The Troublesome Reign of King John

[1][2] The play was printed three times in quarto in Shakespeare's era: Q1, 1591, was published by the stationer Sampson Clarke, with no attribution of authorship.

The title page of Q1 states that the play was performed by Queen Elizabeth's Men.

Q2, 1611, was published by John Helme (printed by Valentine Simmes); the authorship was assigned to "W.

[3] Candidates put forward for the author of The Troublesome Reign include Christopher Marlowe, Robert Greene, Thomas Lodge, and George Peele, among others, alone or in various collaborative combinations; no scholarly consensus has been achieved.

The main historical sources for The Troublesome Reign are thought to be the Chronicles of Raphael Holinshed and Foxe's Book of Martyrs, and perhaps Richard Grafton's Chronicle at Large, which recapitulates much of the material in John Foxe's book.