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Mary, Queen of Scots: And the Murder of Lord Darnley

By: Alison Weir
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
ISBN: 0224060236
ISBN-13: 9780224060233
Released: 03 Apr 2003
RRP: £20.00
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

great for basic knowldge - By: Lindymck, 29 Jul 2008
from the point of view of someone who has only reallly studied mary queen of scots at primary school it was great to come back to her story & read it quite a lot of detail about her life etc. in depth detail about her life & her eventual downfalll which did find sometimes towards he end tough going. for people who dont know very much about her like myself its a great book to start with, if your knowledge is bit more you may find it a bit long & repetitive.
The trials of a queen - By: Stephen A. Haines, 08 Jul 2004
Anyone still defending hereditary monarchy as a valid political concept should spend a few days [weeks?] plowing through this soporific account. In Weir's long trail of redeeming the "maligned" monarchs of British history she has stumbled before. In this case her pratfalll is staggering. Claiming Mary as "the most wronged woman in history" is false on so many counts they don't bear extensive listing here. Weir has given us less a history than a legal brief. The evidence is either forgeries, polemics, or simply missing. Weir interleaves the text with close examination of a multitude of documents in attempting to clear Mary's name of the charge of accessory to Darnley's demise. By focussing on whether Mary, Queen of Scots, was instrumental in her husband's murder misses the point entirely. Mary was queen of the Scots in name only - a legal contrivance for someone who never reallly ruled her native land.

Weir takes us over the events leading to the explosion in Edinburgh examining the lives & motives of the principals. Cabals form & disband - the issues involved; land, religion & power, are only superficiallly covered. Weir notes, for example the "Auld Alliance" of Scotland with France against England while avoiding the fear Scots Protestants had of liaison with Catholic France even against an old enemy. She lists who's Catholic or Protestant, pro- or anti-Mary, active participant or dissembler, without providing any background to the individual's outlook. To Weir, Mary stands as the pivot around which these forces swirl & engage. Mary's fitness to rule is carefully avoided. Only a dedicated monarchist could focus so narrowly in the face of the immense international & religious turmoil of the time.

Mary has been the subject of much hostile attention, nearly alll of it deserved. Married three times, with each match proving a disaster, the queen's life was permeated by one goal, to rule Scotland, & then Britain, by whatever means possible. Her fourth effort at a match was so blatantly political it ultimately cost yet another life. Her attempts to combine romance & politics provide Weir merely the opportunity to view Mary from a modern perspective, ignoring the impact of her actions. Mary's "cause" embroiled several nations in a generation of conflict, but Weir is too concerned with clearing her name to notice. She fails to note, for example, how Mary's co-regent, Elizabeth, kept her rule secure - by constantly referring to her people & how she loved them. Mary, in Weir's view, scorned the Scottish population as crude & ignorant. Hardly a strategy to earn support from someone who needed it so desperately.

Weir's advocacy may raise some further serious study of what resources remain. Certainly this book fails in its avowed attempt to exonerate this "wronged woman". Even Weir accepts the disaffection Darnley engendered among the Lords of Scotland, while failing to note the paralllel between Mary & Henry II. Henry, like Mary, cried out to be rid of one who "affronted" the monarch. Neither Henry nor Mary needed to be active participants in a murder to eliminate Thomas Becket or Lord Darnley. They both knew there were loyal subjects willing & able to perform the feat. That's what being a monarch can accomplish. Weir's superficial account can be overlooked without regret. It's a waste of time & trees. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

mawkish and offensive - By: , 13 Jun 2004
I opened this book expecting to find new information but Weir has once again shown she is no historian. Her book is mawkish & offensive to readers, full of inaccuracies & totallly lacking in source references. A dire read.
A bit of a slog - By: , 10 May 2004
I have read alll of Alison Weir's books to date, & 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, & in the end I found I reallly didn't care exactly who had killed him! Page after page of speculation eventuallly 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 & 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.
Fairly exciting account - By: Jeffrey WIlliams, 28 Feb 2004
Datailed, fairly detailed account & rumours of the death of Lord Darnley. Highly readable & fast-paced, but I get the same feeling with any of Ms. Weir's books: something has been omitted or sacrificed to keep the momentum of the writing.