The House of Stuart: Its Rise and Fall

by Maurice Percy Ashley

237 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1981

About the author

Maurice Percy Ashley, CBE, was a noted historian of the 17th Century and a former editor of The Listener.

Reviews

[Michael Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author generally accepts the "great man" theory of history, so the emphasis in this very readable volume is on the key individuals of the ultimately far-flung Stuart family. From Alan, the dapifer (steward) of Dol in Normandy in the 12th century, to Robert II, first Stuart King of Scots, to Henry Stuart, Cardinal of York, who was proclaimed "Henry IX" by his adherents and who died childless in Rome in 1807, the Stuart dynasty had probably a greater impact (intentional and otherwise) on the social and political development of Great Britain than any other of its ruling houses. Lacking notes and other scholarly apparatus, this is recommended simply as a first reader on the House of Stuart.