The Royal Stuarts: A History of the Family That Shaped Britain
Allan Massie
Dunne, Dec 20 2011, $26.99
ISBN: 9780312581756
In the late eleventh century and early twelfth century, Breton descendants of Banquo (of Shakespearean Macbeth assassination fame) begin to rise in power culminating when the grandson becomes the High Steward of Scotland, a hereditary position, and changes the family name to Stewart. The name actually becomes Stuart when Queen Mary makes the modification. In 1371, Robert II becomes the first Stewart to be a monarch. Robert III and James I, II, and III follow but none succeed as monarchs for different reasons. In 1488 James IV becomes king and brings the renaissance to Scotland while his marriage to Margaret, daughter of English King Henry VII, leads to the merging of the two kingdoms and rivalry with the Tudors that culminates with Queen Elizabeth’s execution of Queen Mary in 1587. Ironically though the Tudors appeared to have won, Mary’s son James VI became James I upon Elizabeth’s death. The Stuarts become the rulers of both kingdoms with religious wars costing them the throne which they also regain. Their rule continues with William and Mary II (daughter of James VII and II) and ends with her sister Anne as a failure though James VIII and Charles the Pretender try to reclaim the English throne.
Allan Massie provides a deep look at the Stewart-Stuart dynasty divided into the pre monarchy origins and sixteen kings. Well-written with an exciting look at “A History of the Family That Shaped Britain”, readers including Tudor-philes will appreciate the insightful and engaging story of The Royal Stuarts who historians (and the Bard) have painted as Alydar to the Tudor’s Affirmed.
Harriet Klausner
Allan Massie
Dunne, Dec 20 2011, $26.99
ISBN: 9780312581756
In the late eleventh century and early twelfth century, Breton descendants of Banquo (of Shakespearean Macbeth assassination fame) begin to rise in power culminating when the grandson becomes the High Steward of Scotland, a hereditary position, and changes the family name to Stewart. The name actually becomes Stuart when Queen Mary makes the modification. In 1371, Robert II becomes the first Stewart to be a monarch. Robert III and James I, II, and III follow but none succeed as monarchs for different reasons. In 1488 James IV becomes king and brings the renaissance to Scotland while his marriage to Margaret, daughter of English King Henry VII, leads to the merging of the two kingdoms and rivalry with the Tudors that culminates with Queen Elizabeth’s execution of Queen Mary in 1587. Ironically though the Tudors appeared to have won, Mary’s son James VI became James I upon Elizabeth’s death. The Stuarts become the rulers of both kingdoms with religious wars costing them the throne which they also regain. Their rule continues with William and Mary II (daughter of James VII and II) and ends with her sister Anne as a failure though James VIII and Charles the Pretender try to reclaim the English throne.
Allan Massie provides a deep look at the Stewart-Stuart dynasty divided into the pre monarchy origins and sixteen kings. Well-written with an exciting look at “A History of the Family That Shaped Britain”, readers including Tudor-philes will appreciate the insightful and engaging story of The Royal Stuarts who historians (and the Bard) have painted as Alydar to the Tudor’s Affirmed.
Harriet Klausner
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