George Arthur Rose aspired to the priesthood, but after being much abused and taken advantage of for many years by his Catholic brothers, he finds himself disillusioned with humanity. But just as the secret conclave in Rome is deadlocked in the election of the next Pope, he finds himself rediscovered. A compromise in the election results in Rose being chosen for the office, and he styles himself as Hadrian the Seventh. With his new authority, he implements church reforms and a program to b...

The Weird of the Wanderer opens as an eccentric, mock-scholarly fantasy, framed by papyrus records from one of Nicholas Crabbe's former lives and introduced with learned dedications, classical epigraphs, and a playful air of antiquity. What begins as an archaeological report from Armenia soon becomes stranger than myth: a hidden rock-tomb behind a ruined chapel yields a richly decorated mummy, papyri, and impossible grave goods, including a revolver, ancient coins, and a modern watch ident...

'If there be one place in all this orb of earth where a secret is a Secret, that place is a Roman Conclave'Part novel, part daydream, part diatribe, this strange masterpiece tells the story of George Arthur Rose, a poor, frustrated writer who lives in a shabby bedsit, saving his cigarette ends and eating soup - until one day he is made Pope. As the first English pontiff in five centuries, he is a mass of contradictions: infallible and petulant, humble and despotic....

“[F]antastic and altogether striking . . . brilliant . . . the effect of the whole is of undoubted skill. There is an altogether remarkable mastery over words, an altogether notable ability to enter into the ruling spirit of the period, a decided power of consistent characterisation. … It is a full-blooded book—full, too, of the joy of life.” – The Outlook“It has the irresponsible high spirits of the youth of the world.” – Daily Mail“A homosexually-heated and obsessionally-...

“It is extraordinarily alive … The book remains a clear and definite book of our epoch, not to be swept aside.” – D.H. Lawrence“One of the most extraordinary achievements in English literature.” – A.J.A. Symons“Frederick Rolfe alias Baron Corvo is certainly one of the most fascinating of those various literary curiosities of England.” – Saturday ReviewFrederick William Rolfe, who styled himself “Baron Corvo” and who published under the slightly misleading abbreviati...

When an archaeological dig in Armenia uncovers the undisturbed tomb of King Balthazar of ancient Moxoene, the find is extraordinary enough—but among the relics are a Smith & Wesson revolver and Victorian coins, impossible anachronisms that hint at something stranger still. Within the tomb lies a cache of thirty-four papyri, and the story they tell defies all reason.The papyri are the records of Nicholas Crabbe, a young student of the occult who, while attempting to summon Egyptian ...

One day George Arthur Rose, hack writer and minor priest, discovers that he has been picked to be Pope. He is hardly surprised and not in the least daunted. "The previous English pontiff was Hadrian the Fourth," he declares. "The present English pontiff is Hadrian the Seventh. It pleases Us; and so, by Our own impulse, We command."Hadrian is conceived in the image of his creator, Fr. Rolfe, whose aristocratic pretensions (he called himself Baron Corvo), religious obsession, and anarchic an...

Once upon a time, Caesars were masters of the world; and the genius of Divus Julius, of Divus Augustus, was worshipped everywhere on altars. There are Cesarini at this day in Rome, cosa grande ch’ il sole, masters of wide domains, but not of empires. Once upon time, Buonaparte held Europe in its grip. Buonaparte at this day keeps exile in Muscovy or Flanders. Once upon a time, the Sforza were sovereigns-regnant; and of their daughters were made an empress and a queen. There are Sforza at t...

"Hadrian the Seventh: A Romance" by Frederick Rolfe delves into the eccentric world of the papacy with biting satire and profound insight. The novel follows the journey of an unconventional protagonist, who unexpectedly ascends to the papal throne as Hadrian the Seventh. Rolfe's work intertwines elements of religion, politics, and intrigue within the hallowed halls of the Vatican, offering a unique perspective on the complexities of power and identity. Set against the backdrop of ecclesias...

In "Hadrian the Seventh," Frederick Rolfe explores the intricacies of the human psyche through the lens of a fictional papal election. The novel follows the journey of a Protestant writer who unexpectedly finds himself elected as Pope Hadrian VII. Rolfe's writing is imbued with rich, evocative language that juxtaposes grandeur with absurdity, reflecting the complexities of faith, identity, and the institutional Church. As a work of modernist literature, it engages with themes of power, red...

Hadrian the Seventh (1904) is Frederick Rolfe's extraordinary fantasy of ecclesiastical reversal, in which George Arthur Rose, an impoverished, rejected aspirant to the priesthood, is unexpectedly raised to the papacy as Hadrian VII. Written in a richly idiosyncratic, ornate, and often caustic prose, the novel blends theological speculation, political satire, self-dramatizing autobiography, and fin-de-siècle Catholic imagination. Its context is the crisis-ridden modern Church of the late n...

The Roman Empire: 30 Novels of Power, Warfare and Defiance assembles a capacious nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century imaginative archive of antiquity. Across historical romance, adventure narrative, political melodrama, religious fiction, and psychologically inflected reconstruction, Rome emerges as both imperial spectacle and contested moral order. Battles, court intrigues, provincial frontiers, persecution, rebellion, and private acts of conscience give the volume its dramatic range;...