Short answers, pulled from the story.
Shakespeare drew his plot from the Spanish prose romance The Seven Books of Diana by Jorge de Montemayor, published in 1559. An English translation by Bartholomew Young appeared in 1598, though he claimed to have finished it sixteen years prior around 1582.
Scholars place the composition of The Two Gentlemen of Verona between 1589 and 1593 with most modern editors suggesting 1590 or 1591. Francis Meres listed the play in Palladis Tamia published in 1598 as evidence it existed by then.
Major influences include Thomas Elyot's The Boke Named the Governour from 1531 and John Lyly's Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit published in 1578. These works feature close friends torn apart by a woman and explore the sacrifice of love to preserve friendship bonds.
The central controversy centers on Valentine giving Silvia to Proteus after Proteus attempted rape against her. Critics like J. Dover Wilson stated that this incident reveals inherent misogyny while others argue he merely promises equal love to both men.
The earliest known performance occurred at Drury Lane in 1762 using Benjamin Victor's rewritten version. No record exists of performances during Shakespeare's lifetime though inclusion in Meres' list confirms staging by 1598.