Mary Queen of Scots in the polemical literature of the French Wars of Religion
Abstract
The French Wars of Religion were more than a battle for outright military victory.
They were also a battle for the hearts and minds of the population of France. In this struggle
to win over public opinion, often apparently peripheral or collateral issues could be engaged
to make partisan points. Such was the case with the polemical literature surrounding Mary
Queen of Scots. Mary was a very French figure. But Mary's complex career- her brief
marriage to the dauphin Francois, her adoption of a tolerant religious policy in Scotland, her
implication in the murder of her husband, and her imprisonment and execution at the hands of
a Protestant monarch - inevitably made her an ambiguous subject for polemicists, Catholic
and Huguenot alike. Based on a bibliographic survey of over four hundred and twenty
sixteenth century editions in French relative to the Queen, and extensive reading of these
works, this study explores both the general contours and finer detail of French public interest
in the Queen of Scots. Chapter one discusses the shifting historical relationship between
Mary and France, while chapters two and three deal with the steady stream of Catholic and
Huguenot publications relating to Mary that appeared in the public domain between 1548 and
1586. The heart of this study, however, can be found in its final two chapters, which deal
with the polemical literature that poured off the presses in response to the execution or
martyrdom of Mary. These chapters investigate the interface between the printed word and
other media in the Catholic response to the 'tragedy' of Fotheringhay, and examine the many
facets of the image of the martyred Queen. The martyrdom of the Queen of Scots and
dowager Queen of France became one of the most prominent themes in the propaganda of the
Catholic League. Over one fifth of Catholic polemic in the period 1587-1588 touched on the
event, contributing to the radicalisation of popular opinion against the king of France, Henri
III.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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