MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS

O my Lord and my God I have trusted in thee

O my dear Jesus now Liberate me.

In shackle and chain, in torture and pain, I long for thee.

In weakness and sighing, in kneeling and crying.

I adore and implore thee to liberate me.

Mary, Queen of Scots Wednesday 8th February 1587

On the 7th of December 1542 a child was born to the King of Scotland James V, his wife, Mary of Guise had given birth to a girl. She was named after her mother, and just six days later her father died, leaving Mary as Queen of Scots.

The death of James V caused a panic in Europe as two of the most powerful countries vied for control over the infant Queen. England and France both sent delegations offering the Scots their control over the country until the Queen had come of age, naturally Scotland’s leaders said no and so Mary’s mother was named as Regent. She belonged to the French Royal family and so the young Queen of Scotland was sent for education in France, it was hoped she would find a marriage partner whilst on the continent too. In this task she was successful, in April 1558 she was wed to the French Dauphin Francis and in a secret agreement France was to control Scotland should Mary die without a son and heir. Not only being Queen of Scotland she then became Queen of England, or would have done had the Catholics had their way after the death of Mary I and the ascension of Elizabeth I who was not only protestant but was the daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, a marriage the Catholics declared null and void. However perhaps if Mary I had ruled a more enlightened country, instead of killing most of the protestant clergy and anyone who denounced her rule, then perhaps Mary Queen of Scots would have been welcomed with open arms, but as it was the Protestants had their way instead, despite them hating Anne Boleyn, her daughter Elizabeth would prove to become one of the finest monarchs this country ever had, but like all still ruled with a little blood on her hands. Mary Queen of Scots’ claim to the English throne was based upon the fact that Henry VIII’s sister Margaret just happened to be Mary’s grandmother, making Elizabeth and Mary distant cousins.

In July 1559 Francis became King Francis II of France and so Mary Queen of Scots also became Mary, Queen of the French. However 17 months later King Francis II had died and so Mary was left with a possible dilemma, either go to Scotland, a country which seemed alien to her, or stay in France and be under the constant scrutiny of her over bearing and aggressive mother in law, Catherine-de-Medici. Mary choose Scotland, and on the 19th August 1565 she landed at Leith, Scotland however was not the Catholic haven she hoped it to be, Protestant Presbyterianism had taken hold over the years and now she took sound advice from her half-brother the Earl of Moray, James Stuart and William Maitland of Lethington. They advised her to give the Presbyterian Church a modest endowment, Mary had seen religious turmoil in her youth in France and did not want to see the same conflicts arise in Scotland, but she still not give it a full establishment within her country, this however still kept Calvinist radicals like John Knox on her side. Over the next few years Mary tried the impossible, both to find a new Catholic husband and to placate her Protestant cousin south of the border.

In 1565 she married a different cousin, Henry, Lord Darnley, this upset Elizabeth as she had not been consulted about the marriage of two of her relatives. Mary however was trying to change Scotland which also upset many Scots; she dismissed her half brother the Earl of Moray from court along with many other Scottish nobles, in their stead came foreign dignitaries, one of which was David Rizzio, who many suspected of being her lover. When news of this possible affair reached the ears of Darnley he flew into a rage and had Rizzio killed, in full view of not just Mary, but the entire court. Mary soon became pregnant with a son and heir, however she was deeply unhappy with her husband, on 19th June 1566 Mary gave birth to a boy and named him James, he would go on to become King James VI of Scotland, as well as King James I of England.

Mary’s marriage was spiralling out of control, then some relief came when Lord Darnley became ill whilst in Edinburgh, he was not at Holyrood Castle but at a private address, probably to ensure that whatever his illness would not spread to the household, and the infant James. On February 9th 1567, Mary and Darnley were at a house called Kirk O'Field. Late in the evening she remembered that she had to see some friends and rode off. Then for some reason the house he was in blew up! No one really knows how, or why, if Mary had wanted to get rid of Darnley then there less explosive ways of doing so, however she was still implicated in his death along with the Earl of Bothwell, many believe he was Rizzio’s replacement as Mary’s lover, however Mary claims that after the death of Darnley, Bothwell raped her to try and force her to marry him, either way it set the country of Scotland against Mary, the vast majority of Scottish Lords and Ministers now disliked this French woman, even John Knox called her a Whore.

On 24th July 1567 she was forced to abdicate, her infant son James became King with her old half brother, James Stuart named as Regent. Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle, she did still have a few supporters however, one of which was the Earl of Douglas, he was a marcher lord, who held lands close to the border of England, and in fact the Douglas’ and their English equivalents the Percy’s of Northumberland had been in some kind of warfare for around 500 years! Douglas and Mary gathered a large force of mainly Catholic nobles and they met the Protestant Lords Army at Langside. Mary had been on her way to take Dumbarton Castle, this would have given her a sea route to France, but more importantly it would have given the French the means to support her armed resistance to the Earl of Moray, who in turn learned of her plan and moved his forces to block her route somewhere near Glasgow. Both sides met at Langside, which was just a small village. On 16th May 1568 a Protestant Army faced a Catholic Army on Scottish soil, the religious turmoil seen in France had followed Mary to Scotland. Moray’s main force occupied good ground to the west of the village, yet he left 400 men in Langside itself to stop Douglas’ troops from attacking his flank, Douglas had around 5500 men at his disposal, Moray had a little more. As Douglas’ force entered the battlefield they saw to their horror that their way to Dumbarton was blocked, Douglas quickly got his men into defensive positions on a small hill, however with both sides now occupying good defensive positions it would seem neither side would dare attack the other. His was not good for either side, Mary needed to get to Dumbarton, and Moray needed to crush the enemy army and take Mary back as captive. One side had to give way first, either by running away in panic, or charging into the enemies well laid defence. In the end the latter happened, Catholic infantry in Douglas’ vanguard charged headlong into the cannon and infantry of Moray, they had no Cavalry support, though Douglas did have a large contingent of Cavalry at his disposal, neither did they have the advantage of their own artillery firing in support. The result was a massacre as the Catholics charged into an immovable block of Moray’s spearmen, with Moray’s cannon firing bloody swathes through the oncoming horde. It was all over in less than 45 minutes, the Catholic forces of Mary had been beaten back with 300 dead men left on the ground, the rest fled, leaving Mary to her fate. Moray’s entire army lost just one man killed, such was their good defensive position and sound use of their artillery.

After the battle Mary fled too, first to Dunrennan Abbey and then by boat to throw herself upon the mercy of not the French, but instead went to England, to seek help from Elizabeth, the Protestant Queen of England. Mary had never met Elizabeth, however both had communicated with one another in the past, both had been very cordial with one another, Elizabeth had even given Mary a ring, which Elizabeth had told Mary she should send back to Elizabeth should Mary need her help. Many in England saw this as a Catholic Queen brining the wars of Europe into England, although Elizabeth tried to rule over all in the same way, both Protestant and Catholic alike, she was mistrustful of Mary and so had confined, or rather, imprisoned the Queen of Scots in various castles in England for a total of nineteen years. If Mary had wanted to appease Elizabeth then she went about it in a strange way, as to anyone who would listen she would tell them she felt as though she was the legitimate heir to the English throne, she even sent to the Pope for papal blessing, in which he did in 1570. England’s spy network, overseen by Sir Francis Walsingham, kept a close eye on Mary, more importantly he was able to read every letter Mary had sent or received, no matter how covertly she tried to get messages out to her supporters.

Mary’s time on English soil is one of constant movement followed by long periods of inactivity, her first night was spent at Workington Hall, where she wrote to Elizabeth asking for her help in the form of an army to go back into Scotland and reinstate her on the throne of Scotland, Elizabeth had a tricky choice, send a Protestant English Army into Scotland to fight a Protestant Scottish Army, if only to reinstate a Catholic Queen. Of course the answer was no, even if she had agreed to it there was no way England would see another Catholic English Army on its soil, this force would easily turn on Elizabeth and see Mary as both Queen of Scotland, but also England. After a single night in Workington, Mary then went to Carlisle Castle, where she wrote numerous letters to Elizabeth, and indeed to anyone who would listen to her plight. Elizabeth sent her a reply saying that Mary would not be received in her court in London until Mary had been cleared of implications in the Darnley Murder. Mary was upset by this but still had many supporters in Scotland, because of Carlisle’s closeness to the border Mary was moved on the 13th July 1568 to Bolton Castle in Yorkshire, amidst fields of gold and hills of green Mary brought with her 51 servants and maids to wait upon her whilst she stayed in residence there. Whilst at Bolton Castle Mary decided to acquiesce to the pleas of some of her supporters, they felt that if Mary were put on trial for the murder of Darnely then the world would see her as innocent. And so at York the first of Mary’s trials was held, this in truth was one of biggest legal aberrations of English history. James Stuart, Earl of Moray produced condemning letters which implicated Mary in the murder plot, these were the Casket Letters and were purely false documents, this was followed by the Conference of Westminster in which Mary was not allowed to defend herself, or to ever view the letters which could sentence her to death. Mary’s only argument was that she was a foreign Queen to England and so could not be tried under English law, this kept her imprisoned, but not go to the executioner.

At Carlisle and Bolton Castles Mary had been free to wander the grounds and countryside, an activity she loved to do, however her next place of incarceration was Tutbury Castle, this belonged to the Earl of Shrewbury at the time but it was not ready for her arrival. Travelling in the winter of England was a very cold ordeal and Mary came down with an illness whilst en route from Bolton Castle in Yorkshire to Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire. She did not go straight to the castle however but stayed at the home of the Earl of Shrewsbury until the Castle was made fit for her imprisonment, and this was a real imprisonment as she was not given the freedom which she had been allowed before, no walks in the immediate countryside, her only activities were now embroidery, playing cards or reading. She was only 26 at the time of her stay at Tutbury, and despite the damp and dankness of the location she still kept herself looking her best; her faith in not only her god, but also her own self belief had never been as strong. On 20th April 1569, just two and a half months after arriving at Tutbury Mary and her massive entourage were moved to more luxurious surroundings at Wingfield Manor, this was mainly because she was complaining of being ill whilst at Tutbury. After a brief stay she went to Chatsworth from 15th May to 21st September before returning to Wingfield in better health. Mary during this time had an idea that she could appease Elizabeth by marrying one of her noble subjects, in this endeavour she and the Duke of Norfolk engaged in a courtship by correspondence in which both sent letters of love and gifts, though they never met one another, Mary was given a gold ring by Norfolk, who in turn received an embroidered pillow from Mary. However rather than make Elizabeth happy this infuriated her as she saw it as a plot to gain English support behind her back, locking up Norfolk in the Tower of London Elizabeth sent Mary back to the horrible Tutbury Castle, a place she loathed.

In November 1569 Mary had to be moved once again, this time to Coventry. This was because there had been a Catholic uprising, which had wanted to replace Elizabeth with Mary. The English queen’s supporters and advisors were now in open arms as to the question of what to do with the Queen of Scots; many wanted her killed, for the safety of the English peace. Elizabeth defied them all and had actually started negotiations by which to get Mary back on the throne of Scotland. In May 1570 Mary was taken again to Chatsworth, and in the August of that year Norfolk was released from the Tower, his name however was now tarnished and he was implicated in plots to replace Elizabeth, whether he was guilty or not. One proposal that Elizabeth made to the Scottish nobles was that Mary should be restored as Queen of Scotland, but to ensure the safety of the young King James he should come to England and be put under the protection of the English, the Scots of course rejected this, but at least Elizabeth did try to help, or be seen as trying to help, she may have known it would fail anyway (she was very much a genius, not only of her age).

Then came the Ridolfi Plot. Mary’s main ambassador in England was Leslie Bishop of Ross, he had been given financial backing by Mary to attempt to gain support from abroad for a foreign invasion of England, and this he did so with the aid of an Italian Banker named Roberto Ridolfi. He was in contact with the Spanish court and also the Spanish forces who were occupying the Netherlands at the time. The plan was for a Spanish Armada to sail from Spain with 10’000 men, land on the Dutch Coast and load on board another 15’000 troops then sail for England, all of this would be supported by a Catholic rising in England with Mary at its head. During this period Mary was moved between Sheffield and Chatsworth on numerous occasions, meanwhile her ambassador Leslie had been captured, and tortured to give the names of people involved in the plot, Norfolk was one such name given, whether he took an active part is hard to say, perhaps all he is guilty of is trying to find love. Nevertheless Norfolk was tried for high treason and executed in June 1572. Mary admitted she had given financial backing to Leslie and Ridolfi, but she claimed she knew nothing of their intentions. Mary’s health began to suffer from stress, as well as periods of confinement and inactivity, in August 1573 Mary was given a gift, a five week stay at Buxton Baths to take the waters and replenish her health. In Scotland however events took a different turn, Moray had died to be replaced as Regent by Morton, he though was implicated in the death of Darnley and so was executed, King James VI of Scotland now ruled, his mother Mary believed they should rule together, however at this Elizabeth interjected and made an alliance with the young King, thereby giving rule of Scotland to James and James alone, with a strong ally on his southern border in the form of Elizabeth, he did not need Mary for anything and so left her to her fate.

Francis Walsingham was now placed as the chief minister to Elizabeth in matters concerning Catholic rebels, of which Mary was seen as their main source of inspiration. Again at Tutbury Mary was now given a new jailer, Sir Amayas Paulet, a most devout Puritan was not taken in by Mary’s charms, or her illnesses. Instead she was put under stricter controls than she had become accustomed to, no correspondence with the outside world, she was not allowed to leave her rooms nor do any kind of activity. Her health plummeted to such an extent she was taken to Chartley Hall, it was here that Walsingham created false schemes to make her Queen of England, trying to get her implicated beyond all reasonable doubt that she wanted Elizabeth dead. When Elizabeth heard of his plans she was mortified, with the help of the brewer who delivered the ale to Chartley, Walsingham devised a scheme of carrying letters within a stopper of a barrel, Paulet was informed to search the barrels and found Mary’s letters with not only the French Ambassador but also with a young Catholic idealist called Sir Anthony Babington. The letters were decoded and copies made, then the letters were sent on to their destinations, with Mary and her conspirators never knowing that Walsingham knew every detail of her correspondence. One of the letters from Babington to Mary contained an ambiguous reference to replacing Elizabeth, Walsingham took this letter and drew on it a gallows then sent it on to Mary, who was now upset with so many years of imprisonment and the fact that her son had thrown her to the dogs that she replied with relish that she gave full consent to his plans. Walsingham had his plot to kill Elizabeth with Mary’s approval.

Mary was taken to Tixall for two weeks and then returned to Chartley Hall. Then on the 21st September 1586 she and her servants were taken to an unknown location (some people believe Mary and Elizabeth met during this time, but I doubt it) and then she was taken to Fotheringhay Castle. Her trial started on the 15th October 1586, in the Great Hall at Fotherighay, she was tried without representation, in other words no one would speak on her behalf. She addressed the court calmly and with enough dignity to make some of the people present break into tears. Her only defence was that she was a foreign Queen and could not be tried under English Law, even if she had been trying to kill the English Queen and replace her. Elizabeth did not even want Mary to go on trial, she had sent a letter Paulet asking him to murder Mary before any trail could come about, Paulet refused as he tried to keep an overall code of honour, despite his loathing for the woman. Elizabeth did not want to sign Mary’s death warrant, she was after all not only her cousin, but her equal too, and in the end Elizabeth did sign the warrant, on the 1st February 1587.

Mary learned of her fate on the evening of the 7th February 1587, she was refused her Catholic Priest Chaplin De Preau for her final confession but offered the Protestant Dean of Peterborough instead. In this she refused, then demanded and early supper. She ate calmly and serenely amongst the crying and wailing of her now depleted number of servants. After eating she distributed her possessions amongst her servants and others. Then she set down to write a will to provide for the welfare of those she was leaving behind, she then wrote letters to her Chaplain and her brother in law, Henri III King of France. By the time she was finished it was nearly two o’clock in the morning and so she went to bed, fully dressed, and did not attempt to go to sleep. At around eight-thirty in the morning she was brought to Great Hall where she was to be executed, but only after some of her servants were allowed to be with her at the end. Sir John Melville, her Secretary, Bougoing, her physician, Jacques Gervais, her Surgeon, Didier, her Porter and two of her maids, Elizabeth Curle and Jane Kennedy were all allowed to stay. She entered the Hall dressed in a black satin dress, embroidered with black velvet and black acorn buttons of jet trimmed with purple, on her head she wore a white veil which flowed down her back. Her stockings were edged in silver and she wore Spanish shoes, her garters were of green silk but her petticoat was of crimson, blood red. In her hands she held her crucifix and prayer book, while around her neck hung a pomander chain as well as her Agnus Dei.

Mary walked the three steps of the execution stage and said nothing as she was read the accusations against her, she only spoke when the Protestant Dean of Peterborough started to read his version of the Bible, at which Mary began reading the Latin version out loud, drowning out the Dean. The executioner then stepped forward and asked for her forgiveness, which was customary at the time; Mary replied “I forgive you with all my heart, for now I hope you make an end to all my troubles”. Kennedy and Curle now came forward to help Mary remove some of her garments as well as her Agnus Dei and Rosary, leaving Mary stood in the colours of martyrdom of the Catholic Church, blood red.

Kennedy then placed a white silk cloth embroidered with gold around Mary’s eyes, who then placed her own neck on the block and spoke her last words, “Into thy hands O lord I commend my spirit”. The executioner then swung his axe, the first swing cut into the back of her head at which she was heard to whisper “sweet Jesus”, the second swing killed her and practically decapitated her, but a third swing was needed to free the neck sinews from the body, as the executioner raised up the head by grasping her hair he found to his horror that she wore a wig, and her grey balding head rolled from his grasp onto the floor. All of her relics were burned and the blood washed away, her Skye Terrier refused to leave her body, hiding within the folds of her skirt however her body was then removed to where her heart and organs were removed and hidden in the stonework of Fotherghay Castle, the remains were then embalmed and placed in a lead coffin and kept unburied within the castle for a few months, this caused much unrest with the Catholics within the country and it was thought that  her martyrdom might give cause to a Catholic rebellion and so in the middle of the night on the 30th July 1587 her body was taken to Peterborough Cathedral and buried.

When Elizabeth of England heard of the execution she tried to claim she knew nothing of the Warrant of execution she had signed, this was purely to try and save face however. Eventually James VI of Scotland became James I of England he had Mary’s coffin exhumed and buried in its final resting place at Westminster Cathedral.

CJ Linton.