Mary Queen of Scots: Born to Rule

Mary Queen of Scots: Born to Rule PDF Author: Margaret Simpson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781407198101
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
Everyone's heard of Mary, Queen of Scots. She is famous forhaving terribletaste in husbands, rotting awayin Elizabeth I's prison and totally losing her head - on the chopping block. But did you know that Mary was: Actually really tall? Had a charmed childhood? Got kidnapped by a murderous lord? Everything you could ever want to know about Mary, Queen of Scots!

Elizabeth and Mary

Elizabeth and Mary PDF Author: Jane Dunn
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307425746
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 506

Book Description
"Superb.... A perceptive, suspenseful account." --The New York Times Book Review "Dunn demythologizes Elizabeth and Mary. In humanizing their dynamic and shifting relationship, Dunn describes it as fueled by both rivalry and their natural solidarity as women in an overwhelmingly masculine world." --Boston Herald The political and religious conflicts between Queen Elizabeth I and the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots, have for centuries captured our imagination and inspired memorable dramas played out on stage, screen, and in opera. But few books have brought to life more vividly the exquisite texture of two women’s rivalry, spurred on by the ambitions and machinations of the forceful men who surrounded them. The drama has terrific resonance even now as women continue to struggle in their bid for executive power. Against the backdrop of sixteenth-century England, Scotland, and France, Dunn paints portraits of a pair of protagonists whose formidable strengths were placed in relentless opposition. Protestant Elizabeth, the bastard daughter of Anne Boleyn, whose legitimacy had to be vouchsafed by legal means, glowed with executive ability and a visionary energy as bright as her red hair. Mary, the Catholic successor whom England’s rivals wished to see on the throne, was charming, feminine, and deeply persuasive. That two such women, queens in their own right, should have been contemporaries and neighbours sets in motion a joint biography of rare spark and page-turning power.

Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots PDF Author: Jenny Wormald
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd
ISBN: 0857903500
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 371

Book Description
Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, has long been portrayed as one of history's romantically tragic figures. Devious, naïve, beautiful and sexually voracious, often highly principled, she secured the Scottish throne and bolstered the position of the Catholic Church in Scotland. Her plotting, including probable involvement in the murder of her husband Lord Darnley, led to her flight from Scotland and imprisonment by her equally ambitious cousin and fellow queen, Elizabeth of England. Yet when Elizabeth ordered Mary's execution in 1587 it was an act of exasperated frustration rather than political wrath. Unlike biographies of Mary predating this work, this masterly study set out to show Mary as she really was – not a romantic heroine, but the ruler of a European kingdom with far greater economic and political importance than its size or location would indicate. Wormald also showed that Mary's downfall was not simply because of the 'crisis years' of 1565–7, but because of her way of dealing, or failing to deal, with the problems facing her as a renaissance monarch. She was tragic because she was born to supreme power but was wholly incapable of coping with its responsibilities. Her extraordinary story has become one of the most colourful and emotionally searing tales of western history, and it is here fully reconsidered by a leading specialist of the period. Jenny Wormald's beautifully written biography will appeal to students and general readers alike.

Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley

Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley PDF Author: Alison Weir
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0307431479
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 722

Book Description
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Alison Weir's Mary Boleyn. Handsome, accomplished, and charming, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, staked his claim to the English throne by marrying Mary Stuart, who herself claimed to be the Queen of England. It was not long before Mary discovered that her new husband was interested only in securing sovereign power for himself. Then, on February 10, 1567, an explosion at his lodgings left Darnley dead; the intrigue thickened after it was discovered that he had apparently been suffocated before the blast. After an exhaustive reevaluation of the source material, Alison Weir has come up with a solution to this enduring mystery. Employing her gift for vivid characterization and gripping storytelling, Weir has written one of her most engaging excursions yet into Britain’s bloodstained, power-obsessed past.

The Challenge to the Crown

The Challenge to the Crown PDF Author: Robert Stedall
Publisher: Book Guild Publishing
ISBN: 1846246466
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 500

Book Description
Mary Queen of Scots: Catholic martyr or manipulative femme fatale On 10 February 1567, conspirators bent on killing Henry, Lord Darnley, King-Consort of Mary Queen of Scots successfully razed his Edinburgh residence at Kirk o' Field in a huge explosion. Soon afterwards, Darnley's partially-clothed body was discovered in a nearby orchard, strangled to death by an unknown assailant. Rumours of Mary's involvement in his murder quickly surfaced. Placards across Edinburgh implied that she had provoked the Earl of Bothwell into killing her husband in a crime of passion. This became more plausible when she tried to avoid having to prosecute him for the murder, and subsequently married him, encouraged by her most senior Protestant nobles. While Mary's motives for the marriage might be explained by her need for his protection, those of the Nobility who had encourage it are confusing. Why would they want a union, which would inevitably place Bothwell, a man they hated, as head of government? Was their motif to associate her in the murder plot? Mary's involvement in Darnley's murder has remained one of the great historical mysteries. Genealogist and author Robert Stedall has spent ten years researching the inter-marriages within Scottish peerage to provide an explanation for their motives in removing Mary from the throne. In this first volume, of his two volume history of Mary and James, he explains in vivid detail the switching allegiances of the nobility, and can reveal for the first time, the gripping true story of Mary's downfall and imprisonment.

Mary Tudor

Mary Tudor PDF Author: Linda Porter
Publisher: Piatkus
ISBN: 074812232X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 524

Book Description
A striking and sympathetic portrait of England's first Queen, Mary I - whose character has been vilified for over 400 years. Instead of the bloodthirsty bigot of Protestant mythology, Mary Tudor emerges from the pages of this deeply-researched biography as a cultured renaissance princess, a courageous survivor of the violent power struggles that characterised the reigns of her father, Henry VIII, and brother Edward VI. The author does not belittle Mary's burning of heretics, which earned her the subriquet 'Bloody Mary', but she also had many endearing personal qualities and talents, not least the courage of leadership she showed in facing down Northumberland's rebellion. A well-balanced and readable biography of Mary I is long overdue.

Rival Queens

Rival Queens PDF Author: Kate Williams
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1409037010
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 568

Book Description
___________________________________ 'Scintillating, provocative... An elegant synthesis of royal biography and political thriller.' Daily Telegraph A Times History Book of the Year: a story which inspired the Hollywood film MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS Mary, Queen of Scots & Elizabeth I of England. Two powerful monarchs on a single island. Threatened by voices who believed no woman could govern. Surrounded by sycophants, spies and detractors. Accosted for their dominion, their favour and their bodies. Besieged by secret plots, devastating betrayals and a terrible final act. Only one queen could survive to rule all. ___________________________________ 'Brings us a fresh Mary, set in a gloriously rich context, a tragic heroine - irresistibly real and relevant... There isn't a line wasted in this taut, dramatic and utterly beguiling biography.' Charles Spencer author of Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I 'The perfect combination of scholarship and storytelling, meticulous research and emotional insight, Kate Williams brings Mary vividly to life in all her complexities and contradictions.' Kate Mosse, author of The Burning Chambers 'It takes a special kind of historian to turn an old story on its head. Eye-opening, provocative, this is the great rivalry re-imagined for the #MeToo generation.' Lucy Worsley

Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Queen of Scots PDF Author: John Guy
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241986893
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 100

Book Description
WINNER OF THE WHITBREAD BIOGRAPHY AWARD Now a major film, this is a dramatic reinterpretation of the life of Mary Queen of Scots by one of the leading historians of this period. For centuries, Mary, Queen of Scots has been a figure of scholarly debate. Where many have portrayed her as the weak woman to Elizabeth's rational leader, John Guy reassesses the young queen, finding her far more politically shrewd than previously believed. Crowned Queen of Scotland at nine months old, Queen of France by age sixteen and widowed the following year, Guy paints Mary as a commanding and savvy queen who navigated the European power struggles of the time to her advantage in a life of drama and conflict. Re-examining the original sources, resulting in a riveting new argument surrounding Mary's involvement in her husband murder, Guy's deft storytelling and insightful new arguments provide compelling and dramatic reading. 'An absorbing biography . . . meticulously researched . . . scholarly and intriguing' Peter Ackroyd, The Times 'Rarely have first-class scholarship and first-class storytelling been so effectively combined' John Adamson, Daily Telegraph

A Wee Guide to Mary, Queen of Scots

A Wee Guide to Mary, Queen of Scots PDF Author: Joyce Miller
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781899874033
Category : Queens
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
An excellent little book detailing the life and times of the tragic queen.
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