<sod>Shakespeare's fellow playwright [[Ben Jonson]] ridiculed the presence in the play of a seacoast and a desert in Bohemia, since the [[Kingdom of Bohemia]] (which roughly corresponds to the modern-day [[Czech Republic]]) had neither a coast (being landlocked) nor a desert.<ref name=wylie>{{cite book |title=The Winter's Tale |editor-last= Wylie|editor-first=Laura J. |editor-link= |year=1912 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |oclc=2365500 |page=147 |url= |quote=Shakespeare follows Greene in giving Bohemia a seacoast, an error that has provoked the discussion of critics from Ben Jonson on.}}</ref><ref>Ben Jonson, 'Conversations with Drummond of Hawthornden', in Herford and Simpson, ed. ''Ben Jonson'', vol. 1, p. 139.</ref> Shakespeare followed his source (Robert Greene's ''Pandosto'') in giving Bohemia a coast, though he reversed the location of characters and events: "The part of Pandosto of Bohemia is taken by Leontes of Sicily, that of Egistus of Sicily by Polixenes of Bohemia".<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/dorastusfawnia00thomuoft/dorastusfawnia00thomuoft_djvu.txt Greene's 'Pandosto' or 'Dorastus and Fawnia': being the original of Shakespeare's 'Winter's tale'], P.G. Thomas, editor. Oxford University Press, 1907</ref> In support of Greene and Shakespeare, it has been pointed out that in the 13th century, for a period of less than about 10 years, under [[Ottokar&nbsp;II of Bohemia]], the territories ruled by the king of [[Bohemia]], although never incorporated into the kingdom of Bohemia, did stretch to the Adriatic, and, if one takes "Bohemia" to mean all of the territories ruled by Ottokar II, it is possible to argue that one could sail from a kingdom of Sicily to the "seacoast of Bohemia".<ref>See [[John Henry Pyle Pafford|J.H. Pafford]], ed. ''The Winter's Tale'', Arden Edition, 1962, p. 66</ref> Jonathan Bate offers the simple explanation that the court of [[James VI and I|King James]] was politically allied with that of [[Rudolf II]], and the characters and dramatic roles of the rulers of Sicily and Bohemia were reversed for reasons of political sensitivity, and in particular to allow it to be performed at the wedding of the Princess Elizabeth.<ref name="bate2008">{{cite book|last=Bate|first=Jonathan|authorlink=Jonathan Bate|title=Soul of the Age|publisher=Viking|location=London|year=2008|page=305|chapter=Shakespeare and Jacobean Geopolitics|isbn=978-0-670-91482-1}}</ref><eod>
<sod>Shakespeare's fellow playwright [[Ben Jonson]] ridiculed the presence in the play of a seacoast and a desert in Bohemia, since the [[Kingdom of Bohemia]] (which roughly corresponds to the modern-day [[Czech Republic]]) had neither a coast (being landlocked) nor a desert.<ref name=wylie>{{cite book |title=The Winter's Tale |editor-last= Wylie|editor-first=Laura J. |editor-link= |year=1912 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |oclc=2365500 |page=147 |url= |quote=Shakespeare follows Greene in giving Bohemia a seacoast, an error that has provoked the discussion of critics from Ben Jonson on.}}</ref><ref>Ben Jonson, 'Conversations with Drummond of Hawthornden', in Herford and Simpson, ed. ''Ben Jonson'', vol. 1, p. 139.</ref> Shakespeare followed his source (Robert Greene's ''Pandosto'') in giving Bohemia a coast, though he reversed the location of characters and events: "The part of Pandosto of Bohemia is taken by Leontes of Sicily, that of Egistus of Sicily by Polixenes of Bohemia".<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/dorastusfawnia00thomuoft/dorastusfawnia00thomuoft_djvu.txt Greene's 'Pandosto' or 'Dorastus and Fawnia': being the original of Shakespeare's 'Winter's tale'], P. G. Thomas, editor. Oxford University Press, 1907</ref> In support of Greene and Shakespeare, it has been pointed out that in the 13th century, for a period of less than about 10 years, under [[Ottokar&nbsp;II of Bohemia]], the territories ruled by the king of [[Bohemia]], although never incorporated into the kingdom of Bohemia, did stretch to the Adriatic, and, if one takes "Bohemia" to mean all of the territories ruled by Ottokar II, it is possible to argue that one could sail from a kingdom of Sicily to the "seacoast of Bohemia".<ref>See [[John Henry Pyle Pafford|J. H. Pafford]], ed. ''The Winter's Tale'', Arden Edition, 1962, p. 66</ref> Jonathan Bate offers the simple explanation that the court of [[James VI and I|King James]] was politically allied with that of [[Rudolf II]], and the characters and dramatic roles of the rulers of Sicily and Bohemia were reversed for reasons of political sensitivity, and in particular to allow it to be performed at the wedding of the Princess Elizabeth.<ref name="bate2008">{{cite book|last=Bate|first=Jonathan|authorlink=Jonathan Bate|title=Soul of the Age|publisher=Viking|location=London|year=2008|page=305|chapter=Shakespeare and Jacobean Geopolitics|isbn=978-0-670-91482-1}}</ref><eod>