'As a sinner I am
truly conscious of having often offended my Creator and I beg him to
forgive me, but as a Queen and Sovereign, I am aware of no fault or
offence for which I have to render account to anyone here
below.' Mary, queen of Scots to her
jailer, Sir Amyas Paulet; October 1586
In November 1542, King James V of Scotland, lay dying at his
beloved Falkland Palace, built just five years earlier. He was
devastated by his army's defeat by the English at Solway Moss and saw
little hope for the future. At Falkland, he was told that Mary of
Guise, his French-born wife once wooed by Henry VIII, had given birth
to a daughter at Linlithgow Palace on December 8. This was a
feast-day in honor of the Virgin Mary and many took it as a good omen
for the little 
princess; for her father,
however, it was otherwise. Upon receiving news of Mary's birth,
he reportedly said, 'Woe is me. My dynasty came with a lass. It
will go with a lass.' James's ancestor, Robert II, had become
King of Scots in 1371. The son of Robert the Bruce's daughter
Marjorie
and Walter, the High Steward of Scotland, Robert was nearest in
succession to the throne. He called his new dynasty
'Stewart,' a variation on his father's title; in France, it was spelled
Stuart. Mary's father, James V, believed this lineage had ended with
his daughter's birth. He certainly never contemplated that his
grandson would one day rule both Scotland and its old enemy,
England. James died within a week of Mary's birth and, before she
was even a year old, the child was crowned queen of Scots.
The regents of Scotland made a treaty with
Henry VIII in which Edward, Henry's long-awaited and precious son,
would wed Mary. But Henry VIII became increasingly erratic and
despotic in his later years and continued to send his army north.
In 1546, Henry also encouraged the murder of Cardinal Beaton, a great
Scots patriot; the proof - shortly before the murder, he had offered
one
thousand pounds for expenses associated with a plot to murder
Beaton. After this, the Scots were determined to avoid the
proposed English marriage. In July 1548, they sent the five-year-old
Mary to France, her mother's homeland. The Scots Parliament had
agreed to her marriage with Francis, the heir of Henry II, king of
France from 1547 to 1559. Mary sailed from Dumbarton Castle to
France, using this route to avoid English ships patrolling the English
Channel. According to most contemporary reports, Mary was
exceptionally lovely (even in an age when most noble women were
accorded the title of 'fair' or 'beautiful'), intelligent and full of
vitality. One French observer wrote admiringly: 'It is not
possible to hope for more from a Princess on this earth.' From
this vantage point, Mary's life seemed to be set on a glorious course;
but like a later foreign queen of France, Marie Antoinette, Mary's life
was not destined to be peaceful and happy.
When Mary left for Scotland, she traveled
with the children of Scotland's nobility, including the 'Four Maries,'
the women who would stay with her throughout her later imprisonment and
execution. They were Mary Fleming, Mary Seton, Mary Beaton and
Mary Livingstone. Mary Seton was the only one to die unmarried
and lived on until 1615, praying for Mary's soul and giving alms in her
memory. The group arrived in France in August 1548.
France, 1548-61
Mary was given a royal welcome in France by King Henry II.
He ordered that she would have precedence over his own daughters as she
was sovereign of an independent country and also because she was to wed
his heir, the Dauphin. The king also became very fond of the
child, saying, 'The little Queen of Scots is the most perfect child I
have ever seen.' While in France, Mary's maternal grandmother,
Antoinette de Guise, wrote to her daughter in Scotland that Mary was
'very pretty, graceful and self-assured.'
Mary was 5 when she first met the
four-year-old Dauphin, her betrothed husband. According to most
contemporaries, they were close and affectionate with one another even
as children. They traveled from one royal palace to another -
Fountaineblea to Meudon, or to Chambord or Saint-Germain. They
were always attended to by a retinue of servants and, even then, Mary
had developed a fondness for animals, especially dogs, which was to
continue throughout her life. Mary was also educated in the
traditional manner of French princesses; she spoke French and learned
Latin, Italian, Spanish and a little Greek. She learned to dance,
sing, play the lute as well as converse on religious matters. Her
religious tutor was the prior of Inchmahome, a Scottish priest.
When she was seven, her mother came to France to visit her; when Mary
of Guise returned to Scotland, neither realized that they would never
see each other again.
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. It is worth noting that the Guise family regarded
Mary as one of their own; not only was betrothed to the heir to the
throne but her mother was a Guise as well. Her 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 1555, Mary sent back letters to her mother in Scotland to be used
for administrative purposes and it is from these that we first see her
royal signature 
'MARIE R'.
In 1558, she married the Dauphin in an incredible celebration in
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Exceptionally tall for a woman in
the 16th century, Mary was every inch the regal Queen; she had an oval
face, shapely chin, and small mouth which were set off by her
golden-red hair, her large forehead, and hazel eyes. Many
considered Mary to be the most beautiful princess in Europe, much as
they had thought of her relative, Henry VIII's sister, Mary,
who had also come to France as queen for a short while. Mary was
not always in the best of health but, unlike her husband, there were no
immediate concerns for her life.
In 1558, 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 never rested easily
while her Catholic relative was alive. But the matter was
smoothed over when Elizabeth was persuadd the assumption was due more
to Guise ambitions than Mary's actual wish. In 1559, Henry II of
France, died at the age of 40. Mary and her husband were crowned Queen
and King of France. But in June of 1560, Mary's mother died in
Scotland at the age of 45. And just six months later, her young
husband also died of an ear infection. Mary was understandably
devastated by this chain of tragic events. Thockmorton, the
English ambassador, commented that Francis had left 'as dolorous a wife
as she had good cause to be. By long watching with him during his
sickness and painful diligence about him' she had become exhausted and
made herself ill. She wrote a poem, in French, about her grief at
his death; this is a translation of one verse:
By day, by night, I think of him/ In wood or mead, or where I
be/ My heart keeps watch for one who's gone./ And yet I feel he's aye
with me.
What was Mary to do next? She left for
Scotland, a land rife with religious and civil discord. 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.
Scotland, 1561-68
Mary knew very well that she was succeeding
to a most troubled heritage. But after her recent years of loss
and grief, she was determined to make a bright future. Also, in
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 bade; there
would be no religious persecution under her rule. In this, 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 was 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; she played
croquet, golfed, went for hunts and archery practice, sung, danced,
and, in general, showed an admirable zest for life. In 1562 the
English ambassador reported to Elizabeth, 'When the soldiers came back
from the night's sentry-duty, she said she was sorry she was not a man
to be all night on the fields and to walk the causeway with buff-coat,
steel-helmet, buckler, and broadsword.'
In 1563, Mary began the traditional 'royal
progress' throughout Scotland. In 1564, the fourth Earl of Atholl
organized a great hunt in honor of the queen and, yet again, Mary
charmed all who met her. Yet she also treaded dangerous ground
with her policy of non-discrimination and desire to unify the nation,
taking power away from the independent nobles. Though a Catholic,
Mary became friends with one of the most learned Protestants of the
time, George Buchanan. In the political realm, Mary kept up
peaceful relations with France, Spain, and England, though she never
met Elizabeth face-to-face. But, in 1566, her patience was tried
by the English ambassador's persistent and obvious spying; she ordered
him out of the kingdom and declared him persona non grata. And
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 yet
another war and causing 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 one of these outside powers; indeed, it came 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 a cousin named
Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, a weak, vain, and unstable young man; like
Mary, he was also a grandchild of Henry VIII's sister Margaret.
Why Mary wed Darnley remains a mystery; he was superficially charming
and, unlike most men, taller than the queen. He was fond of
courtly amusements and thus a nice change from the dour Scottish lords
who surrounded her. But he never seemed to care for Mary 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 Piedmontese 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, from watching this horrific crime, to suffer a miscarriage, thus
losing her child and her own life as well since one usually meant the
other in the 16th century. Mary certainly believed that Darnley,
angry because she had denied him the crown matrimonial, wanted to kill
her and the child, thus becoming King of Scots. But it is
unlikely that, had he been successful, Darnley would have long survived
his wife.
After Riccio's death, the nobles kept Mary
prisoner at Holyrood Palace. Entering the later stages of her
pregnancy, she was desperate to escape and - somehow - won over Darnley
and they escaped together. Three months later the future James VI
of Scotland was born and congratulations came from all over
Europe. Still young and healthy after the birth, Mary now had an
heir. This was the apex of her reign, 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 for, even
then, 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.
But this future soon seemed perilous for
James's birth provided only a temporary calm. The nobles who had
plotted with Darnley now felt betrayed by him; after all, they had
captured the queen and her potential heir, murdered her dear friend,
and were in a position to demand anything. But Darnley's decision
to help Mary escape infuriated them. In February of 1567 they had
Darnley's house, Kirk o' Field, blown up; Darnley's strangled body was
found in the garden. Many nobles were implicated, most
particularly James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell. Certainly Bothwell's
later life (imprisoned in Denmark, he died in 1578, virtually insane)
was a degree of punishment for this crime. However, in the
immediate aftermath of Darnley's murder, he met with Mary about six
miles outside of Edinburgh. He had 600 men with him and asked to
escort Mary to his castle at Dunbar; he told her she was in danger if
she went to Edinburgh. Mary, unwilling to cause further bloodshed
and understandably terrified, followed his suggestions.
Bothwell's noble friends had previously pressed her to marry him and
he, too, had told her she needed a strong husband who could help unify
the nobles behind her. Mary had refused the proposal then,
preferring to marry Darnley, but now she knew herself to be
powerless. She also had an infant son to consider. So she
consented to wed Bothwell, hoping that this would finally stabilize the
country. Also, Bothwell showed 
Mary an agreement the nobles
had signed which indicated they were prepared to accept him as their
overlord. In May 1567 they wed at Holyrood and Mary wrote to the
foreign courts that it was the right decision for her country.
But the nobles were still not to be
trusted. Now, they were angry that Bothwell would be all-powerful
and they decided to wage war against him. Barely a month after
the marriage, rebel nobles and their forces met Mary's troops at
Carberry Hill, 8 miles south-east of Edinburgh. The nobles
demanded that Mary abandon Bothwell, whom they had earlier ordered her
to wed. She refused and reminded them of their earlier
order. To avoid the bloodshed of battle, she turned herself over
and the rebels took her to Edinburgh while Bothwell struggled to rally
troops of his own. Mary was taken to Lochleven Castle and held
prisoner in that island fortress; fearing for her own life, she became
desperately ill. She was forced to sign a document abdicating the
crown in favor of her year-old son. At the end of that month,
July 1567, James was crowned king and James Stewart, the Earl of Moray,
Mary's bastard half-brother, became Regent. Moray wasted no time
in repaying Mary's earlier kindness to him by stealing her son and
jewels. Of course, Scottish history reveals that all these
nefarious nobles came to a bad end - Moray was murdered just 3 years
later and the next regents were also killed; in fact, her son James had
one of the traitors executed in 1580, when he was just a teenager.
Mary's cause was aided in 1568 when John Hay,
before his execution, made a statement from the scaffold that told how
the nobles had murdered Darnley. Before this, the nobles had
attempted to make the people believe Mary was responsible. Now,
she was able to win sympathy and friends. George Douglas, one of
the brothers of her keeper at Lochleven, helped her escape. After
10 months of captivity, she was free to fight for the throne. Her
supporters gathered an army and, on their way to Dumbarton Castle, a
battle was fought at Langside, Glasgow. Mary's forces lost and
she was forced to flee with her supporters. Against all advice,
she was determined to go south and ask Elizabeth I for support.
As James's godmother and Mary's cousin as well as a fellow independent
Queen, Mary felt certain Elizabeth would help her. As most know,
this was the beginning of yet another chapter of suffering and misery
for Mary.
The Final Years, 1568-87
Mary set sail for England on 16 May 1568. She soon arrived
in Workington, Cumbria; Elizabeth did not know what to do and kept Mary
guarded in the north. After all, without Mary's knowledge, she
had been helping her enemies, promising money and 
sanctuary in return
for their treacherous behavior against their queen. Elizabeth's
motives for this were obvious - Mary was the closest Catholic claimant
to the English throne and Elizabeth knew some of her subjects were not
above hoping she could be deposed and Mary made queen of both Scotland
and England. So she had determined to keep her cousin's kingdom
in continual strife; if Mary was busy at home, she would have less
chance to plot against Elizabeth. But Elizabeth's conscience was
determined to be clear so she appointed commissioners to look into the
matter; they met throughout 1568 and 1569. In December of 1569,
the so-called Casket Letters were first presented at Westminster.
They were supposedly letters and other papers belonging to Bothwell and
found in his casket (letter box). They disappeared soon
afterwards and only translations and copies remain. However, few
believed they were either real or important at the time for Elizabeth,
in January 1569, released a statement that 'Nothing had been
sufficiently proved, whereby the Queen of England should conceive an
evil opinion of her good sister.' Everyone took this to mean that
Mary was not guilty of any conspiracy alleged in the letters.
But in this same year, conservative nobles in
England supported an idea that Mary should wed the Duke of
Norfolk. This also indicated that Elizabeth, and most English
nobles, believed Mary innocent of Darnley's murder and any charges in
the Casket Letters. But Elizabeth did not consent to the marriage
and kept Mary under lock and key. Soon, this arrangement had
settled into stone; Mary was moved from prison to prison, eventually
ending up at Fotheringhay Castle, about 70 miles north-west of London
and as close to Elizabeth as she ever came. Of course, Mary
plotted from the very beginning to escape. She felt justified in
doing so since she was being held against her will. However, as
the years passed, the plots grew more outlandish and murderous.
Mary's imprisonment was only to end with her execution.
Read a more detailed account of Mary's
arrival in England and the plots
which led to her trial and execution at the Queen Elizabeth I
website.
In October of 1586, Mary was put on trial at
Fotheringhay for plotting to kill Elizabeth and claim the English
throne. Elizabeth's last letter to Mary was delivered at the
start of the trial:
You have in various ways and manners attempted to take my life
and to bring my kingdom to destruction by bloodshed. I have never
proceeded so harshly against you, but have, on the contrary, protected
and maintained you like myself. These treasons will be proved to you
and all made manifest. Yet it is my will, that you answer the nobles
and peers of the kingdom as if I were myself present. I therefore
require, charge, and command that you make answer for I have been well
informed of your arrogance.
Act plainly without reserve, and you will sooner be
able to obtain favour of me.
Elizabeth.
Mary defended herself admirably though she
had no friends or supporters at the trial and, essentially, the verdict
had been decided before the proceedings had begun. Mary admitted
her desire to escape but stated, 'I have not procured or encouraged any
hurt against Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.' And she appealed for
mercy, mentioning her own reputation for tolerance and kindness: 'My
subjects now complain they were never so well off as under my
government.' But she also accepted the inevitable, telling the
assembled nobles, 'May God keep me from having to do with you all
again.' When the verdict was read to her, she said, 'I do not
fear to die in a good cause.'
The trial lasted just two days and was over
on 16 October 1586 but it was not until 7 February 1587 that she was
told she would be executed the next morning. She asked for her
chaplain but was refused this last comfort. The Earl of Kent
said: 'Your life would be the death of our religion, your death would
be its life.' In fact, Mary had been a tolerant ruler in Scottish
religious matters. But such was the extreme religious upheaval of
the time, tolerance itself was a sign of weakness. The
death-sentence was signed by Elizabeth who later argued that her
secretary Davison had deceived her as to its contents; she said she
would not have signed it otherwise. Her letter to Mary's son
James about the execution, written on 14 February, is a remarkable
document:
My dear Brother, I would you knew (though not felt) the
extreme dolor that overwhelms my mind, for that miserable accident
which (far contrary to my meaning) hath befallen. I have now sent this
kinsman of mine, whom ere now it hath pleased you to favour, to
instruct you truly of that which is too irksome for my pen to tell you.
I beseech you that as God and many more know, how innocent I am in this
case : so you will believe me, that if I had bid aught I would have bid
by it. I am not so base minded that fear of any living creature or
Prince should make me so afraid to do that were just; or done, to deny
the same. I am not of so base a lineage, nor carry so vile a mind. But,
as not to disguise, fits not a King, so will I never dissemble my
actions, but cause them show even as I meant them. Thus assuring
yourself of me, that as I know this was deserved, yet if I had meant it
I would never lay it on others' shoulders; no more will I not damnify
myself that thought it not.
The circumstance it may please you to have of this bearer. And for your
part, think you have not in the world a more loving kinswoman, nor a
more dear friend than myself; nor any that will watch more carefully to
preserve you and your estate. And who shall otherwise persuade you,
judge them more partial to others than you. And thus in haste I leave
to trouble you: beseeching God to send you a long reign.
Your most assured loving sister and cousin,
Elizabeth R.
A year later, the Catholic Philip V of Spain invaded England
with his Armada, perhaps - to some degree - urged on by Mary's
execution.
Mary did not retire until two in the morning on the last day of her
life. She spent her final hours making a will and generously
providing to those who had served her faithfully. Early on the
morning of 8 February 1587, dressed in black satin and velvet, she
entered the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle. She commanded her
servant, Melville, to go to her son and tell him that she had never
done anything to compromise their kingdom of Scotland. Mary was
calm and composed before the several hundred spectators present; she
listened while the execution warrant was read and then prayed aloud in
English for the Church and her son. She also mentioned Queen
Elizabeth and prayed for her to continue to serve God in the years to
come.
Mary comforted her weeping servants, her
friends and supporters to the last. They helped her undress;
beneath her all-black gown, she wore a red petticoat and bodice.
Her women helped her attach the long red sleeves. Mary thus died
wearing the liturgical color of Catholic martyrdom. She gave them
her golden rosary and Agnus Dei, asking them to remember her in their
prayers. Her eyes were covered with a white cloth. While
her servants wept and called out prayers in a medley of languages, she
laid her neck upon the block, commended herself to God and received the
death-stroke. But the executioner was unsteady and the first blow
cut the back of her head; Mary whispered, 'Sweet Jesus', and the second
blow descended.
When the executioner lifted her head and
cried out, 'God save the Queen,' a macabre surprise occurred.
Mary, queen of Scots had worn an auburn wig to her execution. It
was left in the executioner's hand as her head, with its short, grey
hair, fell to the floor.
Mary had always loved animals and her little
Skye terrier had brought her great comfort during the years in
prison. It had curled itself around her feet while she knelt at
the block and died just days after the queen. As queen of Scots,
Mary's motto had been 'In my end is my beginning'. And certainly
the end of her life marked the beginning of her legend. The
Catholic nations which had condemned her behavior during Darnley's
murder and the marriage to Bothwell now celebrated her as a
martyr. Her former brother-in-law, Henri III of France, held a
funeral mass at Notre-Dame, where Mary had wed Francis almost thirty
years before. Accounts of her execution, illustrated by crude
woodcuts, were sold throughout Europe. She was now the
sympathetic heroine; the past could be forgotten.
Sixteen years later, Mary's son
became King of England and Scotland. In 1612, he moved her body
to Westminster Abbey, London, constructing a magnificent tomb which
rivaled Elizabeth I's. In her Essay on Adversity,
written in 1580 while she was imprisoned, Mary had written of rulers:
'Tribulation has been to them as a furnace to fine gold - a means of
proving their virtue.' It was a fitting epitaph for her own
infamous life.
You can read
Mary's last letter, written to Henri III of France just six hours
before her execution,
as well as an
eyewitness account of her execution at the Primary Sources
section.
