Robert Turner
Ingolstadt: W. Eder, 1588
Cc.4 [Mary, Qu. Of Scots – Turner] SR
Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587) fled to England in 1568 after having been forced to abdicate from the Scottish throne. She remained in captivity there for almost twenty years, a magnet for Catholic plots on the life of Elizabeth I, to which Mary was sometimes party. After long resistance from Elizabeth, Mary was beheaded in February 1587. Mary regarded herself as a Catholic martyr, and Catholic Europe protested at her execution; however, England pointed out that she died for treason, not her religion. The deed served its purpose, ending assassination plots on Elizabeth. Mass demonstrations followed Mary’s death: of sorrow in Paris and of joy in London. Mary’s story has prompted numerous retellings, including Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Abbot (1820), Friedrich Schiller’s German drama Maria Stuart (1800) and Donizetti’s Italian opera Maria Stuarda (1835). Shown here is an early biography of Mary by a Roman Catholic priest from Barnstaple who travelled around the Continent and was the rector of the University of Ingolstadt at the time of writing. As even the title makes clear–‘martyr of the church, innocent of the death of Darnley’–Turner represents Mary as innocent of crimes attributed to her, persecuted for her faith.