Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye source for the late Tudor morality play "Horestes" (1567). Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye or Recueil des Histoires de Troye (1464) is a translation by William Caxton of a French courtly romance written by Raoul Lefèvre, chaplain to Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. It was the first book printed in the English language. "Recuyell" ("recueil" in Modern French) simply means "collection" in English. Hence, the work in Modern English would read "A Collection of the Histories of Troy". Caxton's translations and sometimes his titles incorporated words from other European languages. Caxton, probably with
Troilus and Cressida that is not part of Greek mythology; Shakespeare drew on a number of sources for this plotline, in particular Chaucer's version of the tale, "Troilus and Criseyde", but also John Lydgate's "Troy Book" and Caxton's translation of the "Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye". Chaucer's source was "Il Filostrato" by Boccaccio, which in turn derives from a 12th-century French text, Benoît de Sainte-Maure's "Roman de Troie" The story of the persuasion of Achilles into battle is drawn from Homer's "Iliad" (perhaps in the translation by George Chapman), and from various medieval and Renaissance retellings. The story was a popular one