Mary Queen of Scots (The Stewart Dynasty in Scotland)

by Anna Groundwater (Author), Jenny Wormald (Author)

23 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-1910900116

ISBN-10: 1910900117

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Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, has long been portrayed as one of history's romantically tragic figures. Devious, naive, beautiful and sexually voracious, often highly principled, she secured the Scottish throne and bolstered the position of the Catholic Church in Scotland. Her plotting, including probable involvement in the murder of her husband Lord Darnley, led to her flight from Scotland and imprisonment by her equally ambitious cousin and fellow queen, Elizabeth of England. Yet when Elizabeth ordered Mary's execution in 1587 it was an act of exasperated frustration rather than political wrath. Unlike biographies of Mary predating this work, this masterly study set out to show Mary as she really was - not a romantic heroine, but the ruler of a European kingdom with far greater economic and political importance than its size or location would indicate. Wormald also showed that Mary's downfall was not simply because of the 'crisis years' of 1565-7, but because of her way of dealing, or failing to deal, with the problems facing her as a renaissance monarch. She was tragic because she was born to supreme power but was wholly incapable of coping with its responsibilities. Her extraordinary story has become one of the most colourful and emotionally searing tales of western history, and it is here fully reconsidered by a leading specialist of the period. Jenny Wormald's beautifully written biography will appeal to students and general readers alike.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jenny Wormald was one of the most influential Scottish historians of her generation. She taught history at Glasgow University for 20 years, and was then appointed to a fellowship in Modern History at St Hilda's College, Oxford, for a further 20 years. After retirement to Edinburgh she became an Honorary Fellow in Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. She wrote a number of significant books and articles, including Court, Kirk and Community: Scotland 1470-1625 (1981), 'James VI and I: Two Kings or One?' (1983) and 'Gunpowder, Treason and Scots' (1985).

Anna Groundwater lectures in British and Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh..

Anna Groundwater lectures in British and Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh..

Product details

Publisher : John Donald (November 1, 2017)
Language: : English
Paperback : 384 pages
ISBN-10 : 1910900117
ISBN-13 : 978-1910900116
Item Weight : 1.05 pounds
Dimensions : 6.25 x 0.9 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,162,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,913 in Scotland History
- #4,424 in Royalty Biographies
- #6,712 in Historical British Biographies

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23 ratings

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camilla

Dense and pedantic

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2020

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Scotland is rich in history but this book was way too confusing, On bit of a petty note, someone doesn't like paragraphs which makes the reading comprehension daunting. Waste of money, I will donate it to the library.

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Kathryn Jordan

Mary, Queen of Scots

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2020

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I have many books on Mary, Queen of Scots. Many people describe her as a tragic queen and in many ways she was in the way that she ruled with her heart and not with her head. This book was pretty interesting; it gave a different perspective on Mary. I like reading books that have a different perspective on Mary rather than the usual description of how Mary was. I do recommend this book to any history buff that is into Scottish history or history in general.

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serge gainsbourg

dishwater dull; historical drama wasn't added to Mary's story to spice it up, that was her life. book is bland.

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2018

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i had so many questions about Mary's reign after reading Antonia Fraser's book. i thought i hit the jackpot with Jenny Wormald's unsentimental study of Mary as a Queen, a politician, her motivations, the political climate of the time, her people's view of their monarch and monarchy, how things worked under a regent, how the nobles ruled, etc. And Jenny Wormald delivers. She is a brilliant analyst, no doubt. However, this book is so dull and boring. I really wanted to like it. I wonder if JW's efforts to side step the drama and focus on the ruler kind of missed the mark. Can you separate the dramatic events of her life from her ability to rule? I didn't want to read a debate about whether the Casket Letters were real or forged, or if Mary killed her husband or time stamp the moment she and Bothwell first bopped. But how can you separate these realities? I would have loved to see this sharp minded historian turn her wit, intelligence, and insight to Mary as a woman as well as a Ruler. Making her a sexless monarch-bot is tedious to read about. Fascinating insights about the differences b/w Scottish and English rulers. Worth it for that. It feels like this wants to be a different book. Or, she just should have let loose and given a scathing critique. It feels like she is holding back out of good taste. Too bad.

3 people found this helpful

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LINDA A. ROOT

A Misplaced Life

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2008

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This is a valuable book that focuses on Mary Stuart as a ruler rather than Mary Stuart as a heroine in a historical romance. It is not a mystery about who killed Lord Darnley. It is a critical analysis of what occurred when someone who was historically ordained to rule, but who possessed none of the qualities to make that rule successful in the dynamic of the sixteenth century, attempted to lead Scotland through the religious and political minefiled of its pre-modern politics. Some writers tend to think that Wormald is too tough on the historical Mary Queen of Scots, but there is good basis for her analysis. The essential question about the Scots Queen in not really whether or not she wrote all or some of the Casket Letters, and whether or not she was a player in the murder of her husband Lord Darnley, but whether she faired any better than most of the other Stuart kings who followed her in dealing with the great issues of her day. She clearly did not. While my own review of the letters insofar as they presently exist, the evidence from a variety of sources, and my own experience as a successful prosecutor leads me to believe that I probably could convict her of conspiracy to commit murder , but not as an aider and abettor of murder itself, if she had been less a French queen and more a Scot, had she seen her role more as an obligation to her own historical niche and less a license to behave as if she were answerable to no mortal, her monarchy might have ended quite differently. No one would have cared about Darnley. Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, and even Thomas More did not put an end to Henry VIII, Essex did not end Elizabeth I, and the disposal of an unpopular sometimes Papist consort, would not have ended Mary's rule. Her prolonged absence from Scotland during her childhood, her identity with powers that were not in step with the religious and political changes in Scotland, her reliance upon her half-brother and other men to lead her country and usurp her power to make decisions are among teh flaws that are exposed and highlighted in this short but important book.

20 people found this helpful

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S.Lynne

No melodrama - at last!

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2005

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This, at last, is a book that focuses on what MQS actually DID as a queen, and what she didn't do. It measures her against the same stick used to measure other rulers of the same age instead of the usual sturm un drang offered up. She was no marytred saint, yet she was no she demon in velvet skirts. She was charming and lovely, however she was also inadequate. Kind of Queen-Lite, if you will.

I found it very interesting that her much toted tolerance concerning religion is revealed to be otherwise. She demands the right to practice her own religion, but denies that same right to other Catholics. It is hard to hold up the banner of Catholic martyr when she did nothing good for that cause in Scotland, empowering the Protestant at the expense of the Catholic.

And yes, I'm glad that Wormald came down on the side of Mary being involved in the plot against Darnley. Leave MQS some shreds of intelligence. If she didn't know, that makes her and Darnley the only ones in Scotland and Europe who were unaware of the plot. Her actions definitely speak loudly when she lured Darnely out of his family stronghold and brought him back to Edinburgh and death. It was politically astute and necessary. Only her blunders afterward destroyed her reputation. Handled differently, she could very likely have weathered it.

Good read, well written and neither rabid nor fawning.

26 people found this helpful

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Cloud Serene-River

Disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2018

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This book is slow to get going and fails to live up to the promise of its title. It raises one or two interesting points, but skips over many aspects and periods of Mary's life. Despite its sycophants, this is not a book I would choose to read again.

4 people found this helpful

Mr John B Allen

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2018

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Great history from a much missed author

Eagleheroine

Powerfully persuasive critique with the trappings of romanticism and sentimentality stripped away

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 2, 2017

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Having recently re-re read Antonia Fraser's classic biography of Mary, and John Guy's more recent excellent book, Jenny Wormald's views were a complete revelation - in short, I was forced to think deeply about all my previous opinions of Mary Stuart, and the events of her reign. Clearly, the author not only believes that Mary had foreknowledge of her second husband, Darnley's murder, but also that, on the balance of probabilities, she was indeed the authoress of the casket letters - conceding, however, that on at least one of these there may have been some 'interpolation', a conclusion I had already come to by myself before reading her book.
I can see very well how her unsentimental and forthright views on every aspect of Mary will no doubt upset many people wedded to the traditionally picture of this controversial Queen, but I would strongly recommend this powerful, thought provoking work to anyone who wishes to go beyond the romanticism that obscures reality.
I would disagree with only one of Jenny Wormald's conclusions and that is that I don't believe we can separate Mary the sovereign ruler from Mary the woman, simply because, as a woman, her reactions to personalities and circumstances are far more likely to be gender based than not. In fact, in her After-Forward to this book, - in itself a most illuminating and detailed comment - Anna Groundwater writes 'had Wormald been coming new to the subject in today's historical landscape, she might have looked more closely at the impact of contemporary social mores and cultural constructs of a patriarchal society on Mary's behaviour, questioning how far the actions for which she is criticised as a monarch might have been shaped by her gender.' I could not agree more.
There is a comprehensive Bibliography at the end of the book which points the reader in the direction of both important primary sources and serious works of a secondary nature, with information about forthcoming work at that time in the pipeline.
To conclude, although MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, A STUDY IN FAILURE, is a groundbreaking and radical treatment of this enduringly fascinating and controversial woman, I would highly recommend it as essential reading to anyone who is interested in Scottish history, Mary herself, or the insoluble subjects of Darnley's murder and the casket letters, because I think that limiting oneself to books that only present an uncritical view of Mary is shortsighted and pointless.

13 people found this helpful

Cicero

interesting but dry

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 28, 2013

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Bought this as part of my MLitt course in Scottish history, the book examines the life and fitness to rule of Mary Queen of Scots from her birth, within days of her father's death, to her move to France at the age of 5 as the fiancee of the Dauphin, to her return to Scotland in 1561 at age of 18/19 as a widow, and subsequent attempts to rule. It is a highly critical account, and gives a very different view than the popular idea of Mary.

10 people found this helpful

mhughes

Mary, Queen of Scotts

Reviewed in Canada on October 4, 2018

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I enjoyed the book very much, it was very informative....MHughes

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Mary Queen of Scots (The Stewart Dynasty in Scotland)

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