Catholics in Tudor England: A Detective Story

Faithful Catholic queen, Catherine of Aragon

I've mentioned before that I belong to a small book club that alternates between reading a Shakespeare play and reading papal encyclicals. Right now our group is studying Cymbeline, one of the last plays written by the bard (during the Jacobean Period) and, in my opinion, one of the most obviously Catholic.

Perhaps with Elizabeth and her virulently anti-Catholic henchmen (Cecil, Topcliffe, Waslsingham, etc.) all dead and a baptized Catholic on the throne, although raised Protestant, Shakespeare felt he could be be more openly Cathoic in his plays. And there are many, many indications of his Catholicism in the lines and events of Cymbeline.

The play is set in the first century when Caesar Augustus was Emperor so we immediately have a reminder of Christ and the Church. The plot itself involves a disputed marriage between the king's daughter, Imogen, and a commoner, Posthumus, who is banished and takes up residence in Rome.