A Biography of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox,(1515-1578): Niece of Henry VIII and Mother-In-Law of Mary, Queen of Scots (Studies in British History, V. 62) [Hardcover]

Kim Schutte (Author)

Book Description

Series: Studies in British History, V. 62 | Publication Date: December 2002

Despite heavy academic interest in the Tudor period, many of the important secondary figures have been neglected, including Margaret Douglas, whose life and actions had a significant impact on the period. She was in the centre of events during much of the reigns of Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I. Niece to Henry VIII, wife of Matthew Stewart, the Earl of Lennox and a close claimant of the throne of Scotland, she was the mother of Henry, Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots. It was due to her matrimonial schemes, for example, that a law was passed under Henry VIII reserving to the sovereign the right to regulate the marriages of the royal family.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 343 pages
• Publisher: Edwin Mellen Pr (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0773471995
• ISBN-13: 978-0773471993
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,171,719 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A somewhat uneven but still informative biography of a Tudor cousin, February 23, 2010

By 

K. Maxwell "katmax1" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Biography of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox,(1515-1578): Niece of Henry VIII and Mother-In-Law of Mary, Queen of Scots (Studies in British History, V. 62) (Hardcover)

Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, daughter of Margaret Tudor, Dowager Queen of Scotland and Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus is one of those reasonably minor, in a historical sense, Tudor relatives, who nevertheless for dynastic reasons are still important. This is the first independent biography of Margaret.

Her story can be found in other books such as Tudor Cousins: Rivals for the Throne in abbreviated form but this is the first book to concentrate on her alone. One thing it does seem to highlight is really how little is known about Margaret even now, a fate not uncommon especially with female royal relations which often leads to rather thin biographies, and if it wasn't for all the historical background that is filled in I think this would be a rather slender volume. On thing that did annoy me about this was the author's tendency to assume Margaret's reactions to thing with sentences such "she must have felt", "would have done" etc which was not actually backed up by evidence.

For the reader in search of primary evidence on Margaret probably this book's biggest asset is the a copy of Margaret's poems from the Devonshire manuscript which contains a collection of court poetry from the court of Henry VIII, including some of Margaret's work. However, for it's contents this is an extremely expensive book, which is a great pity as it will restrict the amount of people able to access it but if you are after more detailed information on both Margaret and Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox then this is a good place to start.