Mary Queen of Scots

The life and death of Mary Stuart remains one of the most movingly tragic life stories I know. More than fifty-five years after publication, and forty years after I picked up a copy at a library sale but only now got around to reading, Antonia Fraser’s biography is apparently still the best “life and times” for the general reader. Fraser provides a readable narrative, covering Mary’s mistakes yet remaining overall sympathetic. As far as I can tell, she also did an impressive amount of research, resulting in a detailed narrative that runs 555 pages without counting an appendix, notes, and index. That makes for a thick book, perhaps one reason it took me so long to set aside the time to read it. And even now, I’ll confess I show more skimmed her discussion of the casket letters, crucial though they are to how one views Mary. I took in enough of Fraser’s discussion to trust her conclusion at the end of the chapter.
Fraser presents Mary as an attractive personality. She had barely been born when her father died, making her queen of Scotland. Her actual reign was brief, though, starting when she returned, still a teenager, as the widowed dowager queen of France. It did not go well, but what are you to do if you are destined by birth to rule an ungovernable country?
Perhaps Mary’s worst blunder was when she escaped her Scottish imprisonment and fled to England rather than France. This presented her cousin Elizabeth with an intractable problem whose solution seems inevitable in retrospect. For Many was, in addition to being the deposed queen of Scotland and the dowager queen of France, the next in line to the throne of England. A fatal complication was that Mary was Catholic. Thus, in the eyes of all the English who clung to the old faith, she—and not the excommunicated Elizabeth— already was the legitimate queen. As long as Mary remained alive, she was thus a factor in every plot to assassinate Elizabeth.
This led to framing a law that made not only assassins but also those in whose name they concocted their plots guilty of treason. Clearly, the law was meant to bring the downfall of only one person, leading to a trial that Fraser calls “one of the strangest judicial proceedings in the history of the British Isles.”
In a chapter entitled “The Uses of Adversity,” Fraser describes how Mary’s character was deepened by the long years of captivity in ways typical of the long line of imprisoned philosopher-monarchs. She also shows how Mary ensured that the death she knew she could not escape would fit the pattern of “the classic Christian manner of martyrdom and triumph.”
To that extent, Mary won. Her execution remains a blot on Elizabeth’s reputation. Meanwhile, as Fraser points out, all subsequent British monarchs, beginning with Mary’s son James, have descended from her, not Elizabeth.
My only reservation about Fraser’s portrayal of this remarkable person is that Mary comes off as more modern than the times in which she lived. She is clearly Fraser’s kind of Catholic — tolerant, discrete, yet unwavering. Fraser’s sympathy for Mary makes not only Elizabeth but even more so Scottish reformer John Knox inimical to her. Perhaps Fraser has accurately depicted Mary (she presents her case convincingly). But it’s also true that biographies inform us not only about their subjects but also about their authors. show less

Antonia Fraser’s biography tells the story of Mary Queen of Scots, whom the cover bills as the most tragic and romantic figure in history. Mary’s story is told with sympathy but not uncritically; Fraser discusses all aspects of Mary’s character and deals with other major figures, such as Elizabeth I and even Bothwell (Mary’s third husband, the chief suspect in the murder of her second husband), fairly. Her writing is fluid and her footnotes deployed to maximum effect, highlighting areas where she had done extra research or where scholarship was contentious, and recommending other works on certain areas of Scottish history.

This is a comprehensive and deeply moving biography; I was crying during the last chapter, when Mary was show more executed. The detail that underscores the tragedy was Mary’s dog: the Skye terrier had been smuggled in under her skirts, and after its mistress was executed it got out and sat unconsolably whimpering between Mary’s head and her decapitated body.

I highly recommend this biography; even though there may be new scholarship about Mary, given that this was published in 1969, it is a vivid, sensitive and thoughtful portrait of Scotland's best-known queen. show less

I had to read a biography of Mary Queen of Scots to get my facts straight after watching the confusing/unreliable/unfortunate Hollywood film about Mary's life. I'm so glad that I picked up Fraser's biography, because not only did I learn a ton about Mary, but it has also seemed to serve as a gateway drug to get me hooked on reading biographies. The history surrounding this controversial queen gets downright messy at times, which makes for a ridiculously entertaining read. Fraser is favourably biased towards her subject, so expect a sympathetic portrayal of the Queen with some other characters blatantly painted as villains.

Quite a tome to get through with its long sentences and extensive paragraphs of pure exposition (thus the 4 stars, not 5). Having said that, the book was still worth reading. I learned so much about Mary, which was easy to do since I knew nothing when I started -- only her fictionalized Royal Diary, which is how I got hooked on this historical figure. The following comment is not a spoiler since we all know how it ends... but the book was so sad. I'd gotten to know her and like her, and her demise was painful.

My next books will be Jane Dunn's "Elizabeth & Mary" and Andrew Pettegree's "Brand Luther" to understand more about the Protestant Reformation, which was such a huge factor in her story.

Fraser's biography of Mary Queen of Scots is both exhaustive and entertaining to read. She details the life of Mary chronologically, starting with her birth (including some background on her father and mother) through her childhood in France, her brief reign as Queen of France, and her departure for Scotland where she had technically been Queen since the age of 9 months.

In Scotland Fraser studies the dynamics of a staunchly Catholic Queen trying to rule a newly Protestant country. Mary asked to be able to worship in private but never tried to make alliances to overthrow the Protestants and accepted their counsel. Her reign in Scotland is full of turmoil, especially after she marries Henry, Lord Darnley. His murder and the subsequent show more events (her marriage to Bothwell and imprisonment in Scotland) are gone through in detail to dispel the rumors that have abounded since this happened in the 1500s.

The third half of Mary's life is her imprisonment in England. Fraser examines the various plots, real or imagined, to free Mary and her adoption by Catholics as a martyr. Of course, Mary ends up being beheaded at Queen Elizabeth's order after a sham of a trial which is also explored at length.

I thought this was an excellent biography. I found it highly readable but scholarly at the same time. Recommended to anyone who like historical biographies and/or British history. show less

The ultimate cautionary tale about marrying a man just because he is taller than you, this biography is a testament to the Fraser's meticulous research and the immediacy of her writing (and also the unfortunate mess that seems to be Mary's tragic life, seriously, just the worst luck coupled with terrible decision-making) that even as I was reading and finished reading about events from five centuries ago, I was and still am holding out hope that the story will end differently. Even though it is distinctively less objective - the style is decidedly on the side of a long profile piece in the lift-out magazine of the weekend newspaper, (o)ver(l)y sympathetic and apotheosising - than her later work on Marie-Antoinette, it is nonetheless show more detailed, educational and eminently readable.

Aside #1: Apparently there is a movie of Mary-Elizabeth coming out this year. Current casting aside, as if Ronan would not make a luminous Elizabeth I, instead of what currently looks to be a Helena-Bonham-Carter-in-Alice-in-Wonderland-inspired caricature. As for Mary, Queen of Scots, (who Fraser reports is five feet eleven, just over 180cm), who could possibly play a tall, red-haired Scottish queen with renowned complexion, as if not Amy Pond!

Aside #2, exciting link to my favourite (Decca) Mitford: The Chatsworth House, one of the many places in which Mary was kept prisoner, was the Chatsworth of sister Debo Mitford's duchess life! show less

Antonia Fraser's classic biography is divided into three parts, for Mary's time in France, in Scotland, and in England.
For Fraser, Mary was a gentle, charitable soul totally unprepared by her French education and upbringing for the treacherous snakepit she found in Scotland. She made two big mistakes in her life, marrying Darnley and acquiescing to the Babington plot -- though by then after 18 years' imprisonment she was desperate.

Although like everyone I was familiar with the broad outline of her life, this thorough biography placed it all in context giving me at least a much better understanding of the background to Mary's time in France and Scotland. Although she does not indulge in the romanticism of some Marians, nevertheless, I show more found Fraser's account of Mary's last days and her execution unexpectedly moving. show less