MARY

oblast (province), southeastern Turkmenistan, having an area of 33,500 square miles (86,800 square km). It includes the basin of the Morghab River, which diminishes in the Karakum Desert in the north. In the south, on the Afghanistan frontier, are spurs of the Selseleh-ye Safid Kuh (Paropamisus Mountains). The climate is continental and dry. The economy is based on irrigated agriculture, particularly cotton cultivation, in the Morghab oasis and along the Karakum Canal; the breeding of Karakul sheep in the desert; and the Shatlyk natural-gas deposit, which is one of the largest in Central Asia and the entire continent. The cities are Mary, the oblast centre, Bayramaly, Yolten, and Gushgy. In 1979 the population was one-third urban. Pop. (1991 est.) 859,500. city and administrative centre of Mary oblast (province), Turkmenistan, on the Morghab River, at the intersection of the Karakum Canal and the TrkmenbashyTashkent railway. It was founded in 1884 on the site of a former Turkmen fort, 19 miles (30 km) west of the ruined city of Merv, and was known by that name until 1937. It is now a centre for the huge Shatlyk gas field and a transport junction. It also has a large gas-fired power station, a plastic works, and various food-processing and light industries. Pop. (1991 est.) 94,900. born Dec. 8, 1542, Linlithgow Palace, Lothian, Scot. died Feb. 8, 1587, Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, Eng. Mary Queen of Scots, detail of a drawing by Franois Clouet, 1559; in the byname Mary Queen Of Scots, original name Mary Stuart, or Stewart queen of Scotland (154267) and queen consort of France (155960). Her unwise marital and political actions provoked rebellion among the Scottish nobles, forcing her to flee to England, where she was eventually beheaded as a Roman Catholic threat to the English throne. flourished , beginning of the Christian Era also called Saint Mary, or Virgin Mary the mother of Jesus, an object of veneration in the Christian church since the apostolic age, and a favourite subject in Western art, music, and literature. Mary is known from biblical references, which are, however, too sparse to construct a coherent biography. The development of the doctrine of Mary can be traced through titles that have been ascribed to her in the history of the Christian communionsguarantee of the incarnation, virgin mother, second Eve, mother of God, ever virgin, immaculate, and assumed into heaven. Her humility and obedience to the message of God have made her an exemplar for all ages of Christians. Out of the details supplied in the New Testament by the Gospels about the maid of Galilee, Christian piety and theology have constructed a picture of Mary that fulfills the prediction ascribed to her in the Magnificat (Luke 1:48): Henceforth all generations will call me blessed. born Feb. 13, 1457, Brussels died March 27, 1482, Brugge , Flanders also called Mary Of Burgundy, French Marie De Bourgogne duchess of Burgundy (147782), daughter and heiress of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy; her crucial marriage to the archduke Maximilian (later Maximilian I), son of the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand III, resulted in Habsburg control of the Netherlands. Betrothed to Maximilian in 1476, Mary found herself faced with French invasion when she became duchess of Burgundy on her father's death at Nancy early in 1477. She resisted French pressure to marry the future Charles VIII and became Maximilian's wife on August 18, 1477. Through her own marriage and the subsequent match that was made between her son, Philip the Handsome, and Joanna the Mad of Spain, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the Netherlands came to be joined with Spain and with the Habsburg's own Austrian possessions in the hands of her famous grandson, the emperor Charles V. Additional reading Antonia Fraser, Mary Queen of Scots (1969), comprehensive biography taking into account modern research, replaces T.F. Henderson, Mary Queen of Scots, 2 vol. (1905); Prince Labanoff (ed.), Lettres et mmoires de Marie, Reine d'Ecosse, 7 vol. (1844), collected edition of the letters, also a useful reference book; P. Stewart Mackenzie, Queen Mary's Book (1905), text and translation of all Mary's writings; Claude Nau, Memorials of Mary Stewart, ed. by J. Stevenson (1883), Mary's own story dictated to her secretary while in captivity; D. Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots from Her Birth till Her Flight into England (1898), a well-documented account, extremely hostile; S. and M. Tannenbaum, Marie Stuart: Bibliography, 3 vol. (1944), in which references to more specialized studies may be found. Additional reading Hilda Graef, Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion, 2 vol. (196365), is especially instructive about the early development of the doctrine. Juniper Carol (ed.), Mariology, 3 vol. (195561), deals successively with the sources of Marian doctrine, theology, and devotions. Raymond E. Brown et al. (eds.), Mary in the New Testament: A Collaborative Assessment by Protestant and Roman Catholic Scholars (1978), reports many matters on which agreement was reached. Modern theological treatments by Roman Catholics include Ren Laurentin, La Question mariale (1963; The Question of Mary, 1965); and E. Schillebeeckx, Maria, moeder van de verlossing, 3rd rev. ed. (1957; Mary Mother of the Redemption, 1964). Critical but sympathetic treatments by Protestants are Giovanni Miegge, La Vergine Maria (1950; The Virgin Mary, 1955); and Max Thurian, Marie, Mre du Seigneur, figure de l'Eglise (1962; Mary, Mother of All Christians, 1964).