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Read Mary's last letter, an eyewitness account of her execution in 1587, and other documents relating to her life at Primary Sources. Elizabeth I wrote a letter to Mary at her trial, and about the execution to Mary's son, King James VI. Read her letters here. Portraits of Mary, her parents, husbands and child, with commentary, can be found at the Tudor England: Images site. If you are interested in
further research, The Catholic Encyclopedia features an article on Mary's
life. And the most comprehensive website about the Scottish queen is maintained by The Marie Stuart Society of Scotland.
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1542
8 December; Mary Stuart is born at Linlithgow Palace
14 December; James V, King of Scots, Mary's father, dies at 311543
Mary crowned Queen of Scots1546
Cardinal Beaton is murdered; ascendancy of pro-French party
1547
January; King Henry VIII of England dies
March; King Francis I of France dies
10 September; battle of Pinkie; Scots defeated by English forces led by duke of Somerset; new French king, Henry II, sends troops and money to Scotland; Mary is betrothed to Henry II's heir Francis, dauphin of France
1548
August; Mary sent to France1550
Mary's mother, Mary of Guise, visits her in France1554
Mary of Guise is officially named Regent in Scotland1558
Fifteen-year-old Mary marries the 14-year-old Francis, dauphin of France, in Paris
Queen Mary I of England dies and Elizabeth Tudor becomes Queen
Mary's father-in-law quarters her arms with those of England, offending Elizabeth1559
Death of King Henry II of France; Francis and Mary are crowned king and queen of France1560
June; Mary of Guise passes away in Scotland
December; Mary's husband, Francis, Mary's husband, passes away1561
Mary returns to Scotland1562 Northern campaign and visit to Inverness; aged 19
1563 Mary visits Inveraray,Dunure Castle, Dumfries, and Peebles; aged 20
1564 Mary hunts near Blair Atholl, Tayside; aged 21
1565 Mary marries her 19-year-old cousin Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley; aged 22
1566 Mary's Piedmontese secretary, David Riccio/Rizzio, is murdered; Mary's only child born (James, later king of Scotland and England); aged 23
1567 Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, murdered; Mary weds James Hepburn, the 30-year-old Earl of Bothwell; the Carberry Hill confrontation; Mary is imprisoned at Lochleven Castle; Mary's one-year-old son James is crowned as James VI of Scotland; aged 24
1568 Mary escapes from Lochleven Castle; Battle of Langside, Glasgow; Mary flees to England; aged 25
1568-87 Mary is held captive in various English prisons; aged 25-44
1569 Elizabeth exonerates Mary from the charges made against her; aged 26
1578 Mary's third husband, the earl of Bothwell (age 41), dies in a prison in Denmark; aged 35
1580 Mary writes Essay on Adversity in prison; aged 37
1586 Mary is tried for conspiring to kill Elizabeth; aged 43
1587 on 8 February, Mary is executed in the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire
1603 Queen Elizabeth I dies in March & Mary's only child, James VI of Scotland, becomes James I of England. He is the first King of both Scotland and England. He moves his mother's body to Westminster Abbey and has a grand monument built.
Read the biography of Mary, queen of Scots.