The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses Black Arrow" appeared in "Young Folks" (October 1883): The Battle of Shoreby, a fictitious battle that is the main event of Book 5, is modelled after the First Battle of St Albans in the Wars of the Roses. This battle in history as in the novel was a victory for the House of York. The presence of an abbey church in Shoreby is reminiscent of the abbey church of Tewkesbury to which the Lancastrians fled for sanctuary after the battle on 4 May 1471. In the "prologue" Stevenson intimates that the Tunstall of "The Black Arrow" is a real place:
The Wars of the Roses (adaptation) into a single piece for a performance at The Old Vic in 1923 as part of the celebrations for the tercentenary of the "First Folio". In 1957, also at The Old Vic, Douglas Seale directed a production of the trilogy under the title "The Wars of the Roses". Adapted by Barry Jackson, the trilogy was again altered to a two-part play; "1 Henry VI" and "2 Henry VI" were combined (with almost all of "1 Henry VI" eliminated) and "3 Henry VI" was performed in a shortened version. John Barton's adaptation would divide the plays up in a new way.