Clementina (novel)

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Clementina
Clementina by AEW Mason, 1901 first edition.png
First edition
Author A. E. W. Mason
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical adventure romance
Publisher Methuen [1]
Publication date
1901
Publication placeUK
Media typePrint

Clementina is a 1901 historical adventure romance novel by A. E. W. Mason. [2] It is a fictionalised account of the rescue in 1719 of Maria Clementina Sobieska, later mother of Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie"), from her imprisonment at the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor prior to her marriage to James Stuart, Jacobite claimant to the British and Irish thrones.

Contents

The book was initially serialised in The Sphere from 6 April to 28 September 1901, with illustrations by Bernard Partridge. [1]

Plot

Having unsuccessfully attempted to gain the British and Irish thrones during the Jacobite rising of 1715, James Stuart decides to marry, and sends Charles Wogan, an Irish soldier of fortune, on an extended search to find him a wife. Wogan selects for him the Polish princess Clementina Sobieska, but while she is on her way across Europe to join James at Bologna, she is kidnapped and held prisoner at Innsbruck by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, with the approval of the Protestant King George I of Great Britain who wishes to prevent James from establishing a Catholic dynasty.

Wogan persuades James to allow him undertake a daring rescue mission, and with the help of three of his closest friends, Gaydon, Misset and O'Toole, he succeeds in releasing Clementina in the face of significant resistance from soldiers and espionage agents loyal to the emperor. In great peril of their lives, the party travel with all speed across enemy territory, aiming to reach the safety of Venetian territory before pursuers can catch up with them. The pressures of the chase bring Wogan and Clementina together and they fall in love. The pair have to decide whether to flee together into permanent exile, or whether they should continue to Bologna. Pressed by Clementina to make the final decision, Wogan remains loyal to James Stuart, and gives up his love.

What neither know, however, is that James has already taken a mistress in Bologna, Maria Vittoria de Caprara, and that his interest in Clementina has waned. When Maria Vittoria learns that Clementina is once again on her way and that the marriage cannot be avoided, she insists that James travels to Spain in order to avoid what she sees as the humiliation of him waiting for her.

On her arrival in Bologna, Clementina is surprised that James is not present, and when he fails to return from Spain she threatens to refuse to go through with the marriage. Wogan is dispatched to Rome to bring Maria Vittoria back, the two women quickly become friends, and Clementina consents to be married. As James is still in Spain, Wogan stands in for the groom at the altar, and James is married by proxy to Clementina.

In an epilogue, the author recounts that husband and wife were never well matched, and that Clementina ultimately sought the sanctuary of a convent. Wogan is appointed governor of La Mancha in Spain, and remains a lifelong bachelor, never again meddling with matters of the heart.

Principal characters

Background

The novel is a fictionalised account of a true historical rescue mission, and Wogan, Gaydon, Misset and O'Toole are all based on real people. Before the real-life husband and wife separated, Maria Clementina bore James two sons, Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") and Henry Benedict Cardinal Stuart (Jacobite Duke of York). The idea for the novel was suggested to Mason by his friend Andrew Lang who had been working on the historical material, including a surviving account by Charles Wogan himself. The romance between Wogan and Clementina is fictional. [3]

Literary significance and criticism

The book was received favourably, and its popularity made it one of Mason's best known early historical romances, although Mason's biographer Roger Lancelyn Green argued that neither the spiritual battle between duty and desire nor the pure adventure were quite enough to carry the story in their own right. According to Green, when the author returned to the genre more than thirty years later in Fire Over England he had progressed far from this earlier work and was able to succeed with the "higher type of historical fiction" that can be dimly glimpsed here. [4]

A 1901 review in The Globe called the book one of Mason's best romances, written in the true spirit of adventure, exhaling the atmosphere of the times, and holding the attention throughout. Noting the story's historical foundations, the reviewer considered that the average reader might not consider the love element to be quite sympathetic, but will have to admit that the tale is eminently well told. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacobitism</span> 17/18th-century British political ideology

Jacobitism was a political movement that supported the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the British throne. The name derives from the first name of James II of England, which is rendered in Latin as Jacobus. When James went into exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, the Parliament of England decided that he had abandoned the English throne, which they offered to his Protestant daughter Mary II of England, and her husband William III. In April, the Scottish Convention held that James "forfeited" the throne of Scotland by his actions, listed in the Articles of Grievances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Edward Stuart</span> Jacobite pretender (1720–1788)

Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1766 as Charles III. During his lifetime, he was also known as "the Young Pretender" and "the Young Chevalier"; in popular memory, he is known as Bonnie Prince Charlie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Francis Edward Stuart</span> Jacobite pretender (1688–1766)

James Francis Edward Stuart, nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs and the King over the Water by Jacobites, was the son of King James VII and II of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and his second wife, Mary of Modena. He was Prince of Wales from July 1688 until, just months after his birth, his Catholic father was deposed and exiled in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. James II's Protestant elder daughter Mary II and her husband William III became co-monarchs. The Bill of Rights 1689 and Act of Settlement 1701 excluded Catholics such as James from the English and British thrones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Benedict Stuart</span> Roman Catholic cardinal (1725–1807)

Henry Benedict Thomas Edward Maria Clement Francis Xavier Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York was a Roman Catholic cardinal, and was the fourth and final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of Great Britain and Ireland, as the younger grandson of King James II of England. One of the longest-serving cardinals in history, Henry spent his whole life in the Papal States and became the Dean of the College of Cardinals and Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri. Unlike his father James Francis Edward Stuart and elder brother Charles Edward Stuart, Henry made no effort to seize the thrones. After Charles's death in 1788, Henry became known by Jacobites as Henry IX and I, but the Papacy did not recognise Henry as the lawful ruler of Great Britain and Ireland and instead referred to him as the "Cardinal Duke of York". He was most widely known as the Duke of York, a title in the Jacobite peerage granted to him by his father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Clementina Sobieska</span> Consort of the Jacobite pretender

Maria Clementina Sobieska was a titular queen of England, Scotland and Ireland by marriage to James Francis Edward Stuart, a Jacobite claimant to the British throne. The granddaughter of the Polish king John III Sobieski, she was the mother of Charles Edward Stuart and of Henry Benedict Cardinal Stuart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monument to the Royal Stuarts</span> Memorial in St. Peters Basilica in the Vatican City State

The Monument to the Royal Stuarts is a memorial in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City State. It commemorates the last three members of the Royal House of Stuart: James Francis Edward Stuart, his elder son Charles Edward Stuart, and his younger son, Henry Benedict Stuart. The Jacobites recognised these three as kings of England, Scotland and Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlotte Stuart, Duchess of Albany</span> Only child of Bonnie Prince Charlie

Charlotte Stuart, styled Duchess of Albany was the illegitimate daughter of the Jacobite pretender Prince Charles Edward Stuart and his only child to survive infancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clementina Walkinshaw</span> Mistress of Bonnie Prince Charlie

Clementina Maria Sophia Walkinshaw was the mistress of the Jacobite claimant Charles Edward Stuart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastair Ruadh MacDonnell</span>

Alastair Roy MacDonell of Glengarry (ca 1725–1761; Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair Ruadh MacDomhnaill, was the 13th chief of Clan MacDonell of Glengarry. Brought up as a Catholic and largely educated in France, he was arrested in November 1745 on his way to join the 1745 Jacobite Rising. In 1747, MacDonell became a spy for the British government.

Princess Clementina is a 1911 British silent historical adventure film, directed and produced by William G.B. Barker. This film was based on a stage adaptation of the book Clementina by A.E.W. Mason.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne</span> Duke of Bouillon

Charles Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne was a French nobleman and member of the powerful House of La Tour d'Auvergne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Murray (Jacobite Earl of Dunbar)</span> Scottish Jacobite Secretary of State

James Murray, Earl of Dunbar was a Scottish Tory politician who became a Jacobite agent and courtier. He served as the Jacobite Secretary of State in exile in Rome from 1727 to 1747.

Events from the year 1702 in the Kingdom of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexis Simon Belle</span> French painter

Alexis Simon Belle was a French portrait painter, known for his portraits of the French and Jacobite nobility. As a portrait artist, Belle's style followed that of his master François de Troy, Hyacinthe Rigaud, and Nicolas de Largillière. He was the master of the painter Jacques-André-Joseph-Camelot Aved (1702–1766).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Karolina Sobieska</span> Duchess of Bouillon

Maria Karolina Sobieska was a Polish noblewoman, daughter of Jakub Ludwik Sobieski. Known as Marie Charlotte or only Charlotte, she was the Princess of Turenne and later Duchess of Bouillon by marriage. Charlotte was the last surviving member of the House of Sobieski.

Charles Wogan (1698?–1752?) was a Jacobite soldier of fortune, also known as the Chevalier Wogan.

Events from the year 1719 in Scotland.

<i>The Iron Glove</i> 1954 film by William Castle

The Iron Glove is a 1954 American historical adventure film directed by William Castle and starring Robert Stack, Ursula Thiess and Richard Stapley. It was based on the adventures of the Jacobite Charles Wogan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Davia-Montecuculi</span>

Donna Anna Victoria Davia-Montecuculi, known as the Countess of Almond from 1689, was a Modenese noblewoman, courtier and companion of Mary of Modena during her time as Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, and later during her exile in France.

John Walkinshaw, 3rd of Barrowfield was a member of the Lowland Scottish gentry and the father of Clementina Walkinshaw, the mistress of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, who in 1745 attempted to regain the throne of Scotland on behalf of his father.

References

  1. 1 2 Green 1952, p. 88.
  2. Green 1952, p. 267.
  3. Green 1952, p. 83.
  4. Green 1952, p. 83–84.
  5. "Stories to Read. "Clementina"". The Globe . 9 October 1901. p. 4. Retrieved 20 June 2024.

Bibliography