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Die Gefahren der Ehe : Elisabeth von England und Maria Stuart
Die fesselnde Geschichte zweier außergewöhnlicher Frauen, wie sie gegensätzlicher nicht sein können - Anka Muhlstein erzählt in ihrem spannenden Bestseller das Leben der Königinnen Elisabeth I. und Maria Stuart, erzählt von ihrer Suche nach Anerkennung und Liebe und von ihrem Kampf um die Macht in Europa am Beginn der Neuzeit. Sie sind Cousinen, und beide sind mit demselben Problem konfrontiert: sich zu verheiraten und ihrem Land - England bzw. Schottland - einen Erben zu hinterlassen. Elisabeth, die Frau der politischen Macht, ordnet sich keinem Mann unter, Maria Stuart geht drei Ehen ein. Ihr Leben im 16. Jahrhundert wird zu einem düsteren Kapitel der Weltgeschichte, bestimmt von Liebe, Haß und Intrigen.
350 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
5 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
About the author
Anka Muhlstein
35 books26 followersAnka Muhlstein was born in Paris in 1935. She has published biographies of Queen Victoria, James de Rothschild, Cavelier de La Salle, and Astolphe de Custine, a study on Catherine de Médicis, Marie de Médicis, and Anne of Austria, and a double biography, Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart. She is currently writing a volume on Proust as a reader. She has won two prizes from the Académie Française, and the Goncourt Prize for Biography. She and her husband, Louis Begley, have written a book on Venice, Venice for Lovers. They live in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 17, 2021
"Die Gefahren der Ehe" handelt von der Biographie zweier sehr unterschiedlicher Frauen, beide mächtig und zu großem bestimmt. Der Weg den sie wählen, könnte jedoch unterschiedlicher nicht sein. Ich war sehr beeindruckt von diesem Porträt, vor allem im Vergleich zueinander. Da ich mich mit der britischen Geschichte nicht soo gut auskenne, waren die vielen Namen, die hier eine Rolle spielen, etwas anstrengend, aber ich habe wirklich viel und spannende Dinge gelernt.
Spannend war auch nicht nur, wie die beiden Königinnen damals gesehen wurden, sondern auch, wie ihr Bild in der Zeit nach ihrem Tod (bis heute) verzerrt wurde.
Spannend war auch nicht nur, wie die beiden Königinnen damals gesehen wurden, sondern auch, wie ihr Bild in der Zeit nach ihrem Tod (bis heute) verzerrt wurde.
December 17, 2017
In 16th century Europe, marriage among powerful rulers were dicey political dramas. Uniting two kingdoms through matrimony meant potentially pissing off two or three other players, upending the balance of power and setting off a chain reaction of riots, war, upheaval...
In this dual biography, the author focuses on Elizabeth I, queen of England, and Mary Stuart, queen of Scots. These two contemporaries, whose fates were intertwined, ruled as contemporaries but had very different styles.
Elizabeth, the only daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was a canny politician from the start and never married. Instead, she strings along a series of potential suitors, playing her cards close to the sleeve and remaining cagey and illusive to keep her rivals on their toes and power firmly within her grasp. She manages to secure a relatively peaceful reign, mostly, it seems, through inaction, shrewdly suppressing her personal desires in favor of political realities.
Mary Stuart, Elizabeth's cousin and the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland, marries three times and each marriage is more disastrous than the one before. She's also sharp, but lacks Elizabeth's self-restraint. Three times she finds herself escaping from looming disaster on horseback in the middle of the night. Even when imprisoned in England, she never ceases to stop scheming. It ultimately costs her her head.
Over the centuries, Elizabeth I's and Mary Stuart's reputations have undergone many makeovers by historians who inevitably reflect the biases of their own eras. For awhile, Mary Stuart was held up as the feminine ideal, the woman who was ruled by her heart and was willing gamble everything for true love, while Elizabeth was portrayed as either an ugly, power-hungry spinster for refusing to become a wife and mother, or an immoral harlot who slept around and only pretended to be chaste. The author notes that at one point there was even a conspiracy that Elizabeth was actually a man in drag, so unbelievable was the thought of a woman wielding power and commanding respect.
I bought this book on a whim from a local thrift store, assumed it would be boring but informative, and ended up reading its 400-plus pages in three days. The writing is engaging and contemporary, with just enough historical background to keep me intrigued. Now I want to read up on some of the side characters. The reign of these queens foreshadowed the coming of the 30 years war, so there was also a lot on Catholicism vs Protestantism. I can see many directions for further reading.
Finally, it was impossible for me to read this and not think of today's world...how far women have come yet how so much remains the same. More confirmation, as I tell myself again and again, that if I want to understand my own world I need to keep reading backward in time.
In this dual biography, the author focuses on Elizabeth I, queen of England, and Mary Stuart, queen of Scots. These two contemporaries, whose fates were intertwined, ruled as contemporaries but had very different styles.
Elizabeth, the only daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was a canny politician from the start and never married. Instead, she strings along a series of potential suitors, playing her cards close to the sleeve and remaining cagey and illusive to keep her rivals on their toes and power firmly within her grasp. She manages to secure a relatively peaceful reign, mostly, it seems, through inaction, shrewdly suppressing her personal desires in favor of political realities.
Mary Stuart, Elizabeth's cousin and the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland, marries three times and each marriage is more disastrous than the one before. She's also sharp, but lacks Elizabeth's self-restraint. Three times she finds herself escaping from looming disaster on horseback in the middle of the night. Even when imprisoned in England, she never ceases to stop scheming. It ultimately costs her her head.
Over the centuries, Elizabeth I's and Mary Stuart's reputations have undergone many makeovers by historians who inevitably reflect the biases of their own eras. For awhile, Mary Stuart was held up as the feminine ideal, the woman who was ruled by her heart and was willing gamble everything for true love, while Elizabeth was portrayed as either an ugly, power-hungry spinster for refusing to become a wife and mother, or an immoral harlot who slept around and only pretended to be chaste. The author notes that at one point there was even a conspiracy that Elizabeth was actually a man in drag, so unbelievable was the thought of a woman wielding power and commanding respect.
I bought this book on a whim from a local thrift store, assumed it would be boring but informative, and ended up reading its 400-plus pages in three days. The writing is engaging and contemporary, with just enough historical background to keep me intrigued. Now I want to read up on some of the side characters. The reign of these queens foreshadowed the coming of the 30 years war, so there was also a lot on Catholicism vs Protestantism. I can see many directions for further reading.
Finally, it was impossible for me to read this and not think of today's world...how far women have come yet how so much remains the same. More confirmation, as I tell myself again and again, that if I want to understand my own world I need to keep reading backward in time.
November 10, 2024
I relished this double biography of my favourite two historical figures, vastly superior to others I've read.
Ankha Muhlstein's exquisite voice took a couple of short chapters to shape my mind around, but that initial perseverance was more than worth the patience. Like other French born authors I so admire, her distinct erudite English, once briefly accustomed to, shines from the pages, a literary treat that retains academic soundness. Her word economy is excellent, her sense of form sublime.
Unlike popular favourites like Lady Antonia Fraser and Alison Weir, who are perhaps more able to ride on past success as they progress through lengthy careers, lesser-known historians must work harder to strike and maintain that delicate balance of high calibre referencing with engaging literary style. Few succeed as well as this writer, as qualified and experienced as the divas but perhaps just less drawn to the spotlight.
The narrative alternates, chapter and verse, between the two queens, dipping randomly into each one's perspective. This makes for an edifying comparison of two starkly contrasting icons who never met, their inextricable lives vividly juxtaposed in perpetual hindsight.
That I have never felt able to side with one queen or the other is perhaps what keeps me intrigued to dig ever deeper into their history. Despite both their personal shortcomings Mary is so irresistibly likeable, Elizabeth so formidably astute. Each became legendary. Both deserve the respect that saw them immortalised in marble, side by side in Westminster Abbey.
A gripping journey all the way (if slow at the outset, the stage is thereby well set, with all background thoroughly fleshed out). The couple of brief editorial mishaps, typos which are not the author's fault, are forgivable in such a magnificent tome.
Loved this masterful piece of storytelling, meticulously detailed and faultlessly accurate, will definitely be tempted to read more of this author's historical biographies whatever the subject.
Seriously impressive.
Ankha Muhlstein's exquisite voice took a couple of short chapters to shape my mind around, but that initial perseverance was more than worth the patience. Like other French born authors I so admire, her distinct erudite English, once briefly accustomed to, shines from the pages, a literary treat that retains academic soundness. Her word economy is excellent, her sense of form sublime.
Unlike popular favourites like Lady Antonia Fraser and Alison Weir, who are perhaps more able to ride on past success as they progress through lengthy careers, lesser-known historians must work harder to strike and maintain that delicate balance of high calibre referencing with engaging literary style. Few succeed as well as this writer, as qualified and experienced as the divas but perhaps just less drawn to the spotlight.
The narrative alternates, chapter and verse, between the two queens, dipping randomly into each one's perspective. This makes for an edifying comparison of two starkly contrasting icons who never met, their inextricable lives vividly juxtaposed in perpetual hindsight.
That I have never felt able to side with one queen or the other is perhaps what keeps me intrigued to dig ever deeper into their history. Despite both their personal shortcomings Mary is so irresistibly likeable, Elizabeth so formidably astute. Each became legendary. Both deserve the respect that saw them immortalised in marble, side by side in Westminster Abbey.
A gripping journey all the way (if slow at the outset, the stage is thereby well set, with all background thoroughly fleshed out). The couple of brief editorial mishaps, typos which are not the author's fault, are forgivable in such a magnificent tome.
Loved this masterful piece of storytelling, meticulously detailed and faultlessly accurate, will definitely be tempted to read more of this author's historical biographies whatever the subject.
Seriously impressive.
November 20, 2017
ausgezeichnet!!
February 17, 2021
Gut zu lesen. Hat Spaß gemacht!
March 2, 2025
It's an entertaining read, but there are a few factual errors:
1) Henry VII did not marry the widowed Catherine of Aragon to Prince Henry after the death of Arthur. Henry married Catherine once he became King.
2) Princess Mary Tudor was never the "Princess of Wales." That title applies to the wife of the Prince of Wales.
3) We don't use the "r" word to decribe kids with delays. Not even in the blighted bad old days of 2007.
That said, it's as fast-paced as a novel, with beatuiful poetic turns of phrase, and genuine sympathy for the errors of the principals. But the title is misleading. This is a dual *biography*, and not a discussion of marriage in the 16th century. We peek between our fingers at the train wreck that is Mary Stuart's marital disasters, and can feel Cecil rending his garments in frustration at Elizabeth's vacillations (until the menopause put an end to them), but there is no psychological analysis of why Elizabeth, almost alone among women, refused to marry.
Was she really so afraid of hating her own child? Did she notice that having a son was no guarantee of safety (Juana of Castile was imprisoned, Catherine de Medici sidelined until her husband's death, Mary Queen of Scots captured and imprisoned by her own people- no mention of these mothers of sons as being safe.)
For all the hand-wringing of Zweig, Schiller, and even Austen, I prefer the Elizabeth who outwitted her interrogators when she was only 15 and saw through Essex's honeyed words 50 years later.
1) Henry VII did not marry the widowed Catherine of Aragon to Prince Henry after the death of Arthur. Henry married Catherine once he became King.
2) Princess Mary Tudor was never the "Princess of Wales." That title applies to the wife of the Prince of Wales.
3) We don't use the "r" word to decribe kids with delays. Not even in the blighted bad old days of 2007.
That said, it's as fast-paced as a novel, with beatuiful poetic turns of phrase, and genuine sympathy for the errors of the principals. But the title is misleading. This is a dual *biography*, and not a discussion of marriage in the 16th century. We peek between our fingers at the train wreck that is Mary Stuart's marital disasters, and can feel Cecil rending his garments in frustration at Elizabeth's vacillations (until the menopause put an end to them), but there is no psychological analysis of why Elizabeth, almost alone among women, refused to marry.
Was she really so afraid of hating her own child? Did she notice that having a son was no guarantee of safety (Juana of Castile was imprisoned, Catherine de Medici sidelined until her husband's death, Mary Queen of Scots captured and imprisoned by her own people- no mention of these mothers of sons as being safe.)
For all the hand-wringing of Zweig, Schiller, and even Austen, I prefer the Elizabeth who outwitted her interrogators when she was only 15 and saw through Essex's honeyed words 50 years later.
February 6, 2018
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. One of the best dual biographies of Mary and Elizabeth that I have ever read. I have read a lot of books about Mary, Queen of Scots and found this to be one of the most factual books. Although, the book focuses more on Elizabeth than Mary, so heads up on that one.
October 4, 2019
"Die Gefahren der Ehe" steht schon seit Jahren bei mir im Regal und nachdem ich mich endlich dazu aufgerafft habe es zu lesen, weiß ich auch warum. Der Schreibstil hat das Thema nicht wirklich interessant rübergebracht und insgesamt habe ich aus dem Buch nichts neues gelernt.
February 11, 2016
I'm sure this is an excellent biography of these two queens. I certainly enjoyed reading it. I found the reading level to be quite accessible and the style to be easy to follow. My trouble with this book was that I did not have enough interest in the subject for the level of detail and length of the book. But for anyone looking to learn more about these two queens and how the subject of marriage influenced each life and reign, this is certainly a book to read.
April 21, 2011
This is one of the better biographies of Elizabeth Tudor and Mary Stuart that I have stumbled upon. Told in an endearing fashion, this book provides an insight into the impact that men played in the lives of these two rival queens who we considered to be polar opposites in the realm of love.
October 20, 2012
I am into biographies and this did not disappoint me. Anka Muhlstein wrote a double biography of Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, describing their lives decade by decade. I highly recomment this bock!
October 21, 2011
Book was written in a way tha kept my attention. Really enjoyed reading this book.
December 7, 2024
Full of inaccuracies. Thoroughly disappointed.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews