John Ford's Perkin Warbeck, first published in 1634, is highly unusual in being so late an example of the chronicle history play, which had been in vogue thirty years earlier and had been seen very little since. Nor is this a case of a play not being published until long after its original composition, since it contains a reference, which seems quite unmistakable, to political affairs of particular importance in 1633/4. In 1633 Charles I had travelled north for his Scottish coronation in Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, and the journey had stirred up old memories in Scotland, amongst which was the traditional Graham claim to the earldom of Strathearn. Malise Graham petitioned for the restoration of this and Charles granted it, only

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Published 28 October 2000

Citation: Hopkins, Lisa. "Perkin Warbeck". The Literary Encyclopedia. 28 October 2000.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2882, accessed 9 February 2010.]