May Bonus Review #2

Published By: Pen and Sword Books

Publication Date: 6th November 2017

Format: Hardback

I.S.B.N.: 9781473893313

Price: £25.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blurb

In the early hours of 10 February 1567 a large explosion ripped through the Old Provost’s lodgings at Kirk o’ Field, Edinburgh, where Mary Queen of Scotland’s consort, Henry Lord Darnley, was staying. Darnley’s body was found with that of his valet in a neighbouring garden the next morning. The Queen’s husband had been suffocated and the ramifications for Mary and Scottish history would be far-reaching.

Lord Darnley cuts an infamous figure in Scottish and Tudor history. In life he proved a controversial character, and his murder at Kirk o’ Field in 1567 remains one of British history’s great, unsolved mysteries – establishing whether Mary was implicated has taxed historians ever since.

In this engaging and well-researched biography, Robert Stedall re-examines Darnley’s life and his murder. It is not to be missed; his investigation brings new light and compelling conclusions to a story surrounded by political betrayal, murder, falsified evidence and conspiracy.

My Review

First, my thanks to Alex at Pen & Sword for sending me this (and a stack of other books) back in November. I have finally had a chance to finish reading. There will be a few more Pen & Sword reviews in the coming months, between dissertation writing.

On to the book. 

This is an impressive volume. I had some knowledge of the story but not a great deal, this book added to my store of information to whip out and bore people with. This book is not boring, I am. No really, I get on a subject and can ramble for hours. I found the detailed family trees immensely useful in navigating this text, and the early chapters explaining the Scottish Reformation, family disputes and political climate in Scotland at the time were really fascinating. It’s all important background information that is needed to understand the murder of Lord Darnley and how it helped bring about Mary, Queen of Scots’ downfall.

Also, John Knox was an utter bastard. 

It also confirmed my impression that the Tudors and Stuarts, cousins and frighteningly inbred, were bloody idiots, even the intelligent ones, who really needed to stop marrying their cousins!

The author reveals the complexities of the plot to kill Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, using first hand accounts and historical documents. He carefully traces the traps in to which first Darnley, and then Mary and Bothwell, fell in the sibling feud between illegitimate, Protestant, Lord Moray and legitimate, Catholic Mary. Moray, assisted and encouraged by William Cecil, Elizabeth I’s private secretary and the master of the most complex spy network in Europe at the time, and Reformist Protestant Scottish lords, manipulated the situation to his advantage, in his efforts to claim the throne of Scotland. Despite good advice, Mary always seemed to make the wrong decision, which led to her eventual downfall and death. 

Henry, Lord Darnley was a fop: handsome, reasonably educated, lazy, extravagant, superficial and superficially charming, bad mannered and a whoring drunk. In terms of family background, he was as close as Mary in the ‘who will be Elizabeth’s heir’ stakes, and his mother, Margaret Douglas, pushed his candidacy hard. He was even offered as a potential husband for Elizabeth, but it was never a serious option, because he was Catholic and after Elizabeth was declared a heretic by the Pope, Henry and Mary were both potential foci for a Catholic attempt on the throne – probably supported by France or Spain. Instead, Mary, Queen of Scots, and recently widowed Queen of France, still young and with the Tudor/Stuart good looks, snapped up her handsome and flattering cousin, to bolster her own claims to the English throne. And because she really fancied him. 

Turned out he was a bit of a dick, who couldn’t be trusted with anything serious and had a tantrum if he couldn’t get his own way. Explains a few things about the Stuart kings of England and Scotland. Someone really should have mentioned that marrying your own cousins too many generations in a row is a BAD IDEA.

Eventually, even Mary got sick of him and wanted a divorce, or failing that, he should be locked up somewhere quiet where he couldn’t cause any more trouble. She said this in front of quite a few people who were more than willing to help, but who decided divorce was a bit of a bother. Moray, her half-brother (she had quite a few half siblings, her dad put it about a bit) decided now was the time to take advantage of their disagreements but hid himself behind blinds, and Bothwell got the starring roll in the killing of King Henry. 

I found this book easy to read, usefully illustrated and extensively bibliographied, and enjoyed learning more about the time and events. 

4/5