Mary Queen of Scots - Hardcover

Watkins, Susan; Fiennes, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500510385 ISBN 13: 9780500510384

Publisher: Thames & Hudson, 2001

Synopsis

All the world lamented the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. "No man ever saw her without love or will read her history without pity." Whether it is this French Marie Stuart recorded by Brantome, the German Maria Stuart of Schiller's tragedy, the Italian Maria Stuarda of Donizetti's opera, or the more recent queen of film played by Katharine Hepburn or Vanessa Redgrave, her story resonates over four centuries. The tale of the free-spirited and beautiful Queen of Scots, who refused to accept the constraints of her birth and position, still appeals to us today. Mary's inheritance gave her both the Scottish throne in 1542, when she was only six days old, and a claim to the English throne that would lead to her death. It gave her an upbringing in France, cultural and intellectual center of Europe, where she witnessed the power play of her Guise relations, married the heir to the French throne, and became queen of France, only to be widowed at eighteen. There was a turbulent interlude as ruler of Scotland, made the more tumultuous by two disastrous marriages and rumors of adultery and murder. Finally, there was an eighteen-year exile as Elizabeth I's prisoner, passing the long days of captivity at her embroidery or her prayers, the center of a network of intrigue, double agents, coded dispatches, and mysterious couriers, which was to lead ineluctably to her trial and execution. Susan Watkins re-creates the world in which Mary livedthe landscapes, the palaces and the courtly culture, and the fine details of the domestic scene. The text gives life to the wealth of historical illustrations and specially taken photographs by Mark Fiennes, who accompanied Susan Watkins on her journey in search of Mary Queen of Scots. 194 color illustrations and photographs.

About this title

About the Author:

Susan Watkins is the acclaimed author of several historical biographies, including Jane Austen: In Style and The Public and Private Worlds of Elizabeth I. Mark Fiennes is an internationally renowned photographer who worked with Susan Watkins on her re-creation of the life of Elizabeth I.

From Library Journal:

Although most writings about Mary Stuart (1542-87), Queen of Scots, have been historically inaccurate, modern scholarship has revealed the details of her dramatic life as wife to three husbands and queen in three kingdoms (France, Scotland, and England). Any new work on Mary should provide a fresh interpretation or presentation. Watkins (Jane Austen: In Style) has attempted the latter in an illustrated history, yet the result is neither a quality coffee-table book nor a readable biography. The lavish photographs of historical places and high-quality illustrations cannot make up for an overly dramatic narrative full of simplistic historical judgments. None of the period quotations has scholarly attribution, and most are presented in a bold, oversized font, often literally unreadable as they are superimposed on illustrations. Lastly, a book that lists in its bibliography James A. Mackay's In My End Is My Beginning (St. Martin's, 2000), generally considered to be plagiarized, cannot be reliable for the general reader. The curious should see Antonia Fraser's sympathetic biography, Mary Queen of Scots (published in 1969 and frequently reprinted), with the more studious turning to Gordon Donaldson's sound Mary, Queen of Scots (o.p.) and Jenny Wormald's politically astute Mary Queen of Scots: A Study in Failure (Tauris, 2000). James Tasato Mellone, Queens Coll., CUNY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0500510385
• ISBN 13: 9780500510384
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224