Short answers, pulled from the story.
The First Folio of 1623 placed William Shakespeare's plays into three distinct categories: comedies, histories, and tragedies. This classification system defined the theatrical genre of history plays for centuries to follow.
Raphael Holinshed published Chronicles of England Scotlande and Irelande in 1577 and again in 1587. This book served as the principal documentary source for the political drama found in William Shakespeare's English history plays.
The first tetralogy appeared in the early 1590s and discussed the politics of the Wars of the Roses. These four plays included Henry VI parts I II and III along with The Tragedy of Richard the Third.
William Shakespeare lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I who ruled from 1588 until 1603. She was the last dynastic monarch of the House of Tudor which held power from 1485 to 1603.
The phrase Wars of the Roses describes civil wars between Lancastrian and Yorkist dynasties in England. Numerous stage performances occurred during twentieth and twenty-first centuries including full cycles by Royal Shakespeare Company in 1964.