland
* Lodwick or Lodowick – King Edward's secretary
* Two Esquires
* [[Herald]]

;Supporters of the English
* [[Robert, Count of Artois]] – partially based on [[Sir Godfrey de Harcourt]]; Artois was deceased by the events of the second half of the play<ref name="See Melchiori, passim" />
* [[Lord Mountford]] – [[Duke of Brittany]]
* Gobin de Grace – French prisoner

;The French
* [[John II of France|King John II]] – some of his actions in the play were actually undertaken by his predecessors [[Charles IV of France|King Charles IV]] and [[Philip VI of France|King Philip VI]].
* [[Charles V of France|Prince Charles]] – [[Duke of Normandy]], his son
* [[Philip the Bold|Prince Philip]] – his youngest son (historically not yet born)
* [[Rudolph, Duke of Lorraine|Duke of Lorraine]]
* Villiers – [[Normans|Norman]] lord
* [[John of Artois, Count of Eu|Captain]] of [[Calais]]
* Another Captain
* [[Sailor|Mariner]]
* Three Heralds
* Two Citizens from [[Crécy]]
* Three other Frenchmen
* Woman with two children
* Six wealthy citizens of Calais
* Six poor citizens of Calais

;Supporters of the French
* [[John of Bohemia|King of Bohemia]]
* [[Polonian]] Captain
* [[Denmark|Danish]] troops

;The Scots
* [[David II of Scotland|King David]] the [[Clan Bruce|Bruce]] of Scotland
* [[William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas|Sir William Douglas]]
* Two Messengers
{{div col end}}

There are several references made to "the Emperor". This is [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor]].

==Synopsis==
[[File:RoyalBloodBldyPrnc.jpg|thumb|200px|Edward the Black Prince (David Mendelsohn) in the American professional premiere of ''Edward III'', staged by [[Pacific Repertory Theatre]] in August 2001]]

King Edward III is informed by [[Robert III of Artois|the Count of Artois]] that he, Edward, was the true heir to the previous king of France. A French ambassador arrives to insist that Edward do homage to the new French king for his lands in [[Guyenne]]. Edward defies him, insisting he will invade to enforce his rights. A messenger arrives to say that the Scots are besieging a castle in the north of England. Edward decides to deal with this problem first. The castle is being held by the beautiful [[Catherine Montagu, Countess of Salisbury|Countess of Salisbury]], the wife of the [[William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury|Earl of Salisbury]]. As Edward's army arrives, the rampaging [[Scotland|Scots]] flee. Edward immediately falls for the Countess, and proceeds to woo her for himself. She rebuffs him, but he persists. In an attempted bluff, the Countess vows to take the life of her husband if Edward will take the life of his wife. However, when she sees that Edward finds the plan morally acceptable, she ultimately threatens to take her own life if he does not stop his pursuit. Finally, Edward expresses great shame, admits his fault and acquiesces. He dedicates himself to use his energies to pursue his rights and duties as king.

In the second part of the play, Edward joins his army in France, fighting a war to claim the French throne. He and the French king exchange arguments for their claims before the [[Battle of Crécy]]. King Edward's son, Edward, the Black Prince, is knighted and sent into battle. The king refuses to send help to his son when it appears that the young man's life is in danger. Prince Edward proves himself in battle after defeating the king of Bohemia. The English win the battle and the French flee to Poitiers. Edward sends the prince to pursue them, while he besieges Calais.

In Poitiers the prince finds himself outnumbered and apparently surrounded. The play switches between the French and English camps, where the apparent hopelessness of the English campaign is contrasted with the arrogance of the French. Prince Edward broods on the morality of war before achieving victory in the [[Battle of Poitiers]] against seemingly insurmountable odds. He captures the French king.

In Calais the citizens realise they will have to surrender to King Edward. Edward demands that six of the leading citizens be sent out to face punishment. Edward's wife, Queen Philippa, arrives and persuades him to pardon them. Sir John Copland brings Edward the king of the Scots, captured in battle, and a messenger informs Edward that the English have secured Brittany. However, the successes are undercut when news arrives that Prince Edward was facing certain defeat at Poitiers. King Edward declares he will take revenge. Prince Edward arrives with news of his victory, bringing with him the captured French king. The English enter Calais in triumph.

==Sources==
Like most of Shakespeare's history plays, the source is [[Raphael Holinshed]]'s ''Chronicles'', while [[Jean Froissart]]'s ''Chronicles'' is also a major source for this play. Roger Prior<ref>Connotations Volume 3, 1993/94, No. 3: Was ''The Raigne of King Edward III'' a Compliment to Lord Hunsdon?</ref> has argued that the playwright had access to Lord Hunsdon's personal copy of Froissart and quoted some of Hunsdon's annotations. A significant portion of the part usually attributed to Shakespeare, the wooing of the [[Catherine Montacute, Countess of Salisbury|Countess of Salisbury]], is based on the tale "The Countesse of Salesberrie" (no. 46) in the story-collection ''[[The Palace of Pleasure (book)|Palace of Pleasure]]'' by [[William Painter (author)|William Painter]]. Painter's version of the story, derived from [[Froissart]], portrays Edward as a bachelor and the Countess as a widow, and concludes with the couple marrying. Painter's preface indicates that he knew that this was "altogether untrue", since Edward had only one wife, "the sayde vertuous Queene Philip", but reproduces Froissart's version with all its "defaults".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20241/20241-h/files/volume1.html#novel1_46|title=The Palace of Pleasure, Novel 46}}</ref> The author of the play is aware that both were married at the time. Melchiori (p.&nbsp;104) points out the similarity of the playwright's language to that of Painter in spite of the plotting differences.

The play radically compresses the action and historical events, placing the [[Battle of Poitiers]] (1356) immediately after the [[Battle of Crecy]] (1346), and before the capture of Calais. In fact, Poitiers took place ten years after the earlier victory and capture of Calais. The compression necessitates that characters are merged. Thus the French king throughout the play is [[John II of France]]. In fact, Crecy had been fought against his predecessor, [[Philip VI of France]]. Many other characters are freely depicted at events when they could not have been present. [[William Montague, 1st Earl of Salisbury]] and [[John of Montfort|John de Montfort]] were both dead even before Crecy.<ref name="Melchiori, Giorgio 1998, p. 2"/> While Sir John Copland did capture the Scottish King David and bring him to Calais in 1346, shortly after Crecy, complete Anglo-Montfort victory in Brittany, alluded in the same scene, was not achieved until the [[Battle of Auray]] in 1364.

The author or authors of ''The Reign of King Edward III'' also used John Eliot’s 1591 translation of Bertrand de Loque’s ''Discourses of Warre and single Combat'' for inspiration and guidance.<ref>Ambrose Murphy, A Possible New Source for Shakespeare’s The Reign of King Edward III, Notes and Queries, April 19, 2024;, gjae046, https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gjae046</ref>

==Authorship==
[[File:Edward III Second Quarto.jpg|thumb|The 1599 Second Quarto of the play]]
''Edward III'' has only been accepted into the canon of plays written by Shakespeare since the 1990s.<ref>Dunton-Downer, Leslie. Riding, Alan. ''Essential Shakespeare Handbook''. Publisher: DK 2004, p. 97 {{ISBN| 978-0789493330 }}</ref> In 1596, it was published anonymously, which was common practice in the 1590s (the first Quarto editions of ''[[Titus Andronicus]]'' and ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' also appeared anonymously). Additionally, Elizabethan theatre often paid professional writers of the time to perform minor [[Script doctor|additions and emendations to problematic or overly brief scripts]] (the additions to the popular but brief ''[[Doctor Faustus (play)|Doctor Faustus]]'' and Shakespeare's own additions on the unperformed ''[[Sir Thomas More (play)|Sir Thomas More]]'' being some of the best known). No [[holograph]]ic manuscript of ''Edward III'' is extant.

The principal arguments against Shakespeare's authorship are its non-inclusion in the ''[[First Folio]]'' of Shakespeare's plays in 1623 and being unmentioned in [[Francis Meres]]'s ''Palladis Tamia'' (1598), a work that lists many (but not all) of Shakespeare's early plays. Some critics view the play as not up to the quality of Shakespeare's ability, and they attribute passages resembling his style to imitation or plagiarism.<ref name = "slat">Stater, Elliot, ''The Problem of the Reign of King Edward III: A Statistical Approach'', Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 7–9.</ref> Despite this, many critics have seen some passages as having an authentic Shakespearean ring. In 1760, noted Shakespearean editor [[Edward Capell]] included the play in his ''[[Prolusions]]; or, Select Pieces of Ancient Poetry, Compil'd with great Care from their several Originals, and Offer'd to the Publicke as Specimens of the Integrity that should be Found in the Editions of worthy Authors'', and concluded that it had been written by Shakespeare. However, Capell's conclusion was, at the time, only supported by mostly German scholars.<ref>Melchiori, p. 1.</ref>

In recent years, professional Shakespeare scholars have increasingly reviewed the work with a new eye, and have concluded that some passages are as sophisticated as any of Shakespeare's early histories, especially ''[[The Life and Death of King John|King John]]'' and the ''[[Henry VI (play)|Henry VI]]'' plays. In addition, passages in the play are direct quotes from [[Shakespeare's sonnet]]s, most notably the line "lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds" ([[sonnet 94]]) and the phrase "scarlet ornaments", used in [[sonnet 142]].<ref>Melchiori, George, ''King Edward III'', Cambridge University Press, 28 Mar 1998, p.&nbsp;94.</ref>

[[Stylistics (linguistics)|Stylistic]] analysis has also produced evidence that at least some scenes were written by Shakespeare.<ref>M. W. A. Smith, 'Edmund Ironside'. ''Notes and Queries'' 238 (June, 1993):204–05.</ref>{{NoteTag|Thomas Merriam's article in ''[[Literary and Linguistic Computing]]'' vol 15 (2) 2000: 157–186 uses [[stylometry]] to investigate claims that the play is a reworking by Shakespeare of a draft originally written by [[Christopher Marlowe|Marlowe]].}} In the ''Textual Companion'' to the [[Oxford Shakespeare|''Oxford Complete Works of Shakespeare'']], [[Gary Taylor (English literature scholar)|Gary Taylor]] states that "of all the non-canonical plays, ''Edward III'' has the strongest claim to inclusion in the ''Complete Works''"<ref>Wells, Stanley and Gary Taylor, with John Jowett and William Montgomery, ''William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion'' (Oxford University Press, 1987), p.&nbsp;136.</ref> (the play was subsequently edited by William Montgomery and included in the second edition of the ''Oxford Complete Works'', 2005). The first major publishing house to produce an edition of the play was Yale University Press, in 1996;  [[Cambridge University Press]] published an edition two years later as part of its [[New Cambridge Shakespeare]] series. Since then, an edition of the [[Riverside Shakespeare]] has included the play, as has the [[Arden Shakespeare]] in its Third Series (2017).<ref>{{cite web |title = King Edward III |url = https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/king-edward-iii-9781903436387/ |website = Bloomsbury Publishing |access-date=11 August 2017 }}</ref> The [[Oxford Shakespeare]] series has published an edition.<ref>{{cite book |title=William Shakespeare: The Complete Works |last=Shakespeare|first=William|publisher=[[Clarendon Press]]|year=2005|isbn=9780199267170|editor-last=Wells|editor-first=Stanley|edition=2nd|location=Oxford |editor-last2=Taylor|editor-first2=Gary|url-access=registration |url = https://archive.org/details/completeworks0000shak_f0m2 }}</ref>

Giorgio Melchiori, editor of the New Cambridge edition, asserts that the play's disappearance from the canon is probably due to a 1598 protest at the play's portrayal of the Scottish. According to Melchiori, scholars have often assumed that this play, the title of which was not stated in the letter of 15 April 1598 from [[George Nicolson]] ([[Elizabeth I]]'s [[Edinburgh]] agent) to [[Lord Burghley]] noting the public unrest, was a comedy (one that does not survive), but the play's portrayal of Scots is so virulent that it is likely that the play was banned—officially or unofficially—and left forgotten by Heminges and Condell.<ref>Melchiori, 12–13.</ref>

The events and monarchs in the play would, along with the two [[Henriad|history tetralogies]] and ''[[Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII]]'', extend Shakespeare's chronicle to include all the monarchs from [[Edward III of England|Edward III]] to Shakespeare's near-contemporary [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]]. Some scholars, notably [[Eric Sams]],<ref>Sams, Eric. ''Shakespeare's Edward III: An Early Play Restored to the Canon'' (Yale UP, 1996)</ref> have argued that the play is ''entirely'' by Shakespeare, but today, scholarly opinion is divided, with many researchers asserting that the play is an early collaborative work, of which Shakespeare wrote only a few scenes.

In 2009, [[Brian Vickers (academic)|Brian Vickers]] published the results of a computer analysis using a program designed to detect plagiarism, which suggests that 40% of the play was written by Shakespeare with the other scenes written by [[Thomas Kyd]] (1558–1594).<ref name=vickers>{{cite web |url = http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article6870086.ece |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091104084822/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article6870086.ece |url-status = dead |archive-date = 4 November 2009 |title = Computer program proves Shakespeare didn't work alone, researchers claim |work=Times of London |first=Jack |last=Malvern |date=2009-10-12 }}</ref>  [[John Jowett]] and [[Richard Proudfoot]] and [[Nicola Bennett]], while not rejecting the possibility of Kyd's authorship, find that the evidence is insufficient.  Citing Jowett's ''Shakespeare and the Text'',<ref>Oxford, 2007</ref> Proudfoot and Bennett<ref>''King Edward III''. Arden Shakespeare Third Series. Ed. John Proudfoot and Nicola Bennett. London: Bloomsbury, 2017, pp. 58–60</ref> identify multiple assumptions made in the attribution, crediting the first three to Jowett: that Kyd's known [[Work of art|oeuvre]] (consisting of only ''[[The Spanish Tragedy]]'', ''[[Soliman and Perseda]]'', and an English translation of French playwright [[Robert Garnier]]'s ''[[Cornélie (play)|Cornélie]]'') is a sufficient body of evidence for comparison, that "rarity" of [[n-gram]] patterns is definable and doubtlessly characteristic, and that scenes within collaborative plays are always by one author acting alone. Proudfoot and Bennett add to these that selection bias prejudges outcome, making the methodology only somewhat more sophisticated than "parallel passage" strategies of old despite the inclusion of more text in the analysis. They cite in-progress work by Martin Mueller to digitally analyse 548 plays published between 1562 and 1662 for n-grams,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scalablereading.northwestern.edu/|title=Scalable Reading – Scalable Reading NUsites site|website=scalablereading.northwestern.edu}}</ref> but also note that some playwrights and plays of the era are known only by their names, that anonymous plays could be written by authors whose work is unknown to scholars of drama of the period, and that there was a dramatic increase in the publication of plays starting in 1593, when the practice became normalised for successful plays.  Based on Mueller's work, the top ten plays with n-gram links to ''Edward III'' range from 6% to 4%:

# ''[[Henry VI, Part 3]]'' (Shakespeare)
# ''[[Edward II (play)|Edward II]]'' (Marlowe)
# ''[[Henry VI, Part 1]]'' (Shakespeare, possibly with [[Thomas Nashe]], Kyd, and/or Marlowe)
# ''[[Alphonsus, King of Aragon]]'' ([[Robert Greene (dramatist)|Robert Greene]])
# ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' (Shakespeare)
# ''[[Tamburlaine]], Part 1'' (Marlowe)
# ''[[King John (play)|King John]]'' (Shakespeare)
# ''[[A Knack to Know a Knave]]'' (anonymous)
# ''Tamburlaine, Part 2'' (Marlowe)
# ''[[The Massacre at Paris]]'' (Marlowe)

This suggests to them that genre is more significant than author.  They also note that Kyd's plays do not score that high on Mueller's scale, ''[[The Spanish Tragedy]]'' at 24th, ''[[Soliman and Perseda]]'' at 33rd, and ''[[Cornelia (play)|Cornelia]]'' at 121st.<ref>Proudfoot and Bennett, p. 82</ref> They also note that Vickers was working on a wider project to expand the canon of Kyd to include ''Edward III'', ''[[Arden of Faversham]]'', ''[[Fair Em]]'', ''[[King Leir]]'', and parts of ''Henry VI, Part 1''.<ref>Proudfoot and Bennett, p. 84</ref>  Marcus Dahl did n-gram research on Nashe's works and found seven links in ''[[Summer's Last Will and Testament]]'', 24 links in ''[[Christ's Tears Over Jerusalem]]'', thirteen links in ''[[The Unfortunate Traveller]]'', and four links in ''[[The Terrors of the Night]]''.<ref>Proudfoot and Bennett, pp. 87–88</ref>  Proudfoot and Bennett argue that Nashe's access to the library of [[Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington]], would have given Nashe access to Froissart and other sources of the play. They note<ref>Proudfoot and Bennet, p. 86</ref> that the only reference to Froissart in all of Shakespeare's canonical work is in the first act of ''Henry VI, Part 1'', which many scholars now attribute to Nashe.  Nashe was known primarily as a playwright, but ''Summer's Last Will and Testament'' is his only theatrical work of undisputed authorship still extant.<ref>Proudfoot and Bennett, p. 87</ref>  Proudfoot and Bennett also suggest that Nashe's possible co-authorship need not have been dialogue writing, but structuring the plot. "It will be apparent", they write, however, <blockquote>that the attempt to identify Nashe as a putative partner in writing ''Edward III'' is wholly conjectural, anchored to the few known facts of his familiarity with Froissart and perhaps by phrasal links with the verbal text of ''Edward III''. If this hypothesis has any interest, then it may be in confronting the question of how the selection of material from Froissart for ''Edward III'' came to be as it is and not otherwise. The fact that it is purely speculative may serve to illustrate the tantalising gap that remains between the playtext that has survived and the attempt to locate it among what little is known of the writers and players who brought it into being.<ref>Proudfoot and Bennet, p. 88</ref></blockquote>

[[Charles R. Forker]]'s analysis of ''[[The Troublesome Reign of King John|The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England]]'' (2011) assesses that anonymous play as being by [[George Peele]], and ''Edward III'' as stylistically different from that of Peele.  Nevertheless, [[Tucker Brooke]] identified Peele as the author of ''Edward III'' in 1908, and [[Lois Potter]] did so in 2012. "Any case for Peele", write Proudfoot and Bennett,<ref>p. 85</ref> "would take as its point of departure the fact that his known plays share several concerns with ''Edward III'':  ''[[David and Bethsabe]]'' revolves around adulterous love and its consequences; the action of ''[[Edward I (play)|Edward I]]'' dramatises the creation of the title of [[Prince of Wales]] (of which the Black Prince was only the third holder); while ''[[The Battle of Alcazar]]'' dramatises sixteenth-century warfare—the anachronistic model for the battle narratives in ''Edward III'', with their [[Pike (weapon)|pikes]] and naval gunnery."

Proudfoot and Bennett's arguments, particularly those pertaining to statistical analysis of n-grams, are countered by Darren Freebury-Jones, who provides a sustained analysis of the evidence in favour of Shakespeare and Thomas Kyd as direct collaborators.<ref name="Freebury-Jones, Darren">{{Cite book |author=Freebury-Jones, Darren |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1303076747 |title=Shakespeare's tutor : the influence of Thomas Kyd |date=2022 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-1-5261-6474-2 |oclc=1303076747}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Freebury-Jones |first=Darren |title=Shakespeare's Borrowed Feathers: How Early Modern Playwrights Shaped the World's Greatest Writer |date=2024 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-1-5261-7732-2 |edition=1st |location=Manchester}}</ref>

[[Harold Bloom]] rejected the theory that Shakespeare wrote ''Edward III'', on the grounds that he found "nothing in the play is representative of the dramatist who had written ''Richard III''".<ref>Bloom, Harold. ''Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human''. New York: Riverhead Books, p. xv.</ref>

=== Attributions ===
* William Shakespeare – [[Edward Capell]] (1760)
* [[George Peele]] – [[Tucker Brooke]] (1908)
* [[Christopher Marlowe]], with [[Robert Greene (16th century)|Robert Greene]], George Peele, and [[Thomas Kyd]] – [[J. M. Robertson]] (1924)
* [[Michael Drayton]] – [[E. A. Gerard]] (1928)
* [[Robert Wilson (dramatist)|Robert Wilson]] – [[S. R. Golding]] (1929)
* William Shakespeare – [[A. S. Cairncross]] (1935)
* Michael Drayton – [[H. W. Crundell]] (1939)
* Thomas Kyd – William Wells (1940)
* Thomas Kyd – [[Guy Lambrechts]] (1963)
* Robert Greene – [[R. G. Howarth]] (1964)
* [[Thomas Heywood]] – [[Moelwyn Merchant]] (1967){{NoteTag|Merchant's introduction to the New Mermaids edition of Marlowe's ''[[Edward II (play)|Edward the Second]]'' ([[Hill and Wang]], 1967) twice mentions Heywood as the author of ''Edward III'' (xvii, xxiv).}}
* William Shakespeare – [[Eliot Slater]] (1988)
* William Shakespeare and one other – [[Jonathan Hope (scholar)|Jonathan Hope]] (1994)
* William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe – [[Robert A. J. Matthews]] and [[Thomas V. N. Merriam]] (1994)
* William Shakespeare – [[Eric Sams]] (1996)
* William Shakespeare and others (not Marlowe) – [[Giorgio Melchiori]] (1998)<ref>Melchiori, p.&nbsp;15.</ref>{{NoteTag|Melchiori (p.&nbsp;35) dismisses the Marlovian character of the play as having been written under the influence of Marlowe's ''[[Tamburlaine (play)|Tamburlaine, Part II]]'', which was recent and popular enough to be fresh in the memory of theatre-goers during the period in which ''Edward III'' was written. Melchiori does not believe that the play is entirely Shakespeare's, but he does not attempt to determine whose the other hands in the play are. He also voices his dislike of the publication of the "hand D" segments of ''[[Sir Thomas More (play)|Sir Thomas More]]'' out of context in many complete Shakespeare editions (ix).}}
* Christopher Marlowe (Acts I, III, and V) and William Shakespeare (Acts II and IV) – [[Thomas Merriam]] (2000)<ref>Thomas Merriam. "''Edward III''", ''[[Literary and Linguistic Computing]]'' 15 (2000), 157–80, cited in William Shakespeare. ''King Edward III''. [[Arden Shakespeare]] Third Series. Ed. Richard Proudfoot and Nicola Bennett. London, Bloosbury, 2017, 82.</ref>
* Thomas Kyd (60%) and William Shakespeare (40%) – [[Brian Vickers (academic)|Brian Vickers]] (2009)<ref name="vickers" />
* George Peele – [[Lois Potter]] (2012)<ref>''The Life of William Shakespeare'', 170, cited in Proudfoot and Bennett, 85.</ref>
* William Shakespeare (Scenes 2, 3, and 12) and others (principal consideration is given to Marlowe, Kyd, Peele and [[Thomas Nashe]], but qualified as "purely speculative" and insisting that even Shakespeare's involvement is conjectural) – Richard Proudfoot and Nicola Bennett (2017)
* Thomas Kyd and William Shakespeare – Darren Freebury-Jones (2022)<ref name="Freebury-Jones, Darren"/>

==Performance history==
The first modern performance of the play was on 6 March 1911, when the [[Elizabethan Stage Society]] performed Act 2 at the Little Theatre in London. Following this, the BBC broadcast an abridged version of the play in 1963, with complete performances taking place in Los Angeles in 1986 (as part of a season of Shakespeare Apocrypha) and Mold in 1987.<ref>Melchiori, pp. 46–51.</ref>

In 1977, the play was incorporated into the marathon BBC Radio dramatic series ''Vivat Rex'' as Episodes Three: "Obsession" and Four: "The Black Prince" with [[Keith Michell]] as "Edward III", [[Christopher Neame]] as "Edward the Black Prince" and [[Richard Burton]] as "The Narrator".

In 1998, Cambridge University Press became the first major publisher to produce an edition of the play under Shakespeare's name, and shortly afterward the Royal Shakespeare Company performed the play (to mixed reviews).

The American premiere of ''Edward III'' was staged by [[Pacific Repertory Theatre]] as part of the company's [[Carmel Shakespeare Festival]] in 2001.<ref>*{{cite book|title=The Globe Guide to Shakespeare: The Plays, the Productions, the Life|first=Andrew|last= Dickson|publisher=[[Profile Books]]|isbn=9781782832478|year=2016|page=91}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://playbill.com/article/lost-shakespeare-lost-again-ca-thomas-of-woodstock-edward-iii-ends-us-debut-oct-14-com-99136|title=Lost Shakespeare Lost Again: CA Thomas of Woodstock, Edward III Ends U.S. Debut Oct. 1|work=[[Playbill (magazine)|Playbill]]|date=October 14, 2001|first= Christine|last=Ehren}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/220583347?sourcetype=Trade%20Journals|title=My Kingdom for a Horse|work=[[American Theatre (magazine)|American Theatre]]|volume=18|issue=6|page=6|last=Wren|first=Celia|date=July 2001}}</ref>

In 2002, the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]]'s production was performed as part of a season of little done plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries along with such titles as ''[[The Roman Actor]]'' by [[Philip Massinger]] and ''[[Eastward Ho]]'' by [[Ben Jonson]]. The production was directed by Anthony Clarke and starred [[David Rintoul]] as King Edward and [[Caroline Faber]] as the Countess. It was performed at the [[Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon|Swan Theatre]] in [[Stratford-upon-Avon]], a venue known for tackling more non-mainstream titles. The production mixed costuming and set elements that included medieval armor and weaponry with 19th century style military uniforms.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bilington|first1=Michael|title=Edward III: Swan Theatre|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2002/apr/26/artsfeatures6|work=The Guardian|date=26 April 2002}}</ref>

In 2009, director Donna Northcott of St. Louis Shakespeare produced a traditionally set production on a multi-tiered set at the Orthwein Theater.<ref>{{cite web|title=Edward III Comes To St. Louis' Orthwein Theater 3/13 – 3/22|url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/st-louis/article/EDWARD-III-Comes-To-St-Louis-Orthwein-Theater-313-322-20090313#|publisher=Broadway world}}</ref>
  
In 2011, the Atlanta Shakespeare Company presented a production in repertory with ''[[The Two Noble Kinsmen]]'' at their Shakespeare Tavern Theater. In his director's note, Director Troy Willis stressed the various elements of honor and chivalry found in the play were often taught to the nobility by characters who were lower in social station than themselves. This is notable in the Countess instructing King Edward and Audley instructing the young prince.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Willis|first1=Troy|title=2010-2011 Season|url=http://www.shakespearetavern.com/index.php?/performances/show/the_two_noble_kinsmen_edward_iii_in_repertory/|publisher=shakespearetavern.com}}</ref>

In 2014, the Hawai'i Shakespeare Festival (HSF) presented an [[anime]]/video game style production that was notable for using dancers as stand ins for King Edward and King John as they controlled the dancers from the sides of the stage.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Saunders|first1=Ben|title=Hawaiʻi Shakespeare Festival readies for war with "Edward III"|date=8 September 2023 |url=http://www.kaleo.org/features/hawai-i-shakespeare-festival-readies-for-war-with-edward-iii/article_a64e21c0-200f-11e4-915f-001a4bcf6878.html|publisher=Ka Leo}}</ref>

[[File:Prince king - Edward III.jpg|thumb|Rhiannon Lattimer as Ned the Black Prince, with Ben Forer as his father Edward III, in Hudson Shakespeare Company's production of ''King Edward III'']]

In 2016, the [[Hudson Shakespeare Company]] presented a production as part of their [[Shakespeare in the Park]] series and their history cycle treatment of Shakespeare's second or major cycle producing it along with [[Richard II (play)|''Richard II'']] and ''[[Henry IV, Part 1]]'' and ''[[Henry IV, Part 2]]''. As ''Edward III'' takes place two generations before ''Richard II'', which was done in a late medieval style, ''Edward III'' was placed in an early medieval/[[Viking]] setting to depict an earlier time. Other notable features included by Artistic Director Jon Ciccarelli were a Viking party scene that bridged the Edward-Countess meeting scene with the Lodowick monologue and included an historical dramatization of Edward's founding of the "[[Order of the Garter]]" stressing the mutual attraction between Edward (Ben Forer) and the Countess (Rachel Matusewicz).<ref>{{cite web|title=Shakespeare's Lost History Romance tours in July|url=http://www.newjerseystage.com/articles/getarticle.php?titlelink=shakespeares-lost-history-romance-tours-in-july|work=New Jersey Stage|date = 4 July 2016|publisher=Winetime Publishing}}</ref>

In 2016, The Flock Theater in New London, Connecticut, featured a decidedly older King Edward and much younger Countess.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theday.com/music/20160622/flock-theatre-performs-edward-iii-now-believed-to-be-a-work-of-shakespeare/|title=Flock Theatre performs 'Edward III,' now believed to be a work of Shakespeare|first=Kristina|last=Dorsey|website=theday.com}}</ref>

In 2016, the [[Chicago Shakespeare Theater]] presented ''Edward III'' as part of a 3-play history cycle that included ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'' and ''[[Henry VI, Part 1]]''. The cycle was called ''Tug of War: Foreign Fire'' and concluded in a follow-up cycle called ''Tug of War: Civil Strife'' which included ''[[Henry VI, Part 2]]'', ''[[Henry VI, Part 3]]'' and ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagoshakes.com/plays_and_events/tugofwar_foreignfire|title = Chicago Shakespeare Theater: Tug of War: Foreign Fire}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Shakespeare Apocrypha]]

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Edward III (play)}}
* {{wikisource-inline|Edward III (play)|single=true|''The Raigne of King Edvvard the third''}}, first quarto (1596)
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/william-shakespeare/edward-iii}}
* [https://digitalcollections.folger.edu/bib161346-153779 Manuscript of 1596] at Folger Shakespeare Library [STC 7501][https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/resource/document/edward-iii-first-edition]
* [https://digitalcollections.folger.edu/bib161347-153780 Manuscript of 1599] at Folger Shakespeare Library [STC 7502][https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/resource/document/edward-iii-second-edition]
* [[iarchive:reignofkingedwar00shakuoft|Manuscript of 1596]] [British Museum C.34, g.1], published by The Tudor Facsimile Texts (1910){{Gutenberg |no = 1770 |name = Edward III }}
* {{Librivox book |title = The Reign of King Edward the Third |author = William Shakespeare }}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=C0MqAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA171 Google Books edition] (Donovan's ''English Historical Plays'', vol. 1, London, 1896)
* [http://www.shak-stat.engsem.uni-hannover.de/eauthoredwardiii.html Rolling delta results]

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[[Category:Shakespearean histories]]
[[Category:Shakespeare apocrypha]]
[[Category:English Renaissance plays]]
[[Category:1596 plays]]
[[Category:Works published anonymously|Edward III]]
[[Category:Plays set in the 14th century]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of English monarchs]]
[[Category:Plays set in England]]
[[Category:Biographical plays about English royalty]]
[[Category:Plays by Thomas Kyd]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Edward III of England]]
[[Category:Edward the Black Prince]]
[[Category:Plays about kings]]