Mary Stuart has intrigued people since her birth. The significance of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, though, does not rest simply in the dramatic events of her life: rather, Mary's significance lies in her contemporaries' reaction to her. As a Catholic, a woman and a monarch in sixteenth century Europe, the debates surrounding Mary's life, reign, and imprisonment reveal a world in flux whose members attempted to solve the crises of religion, nationhood, authority, and gender that confronted them.
