+The Second Part of Henry the Sixth+ concerns the outbreak of strife between York and Lancaster, but chiefly the overthrow of the uncle of the king, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, as Protector of the Realm, and the destruction of his opponent, the Duke of Suffolk, in his turn. The play ends with the first battle of St. Albans (1455), resulting in the complete triumph of Duke Richard of York, in open rebellion against King Henry. +The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth+ tells of the further wars of York and Lancaster, in the course of which Richard of York is murdered, and his sons, Edward and Richard, keep up the struggle, while Warwick, styled the "Kingmaker," transfers his power to Lancaster. In the end York is triumphant; and while Henry VI and his son are murdered, and Warwick slain in battle at Barnet, Edward is crowned as Edward IV, and Richard becomes the Duke of Gloucester. +Authorship+.--The Three Parts of _Henry the Sixth_ were first printed in the First Folio, 1623. Two earlier plays, _The First Part of the Contention between the two Noble Houses of York and Lancaster_ (sometimes called _1 Contention_), and _The True Tragedy of Richard, Duke of York... with the whole Contention between the two Houses of Lancaster and York_ (2 _Contention_), appeared in quarto in 1594 and 1595 respectively. These are to be regarded as earlier versions of _II_ and _III Henry VI_.[1] For the _First Part of Henry VI_ no dramatic source exists. The ultimate source is, of course, Holinshed's _Chronicles_. The authorship of these plays is not ascribed to any dramatist, until 1623, although, as we have seen,[2] Robert Greene accuses {135} Shakespeare of authorship in a stolen play, by applying to him a line from _III Henry VI_ which had appeared earlier in 2 _Contention_. Internal study of the three plays, however, has reduced the problem to about this state:-- _The First Part of Henry VI_ is thought to have been written by Greene, with George Peele and Marlowe to help. To this Shakespeare was allowed to add a few scenes on a later revival of the play. Some critics give to him the Talbot scenes and the quarrel in the Temple; but Professor Neilson warns us that the grounds for this and other assignments of authorship in the play "are in the highest degree precarious."