# The Generous Conqueror

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{{Short description|1701 play by Bevil Higgons}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox play
| name              = The Generous Conqueror
| image             =
| image_size        =
| caption           = 
| writer            = [Bevil Higgons](/source/Bevil_Higgons)
| setting           = 
| date of premiere  = December 1701<ref>Burling p.28</ref>
| original language = English
| place             = [Theatre Royal, Drury Lane](/source/Theatre_Royal%2C_Drury_Lane)
| series            = 
| subject           = 
| genre             = Tragedy
}}
'''''The Generous Conqueror''''' is a 1701 [tragedy](/source/tragedy) by the English writer [Bevil Higgons](/source/Bevil_Higgons). It was published in January the following year, and is sometimes dated 1702 by this. Higgons was a well-known [Jacobite](/source/Jacobitism) who had been implicated in the [1696 Jacobite assassination plot](/source/1696_Jacobite_assassination_plot) against [William III](/source/William_III_of_England).<ref>Braverman p.238</ref> In this play he effectively called for the peaceful succession of the pretender to the throne as [James III](/source/James_III_of_England).<ref>Braverman p.238-39</ref>

The [Drury Lane](/source/Theatre_Royal%2C_Drury_Lane) cast included [Robert Wilks](/source/Robert_Wilks) as Almerick, [John Mills](/source/John_Mills_(stage_actor)) as Rodomond, [Philip Griffin](/source/Philip_Griffin) as Gonzalvo, [Colley Cibber](/source/Colley_Cibber) as Malespine, [Thomas Simpson](/source/Thomas_Simpson_(actor)) as Meroan, [Jane Rogers](/source/Jane_Rogers_(17th-century_actress)) as Armida, [Mary Kent](/source/Mary_Kent) as Irene and [Anne Oldfield](/source/Anne_Oldfield) as Cimene. It was not a success, partly because audiences and critics objected to its Jacobite arguments portrayed in the characters and plot.<ref>Lowerre p.301</ref>

The [prologue](/source/prologue) was by the [Tory](/source/Tory_(British_political_party)) politician and writer [George Granville](/source/George_Granville%2C_1st_Baron_Lansdowne), who shared the Jacobite sympathies of Higgons. The printed version play was dedicated to the [Marquess of Normanby](/source/John_Sheffield%2C_1st_Duke_of_Buckingham_and_Normanby), who had attended the play several times, and was another Tory with Jacobite leanings.<ref>Hone p.33</ref>

A contemporary play ''[Tamerlane](/source/Tamerlane_(play))'' by [Nicholas Rowe](/source/Nicholas_Rowe_(writer)), took the very opposite view to Higgons, presenting another historical tragedy that depicts William of Orange as a heroic figure in [Whig](/source/Whig_(British_political_party)) eyes.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Braverman, Richard. ''Plots and Counterplots: Sexual Politics and the Body Politic in English Literature, 1660-1730''. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
* Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992.
* Hone, Joseph. ''Literature and Party Politics at the Accession of Queen Anne''. Oxford University Press, 2017.
* Lowerre, Kathryn. ''Music and Musicians on the London Stage, 1695-1705''. Routledge, 2017.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Generous Conqueror}}
Category:1701 plays
Category:English plays
Category:West End plays
Category:British tragedy plays
Category:James Francis Edward Stuart

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Generous Conqueror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Generous_Conqueror) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Generous_Conqueror?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.