Henry VI, Part 1 deals with the loss of England's French territories and the political machinations leading up to the Wars of the Roses, as the English political system is torn apart by personal squabbles and petty jealousy; Henry VI, Part 2 depicts the King's inability to quell the bickering of his nobles, and the inevitability of armed conflict; and Henry VI, Part 3 deals with the horrors of that conflict.
Careful analysis of the texts, of known practices of possible collaborators, and of the known performances of the plays, has resulted in some recurring names being suggested.
For Henry VI, Part 1, the hands of Thomas Nashe, Christopher Marlowe, Greene and Peele have all been mentioned alongside that of Shakespeare, and there is some evidence to support some contributions from all of these, or any combination of these.
John Dover Wilson's influential Preface to his 1952 edition of the play provides what remains, perhaps, the most thorough-going overview of all previous scholarship on the matter.
His investigation leads him to suggest Nashe, Greene (with or without Peele) and Shakespeare as the coauthors and revisers of the play.