Raphael Holinshed

Raphael Holinshed (died ~1580) was an English chronicler, whose work was one of the major sources used by William Shakespeare for his "history" plays. Relatively little is known about the author of the chronicle. He is thought to have come from Cheshire, but lived in London, where he worked as a translator for the printer, Reginald Wolfe. His great work, entitled The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, was published by Wolfe in 1577; in fact, several writers apart from Holinshed himself were involved in its production, including William Harrison, Richard Stanyhurst and John Hooker.