Dunstan: Saint and Statesman Book

The subtitle of this book, A Study in Failure, drew me to it as I'd always thought that Mary Queen of Scots wasn't really cut out to be a monarch especially at that very difficult time in European history when great religious ferment was in progress due to the establishment of the Protestant religion. However, I found it a bit disappointing. It isn't a personal biography and I didn't expect that - and the author recommends Antonia Fraser's study which I read years ago - but somehow it seemed a bit superficial.

There were a few interesting points such as the layout of the palaces at that time allowing a monarch to withdraw and cut themselves off with their 'favourites', and the statistics on how few council meetings Mary did attend. It was also interesting that she was depicted in the Casket Letters, which implicated her in the murder of her second husband, as a lovelorn masochist which the author says would have been novel if these had been forged by one of the men who stood to gain from her being deposed - as women at the time were either categorised as Madonna/Whore. Probably correct, as the concept of sadomasochism was not, I believe, developed until the 18th century. Though rather than likening this to Barbara Cartland novels as the author does, I would have thought 1980s bodicerippers would have been more accurate a comparison - and contemporary to the original publication of this book. A 3-star read, with some interest but not as enjoyable or informative as I'd hoped.