On December 8,
1542, Mary, daughter of Mary of (Antoinette de) Guise and King James V of
Scotland, was born at Linlithgow Palace. Her father died a week
after Mary’s birth from injuries inflicted upon him during the battle at Solway Moss
where he wad defeated by the English. Jame's death lead to the
crowning of the nearly one year old Mary as queen of Scots.
Wedding plans were
already set by treaty for Mary to wed Henry VIII’s son, Edward. However, Henry
VIII’s erratic behavior and constant plots to murder others in power caused the
Scots to avoid the English marriage and then sent the five year old Mary off to
France, where her mother resided. In 1548, the Scotish Parliament
arranged for Mary to wed Francis (Dauphin), the heir of Henry II, king of
France. Mary first met her four-year-old betrothed husband at the age of five.
They were close and affectionate with one another even as children and traveled
from one royal palace to another like Fountaineblea to Meudon, or to Chambord
or Saint-Germain.
At an age where
most noble women are considered either ‘fair’ or ‘beautiful’, Mary was noted
as being
lovely, intelligent, and full of vitality. Mary was educated in the traditional
manner of French princesses; she spoke French and learned Latin, Italian,
Spanish and a little Greek while learning to dance, sing, play the lute as well
as converse on religious matters. Although she had much promise to a glorious
life ahead of her, Mary’s life would not be as peaceful and happy as
one would have
hoped.
By the age of
eleven, Mary was deemed to be as intelligent and well-spoken as a woman of
twenty-five by her doting father-in-law. Mary’s uncle, Cardinal Guise, taught
her about statecraft, perhaps encouraging her natural feelings of clemency and
mercy. In fact, Mary was to be remarkably free from bigotry during her short
reign in Scotland, even towards her subjects of a different religion.
In 1558, Mary
married her betrothed Dauphin in an incredible celebration at
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. She was exceptionally tall for a woman
in the 16th century and was every inch the majestic Queen; she had an
oval face, shapely chin, and small mouth which were balanced by her
golden-red hair, large forehead, and hazel eyes. Many considered Mary
to be the most beautiful princess in Europe, much like her relative
Mary, sister of Henry VIII, who had also been queen of France for a
short period of time.
In that same year
of Mary’s marriage, Queen Mary I of England passed away and Henry II of France
encouraged his daughter-in- law to assume the royal arms of England. In his
opinion - and that of most of Catholic Europe - Mary of Scotland was the next
heir to the English throne. This belief, of course, would have serious
repercussions throughout Mary's life. Elizabeth I never forgot this first
offense and could not rest easily while her Catholic cousin lived. In the next
year, Henry II of France, died at the age of 40 which made Mary and her husband
Queen and King of France. Sadly, just six months later, her young husband also
died of an ear infection.
Mary was
understandably devastated by the chain of tragic events and left for Scotland,
which was under religious and civil discord throughout the country side.
Without waiting for a safe-conduct pass from Elizabeth, whose ships were
patrolling her route, Mary set out for Scotland on 14 August 1561 and, five
days later, reached Leith, the port of Edinburgh.
Mary knew very
well that she was succeeding to a most troubled heritage. After her recent
years of loss and grief, she was determined to make a bright future.
During an age of religious persecution which earned her cousin Mary Tudor the
nickname 'Bloody Mary,' Mary was determined that every one of her Scottish
subjects should worship God as their conscience right and made no religious
persecution under her rule. In this sense, she resembled her cousin Elizabeth
I.
The Scots received
their new queen with great joy and celebration. At once, she began to try and
help them; within a year of her arrival, one-sixth of all Church benefices were
given to the Protestant ministers to relieve their poverty. She also attempted
to strengthen the power of the Crown against Scotland's notoriously
difficult-to-control nobles. Of course, such a strategy would lead to more
peace and stability within the realm. As a result, she was popular with the
common people but not the nobility.
In 1563, Mary
began the traditional 'royal progress' throughout Scotland. Even though Mary
charmed all who met her, she treaded dangerous ground with her policy of
non-discrimination and desire to unify the nation, taking power away from the
independent nobles. In the political realm, Mary kept up peaceful relations
with France, Spain, and England, without having never met Elizabeth
face-to-face. But, in 1566, her patience was tried by Throckmockor, the English
ambassador's persistent and obvious spying, (link to codes part about him) she
ordered him out of the kingdom. Also her peace with France and Spain was kept
without a treaty, though a treaty would have given Scotland some measure of
protection against England in the possibility of conflict. However, Mary was
aware that any treaty could compromise her subjects, involving them in another
war that would cause strife. Above all, she wanted peace and prosperity, and
she kept Scotland safely distanced from political machinations. When the threat
to Mary's reign finally came, it was not from outside powers, but from within
her own nation.
As queen, Mary was
more than aware that she should marry and provide heirs to the throne. In July
of 1565, she wed Henry Stewart (Lord Darnley), her cousin by way of
their shared grandmother Margaret. A weak, vain, and unstable young
man, he was a surprising choice of husband for Mary. The lord was superficially charming and,
unlike most men, taller than the queen. He was fond of courtly
amusements and as such a nice change from the dour Scottish lords who
usually surrounded
Mary. He never seemed to care for his wife and sought far more power than she
was willing to give him. When she was six months pregnant in March of 1566, Darnley joined a group of Scottish nobles who broke into her supper-room at
Holyrood Palace and dragged her French secretary, David Riccio, into another
room and stabbed him to death. They claimed Riccio had undue influence over her
foreign policy but, in reality, they probably meant to cause Mary, who watched
this horrific crime, to suffer a miscarriage. Mary believed Darneley was angry
because she had denied him the crown matrimonial thus wanted to kill her and
the child. Considering most women did not survive miscarriages in the 16th
century, this would clear the way for him to become King of Scots. However that was unlikely since had he
been successful, Darnley would not have lived long after his wife’s death.
After Riccio's
death, the nobles kept Mary prisoner at Holyrood Palace because she did not
have a miscarriage. Once she entered the later stages of her pregnancy, she was
desperate to escape and convinced Darnley to help her escape. Three months
followed bringing about James VI, the future king of Scotland. This birth
brought congratulations from all over Europe. Still young and healthy after the
birth, Mary now had an heir. This period of time was to be the peak of her reign and her greatest and
happiest moment. In December 1566 James was baptized in the Chapel Royal of Stirling Castle. Mary, once the fragile last hope of the Stewart dynasty, was
just 23 years old and had fulfilled one of a monarch's greatest duties -
providing a healthy son and heir. Elizabeth of England, ten years older,
watched these events with interest since she knew her own future would be - by
choice - unmarried and childless. She could well imagine that Mary's son would
be her heir as well.
James's birth only
provided a temporary calm. The nobles who plotted with Darnley felt betrayed by
him since, they had captured the queen and her potential heir, murdered her
dear friend, and were still not in a position to demand anything. In February of 1567
the
nobles destroyed Darnley's home, Kirk o' Field and Darnley's strangled body was
found in the garden.
After Darnley’s
death, Mary was unwilling to cause further bloodshed. Understandably
terrified, she left Edinburgh for a castle at Dunbar. Bothwell, a noble who
previously pursued Mary to wed him before her marraige to Darnely, told her she needed a
strong husband who could help unify the nobles behind her. Mary knew herself to
be powerless and had an infant son to consider. Thus she wed Bothwell in May
1567, in hopes of stabilizing the country. An agreement the nobles had signed
which indicated they were prepared to accept him as their overlord was supposed
to guarantee their marriage would unify the royal couple and the nobles.
The agreement was
useless since the nobles were not to be trusted. They were angry that Bothwell
would be all-powerful and decided to wage war against him. Only a month after
the marriage, rebel nobles and their forces fought Mary's troops at Carberry
Hill, south-east of Edinburgh. Upon their demands that Mary abandon Bothwell,
Mary turned herself over to avoid the bloodshed of battle. The
nobles took Mary to Lochleven Castle and held prisoner on an island fortress.
From her illness, she was forced to sign a document abdicating the crown in
favor of her year-old son.
By 1568, Mary
escaped the prison with the help of George Douglas, a brother to one of her
keepers at Lochleven. Ten months after captivity, she was free to fight for the
throne. Her supporters gathered and battled forces at Dumbarton Castle in
Langside, Glasgow. Mary's forces lost and she was forced to flee. Against all
advice, she asked Elizabeth I for support since she was James's godmother, Mary's cousin and a fellow independent Queen.
4.
Conspiracy to Death TOP
Mary set sail for
England on May 16th,1568. She arrived in Workington, Cumbria where Elizabeth
kept Mary guarded. In December 1569, the Casket Letters were at Westminster.
They were letters belonging to Bothwell which were found in his casket. They
disappeared soon afterwards and only translations and copies remain. These
‘letters’ implicated that Mary was guilty of conspiracy against the queen of
England.
Mary was moved
from prison to prison, to only arrive at Fotheringay Castle. Of course, Mary
plotted from the very beginning to escape where her plots grew more and more
murderous. However Mary's imprisonment only ended with her execution.
In October 1586,
Mary was put on trial at Fotheringay for plotting to kill Elizabeth and claims
for the English throne.
The trial trail
ended on October 16, 1586 and was executed the morning of February 8th,1587.
Dressed in black
and velvet satin, she entered the Great Hall of Fotheringay Castle and
commanded her servant tell her son that she had never done anything to
compromise their kingdom of Scotland. Sixteen years after Mary, queen of Scots’
execution, Mary's son became King of England and Scotland.