Arbella Stuart. A Rival to the Queen

Hardback. Wear and tears to D/J. It was the tragedy of Arbella Stuart's life that she was the nearest female relation to Elizabeth I. As a possible successor to the Queen she was considered a danger to the throne and was confined to Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, where her grandmother, Bess of Hardwick, kept her a virtual prisoner. There was no love lost between Bess and Arbell, who tried on several occasions to escape her vigilance. Marriage seemed to Arbella the only remedy for her miserable existence, and yet marriage in her case was a delicate matter because of her kinship to Elizabeth. At twenty-seven she was considered rather plain and was still single. With the accession of her cousin, James I, to the throne of England, she went to Court and it seemed for a while that she was to be allowed the freedom she so much desired. But, restricted by her low income and dependence on the King's goodwill, she became desperate and entered rashly into an unsanctioned marriage with William Seymour. This resulted in her confinement to the Tower where she died. Illustrated. 242 pp. (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions ,and all types of Academic Literature.).…