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''The Fifth Queen'' is trilogy of historical novels by English novelist
Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals ''The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...
comprising ''The Fifth Queen: And How She Came to Court'' (1906), ''Privy Seal'' (1907), and ''The Fifth Queen Crowned'' (1908). It presents a highly fictionalised account of Katharine Howard's arrival at the Court of
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
, her eventual marriage to the king, and her death.


Plot summary

''The Fifth Queen'' trilogy has an omniscient narrator. Katharine Howard is introduced in the first book as a devout Roman Catholic, impoverished, young noblewoman escorted by her fiery cousin
Thomas Culpeper Thomas Culpeper ( – 10 December 1541) was an English courtier and close friend of Henry VIII, and related to two of his queens, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. He is known to have had many private meetings with Catherine after her mar ...
. By accident, she comes to the attention of the king, in a minor way at first, is helped to a position as a
lady in waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...
for the then
bastard Bastard may refer to: Parentage * Illegitimate child, a child born to unmarried parents ** Bastard (law of England and Wales), illegitimacy in English law People People with the name * Bastard (surname), including a list of people with that na ...
Lady Mary, Henry's eldest daughter, by her old Latin tutor Nicholas Udal. Udal is a spy for
Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...
, the
Lord Privy Seal The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and abov ...
. As Katharine becomes involved with the many calculating, competing, and spying members of Henry VIII's Court, she gradually rises, almost against her will, in Court. She is brought more to the attention of the King, becomes involved with him, is used by Cromwell, Bishop Gardiner and
Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...
as well as the less powerful though more personally attached
Nicholas Throckmorton Sir Nicholas Throckmorton (or Throgmorton) (c. 1515/151612 February 1571) was an English diplomat and politician, who was an ambassador to France and later Scotland, and played a key role in the relationship between Elizabeth I of Englan ...
. Her connection to the latter puts her in some peril, as in January 1554 he is suspected of complicity in Wyatt's Rebellion and arrested, during which time Katherine is also briefly implicated. Katharine's forthrightness, devotion to the Old Faith and learning are what make her attractive to the King, along with her youth and physical beauty. This is in direct contradiction to the way historians view the historical personage herself; that is, as a flighty and flirtatious young woman with few other redeeming qualities.


Historical accuracy and as a work of historical fiction

William Gass states, in the afterword to the 1986 edition, that Ford takes great liberties with historical evidence, even into the improbable, inventing much of the dialogue and settings. He concludes that the writing is more to "entertain, rather than instruct, his readers."


Style

The main strengths of this trilogy are considered by many writer admirers and critics — notably
Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
,
Alan Judd Alan Judd (born 1946) is a pseudonym used by Alan Edwin Petty. Born in 1946, he is a former soldier and diplomat who now works as a security analyst and writer in the United Kingdom. He writes both books and articles, regularly contributing to a ...
and
William Gass William Howard Gass (July 30, 1924 – December 6, 2017) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, critic, and philosophy professor. He wrote three novels, three collections of short stories, a collection of novellas, and seven vol ...
— to be its impressionistic qualities, its creation of a believable approximation of Tudor English and its successful creation of atmosphere. One critic stated that it was clearly a work of literary fiction, inescapable, and should be avoided by any reader who prefers a more opaque style. Graham Greene has written that "in ''The Fifth Queen'' Ford tries out the impressionist method." He likens the King to a "shadow" with the story focusing on the struggle between Katharine and Cromwell. Begging the question of whether the King's lighting is more like a stage production than novel, again alluding to a fictionalisation rather than truly historical style. Alan Judd, in his 1991 biography of the author, states that this version does not "hinder the sense of reality" in its effective style portraying a contrivance of Tudor English. He likens the author's dialogue to poetry.


Cinematic qualities

In book's 1986 edition afterword, William Gass writes that it is "like Eisenstein's ''Ivan'': slow, intense, pictorial, and operatic." He also associates the writing with art. In his biography of the author, Alan Judd also compares it to a film in how it creates "static scenes" that suggest "power, fear, sex, longing, guile and fate."


Critical assessment of achievement

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...
described it as "the swansong of the historical romance". Ford biographer Judd writes: "This is the first of Ford's books of which one can say with reasonable confidence that, if he had written nothing else, it would still have a good chance of being in print today", and that it is a masterpiece of its kind (historical fiction). On the back cover, Greene concludes that this may be one of Ford's "three great novels" (''The Fifth Queen'' trilogy, ''
The Good Soldier ''The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion'' is a 1915 novel by the British writer Ford Madox Ford. It is set just before World War I, and chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham and his seemingly perfect marriage, along with that of his two A ...
'', and ''
Parade's End ''Parade's End'' is a tetralogy of novels by the British novelist and poet Ford Madox Ford, written from 1924 to 1928. The novels chronicle the life of a member of the English gentry before, during and after World War I. The setting is mainly ...
'') that may stand the test of time "compared with most of the work of his successors."


Collected Editions

* ''The Bodley Head Ford Madox Ford: Vol. 2: The Fifth Queen; Privy Seal; The Fifth Queen Crowned'' (1962) eds. Graham Greene and Michael Killgrew, London: Bodley Head. * ''The Fifth Queen'' (1963) With an Introduction by Graham Greene, New York: The Vanguard Press. * ''The Fifth Queen'' (1986) With an Afterword by William Gass, New York: The Ecco Press. * ''The Fifth Queen'' (1999) With an Introduction by
A.S. Byatt Dame Antonia Susan Duffy ( Drabble; born 24 August 1936), known professionally by her former marriage name as A. S. Byatt ( ), is an English critic, novelist, poet and short story writer. Her books have been widely translated, into more than t ...
, London: Penguin.


References


External links


''The Fifth Queen''
at
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fifth Queen, The Novels by Ford Madox Ford English historical novels Novel series Catherine Howard Novels set in the 1540s