London apprentices riot against foreign Lombard merchants on the Evil May Day of 1517, and the sheriff Thomas More calms the mob with a speech on mercy toward strangers. The play follows his rise to Lord Chancellor, his household at Chelsea with Erasmus and a troupe of players, and his refusal to sign the king’s articles. It was written chiefly by Anthony Munday and others, with revisions in several hands.
Scholars widely attribute one revised scene, More’s speech to the rioters, to Shakespeare, making it a key document for his working methods. Download the free EPUB.