- Paperback: 640 pages
- Publisher: Pimlico (5 Feb 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0712664564
- ISBN-13: 978-0712664561
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
215,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #49 in Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > Historians > Weir, Alison
- #54 in Books > History > Britain & Ireland > British Heads of State > Mary I
Mary Queen Of Scots: And the Murder of Lord Darnley
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The prolific Scottish historian Alison Weir, in her new book Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley, grapples painstakingly with a mystery that has dogged history for centuries.
At midnight on February 9 1567, a violent explosion ripped apart Kirk o’Field, the Edinburgh residence of Lord Darnley, the 20-year-old King and second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. His unmarked body was found lying under a tree, together with that of his valet. The cause of his death and its perpetrators have remained obscured since that night, though Mary was a prime suspect in her husband's murder. Her apparent apathy regarding the murder investigation was regarded with deep suspicion but more incriminating were the infamous "Casket" letters, said to have been written by her to her lover Lord Bothwell, the supposed architect of Darnley’s assassination. Yet if Mary had good reasons for wanting her (Catholic) husband dead, then so had much of Scottish nobility.
Using contemporary evidence Weir argues exhaustively that the letters could have been the work of forgers employed by Protestant lords "laying snares for the queen". Sympathetic to Elizabeth I, intent on justifying Mary's subsequent imprisonment and forcing her abdication, the prospect of a young foreign Catholic queen, unversed in diplomacy, refusing a Protestant alliance through marriage was anathema to the Scottish lords. Weir's book claims that Mary’s fate was sealed as much by the country of which she was monarch as by Elizabethan England.
Alison Weir’s carefully researched addition to the wealth of material on the myth and reality of Mary Queen of Scots is too long, at 600 pages, but nevertheless makes for a thoughtful, scholarly and compelling read. --Catherine Taylor --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Review
"Conspiracy, treason, perjury, and forgery, along with . . . political assassination, and several deadly sins . . . While Ms. Weir does not stint on the sensational details, she is above all a historian and dogged researcher. She sifts through sources, which were often compromised, and thinks like a forensics expert."
--"The Wall Street Journal"
"One of the most intriguing murder mysteries in European history . . . No stone is left unturned in Weir's investigation, and . . . her book is as dramatic as witnessing firsthand the most riveting court case."
--"Booklist" (boxed and starred review)
"The finest historian of English monarchical succession writing now is Alison Weir. . . . Her assiduousness and informed judgment are precisely what make her a writer to trust."
--"The Boston Globe"
"Alison Weir has perfected the art of bringing history to life."
--"Chicago Tribune" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
--"The Wall Street Journal"
"One of the most intriguing murder mysteries in European history . . . No stone is left unturned in Weir's investigation, and . . . her book is as dramatic as witnessing firsthand the most riveting court case."
--"Booklist" (boxed and starred review)
"The finest historian of English monarchical succession writing now is Alison Weir. . . . Her assiduousness and informed judgment are precisely what make her a writer to trust."
--"The Boston Globe"
"Alison Weir has perfected the art of bringing history to life."
--"Chicago Tribune" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
TO EVERYONE'S DISMAY, THE BABY born to James V of Scotland and his second wife, Marie de Guise, on 8 December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace was a girl. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
TO EVERYONE'S DISMAY, THE BABY born to James V of Scotland and his second wife, Marie de Guise, on 8 December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace was a girl. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I always really enjoy reading Weir's books but I've never been impressed by her as a historian, principally because of her very biased and uncritical use of sources. I've found it best to treat her as a historical novelist putting forward an almost fictionalised version of the story she is telling. In this book, she has attempted something a little different from the other books of hers I have read: to untangle a mystery, rather than elucidate a personality as she does in her books on Eleanor of Aquitaine and Isabella of France. And, sadly, this just serves to foreground and highlight her weaknesses.
While this purports to focus on the murder of Darnley, it's almost impossible to untangle that event from so much else in Mary's life, and so the book also treats their marriage, her possible affair with Bothwell, the murder of Rizzio etc etc. My main criticism is that in her discussion of the sources at the start Weir states she is basing her interpretation on Nau's `official' account, as if this is somehow unbiased and objective reporting. But she also admits that Nau's account probably came to him from Mary when he was acting as her secretary - not so unbiased after all then. How this is more objective than what she calls the `hostile' sources isn't tackled at all.
My second, broader criticism is that Weir appears to believe in her unproblematic ability to uncover, for once and for all, the `truth' of Darnley's murder. In her thought world there appears to be no room for possibilities, probabilities, no nuances and no alternatives - despite the fact people have been arguing over this question ever since it happened over 400 years ago.
And yet despite all this, Weir's Mary is not significantly different from the other Marys who have come down to us through history. As usual, she is irrational, emotional, hysterical - and it never occurs to Weir that this is the standard description and understanding of women in this period (Elizabeth, too, is frequently described in the same terms) based on Galenic physiology which makes women subject to the humours of the womb. Similarly she picks up on a mention of Darnley being `effeminate' and takes a C20th interpretation, postulating that he might have had homosexual tendencies. Later, the same term is used about him again but in relation to his having returned to sharing Mary's bed where it clearly means that he is under a woman's rule, but she doesn't use this to shade her previous interpretation in any way.
Overall this is quite a clumsy book and it doesn't have the same readability of some of her others. For a good popular read on Mary I would still recommend Antonia Fraser's Mary Queen Of Scots which may be old now, but is still far superior both historically and literarily to this.
While this purports to focus on the murder of Darnley, it's almost impossible to untangle that event from so much else in Mary's life, and so the book also treats their marriage, her possible affair with Bothwell, the murder of Rizzio etc etc. My main criticism is that in her discussion of the sources at the start Weir states she is basing her interpretation on Nau's `official' account, as if this is somehow unbiased and objective reporting. But she also admits that Nau's account probably came to him from Mary when he was acting as her secretary - not so unbiased after all then. How this is more objective than what she calls the `hostile' sources isn't tackled at all.
My second, broader criticism is that Weir appears to believe in her unproblematic ability to uncover, for once and for all, the `truth' of Darnley's murder. In her thought world there appears to be no room for possibilities, probabilities, no nuances and no alternatives - despite the fact people have been arguing over this question ever since it happened over 400 years ago.
And yet despite all this, Weir's Mary is not significantly different from the other Marys who have come down to us through history. As usual, she is irrational, emotional, hysterical - and it never occurs to Weir that this is the standard description and understanding of women in this period (Elizabeth, too, is frequently described in the same terms) based on Galenic physiology which makes women subject to the humours of the womb. Similarly she picks up on a mention of Darnley being `effeminate' and takes a C20th interpretation, postulating that he might have had homosexual tendencies. Later, the same term is used about him again but in relation to his having returned to sharing Mary's bed where it clearly means that he is under a woman's rule, but she doesn't use this to shade her previous interpretation in any way.
Overall this is quite a clumsy book and it doesn't have the same readability of some of her others. For a good popular read on Mary I would still recommend Antonia Fraser's Mary Queen Of Scots which may be old now, but is still far superior both historically and literarily to this.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Befeore I go any further let me say this is a truly excellent book. Having said that I can now be a little more critical. The book essentially splits into 3 parts. An introduction to Mary and the build up to her marriage with Darnley, the marriage to darnley and his murder and finally Mary's imprisonment and execution in England. I think this is a mistake. The book is essentially an in depth study of Darnley's murder. If it had stayed with this area of speciality it could have been reduced from 600 to 450 pages and not lost any if its impetus. We would also had greater focus. The first and third parts are general overviews, whereas the main part of the book is a very detailed account. The two styles sit uneasily with each other.
When we get to the main account of Darnley and his murder from being easy going, the book becomes hard work. It is extremely detailed and often difficult to work out who is who with so many characters entering the plot. However the author writes superbly and manages to tie up this immense level of detail in a highly readable manner. It is extremely well researched and very careful in it's dealings with highly biased source material. Alison's Weir's conclusions on Mary and the murder of Darnley hardly rock the boat, but nevertheless this is a readable and highly detailed account of a most interesting historical event.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read all of Alison Weir's books to date, and some of them (The Six Wives of Henry V111, Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Wars of the Roses) several times, but this one is a real marathon. The wealth of detail with regard to the murder of Darnley makes for some very hard going, and in the end I found I really didn't care exactly who had killed him! Page after page of speculation eventually made me lose interest. This is the first time I have given Ms Weir less than a 5-star rating. Hopefully this is a one-off and we will soon see a return to her readable, much more approachable style. If you're a student of this period, looking for some answers, then perhaps this is the book for you. It's not for me - too much speculation makes for a boring read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Hard Going
I have not read quite all of Ms Weir's books but I've read most of them. As I have written before, on these pages, she is responsible for getting me interested in Tudor history in... Read more
Published 28 days ago by Graham James
Recommends it for those who want to learn about English/Scottish...
Mary Queen of Scots was blessed with many gifts, but unlike Elizabeth, her contemporary and cousin in England, she did not have the right gifts to be able to reign as a medieval... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Rebecca
Excellent
Ive read most of the reviews written by others here. Most have some criticisms about her subject or the way the book is written.
Personally I loved it all! Read more
Personally I loved it all! Read more
Published on 17 May 2010 by Mrs. F. M. Pinsker
Superb treatment of historical material
A very thoroughly researched and comprehensive study of Mary Stuart and Darnley. The language is fluent and readable at a variety of levels - if a little colloquial in places. Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by Othello
A very insightful read
I enjoyed this book, Weir writes in such a manner that you get to know the characters, not just the well known facts, but the day to day aspects of theie lives. Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2009 by L. mckay
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS AND THE MURDER OF LORD DARNLEY
This is an excellent book, full of information and very rich in detail. It is a very thick volume and I have not finished reading it yet but it gives a good picture of how... Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2009 by Mrs. E. A. Barker
Well researched, but drier than her other works
This was rather dry and considerably too long. It is my least favourite Alison Weir book. But, on the positive side, it is very well researched and extremely, indeed exhaustively,... Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2009 by John Hopper
Alison Weir has done what I thought couldn't be done
taken one of the most enduring mysteries in history, with a love story, a romantic heroine and a murder than turns people into partisans for and against even today, - and made it... Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2009 by Mrs Miniver
Impeccably researched historical detective work and overall a good...
This book is essentially an exploration and 'whodunnit' of the murder of Mary, Queen of Scot's second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, rather than a biography of Mary... Read more
Published on 2 Nov 2008 by Gary Selikow
great for basic knowldge
from the point of view of someone who has only really studied mary queen of scots at primary school it was great to come back to her story and read it quite a lot of detail about... Read more
Published on 29 July 2008 by Lindymck
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