Raphael Holinshed
Raphael Holinshed was a 16th-century English chronicler born around 1525, known primarily for his work on "The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland." He began his career in London during the early years of Queen Elizabeth I's reign, working as a translator for printer Reyner Wolfe. Holinshed played a significant role in the compilation of an ambitious reference book, which unfortunately fell short of its original vision after Wolfe's death in 1573. The final product, published in 1577, became a considerable success despite its high price and served as a critical source for William Shakespeare’s historical plays. Holinshed’s chronicles, particularly his account of England's early history, drew heavily on the imaginative narratives of Geoffrey of Monmouth, intertwining history with myth. His work was later revised and expanded by John Hooker in a 1587 edition, which saw various censorships and restorations. Little is known about Holinshed's later life, though he eventually settled in Warwickshire, where he passed away around 1582.
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Raphael Holinshed
Historian
- Born: c. 1525
- Birthplace: Possibly in Sutton Downes, Cheshire, England
- Died: c. 1580
Biography
Raphael (or Ralph) Holinshed was born in 1525 or thereabouts, the son of Ralph Holinshed, or Hollingshead, of Cophurst in Cheshire. Nothing is known of his education, although some nineteenth century commentators speculated that he attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge, while others took the word of Anthony Wood that he was a “minister of God’s word.” All that is known for sure is that he came to London in the early years of Elizabeth’s reign, and went to work for the printer Reyner (or Reginald) Wolfe, initially as a translator. He played a major role in the compilation of what Wolfe intended to be a massive and comprehensive reference book—a “universal cosmologie”—to rival the pioneering English encyclopedia elaborated by Stephen Batman from earlier continental sources.
Unfortunately, Wolfe died in 1573, although his widow, Joan, attempted to honor the obligation placed on her in his will to see the book through to publication. She assembled an editorial consortium whose members eventually delivered a manuscript to the printer Henry Bynneman in 1577, but the resultant book—as lavish and unprecedentedly expensive as it was—fell far short of Wolfe’s prospectus and Holinshed’s own expectations, merely comprising The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland.
The book was a great success in spite of its steep price. It was the principal source for William Shakespeare’s histories and legendary plays; Holinshed’s reputation as a writer is largely based on Shakespeare’s paraphrases of his text, especially those in Henry V. Holinshed wrote the history of England himself, but the other elements of the text were composed with the assistance of William Harrison, Richard Stanyhurst, and John Hooker. Hooker took over the project and prepared its second edition of 1587, which was extensively revised and augmented. Both editions were censored, although several different versions of the second were issued, with some of the expurgated text restored.
The early history of England recorded by Holinshed is heavily dependent on the scholarly fantasies of the Norman writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, who improvised a history for the amusement of feudal barons that corresponded with their particular notion of the mythic past, in which chivalrous lords and knights routinely did battle with evil adversaries, including giants and dragons. Holinshed thus added an extra layer of authority to that mythology, which the skeptical Shakespeare, recognizing its melodramatic utility, took only a little trouble to undermine.
Once the Chronicles had been printed and Hooker had taken the project into his own hands, Holinshed had nothing to retain him in London. By October, 1578, he was living in Bramcote, Warwickshire, serving as steward to Thomas Burdet, to whom he bequeathed his books and papers in a will proved on April 24, 1582—although he may well have died as much as two years earlier.