Mary, Queen of Scots: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 20:22, 10 July 2022

1542-1587. French, Scottish and - to some - legitimate English queen.

The daughter of the Scottish king James V and Marie de Guise inherited the throne from her father December 14 1542, when she was only six days old. In 1548 she was sent to France to live at the court of Henry II of France and was betrothed to the Dauphin, Francis, whom she married in 1558. When Henry II died, Mary and Francis reigned over France and Scotland and Mary also claimed the thrones of England and Ireland.

Francis died on December 5 1560, the couple was childless. Due to a contract made with Henry before her marriage, Mary could stay in France or go back to Scotland. She decided to go back to her home country Scotland in August, 1561. She married again, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, who was a Catholic but later allied with the Protestants. Mary and Henry are the parents of James VI of Scotland, who later became James I of England.

Mary led a close friendship with her secretary, David Riccio, and there were rumours about a love affair. In 1566, a group of rebels forced their entry into the Palace of Holyroodhouse, threatened the Queen and stabbed Riccio to death.

On February 10 1567, Darnley was murdered, and only a few months later Mary married James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, one of the conspirators against Darnley. That is one of the reasons why Mary was accused to be involved in the murder and was forced to abdicate on behalf of her son. The tension between Mary’s supporters and enemies rose. On May 2 1568, after Mary had been captured for about one year at Lochleven Castle, she could escape and joined forces with the Hamilton family in the West. She decided to appeal to Elizabeth I, her cousin, and to flee to England.

Since Elizabeth was childless, she considered Mary, being the closest Catholic claimant to the English throne, as danger to her own power. Elizabeth kept Mary as a prisoner although at this time the claim that Mary was one of the murderers of Darnley met some counter evidence. There could also be some evidence in the so-called Casket Letters, letters supposedly written by Mary and Bothwell, but it is unclear whether they really existed and if so, what was written in them because the originals are not existant and only some translated copies exist today.

After many Catholic plots, in which she was implicated, Mary was finally accused of conspiring against Elizabeth and found guilty after the abortive Babington Plot of 1586. She was last kept at Fotheringhay Castle, where she was also executed in 1587. A grisly affair, if the sources and anecdotes are to be believed: the executioner was not able to cut her head off at the first blow, so he had to try it with a second, and a third one. When he wanted to show the head to the audience he was only carrying Mary’s wig, her head with grey hair still lying on the ground.

Sources

Cannon, John Ashton. The Oxford Companion to British History. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1997.
MacKay, James. In My End is My Beginning - A Life of Mary Queen of Scots. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publ., 2000.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/scots_mary_queen_of.shtml
Wormald, Jenny. Mary, Queen of Scots. Politics, Passion and a Kingdom Lost. London and New York: Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2001.

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-Got her Head Chopped Off in 1587. Also title of a play by Scottish playwright Liz Lochhead.
+-1587. French, Scottish and - to some - legitimate English queen.
-Mary, Queen of Scots <p> Mary was born in 1542 and died in 1587. <br> She was an heir to James V and inherited the throne on December 14, 1542, when she was only six days old. <br> In 1548 she was sent to France to live at the court of Henry II of France and was betrothed to the Dauphin, Francis, whom she married in 1558. When Henry II died, Mary and Francis reigned over France and Scotland but they were also interested in England and Ireland. <br> Francis died on December 5, 1560, the couple was childless. Due to a contract made with Henry before her marriage, Mary could to stay in France or go back to Scotland. She decided to go back to her home country Scotland in August, 1561. <br> She married again, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley who was a Catholic but later allied with the Protestants. Mary and Henry are the parents of James VI of Scotland, who later became James I of England. On February 10, 1567 Darnley was murdered and only a few months later Mary married Francis Stewart Earl of Bothwell. That is one of the reasons why Mary was accused to be a member of the murderers of Darnley and forced to abdicate. The tension between Mary’s supporters and enemies rose and on May 2, 1568 after Mary had been captured for about one year at Lochleven Castle; she could escape and joined forces with the Hamilton family in the West. She decided to appeal to Elizabeth I, her cousin, Queen of England. She would never see Scotland again. <br> Since Elizabeth was childless and she could also imagine that Mary’s son James could become her heir as well, she considered Mary, being the closest Catholic claimant to the English throne, as some kind of danger to her own power. Elizabeth kept Mary as a prisoner although at this time the claim that Mary was one of the murderers of Darnley revealed some counter evidences. <br> There could also be some evidence in the so-called Casket Letters, letters written between Mary and Bothwell but it is unclear whether they really existed and if yes, what was written in them because the originals are not extent and only some translated copies exist today. <br> During her last years she was probably last kept at Fotheringhay Castle, where she was also executed in 1587. There are also some juicy facts known about her execution: the executioner was not able to cut her head off at the first blow, so he had to try it with a second one. When he wanted to show the head to the audience he was only carrying Mary’s wig, her head still lying on the ground. <br> <br> Sources: <br> Cannon, John Ashton. ''Italic text'' The Oxford Companion to British History ''Italic text''. Oxford, 1997. <br> MacKay, James. ''Italic text'' In My End is My Beginning - A Life of Mary Queen of Scots. ''Italic text''. Edinburgh, 2000. <br> http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/scots_mary_queen_of.shtml <br> Wormald, Jenny. ''Italic text'' Mary, Queen of Scots. Politics, Passion and a Kingdom Lost ''Italic text''. London and New York, 2001.
+The daughter of the Scottish king James V and Marie de Guise inherited the throne from her father December 14 1542, when she was only six days old. In 1548 she was sent to France to live at the court of Henry II of France and was betrothed to the Dauphin, Francis, whom she married in 1558. When Henry II died, Mary and Francis reigned over France and Scotland and Mary also claimed the thrones of England and Ireland.
+Francis died on December 5 1560, the couple was childless. Due to a contract made with Henry before her marriage, Mary could stay in France or go back to Scotland. She decided to go back to her home country Scotland in August, 1561. She married again, [[Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley]], who was a Catholic but later allied with the Protestants. Mary and Henry are the parents of James VI of Scotland, who later became [[James I]] of England.
+Mary led a close friendship with her secretary, [[David Riccio/Rizzio|David Riccio]], and there were rumours about a love affair. In 1566, a group of rebels forced their entry into the Palace of Holyroodhouse, threatened the Queen and stabbed Riccio to death.
+On February 10 1567, Darnley was murdered, and only a few months later Mary married James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, one of the conspirators against Darnley. That is one of the reasons why Mary was accused to be involved in the murder and was forced to abdicate on behalf of her son. The tension between Mary’s supporters and enemies rose. On May 2 1568, after Mary had been captured for about one year at Lochleven Castle, she could escape and joined forces with the Hamilton family in the West. She decided to appeal to [[Elizabeth I]], her cousin, and to flee to England.
+Since Elizabeth was childless, she considered Mary, being the closest Catholic claimant to the English throne, as danger to her own power. Elizabeth kept Mary as a prisoner although at this time the claim that Mary was one of the murderers of Darnley met some counter evidence. There could also be some evidence in the so-called Casket Letters, letters supposedly written by Mary and Bothwell, but it is unclear whether they really existed and if so, what was written in them because the originals are not existant and only some translated copies exist today.
+After many Catholic plots, in which she was implicated, Mary was finally accused of conspiring against Elizabeth and found guilty after the abortive [[Babington Plot]] of 1586. She was last kept at Fotheringhay Castle, where she was also executed in 1587. A grisly affair, if the sources and anecdotes are to be believed: the executioner was not able to cut her head off at the first blow, so he had to try it with a second, and a third one. When he wanted to show the head to the audience he was only carrying Mary’s wig, her head with grey hair still lying on the ground.
+== Sources ==
+* Cannon, John Ashton. ''The Oxford Companion to British History''. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1997.
+* MacKay, James. ''In My End is My Beginning - A Life of Mary Queen of Scots''. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publ., 2000.
+* http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/scots_mary_queen_of.shtml
+* Wormald, Jenny. ''Mary, Queen of Scots. Politics, Passion and a Kingdom Lost''. London and New York: Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2001.