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i n 1971, A. L. French suggested that “the murder of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, is a central issue” to the understanding of Richard II. While French’s claim is undoubtedly correct, there has yet to be, four decades later, a fully satisfactory account of Woodstock’s precise dramatic operation in Richard II, or of Shakespeare’s notoriously opaque treatment of Woodstock’s equally notorious death. This essay is an attempt to clarify these matters. Scholars have routinely regarded Richard II as a play that anticipates the future calamity of English history—and it indeed does look forward to the long, bloody aftermath of Richard’s deposition. In this essay, however, I will argue that the role of Woodstock in Richard II functions inversely, drawing its dramatic power from historical events that precede the play itself—the intricate web of political intrigue that culminated in the duke’s murder. In both the me-

Writing Woodstock: The Prehistory of Richard II and Shakespeare’s Dramatic Method