How did the Virgin Mary, about whom very little is said in the Gospels, become one of the most powerful and complex religious figures in the world? To arrive at the answers to this far-reaching question, one of our foremost medieval historians, Miri Rubin, investigates the ideas, practices, and images that have developed around the figure of Mary from the earliest decades of Christianity to around the year 1600. Drawing on an extraordinarily wide range of sources—including music, poetry, theology, art, scripture, and miracle tales—Rubin reveals how Mary became so embedded in our culture that it is impossible to conceive of Western history without her. In her rise to global prominence, Mary was continually remade and reimagined by wave after wave of devotees. Rubin shows how early Christians endowed Mary with a fine ancestry; why in early medieval Europe her roles as mother, bride, and companion came to the fore; and how the focus later shifted to her humanity and unparalleled purity. She also explores how indigenous people in Central America, Africa, and Asia remade Mary and so fit her into their own cultures. Beautifully written and finely illustrated, this book is a triumph of sympathy and intelligence. It demonstrates Mary’s endless capacity to inspire and her profound presence in Christian cultures and beyond.

This international bestseller from a prominent 20th-century writer inspired Antonia Fraser’s Mary Queen of Scots. A classic royal biography that offers an in-depth look at one of one of the most fascinating—and misunderstood—figures in British history. From the moment of her birth to her death on the scaffold, Mary Stuart spent her life embroiled in power struggles that shook the foundations of Renaissance Europe. Revered by some as the rightful Queen of England, reviled by others as a murderous adulteress, her long and fascinating rivalry with her cousin Elizabeth I led ultimately to her downfall. Zweig, one of the most popular writers of the twentieth century, brings Mary to life and turns her tale into a story of passion and plotting as gripping as any novel.

"A deep dive into the life of history's "best known, least known" woman, the Virgin Mary, tracking how her story was changed and lost over the centuries. In the first century AD, a widowed Jewish woman raised eight children during a brutal Roman occupation of her homeland, instilling into them the lessons she'd learned from growing up under extreme violence barely twenty years before. Some of her sons would go on to proselytize based on what she'd taught; her eldest would face persecution, crucifixion, and, after his death, be known to the world as Jesus Christ. But everyone knows Jesus. What do we know about Mary? Anchoring itself firmly in the "messianic game of thrones" employed by Herod the Great and turbulence of Roman rule, The Lost Mary presents a detailed account of the influences shaping Mary's life, and, by extension, the lives she touched. With precision and expertise, Dr. Tabor breathes life into a woman who remains well-known but unseen, exploring her upbringing and marriage, and presents a compelling case for understanding her not as the saintly mother of a prophet, but as the influential foremother of a movement. Working with snippets from the Bible and primary writings from the period, and drawing on his long academic career, Dr. Tabor pieces together a spellbinding composite of Christianity's forgotten founder: A girl from a wealthy and well-pedigreed family in the cosmopolitan city of Sepphoris. A fierce and devoted mother who instilled her beliefs into her sons. A woman whose accomplishments were lost to theological dogma and time, but, guided by this groundbreaking work, may once again be imagined as something more"--

The author draws on insights from her spirit guide, as well as research into the gnostic texts, to explore the lives of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene.

The ancient world through the eyes of a young Jewish woman—Mary of Nazareth. Mary was born into a Palestine oppressed by Herod the Great; she is accustomed to living with uncertainty and unrest. But when her beloved father is wrongly imprisoned by the Romans, she takes action. She calls upon a well-known rebel by the name of Barabbas, and together they set out to save her father. A daring escape is planned. And against staggering odds, Mary’s father is saved from crucifixion. Barabbas—flush with his success—is intent on leading a full-scale rebellion against Herod and the Romans. But as he speaks before Jewish leaders, Mary feels great frustration as the men endlessly debate morality, rebellion, and God's will. She has almost lost her father, but she is nevertheless compelled to speak out against violence. To her surprise, one man listens: Joseph. He makes Mary an offer that will change her life—and the history of the Jewish people—forever.

"Royal lives are invariably packed with incident, but few can match the drama and intrigue that marked out Mary Queen of Scots. Forced to flee Scotland at the age of five, she grew up without her mother, was married at fifteen and widowed just a few days before her eighteenth birthday - a pattern of upheaval that was to characterize the rest of her life.

Mary Tudor, England's first sovereign queen, is arguably also England's most vilified and misrepresented monarch. For centuries, she has been branded in popular and academic works as a vicious failure and superstitious tyrant. Infamous for burning hundreds of her subjects at the stake in a futile attempt to undo the English Reformation and restore Catholicism in England, she is widely remembered today as 'Bloody Mary'. In this volume, an outstanding team of international scholars trace and analyse the growth of the Bloody Mary myth, from the time of Elizabeth I through to the present day. Detailing the political, religious and gender assumptions on which the myth is based, they also attempt to recover the 'real' Mary û an educated, pragmatic and resourceful queen û underneath the myth of the villainous tyrant. Based on the very latest research, this book offers a truly revisionist and uniquely balanced portrait of Mary Tudor.