Although Raphael Holinshed led a life remarkable for its obscurity, he was the overseer and primary compiler of the first continuous and authoritative narrative account of British history written in the vernacular. The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland , or Holinshed's Chronicles as the work has come to be known, was first published in 1577. An expression of national pride, the chronicle genre flourished during the Tudor period and satisfied a growing interest in English history. Chronicles characteristically attempted to provide all available information and borrowed outright from other historians, often other chroniclers. As C. S. Lewis describes the tradition in his English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (1954), "The `English story' is a sort of national stock-pot permanently simmering to which each new cook adds flavouring at his discretion." Holinshed's version represents the culmination of this tradition. His work is also distinguished by its association with William Shakespeare, who...