Mary Queen of Scots (49 page)

I have presented some of my findings on Mary, Queen of Scots, at sessions of the Renaissance Society of Southern California Conference and at the Pacific Coast Conference on British Studies. At a conference on Tudor history sponsored by the Huntington Library, I also gave a paper on the marriage of women rulers, which contained a few excerpts from this book and which appeared in
Studies in Medieval and
Renaissance History
, co-edited by Philip Soergel and Andrew Barnes.

I am grateful for the willingness of Robert Pearce, the editor of this biographical series, to read and reread the manuscript, offering many insightful criticisms. The staff at Routledge, Liz Gooster, the acting commissioning editor, and Philippa Grand, her editorial assistant, led me through the publication process expertly, choosing anonymous readers who helped clarify some misstatements and inaccuracies. My family, as always, has been extremely supportive: my husband, Ronald, my daughter Margaretha, my son Robert, and his wife Cynthia, who gave birth to my granddaughter Winter in January 2005. Members of Ronald’s law firm, especially John Dionne, provided copying services and other assistance, and Margaretha read the book’s original introduction, offering a few key suggestions that I gladly incorporated.

I discovered in reading about this first Scottish queen regnant that modern writers have often been more critical of some of her decisions, especially the one to seek aid in England, than was Sir Francis Knollys, her first, reluctant English guardian. He was of the opinion in 1568
that she fled to his realm because she had no safe refuge in Scotland and no secure means of going to France. Historical analysis has seldom been so generous.

During her seven years in Scotland from 1561 to 1568, she faced four armed rebellions, two unrelated abduction scares, had an intruder secrete himself in her bedchamber twice, witnessed a murderous assault on her French secretary, lost her husband to foul play, underwent abduction, rape, and a forced marriage that led her to threaten suicide, faced a public attack on her honor in which she was called a whore, was imprisoned at Lochleven, and was compelled to abdicate. In the midst of these adversities, she managed to give birth to her son, who succeeded her. She also suffered from a chronic illness that left her crippled by the time she was 40 years old.

It seems appropriate that while I was writing this book about the first queen regnant on the British Isles that my first grandchild was born female. I hope that when it is time for Winter to seek employment that she will find no path left untrod by earlier females and that the opportunities and pitfalls of becoming the first woman in a field will no longer exist. It is true that unlike this first Scottish queen regnant, most modern first women do not have to encounter life-threatening assaults or abduction threats, but they have faced professional challenges that have and can be very troubling. I, therefore, dedicate this book to
these pioneering women, from the early modern queens regnant to modern faculty members, astronauts, prime ministers, and others in less prominent employments. Understanding Mary Stewart’s life reminds us of how difficult the first woman’s journey for professional acceptance and respect has been and can still be.

COPYRIGHT

First published 2006
by Routledge

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Copyright © 2006 Retha M. Warnicke

All rights reserved.

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.