Sceptre Embroidering Her Truth. Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power Hunter Clare

Красивый, образованный и обаятельный Генри Стюарт, лорд Дарнли, заявил о своих притязаниях на английский трон, женившись на Марии Стюарт, которая сама провозгласила себя королевой Англии. Прошло совсем немного времени, прежде чем Мария обнаружила, что ее новый муж заинтересован только в том, чтобы обеспечить себе верховную власть. Затем, 10 февраля 1567 года, в результате взрыва в его квартире Дарнли погиб; интрига усилилась после того, как было обнаружено, что он, по-видимому, был задушен перед взрывом • После тщательного изучения материалов Элисон Вейр нашла решение этой вечной загадки. Используя свой дар к яркому описанию персонажей и захватывающему повествованию, Вейр написала роман "Мария, королева Шотландии, и убийство лорда Дарнли" - одну из своих самых увлекательных экскурсий в залитое кровью, одержимое властью прошлое Британии

A long-overdue and dramatic reinterpretation of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots by one of the leading historians at work today • She was crowned Queen of Scotland at nine months of age, and Queen of France at sixteen years; at eighteen she ascended the throne that was her birthright and began ruling one of the most fractious courts in Europe, riven by religious conflict and personal lust for power. She rode out at the head of an army in both victory and defeat; saw her second husband assassinated, and married his murderer. At twenty-five she entered captivity at the hands of her rival queen, from which only death would release her • The life of Mary Stuart is one of unparalleled drama and conflict. From the labyrinthine plots laid by the Scottish lords to wrest power for themselves, to the efforts made by Elizabeth's ministers to invalidate Mary's legitimate claim to the English throne, John Guy returns to the archives to explode the myths and correct the inaccuracies that surround this most fascinating monarch

About the Book • Soon to be a major film, this is a dramatic reinterpretation of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots by one of the leading historians of this period • She was crowned Queen of Scotland at nine months of age, and Queen of France at sixteen years; at eighteen she ascended the throne and began ruling one of the most fractious courts in Europe, riven by religious conflict and personal lust for power. She rode out at the head of an army in both victory and defeat; saw her second husband assassinated, and married his murderer. At twenty-five she entered captivity at the hands of her rival queen, from which only death would release her • The life of Mary Stuart is one of unparalleled drama and conflict. From the labyrinthine plots laid by the Scottish lords to wrest power for themselves, to the efforts made by Elizabeth's ministers to invalidate Mary's legitimate claim to the English throne, John Guy returns to the archives to explode the myths and correct the inaccuracies that surround this most fascinating monarch

An infant queen. A teenage widow. Beautiful, flamboyant Mary Queen of Scots had a formidable intellect but her political sense - formed at the absolute court of France - plunged her country into a maelstrom of intrigue, marriage and murder. Upon fleeing to England she was held captive by her cousin Elizabeth I. In this classic biography, reissued for the fiftieth anniversary of its publication, acclaimed historian Antonia Fraser relates the enthralling story of Mary's life and untimely end

Мария и Елизавета: кузины, соперницы, королевы. Они объединялись, сражались и плели заговоры, но никогда не могли разорвать свои узы • В конце эпохи Тюдоров две королевы правили одним островом. Но Европа шестнадцатого века была миром мужчин, и влиятельные голоса считали, что ни одна женщина не может править. Повсюду вокруг Марии и Елизаветы были подхалимы, шпионы и недоброжелатели, которые хотели их власти, их благосклонности и их любви • Елизавета и Мария разделяли борьбу за то, чтобы быть одновременно женщиной и королевой. Но силы, восставшие против двух регентов, и конфликты любви и династии разлучили их. Для Марии Елизавета была такой же королевой, с которой она мечтала о прочной дружбе. Для Елизаветы Мария была угрозой. Это был раскол, который закончился тайными заговорами с целью убийства, разрушительным предательством и, в конечном счете, ужасным заключительным актом

This collection of Pushkin’s stories begins with ‘The Queen of Spades’, perhaps the most celebrated short story in Russian literature. The young Hermann, while watching some friends gambling, hears a rumour of how an officer’s grandmother is always able to predict the three winning cards in a game. He becomes obsessed with the woman and her seemingly mystical powers, and seeks to extract the secret from her at any cost. This volume, part of a new series of the complete works of Pushkin in English, also includes ‘Dubrovsky’, the story of a man’s desire to avenge himself after his land is unjustly taken from him by an aristocrat; ‘The Negro of Peter the Great’, a tale inspired by Pushkin’s maternal grandfather; and the unfinished story ‘Egyptian Nights’, a meditation on poetry and the poet

A master of many literary genres, Arthur Conan Doyle excelled particularly in the short-story form, and was acclaimed in his day as much for his detective stories as for his thrilling tales of mystery and the supernatural. While the adventures of Sherlock Holmes have become part of our collective imagination, these stories - concerned with ghosts, obscure scientific experiments and other unexplained phenomena - are now unjustly neglected

The remarkable story of Bess of Hardwick, her ascent through Elizabethan society and the houses she built that shaped British architectural history • Born in 1521, Bess of Hardwick, businesswoman, money-lender and property tycoon, lived an astonishing eighty-seven years. Through canny choices, four husbands and a will of steel she rose from country squire's daughter to Dowager Countess, establishing herself as one of the richest and most powerful women in England, second only to Queen Elizabeth • Bess forged her way not merely by judicious marriage, but by shrewd exploitation of whatever assets each marriage brought. Wealth took concrete form in her passion for building and she oversaw every stage of the construction of her four houses including Hardwick New Hall, her sole surviving building, which stands as a celebration of one woman's triumphant progress through Elizabethan England

The third volume of Steven Runciman's classic, hugely influential trilogy on the history of the Crusades • 'The whole tale is one of faith and folly, courage and greed, hope and disillusion' • Steven Runciman's triumphant three-volume A History of the Crusades remains an unsurpassed account of the events that changed the world and continue to resonate today. This final volume of the trilogy begins with the glamorous Third Crusade and ends with the ruinous collapse of the crusader states and the degeneration of their ideals, which reached its nadir in the tragic destruction of Byzantium