Catholic Queen, Protestant Patriarchy

Mary Stuart has intrigued people since her birth. The significance of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, though, does not rest simply in the dramatic events of her life: rather, Mary’s significance lies in her contemporaries’ reaction to her. As a Catholic, a woman and a monarch in sixteenth century Europe, the debates surrounding Mary’s life, reign, and imprisonment reveal a world in flux whose members attempted to solve the crises of religion, nationhood, authority, and gender that confronted them.

KRISTEN P. WALTON has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Salisbury University since obtaining her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2001. Her specialization is in Tudor-Stuart British History, and she has published widely on Early Modern Britain, from the Wars of the Roses to the age of the English Civil Wars.

Introduction * Mary’s Return: The State of Scotland 1558-62 * The English Succession Crisis and Debates about Mary Stewart * From Return to Deposition * A Queen Undone * Conclusion * Bibliography * Index