Crown of Thistles

Linda Porter traces the dynastic contest between the Tudor and Stewart royal houses from the victories that placed Henry VII on the English throne and James IV on the Scottish throne. Henry’s marriage diplomacy joined the families when Margaret Tudor married James IV in 1503, but it also created a line of Scottish descendants with a claim to the English succession. The Battle of Flodden, the reign of Henry VIII and repeated Anglo-Scottish conflict turned that inheritance into a persistent political danger.

The later rivalry between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots is presented as the consequence of this longer family history rather than an isolated conflict between two queens. Porter follows Margaret Tudor, James V, Mary and their English relatives through minority rule, disputed marriages, religious change and competing theories of legitimate succession. The book explains how violence between two kingdoms ultimately produced the Stewart claim that united the crowns in 1603.