Mary Stuart Was a Good Queen in Scotland: How about England?

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In the 1500s, many great Kings and Queen existed of whom a few will go down in history as some of the greatest leaders of all time. Elizabeth I being the queen of England during 1533-1603 and Mary Stuart ruling Scotland for the years of 1542-1567, Mary Stuart was always eager to take Elizabeth I’s spot, and she was always trying to find new ways to try to take the throne. Yet, if Mary Stuart was successful in taking the throne would she be a good queen? Although Mary Stuart was educated and had strong views on religion she was emotionally unstable, she showed neglect to her country, and had a terrible relationship with the people of Scotland showing that she would be unable to reign as queen of England.
Mary’s strong view on religion came mainly from being born in a time filled with religious turmoil. She was raised with many things going on around her which affected her view and stance of religion tremendously. Mary was a strong Catholic and did not budge about what she believed in. Her strong beliefs led to many assassination attempts toward her from the Protestants. This happened because Mary, the Catholic queen, had the support of all the Catholics in England so at any time they could rise up against Protestants. Also many Catholics tried to assassinate Elizabeth I because of the same reasons the public were attacking Mary just vice versa because Elizabeth was a Protestant queen. Also not only was Mary a threat because she had the support of the Catholic population in England, she also had the support of the Pope (Trueman). Being Catholic and having the help of the pope showed that choosing one side, and sticking with it, of the religious battle can have many positive effects on trying to take the throne. Many Protestants fea...

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...raits are brought up she is compared to Elizabeth I so Mary Stuart was a bad queen but was it doubly noticeable when living in the same age as, the great, Elizabeth I.

Works Cited

Grendler, Paul F. "Mary Stuart." Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. Ed. Grendler. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000. N. pag. World History in Context. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. .
"Mary, Queen of Scots." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. N. pag. World History in Context. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. .
"The Scottish Itinerary of Mary Queen of Scots." Abstract (1987): n. pag. PDF file.
Trueman, Chris. "Mary Queen of Scots." History Learning Site. History Learning Site, n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. .
Weir, Alison. Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley. N.p.: Ballantine, 2004. Print.

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