Under Development
Henry VI, Part 2 was probably written ca. 1590-91. The Diary of Philip Henslowe records a performance of a play called Henry VI on March 3, 1592. It is known from other sources that the other two parts of Shakespeare's Henrician trilogy were on stage in 1592. Thomas Nashe's Pierce Penniless (registered August 1592) refers to a popular play about Lord Talbot, which is thought to be Henry VI, part 1 (there is no alternative candidate). Robert Greene's pamphlet A Groatsworth of Wit (registered Sept. 1592) parodies a line from Henry VI, part 3. Since both Parts 1 and 3 were being acted in 1592, it is sensibly assumed that Part 2 was also—though there is no direct evidence of this.
A version of 2 Henry VI was published in 1594. It was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on March 12, 1594 by the bookseller Thomas Millington, and printed by him later that year. This text it generally known by a shortened version of its long title, usually The First Part of the Contention Betwixt the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster, or some variant of the same.[1]
This version of the play was reprinted twice, in 1600 (Q2) and 1619 (Q3). The 1619 text was part of William Jaggard's False Folio.