Mary, Queen of Scots, with Jade Scott

Mary, Queen of Scots, with Jade Scott

Imprisoned for nearly 20 years by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, fought her battles through words, sending and receiving coded letters hidden in books, garments, and even beer barrels. Historian Jade Scott, of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, has uncovered the human and political depths behind Mary’s captivity through 57 recently decrypted letters, coded missives that reveal her as a strategist, an adept diplomat, and a woman navigating the perilous politics of Elizabethan England. In her new book, Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots, Scott draws on these newly decoded letters to illuminate Mary’s time in captivity, her alliances and betrayals, and the intricate game of espionage that ultimately led to her execution. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published November 4, 2025. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc. Jade Scott, PhD, is a historian specializing in Mary, Queen of Scots and is an expert on her letters. She is a lecturer in historical linguistics at the University of Glasgow and an associate fellow of the Royal Historical Society, researching early modern Scottish women and their correspondence. Fascinated by Mary since she was a child, Jade was contacted by the DECRYPT Project to consult on the translations of Mary’s newly-decoded letters, which led to the writing of Captive Queen. Jade lives in Glasgow.

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Second Chances, Shakespeare, and Freud, with Adam Phillips and Stephen Greenblatt

Second Chances, Shakespeare, and Freud, with Adam Phillips and Stephen Greenblatt

The desire for a second chance provides the engine for many of Shakespeare’s plays. In their new book, Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud, Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt and psychologist Ad...

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Mary Zimmerman on Adapting Ovid and Directing Shakespeare

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When Mary Zimmerman's adaptation of Ovid's Metamorphoses was on Broadway in 2002, it won a host of awards, including the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel awards for best play. Zimmerman to...

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Judi Dench On Seven Decades of Shakespeare, with Brendan O’Hea

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In her new book, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Dame Judi  Dench and actor/director Brendan O'Hea chat about her long history with the Bard. On this episode, Dench and O'Hea join host Barbara...

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Shakespeare and the Environment, with Todd Andrew Borlik

Shakespeare and the Environment, with Todd Andrew Borlik

Land enclosure. Wildlife management. Erosion. Pollution. Mining practices. Today, we’d call these environmental issues. But, hundreds of years before the modern environmental movement coalesced, these...

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Ramie Targoff on Women Writers of the English Renaissance

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Green World: Michelle Ephraim on Discovering Shakespeare and Reevaluating The Merchant of Venice

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Eddie Izzard on Performing Hamlet Solo

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Eddie Izzard has a long record of dramatic roles. But it’s her decades of experience as a stand-up comedian that prepared Izzard for her recent solo shows—first Great Expectations, and now Hamlet at N...

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Shakespeare and Disgust, with Bradley J. Irish

Shakespeare and Disgust, with Bradley J. Irish

Maybe there really was something rotten in Denmark. On this episode, we talk with Bradley J. Irish about disgust in Shakespeare. In his new book, Irish identifies the emotion, which combines physical ...

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