Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (2 of 6): England (09 of 12)edward the First, Surnamed Longshanks, the Eldest Sonne of Henrie the Third

This is the raw material that birthed Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. Raphael Holinshed's monumental 16th-century chronicle served as the primary source for Macbeth, King Lear, Cymbeline, and more, and this volume captures the reign of Edward I, the towering king who earned the surname Longshanks. Here is the unvarnished medieval record: Edward's return from crusade to claim his throne, his brutal subjugation of Wales, and his ruthless dealings with Scotland. The chroniclers preserve the raw political machinery of feudal Britain, the whispered conspiracies, the battles won and lost, the fragile allegiances that held (or shattered) the realm together. Reading these pages is peering directly into the imaginative toolbox of the greatest playwright in the English language. For anyone who has ever wondered where Shakespeare found his material, this is it: the原始, unfiltered history that became legend, then became drama, then became the foundation of how we understand kingship itself.