January 15-21, 2004
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Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens
By Jane Dunn Knopf, 454 pp., $30
History never exists in a vacuum, and this point is driven home in Jane Dunn's excellent dual biography of two very famous women: Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Dunn has chosen to present these two histories as one interdependent story, with one queen's actions having great impact on the other's life. The two had every reason to relate, given that they were cousins and shared the singularly difficult job of being female monarchs in a world that considered such things unnatural. Despite these bonds, they never actually met in person, but corresponded through letters. By the time Elizabeth finally signed Mary's death warrant, the two had left a rich legacy in writing that Dunn draws from to examine their relationship.
Dunn charts the two queens' lives and notes their differing paths: Elizabeth from ostracized bastard child to beloved sovereign, Mary from pampered child-queen to condemned prisoner. Dunn paints a fascinating picture of these two leaders and their complicated connections. To Mary, Elizabeth represented all that Mary deserved and would someday possess. To Elizabeth, Mary, with her undeniable claim on Elizabeth's throne, represented her greatest fear, that her subjects would once again question her legitimacy (after her mother, Anne Boleyn, made the fatal mistake of giving birth to Elizabeth rather than a son, Elizabeth was declared a bastard and cast aside). Dunn brings the tension between Mary and Elizabeth vividly to life, through excerpts of letters and speeches and accounts of contemporary historians. Reading the queens' histories side by side, it suddenly seems inevitable that the two would become mortal enemies. Each queen developed a fantastical image of the other in the absence of real contact, and the threat each queen posed to the other was magnified as circumstances brought them closer together.
Dunn manages to pack her dense book with impressively comprehensive studies of both women's lives, but never loses the threads that tie them, and therefore the book, together. There does seem to be a bias toward the great Elizabeth, as Dunn spends much time on the astonishing willpower Elizabeth showed in her refusal to marry despite the intense pressure put upon her to do so, and paints Mary as a spoiled brat who sealed her own fate with her inability to control her passions (which may very well be true). But the slant is not overwhelming, and Dunn uses the two queens' starkly different personalities as another jumping-off point from which she can make comparisons. One of the most interesting is Dunn's examination of each woman's mode of survival as a female monarch: Mary jumped from husband to husband, marrying for love and ignoring political considerations, Elizabeth declared herself celibate and gave up the love of her life, Robert Dudley, to better serve her people.
While the true and complete motivations and feelings of these two figures can never be known, Dunn uses a wealth of historical evidence to present a satisfyingly complete portrait of their lives, giving each woman a thorough and respectful treatment. Whether at the outset you're a diehard Elizabeth fan or you think she was a royal bitch for beheading Mary, you'll finish Dunn's book with newfound insight and perspective into two fascinating lives.
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