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| 4 | <meta name="content" content="Primary Sources: The last letter of Mary, queen of Scots, 1587">
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| 9 | <title>Primary Sources: The last letter of Mary, queen of Scots, 1587</title>
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| 18 | <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="4" width="94%">
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| 19 | <tr>
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| 20 | <td valign="bottom" colspan="3">
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| 21 | <p align="center"> <br>
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| 22 | <p align="center">
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| 23 | <img border="0" src="maryqos-letter.gif" width="331" height="87"><p align="center"> </td>
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| 24 | </tr>
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| 30 | <tr>
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| 31 | <td valign="top" width="48%" bgcolor="#FFFFE8">
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| 32 | <font size=-1>
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| 33 | <img border="1" src="relative/maryqos1565cr.jpg" align="left" width="175" height="236">Mary Stuart
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| 34 | wrote this letter on 8 February 1587, completing it just six hours before her
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| 35 | execution at Fotheringhay Castle. </font>
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| 36 | <p>
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| 37 | <font size=-1>It is addressed to her former brother-in-law,
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| 38 | King Henry III of France. She had written to him regularly throughout
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| 39 | her imprisonment in England. The letter is a remarkable document.
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| 40 | Mary clearly believes she is dying as a martyr to her Catholic faith.
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| 41 | She also displays genuine concern for the loyal servants who joined her
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| 42 | English imprisonment.</font></p>
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| 43 | <p>
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| 44 | <font size=-1>It should be noted that Henry III did not provide the
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| 45 | wages and pensions which Mary so poignantly sought. It was King Philip II of
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| 46 | Spain who honored her last wishes.</font></p>
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| 47 | <p><br>
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| 48 |
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| 49 | </td>
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| 50 | <td width="4%"></td>
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| 51 | <td valign="top" width="48%">
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| 52 |
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| 53 |
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| 54 |
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| 55 | 8 February 1587
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| 56 |
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| 57 | <br>To the most Christian king, my brother and old ally,
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| 58 |
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| 59 | <p>Royal brother, having by God's will, for my sins I think, thrown myself
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| 60 |
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| 61 | into the power of the Queen my cousin, at whose hands I have suffered much
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| 62 |
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| 63 | for almost twenty years, I have finally been condemned to death by her
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| 64 |
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| 65 | and her Estates. I have asked for my papers, which they have taken
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| 66 |
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| 67 | away, in order that I might make my
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| 68 |
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| 69 | will, but I have been unable to recover anything of use to me, or even
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| 70 |
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| 71 | get leave either to make my will freely or to have my body conveyed after
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| 72 |
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| 73 | my death, as I would wish, to your kingdom where I had the honor to be
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| 74 |
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| 75 | queen, your sister and old ally.
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| 76 |
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| 77 | <p>Tonight, after dinner, I have been advised of my sentence: I am
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| 78 |
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| 79 | to be executed like a criminal at eight in the morning. I have not
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| 80 |
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| 81 | had time to give you a full account of everything that has happened, but
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| 82 |
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| 83 | if you will listen to my doctor and my other unfortunate servants, you
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| 84 |
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| 85 | will learn the truth, and how, thanks be to God, I scorn death and vow
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| 86 |
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| 87 | that I meet it innocent of any crime, even if I were their subject.
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| 88 |
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| 89 | The Catholic faith and the assertion of my God-given right to the English
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| 90 |
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| 91 | crown are the two issues on which I am condemned, and yet I am not allowed
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| 92 |
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| 93 | to say that it is for the Catholic religion that I die, but for fear of
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| 94 |
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| 95 | interference with theirs. The proof of this is that they have taken
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| 96 |
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| 97 | away my chaplain, and although he is in the building, I have not been able
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| 98 |
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| 99 | to get permission for him to come and hear my confession and give me the
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| 100 |
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| 101 | Last Sacrament, while they have been most insistent that I receive the
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| 102 |
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| 103 | consolation and instruction of their minister, brought here for that purpose.
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| 104 |
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| 105 | The bearer of this letter and his companions, most of them your subjects,
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| 106 |
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| 107 | will testify to my conduct at my last hour. It remains for me to
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| 108 |
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| 109 | beg Your Most Christian Majesty, my brother-in-law and old ally, who have
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| 110 |
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| 111 | always protested your love for me, to give proof now of your goodness on
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| 112 |
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| 113 | all these points: firstly by charity, in paying my unfortunate servants
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| 114 |
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| 115 | the wages due them - this is a burden on my conscience that only you can
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| 116 |
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| 117 | relieve: further, by having prayers offered to God for a queen who
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| 118 |
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| 119 | has borne the title Most Christian, and who dies a Catholic, stripped of
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| 120 |
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| 121 | all her possessions. As for my son, I commend him to you in so far
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| 122 |
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| 123 | as he deserves, for I cannot answer for him. I have taken the liberty
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| 124 |
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| 125 | of sending you two precious stones, talismans against illness, trusting
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| 126 |
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| 127 | that you will enjoy good health and a long and happy life. Accept
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| 128 |
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| 129 | them from your loving sister-in-law, who, as she dies, bears witness of
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| 130 |
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| 131 | her warm feeling for you. Again I commend my servants to you. Give
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| 132 |
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| 133 | instructions, if it please you, that for my soul's sake part of what you
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| 134 |
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| 135 | owe me should be paid, and that for the sake of Jesus Christ, to whom I
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| 136 |
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| 137 | shall pray for you tomorrow as I die, I be left enough to found a memorial
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| 138 |
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| 139 | mass and give the customary alms.
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| 140 |
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| 141 | <p>Wednesday, at two in the morning
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| 142 |
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| 143 | <p>Your most loving and most true sister
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| 144 |
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| 145 | <br>Mary R<p> <p align="center"><nt><font size="2">
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| 146 | <a href="relative/maryqos.html">to the Mary,
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| 147 | queen of Scots website</a></font><p align="center"><a href="primary.html">
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| 148 | <font size="2">to Primary Sources</font></a></td>
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| 149 | </tr>
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