The Mayor of Queenborough; Or Hengist, King of Kent

"Thomas Middleton's only surviving historical play weaves together two powerful stories: the spectacular rise and fall of the bloody-minded king Vortiger, and the legend of Hengist and Horsa. Set in 5th-century Britain struggling against the power of Rome, Middleton's play chronicles Vortiger's despotic career, his ruthless murders, the violent betrayal of his British wife, the brutal wars against his own subjects, and an opportunistic but ultimately catastrophic alliance with the newly-arrived Saxons. The play also provides a striking comic subplot, involving Simon the tanner (the eponymous Mayor of Queenborough). It enjoyed popularity on the Jacobean and Caroline stage and was successfully revived after the Restoration, with audiences delighting in the comic abuse of the puritan weaver, Oliver."--BOOK JACKET.