Mary stuart biography book

Zweig prescribes that from a political standpoint, England was right in ridding the world of Mary Stuart. Morally, however, the execution was an unjustifiable action considered in a time of peace, but more especially from one monarch by another. Although Zweig concluded that Mary Stuart was culpable of criminal actions, having never learned to act with caution or forethought, he praised her nobleness of character and called her a morally superior individual, while he condemned Elizabeth as a dissembling, political murderess.

In Zweig's eyes, Mary Stuart achieved victory over Elizabeth in a spiritual sense: martyred, dying a hero's death. We all know the historical facts surrounding Mary Stuart, the most infamous of queens; and at this point, one more biography may not yield much difference than the next, especially one as dated as this. But seldom would we find a biographer such as Zweig whose flair for dramatizing psychological behavior in his characters brought freshness to a legend.

Commendable, readable, recommended. Read Reread June Michael Finocchiaro. Author 3 maries stuart biography book 6, followers. Stefan Zweig was an excellent biographer. This deep look into the controversial and tragic life of Marie, Queen of Scots is unforgettable for its detail and the insights into the power games that sealed her fate.

It is written in an extremely readable tone and is exciting and at times breathtaking. Definitely a must if you wish to understand this turbulent period of England and Scotland's history. El admirado autor Stefan Zweig nos regala una obra magistral, lo cual ya no es novedad. Me parece que el autor no se inclina por ninguna de estas interpretaciones y mantiene un cierto equilibrio fundado en la objetividad.

Odioso John Knox. Nada como as palavras de Stefan Zweig para ilustrarem com rigor e beleza o que foi a vida de Maria Stuart. This is an excellent example of how a biographer is influenced by his culture. It was published inpre-dating not just modern feminism but the earliest stirrings of change in the role of women during WWII. He excuses Mary's conduct with Bothwell as the result of passion resulting in the abandonment of free will--"enthrallment," and attributes Elizabeth's conduct throughout her life to her "feminine infirmity.

Patricija book. Por lo general me suelo aburrir y las dejo a medio terminar. Esta, en cambio, contaba con dos alicientes, por un lado su protagonista. Maria Stuarda, regina a 6 giorni dalla nascita e incoronata a 9 mesi. A 5 anni e 8 mesi viene impacchettata e spedita in Francia. Vittima di tranelli e inganni, la vita segnata dalle tragiche vicende che accompagnano i suoi 6 anni di regno e i quasi 20 di prigionia in Inghilterra, dove si rifugia pensando di trovare protezione.

Ieri come oggi. Basterebbe leggere, o rileggere, di tanto in tanto, le infinite pagine di storia che grondano sangue. Forse, forse, si eviterebbe qualche tragico errore. Stefan Zweig was an Austro-Hungarian who lived in Vienna. He was rather well known as an author of famous historical figures and was at the peak of his fame during the ss. This was my first experience with his work.

I must say it is simply superb. His prose, much like Barbara Tuchman's work, flows so well and is at once erudite yet eminently readable. It takes a historical work and puts it firmly in the seat of literature by the sheer quality of the writing style. Engaging, enlightening, and always entertaining. Allow me to reiterate- simply superb! This is the tragic tale of Mary, Queen of Scotland.

It is a remarkable tale of a fascinating Queen-Mary, or Mary Stuart. Yet there is so much more to the Greek tragedy of Mary Stuart's life. Mary was six days old when her father died. In order to protect the child from the violent and turbulent realm of Scottish politics, Mary's mother, Mary of Guise, sends Mary Stuart to France. She is to marry Francis, Dauphin of France.

Till that time Scotland would be ruled in a Regency and Mary Stuart would learn about Royal Court life from a group of able women ranging from Elisabeth of Valois to her maternal grandmother Antoinette de Bourbon, which mary stuart biography book cement in her mind the proper way to be a Sovereign Queen. Mary's marriage to Francis, inmade her heir to become Queen of France.

Francis' death, he was a sickly boy, would lead to her return to Scotland, and here would the fairy tale life of Mary start on its downward trend. From disastrous marriages to conflict with the Scottish nobility to the envy and dislike of Elizabeth, all of these myriad factors will coalesce into an ending that is indeed similar to a Greek tragedy with all the hallmarks of pride, envy, greed, lust, and murder.

In time her actions would cause her to flee Scotland and into Elizabeth's "care" and thus was her doom sealed, as she became a virtual prisoner and in time, under the maliciousness of Walshingham, fell to her own pretensions and pride which would lead to her death. A fascinating, yet tragic, story of a wonderfully interesting young Queen who seemed to have everything going for her.

Masterfully written, informative, and a true pleasure to read. This is how history books ought to be written. The best biography on Mary Stuart's life, no doubt about it. With an objective narrative, the author describes without passion, her first marriage with the French king Francis II, the murder of her fist husband, Lord Darnley as well as her love affair with Lord Bothwell.

Her long period of captivity is also described with plenty of details as well as the case of the casket letters. Mohammad Ranjbari. Catherine Vamianaki. I'm half way through my second Stefan Zweig book. I don't find this kind of writing anymore. The author gives his readers the gift of time and patience so we can start to feel what it must have been like at that point in history.

You become emotionally involved with the era and can better understand Zweig's characters as real people, giving you an insight we aren't normally privy to in modern writing.

Mary stuart biography book: A thorough guide to the

Just loved it Bibliophiles love to babble on about the importance of empathy in literature. For them, empathy is both input and output of outstanding books. And normally, bibliophile myself, I toe the mary stuart biography book line and agree, because theoretically the argument seems sound and anecdotally I can cite instances of empathy emerging from great works of art.

But I'm an inveterate skeptic: are lovers of literature--both producers and consumers--truly more empathetic? One need look no further than our current landscape in the genre of biography. The explosion of memoir is evidence of egoism, not empathy; most historical biography trends towards hagiography; and celebrity profiles, the peak modern form of the genre, more often mock, or worse, excoriate their subject.

Zweig, however, is an exceptional biographer, and he holds no poison pen. His approach as a biographer is more cheerleader: through all the tribulations of Mary Queen of Scots' life, of which many are arguably of her own devising, he does not cease to believe in and want the best for her. Radical empathy extending centuries backward for a woman of a bygone era, for a woman whom we know ends up on the gallows.

His picture of Mary is drawn truthfully and accurately, beginning with her birth and coronation as Queen of Scotland and the Isles at only 6 days old. Although Mary Stuart's fantastical life, full of murdered husbands, succession disputes, and questionable imprisonment, is easy fodder for any biographer, Zweig brings an effervescent verve to all periods of his subject's life, even those of relative inactivity.

This page clunker is an absolute page-turner, which it would certainly not be if written by a less skilled author. Zweig also manages to evade ahistoricism, a common mistake of biographers. Then married Bothwell, which also makes no sense politically. Guy "maries stuart biography book" that Mary must have chosen to marry Bothwell because of her energetic, proud demeanor would never let her forgive someone who raped her Then she runs to Elizabeth, which also made no sense politically.

So without family or a close circle vying for her interests, Mary, being young and beautiful, was run over by incredibly aggressive men and lead into political traps, never really knowing who to trust. She makes an interesting historical figure because of her dramatic lineage and how her son ultimately ascended to the English throne, but in life she must have been haughty, in abusive relationships and sad.

Also- Can you really call her a queen if she never effectively ruled and spent her who life in some sort of captivity? Mary was in my estimation was still a nitwit, but I enjoyed this book immensely. Mary Queen of Scots, when she's not being muddled up with Mary Tudor, is generally known as a scandalous Queen. She is the emotional, flighty counterpart to Elizabeth I's steely calculation.

John Guy does a wonderful job of rubbishing this stereotypical view. He is obviously a fan of Mary and does his best to show the other, lesser known facets of her character. Unlike her English cousin, Mary became the Queen of Scotland when she was only six days old and she left Scotland to marry the French Dauphin as a young girl. In time, she would become the Queen of France, even if only for a brief, glittering period.

The untimely death of her first husband saw her heading home to claim a throne that she hardly knew, and which was a world away from the sophistication of the French court. It is in the murky, politically and religiously volatile environment of Scotland that Mary's life and fortunes take off. Through murder, intrigue and scandal, Mary was forced to try and negotiate her path as both a female ruler and one of the wrong religion.

Added to this was Mary's relationship with England. As a direct descendant of Henry VII, Mary's claim to the throne was closest to Elizabeth Tudor's and as two Queens in the same island, the relationship between the women was both familial and full of danger. This danger would eventually lead Mary to her end, the part of her life for which she is probably best known today.

John Guy writes a fantastic biography in this book. Entertaining and thorough, he guides his readers through Mary's complex life. The mysteries remaining over the death of Darnley, Mary's second husband, and her third marriage are combed over life a crime novel and he attempts to exonerate her from some of the slurs that have been laid against her over the centuries since her death.

Guy's portrait of Mary is as an intelligent and mostly rather politically astute ruler, who does a largely good job of controlling her nobles and navigating the labyrinth Scotland's tribal society. Her weakness is in choosing her husbands. Unable to even contemplate ruling alone like her cousin, Mary makes bad romantic decisions that erode her power base and respectability.

For anyone who is interested in Tudor-era British history, this book is a great read. For everyone else, Mary Queen of Scots is a vibrant and fascinating character whose direct bloodline still sits on the British throne today. Definitely worth reading about. Jamie Collins. This is a pretty good biography of Mary which staunchly defends her reputation and resents the commonly held belief that Mary was a weak-willed victim of her emotions.

It finds unfair the longstanding unfavorable comparison with her cousin Elizabeth. Mary was born a queen, almost; she inherited the throne of Scotland upon the death of her father when she was six days old. She was the first cousin, once removed, of the childless queen Elizabeth of England, and was the most obvious choice of a successor; as well as the choice Elizabeth initially disliked the least.

Elizabeth felt that actually naming a successor would be "to require me in my own life to set my winding-sheet before my eye", and she never did. She was no more of a religious zealot than was Elizabeth; it was later, during her long imprisonment, when she styled herself a Catholic martyr. Unlike her fellow queen, Mary quickly sought a new alliance through marriage.

She chose her handsome first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley; a match designed to strengthen her claim to the English throne. After less than two years of marriage Mary was in discussion with the lords over the possibility of divorcing him, when he was spectacularly murdered: someone blew up the house in which he was staying AND strangled him.

To the horror of nearly everyone, she promptly married him. A group of Scottish lords revolted against Mary and Bothwell. She was captured and forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son. The author examines the Casket Letters extensively. This was an assortment of unsigned, unaddressed, undated letters purportedly written by Mary, which the Scottish lords put forth as evidence that Mary and Bothwell were lovers who colluded in the murder of Darnley.

The author concludes that the letters were probably written by Mary, but were actually excerpts or drafts of letters she wrote to Bothwell after their marriage, or were in fact from letters she wrote earlier to Darnley. Mary was not convicted of the charges - but neither was she acquitted, and she spent the rest of her life a prisoner in England.

She kept her royal status as a prisoner, with a large staff of servants and attendants and rich food and clothing, but she was often kept in close confinement, and not allowed her usual outdoor exercises. She gained weight and her health deteriorated. Mari Biella. Author 11 books 44 followers. Centuries after her execution, Mary Queen of Scots remains one of the most divisive and enigmatic figures in British history.

Was she manipulated and betrayed by those around her? Or was she conniving, untrustworthy, and perhaps even a party to the murder of her own husband? Those wanting to find out the truth insofar as "the truth" can be recovered after so much time could do far worse than to read John Guy's scholarly, masterful biography. Guy presents Mary as a sympathetic, generous woman who was actually — for a short period, at least — also rather a shrewd political leader.

The Scotland of which she was Queen was a divided place, torn apart by competing religious, political and familial factions. She lacked the support of a loyal nobility one of the considerable advantages possessed by Queen Elizabeth, who is, of necessity, also a major presence in the book. She perhaps did well to hold the country together for as long as she did.

Where did it all go wrong for Mary? Perhaps it all began with her marriage to Darnley — a good husband from the vantage point of a monarch who wanted to bolster her claim to the English throne, but a disastrous one from a personal perspective. Darnley was selfish, mary stuart biography book, and an inveterate plotter, and while Mary almost certainly had no direct involvement in his assassination — she actually stood to lose a great deal from his death — she could hardly have been expected to mourn the passing of a man who had proved such a disappointment to her.

It was, though, with her marriage to Bothwell that Mary's tottering reign began to utterly crumble. Bothwell himself is presented as a more rounded figure than is usual — both rough and smooth, he could boast a French education and was charming when it suited him, but he also placed personal ambition far above his feelings for Mary. By marrying him, Mary hoped to unite her factious nobles; in fact, she just exacerbated the country's internal divisions, and probably sealed her own doom.

Whatever Mary's flaws and mistakes, however, she ultimately comes across as a warm-hearted, well-rounded woman who might — had things been just slightly different — have been a uniting, rather than a dividing, force. Her accomplishments are not glossed over: despite her personal commitment to Catholicism, she was tolerant of differing views the same cannot always be said of her opponents, most notably the Protestant preacher John Knox.

During her brief reign, she could on occasion be every bit as astute a politician as Elizabeth, which counters her usual image as a woman ruled by her heart rather than her head. Ultimately, though, this was a woman destroyed by in-fighting, political machinations, and the misogyny of her own times. Well worth a read for anyone interested in this most charismatic of monarchs, or in Scottish or British history in general.

Carolyn Harris. Author 7 books 68 followers. A well researched and well written biography of Mary, Queen of Scots that analyzes her approach to queenship and does not dismiss her as a "femme fatale. There is some strong analysis of the similarities and differences between Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I as monarchs. I disagreed with Guy's analysis of Mary's relationship with her third husband Lord Bothwell, however.

Guy argues that Mary was kidnapped against her will by Lord Bothwell but that he quickly won her over and she became "a fool for love. The chapters about Mary's imprisonment in England go by quickly and this section could have been expanded. A good biography, when read in conjunction with other works about Mary, Queen of Scots. I'll admit it: the reason I wanted to read this book is because I watch and love the CW show "Reign," which is loosely based on the life of Mary, Queen of Scots.

How loosely? Pretty darn. But one thing is the same-I am Team Mary forever and ever, amen. She may occasionally make some pretty bad decisions about her love life, but that doesn't change my love for her. She was an awesome lady. And if everyone around her hadn't sucked so much if you don't believe me, read the book. They were all the absolute worst she would probably have been an awesome queen.

The book itself is an impressive achievement. I'll admit to taking almost 2 months to read it, but most of that is because the sheer depth of the detail doesn't allow you to give it a quick read. John Guy obviously dedicated a lot of his time to researching and writing this, and if you read it, you'll have to invest some time as well. But it's totally worth it!

And not just because you will look smart carrying it around. Biographies are not typically my "thing. Author 3 books followers. An essential element of any historical biographer's task is to put colour into the cheeks of their subject, which Professor Guy effects with aplomb in this meticulously penned tome. This queen, who has for centuries polarised commentariats, is a personal favourite, this being the twenty-something book of her I've relished.

Each biographer depicts her as predominantly innocent or guilty. This one is firmly on Mary's side and puts his case supremely. Much has been powerfully theorised on the potential forgery of her incriminating 'casket letters' with as much effectively arguing their authenticity. We'll never know for sure, without some revelation becoming unearthed.

Such are the tantalising dynamics of the relationship between this and her cousin queen and executioner Elizabeth I, of whom similarly divided thought tribes have evolved for similar reasons. Both queens have benefited and suffered from each other's propagandists. In the face of excellent wider reception, this author has by some been unfairly accused of being as enamoured with Mary Stuart as her contemporary devotees were, his detractors complaining of his bias in her favour.

Mary stuart biography book: Jon Guy provides a compelling

Yet septuagenarian Professor Guy, who read history at Cambridge before teaching there, is a veteran historian of the highest order. He is as entitled, perhaps more so than his armchair critics, to an informed opinion. It never fails to baffle me, reading critiques from those a half or quarter Guy's age, qualifying their pickiness citing not a single academic endowment of their own — I'm not talking critiques of his style but of his capacity to know his material — just how ferociously opinionated today's readers still find themselves on this dividing monarch.

The bare facts still trigger kneejerk moral reactions to her legendary deeds. I agree with John Guy on the reality of Mary of Scots' personally redeeming qualities. Without a religious agenda to my name and having equal fondness for her archrival, Elizabeth, I too have always kept an open mind on Mary's broader innocence and have consistently concluded that, like so many martyrs of her age put to death for treason, she cannot have been entirely guilty of everything charged against her.

Such was the politico-judicial machine's modus operandi and still is. Evidence is, and always was to some degree, controlled, manipulated and confected by those in power over any such accused. Nor can any rational apologist concede Mary's total innocence anyone so unjustly imprisoned for so long would have plotted towards their liberty on whatever ethical ground presented itself.

The truth, as always, must lie somewhere in the centre. I once more concluded, nevertheless, that here was an extremely likeable woman. One I still find intriguing enough to keep reading on as more gets written with the sophistry of modern research. One I remain unable to side either with or against. It's a stimulating position. Highly recommend this book, especially to the unbigoted.

Brittany Nelson. Indeed, I did enjoy the first pages. It established Mary as a complete capable as a political player, whereas she is usually seen as tone deaf to politics. While also pointing out her flaws, like to trustworthy of people she considered family. It shows her dealing with Elizabeth and also setting up her band of councilors and battling the different factions in Scotland.

After her marriage to Lord Darnley, his strength in painting her as a character falls apart. He cannot define her as he wants to and he loses focus. Further, his view on Bothwell is just wrong. She was kidnapped. He stops trying to read her as a human at this point and the book really suffers because of this. Rape culture is everywhere.

You can easily read her history after as a psychology of a rape victim. They want to paint her as an idiot instead. The chapters on the different views and the Casket Letters really should have been in end notes. Things that are more significant to her life. However, what really ruins the book is the epilogue, which basically asserts Mary just needed the right man and she could rule.

When do we ever say that to a male king? Second, after pointing out that Elizabeth was not this plainly mindful ruler and she did have a heart. Also, not painting her as perfect with her associations with Mary and also talking about how Elizabeth did want Mary dead - whereas most books paint it as somehow not her fault. He clears Elizabeth of all guilt of her dealings with Mary, saying that Cecil was her main antagonist.

I guess I will just have to keep searching for an actually sympathetic biography of Mary Stuart, even if I have to write it myself. John Guy was very meticulous and detailed in the life of this "mary stuart biography book" yet tragic Queen. As a read, however, it was a little dense. Probably should have sat and dedicated time to simply listening to it, rather than listening to it when doing my make up, tidying and so on.

Nevertheless, very detailed and very interesting. Mary, Queen of Scots is a figure who has always interested me thanks Reign and it was nice to get this insight into her life, her family, her relationships and her reign. I read non-academic non-fiction to get away from all the academic non-fiction I have to read for uni but John Guy was like "Let me bring academia to you!

The author knows what he's talking about but he is also a man in academia who wrote this in — so I have some criticisms. To preface, I am a gender and women's history student first and foremost and am of course going to be a little sad that you could tell Guy spent not nearly enough time mary stuart biography book about what being a Queen and more specifically being a woman in the s was like, because yes, Mary was Scottish, she was Catholic, she made bad decisions but above all, the one thing that was against her from the start, was that she was a woman.

Guy talks a lot about those other factors but doesn't even try to delve into the "oh god, a woman wanting to reign?? Gender history's scary! So much thinking and reevaluating to do! Especially in ! But for a historian who tells us again and again and once more how he is turning over so many new pages in his research, looking at things in a way no one has done before, I feel like saying "well gender history hadn't been as established back then" is just an easy out.

The book itself was so tedious, oh god. It is a proper biography, meaning after reading it, you will know what courses Mary had to choose to eat from every single day and every other little detail that we could've ever learned about her as a person but you're also left with the question of "did that really need to be included in this pgs book?

Goes without saying, very little space left for proper historic analysis, which if I had to choose one obnoxious trait of academic texts, I would've liked more hypotheses and less menu cards. Especially at the end when you're really just counting pageswe get like a solid 40pgs of the Casket Letters which concludes with "most of it was fake or pieced together falsely anyway".

And then! We don't even get a proper ending with her execution but an epilogue telling us how every other man ever mentioned in this book died. Wild choice. As I've already started the whole "feminist historian" spiel, I feel I have to bring it to its end with the part that really made me dislike the book. It is how Guy talks about Mary's marriage to Bothwell after he's abducted and it's highly probable raped her.

We, of course, can't draw any clear conclusions years later but this is where you can really tell Guy hasn't invested one second into learning about gender or women's studies or has remembered that they're are still women who are being raped today or have been raped in their marriages. I'll just leave these quotes here for you to judge for yourself but they made me extremely uncomfortable, both taken from pg.

As he was not himself continuously there, it cannot seriously be maintained that she was prevented from leaving if she had really wanted to escape. His plays, including the anti-war Jeremiah, were produced throughout Europe. His books were eventually translated into over 50 languages. Today, he is best known for his many works of non-fiction.

He lived in Salzburg with his first wife Friderike untilwhen his books were burned by the Nazis. Inhe emigrated to England where he continued writing and met his second wife Lotte Altmann.

Mary stuart biography book: NOW A MAJOR MOTION

Inthe couple moved to Brazil where they committed suicide in Mary Stuart. Stefan Zweig. Chief persons of the drama. Queen in the Cradle Youth in France Queen Widow and Still Queen Return to Scotland August The Stone Begins to Roll Political Marriage Mart The Path to Murder January 22 to February 9