Tamburlaine: Cultural Contexts

Richard Knolles, A Generall Historie of the Turkes (1603)

Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations (1598-1600)

Abraham Ortelius, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570; this image from 1603 ed.)
See Ortelius's map of the Middle East here.


(attr.) Robert Greene and Thomas Lodge, The Tragedy of Selimus (1638)

Robert Daborne, A Christian Turn'd Turke (1612)

(attr.) George Peele, The Battle of Alcazar (1594)

Resources for Primary Historical Research in English Renaissance Drama

Indispensable printed resources include, most importantly: 

Annals of English Drama, 975-1700, 3rd edition, ed. Alfred Harbage, Samuel Schoenbaum, and Sylvia Stoler Wagonheim (London: Routledge, 1989)

W.W. Greg, A Bibliography of the English Printed Drama to the Restoration, 4 vols. (London: Bibliographical Society, 1939-59)

Henslowe's Diary, 2nd edition, ed. R. A. Foakes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)

Important databases and online resources include:

Early English Books Online (EEBO)

Database of Early English Playbooks (DEEP)

Lost Plays Database

Henslowe-Alleyn Digitization Project