Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power

I felt that Mary was there, pulling at my sleeve, willing me to appreciate the artistry, wanting me to understand the dazzle of the material world that shaped her.

At her execution Mary, Queen of Scots wore red. Widely known as the colour of strength and passion, it was in fact worn by Mary as the Catholic symbol of martyrdom.

In sixteenth-century Europe women's voices were suppressed and silenced. Even for a queen like Mary, her prime duty was to bear sons. In an age when textiles expressed power, Mary exploited them to emphasise her female agency. From her lavishly embroidered gowns as the prospective wife of the French Dauphin to the fashion dolls she used to encourage a Marian style at the Scottish court and the subversive messages she embroidered in captivity for her supporters, Mary used textiles to advance her political agenda, affirm her royal lineage and tell her own story.

In this eloquent cultural biography, Clare Hunter exquisitely blends history, politics and memoir to tell the story of a queen in her own voice.

Author: Clare Hunter
Publisher: Sceptre
Published: 09/26/2023
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 7.81h x 5.20w x 1.05d
ISBN13: 9781529346282
ISBN10: 1529346282
BISAC Categories:
- History | Europe | Great Britain | Tudor & Elizabethan Era (1485-1603)
- Crafts & Hobbies | Needlework | Embroidery
- Biography & Autobiography | Royalty

About the Author
Clare Hunter has been a banner-maker, community textile artist and textile curator for over twenty years and established the community enterprise NeedleWorks in Glasgow. Her first book, Threads of Life, won the Saltire First Book Award, was a Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month and a Radio 4 Book of the Week.