Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens - Jane Dunn

Subtitled Cousins, Rivals, Queens, Jane Dunn's impressive double biography brings to vivid life one of the most turbulent relationships of Tudor history: the memorable struggle between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. While the subject has been treated to many fictional and non-fictional approaches over the years, Jane Dunn has a different strategy from most of her predecessors, combining an analysis of the individual personalities of Elizabeth and Mary with a rigorous treatment of the political and religious imperatives that ruled their lives - and which dictated the radical actions they were both obliged to undertake. Dunn pays particular attention to the sex of her subjects, stressing the anomaly of how these women undertook masculine responsibilities of power in a society in which women's roles were carefully confined, and how both women found it difficult to look for reliable advice in a situation which had few precedents. Individual personalities in the drama are as intelligently drawn as the two protagonists. The famous climax of the conflict between the two women is dramatically handled, as a heavy-of-heart Elizabeth reluctantly signs Mary's death warrant; an action that changed the course of British history. Apart from Jane Dunn's impeccable scholarship, her remarkable story is made even more accessible by some well-chosen illustrations.