Jade Scott – författare

Collects the correspondence of a leader of the Northern Rebellion of 1569 who became a prominent figure in the English Catholic exile community.Lady Anne Percy (1536-1591), Countess of Northumberland, rode with rebel forces, leading small parties of men independently, and intercepting post between Queen Elizabeth and the Regent of Scotland. After the failure of the rebellion, she became a prominent figure among the English Catholic exiles in the Low Countries throughout the 1570s. She was at the centre of a transnational network of that shared intelligence and news in support of Mary, Queen of Scots. She also became a spokesperson for the English gentlemen fugitives seeking pensions from the Spanish court, as well as backing the publication of Catholic polemical tracts. She was able to secure personal and political support from papal, Spanish, and French authorities.This edition collects Lady Anne Percy's correspondence for the first time. In a substantial introduction, Jade Scott provides an account of Lady Anne's life and her experience as an exile, first in Scotland and later on the Continent, and discusses the linguistic, rhetorical, and material features of her correspondence, highlighting the strategies that she employed to maintain her networks and ensure a position of influence throughout her life in exile.

A fascinating and revealing new biography of Mary Queen of Scots in captivity.For almost two decades before her execution at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots was a prisoner. From her chambers, she wrote countless letters, many encrypted using complex ciphers to prevent her communications from being intercepted. In this way, she used language to exert her will and her influence, even while incarcerated.More than 400 years after Mary’s death, the discovery of further encoded letters has led to renewed interest in the breadth of her encrypted correspondence in captivity. In Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots, historian and expert on Mary’s correspondence Dr Jade Scott draws on hundreds of Mary’s letters and those sent to her, to paint a vivid portrait of one of history’s most compelling figures. She interrogates Mary’s complex relationships with friends and enemies throughout her imprisonment, illuminating her strategic expertise and bringing Mary’s captivity to life as never before.