The Mayor of Queenborough, or Hengist, King of Kent

Part of the Nick Hern Books Globe Quartos series, co-published with Shakespeare's Globe, marking their rediscoveries of forgotten plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries. 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 fifth century Britain struggling against the power of Rome, the 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. Thomas Middleton's play The Mayor of Queenborough was first staged c.1620. This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Globe Quartos series, is edited by Howard Marchitello.