Holinshed’s, << HAHL ihnz `hehdz,` >> Chronicles is a book of English, Scottish, and Irish history and geography that was first published in 1577. The work is also known as the Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The English playwright William Shakespeare used it as source material for his tragedies Macbeth (about 1606) and King Lear (about 1604 or 1605), his romance Cymbeline (1609?), and for most of his history plays.
The Chronicles is named for Raphael Holinshed, an English historian. Reginald Wolfe, a London printer, began the book. Holinshed worked with him on it until Wolfe’s death in 1573. Holinshed then completed the Chronicles with the help of several other writers. He probably died in 1580. A revised version was published in 1587. For political reasons, the government of Queen Elizabeth I ordered the removal of certain parts from each version that might conflict with Elizabeth’s policy toward Ireland.
