Résumé
Résumé de La Cinquième Reine couronnée
Go deeper: the whole of La Cinquième Reine couronnée
About 4 h to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
You will love this book if you enjoy Tudor court intrigue, strong women, scheming churchmen and spies, and sharp talk in candlelit rooms. It suits readers who like history told as living drama.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What if a queen could talk a king back to the old faith, and the price were her own life? The Fifth Queen Crowned opens in a damp cellar of Pontefract Castle, where Henry the Eighth tells a frightened Archbishop to write a letter of submission to the Pope. Henry cannot decide what it should say, so he storms out.
Ford Madox Ford wrote this as the last book of his Fifth Queen trilogy, about Katharine Howard, Henry's fifth wife. You meet a brave, learned queen, a king who loves her and cannot hold a steady course, and a court where every kindness may be used against her.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A king cannot decide what to sayFree
- 2The Queen tells her uncle where his wealth came from
- 3A small kindness to a maid becomes a wound
- 4The secret is out and Mary will not be bought
- 5Lascelles sharpens his plan in the cellar
- 6A darkened chapel and a hard bargain
- 7Two prisoners, one madman and a spy's choice
- 8The midnight door and the king's lie
- 9Faith and power pull the same woman apart
- 10A king who is loved and cannot be trusted
- 11A court told in rooms, voices and Latin
Point clé 1 sur 11
A king cannot decide what to say
The book begins in a damp, low room at Pontefract Castle. Henry tells Archbishop Cranmer to write a letter to the Bishop of Rome. He mocks the Archbishop for his fear, and his voice grows strangely clear and cold.
The room is a small picture of the whole reign. Henry dictates a flood of titles to show how mighty he is. Then he falls apart, cries that he is afraid for his poor soul, and admits he does not know what the letter should say.
Lascelles, the Archbishop's gentleman, kneels with a foxlike calm and says the Queen will write the letter. He is the first of the book's shadows.
A decision that a king will not make falls to the people around him.
That’s 1 of 11 key points.
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Questions about La Cinquième Reine couronnée
What is The Fifth Queen Crowned about?
It follows Katharine Howard, Henry the Eighth's fifth wife, as she tries to persuade the king to submit to the Pope. Her honesty and faith set her against Norfolk, Gardiner and the spy Lascelles, who plot to bring her down.
Is The Fifth Queen Crowned part of a trilogy?
Yes. It is the third and last book of Ford Madox Ford's Fifth Queen trilogy, which follows Katharine Howard from her first arrival at court to her fall. It tells the final stage of her struggle at the court of Henry the Eighth.
Who is Lascelles in the novel?
Lascelles is the Archbishop Cranmer's gentleman and spy, a fair, fox-like man with a quiet voice. He uses Katharine's old friends and Culpepper's love for her to build a scandal against her, and he draws the powerful lords into his scheme.
Is the novel a true story?
It is historical fiction based on the real Katharine Howard, Henry the Eighth, Cranmer, Norfolk and Gardiner. Ford invents scenes and speeches to dramatize the court, so the novel gives a vivid picture of the era rather than a strict record.
Do you need to read the earlier books first?
No. The book gives you the court, the characters and the stakes as you go, and the scenes stand on their own. Knowing the earlier books adds depth, but you can follow Katharine's story from its pages alone.
Cite this edition
Ford, Ford Madox. The Fifth Queen Crowned. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-fifth-queen-crowned.
Ford, F. M. (2026). The fifth queen crowned. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-fifth-queen-crowned (Original work published 1908)
Ford, Ford Madox. The Fifth Queen Crowned. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-fifth-queen-crowned.
@book{ford2026fifth,
author = {Ford, Ford Madox},
title = {The Fifth Queen Crowned},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-fifth-queen-crowned},
note = {First published 1908}
}
