Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
When the Duke of Buckingham (George Villiers) saw the play in 1628, the character Buckingham's execution didn't sit too well with him, so he left the theater. It must have been an omen, because only a month later, he was assassinated (source).
Shakespeare rewrote history for this play. He scrambled up the order of events and took out anything that was a little awkward for audiences to swallow, like Anne Boleyn's beheading, or the fact that Henry had six wives (source).
Remember when the Prologue says "for goodness sake"? That's the first time that phrase was ever said. Shakespeare invented it in this play (source).
Did you know that Shakespeare probably had help with this one? Most scholars think he wrote the play with John Fletcher (source).
Most scholars agree that Shakespeare wrote the play with John Fletcher. Some have even gone as far as separating which scenes belong to which author. Generally, scholars think Shakespeare wrote 1.1, 1.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.2, and 5.1, so we bet you can guess which scenes Fletcher wrote (source).