Story summary
Trama e riassunto di Il principe superbo
- 8 min di lettura
- 10 parts
- Audio a breve
A proud king finds himself in a jester's body while a double rules Sicily, and an executioner's daughter helps him.
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Il principe superbo in breve
Riassunto: 8 min di lettura
- Tempo di lettura
- Circa 3 h 10 min2 h 30 min fast, 3 h 45 min slow
- Durata
- 45.100 parole
- Livello nella biblioteca
- Medio longer sentences, everyday words
- Prima pubblicazione
- 1903by Justin H. McCarthy
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Quanto tempo ci vuole per leggere i classici · Aggiornato
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Il principe superbo in short
The Proud Prince tells of a king who believes he is above every law and is stripped of his face and rank on the very hill where he made that boast. He is sent among those he despised, and is served by a girl he tried to destroy. Robert learns to serve before he is told who he is again.
What Il principe superbo is about
What would you do if everyone you knew, from your closest friend to the priest at the altar, looked straight at you and saw a stranger? In The Proud Prince, a handsome and cruel young king stands on a Sicilian mountaintop, sure that no power in heaven can touch him. Within the hour he wears the crooked body of a hunchbacked jester, and a double sits in his place.
Justin H. McCarthy wrote this romance of medieval Sicily, retelling the old legend of the proud king humbled by an angel.
A chi è rivolto. Readers who love old legends retold in rich color, romances set in sunlit medieval Sicily, and tales of pride brought low. Anyone who enjoys brave heroines, swords and bells will feel at home.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A hilltop girl meets a bitter court fool
The story opens on a hot spring morning on a hill above Syracuse. Perpetua, eighteen years old, stands among wildflowers and looks down the white road to a city she has never entered. She is the daughter of Theron, the executioner, and she lives in a hut built inside an old Saracen mosque.
She cares for her father's great two-handed sword and sings the Song of the Sword as she sharpens it. No blood has ever touched the blade. She is proud of justice and has never met cruelty.
Then a hunchbacked jester drags himself up the hill, cursing the heat. He is Diogenes, the court fool, and he has run away from the new king. From him she learns that Robert the Good is dead and that his son, whom the fool calls Robert the Bad, wears the crown. When the fool tries to frighten her with talk of vice, she answers with pity. She keeps to herself that she met a gracious hunter in the woods a week ago.
Pity, in this book, is a form of strength.
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An executioner hides his daughter from the world
Theron comes home to find his daughter singing and lonely, and she runs into his arms.
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The king climbs the hill and plays a hunter
At the church of Saint Michael, the new king arrives carried in a chair by two huge Moorish slaves, while his court sweats up the slope on foot.
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Revenge ends with a sword of light
Robert's anger quickly turns into scheming.
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No one knows the king in his new shape
At the church steps the whole court streams out, led by the archbishop, and none of them looks at Robert with any respect.
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A girl with a knife teaches a fool to be brave
The cloaked stranger is shown to Lycabetta, and he is the fool.
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A small church by the sea becomes a home
The fugitives kneel at a saint's shrine in the street, and Robert asks Heaven to forgive the lie.
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The bell rings and the law is turned on her
Lycabetta's servant has paid a child to follow the friar to the church, and the priestess comes with Hildebrand.
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Pride brings the king down and humility lifts him
The central idea of the book is stated in the Magnificat, the hymn sung in the church while Robert rages outside.
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A pure heart, pity and the way the tale is told
Perpetua stands for a different idea of strength.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Perpetua The red-haired daughter of the executioner, raised on a mountaintop, who wants to love truly and never bend to shame.
- Robert The beautiful and cruel young king of Sicily, who wants every pleasure and cannot bear to be refused.
- Theron The old executioner of Syracuse, who wants to shield his daughter from a wicked world and keep the Golden Age alive in her mind.
- Diogenes The crooked court jester who flees the king's anger, and who wants only to keep his head.
- Hildebrand The king's polished favorite and champion swordsman, who flatters his master while he plans for his own gain.
- Lycabetta The proud priestess of pleasure from Naples, who wants to hold the king's favor and fears old age and plague.
- Father Hieronymus The stern, kind priest of a small church by the sea, who shelters the fugitives and believes in a changed heart.
- Sigurd Olafson The blond Norse captain of the king's Varangian guard, who is loyal to orders yet capable of pity.
How it ends (spoiler)
Perpetua's father, Theron, wins the trial by combat, and the king's challenger proves to be the fool, who had armed himself to die for her. Perpetua declares that she loves the man for his soul. As Robert climbs the burning stake, the angel returns his kingship and cancels his dreamed crimes. The double vanishes, and he rules again with the girl as his queen, known afterward as Robert the Righteous.
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Domande su Il principe superbo
What is The Proud Prince about?
It follows Robert, a vain and cruel young king of Sicily, who is punished by an archangel and made to live in the body of a jester. He learns humility through the kindness of Perpetua, an executioner's daughter.
Who is Perpetua in The Proud Prince?
Perpetua is the eighteen-year-old daughter of Theron, the executioner of Syracuse. She has lived on a mountaintop all her life, cares for her father's sword, and meets every danger with calm faith and fearless honesty.
Is The Proud Prince based on a true story or a legend?
It is fiction, a romance set in medieval Sicily that draws on the old legend of the proud king humbled by an angel. The Norman church, the Syracuse setting and the court of Naples give it a historical feel.
What does the hymn Magnificat mean in The Proud Prince?
The Magnificat is the Latin hymn sung in the church while Robert rages. Its line about the mighty cast down and the humble lifted up is the book's main message, and it returns at important moments.
Is The Proud Prince easy to read?
The story is told in short scenes with lively dialogue, clear villains and heroes, and plenty of action, from a hilltop meeting to a trial by combat. Songs and rich descriptions add color without hiding the plot.
Cita questa edizione
McCarthy, Justin Huntly. The Proud Prince. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-proud-prince.
McCarthy, J. H. (2026). The proud prince. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-proud-prince (Original work published 1903)
McCarthy, Justin Huntly. The Proud Prince. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-proud-prince.
@book{mccarthy2026proud,
author = {McCarthy, Justin Huntly},
title = {The Proud Prince},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-proud-prince},
note = {First published 1903}
}
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