“The episode of the four kings has often intrigued scholars, but none have traced it down in all its ramifications so lovingly or so exhaustively as Professor Bond. The end product is both bright and comprehensive.”—Canadian Forum
“Substantial and entertaining.”—Times Literary Supplement
“[The four kings] left their mark on literature from the Spectator to Defoe, Pope, and Swift. Professor Bond has recovered much curious information.”—Manchester Guardian
“Comprehensive, erudite, and entertaining.”—Saturday Review
In 1710, four Iroquois sachems from the province of New York, including King Hendrick and Joseph Brant’s grandfather, traveled to London. They came to seek an agreement with the British against the French and their Algonquin allies. While these four Iroquois were not the first American Indians to visit England (Pocahontas had come in 1616), they were the first to be treated as heads of state. The four “American kings” were fêted by society: they saw a performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, witnessed the “royal sport” of cockfighting, and had a lengthy audience with Queen Anne. The queen was so impressed with the four Indians that she commissioned portraits of each by court painter John Verelst. These are among the earliest oil paintings of American Indians taken from life. The trip was successful and Britain and the Five Nations agreed to assist each other in any future conflict with France and its allies, a relationship that would extend to the American Revolution. In Queen Anne’s American Kings, literary historian Richmond Pugh Bond relates the entire episode using numerous contemporary accounts in order to demonstrate the cultural and political importance of this unique and fascinating event in American and British colonial history.
