It would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that Fraser reinvigorated history, and almost single-handedly created the genre of serious, well–researched history that is aimed at the popular market, which is graced in the current generation by a whole range of popular writers from Helen Castor to Marc Morris.įraser also tended to a positive interpretation of Mary. The most famous biography of Mary is Mary, Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser, first published in 1969. This view of her, as a woman ruled by heart, rather than head, continued. Male historians of the nineteenth century were rather more disapproving, contrasting what they perceived as her ‘femininity’ which made her barely capable of rule, with the perceived ‘masculinity’ of her cousin, Elizabeth of England. Her volumes can often be found in second-hand book shops. Before The Lives… she published The Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1842 – 3.
Whilst Strickland’s determinedly romantic world-view is perhaps considered rather unhistorical today, she researched widely and located quantities of original documents, on which later historians rely. The work can be found in Austen’s juvenilia, and in an edition introduced by Dr David Starkey.Ī far more serious biography is that by Agnes Strickland, as one of the component parts in her 8 volume Lives of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses Connected with the Regal Succession of Great Britain, first published 1851-1859. Less seriously, Jane Austen, in her humorous The History of England praised Mary, whilst criticising Elizabeth. An excellent analysis of the place of Marian historiography as part of a wider set of political theories and arguments was made in The Tragic Histories of Mary, Queen of Scots by John D. The fascination with the queen continued after her death – throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Two years later, George Buchanan, who had once been her Latin teacher, and a great admirer, wrote of her heinous crimes, mainly for the benefit of Mary’s son, James, whom the Protestant government of Scotland wished to think of his mother without sympathy.
The earliest supporting publication about Mary dates from 1570, written by John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, who had supported Mary throughout her personal reign, and continued to represent her in Europe. During her own life and shortly after, she was not just the subject of copious diplomatic correspondence but also of the often violently partisan polemics, portraying her as either the devil incarnate or a martyr for her religion. Mary is one of the most written about women in Western history.
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