The Royal Stuarts
A History of the Family That Shaped Britain
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
"Compelling...A masterly feat...A magnificent, sweeping, authoritative, warm yet wry history."--The Wall Street Journal
In this fascinating and intimate portrait of the Stuarts, author Allan Massie takes us deep into one of history's bloodiest and most tumultuous reigns. Exploring the family's lineage from the first Stuart king to the last, The Royal Stuarts is a panoramic history of the family that acted as a major player in the Scottish Wars of Independence, the Union of the Crowns, the English Civil War, the Restoration, and more.
Drawing on the accounts of historians past and present, novels, and plays, this is the complete story of the Stuart family, documenting their path from the salt marshes of Brittany to the thrones of Scotland and England and eventually to exile. The Royal Stuarts brings to life figures like Mary, Queens of Scots, Charles I, and Bonnie Prince Charlie, uncovering a family of strong affections and fierce rivalries. Told with panache, this is the gripping true story of backstabbing, betrayal, and ambition gone awry.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this smart history, Massie gives its due to the British dynasty that has long played second fiddle to the Tudors. A key Breton ancestor of the Stuart monarchs was appointed, circa 1124, High Steward of Scotland, a prestigious role that gave the Stewarts their family name (changed to Stuart by Mary, queen of Scots), and in which they served ably for eight generations. Robert II became the first, if ineffectual, Stewart king of Scotland in 1371. The five Jameses were men of unusual ability, and James IV's marriage to Henry VIII's sister led to the union of Scotland and England 100 years later. The deaths on the scaffold of Mary and her grandson Charles I, says Massie, lent their memory a nobility that their lives frequently lacked. James VI, an intelligent, canny politician, was patron of the King James Bible. The most intelligent, charming, and deceitful of Stuart kings, Charles II, was followed by his brother James, whose Catholicism cost him his throne. The Stuart dynasty ended on an inglorious note with the "politically insignificant" Mary II and her sister Anne, an "ordinary woman" who despite over a dozen pregnancies, failed to produce a living heir. Massie, a novelist (Caesar) and Spectator columnist, offers a delightfully opinionated but nuanced and action-packed history. Illus.
