Likely allusions to the Spanish Armada in the play appear to limit its earliest possible date. The primary historical source for the play, John Polemom's "The Second Part of the Book of Battles, Fought in Our Age," was published in 1587. The play may also have been an attempt to capitalise on popular interest in the Drake-Norris Expedition, the so-called English Armada, of 1589, in which Peele was interested (see below).