The Historical Plays by William Shakespeare are 10 of Shakespeare's plays about English history and and include the outliers King John and Henry VIII as well as a continuous sequence of eight plays covering the Wars of the Roses. Shakespeare explicitly chose to include and exclude certain events to make certain (but sometimes unclear) points. Table of Contents: King John The Tragedy Of King Richard The Second King Henry IV, The First Part King Henry IV, Second Part King Henry V King Henry VI, First Part King Henry The Sixth, Second Part King Henry The Sixth, Third Part The Tragedy Of King Richard III King Henry The Eighth William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain.