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Henry IV, Part 1 is the second of Shakespeare's four-play history series that deals with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV (2 plays), and Henry V. Henry IV Part 1 depicts a span of history that begins with Hotspur's battle at Homildon against the Douglas late in 1402 and ends with the defeat of the rebels at Shrewsbury in the middle of 1403. From the start it has been an extremely popular play both with the public and the critics.
Shakespeare's primary source for Henry IV, Part 1, as for most of his chronicle histories, was Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles; the publication of the second edition in 1587 provides a terminus ad quem for the play. Edward Hall's The Union of the Two Illustrious Families of Lancaster and York appears also to have been consulted, and scholars have also supposed Shakespeare familiar with Samuel Daniel's poem on the civil wars.
The play was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on Feb. 25, 1598, and first printed in quarto later that year by stationer Andrew Wise. The play was Shakespeare's most popular, in print as well as on stage; new editions appeared in 1599, 1604, 1608, 1613, 1622, 1632, and 1639.
Though 1 Henry IV was almost certainly in performance by 1597 (given the wealth of allusions and references to the Falstaff character)[4], the earliest factually-known performance occurred on the afternoon of March 6, 1600, when the play was acted at Court before the Flemish Ambassador. Other Court performances followed in 1612 and 1625.