Mary Queen of Scots

by Antonia Fraser

book data

683 ratings, 3.80 average rating, 58 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		21%
4		43%
3		30%
2		4%
1		0%

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published

September 1st 1993 (first published 1969) by Delta

binding

Paperback, 640 pages

isbn

038531129X (isbn13: 9780385311298)

description

Author of Marie Antoinette

She was the quintessential queen: statuesque, regal, dazzlingly beautiful. Her royal birth gave her claim to the thrones of ...more

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04/30/08

Bap rated it:

bookshelves: biography

I hesitate recommending this book because the writing is often dull and the author has an annoying habit of placing latin and french quotes without a translation. But in the end I do recommend this book because the story of Mary Queen of Scots tragic life is compelling. Twice a Queen, first of France than of Scotland. Mary was almost six foot tall in an age when five feet for woman was average. Beautiful, athletic, pampered, intelligent, naive and a magnet for misfortune. Her first husband ...more

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06/30/09

Ruth Ann rated it:

Read in January, 2006

Antonia Fraser is one of my favorite authors. This book about the fabled Mary Queen of Scots is a real heartbreaker--like that poor Other Boleyn Girl a generation earlier, Mary Queen of Scots was used and then abused by the people who were supposed to support and protect her.

Unlike Mary Boleyn, she did not have the smarts to survive the intrigues of nobility. Time after time, she chose the wrong man to champion her, took the low road, and antagonized people who could have helped her....more

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03/02/09

Lynne-marie rated it:

Read in May, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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10/20/08

Jennifer rated it:

Read in October, 2008

I have to admit that before reading this, I mainly knew Mary Queen of Scots from the film Elizabeth, where she was presented in a minor part as a sensual French Catholic traitor prolonging a bloody war with England.
In actuality, her story is almost more fascinating than that of Elizabeth, her cousin: Mary serves as Queen of France until her husband the King dies, when they're both barely 20. She returns to Scotland as Queen. But Scotland is still very medieval, plus it's protestant and she...more I have to admit that before reading this, I mainly knew Mary Queen of Scots from the film Elizabeth, where she was presented in a minor part as a sensual French Catholic traitor prolonging a bloody war with England.
In actuality, her story is almost more fascinating than that of Elizabeth, her cousin: Mary serves as Queen of France until her husband the King dies, when they're both barely 20. She returns to Scotland as Queen. But Scotland is still very medieval, plus it's protestant and she's Catholic, which pits her against many of the ruling nobles, even though she shows herself to be tolerant of her Protestant subjects.
Her undoing is her private life: Her second husband is murdered leaving her a widow again, and more importantly to those seeking power, single and free to remarry. One of her advisers takes advantage of this, kidnapping her (probably with her knowledge) and then to ensure she will marry him and make him king, he rapes her. This all leads to her removal from the Scottish throne and eventual imprisonment and beheading.
And those are just the cliff notes.
This is my second Antonia Fraser book and now i see her pattern as a historian who's out to clear the name, or at least explain, some of the most hated/misunderstood women in history. In both books, she puts herself on the side of the queen, explaining their actions, defending them from some of their harshest critics, though she also does acknowledge their faults.
But it seems necessary. Mary's problems during her reign of Scotland can be attributed as much to the fact that she was a woman as that she was Catholic.
It's fascinating to think about Mary, a ruling women in the 16th century whose marriages proved her undoing and led to her beheading, versus Elizabeth, who ruled in the same time but never married (never sharing her power) and had a far more successful reign that ended in natural death. Obviously, there were many other factors at play - they were very different women, Mary more trusting, Elizabeth more guarded. Mary was a Catholic in a Protestant land, whereas Elizabeth shared the religion of her subjects. But still, it shows the vulnerabilities of being a female ruler during a time when marriage, not elections, was the key to gaining power.
One of Fraser's greatest strengths is how she delves into who these women were so that they become three-dimensional and so that it's more like reading a novel than a history book. Mary read, not romances like Marie Antionette, but history books, Greek and Latin classics. She had long beautiful fingers, long auburn hair or sometimes wigs.
One of the most compelling parts was the section where Fraser described Mary's last night before being beheaded. It's as if we're in the room with Mary as she's deciding who should get what of hers, waiting to see what she will do in her last few hours. And we see how in the end she transforms herself from merely a wronged queen into a stoic Catholic martyr.
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03/06/09

Kelly marked it as to-read

bookshelves: history-to-read, to-read

I want to read this because I want to answer the question, 'Why is everyone so fascinated by this damn woman??'. I've never liked her. I've always thought she was stupid, petty, petulant and self-indulgent. I pity her, but I've never respected her in the least. She seems to have some rabid fans. I'm curious as to why. Perhaps Fraser, whose voice I really like in her stories of Henry VIII's wives, will be able to explain it to me.

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11/06/08

Wayne marked it as to-read

bookshelves: history, memoirs-biography, to-read

recommended to Wayne by: marie antoinette..also a head loser!!!
recommends it for: History Passionates

Did she or didn't she??....assist in the gruesome murder of her husband,the spoilt obnoxious Lord Darnley?
She certainly married one of his murderers!!

I read "The Crime of Mary Stuart" by George Malcolm Thomson,who delves into the Casket Letters, and thought Mary looked pretty much incriminated by available evidence and in ONLY 180 pages!!!

Because of George's book, I've had Antonia's book sitting on my shelf for years, reluctant to read what I perceived to...more

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01/02/09

Elizabeth rated it:

I'm sure I would have found this fascinating, had I not been overconfident of my abilities at 2 am. I tried to read this while feeding a newborn, it didn't work. The fault is entirely my own ... for what I was able to comprehend, it was extraordinarily well written and researched. Maybe someday when my sanity has returned, I'll read it again.

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01/28/09

Jeanette rated it:

Again, a tragic figure who was as much the victim as the antagonizer. It makes me wonder what our history and what we would be like if she had lived and Elizabeth had died.

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06/22/09

Angie Simonton rated it:

bookshelves: hisorical-biographies, tudor-england-history

Antonia Fraser is an awesome historical biographer. I put this on my "Tudor" bookshelf because she was Elizabeth I's first cousin, and her son inherited Elizabeth's crown.

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05/24/09

Amy is currently reading it (review of isbn 2971777375)

bookshelves: currently-reading

So far I like the way Antonia Fraser goes about things...brisk but factual, leaving you with the impression that she really has done her research. We'll see if it lasts!

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07/02/08

Amy rated it:

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: students of history, feminists

Though one must read this book with a slightly knowing eye as the author clearly seeks out to redeem Mary Stuart's reputation, it is well-written, beautifully-researched, and quite engaging. Mary Stuart lived a fascinating life, far more interesting and eventful than any soap-opera or fiction writer could come up with. Though the book isn't entirely objective, the author does a good job of describing the different versions and/or myths about Mary's life, and explaining why she believes her versi...more

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11/24/08

Amelia rated it:

A little slow in places, but in general it's a good read. I love history.

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08/31/07

Naomi rated it:

bookshelves: воображение, детская-литература, история

Read in January, 1986

I remember sitting up on the toilet all night reading this book because that was the only room I could legitimately have the light on. I hardly remember the story, but remember the feeling and urgency I had in reading it. When I went to Edinburough I stumbled across the castle that she and her husband lived in and where she is said to have cooked up the plan to murder him. It was just a ruin but I loved wandering around the rooms (and the bedchamber with the quant little gaurdiroom to the side) ...more

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