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Overview
Few English monarchs have a worse reputation than Mary Tudor. She has been seen both as a religious fanatic who tried against the will of her people to reverse the course of the Reformation and as the pawn of her husband, Philip II of Spain - her infatuation with whom led her to betray England's vital interests.How this pious, and by contemporary accounts, gentle woman aroused an antipathy that survives until the present is a central question in David Loades's sensitive biography, now in paperback. Based on research into the documents of the time (many newly uncovered) the compelling story of Mary's life is revealed here in unprecedented detail and depth, packed with incident and intrigue, and enmeshed in the politics of secular and religious struggle in England and Europe.
Synopsis
Few English monarchs have a worse reputation than Mary Tudor. She has been seen both as a religious fanatic who tried against the will of her people to reverse the course of the Reformation and as the pawn of her husband, Philip II of Spain - her infatuation with whom led her to betray England's vital interests.
How this pious, and by contemporary accounts, gentle woman aroused an antipathy that survives until the present is a central question in David Loades's sensitive biography, now in paperback. Based on research into the documents of the time (many newly uncovered) the compelling story of Mary's life is revealed here in unprecedented detail and depth, packed with incident and intrigue, and enmeshed in the politics of secular and religious struggle in England and Europe.
Library Journal
Mary Tudor has been variously depicted by historians and biographers, but the prevailing tendency has been to see her as a narrowly pious incompetent, richly deserving of the sobriquet ``Bloody Mary.'' As this fine life shows, the real Mary was a much more complex personality and has deserved a better fate at the hands of posterity. This full, well-rounded biography provides the best treatment of Mary yet. She emerges as a credible figure who deserves, to an appreciable degree, respect. This book replaces earlier works and becomes the standard. Carefully researched and written in an engaging fashion, it belongs in both public and academic libraries. Highly recommended.-- James A. Casada, Winthrop Coll., Rock Hill, S.C.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"Loades manages the difficult feat of being both a sensitive portrait of a woman treated abominably by her father, and a cool estimation of the religious persecutions she initiated as a result. A sad but not unsympathetic book." (The Week, January 2009)"An excellent and sensitive biography." (Observer)
"A weighty achievement." (Times Educational Supplement)
"A stimulating and scholarly reappraisal of Mary's career ... Without resurrecting the black legend, he illuminates the shortcomings of an historical figure who was 'a good woman, but an ill Queen'." (Spectator)
"Loades has written by far the best biography of the queen to date. He has created a deeply moving and penetrating human story in which the lesser characters retain their verity and are gracefully integrated into a drama that is, as the author says, 'pure tragedy'." (American Historical Review)
"David Loades's brisk and unsentimental account is therefore welcome." (The English Historical Review)