Mary, Queen of Scots

Another subject that grabbed my attention around our trip to Britain. However, after getting tired head when reading the book on Henry VIII and his wives, I wanted to find something a bit more basic and hopefully, shorter. So I went to my local library (the local library - a subject that I need to post about) to see what they had. This one was listed as being in the children's section, so I was a bit wary of it. I was pleasantly surprised not only with the book, but with the selection of books in the children's section of the library. With the onset of the internet, do kids still use books to write reports? This was a concise, to the point, no frills account of Mary's life. It was well sourced and even with my knowledge of the subject matter, it held my interest and refreshed my memory. It had an easy to read timeline and family trees which made it easy to keep all the Henry's and Mary's separate.

Mary made some really poor choices, especially after the death of her French husband. But one has to wonder if our judgment of those choices are blinded by hindsight. Add to this that she was a bit unlucky (had Elizabeth I not been childless, would she have been so suspicious of Mary and eventually put her under house arrest and executed?) and her life is viewed as rather tragic, much like the history of her subjects, the Scots.

A very quick read and a great overview of her life and times.

Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII

I was looking for a comprehensive history of Henry's wives that also explored the diplomacy, religious issues, and politics surrounding this period of English history. While this was something that I studied back in my high school and college days, I only recalled the basics. I wanted to read something along those lines before our trip to Britain, but I had a difficult time finding something that wasn't too dry or too basic. I asked a few people "over the pond" and this book was one that was mentioned most often. It did fit my criteria and while it was highly researched and at times a bit dry, overall it gave me exactly what i was looking for. Details into why decisions were made, in the context of Henry and his quest for a son. I only had 2 major complaints:

(1) The focus was heavily weighted towards wives #1 and #2 (Catherine and Anne). Of the roughly 500 pages, maybe 375 were devoted to them - the other 4 wives were crammed into the final 100 pages or so. While I understand that in the context of major events in history, Catherine and Anne were much more important, I would have liked a bit more about the other wives.

(2) Perhaps to show how highly researched this work was, it didn't take long to get tired of reading where everyone was on specific days.... "On xx/yy/zzzz Henry was hunting with some Lord of wherever while his Queen (pick one) was moving from the court at (some castle) to a residence in xxxxxx-shire, only to join up with Henry 5 days later at the feast of (pick one) at the residence of whomever....". I picked up on that fact that the King and The Queen were rarely together, even when they were at the same location. And that the children were with neither. I also got tired of the descriptions of what the Queen was wearing for whatever special ceremony.

These are only minor quibbles - on the whole, the author made this whole period interesting without being too intellectual and gave me the background and back-stories that I was searching for.

Today's This Day in History just for LJ

The beheading of Anne Boleyn.