Date of Award
1931
Document Type
Thesis
Keywords
Robert Hugh Benson, Historical Fiction, English Reformation, Catholic Church History, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Literary Criticism, Religious History, Catholic Novelists, Tudor England
Abstract
This thesis examines the historical accuracy of Robert Hugh Benson's historical novels "The King's Achievement," "Come Rack! Come Rope!," and "By What Authority," arguing that despite their fictional romantic elements, these novels authentically portray the historical relationship between the English and Catholic Churches during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Bell opens by distinguishing the aims of the historian from those of the novelist, then situates Benson biographically as a convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism whose religious sensibility shaped his literary work.
Drawing on the "Lingard-Belloc History of England" as an authoritative historical source, the thesis traces the English Reformation from Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and break from Rome, through the dissolution of the monasteries under Thomas Cromwell, to the establishment of Protestant supremacy under Elizabeth I and the persecution of English Catholics, including the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Bell compares these documented historical events, including the fall of Cromwell, the martyrdom of Catholic clergy, and the Babington plot, against their treatment in Benson's novels, concluding that while Benson's central romantic characters are invented, his portrayal of the institutional conflict between the English and Roman Churches conforms closely to established historical fact.
Note: No original abstract was included; this abstract is provided by the XULA Digital Commons editors.
Recommended Citation
Bell, Estelle T., "The Authenticity of Benson's Historical Novels" (1931). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 193.
https://digitalcommons.xula.edu/etd/193
Included in
European History Commons, History of Christianity Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons