So High a Blood: The Life of Margaret, Countess of Lennox

Description

'Expertly researched, zestfully written, acutely intelligent in its historical judgements, this masterly biography finally does justice to a forgotten Tudor princess' John Guy Sometime heir to the English throne, courtier in danger of losing her head, spy-mistress and would-be architect of a united Catholic Britain: Lady Margaret Douglas is the Tudor who survived and triumphed -but at a terrible cost. Niece to Henry VIII and half-sister to James V of Scotland, the beautiful and Catholic Margaret held a unique position in the English court. Throughout her life, she was to navigate treacherous waters: survival demanded it. Yet Margaret was no passive pawn. As the Protestant Reformations unfolded across the British Isles, she had ambitions of her own: to see her family rule a united, Catholic Britain. When her niece Mary, Queen of Scots was widowed, Margaret saw her chance. Thoroughly Machiavellian, she set in motion a chain of events that would see her descendants succeed to the crowns of England, Ireland and Scotland. Drawing on previously unexamined archival sources, So High a Blood revives the story of Lady Margaret Douglas to vivid and captivating effect.

Morgan Ring was born and raised in Toronto. She read History at Cambridge, where she is now completing her PhD. She held the Francis J. Weber Fellowship at the Huntington Library and holds the Gonville Studentship at Gonville and Caius College. So High a Blood is her first book.

Expertly researched, zestfully written, acutely intelligent in its historical judgements, this masterly biography finally does justice to a forgotten Tudor princess -- John Guy Ring's grasp of the sources is masterly and she condenses them into wonderful pen portraits of Margaret's acquaintances ... Her accounts of complex or contested events are attractively concise ... An excellent biography of a woman both architect and victim of Tudor politics, "a woman who made unfixable mistakes but also realised tremendous ambitions". The price exacted by those ambitions was terrible, particularly for Margaret and those she loved best, and Ring's treatment is worthy of the Greek tragedy that passed for her life **** * Daily Telegraph * Impeccably researched **** * Sunday Telegraph * One woman who has inexplicably escaped the trawl until now, Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, is the subject of Morgan Ring's exuberant debut biography - and if you haven't heard of her, you have missed a historical treat Nigel Jones, Spectator, 6 May 2017 -- Nigel Jones * Spectator * This is a fresh, very readable take on a period that continues to fascinate * History Revealed * Morgan Ring has written an absorbing account of Margaret's life, and has found a fresh angle from which to view the Tudor court, which is no mean feat' -- Mathew Lyons * Times Literary Supplement *