Imprisoning Mary Queen of Scots - The Men Who Kept the Stuart Queen written by
Mickey Mayhew and published by Pen & Sword Books - £20 - Hardback - Pages 224
Imprisoning Mary Queen of Scots covers the lives and careers of the men and women who
‘kept’ Mary Queen of Scots when she was a political prisoner in England, circa 1568/9-1587.
Mary’s troubled claim to the English throne - much to the consternation of her ‘dear cousin’
Elizabeth I - made her a mortal enemy of the aforementioned Virgin Queen and set them on
a collision course from which only one would walk away. Mary’s calamitous personal life,
encompassing assassinations, kidnaps and abdications, sent her careering into England
and right into the lap of Henry VIII’s shrewd but insecure daughter. Having no choice but
keep Mary under lock and key, Elizabeth trusted this onerous task to some of the most
capable - not to mention the richest - men and women in England; Sir Francis Knollys, Rafe
Sadler (of Wolf Hall fame), the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, Bess of Hardwick, and finally,
the puritanical nit-picker Sir Amyas Paulet. Until now, these nobles have been mere bit-
players in Mary’s story; now, their own lives, loves and fortunes are laid bare for all to see.
From Carlisle Castle to Fotheringay, these men and women all but bankrupted themselves in keeping the deposed Scots queen in the style to which she was accustomed, whilst fending off countless escape plots of which Mary herself was often the author. With the sort of twist that history excels at, it was in fact a honeytrap escape plot set up by Elizabeth’s ministers that finally saw Mary brought to the executioner’s block, but what of the lives of the gaolers who had until then acted as her guardian? This book explains how Shrewsbury and Bess saw their marriage wrecked by Mary’s legendary charms, and how Sir Amyas Paulet ended up making a guest appearance on ‘Most Haunted’, some several hundred years after his death. In that theme, the book also covers the appearances of these men and women on film and TV, in novels and also the various other Mary-related media that help keep simmering the legend of this most misunderstood of monarchs.
An excellent book looking at the various imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots who
needed to be kept safe/imprisoned securely in order to be able to execute her. This
would obviously take a lot of work and commitment especially if you were the family
entrusted with keeping her captive. This would have big effect on some people who
had to look after her, both financially and with regard to the relationships, the captors
already had. This book was full of wide range of stories all quite interesting and I felt
not really the usual we get in these types of history books. I really enjoy this author
Mickey Mayhew’s writing, and although a little different to his previous book House
of Tudor was still just as good. I enjoyed the profiles of all the main people in the
back of the book along with an excellent bibliography. A book, very well worth a read.
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