The First Trial of Mary, Queen of Scots
Author | : Gordon Donaldson |
Publisher | : New York : Stein and Day |
Total Pages | : 286 |
Release | : 1969 |
ISBN-10 | : UOM:49015000246372 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (72 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: The Trial of 1568-9 is perhaps the most neglected period of Mary's life. Before it, she had been a girl in France, the romantic queen in Scotland: after it, she became the prematurely ageing captive, the royal martyr. During the crucial period of change, we see the Mary of flesh and blood, less attractive but no less fascinating: the figutive from justice, accused of adultery and murder; her life in peril from her own subjects, yet bent on vengeance; ready to abandon Bothwell for whom she had given up so much, ready also to accept Anglicanism as a condition of her restoration. Perhaps because she had so much to gain as well as so much to lose, Mary has fascinated readers as few other women in history have.