Mary, Queen of Scots
On the 8th of December 1542, a baby girl was born at Linlithgow Palace in West Lothian. Her father, King James V, died six days later on the 14th of December. Mary became Queen of Scotland while she was still an infant. The country needed regents to rule until she grew up. James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, served as the first regent from the start of her reign. He held power until 1554 when Mary's mother took over. Mary of Guise managed the government for the next few years.
Henry VIII of England tried to force a marriage between his son Edward and the young queen. The Treaty of Greenwich signed on the 1st of July 1543 promised that Mary would marry Edward when she turned ten. English forces raided Scottish territory during the Rough Wooing campaign. They burned Edinburgh in May 1544 and seized Haddington by June. Mary moved frequently for safety. She stayed at Inchmahome Priory for three weeks before going to Dumbarton Castle.
The French fleet arrived at Leith in June 1548 to help besiege Haddington. A Scottish Parliament agreed to the French marriage treaty on the 7th of July 1548. Five-year-old Mary sailed with Nicolas de Villegagnon from Dumbarton on the 7th of August 1548. Her court included four girls named Mary who were her age. Janet Lady Fleming acted as her governess.
Mary lived at the French court for thirteen years starting in 1548. She learned to play the lute and virginals while mastering French, Italian, Latin, Spanish, and Greek. Contemporary accounts described her as vivacious, beautiful, and clever. Henry II's wife Catherine de Medici disliked Mary from the beginning. The rivalry between the Guise family and Catherine grew intense after Henry died.
Francis became King of France when his father died on the 10th of July 1559. Mary was sixteen years old and Francis was fifteen. They married at Notre Dame de Paris on the 24th of April 1558. Francis died of a middle-ear infection leading to an abscess in his brain on the 5th of December 1560. Mary returned to Scotland nine months later arriving in Leith on the 19th of August 1561.
Her height reached five feet eleven inches which made her tall by sixteenth-century standards. Francis stuttered and was unusually short compared to her. Henry II noted that they got along well from their first meeting despite their age difference. Mary retained nostalgic memories of her future sister-in-law Elisabeth of Valois who became a close friend.
Mary arrived in Leith on the 19th of August 1561 to find Scotland torn between Catholic and Protestant factions. John Knox preached against her for hearing Mass and dressing elaborately. She summoned him to remonstrate but failed to silence him. The Protestant reformer charged her with treason yet he was acquitted and released. Mary tolerated the newly established Protestant ascendancy despite being a devout Catholic herself.
She kept her half-brother Moray as chief advisor on a privy council appointed on the 6th of September 1561. Four councillors were Catholic while twelve were Protestants including the Earls of Argyll, Glencairn, and Moray. Modern historian Jenny Wormald found this arrangement remarkable given her lack of military power. Mary joined Moray in destroying Lord Huntly after he led a rebellion in 1562.
William Maitland of Lethington served as ambassador to the English court to argue Mary's claim to the throne. Elizabeth refused to name a successor fearing conspiracy. Arrangements were made for the two queens to meet at York or Nottingham in August or September 1562. Henry Sidney cancelled the visit due to civil war in France.
Mary married Henry Stuart Lord Darnley at Holyrood Palace on the 29th of July 1565. Both were grandchildren of Margaret Tudor and descendants of the High Stewards of Scotland. Their marriage soured when Darnley demanded the Crown Matrimonial making him co-sovereign. He became jealous of David Rizzio who was Mary's Italian secretary and close friend.
On the 9th of March 1566 conspirators stabbed Rizzio to death before six-months-pregnant Mary at a dinner party in Holyrood Palace. Darnley switched sides over the next two days allowing Mary to receive Moray at Holyrood. They escaped to Dunbar Castle before returning to Edinburgh on the 18th of March. Mary gave birth to James on the 19th of June 1566 in Edinburgh Castle.
Darnley stayed ill in Glasgow after contracting a fever possibly from smallpox or syphilis. He recuperated in a house belonging to James Balfour's brother at Kirk o' Field. An explosion devastated the building in the early hours of the morning on the 10th of February 1567. Darnley was found dead in the garden apparently smothered with no visible marks of strangulation.
Mary visited her son at Stirling for the last time between the 21st and the 23rd of April 1567. She was abducted by Lord Bothwell and taken to Dunbar Castle where he may have raped her. On the 15th of May she married Bothwell according to Protestant rites. The marriage proved deeply unpopular as Catholics did not recognize his divorce or the service validity.
Twenty-six Scottish peers raised an army against the couple. Mary confronted them at Carberry Hill on the 15th of June but her forces dwindled through desertion. Crowds denounced her as an adulteress and murderer when she returned to Edinburgh. She was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle on an island in the middle of Loch Leven. Between the 20th and the 23rd of July she miscarried twins before being forced to abdicate on the 24th of July 1567.
Mary escaped from Lochleven Castle on the 2nd of May 1568 with George Douglas's aid. She raised an army of 6,000 men meeting Moray's forces at the Battle of Langside on the 13th of May. Defeated she fled south crossing the Solway Firth into England by fishing boat on the 16th of May. Local officials led by Richard Lowther took her into protective custody at Carlisle Castle.
Moray presented eight unsigned letters purportedly from Mary to Bothwell during the inquiry at York. These documents were found in a silver-gilt casket less than three inches long decorated with Francis II's monogram. Mary denied writing them arguing that her handwriting was easy to imitate. The authenticity remains impossible to prove today since originals possibly destroyed in 1584 by James VI.
Surviving copies exist in French or translated English but do not form a complete set. Incomplete printed transcriptions appeared in English Scots French and Latin from the 1570s. Historian Jenny Wormald believes the Scots reluctance to produce the letters proves they contained real evidence against Mary. Antonia Fraser suggests the lords required time to fabricate them entirely.
The Duke of Norfolk accepted the letters as genuine after studying their contents and comparing penmanship. Elizabeth concluded the inquiry with no finding of guilt against either party for political reasons. Moray returned to Scotland as regent while Mary remained in custody. The conference served as a political exercise rather than a judicial proceeding.
Mary was arrested on the 11th of August 1586 after being implicated in the Babington Plot. She was taken to Tixall Hall in Staffordshire before moving to Fotheringhay Castle ending on the 25th of September. A court of thirty-six noblemen including Cecil Shrewsbury, and Walsingham tried her for treason in October. Mary denied charges telling triers that the world's theatre is wider than England's kingdom.
She was convicted on the 25th of October and sentenced to death with only Lord Zouche dissenting. Elizabeth hesitated to order execution fearing consequences if James formed an alliance with Catholic powers. William Davison received the signed death warrant from Elizabeth on the 1st of February 1587. Ten Privy Council members decided to carry out the sentence without Elizabeth's knowledge on the 3rd of February.
The scaffold at Fotheringhay was draped in black cloth reached by two or three steps. Mary knelt on a cushion wearing crimson brown velvet sleeves representing martyrdom color. Her last words were In manus tuas Domine commendo spiritum meum. The first blow missed her neck striking the back of her head instead.
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Common questions
When was Mary Queen of Scots born and who became regent after her father died?
Mary Queen of Scots was born on the 8th of December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace. James Hamilton Earl of Arran served as the first regent from the start of her reign until 1554.
Where did Mary Queen of Scots live during her childhood in France and what languages did she learn there?
Mary Queen of Scots lived at the French court for thirteen years starting in 1548. She mastered French, Italian, Latin, Spanish, and Greek while learning to play the lute and virginals.
What happened to Henry Stuart Lord Darnley on the 10th of February 1567 and where was his body found?
An explosion devastated a house belonging to James Balfour's brother at Kirk o Field in the early hours of the morning on the 10th of February 1567. Darnley was found dead in the garden apparently smothered with no visible marks of strangulation.
Why did Mary Queen of Scots abdicate and when was she forced to leave Lochleven Castle?
Mary Queen of Scots was forced to abdicate on the 24th of July 1567 after being imprisoned in Lochleven Castle following a miscarriage of twins. She escaped from Lochleven Castle on the 2nd of May 1568 with George Douglas aid.
When was Mary Queen of Scots executed and who signed her death warrant on the 1st of February 1587?
Mary Queen of Scots was convicted on the 25th of October and sentenced to death with only Lord Zouche dissenting. William Davison received the signed death warrant from Elizabeth on the 1st of February 1587.