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Cultural depictions of Mary, Queen of Scots

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A 19th-century painting of Mary Queen of Scots in the Hermitage, Russia
Cassandra Austen's drawing of Mary Queen of Scots in Jane Austen's burlesque juvenile History of England

Mary, Queen of Scots, has inspired artistic and cultural works for more than four centuries. The following lists cover various media, enduring works of high art, and recent representations in popular culture. The entries represent portrayals that a reader has a reasonable chance of encountering rather than a complete catalogue.

Films

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An 1895 reproduction of the historic scene, produced by Edison Manufacturing Co.
Katharine Hepburn in John Ford's 1936 film adaption of Maxwell Anderson's play Mary of Scotland

In the 1936, 1971 and 2018 film biographies of Mary, fictional meetings between Queens Mary and Elizabeth take place.

Literature

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Fiction and drama

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This list is in chronological order.

Historical biography and analysis

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This list is in chronological order.

  • Maria Stuart (1936) by Stefan Zweig, ISBN 2-253-15079-7
  • Mary Queen of Scots (1969) by Antonia Fraser, ISBN 0-385-31129-X
  • Mary Queen of Scots: A Study in Failure (London, 1988) by Jenny Wormald, ISBN 0-540-01131-2
  • Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley (New York, 2003) by Alison Weir, ISBN 0-345-43658-X
  • The Kings & Queens of Scotland (Stroud, 2004) by Richard Oram, ISBN 0-7524-2971-X
  • "Mary Queen of Scots and the French Connection", History Today, 54, 7 (July 2004), pp. 37–43, by Alexander Wilkinson
  • Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart (New York, 2004) by John Guy, ISBN 0-618-25411-0
  • "Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Babington conspiracy", by David Alan Johnson, Military Heritage, August 2005, no. 1, Volume 7, ISSN 1524-8666
  • Mary Queen of Scots and French Public Opinion, 1542–1600 (Palgrave, 2005) by Alexander Wilkinson, ISBN 1-4039-2039-7 (hdbk)
  • Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens (Vintage, 2005) by Jane Dunn, ISBN 0-375-70820-0.
  • Mary Queen of Scots (2006) by Retha Warnicke, ISBN 0-415-29183-6
  • Queen of Scots: Truth or Lies (2011) by Rosalind K. Marshall, ISBN 1-873644-95-7

Photography and art books

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Poetry

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  • In Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky's 20 sonnets to Mary Stuart (in Russian) the poet addresses her as an interlocutor.
  • The Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote a poem Lament of Mary Queen of Scots, on the Approach of Spring upon Mary's feelings while in her captivity in England, towards her cousin Elizabeth I of England and foreboding of her approaching death.
  • The Spanish poet Lope de Vega wrote an epic poem upon Mary Stuart's life and death: Corona trágica (Tragic crown), published in 1628.
  • Shortly after Mary Stuart's execution in 1587, the English Jesuit poet Robert Southwell composed an emblem poem portraying Mary as a Catholic martyr.[4] The poem was never published in the early modern period; even owning a manuscript version of the poem was "inevitable flirtation with treason" in Elizabethan England.[5]
  • The 1596 edition of Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene includes an allegorical representation of the trial of Mary Stuart (Book 5, Canto ix, stanzas 36–50). Mary Stuart is represented by Duessa and Elizabeth is figured by Mercilla. The allegory dwells on Elizabeth's reluctance to condemn Mary. Elizabeth's delay of three months before agreeing to have Mary executed is represented by a gap of three stanzas at the end of Canto ix.[6] Mercilla's judgment and Duessa's execution do not actually occur until the beginning of the next Canto (x.1–4).

Music

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  • John Barry, composer of the soundtrack to the 1971 film, wrote two songs, "Wish Now Was Then" and "This Way Mary" with lyricist Don Black based on themes from the film. They were performed by Matt Monro, with the latter song covered by Scott Walker and Johnny Mathis amongst others.
  • The American progressive metal band Dream Theater uses a variation of the mark of Mary, Queen of Scots, as their trademark "Majesty" symbol.
  • The song "Fotheringay" by Fairport Convention (with lyrics by Sandy Denny) featured on the 1969 album What We Did on Our Holidays and is an interpretation of the story of Mary's last days in the prison of Fotheringhay Castle. After leaving Fairport Convention, Denny formed a folk rock band named Fotheringay, which released an eponymous debut album Fotheringay in 1970, the cover of which depicted an illustration of the band, including Sandy Denny dressed in Elizabethan costume.
  • The song "The Ballad of Mary (Queen of Scots)" by Grave Digger is about her time in prison.
  • The song "My Blood Will Live Forever" by Grave Digger is about her time before the execution.
  • Data Regina (2017), a multimedia suite by composer Olivia Louvel, featuring violinist Fiona Brice and mastered by Antye Greie, digs deep into the psychic warfare between two 16th century British Queens. Drawn to the life and writings of Mary Queen of Scots, a poet and essayist herself and one of the most read woman of her time, Data Regina is a body of work which gathers electronic songs, "The Antechamber", along with a series of instrumentals, "The Battles", a sonic landscape inspired by the 16th century battles on the Anglo-Scottish border.[7][8]
  • The song "To France" by Mike Oldfield, featured in the 1984 album Discovery, references Mary in its chorus.
  • The song "Sad Song" by Lou Reed, featured in the 1973 album Berlin, references Mary in its initial verses. The song was also recorded as a demo by Reed's band The Velvet Underground with different lyrics (this version appears on the box set Peel Slowly and See and the "Fully Loaded Edition" of Loaded, but the Velvets' version still references Mary.
  • Robert Schumann composed a song cycle "Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart" (Op. 135) based on five poems from the collection "Rose und Distel" by Gisbert Vincke (1852). This cycle was among the final works that Schumann composed before he went insane.
  • Richard Wagner composed a song "Adieux de Marie Stuart" (WWV 61, 1840) based on a poem by Pierre Jean Béranger.[citation needed]

Opera

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See also: Opera in Scotland § Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary Queen of Scotts (c. 1578), by Nicholas Hilliard, depicts Queen Mary in captivity. She was a regular topic of 19th century European opera.

The subject of Mary, Queen of Scots was a common one in 19th century opera. Usually, the operas dealt with the period of her life when she was being persecuted by Elizabeth I of England. Mary was considered a sympathetic character in southern Europe due to her Catholicism.

Mary's story proved popular among liberals and revolutionaries in 19th-century Italy. These were especially attracted by the various plots made to save her as well as her death as a political martyr, both of which they interpreted as comparable to their own struggle. The Carbonari took their name from a mythical ring of English coal-burners, supposedly dedicated to Mary's cause. For this reason, the subject of Mary Stuart came to be seen as a concern of radicals, and operas about her were banned on several occasions.[9]

Nineteenth-century operas about Mary include:

Twentieth-century operas about Mary include:

Radio

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Television

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  • In the Channel 4 television miniseries, Elizabeth I (2005), the first two-hour segment partly centres around the conflict between Elizabeth and Mary (portrayed by Barbara Flynn), whose execution is graphically shown in a manner that is reportedly true to history.
  • In the Channel 5 television docudrama series Elizabeth I (2017), Mary is portrayed by Audrey L'Ebrellec.
  • The BBC-TV mini-series Elizabeth R (1971), episode 4: "Horrible Conspiracies", written by Hugh Whitemore, is a generally historically accurate portrayal of Mary (played by Vivian Pickles) during her captivity in England, from her imprisonment at Chartley under the guardianship of Sir Amyas Paulet through to her trial and execution, using many of Mary's own reported words as dialogue. It includes an accurate portrayal of her execution including her use of a red petticoat (red being the colour of martyrdom in the Catholic religion), her positioning of her head with her hands on the block, and the two blows and sawing motion it took to remove her head. It also shows the executioner unwittingly grasping and pulling away her wig to reveal her grey hair.
  • The BBC television miniseries Gunpowder, Treason & Plot (2004) dramatizes the reigns of Scottish monarchs Mary, Queen of Scots (played by French actress Clémence Poésy) and her son King James VI of Scotland, who became King James I of England and foiled the Gunpowder Plot.
  • In the CBBC sketch show Horrible Histories (2009–2015), Mary is portrayed by Martha Howe-Douglas and Jessica Ransom.
  • An episode of the British series Lovejoy ("The Colour of Mary", series 4) finds the main character seeking information and the whereabouts of Mary's pool table.
  • Monty Python's Flying Circus episode 22 (1970) features a skit involving the first two episodes of "a new radio drama series: The Death of Mary Queen of Scots".
  • Lesley Smith, the curator of Tutbury Castle, portrayed Mary Queen of Scots for Living's Most Haunted in 2002 for a dramatic monologue of her time imprisoned there. Smith continues these re-enactments in the castle.
  • Reign (2013 TV series) is a highly fictionalized period drama television show on The CW Television Network that follows the life of 15-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots, at French court beginning in 1557, while she awaits her marriage to Francis II of France. At court, Mary has to contend with the changing politics and power plays. Francis' mother, Queen Catherine de' Medici, is secretly trying to prevent the marriage due to the advice of Nostradamus, who had a vision that the wedding will lead to Francis' death. The series also follows the affairs of Mary's four Scottish handmaidens Lola, Kenna, Greer and Aylee (based on the queen's Scottish ladies-in-waiting, the four Maries - Mary Beaton, Mary Fleming, Mary Livingston, and Mary Seton), who are searching for husbands of their own at court. Mary is portrayed by Australian actress Adelaide Kane.[19] The series began airing on 13 October 2013.
  • Grace McCabe portrays Mary in The Last Days of Mary, Queen of Scots, the first episode of 2015 BBC history series The Last Days of...
  • Beth Cooke portrays Mary in 2016 BBC documentary Bloody Queens: Elizabeth and Mary
  • Olivia Chenery in 2017 Spanish and British miniseries Queens: The Virgin and the Martyr
  • Antonia Clarke portrays Mary in 2022 Starz television series The Serpent Queen, which focuses on Catherine de Medici (portrayed by Samantha Morton, who previously portrayed Mary, Queen of Scots, in Elizabeth: The Golden Age), the mother of Mary's first husband Francis II of France
  • A 1957 episode of the Wonderful World of Disney titled, "The Truth About Mother Goose", discussed the origins of three nursery rhymes. Series host Walt Disney attributed the Mary Mary Quite Contrary rhyme to the life of Mary Stuart. This episode featured a brief animated short about Mary's life, done in the artistic style of Sleeping Beauty. The short touched on important moments in Mary's life, even ending with a scene of Mary being marched to her beheading.
  • In an episode of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Mary is referenced when two fictional knights were said to have served her and turned themselves in to Elizabeth I in exchange for Mary's life, only to learn moments before their deaths that Mary had already been executed.
  • Drag queen Rosé impersonated Mary Queen of Scots for the Snatch Game episode of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 13, where she received high praise for her impersonation and improvisational comedy.

Theatre

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18th and 19th centuries

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Main article: Opera in Scotland § Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots, captured the imagination of Italian radicals and their fellow travellers as a political symbol. The restless interest in this tormented figure resulted in multiple 18th and 19th century plays, such as:

20th and 21st centuries

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Clare Eames in the Broadway production of John Drinkwater's Mary Stuart (1921)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Aitken, William Russell (1982). Scottish Literature in English and Scots: A Guide to Information Sources. Gale Research Co. p. 146. ISBN 9780810312494.
  2. ^ Colin Younger, Border Crossings: Narration, Nation and Imagination in Scots and Irish Literature and Culture. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018. ISBN 9781443854115 (pgs. 119-120)
  3. ^ Joseph Wiesenfarth, History and Representation in Ford Madox Ford's Writings Amsterdam Rodopi, 2004 ISBN 9789042016132 (p.112).
  4. ^ Southwell, Saint Robert (4 October 1872). "The Complete Poems of Robert Southwell: For the First Time Fully Collected and Collated with the Original and Early Editions and Mss. ..." private circulation – via Google Books.
  5. ^ St. Robert Southwell: Collected Poems. Ed. Peter Davidson and Anne Sweeney. Carcanet Press: Manchester U.K., 2007
  6. ^ The Faerie Queene. Ed. A.C. Hamilton. Harlow, UK: Longman, 2001, p. 577 n.
  7. ^ "Data Regina by Olivia Louvel". www.dataregina.com.
  8. ^ "The Quietus | Features | Escape Velocity | Multiple Media: Olivia Louvel On Music, Art & 17th Century History". The Quietus.
  9. ^ Weatherson, Alexander. "Queen of dissent: Mary Stuart and the opera in her honour by Carlo Coccia". donzinetticociety.com.
  10. ^ "Lux Radio Theatre Log". www.audio-classics.com.
  11. ^ "The Definitive The Theatre Guild On The Air Radio Log". www.digitaldeliftp.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  12. ^ "The Definitive Favorite Story Radio Log with Ronald Colman". www.digitaldeliftp.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  13. ^ "The Definitive CBS Is There and You Are There Radio Articles and Logs with John Daly and Ken Roberts". www.digitaldeliftp.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  14. ^ "BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3, La princesse de Cleves". BBC.
  15. ^ "BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3, Mary Stuart". BBC.
  16. ^ "Sunday Play: Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 11 February 2001.
  17. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - The Stuarts, It Came In with a Lass". BBC.
  18. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Drama, Unmade Movies, Alexander MacKendrick's Mary Queen of Scots". BBC.
  19. ^ "Australian Actress Secures Her Reign". Sun Times.
  20. ^ a b Weatherson, Professor Alexander (2001). Mary Stuart and the opera in her honour by Carlo Coccia.
  21. ^ a b "Mary Stuart – Broadway Play – 2009 Revival | IBDB".
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