Queen of Scots

by Guy, John

• ISBN13: 9780618254118
• ISBN10: 0618254110
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-04-07
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary

The eminent British historian John Guy has unearthed a wealth of evidence that upends the popular notion of Mary Queen of Scots as a femme fatale and establishes her as the intellectual and political equal of Elizabeth I. Guy draws on sources as varied as the secret communiqus of English spies and Marys own letters (many hitherto unstudied) to depict her world and her actions with stunning immediacy. Here is a myth-shattering reappraisal of her multifaceted character and prodigious political skill. Guy dispels the persistent popular image of Mary as a romantic leading lady, achieving her ends through feminine wiles, driven by love to murder, undone by passion and poor judgment. Through his pioneering research, we come to see her as an emotionally intricate woman and an adroit diplomat, maneuvering ingeniously among a dizzying array of powerful factions - the French, the English, duplicitous Scottish nobles, and religious zealots - who sought to control or dethrone her. Guys investigation of Marys storied downfall throws sharp new light on questions that have baffled historians for centuries, and offers convincing new evidence that she was framed for the murder for which she was beheaded. Queen of Scots, the first full-scale biography of Mary in more than thirty years, offers a singularly novel, nuanced, and dramatic portrait of one of historys greatest women.

Author Biography

Formerly provost and history professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, Renaissance historian JOHN GUY is now a fellow in history at Clare College, University of Cambridge. He has written several books and hosted several BBC documentaries. Queen of Scots was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Genealogies	xiv
Maps	xvii
Prologue	1	(11)
The First Year	12	(15)
The Rough Wooings	27	(14)
Arrival in France	41	(13)
Adolescence	54	(13)
Education	67	(15)
A Dynastic Marriage	82	(15)
Betrayed Queen	97	(16)
Return to Scotland	113	(15)
Into the Labyrinth	128	(15)
A Meeting Between Sisters	143	(20)
A Search for a Husband	163	(15)
``My Heart Is My Own''	178	(16)
A Marriage of Convenience	194	(16)
Enter Bothwell	210	(14)
A Marriage in Trouble	224	(14)
Assassination One	238	(14)
Reconciliation	252	(17)
Plot and Counterplot	269	(16)
Assassination Two	285	(17)
A Love Match?	302	(21)
Denouement in Scotland	323	(18)
Mary's Story	341	(18)
Bothwell's Story	359	(14)
The Lords' Story	373	(11)
Casket Letters I	384	(21)
Casket Letters II	405	(19)
Captive Queen	424	(22)
An Ax or an Act?	446	(18)
Nemesis	464	(19)
The Final Hours	483	(5)
Epilogue	488	(13)
Chronology	501	(5)
Notes	506	(24)
Bibliography	530	(12)
Index	542	(40)
Illustration Credits	582

Excerpts

PrologueAround eight oclock in the morning on Wednesday, February 8, 1587, when it was light enough to see without candles, Sir Thomas Andrews, sheriff of the county of Northamptonshire, knocked on a door. The place was Fotheringhay Castle, about seventy-five miles from London. All that remains there now beneath the weeds is the raised earthen rampart of the inner bailey and a truncated mound, or "motte," on the site of the keep, a few hundred yards from the village beside a sluggish stretch of the River Nene. But in the sixteenth century the place was bustling with life. Fotheringhay was a royal manor. Richard III had been born at the castle in 1452. Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, who had slain Richard at the battle of Bosworth, gave the estate as a dowry to his wife, Elizabeth of York, and Henry VIII granted it to his first bride, Catherine of Aragon, who extensively refurbished the castle. In 1558, Elizabeth I inherited the property when she succeeded to the throne on the death of her elder sister, Mary Tudor. Despite its royal associations, nothing had prepared Fotheringhay, or indeed the British Isles, for what was about to happen there. Andrews was in attendance on two of Englands highest-ranking noblemen, George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and Henry Grey, Earl of Kent. The door on which he knocked was the entrance to the privy chamber of Mary Queen of Scots, dowager queen of France and for almost nineteen years Elizabeths prisoner in England. The door opened to reveal Mary on her knees, praying with her bedchamber servants. Andrews informed her that the time was at hand, and she looked up and said she was ready. She rose, and her gentlewomen stood aside. She was only forty-four. Born and brought up to be a queen, she walked confidently through the doorway as if she were once more processing to a court festival. Almost six feet tall, she had always looked the part. She had been fted since her childhood in France for her beauty and allure. "Charmante" and "la plus parfaite" were the adjectives most commonly applied to her singular blend of celebrity. Not just physically mesmerizing with her well-proportioned face, neck, arms and waist, she had an unusual warmth of character with the ability to strike up an instant rapport. Always high-spirited and vivacious, she could be unreservedly generous and amiable. She had a razor-sharp wit and was a natural conversationalist. Gregarious as well as glamorous, she could be genial to the point of informality as long as her "grandeur" was respected. Many contemporaries remarked on her almost magical ability to create the impression that the person she was talking to was the only one whose opinion really mattered to her. As a result of premature aging caused by the inertia and lack of exercise of which she had so bitterly complained during her long captivity, her beauty was on the wane. Her features had thickened and she had rounded shoulders and a slight stoop. H

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Excerpted from Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart by John Guy
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