Mary Shelley, Perkin Warbeck

Graham Allen (University College Cork)
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Mary Shelley began work on

Perkin Warbeck

soon after completing her third novel,

The Last Man

(1826). The novel concerns the historically disputed idea that the Duke of York, younger of the two princes imprisoned (and allegedly murdered) by Richard III, was the same person as the rebel leader Perkin Warbeck. This historical novel, therefore, presents the reader with an extremely detailed and well researched account of the early years of Henry VII (who defeated Richard III’s forces at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, thus bringing to an end the Wars of the Roses, 1455-85). Mary Shelley utilises historical accounts of the period (such as Holinshed’s

Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Irelande

), but also relies heavily on Shakespeare’s English history plays, plus John Ford’s

3009 words

Citation: Allen, Graham. "Perkin Warbeck". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 September 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16587, accessed 19 March 2024.]

16587 Perkin Warbeck 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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