The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet is a narrative poem, first published in 1562 by Arthur Brooke, who is reported to have translated it from an Italian poem by Bandello. Romeus and Juliet was the key source for William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Little is known about Arthur Brooke, except that he drowned in 1563 by shipwreck while crossing to France. Arthur Broke, or Brooke (d. ... Matteo Bandello (1480—1562) was an Italian novelist. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet, commonly referred to as Romeo and Juliet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare concerning the fate of two young star-crossed lovers. ...

Adherents to the theory that Shakespeare's plays were really written by Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford consider this poem to be a youthful composition by de Vere, later expanded and revised for the stage (See: Chronology of Shakespeare's Plays - Oxfordian). Ponderous amounts of source study and comparisons can be found in the introduction in the edition listed below. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The precise chronology of Shakespeares plays as they were first written is impossible to determine, as there is no authoritative record and many of the plays were performed many years before they were published. ...

References

Brooke, Arthur, d. 1563, Brooke’s ’Romeus and Juliet,’ being the original of Shakespeare’s ’Romeo and Juliet’ newly edited by J. J. Munro. London, Chatto and Windus; New York, Duffield and company, 1908. Reprinted in 1978.

External links

• Arthur Brooke's Romeus and Juliet
• Essay: How Romeus Became Romeo Comparing Brooke's work with Shakespeare's