Privy Seal: His Last Venture (1907) is a novel by Ford Madox Ford. The
second installment of Ford's The Fifth Queen Trilogy is set during the
reign of Henry VIII, a tumultuous time of political and religious
oppression in a land at the mercy of a murderous King. Ford's trilogy
recreates Tudor England in a masterful story of court intrigue, romance,
and betrayal. Focusing on the tragic figure of Katharine Howard, the
fifth wife of the King, Ford investigates the interconnection of sex and
power in a political atmosphere clouded by violence and espionage.
Depicting some of the era's most notorious figures, including Thomas
Cromwell, Bloody Mary, and the King himself, Ford makes history both
entertaining and undeniably human. Brought to the court of King Henry
VIII by her cousin Thomas Culpeper, Katharine Howard, a noblewoman whose
family's fortunes had been in decline for some time, inadvertently
catches the eye of his majesty. Given a position as a lady in waiting
for Lady Mary, Howard--though opposed by the brutally efficient schemer
Thomas Cromwell--soon distinguishes herself in the eyes of the King, who
makes her his fifth Queen. Thrust into the spotlight at the age of
seventeen, she finds herself forced into an impossible role as a public
figure whose every move could enrage her notoriously violent husband.
Howard has traditionally been seen as a minor figure in the history of
Tudor England. For Ford, however, a master storyteller with an eye for
tragedy and a skill for developing flawed, convincingly human
characters, Howard is a woman whose life and death are not only worthy
of literature, but instructive for the men and women of Edwardian
England. In Privy Seal, he focuses on the figure of Thomas Cromwell, a
powerful advisor to the King who comes to see Katharine as a rival whose
good nature threatens his ambitious political agenda. With a beautifully
designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of
Ford Madox Ford's Privy Seal: His Last Venture is a classic work of
British literature reimagined for modern readers.
