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List of historical figures dramatised by Shakespeare

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This list contains the biographies of historical figures who appear in the plays of William Shakespeare. (Note that it does not contain articles for characters; see instead Category:Shakespearean characters.) It should be possible to cross-reference historical characters to their dramatic counterpart at List of Shakespearean characters (A–K) and (L–Z).

In the following list, figures are listed by the name of the character, as it appears in Shakespeare's plays, and includes a narrative of the role of the character in the play: which may, or may not, reflect the role of the figure in history. The list contains duplicates: for example, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland will be found listed under N and P. To avoid unnecessary duplication of entries, various names will all redirect to one source, usually the most common name used in the actual texts, with links that direct to the proper initial.

A

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For Aenobarbus (or AEnobarbus or Ænobarbus) see Enobarbus.
  • Agrippa is a follower of Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra who proposes that the widowed Antony should marry Octavia.
  • Alcibiades is a soldier who turns renegade when one of his junior officers is sentenced to death; he is a true friend to the title character in Timon of Athens.
  • The Duke of Alençon is one of the French leaders in Henry VI, Part 1.
For Alexander Iden see Iden.
For Sir Anthony Denny see Denny.
For Duke of Austria see Limoges.
  • The Countess of Auvergne (Jacquette du Peschin) receives Talbot after his capture in Henry VI, Part 1.

B

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For Beaufort see Bishop of Winchester.
For Bedford see Prince John of Lancaster, who was the Duke of Bedford.
For The Bishop of Lincoln see Bishop of Lincoln.
  • Blanche is King John's niece, married (by arrangement among the kings, to seal an alliance) to the Dauphin.
  • Blunt:
    • Sir James Blunt is a supporter of Richmond in Richard III.
    • Sir John Blunt is a supporter of the king in Henry IV, Part 2.
    • Sir Walter Blunt is a soldier and messenger to the king in Henry IV, Part 1. He is killed by Douglas while wearing the king's armour.
  • Roger Bolingbroke is chaplain to the Duchess of Gloucester and orchestrates the demon-summoning in Henry VI, Part 2.
  • Lady Bona is King Lewis's sister-in-law, whose hopes to marry Edward are thwarted in Henry VI, Part 3.
  • The Duke of Bourbon fights on the French side in Henry V.
For Cardinal Bourchier see Cardinal.
For Anne Bullen see Anne.
  • Burgundy:
  • Bushy is a favourite of Richard in Richard II.
  • Doctor Butts is the king's physician in Henry VIII. He alerts the king to Cranmer's humiliation in refused admittance to the council chamber.

C

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For Cardinal Campeius see Cardinal.
For Canterbury see Archbishop of Canterbury.
For The Bishop of Carlisle see Bishop.
  • Casca is one of the conspirators against Caesar in Julius Caesar. He has an important role in the early parts of the play, reporting offstage events.
  • Caius Cassius, usually known just as Cassius, is a central character in Julius Caesar. He incites the conspiracy against Caesar, and recruits Brutus to the conspirators' ranks.
  • Catesby is a double agent—seemingly loyal to Lord Hastings but actually reporting to Buckingham and Richard—in Richard III.
For Lord Chamberlain and Lord Chancellor see Lord Chamberlain and Lord Chancellor.
For King Charles VII of France see Dauphin.
For The Lord Chief Justice see Lord Chief Justice.
For Thomas Cranmer see Archbishop of Canterbury.
  • Thomas Cromwell is secretary to Wolsey, and later to the Privy Council, in Henry VIII.
  • Cymbeline, the title character of Cymbeline, is king of the Britons, and father to Imogen, Guiderus and Arviragus.

D

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For Doctor (title) see William Butts or John Caius.
For Duke see Duke of Austria (under Limoges), Duke of Bedford (under Prince John of Lancaster), Duke of Berry, Duke of Bourbon, Duke of Britain (or Brittany), Duke of Buckingham, Duke of Burgundy, Duke of Clarence, Duke of Exeter, Duke of Gloucester, Duke of Lancaster, Duke of Norfolk, Duke of Orleans, Duke of Somerset, Duke of Suffolk, Duke of Surrey or Duke of York.
  • King Duncan is the former Scottish king, preceding Macbeth, before being killed in Macbeth by Macbeth.

E

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For Earl see Earl of Cambridge, Earl of Derby, Earl of Essex, Earl of Huntingdon, Earl of Northumberland, Earl of Oxford, Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Richmond (under King Henry VII), Earl Rivers, Earl of Salisbury, Earl of Surrey, Earl of Warwick, Earl of Westmoreland or Earl of Worcester.
For Edmund Mortimer see Mortimer.

F

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For France see King Charles VI, King Charles VII, The Constable of France, King Lewis XI, King Philip II

G

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For Gaunt see John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.
For George see George, Duke of Clarence.

H

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  • Hal, later King Henry V (sometimes called The Prince of Wales, Prince Henry or just Harry) is a central character in Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 and is the title character of Henry V. He has a closer relationship with Falstaff than with his father (Henry IV), but he eventually ascends the throne, rejects Falstaff, and leads the English to victory at Agincourt.
For Harfleur see Governor of Harfleur.
For Harry see Hotspur, Bolingbroke or Henry.
For Sir Hugh Mortimer see Mortimer.
For Humphrey see Gloucester.

I

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J

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K

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For Kate see Lady Percy.
For King see King Charles of France, King Duncan, King Edward, King Henry, King John, King Lewis of France, King Philip of France or King Richard.

L

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For Lancaster see John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Prince John of Lancaster or King Henry IV (aka Bolingbroke). Other members of the House of Lancaster include King Henry V, King Henry VI, Queen Margaret, Prince Edward and Lady Anne.
For Louis see Lewis.

M

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For Marcus see (Marcus) Brutus, (Marcus Aurelius) Lepidus, and Mark, which is often interchangeable with Marcus.
  • Malcolm is a son of Duncan that appears in the play Macbeth.
  • Queen Margaret is a fairly epic character, one of the greatest in that respect in Shakespeare. She appears as a naive girl in Henry VI, Part 1 and as an embittered old woman in Richard III. She is a central character of the two intervening plays, Henry VI, Part 2 and Henry VI, Part 3, in which she is the wife of Henry VI and a leader of his armies. In her most notable scene she supervises the murder/execution of Richard Duke of York.
For Mark Antony see Mark Antony.
For Marquess see Marquess of Dorset, Marquess of Montagu and Marquess of Suffolk (under Duke of Suffolk).

N

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O

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  • Octavia, sister of Octavius, marries Mark Antony when he is widowed in Antony and Cleopatra. Their marriage causes great distress to Antony's lover, Cleopatra.
  • Octavius Caesar is one of the Triumvirs, the three rulers of Rome after Caesar's death, in Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.
For Old Clifford see Clifford.
For Owen Glendower see Glendower.

P

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For Percy see Northumberland, Lady Percy, Worcester or Lady Northumberland.
For Prince see Edward, Henry and John of Lancaster.
  • Proculeius is a follower of Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra.

Q

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For Queen see Queen Eleanor, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Isabel(la), Queen Katherine or Queen Margaret.

R

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S

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For Sextus Pompey see Pompey.

T

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V

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W

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For Winchester see Bishop of Winchester.

Y

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Lewis" in Shakespeare is equivalent to a historical "Louis".

See also

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