Holinshed

hol'inz-hed, Raphael, an English chronicler of the sixteenth century. The exact dates of his life are unknown, but he died about 1580. Early in Elizabeth's reign he began work as a translator for a London printer named Reginald Wolfe, and it was for this printer that he began his great work, an original compilation, entitled Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. This work is mentioned frequently as the "Shakespeare Edition" of Holinshed, because Shakespeare made use of it in collecting material for his historical plays.