Bale is a figure of some literary-dramatic importance as the author of Kynge Johan (),J. P. Collier (Ed.), John Bale's "The Tragycall Historie of Kynge Johan", (Camden Society, 1838). See a long extract in Pollard 1914, 146-154. which marks the transition between the old morality play and the English historical drama. It does not appear to have directly influenced the creators of the chronicle histories (such as The Troublesome Reign of King John (1591)), but it is remarkable that such a developed attempt at historical drama should have been made twenty-three years before the production of Gorboduc in 1561. Kynge Johan is itself a polemic against the Roman Catholic Church. King John is represented as the champion of English church rites against the Holy See.
Bale is a figure of some literary-dramatic importance as the author of Kynge Johan (),J. P. Collier (Ed.), John Bale's "The Tragycall Historie of Kynge Johan", (Camden Society, 1838). See a long extract in Pollard 1914, 146-154. which marks the transition between the old morality play and the English historical drama. It does not appear to have directly influenced the creators of the chronicle histories (such as The Troublesome Reign of King John (1591)), but it is remarkable that such a developed attempt at historical drama should have been made twenty-three years before the production of Gorboduc in 1561. Kynge Johan is itself a polemic against the Roman Catholic Church. King John is represented as the champion of English church rites against the Holy See.