The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England, commonly called The Troublesome Reign of King John (c. 1589) is an Elizabethan history play, probably by George Peele, that is generally accepted by scholars as the source and model that William Shakespeare employed for his own King John (c. 1596).[1][2]
^Geoffrey Bullough, ed., Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare, 8 Volumes, New York, Columbia University Press, 1957-75; Vol. 4, pp. 4-24 and 72-151.
^F. E. Halliday, A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964, Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; pp. 503-4.