The dating of Shakespeare's

depends upon its relationship to the anonymous

, a polemical historical drama printed in two parts in 1591. While the plot and sequence of the

's scenes are similar to those of

, the two plays share few linguistic parallels. Those who identify the 

as Shakespeare's principal source comfortably date

in the mid 1590s, sometime between the conclusion of the first historical tetralogy and the composition of

. A minority of scholars consider the

to be a bad quarto of

and date Shakespeare's original as early as 1590. Other probable sources for

are Holinshed's

(1587) and John…

2205 words

Citation: Vaughan, Virginia Mason. "King John". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 March 2001; last revised 27 January 2019. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4236, accessed 27 November 2024.]

• View recommended reading for this article