Period written: 1596
Known first performance: Unknown

The plot of the play consists of two parts, the first is centered on the Countess of Salisbury (the wife of the Earl of Salisbury), beset by rampaging Scots, who is “rescued” by King Edward III, who vows to get her into his bed. The play makes many gibes at Scotland and the Scots, a view which has led some critics to believe that it is this work which caused George Nicolson, Queen Elizabeth’s agent in Edinburgh, to write in 1598 to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, protesting the way Scots were being portrayed on the London stage. At the end of the first part, the Countess vows to take her own life if Edward will not relent in his pursuit, which he does.
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