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55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The real Mary!, May 29, 2004
Mary Stuart was to the manor born, if indeed anyone ever was. She was the daughter of James V of Scotland and the great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England. She was raised in the Royal Court of France and was married at sixteen to the heir to the French Throne. Mary's father had died a few days after her birth and she had actually been Queen of Scotland since that time. Her realm was governed however by a regent who was for most of that time Mary's mother, Mary of Guise. The Guise family was a rich and powerful French family and they used young Mary to their advantage whenever they could. This misuse by her mother's family was just to be the beginning of a long series of betrayals that would finally end in Mary's execution. John Guy has undertaken a huge task with this biography. The well-ingrained image of Mary Queen of Scots is one of a manipulative siren or of a Queen who was well out of her depth or both. Guy has examined many documents that have never been considered before and has reached an entirely different conclusion. In every way she was the equal of her cousin Elizabeth I, and in many ways her better. Mary's problem was that her Kingdom had been divided up by clan loyalties for years and the squabbles among the nobles made for an unruly Kingdom. Add to this the recent arrival of the Reformation in Scotland, and the further division it caused and the situation Mary faced on her return to Scotland was an almost hopeless one. Not phased in the least, Mary jumped right in and even her detractors had to admit that she was doing well. Even the rather unpleasant John Knox had to admit that the Catholic Queen did not lack courage. Mary's also faced the problem that Scotland was so small and weak. That fact gave her very little leverage when bargaining abroad or with her cousin to the south. Then of course there was William Cecil, Elizabeth's Secretary of State, who hated Mary with a blind passion. Many Catholics in Europe, including many in England didn't recognize Elizabeth as the legitimate Queen of England, but instead looked to her cousin, the Queen of Scots. For that reason and his raging Protestantism Cecil decided that Mary had to go. And he went to extraordinary lengths to see that she did go. Guy argues quite clearly that most of the charges that were leveled at Mary by rebel lords of Scotland were trumped up. Supported only by forged and doctored documents. The author is very convincing in his argument that Mary had nothing to do with the death of her second husband Lord Darnley and that in fact her accusers were the guilty parties. In all, Mary seems to have been caught up in events that simply were too much for anyone to handle. She seems to have made the right decision most of the time but with her own lords out to steal her throne and with William Cecil at work in London she simply had no chance. Her only real guilt came near the end of her life when she did indeed conspire to remove Elizabeth from the English Throne. This conspiracy was more of an act of desperation than anything else, for she had languished in English custody for years. Day catches the sense of desperation Mary must have felt and the reader will understand why she acted thus. Day in fact does an excellent job of catching the spirit of the times as well as the spirit of Mary. Reading this book, one will see how often Mary was wronged while she was trying desperately to do the right thing. The author's thesis is that Mary was not only wronged in her own time, but has been badly wronged by history. In my opinion, he makes his point and it is well taken. After reading this wonderfully well-written book I don't think I will ever think of Mary Queen of Scots in the same way. She had her flaws, but she was indeed an impressive woman.
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The New Woman, indeed!, May 12, 2005
When I was a kid, my grandmother gave me the then-new biography of Mary by Lady Antionia Fraser. Growing up in a family of Scots descent, I remember my eagerness to read about the national heroine - and what a disappointment! I couldn't understand how such a flighty girl thought she could run a country between worrying about pretty frocks, decorating castles and torrid love affairs. Served her right, I thought, to come to such a tawdry end.
Now as an adult, I have an adult's view in 'Queen of Scots'. Discovering Mary's education began reforming her in my eyes. I gained a new understanding of Scottish politics and, not for the first time, deplored the way greed sold the land and people of Scotland to the English time and again. Although I've admired Elizabeth's resolve, Gee shows she behaved like a 'frail woman' more often than she and her modern spin doctors would like known. Mary is rehabilitated in my eyes, and I find it fitting the present British monarchy goes through her line and not Elizabeth's.
The book begins and ends with Mary's execution, but it's not that tragedy for which she should be best known. Mary is a heroine because she valiantly tried to put the principles of government she studied as a child in France to use in steering the nation of Scotland into the Renaissance and establishing it as an equal among the nations of Europe. That the greed of her advisors and political neighbors reduced her to a prisoner and Scotland to dependency is a history lesson that should not be forgotten.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
TUMULTUOUS LIFE EXCITINGLY READ, August 3, 2004
Couldn't be a more perfect voice to narrate the tumultuous life of Mary Stuart than the author John Guy. An unparalleled historian and consultant to BBC, Mr. Guy reads with depth and understanding as he traces the years of the doomed queen from her youth spent in France to her execution.
There has not been a biography of Mary Stuart written in over a quarter of a century, and this is based on newly discovered documents that shed light on this enigmatic woman who has been presented as one who ruled emotionally rather than cerebrally. It is, of course, a first rate bio that reads as excitingly as any contemporary drama.
Listeners who enjoy not only history but an up close look at court machinations, plotting, and subterfuge will be enthralled by Mr. Guy's epic study. Offering previously ignored evidence, the author posits that she was wrongfully incarcerated and finally beheaded, framed by her enemies. Hers was indeed a life that stands larger than the most imaginative fiction.
- Gail Cooke
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