The 'Quenis awne hand': the literary agency of Mary Queen of Scots in shaping her own public image, 1567-1587

My doctoral research will examine the self-portrayal of Mary Queen of Scots in her poetry and correspondence, 1567-1587. It will then contrast this self-fashioning against the images of Mary portrayed by others in Britain in the same period. This analysis will recentre the Marian narrative in her own words and reveal, for the first time, the extent to which her enduring public image is based on her own agency as an author, and how much was outwardly projected onto her.