The Royal Stuarts

October 31, 2011
In this smart history, Massie gives its due to the British dynasty that has long played second fiddle to the Tudors. A key Breton ancestor of the Stuart monarchs was appointed, circa 1124, High Steward of Scotland, a prestigious role that gave the Stewarts their family name (changed to Stuart by Mary, queen of Scots), and in which they served ably for eight generations. Robert II became the first, if ineffectual, Stewart king of Scotland in 1371. The five Jameses were men of unusual ability, and James IV’s marriage to Henry VIII’s sister led to the union of Scotland and England 100 years later. The deaths on the scaffold of Mary and her grandson Charles I, says Massie, lent their memory a nobility that their lives frequently lacked. James VI, an intelligent, canny politician, was patron of the King James Bible. The most intelligent, charming, and deceitful of Stuart kings, Charles II, was followed by his brother James, whose Catholicism cost him his throne. The Stuart dynasty ended on an inglorious note with the “politically insignificant” Mary II and her sister Anne, an “ordinary woman” who despite over a dozen pregnancies, failed to produce a living heir. Massie, a novelist (Caesar) and Spectator columnist, offers a delightfully opinionated but nuanced and action-packed history. Illus.

October 15, 2011
A well-fashioned history of the remarkable Scottish monarchs. They were "Stewarts," mythical descendants of Shakespeare's Banquo, before they were "Stuarts," writes prolific Scottish novelist and historian Massie (Death in Bordeaux, 2010, etc.). The spelling was changed by Mary Queen of Scots so that it would be easier to pronounce for the French. The clan actually traces its roots in Brittany, with enterprising members crossing the Channel first in the service of the Norman king Henry I. The first Stewart on the Scottish throne, Robert II, weathered the wars of independence against the English, though the Scottish monarchy was much weaker than the English, lacking a similar administrative apparatus. What Cambridge historian F.W. Maitland termed a "mournful procession of the Jameses" followed, with mixed results. Several were murdered early on, though James IV's marriage to English princess Margaret Tudor in 1503 was significant because it would lead to the Union of the Crowns 100 years later. Queen Mary's story has been told often elsewhere, and provides the saddest interlude, while her son, James VI, proved the great survivor, an intellectual, solid Protestant and patron of the arts, effectively putting Scotland's house in order before Elizabeth I's death invited him to join the thrones of England and Scotland. There is no end to the fascination with the lives of the two truncated Charleses, in turn spurring revolution then restoration, and Massie truly brings these singular characters to life with his felicitous prose. Perhaps the least understood of the clan was Queen Anne, who presided over the Treaty of Union in 1707, possessed principles and stamina yet had no living heir to keep the throne from falling to the Protestant Elector of Hanover, who became George I. A palatable history lesson that might help untangle the royal lineage web for American readers.

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July 1, 2011

Founded in the 1300s by Robert II of Scotland, the Stuart dynasty presided over a rapidly modernizing Scotland and eventually acceded to the English Crown, following hard upon the Tudors. Along the way, they were implicated in violent moments from the Scottish Wars of Independence to the English Civil War to the Restoration. Spectator columnist Massie, also a novelist (e.g., the "Roman Quartet"), apparently delivers a juicy good read. Not just for history lovers but anyone hooked on Showtime's The Tudors or, currently, The Borgias.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2011
In telling the story of a royal dynasty, an author needs to manage both bigger and smaller pictures, moving steadily through family history, identifying common traits, but at the same time pausing to meaningfully visit the notable individual members to establish each person's distinctions and how he or she fit into family history. The Stuart dynasty, rulers of Scotland and, subsequently, both Scotland and England upon the demise of the Tudors, makes a rewardingin terms of sheer dramatic appealsubject for this well-grounded and nimble author. The Stuarts were colorful and tragic, accomplishing much good as sovereigns of the two British kingdoms but remembered more for the mistakes they made. In appended acknowledgments, Massie, a journalist and novelist, admits that his book has been a long time in the making. What that length of preparation time means to the reader is not a turgid, overwrought narrative that was too much labored over but, instead, a responsibly thought-out presentation remarkable for its stylistic verve. The Stuarts have been the natural stuff of historical fiction, and the same readers who enjoy their history fictionalized will be fully engaged in the dramatically real history found here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)