A Masque of History
This subtitle appears only on the title page, and it's already a pun. A "masque" is a false face, but an older sense is a play. Plays and theater are a constant theme in TDW.
Copyright © 1983 by John M. Ford
1983 was the five hundredth anniversary of the coronation of Richard III of England.
Ahistorical Note
Not "a historical note," but an ahistorical one -- that is, non-historical. (For the "historical notes," see p378.)
The note particularly emphasizes Richard III, both as the king and the play by Shakespeare.
Loukianos, who was also known as Lucian the Scoffer, then produced a fantasy story called the True History.
- The True History, part 1, translated by Andy Wilson, via the Classics Pages
As Nennius wrote twelve centuries ago, if there was such a person and that was when he wrote, "I yield to him who knows more of these things than I do."
The Historia Brittonum, a collection of texts from about the 8th century, is attributed to someone named Nennius -- at least, one version is.
Ford appears to have quoted the 1841 translation by J. A. Giles.