French history in the English-speaking theatre

The history of France has been the basis of plays in the English-speaking theatre since the English Renaissance theatre.

Christopher Marlowe wrote The Massacre at Paris (1593), based on events during the reign of Charles IX of France, king from 1560 to 1574 and of Henry III of France, king from 1574 to 1589. In the first scene, a marriage is celebrated between Marguerite of Valois, sister to Charles IX, and Henry of Navarre, king of Navarre, future Henry IV of France. Soon after, Gaspard de Coligny, leader of the Calvinist French Huguenot faction, is shot to death by a man in the hire of Henry I, Duke of Guise, leader of the Catholic League, an event which precipitates the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre in August 1572.

William Shakespeare wrote The Life and Death of King John (1596), Henry V (1599), Henry VI, part 1 (1592), Henry VI, part 2 (1591), and Henry VI, part 3 (1591), based on events during the reigns of John of England, king from 1199 to 1216, Henry V of England, king from 1413 to 1422, Henry VI of England, king from 1422 to 1461 and from 1470 to 1471, Philip II of France, king from 1180 to 1223, Charles VI of France, king from 1380 to 1422, and Charles VII of France, king from 1422 to 1461.