Polydore Vergil’s "Anglica Historia"

E261877

Polydore Vergil’s "Anglica Historia" is a 16th-century humanist history of England that offers one of the earliest influential narrative accounts of late medieval English events, including the fate of the Princes in the Tower.

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Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf chronicle
history book
alternativeName English History
Historia Anglorum
surface form: Historia Anglica
author Lorenzo Valla
surface form: Polydore Vergil
circulation widely read among Tudor scholars
commissionedBy Henry VII of England
countryOfOrigin England
criticizedBy conservative English chroniclers
criticizedFor questioning traditional legends about early Britain
criticizes medieval English chroniclers
dateWritten early 16th century
dedicatedTo Henry VIII of England
describes Battle of Bosworth Field
accession of Henry VII
fate of the Princes in the Tower
earliestBooksCover legendary and Roman Britain
firstEditionPublicationDate 1534
genre historiography
hasPart Book 23
Book 24
Book 25
Book 26
Book 27
historicalApproach critical use of sources
humanist skepticism toward medieval legends
influenced chronicles of Edward Hall
surface form: Edward Hall’s Chronicle

Holinshed's Chronicles
surface form: Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles

Shakespearean histories
surface form: William Shakespeare’s English history plays

later Tudor historiography
language Latin
laterBooksCover medieval and early Tudor England
mainSubject history of England
mentions Henry VII of England
Princes in the Tower murders
surface form: Princes in the Tower

Richard III of England
Wars of the Roses
movement Renaissance humanism
notableFor early account of the Princes in the Tower
early humanist history of England
influential narrative of late medieval English history
placeOfPublication Basel-Stadt
surface form: Basel
portrays Richard III as a usurper
publisher Johann Bebel
reception criticized by some English contemporaries
revisedEditionPublicationDate 1546
1555
structure 27 books
timePeriodCovered ancient Britain to early 16th century

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Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Princes in the Tower murders primarySource Polydore Vergil’s "Anglica Historia"
Thomas More's History of King Richard III relatedWork Polydore Vergil’s "Anglica Historia"
this entity surface form: Polydore Vergil's Anglica Historia