The Queen's Tragedy

By Robert Hugh Benson

Queen Mary I is determined to undo the destruction wrought by her father, King Henry VIII: the despoilment of the Roman Catholic Church in England, the divisions sewn amongst the English people, the desertion from Papal authority for supreme independence. Her reign, Mary avers, will see the right order restored. Only then will peace and unity again be found in England. Peace and unity: beautiful ends so often sought by brutal means, by sword and by scheme, by force and by fire—means which are frustratingly unsuccessful even as her marriage with Philip of Spain proves barren and her kingdom remains divided against itself. Instead of triumph, the reign of Tudor Mary yields tragedy: her own devotion and desire to follow the will of God her sole comforts as death draws near Saint James’s Palace.

It is easy to laugh at the miserable. (Plautus)

Anticipating the historiographical reconsiderations of “Bloody Mary” by such authors as H. F. M. Prescott and Christopher Haigh, Robert Hugh Benson’s The Queen’s Tragedy (like its companion works, By What Authority? and The King’s Achievement) makes for both vivid character study and compelling chronicle—essential ingredients for a proper historical novel.

Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914), the son of the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, was a convert to Roman Catholicism and was ordained a priest in 1904. A dynamic preacher and author, Benson wrote numerous novels, short stories, plays, and spiritual texts. A number of his works are now available from Cluny, including Come Rack, Come Rope, The Dawn of All, and Lord of the World.

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Paperback: 322pp.

ISBN: 978-1685953607