''Henry VI'' is a series of three history plays by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, set during the lifetime of

King Henry VI of England Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English throne at ...

. ''

Henry VI, Part 1 ''Henry VI, Part 1'', often referred to as ''1 Henry VI'', is a Shakespearean history, history play by William Shakespeare—possibly in collaboration with Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe—believed to have been written in 1591. It is set ...

'' deals with the loss of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

's French territories and the political machinations leading up to the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

, as the English political system is torn apart by personal squabbles and petty jealousy; ''

Henry VI, Part 2 ''Henry VI, Part 2'' (often written as ''2 Henry VI'') is a Shakespearean history, history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591 and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas ''Henry VI, Part 1'' ...

'' depicts the King's inability to quell the bickering of his nobles, and the inevitability of armed conflict; and ''

Henry VI, Part 3 ''Henry VI, Part 3'' (often written as ''3 Henry VI'') is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591 and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas '' 1 Henry VI'' deals with the loss of Eng ...

'' deals with the horrors of that conflict. In 2016, scholars working on the New Oxford Shakespeare editions, announced that they were crediting Shakespeare's colleague and some time rival,

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...

, as the co-author of the trilogy. It had long been suspected that the plays had co-authors. The Oxford scholars drew their conclusions by using "big data" techniques, using computer software to identify signature language patterns for an author (using a discipline known as

stylometrics Stylometry is the application of the study of linguistic style, usually to written language. It has also been applied successfully to music and to fine-art paintings as well. Argamon, Shlomo, Kevin Burns, and Shlomo Dubnov, eds. The structure of ...

), and then checking the texts against those signatures. Although the ''Henry VI'' trilogy may not have been written in chronological order, the three plays are often grouped together with ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

'' to form a tetralogy, the "minor tetralogy", covering the entire Wars of the Roses saga, from the death of

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

in 1422 to the rise to power of Henry VII in 1485. It was the success of this sequence of plays which firmly established Shakespeare's reputation as a playwright. The "major tetralogy" or

Henriad In Shakespearean scholarship, Henriad refers to a group of William Shakespeare's history plays. It is sometimes used to refer to a group of four plays (a tetralogy), but some sources and scholars use the term to refer to eight plays. In the 1 ...

, covering the previous reigns, were written later. The three plays were published separately, and have often been performed separately, although they have also been combined in various adaptions into a single play or two plays. Further details about performances and adaptations appear in the articles about the individual plays.

References

{{Authority control Shakespearean histories Henry VI of England Wars of the Roses in fiction