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Marie Stuart
Reine d'Ecosse à l'âge de six jours, en 1542, puis reine de France à dix-sept ans par son mariage avec François II, Marie Stuart est un des personnages les plus romanesques de l'histoire. Veuve en 1560, elle rentre en Ecosse et épouse lord Darnley. Déçue par ce mariage, elle devient la maîtresse du comte de Bothwell. Lorsque ce dernier assassine Darnley, l'horreur est telle qu'elle doit se réfugier auprès de sa rivale, Elisabeth 1re reine d'Angleterre. Celle-ci la retiendra vingt ans captive, avant de la faire condamner à mort. Son courage devant le supplice impressionnera les témoins, au point de métamorphoser celle que l'on disait une criminelle en une martyre de la foi catholique... Sur cette figure fascinante et controversée de l'histoire britannique, le biographe de Marie-Antoinette et romancier de Vingt-quatre heures de la vie d'une femme a mené une enquête rigoureuse, se livrant à une critique serrée des documents et des témoignages. Ce récit passionné nous la restitue avec ses ombres et ses lumières, ses faiblesses et sa grandeur.
413 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1935
About the author
Stefan Zweig
1,750 books9,303 followersStefan Zweig was one of the world's most famous writers during the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the U.S., South America, and Europe. He produced novels, plays, biographies, and journalist pieces. Among his most famous works are Beware of Pity, Letter from an Unknown Woman, and Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. He and his second wife committed suicide in 1942.
Zweig studied in Austria, France, and Germany before settling in Salzburg in 1913. In 1934, driven into exile by the Nazis, he emigrated to England and then, in 1940, to Brazil by way of New York. Finding only growing loneliness and disillusionment in their new surroundings, he and his second wife committed suicide.
Zweig's interest in psychology and the teachings of Sigmund Freud led to his most characteristic work, the subtle portrayal of character. Zweig's essays include studies of Honoré de Balzac, Charles Dickens, and Fyodor Dostoevsky (Drei Meister, 1920; Three Masters) and of Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich von Kleist, and Friedrich Nietzsche (Der Kampf mit dem Dämon, 1925; Master Builders). He achieved popularity with Sternstunden der Menschheit (1928; The Tide of Fortune), five historical portraits in miniature. He wrote full-scale, intuitive rather than objective, biographies of the French statesman Joseph Fouché (1929), Mary Stuart (1935), and others. His stories include those in Verwirrung der Gefühle (1925; Conflicts). He also wrote a psychological novel, Ungeduld des Herzens (1938; Beware of Pity), and translated works of Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and Emile Verhaeren.
Most recently, his works provided the inspiration for 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Zweig studied in Austria, France, and Germany before settling in Salzburg in 1913. In 1934, driven into exile by the Nazis, he emigrated to England and then, in 1940, to Brazil by way of New York. Finding only growing loneliness and disillusionment in their new surroundings, he and his second wife committed suicide.
Zweig's interest in psychology and the teachings of Sigmund Freud led to his most characteristic work, the subtle portrayal of character. Zweig's essays include studies of Honoré de Balzac, Charles Dickens, and Fyodor Dostoevsky (Drei Meister, 1920; Three Masters) and of Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich von Kleist, and Friedrich Nietzsche (Der Kampf mit dem Dämon, 1925; Master Builders). He achieved popularity with Sternstunden der Menschheit (1928; The Tide of Fortune), five historical portraits in miniature. He wrote full-scale, intuitive rather than objective, biographies of the French statesman Joseph Fouché (1929), Mary Stuart (1935), and others. His stories include those in Verwirrung der Gefühle (1925; Conflicts). He also wrote a psychological novel, Ungeduld des Herzens (1938; Beware of Pity), and translated works of Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and Emile Verhaeren.
Most recently, his works provided the inspiration for 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 419 reviews
February 25, 2021
I’ve read the biography of Marie Stuart written by Stefan Zweig. I am sure that I won’t remember all the details of this story in the near future, but I will definitely have a lot of memories of Maria Stuart. Her great character and her personality sum up an incredible woman, who refers to this amazing literature of Stefan Zweig. This biography is based on facts not on speculations, but it still touches the reader. Especially persons with big interests in historical events should read this story and also I can definitely recommend this biography of Maria Stuart by Stefan Zweig.
June 5, 2020
A dated book but very precise, ruthless and clear as only Stefan Zweig manages to be in his works. Mary comes out of it as an intelligent woman, pure and firm in faith, but who on a clear day of her life will live a complete and total transformation. The love that will lead her to tragic and devastating choices... a blind, total love, her death sentence.
I was shocked by her letters often reported by Zweig, Mary shows a vast culture, almost makes pale the average knowledge of the 2020's man!!
Touching, heartbreaking but also full of reasons and logic to which the reader can only give full approval.
The book is very long, often slow.... it gives the reader a complete picture of the political and historical situation of Scotland in England in 1560.
The final part, where the strategic and political positions of Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart are compared, is chilling.
Un libro sicuramente datato, ma preciso, spietato e chiaro come solo Stefan Zweig riesce ad esserlo nelle sue opere. Mary ne esce come una donna intelligente, pura e ferma nella fede, ma che in un chiaro giorno della sua vita vivrà una completa e totale trasformazione. L' amore che la porterà a scelte tragiche e devastanti... un amore cieco, totale, la sua condanna a morte.
Sono rimasta scioccata dall' epistolario spesso riportato da Zweig, Mary mostra una cultura vastissima, quasi fa impallidire la conoscenza media dell' uomo del 2020!!
Toccanti, strazianti ma anche piene di ragioni e logiche a cui il lettore non può che dare la sua piena approvazione.
Il libro è molto lungo, spesso lento.....consegna comunque al lettore una completa scena della situazione politica e storica della Scozia a Inghilterra del 1560.
Da brividi la parte finale, dove vengono paragonate le posizioni strategiche e politiche di Elisabetta I e Mary Stuart.
I was shocked by her letters often reported by Zweig, Mary shows a vast culture, almost makes pale the average knowledge of the 2020's man!!
Touching, heartbreaking but also full of reasons and logic to which the reader can only give full approval.
The book is very long, often slow.... it gives the reader a complete picture of the political and historical situation of Scotland in England in 1560.
The final part, where the strategic and political positions of Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart are compared, is chilling.
Un libro sicuramente datato, ma preciso, spietato e chiaro come solo Stefan Zweig riesce ad esserlo nelle sue opere. Mary ne esce come una donna intelligente, pura e ferma nella fede, ma che in un chiaro giorno della sua vita vivrà una completa e totale trasformazione. L' amore che la porterà a scelte tragiche e devastanti... un amore cieco, totale, la sua condanna a morte.
Sono rimasta scioccata dall' epistolario spesso riportato da Zweig, Mary mostra una cultura vastissima, quasi fa impallidire la conoscenza media dell' uomo del 2020!!
Toccanti, strazianti ma anche piene di ragioni e logiche a cui il lettore non può che dare la sua piena approvazione.
Il libro è molto lungo, spesso lento.....consegna comunque al lettore una completa scena della situazione politica e storica della Scozia a Inghilterra del 1560.
Da brividi la parte finale, dove vengono paragonate le posizioni strategiche e politiche di Elisabetta I e Mary Stuart.
December 17, 2015
4.5 stars
No one could guess what the soul of a woman was capable of...
- Stefan Zweig: Mary Stuart (1935)
Aroused by the differing opinions on this controversial queen, Stefan Zweig sought to illuminate the view of the legend, not within the typical frame of researching a historical figure, but by psychological profiling of the protagonist, giving this biography the uniqueness of a dramatic thriller. He would interpret Mary Stuart as a strong-willed person but easily misdirected by her passion and idealized romantic values, who carved out her own destiny with flawed judgement to her ill-fated end.
A political pawn from birth, Mary Stuart was used to secure Scotland's and France's alliance. The same year Mary married the dauphin, Elizabeth succeeded Mary Tudor as queen of England. With issues still at hand over Elizabeth's illegitimacy, all the Catholic world thus viewed Mary Stuart the rightful claimant to the throne of England. This put Elizabeth politically on guard, making the most powerful woman in Europe a dangerous adversary of Mary's.
Zweig perceived the recently widowed Mary's first impression on returning to Scotland like stepping backward 100 years, leaving behind a great civilization rich and luxurious: the sensual, refined and open-minded culture of France, in exchange for a narrow-minded one, ravaged and plundered for years, which kept no palace that could receive her with the dignity befitting her rank. From the moment Mary set foot to Scottish soil, she was made to battle her most formidable religious foe, John Knox, who defied the zealous Catholic Queen's rule over Church. Zweig believed Mary came "to realize that there were limits to her royal power," and, like a heroine from his novels, gave "way to her bitterness of soul in a passion of tears."
As the country struggled through religious conflicts, rebellion and civil wars funded to undermine the throne of the Catholic Stuarts by none other than Queen Elizabeth, Mary's survival eventually came down to the war of the cousin-queens. A life or death battle took place between them and only death was able to settle the playing field. Zweig's analysis of the two monarchs uncovered the reasons why Mary lost that struggle.
Unlike her royal cousin, Mary rose to power with good fortune, unmarred by scandal, a queen since infancy, and hardly more than a child when she was anointed a second time, anticipating a second throne; whereas Elizabeth fought illegitimacy and charges of treason, barely keeping her own head from being axed while imprisoned, eventually succeeded the throne from the half-sister who first sought to annihilate her.
Not only did they differ in their rise as monarchs, but were equally different in feminine traits; their natures "were diametrically opposed." Mary was lighthearted, possessed a surplus of self-assurance, lacked seriousness of mind and lived for her own self-needs; her mind was stuffed with romance and she accepted her queenly position as a God-given right.
Nature had not only excluded Elizabeth from motherhood - well, not voluntarily as she purported - but perforce that she remained a "virgin queen." She could neither feel, nor think, nor act unambiguously or naturally and quite incapable of yielding to complete self-abandonment. Elizabeth lived for her country, was a realist, contemplating her position as ruler and looking upon it as a profession. While Mary gave in to primal basic feminine instincts, Elizabeth learned from her past to have dominion and reserve over hers.
Passion is needed in order that a woman may discover herself, in order that her character may expand to its true proportions; love and sorrow is needed for it to find its own magnitude.
Mary innately succumbed to impulsivity and the passion of love; to be swept off her feet and swallowed up in her desires. For the sake of one moment of passionate accomplishment, she risked kingdom, power and sovereign dignity, setting a trap for herself that was planted with the conception of her husband's murder. When Zweig examined Mary's feverishly penned letter of the night of Darnley's murder, he concluded it was significant evidence of her collusion, written by a guilt- ridden person, wrestling with her conscience.
We have a vision of black thoughts fluttering through the darkness like bats. Hatred flames up between the lines; compassion overwhelms it for a moment...it is not written alertly and clearly, but confusedly and stumblingly. It is not Mary's conscious mind that is speaking, so much as an inner self, the voice of trance and fatigue and fever- the subconsciousness with which it is so hard to get into touch, the realm of feeling that knows no shame. Very few documents have been preserved that revealed so admirably as this the hyperexcitability of one who is in the course of committing a crime.
He exposed her hand in Darnley's murder like a forensic investigator in a psychological-noir, surmising that her motives were directed by reckless passion and foolhardiness, manipulated by the will of bullish persons - the likes of Bothwell. It is with this same folly and the belief in her infallibility as a sovereign that she later married Bothwell, defended him, maintaining that she could not separate herself from him: "for if she did so, his child, which she bore in her womb, would be a bastard." Regarded by this time as lightminded, she continued to live in a 'cloud', a confirmed romanticist, unable to foresee her doom as an inevitable reality.
Conspiracy and intrigue up to the very last, Mary continued to ensnare herself in a net of her own making, while Cecil and Walsingham stood by to reel her in. Mary falls as a result of the impetuosity she imperially wore like a jeweled crown.
As for Elizabeth's part, Zweig diagnosed her as bipolar, hysterical, excessively theatrical, double-faced in nature; believing unequivocally that she fabricated her ignorance of the death warrant.
One of the most remarkable capacities of persons of hysterical disposition is, not only their ability to be splendid liars, but to be imposed upon by their own falsehoods. For them the truth is what they want to be true, what they believe is what they wish to believe, so that their testimony may often be the most honorable of lies, and therefore the most dangerous.
Zweig prescribes that from a political standpoint, England was right in ridding the world of Mary Stuart. Morally, however, the execution was an unjustifiable action considered in a time of peace, but more especially from one monarch by another. Although Zweig concluded that Mary Stuart was culpable of criminal actions, having never learned to act with caution or forethought, he praised her nobleness of character and called her a morally superior individual, while he condemned Elizabeth as a dissembling, political murderess. In Zweig's eyes, Mary Stuart achieved victory over Elizabeth in a spiritual sense: martyred, dying a hero's death.
We all know the historical facts surrounding Mary Stuart, the most infamous of queens; and at this point, one more biography may not yield much difference than the next, especially one as dated as this. But seldom would we find a biographer such as Zweig whose flair for dramatizing psychological behavior in his characters brought freshness to a legend.
Commendable, readable, recommended.
Read 2009
Reread June 2014
No one could guess what the soul of a woman was capable of...
- Stefan Zweig: Mary Stuart (1935)
Aroused by the differing opinions on this controversial queen, Stefan Zweig sought to illuminate the view of the legend, not within the typical frame of researching a historical figure, but by psychological profiling of the protagonist, giving this biography the uniqueness of a dramatic thriller. He would interpret Mary Stuart as a strong-willed person but easily misdirected by her passion and idealized romantic values, who carved out her own destiny with flawed judgement to her ill-fated end.
A political pawn from birth, Mary Stuart was used to secure Scotland's and France's alliance. The same year Mary married the dauphin, Elizabeth succeeded Mary Tudor as queen of England. With issues still at hand over Elizabeth's illegitimacy, all the Catholic world thus viewed Mary Stuart the rightful claimant to the throne of England. This put Elizabeth politically on guard, making the most powerful woman in Europe a dangerous adversary of Mary's.
Mary Stuart widow of Francis II
Zweig perceived the recently widowed Mary's first impression on returning to Scotland like stepping backward 100 years, leaving behind a great civilization rich and luxurious: the sensual, refined and open-minded culture of France, in exchange for a narrow-minded one, ravaged and plundered for years, which kept no palace that could receive her with the dignity befitting her rank. From the moment Mary set foot to Scottish soil, she was made to battle her most formidable religious foe, John Knox, who defied the zealous Catholic Queen's rule over Church. Zweig believed Mary came "to realize that there were limits to her royal power," and, like a heroine from his novels, gave "way to her bitterness of soul in a passion of tears."
As the country struggled through religious conflicts, rebellion and civil wars funded to undermine the throne of the Catholic Stuarts by none other than Queen Elizabeth, Mary's survival eventually came down to the war of the cousin-queens. A life or death battle took place between them and only death was able to settle the playing field. Zweig's analysis of the two monarchs uncovered the reasons why Mary lost that struggle.
Unlike her royal cousin, Mary rose to power with good fortune, unmarred by scandal, a queen since infancy, and hardly more than a child when she was anointed a second time, anticipating a second throne; whereas Elizabeth fought illegitimacy and charges of treason, barely keeping her own head from being axed while imprisoned, eventually succeeded the throne from the half-sister who first sought to annihilate her.
Not only did they differ in their rise as monarchs, but were equally different in feminine traits; their natures "were diametrically opposed." Mary was lighthearted, possessed a surplus of self-assurance, lacked seriousness of mind and lived for her own self-needs; her mind was stuffed with romance and she accepted her queenly position as a God-given right.
Nature had not only excluded Elizabeth from motherhood - well, not voluntarily as she purported - but perforce that she remained a "virgin queen." She could neither feel, nor think, nor act unambiguously or naturally and quite incapable of yielding to complete self-abandonment. Elizabeth lived for her country, was a realist, contemplating her position as ruler and looking upon it as a profession. While Mary gave in to primal basic feminine instincts, Elizabeth learned from her past to have dominion and reserve over hers.
Passion is needed in order that a woman may discover herself, in order that her character may expand to its true proportions; love and sorrow is needed for it to find its own magnitude.
Mary innately succumbed to impulsivity and the passion of love; to be swept off her feet and swallowed up in her desires. For the sake of one moment of passionate accomplishment, she risked kingdom, power and sovereign dignity, setting a trap for herself that was planted with the conception of her husband's murder. When Zweig examined Mary's feverishly penned letter of the night of Darnley's murder, he concluded it was significant evidence of her collusion, written by a guilt- ridden person, wrestling with her conscience.
We have a vision of black thoughts fluttering through the darkness like bats. Hatred flames up between the lines; compassion overwhelms it for a moment...it is not written alertly and clearly, but confusedly and stumblingly. It is not Mary's conscious mind that is speaking, so much as an inner self, the voice of trance and fatigue and fever- the subconsciousness with which it is so hard to get into touch, the realm of feeling that knows no shame. Very few documents have been preserved that revealed so admirably as this the hyperexcitability of one who is in the course of committing a crime.
He exposed her hand in Darnley's murder like a forensic investigator in a psychological-noir, surmising that her motives were directed by reckless passion and foolhardiness, manipulated by the will of bullish persons - the likes of Bothwell. It is with this same folly and the belief in her infallibility as a sovereign that she later married Bothwell, defended him, maintaining that she could not separate herself from him: "for if she did so, his child, which she bore in her womb, would be a bastard." Regarded by this time as lightminded, she continued to live in a 'cloud', a confirmed romanticist, unable to foresee her doom as an inevitable reality.
Conspiracy and intrigue up to the very last, Mary continued to ensnare herself in a net of her own making, while Cecil and Walsingham stood by to reel her in. Mary falls as a result of the impetuosity she imperially wore like a jeweled crown.
Queen Elizabeth I
As for Elizabeth's part, Zweig diagnosed her as bipolar, hysterical, excessively theatrical, double-faced in nature; believing unequivocally that she fabricated her ignorance of the death warrant.
One of the most remarkable capacities of persons of hysterical disposition is, not only their ability to be splendid liars, but to be imposed upon by their own falsehoods. For them the truth is what they want to be true, what they believe is what they wish to believe, so that their testimony may often be the most honorable of lies, and therefore the most dangerous.
Zweig prescribes that from a political standpoint, England was right in ridding the world of Mary Stuart. Morally, however, the execution was an unjustifiable action considered in a time of peace, but more especially from one monarch by another. Although Zweig concluded that Mary Stuart was culpable of criminal actions, having never learned to act with caution or forethought, he praised her nobleness of character and called her a morally superior individual, while he condemned Elizabeth as a dissembling, political murderess. In Zweig's eyes, Mary Stuart achieved victory over Elizabeth in a spiritual sense: martyred, dying a hero's death.
We all know the historical facts surrounding Mary Stuart, the most infamous of queens; and at this point, one more biography may not yield much difference than the next, especially one as dated as this. But seldom would we find a biographer such as Zweig whose flair for dramatizing psychological behavior in his characters brought freshness to a legend.
Commendable, readable, recommended.
Read 2009
Reread June 2014
December 7, 2016
Stefan Zweig was an excellent biographer. This deep look into the controversial and tragic life of Marie, Queen of Scots is unforgettable for its detail and the insights into the power games that sealed her fate. It is written in an extremely readable tone and is exciting and at times breathtaking. Definitely a must if you wish to understand this turbulent period of England and Scotland's history.
January 21, 2021
El admirado autor Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) nos regala una obra magistral, lo cual ya no es novedad. Parece difícil de encasillarla en un solo género ya que me parece que la obra contiene elementos de una biografía, algunos otros de ensayo, pero también de novela. Lo que es indudable es que este autor judío-austriaco nos vuelve a mostrar sus enormes capacidades de análisis e interpretación psicológica, sus dotes para percibir y visualizar los hilos visibles y ocultos que mueven la política, su gran tesón para acopiar datos y documentos fuente, su meticulosidad para hacernos llegar detalles en apariencia pequeños o faltos de importancia, su facilidad para hacer ameno todo lo que nos cuenta y, sobre todo, el gran arsenal de virtudes narrativas con las que nos deleita en cada capítulo de esta obra en la cual nos relata la apasionada y funesta vida de María Estuardo (1542-1587), quien fuera Reina de Escocia y antes de Francia, y que por azares de la vida perdió ambos tronos, a sus dos esposos, a sus amantes, a su hijo y cuando las tornas se voltearon perdió lo único que le quedaba: su libertad y su vida.
Sin duda María Estuardo constituye un referente en la Historia Universal y en especial en la Historia de Inglaterra y Escocia, incluso también en la de Francia. Su vida se le puede ver desde varios puntos de vista: como la mujer ultrajada y humillada injustamente o como la Reina romántica, tenaz e invencible o como la Soberana implacable y malévola que mantuvo durante casi toda su vida una encarnizada lucha contra Isabel I. Me parece que el autor no se inclina por ninguna de estas interpretaciones y mantiene un cierto equilibrio fundado en la objetividad.
Lo que es indudable, y el libro nos lo deja claro, es que la política y la moral son como el agua y el aceite; que en la política no existen principios, sólo existen intereses y además que la religión conduce a la intolerancia más radical, al fanatismo extremo que a su vez genera odio, destrucción y guerra. En aquel siglo brutal y violento la autoritaria monarquía inglesa utilizó para sus fines, tanto la intolerancia religiosa, como la dureza e injusticia de la política. Creyéndose a pie juntillas un linaje sobrehumano sólo pecó de inhumano.
Después de leer este texto, es imposible no pensar en la monumental obra del gran bardo William Shakespeare (1564-1616) llamada Macbeth, una de las altas tragedias del autor inglés. Importantes similitudes atraviesan ambas obras: el escenario es el Reino de Escocia, los protagonistas urden una intriga para asesinar a un Rey con la complacencia de una mujer, aparecen componentes cargados de intriga, maldad y saña extremas con el objetivo de obtener el Poder; los personajes sufren cambios importantes en su carácter, unos se debilitan otros se fortalecen al igual que Macbeth y Lady Macbeth lo hacen. Imagino que el bardo conoció estos hechos y se valió de ellos como fuente de inspiración para construir una de las obras cumbres del Teatro Universal. Incluso el hijo de María Estuardo, Jacobo, a la postre Rey de Escocia e Inglaterra fue una especie de protector y patrocinador de Shakespeare.
Pero dejemos a Shakespeare y regresemos a esta obra magnífica desde cualquier punto de vista: ensayo, novela, biografía. Una obra amena e interesante que se despliega en tres géneros y con un gran contenido histórico enhebrado sabiamente por el autor. Sólo una pequeña observación: por momentos me pareció un tanto cargada de tintas, únicamente en lo que se refiere a la ornamentación lírica; a veces la emoción que nos quiere transmitir el autor se ve desbordada en las páginas y se hace un tanto denso el relato, habiendo podido omitir algunos elementos estéticos. Por lo demás Stefan Zweig es y seguirá siendo el gran y admirado maestro Stefan Zweig.
Sin duda María Estuardo constituye un referente en la Historia Universal y en especial en la Historia de Inglaterra y Escocia, incluso también en la de Francia. Su vida se le puede ver desde varios puntos de vista: como la mujer ultrajada y humillada injustamente o como la Reina romántica, tenaz e invencible o como la Soberana implacable y malévola que mantuvo durante casi toda su vida una encarnizada lucha contra Isabel I. Me parece que el autor no se inclina por ninguna de estas interpretaciones y mantiene un cierto equilibrio fundado en la objetividad.
Lo que es indudable, y el libro nos lo deja claro, es que la política y la moral son como el agua y el aceite; que en la política no existen principios, sólo existen intereses y además que la religión conduce a la intolerancia más radical, al fanatismo extremo que a su vez genera odio, destrucción y guerra. En aquel siglo brutal y violento la autoritaria monarquía inglesa utilizó para sus fines, tanto la intolerancia religiosa, como la dureza e injusticia de la política. Creyéndose a pie juntillas un linaje sobrehumano sólo pecó de inhumano.
Después de leer este texto, es imposible no pensar en la monumental obra del gran bardo William Shakespeare (1564-1616) llamada Macbeth, una de las altas tragedias del autor inglés. Importantes similitudes atraviesan ambas obras: el escenario es el Reino de Escocia, los protagonistas urden una intriga para asesinar a un Rey con la complacencia de una mujer, aparecen componentes cargados de intriga, maldad y saña extremas con el objetivo de obtener el Poder; los personajes sufren cambios importantes en su carácter, unos se debilitan otros se fortalecen al igual que Macbeth y Lady Macbeth lo hacen. Imagino que el bardo conoció estos hechos y se valió de ellos como fuente de inspiración para construir una de las obras cumbres del Teatro Universal. Incluso el hijo de María Estuardo, Jacobo, a la postre Rey de Escocia e Inglaterra fue una especie de protector y patrocinador de Shakespeare.
Pero dejemos a Shakespeare y regresemos a esta obra magnífica desde cualquier punto de vista: ensayo, novela, biografía. Una obra amena e interesante que se despliega en tres géneros y con un gran contenido histórico enhebrado sabiamente por el autor. Sólo una pequeña observación: por momentos me pareció un tanto cargada de tintas, únicamente en lo que se refiere a la ornamentación lírica; a veces la emoción que nos quiere transmitir el autor se ve desbordada en las páginas y se hace un tanto denso el relato, habiendo podido omitir algunos elementos estéticos. Por lo demás Stefan Zweig es y seguirá siendo el gran y admirado maestro Stefan Zweig.
April 3, 2021
Hay vidas que ocupan un breve espacio de tiempo, pero cuyo impacto emocional es tan grande que necesitan de toda la Historia para vivir y convertirse en leyendas que sobreviven a su propia mortalidad y María Estuardo es uno de ellos.
Dentro de la iniciativa #mujeresdeepoca que realiza #LaPeceraDeRaquel, Raquel organizo la lectura conjunta de la estupenda biografía de María Estuardo de Stefan Zweig. Gracias Raquel y también a mis compañer@s de lectura, de los que siempre aprendo cosas nuevas.
María es probablemente la monarca más mítica de la historia de Escocia, nadie, ni Robert the Bruce, ni William Wallace (que no era rey), ni el hijo de María, Jacobo, unificador del Reino Unido, la superan en fama e interés y eso a pesar de que su reinado no fue ni largo ni exitoso. Criada en la corte francesa dónde fue enviada por su madre para proteger su vida de las ambiciones y deseos expansionistas de un Enrique VIII, que entre esposa y esposa decapitada, soñaba con hacerse el dueño y señor de la mayor de las Islas Británicas y quería a María para esposa de su hijo Eduardo, pretendiendo además que si María moría, el (Enrique VIII) se quedaba con Escocia.
Prometida al delfín, María se convertiría a una edad temprana en reina de Francia debido a la muerte de su suegro, pero la dicha no duraría mucho, su propio esposo fallecería al poco tiempo y María debe volver a su reino del otro lado de mar: Escocia. Un reino infestado de lores levantiscos, la mayoría a sueldo de Isabel I de Inglaterra, y prestos a traicionar hasta su propia sombra a la más mínima oportunidad y donde la religión (protestantes y católicos) se había convertido en un arma arrojadiza. (Odioso John Knox).
La María que la pluma de Stefan Zweig nos muestra es una mujer que en muchos momentos es arrollada por los propios acontecimientos, sin mucho margen de maniobra frente a la nobleza escocesa, que no ha sido educada para reinar y que no sabe manejar los resortes del poder. Mantiene una concepción de la monarquía y el poder basada en el concepto de la caballerosidad y la nobleza, lo que se refleja muy bien en ese estado semi medieval y feudal en que vive Escocia. María no está preparada para el sucio juego de la política del Estado moderno (representado por Inglaterra) y que practican no solo sus enemigos ingleses con Isabel y sus ministros a la cabeza, sino sus propios allegados, aquellos que deberían haberla asesorado y ayudado… aunque tengo que admitir que alguien tan cabezota y orgulloso como María dudo mucho que hubiera aceptado ningún consejo… o sí.
La narración de Zweig no solo nos desvela el carácter y la personalidad de María, de una forma muy psicológica, sino que despliega ante nuestros ojos su vida (la de María), de la misma forma que si estuviera tejiéndose una tela de araña en la que la protagonista, no es la tejedora, sino la presa a capturar. Sentimos su pasión, su ira, su angustia, su temor y la desesperación por recuperar la ansiada libertad y sobre todo su muerte. ¡Magistral! No creo que vuelva a ver la ropa interior roja de la misma forma… La María de Zweig nos conmueve, a veces la adoramos y otras la estamparíamos contra la pared por ser tan tonta… ¡Mira que fiarte de tu prima Isabel!!!.
Le dado 5 estrellas pero se merecía alguna más.
Dentro de la iniciativa #mujeresdeepoca que realiza #LaPeceraDeRaquel, Raquel organizo la lectura conjunta de la estupenda biografía de María Estuardo de Stefan Zweig. Gracias Raquel y también a mis compañer@s de lectura, de los que siempre aprendo cosas nuevas.
María es probablemente la monarca más mítica de la historia de Escocia, nadie, ni Robert the Bruce, ni William Wallace (que no era rey), ni el hijo de María, Jacobo, unificador del Reino Unido, la superan en fama e interés y eso a pesar de que su reinado no fue ni largo ni exitoso. Criada en la corte francesa dónde fue enviada por su madre para proteger su vida de las ambiciones y deseos expansionistas de un Enrique VIII, que entre esposa y esposa decapitada, soñaba con hacerse el dueño y señor de la mayor de las Islas Británicas y quería a María para esposa de su hijo Eduardo, pretendiendo además que si María moría, el (Enrique VIII) se quedaba con Escocia.
Prometida al delfín, María se convertiría a una edad temprana en reina de Francia debido a la muerte de su suegro, pero la dicha no duraría mucho, su propio esposo fallecería al poco tiempo y María debe volver a su reino del otro lado de mar: Escocia. Un reino infestado de lores levantiscos, la mayoría a sueldo de Isabel I de Inglaterra, y prestos a traicionar hasta su propia sombra a la más mínima oportunidad y donde la religión (protestantes y católicos) se había convertido en un arma arrojadiza. (Odioso John Knox).
La María que la pluma de Stefan Zweig nos muestra es una mujer que en muchos momentos es arrollada por los propios acontecimientos, sin mucho margen de maniobra frente a la nobleza escocesa, que no ha sido educada para reinar y que no sabe manejar los resortes del poder. Mantiene una concepción de la monarquía y el poder basada en el concepto de la caballerosidad y la nobleza, lo que se refleja muy bien en ese estado semi medieval y feudal en que vive Escocia. María no está preparada para el sucio juego de la política del Estado moderno (representado por Inglaterra) y que practican no solo sus enemigos ingleses con Isabel y sus ministros a la cabeza, sino sus propios allegados, aquellos que deberían haberla asesorado y ayudado… aunque tengo que admitir que alguien tan cabezota y orgulloso como María dudo mucho que hubiera aceptado ningún consejo… o sí.
La narración de Zweig no solo nos desvela el carácter y la personalidad de María, de una forma muy psicológica, sino que despliega ante nuestros ojos su vida (la de María), de la misma forma que si estuviera tejiéndose una tela de araña en la que la protagonista, no es la tejedora, sino la presa a capturar. Sentimos su pasión, su ira, su angustia, su temor y la desesperación por recuperar la ansiada libertad y sobre todo su muerte. ¡Magistral! No creo que vuelva a ver la ropa interior roja de la misma forma… La María de Zweig nos conmueve, a veces la adoramos y otras la estamparíamos contra la pared por ser tan tonta… ¡Mira que fiarte de tu prima Isabel!!!.
Le dado 5 estrellas pero se merecía alguna más.
August 15, 2018
"Com seis dias rainha da Escócia, com seis anos noiva do príncipe mais poderoso da Europa, com dezassete anos rainha de França."
Li esta e outra biografia da rainha da Escócia por uma teimosia. Não tinha nem conhecimento, nem grande interesse na mesma, contudo, acabei deslumbrada com esta mulher. Não pelo que tenha feito pelo seu país ou pelo seu povo, mas pela intensidade que pôs em tudo o que fez. Para o bem e para o mal, para o seu louvor e para a sua perdição.
Nada como as palavras de Stefan Zweig para ilustrarem com rigor e beleza o que foi a vida de Maria Stuart.
" Em tempo verdadeiramente curto, viveu todos os contrastes com intensidade prodigiosa: enterrou dois maridos, perdeu dois reinos, passou pelo cativeiro, seguiu pelos sombrios atalhos do crime, e de cada vez, tornou a subir os degraus do trono e do altar, com novo orgulho. As últimas semanas, os últimos anos, viveu-os entre chamas - chamas tão altas e tão ardentes que o seu reflexo brilha através dos séculos. Mas, em seguida, o incêndio diminui, apaga-se, depois de ter devorado o melhor dela própria: o que resta é escória e cinzas, vestígio miserável dum esplendor magnífico. Tornada sombra de si mesma, Maria Stuart avança no crepúsculo do seu destino."
Nem vinte anos de cativeiro, nem a ameaça de morte a vergaram ou a demoveram do seu sentido do dever e do seu papel na História da Escócia.
" Não falemos na possibilidade de renunciar à coroa. Estou mais pronta a morrer do que a consentir nisso, e as minhas últimas palavras serão as de uma rainha da Escócia."
E foram! Goste-se ou não de História, a vida de Maria Stuart consegue ser mais empolgante que muitas histórias de ficção.
Li esta e outra biografia da rainha da Escócia por uma teimosia. Não tinha nem conhecimento, nem grande interesse na mesma, contudo, acabei deslumbrada com esta mulher. Não pelo que tenha feito pelo seu país ou pelo seu povo, mas pela intensidade que pôs em tudo o que fez. Para o bem e para o mal, para o seu louvor e para a sua perdição.
Nada como as palavras de Stefan Zweig para ilustrarem com rigor e beleza o que foi a vida de Maria Stuart.
" Em tempo verdadeiramente curto, viveu todos os contrastes com intensidade prodigiosa: enterrou dois maridos, perdeu dois reinos, passou pelo cativeiro, seguiu pelos sombrios atalhos do crime, e de cada vez, tornou a subir os degraus do trono e do altar, com novo orgulho. As últimas semanas, os últimos anos, viveu-os entre chamas - chamas tão altas e tão ardentes que o seu reflexo brilha através dos séculos. Mas, em seguida, o incêndio diminui, apaga-se, depois de ter devorado o melhor dela própria: o que resta é escória e cinzas, vestígio miserável dum esplendor magnífico. Tornada sombra de si mesma, Maria Stuart avança no crepúsculo do seu destino."
Nem vinte anos de cativeiro, nem a ameaça de morte a vergaram ou a demoveram do seu sentido do dever e do seu papel na História da Escócia.
" Não falemos na possibilidade de renunciar à coroa. Estou mais pronta a morrer do que a consentir nisso, e as minhas últimas palavras serão as de uma rainha da Escócia."
E foram! Goste-se ou não de História, a vida de Maria Stuart consegue ser mais empolgante que muitas histórias de ficção.
September 25, 2009
This is an excellent example of how a biographer is influenced by his culture. It was published in 1935, pre-dating not just modern feminism but the earliest stirrings of change in the role of women during WWII. "In spite of their superlative traits these two women remained women throughout, and were unable to overcome the weaknesses inherent in their sex," he says of Elizabeth I and Mary. "If..two kings had been faced by the same circumstances, they would have come to a firmer decision, declared war, countered one threat by another, set courage against courage." He proceeds to present their history as one of romantic gallantry (Mary) versus shrewishness and indecision (Elizabeth). He excuses Mary's conduct with Bothwell as the result of passion resulting in the abandonment of free will--"enthrallment," and attributes Elizabeth's conduct throughout her life to her "feminine infirmity." Regardless of your viewpoint on these two women, it's fascinating to see how this shapes the selection and interpretation of the facts.
November 9, 2020
5/5
Tiems, kurie skaitydami apie 16 amžių nesitiki baltų dantų ir lygių teisių. Kuriems istorija nereiškia tik datos ir fakto – nes aplink dar tiek aplinkybių, niuansų, spėlionių ir galimybių, tiek klausimų, kuriems atsakyti, o ir atsakymams suprasti, reikia dar tiek pat aplinkybių, niuansų ir spėlionių. Ir dar tiek pat klausimų. O labiausiai tiems, kurie kalbėdami apie istoriją klausia ne tik kada?, bet ir kodėl?
Lengva idealizuoti istoriją, ypač tolimą. Jos herojus, ypač nuskriaustuosius. Tačiau Zweigas neidealizuoja Marijos Stiuart. Ji ne visuomet herojė, o gal net niekada ja nebūna – kartais ji nuobodi, vaikiška, susireikšminusi, manipuliuojanti, neapsisprendusi, paika, pikta, piktdžiugiška, impulsyvi. Taip seniai gyvenusieji, istorijos vadovėliuose išaukštinti arba nuteisti, retai kada literatūroje atrodo pasiekiami ir žmogiški. Bet Zweigo tekste karalienė – būtent tokia. Knygoje atsiskleidžia ne tik talentingai, nuostabiai, smulkmeniškai piešiamas jos portretas: autorius daug svarsto apie galios ir žmogaus santykį, besikeičiančia psichologinę būseną istorinių pokyčių akivaizdoje, ryšį su savimi ir aplinkiniais, sveiko proto (ne)išlaikymą. Jis – visažinis pasakotojas, tačiau norisi būti vedamam už rankos tokio, kaip jis – per kultūrinius ir literatūrinius niuansus, užuominas į meną, poeziją, muziką – čia ne faktų rinkinys, o gyvas pokalbis su tuo, kuris pasirenka klausytis – kartais nuklystant į šoną, bet visuomet apgalvotai. Zweigas su skaitytoju visuomet mandagus, bet ir visuomet už jį šiek tiek aukščiau. Čia daug filosofavimo ir įžvalgų, pamąstymų ir spėjimų, bet ne šakėmis ant vandens rašomų – autorius paskuba savo mintis paremti faktais greičiau, nei pagalvotumei, kad tiesiog spekuliuoja. O svarbiausia, išlaiko susidomėjimą rimčiau, nei bet koks trilerių meistras, tobulai kelia įtampą ir stumia skaitytoją prie kėdės krašto. Ir padaro tai, ką retas trilerių meistras sugeba – piešia moters portretą, tokį meistrišką ir talentingą, tarsi pasakotų apie žmogų, kurį būtų analizavęs ne tik iš tų istorinių šaltinių likučių, o iš kasdienio, nepaliaujamo, artimo stebėjimo.
Zweigas įrodo, kad jį ir Mariją skiriantys šimtai metų – ne pretekstas nesuspratimams, kaip ir leisdamas tikėti, kad sunkiai rastųsi žmogus, galintis įdomiau, jautriau ir paveikiau papasakoti ne tik karalienės Marijos, bet ir karalienės Elžbietos istorijas. Istorijas apie gyvenimus, kuriuos lydi nesėkmės ir kančios, nesibaigiančios net ant ešafoto. Jis per daug nesigilina į prabangą, kuri jas supo, į deimantus ar karūnas. Veikiau paaiškina tikrąsias šiųjų kainas, parodo kaip stipriai pražilę plaukai, dengiami aukso, kaip suvytę kūnai, pridengti aksomu ir šilku. Ir kaip lengva žiūrėti į tai, kas blizga, nepastebint to ką blizgučiais bandoma paslėpti. Galima stipriausių emocijų ieškoti kūryboje, bet Zweigas parodo, kad tikrovė, ypač aprašyta TOKIO lygio meistro, prilygsta geriausiam siaubo, detektyvo, trilerio ir meilės romano žanrų mišiniui.
Tiems, kurie skaitydami apie 16 amžių nesitiki baltų dantų ir lygių teisių. Kuriems istorija nereiškia tik datos ir fakto – nes aplink dar tiek aplinkybių, niuansų, spėlionių ir galimybių, tiek klausimų, kuriems atsakyti, o ir atsakymams suprasti, reikia dar tiek pat aplinkybių, niuansų ir spėlionių. Ir dar tiek pat klausimų. O labiausiai tiems, kurie kalbėdami apie istoriją klausia ne tik kada?, bet ir kodėl?
Lengva idealizuoti istoriją, ypač tolimą. Jos herojus, ypač nuskriaustuosius. Tačiau Zweigas neidealizuoja Marijos Stiuart. Ji ne visuomet herojė, o gal net niekada ja nebūna – kartais ji nuobodi, vaikiška, susireikšminusi, manipuliuojanti, neapsisprendusi, paika, pikta, piktdžiugiška, impulsyvi. Taip seniai gyvenusieji, istorijos vadovėliuose išaukštinti arba nuteisti, retai kada literatūroje atrodo pasiekiami ir žmogiški. Bet Zweigo tekste karalienė – būtent tokia. Knygoje atsiskleidžia ne tik talentingai, nuostabiai, smulkmeniškai piešiamas jos portretas: autorius daug svarsto apie galios ir žmogaus santykį, besikeičiančia psichologinę būseną istorinių pokyčių akivaizdoje, ryšį su savimi ir aplinkiniais, sveiko proto (ne)išlaikymą. Jis – visažinis pasakotojas, tačiau norisi būti vedamam už rankos tokio, kaip jis – per kultūrinius ir literatūrinius niuansus, užuominas į meną, poeziją, muziką – čia ne faktų rinkinys, o gyvas pokalbis su tuo, kuris pasirenka klausytis – kartais nuklystant į šoną, bet visuomet apgalvotai. Zweigas su skaitytoju visuomet mandagus, bet ir visuomet už jį šiek tiek aukščiau. Čia daug filosofavimo ir įžvalgų, pamąstymų ir spėjimų, bet ne šakėmis ant vandens rašomų – autorius paskuba savo mintis paremti faktais greičiau, nei pagalvotumei, kad tiesiog spekuliuoja. O svarbiausia, išlaiko susidomėjimą rimčiau, nei bet koks trilerių meistras, tobulai kelia įtampą ir stumia skaitytoją prie kėdės krašto. Ir padaro tai, ką retas trilerių meistras sugeba – piešia moters portretą, tokį meistrišką ir talentingą, tarsi pasakotų apie žmogų, kurį būtų analizavęs ne tik iš tų istorinių šaltinių likučių, o iš kasdienio, nepaliaujamo, artimo stebėjimo.
Zweigas įrodo, kad jį ir Mariją skiriantys šimtai metų – ne pretekstas nesuspratimams, kaip ir leisdamas tikėti, kad sunkiai rastųsi žmogus, galintis įdomiau, jautriau ir paveikiau papasakoti ne tik karalienės Marijos, bet ir karalienės Elžbietos istorijas. Istorijas apie gyvenimus, kuriuos lydi nesėkmės ir kančios, nesibaigiančios net ant ešafoto. Jis per daug nesigilina į prabangą, kuri jas supo, į deimantus ar karūnas. Veikiau paaiškina tikrąsias šiųjų kainas, parodo kaip stipriai pražilę plaukai, dengiami aukso, kaip suvytę kūnai, pridengti aksomu ir šilku. Ir kaip lengva žiūrėti į tai, kas blizga, nepastebint to ką blizgučiais bandoma paslėpti. Galima stipriausių emocijų ieškoti kūryboje, bet Zweigas parodo, kad tikrovė, ypač aprašyta TOKIO lygio meistro, prilygsta geriausiam siaubo, detektyvo, trilerio ir meilės romano žanrų mišiniui.
January 27, 2020
Admito que no soy muy dada a leer obras de no ficción, las biografías siempre me parecen interesantes pero muy densas. Por lo general me suelo aburrir y las dejo a medio terminar.
Esta, en cambio, contaba con dos alicientes, por un lado su protagonista. María Estuardo es un personaje histórico que me despertaba muchísima curiosisad (sobre todo después de ver la película "María reina de Escocia"). Esta mujer tan valiente, tan orgullosa, tan fuerte, parecía haber llevado una vida marcada por la mala suerte.
Por otro lado estaba el hecho de que la biografía estuviera escrita por Zweig, del que ya he leído algún que otro libro que me ha encantado.
El libro no me ha defraudado, el estilo de Zweig enriquece una historia ya de por sí apasionante. Aunque son muchos siglos los que han pasado desde que María cabalgaba por los campos escoceses, Zweig nos cuenta todo con mucho detalle, casi parece haber tenido acceso a todas las intrigas de primera mano. Pero lo cuenta todo de una forma muy asimilable y amena de forma que no se hace pesado sino adictivo en muchos momentos, cuanto más leía más quería saber.
Al final nos podemos hacer una imagen bastante clara del carácter tanto de María como de Isabel y del retrato de una época fuertemente marcada por la política y por la religión, y por esos consejeros que metían las narices todo el tiempo en los asuntos de estado enredándolo todo.
Lectura muy recomendable para aquellos a los que les interese la historia y la vida de esta valiente reina que luchó por ser libre hasta el último segundo.
Esta, en cambio, contaba con dos alicientes, por un lado su protagonista. María Estuardo es un personaje histórico que me despertaba muchísima curiosisad (sobre todo después de ver la película "María reina de Escocia"). Esta mujer tan valiente, tan orgullosa, tan fuerte, parecía haber llevado una vida marcada por la mala suerte.
Por otro lado estaba el hecho de que la biografía estuviera escrita por Zweig, del que ya he leído algún que otro libro que me ha encantado.
El libro no me ha defraudado, el estilo de Zweig enriquece una historia ya de por sí apasionante. Aunque son muchos siglos los que han pasado desde que María cabalgaba por los campos escoceses, Zweig nos cuenta todo con mucho detalle, casi parece haber tenido acceso a todas las intrigas de primera mano. Pero lo cuenta todo de una forma muy asimilable y amena de forma que no se hace pesado sino adictivo en muchos momentos, cuanto más leía más quería saber.
Al final nos podemos hacer una imagen bastante clara del carácter tanto de María como de Isabel y del retrato de una época fuertemente marcada por la política y por la religión, y por esos consejeros que metían las narices todo el tiempo en los asuntos de estado enredándolo todo.
Lectura muy recomendable para aquellos a los que les interese la historia y la vida de esta valiente reina que luchó por ser libre hasta el último segundo.
November 27, 2017
Maria Stuarda, regina a 6 giorni dalla nascita e incoronata a 9 mesi. Non ha ancora respirato la vita che, prima ancora d’essere creatura, è strumento di trattative. A 5 anni e 8 mesi viene impacchettata e spedita in Francia. Lì, a 16, sposa il Delfino Federico e un anno dopo è regina di Francia. E c’è un’altra corona, quella d’Inghilterra, posata sul capo di Elisabetta, che Maria Stuarda reclama per sé. Sono solo piccoli tasselli della vita di Maria Stuarda, vissuta in un’epoca in cui vita e morte sono decise dalle convenienze, un’epoca in cui non c’è tempo per gli scrupoli di coscienza e per salire al potere si compiono omicidi, si sparge sangue innocente, si toglie la vita al proprio padre o fratello, si stringono patti segreti e si consumano tradimenti. E al potere della terra si mescola quello “divino”, ognuno coi propri capi, i propri eserciti e torme di fedeli (tutti sempre pronti a tradire a seconda del vantaggio). Maria Stuarda è donna orgogliosa, passionale, impulsiva. Vittima di tranelli e inganni, la vita segnata dalle tragiche vicende che accompagnano i suoi 6 anni di regno e i quasi 20 di prigionia in Inghilterra, dove si rifugia pensando di trovare protezione. E sarà qui, che all’età di 45 anni verrà decapitata. Nessuno si batterà per lei, non lo faranno coloro che le hanno giurato fedeltà, così come non lo farà suo figlio. Unico amico sincero e fedele fino alla morte sarà il suo cagnolino. Tanto fedele da rimanere con lei, nascosto sotto l’ampio abito, sino a che il mondo, per lei, non sarà più.
La brama di potere è una sciagura per chi ne è schiavo e per l’umanità tutta. Ieri come oggi. Basterebbe leggere, o rileggere, di tanto in tanto, le infinite pagine di storia che grondano sangue. Forse, forse, si eviterebbe qualche tragico errore.
E mentre rifletto, mi par di vedere quelle labbra che, per un quarto d’ora dopo la decapitazione, tremano convulsamente, e di udirne l’agghiacciante stridore di denti.
La brama di potere è una sciagura per chi ne è schiavo e per l’umanità tutta. Ieri come oggi. Basterebbe leggere, o rileggere, di tanto in tanto, le infinite pagine di storia che grondano sangue. Forse, forse, si eviterebbe qualche tragico errore.
E mentre rifletto, mi par di vedere quelle labbra che, per un quarto d’ora dopo la decapitazione, tremano convulsamente, e di udirne l’agghiacciante stridore di denti.
September 3, 2023
Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was an Austro-Hungarian who lived in Vienna. He was rather well known as an author of famous historical figures and was at the peak of his fame during the 1920s-1930s. This was my first experience with his work. I must say it is simply superb. His prose, much like Barbara Tuchman's work, flows so well and is at once erudite yet eminently readable. It takes a historical work and puts it firmly in the seat of literature by the sheer quality of the writing style. Engaging, enlightening, and always entertaining. Allow me to reiterate- simply superb!
This is the tragic tale of Mary, Queen of Scotland. It is a remarkable tale of a fascinating Queen-Mary, or Mary Stuart. Daughter of James V, King of Scotland, Mary was Queen from 1542 till her forced abdication in 1567. Yet there is so much more to the Greek tragedy of Mary Stuart's life.
Mary was six days old when her father died. In order to protect the child from the violent and turbulent realm of Scottish politics, Mary's mother, Mary of Guise, sends Mary Stuart to France. She is to marry Francis, Dauphin of France. Till that time Scotland would be ruled in a Regency and Mary Stuart would learn about Royal Court life from a group of able women ranging from Elisabeth of Valois to her maternal grandmother Antoinette de Bourbon, which would cement in her mind the proper way to be a Sovereign Queen.
Mary's marriage to Francis, in 1558, made her heir to become Queen of France. This was going to be a problem since Mary Stuart, was the senior surviving legitimate descendant of Henry VII through her grandmother, Margaret Tudor, and this made her more a "worthy" candidate for the Throne of England, occupied by Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII in the eyes of many Catholics from Scotland to England.
Francis' death, he was a sickly boy, would lead to her return to Scotland, and here would the fairy tale life of Mary start on its downward trend. From disastrous marriages to conflict with the Scottish nobility to the envy and dislike of Elizabeth, all of these myriad factors will coalesce into an ending that is indeed similar to a Greek tragedy with all the hallmarks of pride, envy, greed, lust, and murder.
In time her actions would cause her to flee Scotland and into Elizabeth's "care" and thus was her doom sealed, as she became a virtual prisoner and in time, under the maliciousness of Walshingham, fell to her own pretensions and pride which would lead to her death.
A fascinating, yet tragic, story of a wonderfully interesting young Queen who seemed to have everything going for her. Masterfully written, informative, and a true pleasure to read. This is how history books ought to be written.
This is the tragic tale of Mary, Queen of Scotland. It is a remarkable tale of a fascinating Queen-Mary, or Mary Stuart. Daughter of James V, King of Scotland, Mary was Queen from 1542 till her forced abdication in 1567. Yet there is so much more to the Greek tragedy of Mary Stuart's life.
Mary was six days old when her father died. In order to protect the child from the violent and turbulent realm of Scottish politics, Mary's mother, Mary of Guise, sends Mary Stuart to France. She is to marry Francis, Dauphin of France. Till that time Scotland would be ruled in a Regency and Mary Stuart would learn about Royal Court life from a group of able women ranging from Elisabeth of Valois to her maternal grandmother Antoinette de Bourbon, which would cement in her mind the proper way to be a Sovereign Queen.
Mary's marriage to Francis, in 1558, made her heir to become Queen of France. This was going to be a problem since Mary Stuart, was the senior surviving legitimate descendant of Henry VII through her grandmother, Margaret Tudor, and this made her more a "worthy" candidate for the Throne of England, occupied by Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII in the eyes of many Catholics from Scotland to England.
Francis' death, he was a sickly boy, would lead to her return to Scotland, and here would the fairy tale life of Mary start on its downward trend. From disastrous marriages to conflict with the Scottish nobility to the envy and dislike of Elizabeth, all of these myriad factors will coalesce into an ending that is indeed similar to a Greek tragedy with all the hallmarks of pride, envy, greed, lust, and murder.
In time her actions would cause her to flee Scotland and into Elizabeth's "care" and thus was her doom sealed, as she became a virtual prisoner and in time, under the maliciousness of Walshingham, fell to her own pretensions and pride which would lead to her death.
A fascinating, yet tragic, story of a wonderfully interesting young Queen who seemed to have everything going for her. Masterfully written, informative, and a true pleasure to read. This is how history books ought to be written.
November 4, 2016
Zweig nije Škot, a nije ni Englez i to se vidi. Ovo je, po mom sudu, jedna dosta objektivna biografija prije svega ŽENE, a zatim kraljice, Marie Stuard. Pisana je više sa psihološkog aspekta, prožeta autorovim razmišljanjima o pobudama i postupcima ove zaista neobične historijske ličnosti. Mislim da je Marie vrlo često previše izromantizirana ili sa druge strane demonizirana ali autor je dosta uspješno izbjegao obje zamke s tim da se u tonu osjeti doza simpatije.
Stil je arhaičan ali i vrlo pitak (uzevši u obzir da je knjiga pisana 1935 godine) i pronašla sam par vrlo dobrih pasusa koji govore generalno o politici, o moći, vlasti, beskrupuloznosti, okrutnosti političkih pobjednika, odnosu velikih sila prema svojim pijun državama itd.
Vijekovima političke igre funkcionišu po istim pravilima: "sve te strane sile drage volje i spremno plaćaju prolivanje škotske krvi" - možemo samo zamijeniti "žrtvovanu" zemlju i dobiti sliku sadašnjeg globalnog društva.
Stil je arhaičan ali i vrlo pitak (uzevši u obzir da je knjiga pisana 1935 godine) i pronašla sam par vrlo dobrih pasusa koji govore generalno o politici, o moći, vlasti, beskrupuloznosti, okrutnosti političkih pobjednika, odnosu velikih sila prema svojim pijun državama itd.
Vijekovima političke igre funkcionišu po istim pravilima: "sve te strane sile drage volje i spremno plaćaju prolivanje škotske krvi" - možemo samo zamijeniti "žrtvovanu" zemlju i dobiti sliku sadašnjeg globalnog društva.
March 30, 2021
La única mujer que hizo rabiar a Isabel I, la única con la inteligencia para hacerle frente, sólo que más apasionada y más devota que su prima.
Las biografías de Zweig son enriquecedoras.
Las biografías de Zweig son enriquecedoras.
November 8, 2014
The best biography on Mary Stuart's life, no doubt about it.
Le mystère qui entoure la vie de Marie Stuart a été l'objet de representations et d'interpretations aussi contradictoires que frequentes: il n'existe peut-être pas d'autre femme qui a été peinte sous des traits aussi différents, tantôt comme une martyre, tantôt comme une folle intrigante, ou bien encore comme une sainte.
With an objective narrative, the author describes without passion, her first marriage with the French king Francis II, the murder of her fist husband, Lord Darnley as well as her love affair with Lord Bothwell.
Her long period of captivity is also described with plenty of details as well as the case of the casket letters.
Further readings and references may be found in the following books:
Mary Stuart: A Tragedy by Friedrich Schiller - available at Project Gutenberg.
The Abbot by Walter Scott - available at Project Gutenberg.
Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser
Mary Queen Of Scots: And The Murder Of Lord Darnley by Alison Weir
A splendid and unforgettable movie was made based on her life: Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) with Vanessa Redgrave, Glenda Jackson, Patrick McGoohan.
3* The Royal game
3* Beware of Pity
4* Amok
3* Chess Story
5* Marie-Antoinette
4* Burning Secret
3* Buchmendel
TBR Balzac : le roman de sa vie
TBR The World of Yesterday
TBR The Post-Office Girl
TBR Invisible Collection
TBR Letter from an Unknown Woman: The Fowler Snared
TBR Balzac, Dickens, Dostoevsky
Le mystère qui entoure la vie de Marie Stuart a été l'objet de representations et d'interpretations aussi contradictoires que frequentes: il n'existe peut-être pas d'autre femme qui a été peinte sous des traits aussi différents, tantôt comme une martyre, tantôt comme une folle intrigante, ou bien encore comme une sainte.
With an objective narrative, the author describes without passion, her first marriage with the French king Francis II, the murder of her fist husband, Lord Darnley as well as her love affair with Lord Bothwell.
Her long period of captivity is also described with plenty of details as well as the case of the casket letters.
Further readings and references may be found in the following books:
Mary Stuart: A Tragedy by Friedrich Schiller - available at Project Gutenberg.
The Abbot by Walter Scott - available at Project Gutenberg.
Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser
Mary Queen Of Scots: And The Murder Of Lord Darnley by Alison Weir
A splendid and unforgettable movie was made based on her life: Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) with Vanessa Redgrave, Glenda Jackson, Patrick McGoohan.
3* The Royal game
3* Beware of Pity
4* Amok
3* Chess Story
5* Marie-Antoinette
4* Burning Secret
3* Buchmendel
TBR Balzac : le roman de sa vie
TBR The World of Yesterday
TBR The Post-Office Girl
TBR Invisible Collection
TBR Letter from an Unknown Woman: The Fowler Snared
TBR Balzac, Dickens, Dostoevsky
June 4, 2020
قلم نویسنده بسیار پر شور و پر حرارت روایت می کرد.
نهایتِ آن چه همیشه از تاریخ در ذهن انسان ته نشین می شود، این است که اگر این اتفاق نمی افتاد و یا اگر این گونه نمی شد، چه می شد. اما تاریخ همیشه دست برتر را بر انسان ها و اندیشه هایشان دارد. زیرا زمانی انسان بر آن فائق بود و آن را رقم زده است.
ماری استوارت نیز نه به عنوان یک مظلوم تاریخ، که به عنوان ملکه ای با سرنوشتِ عبرت انگیز و پر از لحظات احساسی شناخته می شود.
چنین است رسم سرای سپنج
بخواهد که مانی بدو در به رنج
ماری استوارت یک روز خنده کرد و عمری گریست، اما این سرنوشت نمی تواند از او قهرمان بسازد. تاریخ با اتفاقات خود هزاران چراغ بر سر راه آیندگان روشن کرده است به شرط اینکه چشم بسته به سمت مقصد نرویم
نهایتِ آن چه همیشه از تاریخ در ذهن انسان ته نشین می شود، این است که اگر این اتفاق نمی افتاد و یا اگر این گونه نمی شد، چه می شد. اما تاریخ همیشه دست برتر را بر انسان ها و اندیشه هایشان دارد. زیرا زمانی انسان بر آن فائق بود و آن را رقم زده است.
ماری استوارت نیز نه به عنوان یک مظلوم تاریخ، که به عنوان ملکه ای با سرنوشتِ عبرت انگیز و پر از لحظات احساسی شناخته می شود.
چنین است رسم سرای سپنج
بخواهد که مانی بدو در به رنج
ماری استوارت یک روز خنده کرد و عمری گریست، اما این سرنوشت نمی تواند از او قهرمان بسازد. تاریخ با اتفاقات خود هزاران چراغ بر سر راه آیندگان روشن کرده است به شرط اینکه چشم بسته به سمت مقصد نرویم
May 4, 2021
Είναι γνωστό ότι ο Zweig έχει γράψει αρκετές βιογραφίες. Ήθελα από καιρό να διαβάσω σχετικά για την ζωή της Mary Stewart. Γνωρίζω ότι υπάρχει και άλλη μια βιογραφία της Antonia Fraser. Τελικά κατέληξα να διαβάσω του Zweig. Μας περιγράφει την ζωή της μέχρι και το φρικτό τέλος της.
Ενα πολύ ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο και θα το πρότεινα σε όσους αγαπούν τις βιογραφίες και την ιστορία γενικά.
Ενα πολύ ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο και θα το πρότεινα σε όσους αγαπούν τις βιογραφίες και την ιστορία γενικά.
March 4, 2015
I'm half way through my second Stefan Zweig book. I don't find this kind of writing anymore. The author gives his readers the gift of time and patience so we can start to feel what it must have been like at that point in history. You become emotionally involved with the era and can better understand Zweig's characters as real people, giving you an insight we aren't normally privy to in modern writing.
Finished! Just loved it....
Finished! Just loved it....
January 12, 2019
Bibliophiles love to babble on about the importance of empathy in literature. For them, empathy is both input and output of outstanding books. And normally, bibliophile myself, I toe the party line and agree, because theoretically the argument seems sound and anecdotally I can cite instances of empathy emerging from great works of art. But I'm an inveterate skeptic: are lovers of literature--both producers and consumers--truly more empathetic?
One need look no further than our current landscape in the genre of biography. The explosion of memoir is evidence of egoism, not empathy; most historical biography trends towards hagiography; and celebrity profiles, the peak modern form of the genre, more often mock, or worse, excoriate their subject.
Zweig, however, is an exceptional biographer, and he holds no poison pen. His approach as a biographer is more cheerleader: through all the tribulations of Mary Queen of Scots' life, of which many are arguably of her own devising, he does not cease to believe in and want the best for her. Radical empathy extending centuries backward for a woman of a bygone era, for a woman whom we know ends up on the gallows.
His picture of Mary is drawn truthfully and accurately, beginning with her birth and coronation as Queen of Scotland and the Isles at only 6 days old. Although Mary Stuart's fantastical life, full of murdered husbands, succession disputes, and questionable imprisonment, is easy fodder for any biographer, Zweig brings an effervescent verve to all periods of his subject's life, even those of relative inactivity. This 450-page clunker is an absolute page-turner, which it would certainly not be if written by a less skilled author.
Zweig also manages to evade ahistoricism, a common mistake of biographers. He is careful to ground his assessment of the Queen of Scots in her own epoch. He is particularly successful in doing so when he explains why Mary Stuart's execution by her cousin Elizabeth I of England was so exceptional: as a divinely anointed queen, the philosophical basis of monarchy the late 16th century, she was not accountable to Elizabeth, England, or even the Scottish lords. No matter her guilt or innocence, her right as a queen should have exempted her from any accusations, trials, or punishments, which makes her execution by Queen Elizabeth so remarkable. It blazed the path to more king- and queen-killing in the subsequent centuries, peaking with Marie Antoinette's death two hundred years later.
Unfortunately, Zweig's commitment to historical accuracy leads him to commit his sole crime of the biography. Early on, he describes the decades-long dispute between Mary and Elizabeth as the result of "two women remaining women throughout, unable to vercome the weaknesses inherent in their sex." A few sentences later, he even ventures to describe their simmering animosity as "catty." Zweig is a writer of his time, and although these declarations somewhat marred my enjoyment, he largely avoids letting his essentialist views of womanhood corrupt his depiction of Mary, whom he shows to be a figure of resolve and hardheadedness throughout her life.
Nowadays I'm often dismayed by our culture's propensity to see the worst in people. An example from this past week: a weatherman who makes an unfortunate Spoonerism is decried as a racist instead of someone who simply misspoke. Wouldn't it be wonderful to interact with the world the same way Zweig interacts with his subjects of interest? To observe their flaws, indeed even to study those flaws with a magnifying glass, while never using the character defects as a reason for outright dismissal and denunciation of the person? Under Zweig's steady and rehabilitative hand, Mary Queen of Scots is given new life after the sundry calumnies to her name in the centuries following her death. It is a pleasure to read this book and to see her the way she might have, in her most brutally self-honest moments, seen herself.
One need look no further than our current landscape in the genre of biography. The explosion of memoir is evidence of egoism, not empathy; most historical biography trends towards hagiography; and celebrity profiles, the peak modern form of the genre, more often mock, or worse, excoriate their subject.
Zweig, however, is an exceptional biographer, and he holds no poison pen. His approach as a biographer is more cheerleader: through all the tribulations of Mary Queen of Scots' life, of which many are arguably of her own devising, he does not cease to believe in and want the best for her. Radical empathy extending centuries backward for a woman of a bygone era, for a woman whom we know ends up on the gallows.
His picture of Mary is drawn truthfully and accurately, beginning with her birth and coronation as Queen of Scotland and the Isles at only 6 days old. Although Mary Stuart's fantastical life, full of murdered husbands, succession disputes, and questionable imprisonment, is easy fodder for any biographer, Zweig brings an effervescent verve to all periods of his subject's life, even those of relative inactivity. This 450-page clunker is an absolute page-turner, which it would certainly not be if written by a less skilled author.
Zweig also manages to evade ahistoricism, a common mistake of biographers. He is careful to ground his assessment of the Queen of Scots in her own epoch. He is particularly successful in doing so when he explains why Mary Stuart's execution by her cousin Elizabeth I of England was so exceptional: as a divinely anointed queen, the philosophical basis of monarchy the late 16th century, she was not accountable to Elizabeth, England, or even the Scottish lords. No matter her guilt or innocence, her right as a queen should have exempted her from any accusations, trials, or punishments, which makes her execution by Queen Elizabeth so remarkable. It blazed the path to more king- and queen-killing in the subsequent centuries, peaking with Marie Antoinette's death two hundred years later.
Unfortunately, Zweig's commitment to historical accuracy leads him to commit his sole crime of the biography. Early on, he describes the decades-long dispute between Mary and Elizabeth as the result of "two women remaining women throughout, unable to vercome the weaknesses inherent in their sex." A few sentences later, he even ventures to describe their simmering animosity as "catty." Zweig is a writer of his time, and although these declarations somewhat marred my enjoyment, he largely avoids letting his essentialist views of womanhood corrupt his depiction of Mary, whom he shows to be a figure of resolve and hardheadedness throughout her life.
Nowadays I'm often dismayed by our culture's propensity to see the worst in people. An example from this past week: a weatherman who makes an unfortunate Spoonerism is decried as a racist instead of someone who simply misspoke. Wouldn't it be wonderful to interact with the world the same way Zweig interacts with his subjects of interest? To observe their flaws, indeed even to study those flaws with a magnifying glass, while never using the character defects as a reason for outright dismissal and denunciation of the person? Under Zweig's steady and rehabilitative hand, Mary Queen of Scots is given new life after the sundry calumnies to her name in the centuries following her death. It is a pleasure to read this book and to see her the way she might have, in her most brutally self-honest moments, seen herself.
May 23, 2019
Ho letto in passato alcune biografie di Zweig rimanendone ogni volta affascinata e colpita, in modo particolare sono stata rapita da quella di Magellano e da quella di Maria Antonietta, apprezzandone il taglio romanzesco, la limpidezza della prosa e il carattere divulgativo. Devo ammettere, però, che quest'ultima dedicata alla regina scozzese è stata da me meno gradita e mi ha portato a riconsiderare anche gli apprezzamenti elargiti nel passato. Senza nulla togliere a Zweig, mi rendo ora conto che ciò che maggiormente mi colpiva in passato era la tragicità insita nei personaggi storici fatti oggetto di tali narrazioni, e di ciò mi ha reso consapevole proprio questa biografia dedicata ad un'altra grande vittima della storia come Maria Antonietta o del Fato, come Magellano. Maria Stuarda incarna infatti il prototipo della maschera tragica ma questa volta, la narrazione eccessivamente prolissa, ridondante, quasi retorica a tratti, mi ha allontanato dal piacere provato in altri tempi. Eppure questa è anche fra le tre l'opera maggiormente supportata da documenti che dovrebbero restituire quell'oggettività insita alla ricerca storica e di conseguenza alle biografie di personaggi storici. Ma qui spesso la narrazione è pretestuosa e l'amarezza del travaglio dello scrittore esule- lo scritto è del 1935- e del bando subito dalle sue opere trapela ripetutamente con considerazioni sibilline che altro non sono che strali lanciati contro il suo tempo, resi universali perché adattabili anche al XVI secolo. Una forzatura, quasi. Per non parlare di una vena misogina che attraversa in maniera prepotente la prima parte dello scritto e che ripetutamente avvalla l'ipotesi che donne e politica sono universi distanti e inconciliabili data la natura acida, cattiva e capricciosa delle stesse. Tali limiti li attribuisce non solo a Maria ma anche alla sua eterna rivale Elisabetta I, abilmente usata per rafforzare inoltre la tesi di un'isteria atavica e inguaribile nella natura femminile. Ecco, mi ha irritata! Per il resto, se si ha voglia di leggere una narrazione dal taglio drammatico e retorico per conoscere i dettagli di una vita comunque eccezionale, questo libro potrebbe fare al caso vostro; gli salvo solo i continui e precisi riferimenti all'opera del Bardo.
April 30, 2021
Hakikaten 5 yıldızlık imiş.
Sarsıcı.
Sarsıcı.
March 12, 2021
Je pensais bien connaître l'histoire et le personnage de Mary Stuart, et j'ai finalement appris tellement de choses. Très bien documenté sans jamais être indigeste, ça se lit comme un roman et nous plonge complètement dans le XVIème siècle et ses intrigues (on a parfois l'impression que tout cela a été écrit par Shakespeare, pas besoin de chercher plus loin d'où lui est venue l'inspiration pour Macbeth), d'abord à la cour de France, puis à la cour d'Écosse en gardant toujours un œil sur Londres et Elizabeth Tudor. C'est la grande Histoire écrite par des femmes et relatée par Stefan Zweig donc c'est forcément fascinant. Ma passion pour les grandes héroïnes a été assouvie : les grandes destinées mêlées à l'Histoire, c'est ce que je préfère lire au monde. Bon, à certains moments, on sent que l'écriture de cette biographie date un peu, ça a bientôt un siècle après tout : Elizabeth Tudor hystérique, Mary Stuart victime des faiblesses inhérentes à son sexe, les paragraphes descriptifs des relations entre Bothwell et Mary... Ça m'a fait franchement hausser les sourcils plus d'une fois. Ça mériterait une petite mise à jour tout ça, mais ce n'est finalement pas ce que je retiendrai de ce livre envoûtant. Tout le romanesque que je recherchais est bel et bien là, et plus encore.
August 29, 2019
Cvajg ovde piše objektivno, kako i treba kada je reč o istorijskoj ličnosti, ali u njegovim rečenicama je utkano dosta poetskog i čitalac oseća da je pisac naklonjen škotskoj kraljici i da je za trunku više brani nego što osuđuje određene postupke. Pred kraj kaže kako je Marija Stjuart prosto samo imala manje sreće od Elizabete i tu se ne bih složila - činjenica je da je škotskoj kraljici od početka sve bilo otežano, dobila je krunu sa samo šest dana života i borila se protiv brojnih neistomišljenika, a da nije stigla ni da sazri i da proživi normalno detinjstvo, ali rekla bih da je Elizabeta ipak pametnije koračala i donosila odluke dostojne kraljice, dok je Marija ipak dopustila nedostojnim muškarcima da joj pletu sudbinu i da joj se zgade istom brzinom kojom su je opčinili.
January 11, 2019
The other day I went to see the film, Mary Queen of Scots and as I do with most historical films, I wondered how historically accurate it was. I vaguely recalled the biography of the Scottish Queen written over forty years ago by Antonia Fraser and it seemed there was a great deal of artistic license employed. Since the most recent biography of Mary was written by John Guy it seemed like the best choice to read, however the film was based on that monograph. I decided to read an older classic account of the Queen written by Stefan Zweig in 1935 which has withstood the test of time.
Zweig, a prolific short story writer has written several biographies of major historical and literary figures that made him one of the most popular European writers in the 1920s and 30s. Zweig delivers a solid biography that encompasses her life begun during the time of Henry VIII who tried to pressure Mary’s father, James V to reject Catholicism and accept Protestantism. James V would die six days after Mary’s birth (though Zweig seems to say they died on the same day), resulting in the ascension of Mary to the Scottish throne at birth.
What is clear about Scottish history is that it was very difficult for any monarch to rule Scotland effectively due to the marauding and jealous clans, led by lords who had difficulty projecting fealty to any monarch. These lords were arrogant and greedy and were part of a somewhat narcissistic nobility. Any wealth the monarchy might posses apart from sheep herds were gifts and grants from the French king or the Pope. Historically Scotland was a pawn in the battle between France and England, and when war would break out, the English would land at Normandy, and the French would foment problems with their Scottish allies in the rear.
Zweig writes in a pleasant literary style that most historians can not match. He writes with a scent of sarcasm whether discussing dynastic politics or diplomacy, and his monograph reads like a novel. A prime example are the negotiations between Henry VIII and the Scots to marry his son Edward to the six-year-old Mary. However, even after the negotiations are successful, she is spirited away by the French King Henry II to marry his son Francis.
The basic problem is that Mary had a legitimate claim to the English throne once Henry VIII died and his heirs Edward and Mary died. The Scottish Mary was the great grand daughter of Henry VII of England, and Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn was deemed a bastard. Henry II would paint the English coat of arms on Francis and Mary’s blazon in 1559 thus fostering the enmity and creating a rival for Elizabeth I. For the remainder of her life, Mary was seen by Elizabeth as a threat to her throne and eventually it would not end well for Mary.
Zweig will lay out the history of Mary’s short marriage to the sickly Francis and describe in detail her unwanted departure from France and return to Scotland. Zweig effectively relates Mary’s emotional state as she departs France. Zweig integrates Mary’s state of mind throughout the book and incorporates Mary’s own writings and words into the narrative. When Mary departs for Scotland on August 14, 1561, she is traveling to a country that is totally strange and foreign to her. She faces several obstacles before she arrives that will dog her for her entire reign. She is to rule over a poverty-stricken country, she must deal with a corrupt nobility that seems to make war at the slightest provocation, she must confront a clergy that is equally divided between Catholicism and Protestantism, and must deal with foreign neighbors who are waiting to benefit from the fratricidal disputes that seem to occur regularly.
Zweig lays out the barriers that Mary must face when she assumes the throne. She is poor as her mother; Mary of Guise left no inheritance. Further, she must deal with wars of religion where the towns support Protestantism, and the countryside Catholicism. In addition, she must deal with fanatical priests and foreign powers, and lastly nobles who convert to Calvinism as a means of seizing Church wealth. Mary learned fast and decided that perpetual warfare was the way to preserve her Stuart heritage. The question that dominants is how does one rule when more than half of your kingdom believes in a different religion.
Several important figures emerge that influence the course of Mary’s reign. Her half-brother James Stuart, the bastard son of James V was her Prime Minister, and a Protestant. A patient practitioner of the Machiavellian arts, he would have made the perfect king of Scotland. James was wealthy in his own right and was always willing to accept subsidies to carry out the desires of Elizabeth I. Another major figure was John Knox, the fanatical Calvinist preacher who refused to accept Mary as the legitimate ruler of Scotland. His merciless antagonism and demagogic speeches designed to spread his dictatorial religious beliefs was a threat to Mary her entire reign. When they finally meet for the first time, Zweig presents a wonderful description of their debate that demeaned Mary, who stood up to Knox but realized the difficulty that he presented.
Throughout Zweig allows the reader to experience Renaissance culture through the poets and their poetry of the period. Mary who grew up during the French Renaissance was a cultured individual who did not fit in Scotland. Zweig shifts his narrative to the social and cultural mores and norms whenever the situation warrants, and it is a pleasant change from the constant lack of decency and back stabbing that dominates Mary’s reign.
Any biography of Mary must concentrate on her relationship with Elizabeth I. Zweig does an exceptional job and his narrative is based on facts presented or debated with a scholar’s enthusiasm. There is a psychological dimension to the relationship between the two Queens and Zweig does his best to explore it and reach his own psychohistorical conclusions. He possesses a deep admiration for Mary and her refusal to give into a destiny that she should have been able to predict. Reading this monograph at a time of the “me-too” movement one must not take out any sexist frustrations one might feel in regard to Zweig’s comments, i.e.; “In spite of their superlative traits these two women remained women throughout and were unable to overcome the weaknesses inherent in their sex.” The narrative concerning the monarchial cousins centered on their differences that led to the ruin of Mary and victory for Elizabeth.
Zweig correctly points out that the Treaty of Edinburgh was at the center of their inability to reach a rapprochement despite the flowery letters between the two. Mary would not sign the treaty recognizing Elizabeth’s reign until Elizabeth had accorded the succession to Mary – but to Elizabeth that would be signing her death warrant. Zweig points out the strengths and weaknesses of the cousins as well as their similarities and differences. Mary possessed a madly heroic self-confidence that led to her doom. Elizabeth suffered from a lack of decision making, but she would still be victorious. Mary was the champion of the old Catholic faith and was a character out of the Middle Ages believing in chivalry which was dying out. Elizabeth was the more modern monarch who was defending the reformation. The approach to their individual kingdoms also sets them apart. Mary’s kingdom belonged to her on a personal level and she was interested in territorial expansion of her realm, only if it would benefit her personally. For Elizabeth everything she did was to expand her kingdom and add to the glory of England, not her personal possessions. The resulting engagement in wars, colonial expansion, and spreading England’s influence around the world was the result.
Perhaps Zweig’s most fascinating chapters deal with marriage diplomacy between the two Queens. The narrative is priceless as negotiations between the two go back and forth and characters like Lord Henry Darnley and Robert Dudley become pawns between the two women. Zweig’s presentation is almost like a comedic sketch resulting in the secret marriage of Darnley to Mary that has grave repercussions as Elizabeth and James Stuart are shunned to the side and the result is war that at first Mary is victorious, but in the end creates tensions that could only result in her defeat.
Zweig constantly offers a lens into the human condition throughout the narrative. He delves into the psychological imperative that drives Mary and provides a wonderful soliloquy encompassing her infatuation for Lord Bothwell and the repercussions of the murder plot to kill her husband and her almost immediate marriage to her husband’s murderer. Zweig’s analysis is deep and carefully thought out and certain historical scenes are presented as if from a Shakespearean play as there are constant comparisons to the Bard’s characters. The result is that Mary’s psyche has deteriorated to the point that she is unable to face what she has done and how dark were her deeds. A major component of the book is the decline in Mary’s psychological well being as her behavior is detrimental to her political position and her own happiness resulting in her self-inflicted downfall.
This decline is readily apparent as Zweig describes the negotiations between the cousins once she leaves Scotland and is “detained” in England in 1567. Elizabeth wanted Mary to renounce her rights to the English throne and retire quietly. Further, she wanted Mary to be cleared of involvement in the regicidal plot involving Bothwell and the death of her husband, Lord Darnley. Zweig reproduces a great deal of documentation of the Westminster Conference which investigated the murder. As in several cases dealing with Mary the results were not clear, but no matter the result Mary once again let her pride stand in the way of her safety as she lamented her situation and refused to give into Elizabeth’s demands. The situation could easily have been resolved had Elizabeth, who at times had difficulty making major decisions just had Mary found guilty and executed in 1568 and not let the situation drag on for years with the same results.
As an aside, if one compares the film, Mary Queen of Scots to Zweig’s or other historical monographs it becomes clear there are several inaccuracies. First, Mary and Elizabeth never met face to face as takes place toward the end of the film. Second, the brutal murder of David Rizzio, Mary’s confidante does not take place in front of the Queen as is shown in the film as he was dragged into another stateroom for the deed to transpire. Third, it is debatable to assert that Darnley and Rizzio were lovers as is reflected in the film. Fourth, Mary did not have a Scottish accent as reflected in the film as she was raised in France, and lastly Lord Darnley probably raped Mary the first time they had sex. The film overall is well done with a diverse cast, which of course did not exist in the 16th century, but the gist of historical accuracy does come across and one must remember a film is made to make money – not bring true history to the screen.
Zweig has written a somewhat entertaining and literary biography of Mary Queen of Scots. In reading the book one must realize the time period in which it was written and Zweig’s background as a writer. It may not meet the criteria that today’s historians might call for, i.e.; a full bibliography and endnotes, but it is a legitimate work of history and I would recommend it for those who seek clarification, those who have seen the film, or those who are just curious about one of the most enigmatic figures in history.
Zweig, a prolific short story writer has written several biographies of major historical and literary figures that made him one of the most popular European writers in the 1920s and 30s. Zweig delivers a solid biography that encompasses her life begun during the time of Henry VIII who tried to pressure Mary’s father, James V to reject Catholicism and accept Protestantism. James V would die six days after Mary’s birth (though Zweig seems to say they died on the same day), resulting in the ascension of Mary to the Scottish throne at birth.
What is clear about Scottish history is that it was very difficult for any monarch to rule Scotland effectively due to the marauding and jealous clans, led by lords who had difficulty projecting fealty to any monarch. These lords were arrogant and greedy and were part of a somewhat narcissistic nobility. Any wealth the monarchy might posses apart from sheep herds were gifts and grants from the French king or the Pope. Historically Scotland was a pawn in the battle between France and England, and when war would break out, the English would land at Normandy, and the French would foment problems with their Scottish allies in the rear.
Zweig writes in a pleasant literary style that most historians can not match. He writes with a scent of sarcasm whether discussing dynastic politics or diplomacy, and his monograph reads like a novel. A prime example are the negotiations between Henry VIII and the Scots to marry his son Edward to the six-year-old Mary. However, even after the negotiations are successful, she is spirited away by the French King Henry II to marry his son Francis.
The basic problem is that Mary had a legitimate claim to the English throne once Henry VIII died and his heirs Edward and Mary died. The Scottish Mary was the great grand daughter of Henry VII of England, and Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn was deemed a bastard. Henry II would paint the English coat of arms on Francis and Mary’s blazon in 1559 thus fostering the enmity and creating a rival for Elizabeth I. For the remainder of her life, Mary was seen by Elizabeth as a threat to her throne and eventually it would not end well for Mary.
Zweig will lay out the history of Mary’s short marriage to the sickly Francis and describe in detail her unwanted departure from France and return to Scotland. Zweig effectively relates Mary’s emotional state as she departs France. Zweig integrates Mary’s state of mind throughout the book and incorporates Mary’s own writings and words into the narrative. When Mary departs for Scotland on August 14, 1561, she is traveling to a country that is totally strange and foreign to her. She faces several obstacles before she arrives that will dog her for her entire reign. She is to rule over a poverty-stricken country, she must deal with a corrupt nobility that seems to make war at the slightest provocation, she must confront a clergy that is equally divided between Catholicism and Protestantism, and must deal with foreign neighbors who are waiting to benefit from the fratricidal disputes that seem to occur regularly.
Zweig lays out the barriers that Mary must face when she assumes the throne. She is poor as her mother; Mary of Guise left no inheritance. Further, she must deal with wars of religion where the towns support Protestantism, and the countryside Catholicism. In addition, she must deal with fanatical priests and foreign powers, and lastly nobles who convert to Calvinism as a means of seizing Church wealth. Mary learned fast and decided that perpetual warfare was the way to preserve her Stuart heritage. The question that dominants is how does one rule when more than half of your kingdom believes in a different religion.
Several important figures emerge that influence the course of Mary’s reign. Her half-brother James Stuart, the bastard son of James V was her Prime Minister, and a Protestant. A patient practitioner of the Machiavellian arts, he would have made the perfect king of Scotland. James was wealthy in his own right and was always willing to accept subsidies to carry out the desires of Elizabeth I. Another major figure was John Knox, the fanatical Calvinist preacher who refused to accept Mary as the legitimate ruler of Scotland. His merciless antagonism and demagogic speeches designed to spread his dictatorial religious beliefs was a threat to Mary her entire reign. When they finally meet for the first time, Zweig presents a wonderful description of their debate that demeaned Mary, who stood up to Knox but realized the difficulty that he presented.
Throughout Zweig allows the reader to experience Renaissance culture through the poets and their poetry of the period. Mary who grew up during the French Renaissance was a cultured individual who did not fit in Scotland. Zweig shifts his narrative to the social and cultural mores and norms whenever the situation warrants, and it is a pleasant change from the constant lack of decency and back stabbing that dominates Mary’s reign.
Any biography of Mary must concentrate on her relationship with Elizabeth I. Zweig does an exceptional job and his narrative is based on facts presented or debated with a scholar’s enthusiasm. There is a psychological dimension to the relationship between the two Queens and Zweig does his best to explore it and reach his own psychohistorical conclusions. He possesses a deep admiration for Mary and her refusal to give into a destiny that she should have been able to predict. Reading this monograph at a time of the “me-too” movement one must not take out any sexist frustrations one might feel in regard to Zweig’s comments, i.e.; “In spite of their superlative traits these two women remained women throughout and were unable to overcome the weaknesses inherent in their sex.” The narrative concerning the monarchial cousins centered on their differences that led to the ruin of Mary and victory for Elizabeth.
Zweig correctly points out that the Treaty of Edinburgh was at the center of their inability to reach a rapprochement despite the flowery letters between the two. Mary would not sign the treaty recognizing Elizabeth’s reign until Elizabeth had accorded the succession to Mary – but to Elizabeth that would be signing her death warrant. Zweig points out the strengths and weaknesses of the cousins as well as their similarities and differences. Mary possessed a madly heroic self-confidence that led to her doom. Elizabeth suffered from a lack of decision making, but she would still be victorious. Mary was the champion of the old Catholic faith and was a character out of the Middle Ages believing in chivalry which was dying out. Elizabeth was the more modern monarch who was defending the reformation. The approach to their individual kingdoms also sets them apart. Mary’s kingdom belonged to her on a personal level and she was interested in territorial expansion of her realm, only if it would benefit her personally. For Elizabeth everything she did was to expand her kingdom and add to the glory of England, not her personal possessions. The resulting engagement in wars, colonial expansion, and spreading England’s influence around the world was the result.
Perhaps Zweig’s most fascinating chapters deal with marriage diplomacy between the two Queens. The narrative is priceless as negotiations between the two go back and forth and characters like Lord Henry Darnley and Robert Dudley become pawns between the two women. Zweig’s presentation is almost like a comedic sketch resulting in the secret marriage of Darnley to Mary that has grave repercussions as Elizabeth and James Stuart are shunned to the side and the result is war that at first Mary is victorious, but in the end creates tensions that could only result in her defeat.
Zweig constantly offers a lens into the human condition throughout the narrative. He delves into the psychological imperative that drives Mary and provides a wonderful soliloquy encompassing her infatuation for Lord Bothwell and the repercussions of the murder plot to kill her husband and her almost immediate marriage to her husband’s murderer. Zweig’s analysis is deep and carefully thought out and certain historical scenes are presented as if from a Shakespearean play as there are constant comparisons to the Bard’s characters. The result is that Mary’s psyche has deteriorated to the point that she is unable to face what she has done and how dark were her deeds. A major component of the book is the decline in Mary’s psychological well being as her behavior is detrimental to her political position and her own happiness resulting in her self-inflicted downfall.
This decline is readily apparent as Zweig describes the negotiations between the cousins once she leaves Scotland and is “detained” in England in 1567. Elizabeth wanted Mary to renounce her rights to the English throne and retire quietly. Further, she wanted Mary to be cleared of involvement in the regicidal plot involving Bothwell and the death of her husband, Lord Darnley. Zweig reproduces a great deal of documentation of the Westminster Conference which investigated the murder. As in several cases dealing with Mary the results were not clear, but no matter the result Mary once again let her pride stand in the way of her safety as she lamented her situation and refused to give into Elizabeth’s demands. The situation could easily have been resolved had Elizabeth, who at times had difficulty making major decisions just had Mary found guilty and executed in 1568 and not let the situation drag on for years with the same results.
As an aside, if one compares the film, Mary Queen of Scots to Zweig’s or other historical monographs it becomes clear there are several inaccuracies. First, Mary and Elizabeth never met face to face as takes place toward the end of the film. Second, the brutal murder of David Rizzio, Mary’s confidante does not take place in front of the Queen as is shown in the film as he was dragged into another stateroom for the deed to transpire. Third, it is debatable to assert that Darnley and Rizzio were lovers as is reflected in the film. Fourth, Mary did not have a Scottish accent as reflected in the film as she was raised in France, and lastly Lord Darnley probably raped Mary the first time they had sex. The film overall is well done with a diverse cast, which of course did not exist in the 16th century, but the gist of historical accuracy does come across and one must remember a film is made to make money – not bring true history to the screen.
Zweig has written a somewhat entertaining and literary biography of Mary Queen of Scots. In reading the book one must realize the time period in which it was written and Zweig’s background as a writer. It may not meet the criteria that today’s historians might call for, i.e.; a full bibliography and endnotes, but it is a legitimate work of history and I would recommend it for those who seek clarification, those who have seen the film, or those who are just curious about one of the most enigmatic figures in history.
December 16, 2018
Може ли страстта да е ръководен принцип в живота? Вероятно, макар и не препоръчително - но не и ако си кралица! Мария Стюарт се е водела от сърцето си. Което би било прекрасно, ако е било съчетано с повече хладен разум, който пък съвсем не е липсвал на съперницата и - Кралицата Дева, Елизабет.
Две жени, две кралици, две религии (протестантство �� католицизъм), два политически модела (старата автократична богопомазана монархия и зараждащата се нова, така да се каже, експертна монархия), два мирогледа (разум и сърце, научна преценка и интуитивен емоционален подход, прагматизъм с насоченост към бъдещето и емоция извираща от миналото), поезия и проза се сблъскват в смъртоносна схватка. Елизабет и Мария Стюарт. Две корони, от които накрая може да остане само една.
Цвайг е написал две биографии в една книга. С много страст, с дълбочинно проучване и цитати от документите на епохата, ни поднася дуализма на Острова от 16 век.
В началото симпатиите клонят към Мария - тази пъстра, богата емоционално, твърда и красива жена, с нейния прекрасен артистичен и поетичен усет. С огъня в душата и, тласнал я отвъд всяка условност. Жена на любовта - единствената, безусловната, възпявана от бардовете преди и след нейното време. И в крайна степен изпепелила я.
И Елизабет. Крехка, невротична, невероятно волева, смела и същевременно поддаваща се на емоция и сривове и възкръсваща всеки път като Феникс от пепелта си, за да извади меча на разума. И - оплетена от собствените си страхове и противоречия - да вземе едно от най-смелите си решения. Тя, кралицата, да нареди и юридически оправдае екзекуцията на друг легитимен монарх. Тя, богопомазаната, разчиства пътя за Кромуел и Френската Революция. Подвиг, ненадминат нито от завладяването на нови континенти, нито от победата над Великата Армада.
Всеки ред е чиста наслада. Ах, Цвайг, последни европеецо, колко още си можел да напишеш и колко рано си си отишъл от света!
Две жени, две кралици, две религии (протестантство �� католицизъм), два политически модела (старата автократична богопомазана монархия и зараждащата се нова, така да се каже, експертна монархия), два мирогледа (разум и сърце, научна преценка и интуитивен емоционален подход, прагматизъм с насоченост към бъдещето и емоция извираща от миналото), поезия и проза се сблъскват в смъртоносна схватка. Елизабет и Мария Стюарт. Две корони, от които накрая може да остане само една.
Цвайг е написал две биографии в една книга. С много страст, с дълбочинно проучване и цитати от документите на епохата, ни поднася дуализма на Острова от 16 век.
В началото симпатиите клонят към Мария - тази пъстра, богата емоционално, твърда и красива жена, с нейния прекрасен артистичен и поетичен усет. С огъня в душата и, тласнал я отвъд всяка условност. Жена на любовта - единствената, безусловната, възпявана от бардовете преди и след нейното време. И в крайна степен изпепелила я.
И Елизабет. Крехка, невротична, невероятно волева, смела и същевременно поддаваща се на емоция и сривове и възкръсваща всеки път като Феникс от пепелта си, за да извади меча на разума. И - оплетена от собствените си страхове и противоречия - да вземе едно от най-смелите си решения. Тя, кралицата, да нареди и юридически оправдае екзекуцията на друг легитимен монарх. Тя, богопомазаната, разчиства пътя за Кромуел и Френската Революция. Подвиг, ненадминат нито от завладяването на нови континенти, нито от победата над Великата Армада.
Всеки ред е чиста наслада. Ах, Цвайг, последни европеецо, колко още си можел да напишеш и колко рано си си отишъл от света!
January 21, 2023
История противостояния двух королев – королевы Шотландии Марии Стюарт и Елизаветы Английской. Цвейг показал свою героиню не столько как историческую личность, но как женщину, женщину эмоциональную, склонную к спонтанным, сиюминутным решениям, страстную и одновременно, мужественную, властную и четко осознающую свое королевское величие. Особенно ярко эта черта проявляется во время подготовки к казни.
Shelved as 'never-finished'
September 22, 2015هنوز هم بر این باورم که جذابیت ها و سختی های زندگی یک ملکه رو تنها ذبیح الله منصوری زیبا به تصویر می کشه و بس :دی
نه حتی شما تسوایک عزیز
:)
نه حتی شما تسوایک عزیز
:)
November 5, 2021
Препрочетена след 20+ години и отново превъзходна.
March 7, 2021
María Estuardo o María I fue reina de Escocia. Nació el 8 de diciembre de 1842 y murió el 8 de febrero de 1587. A los seis días de edad subió el trono, debido a que su padre, Jacobo V, murió. Casada hasta en tres ocasiones, fue reina consorte de Francia con su primer marido. La eterna guerra con Isabel I acabó siendo su perdición.
Siempre he escuchado muy buenas críticas de Stefan Zweig pero nunca había leído u oído nada suyo, hasta ahora. La historia siempre me ha gustado mucho y conocer la vida de grandes mujeres me interesa mucho. Conocía un poco por encima la vida de María Estuardo, y como me parecía una vida muy interesante, a la par que importante, me animé con el audiolibro. Me ha encantado.
La forma de escribir del autor es maravillosa. Consigue engancharte desde el principio. No se limita a contarte la vida de María Estuardo y ya está. Le da un contexto y lo complementa con documentos y cartas que prueban lo que está contando. No es solo una biografía, ya que tiene partes de ensayo e incluso algunas pequeñas partes noveladas. Lo que le da mucho dinamismo y ritmo a la narración, no haciéndose pesada en ningún momento.
La vida de María Estuardo no estuvo carente de intrigas políticas, asesinatos, conjuras, traiciones, amor, odio… Fue una mujer muy fuerte y con las ideas muy claras. Sabía lo que quería y no le temblaba mucho la mano. Ser reina de Escocia requería tener una personalidad fuerte, a consecuencia de la inestabilidad que vivía el país.
En la vida de María Estuardo se pueden llegar a encontrar similitudes con Macbeth de Shakespeare, una de las tragedias más importantes del autor inglés. Y Zweig nos lo deja claro a lo largo de la historia, mostrándonos en cada momento las similitudes con la obra de Shakespeare. Esto me ha encantado.
En definitiva, merece mucho la pena conocer la vida de María Estuardo y hacerlo de la mano de Stefan Zweig es la mejor opción. Incluso si no eres dado a leer biografías, creo que no se te hará nada pesada y la disfrutarás mucho. Y yo te animo a que si tienes la oportunidad de escuchar el audiolibro, lo hagas, porque la narradora Eva Coll lo hace de maravilla.
Siempre he escuchado muy buenas críticas de Stefan Zweig pero nunca había leído u oído nada suyo, hasta ahora. La historia siempre me ha gustado mucho y conocer la vida de grandes mujeres me interesa mucho. Conocía un poco por encima la vida de María Estuardo, y como me parecía una vida muy interesante, a la par que importante, me animé con el audiolibro. Me ha encantado.
La forma de escribir del autor es maravillosa. Consigue engancharte desde el principio. No se limita a contarte la vida de María Estuardo y ya está. Le da un contexto y lo complementa con documentos y cartas que prueban lo que está contando. No es solo una biografía, ya que tiene partes de ensayo e incluso algunas pequeñas partes noveladas. Lo que le da mucho dinamismo y ritmo a la narración, no haciéndose pesada en ningún momento.
La vida de María Estuardo no estuvo carente de intrigas políticas, asesinatos, conjuras, traiciones, amor, odio… Fue una mujer muy fuerte y con las ideas muy claras. Sabía lo que quería y no le temblaba mucho la mano. Ser reina de Escocia requería tener una personalidad fuerte, a consecuencia de la inestabilidad que vivía el país.
En la vida de María Estuardo se pueden llegar a encontrar similitudes con Macbeth de Shakespeare, una de las tragedias más importantes del autor inglés. Y Zweig nos lo deja claro a lo largo de la historia, mostrándonos en cada momento las similitudes con la obra de Shakespeare. Esto me ha encantado.
En definitiva, merece mucho la pena conocer la vida de María Estuardo y hacerlo de la mano de Stefan Zweig es la mejor opción. Incluso si no eres dado a leer biografías, creo que no se te hará nada pesada y la disfrutarás mucho. Y yo te animo a que si tienes la oportunidad de escuchar el audiolibro, lo hagas, porque la narradora Eva Coll lo hace de maravilla.
March 11, 2019
“Nada contribuiu mais para colocar Maria Stuart no plano da lenda do que a injustiça sofrida; nada diminuiu tanto moralmente Isabel como não ter querido mostrar-se grande num grande momento” – 269
A beleza da lenda de Maria Stuart vence a realidade e impressiona-nos até aos dias de hoje. Desde sempre prisioneira da política e da diplomacia, mais corajosa que sensata, Maria Stuart tomou decisões imprudentes que, aliadas à incompetência ou vilania dos que a rodeavam, acabaram por colocá-la em situações, no mínimo, muito indignas.
Através de uma prosa trabalhada, fácil de acompanhar, Stefan Zweig contempla neste livro a vida de Maria Stuart desde o nascimento até à morte. Dando-nos uma opinião muito honesta, destaca as qualidades de ambas as rainhas, condena os seus defeitos e comenta a viabilidade das provas apresentadas tanto a favor como contra Maria Stuart, mas sem que nos aborreça com pormenores desnecessários, o que contribui para o tom enérgico do livro, pouco usual numa biografia.
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