A British historian offers an intriguing, scholarly look at the
short, sad life of Arbella Stuart, cousin to Queen Elizabeth I and
too close in the line of succession to enjoy a life of her own.
Intrigue marked Arbella's life, and, if you can follow the
complicated Tudor-Stuart genealogy lesson, Gristwood's account
makes for suspenseful historical reading. The orphaned Arbella,
related to Henry VII on her father's side, was, at age six, put in
the care of her ambitious maternal grandmother, fourth-time married
Bess of Hardwick, who raised the child with an eye to her marrying
grandly and/or succeeding to the throne. In fact, Arbella was
second in line, after James of Scotland, and thus practically
peerless, as well as jealously dreaded by both Queen Elizabeth (who
had already had to get rid of Arbella's aunt, the treacherous Mary
Queen of Scots) and, later, by James I. Elizabeth didn't know what
to do with Arbella, inviting her once to court when she was 11 and
using her as a marriage pawn when the queen needed to woo an ally,
yet consigning her to Bess's autocratic watch at Hardwick Hall for
years of reclusive, hopeless study. Finally, by her late 20s,
Arbella acted, secretly initiating her own nuptial match with
another glorious lineage, the Seymour sons-first the elder,
unsuccessfully, then the younger, William, whom she eventually
managed to wed in 1610 before both were thrown into the Tower. From
her letters and rather guileless, erratic behavior, Arbella seems
truly to have been pleading for the right to personal liberty and
the right to love ("When all is done I must shape my own coat
according to my cloth") rather than acting out of political
machinations. Her tragedy touches in some way all of the schemers
close to Elizabeth, such as Mary Queen of Scots, the Earl of Essex,
chief minister Lord Burghley, and Sir Walter Raleigh, and they come
alive here. A human drama truly Shakespearean. (Kirkus Reviews)
Taking as its background one of the most famous periods of British
history, Sarah Gristwood's historical biography focuses on a
hitherto forgotten figure: Arbella Stuart, the niece of Mary Queen
of Scots and first cousin to James VI of Scotland. Orphaned as a
baby, brought up by her powerful and ambitious grandmother, the
four-times married Bess of Hardwick, introduced at court as a young
girl where she was acknowledged as her heir by Elizabeth I,
Arbella's right to the English throne was equalled only by James.
Kept under close supervision by her grandmother, first at
Chatsworth and later at Hardwick Hall, but still surrounded by
plots, most of them Roman Catholic in origin, she became an
important pawn in the struggle for succession, particularly during
the long, tense period when Elizabeth I lay dying. But the best was
yet to come. At 35 and upon James's succession, Arbella was invited
back to court, and fell in love with her cousin, William Seymour, a
man 12 years her junior. Notwithstanding the fact that their union
was forbidden, and that relationships that did not carry with them
the Royal seal of approval were considered treasonous, they married
secretly - and were immediat
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