It probably won't come as a staggering bit of news to anyone that Shakespeare's Histories get creative with, err, history. This is why I couldn't get quite share the indignation when a couple of historical novelists, several of whom I enjoy, some weeks pack did "Don't slander the dead" posts. I mean, yes, theoretically I'm down with that, and I have my favourites and get indignant when I read something that I believe deals with them unfairly and/or downright falsifies actual events as much as anyone. But in practice, it has a grand old tradition through the ages. What do I say? Through the millennia. If you believe Robert Graves that Euripides had Medea murder her children in Medea because the citizens of Corinth bribed him to change the story, which until that point had the kids being murdered by a Corinth mob in retaliation for Medea killing their princess. I'm quite willing to believe that, but Medea killing her children subsequently became such a core part of the myth of Medea, and is very much what makes the character and makes her immortal, that when a modern novelist like Christa Wolf writes a novella in which Medea doesn't kill her children and is unfairly accused, it might be a good feminist parable but the character is very one dimensional and dull by comparison. Basically what I'm getting at is what I have the more pragmatic and cynical view that anything goes as long as it makes for a well-told story. With the obvious disclaimer that if it's cruel slander against My Darlings, I'll hate you for the rest of eternity for writing it, so there.
(Kidding.)
(Mostly.)
(No, really.)
Anyway, if you are curious about the historical background for the currently transmitted histories that make up The Hollow Crown , here are some amusing and entertaining blog entries about the various kings that gave Will his plot.
The reign of Richard II as told by LOL cats Why Richard stopped that duel at the start of the play What was your PROBLEM anyway, Richard? (Well, some of them)
Good summary of Henry IV (the king, not the play)
What was Henry Bolingbroke's official claim to the throne? This entry was originally posted at
http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/795664.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.