James V became seriously ill around the time of his daughter’s birth. He appears to have succumbed to either cholera or dysentery, contracted during a campaign against his uncle, Henry VIII. This culminated in the heavy defeat of the Scots at Solway Moss. James died on December 14, 1542, leaving the throne to Mary, who was only six days old.
She was born in a bitterly cold winter. The snow was falling so deep that it took the news of her birth four days to reach Alnwick Castle in Northumberland. The English may have seized this opportunity to further their advantage, but John Dudley, Henry VIII’s commander in northern England, advised patience, writing, “I thought it should not be for your majesty’s honor to make war or conquer a dead or a widow or a young man breast-feeding his daughter.” Soon, the English will be less accepting.
Queen of Scotland and Queen of France
Mary was crowned on September 9, 1543. She lived at Stirling Castle until she was five, and was protected by her intelligent and determined mother. Although Henry VIII proposed marriage between Mary and his son, the future Edward VI, the Scots were elated. Tudor ambitions for control of Scotland led to the English capture of Edinburgh in 1544, but the violence was unsuccessful. Henry VIII died in 1547 and the following year the Scots sent Mary to safety in France, to the court of Henry II and his wife Catherine de Medici.
Marie remained in France until the summer of 1561. She was raised in lavish surroundings, well educated and admired for her charm and character. But it was a pawn in the hands of the French king, who hoped to use Mary’s claim to the English throne as a means to consolidate his power in Western Europe. In 1558, the year of Elizabeth’s ascension, Mary married Francis, son of Henry II and heir to the French throne. Marie, bejeweled and in an all-white dress, excels at her tender husband. The Venetian ambassador reported that “these weddings were rightly considered the most royal and victorious of any that had been seen in this kingdom for many years.” This was in sharp contrast to the coronation of Elizabeth I in January 1559, who was wearing her sister Mary’s hastily altered gown.
The victory was short-lived. Henry II was killed in a jousting accident in 1559 and another tragedy ensued, with Mary’s mother and husband dying in 1560. Marie no longer had a role in France. Meanwhile, Scotland was riven by religious rebellion. A group of Protestant nobles led by Mary’s half-brother – James Stewart, Earl of Murray – rose up against French domination. For the rest of her life, Mary’s fate would be influenced by two main factors: her place in the English succession and the challenges she faced in Scotland.
Two queens on one island, 1561-1565
The opinion that Mary knows nothing of Scotland and speaks only French is erroneous. However, she has returned to an unfamiliar country. The majority of the Scottish population was still Catholic and well disposed towards a young, energetic and elegant queen. The Scottish lords were more skeptical. Much has been said of the rivalry between Elizabeth and Mary, but in Scotland Mary had to contend with her half-brother, the Earl of Murray, who resented his sister.
During the years she ruled Scotland, Mary faced the rebels and called for Parliament five times. She made a balanced selection of advisors on her private board and regularly attended its meetings. Mary wanted to be a successful ruler in her motherland. But she also wanted Elizabeth to learn about her claim to the English throne. The queens exchanged photos and expressed affection for each other that perhaps no one would have felt. Both were under pressure from their advisors to marry and produce heirs. Elizabeth was embarrassed by the mysterious death of Amy Robsart, her favorite wife – Robert Dudley, future Earl of Leicester – in 1560. Now she proposed him as husband to Mary, an idea which the Scottish Queen found insulting. Then Mary made a decision which she hoped would give her an irreplaceable advantage: she would marry her cousin, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley.
Did Mary Queen of Scots kill Lord Darnley?
Mary was criticized for choosing Darnley but there was a lot to recommend him, especially in terms of dynamism. His parents were Margaret Dougla – daughter of Margaret Tudor from her second marriage – and Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox. This origin gave Darnley the right to claim the thrones of both England and Scotland. Their union would strengthen Mary’s position as a presumptive successor to Elizabeth. 19-year-old Darnley was tall, athletic and handsome, with refined manners. He was also a Catholic. Mary and Darnley married on July 29, 1565. What could possibly go wrong?
Unfortunately, just about everything. Darnley was a spoiled brat with a wicked heart, due to the depth of the volatile nature of Scottish politics. The marriage had permanently ruptured Mary and Murray’s relationship while alienating the other Scottish nobles. Darnley was also an accomplice in the brutal murder of Mary’s unpopular secretary, David Riccio (sometimes Rizzio), on March 9, 1566—and stood by as his wife, who was six months pregnant, was threatened with a gun.
Despite the birth of a son in 1566, Mary’s marriage was irreparable and divorce was debated. A more dramatic solution ensued. Darnley was killed on the night of February 9-10, 1567, apparently as a result of an explosion in the house as he was recovering from illness. The real cause of his death was even more sinister. He’s already been strangled.
To what extent, if anything, Mary knew in advance of a plot involving the Earl of Morton and Bothwell to eliminate Darnley remains unclear. Given her reaction (a complete mental and physical breakdown), it seems unlikely that she expected Darnley to be killed.
Marie’s third marriage and fall, 1567-1568
Darnley’s death damaged Mary’s ability to rule, as well as put a stigma on her reputation. A dangerous power vacuum arose in Scotland and a man saw a way to take advantage of it. James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, was a Protestant master with a history of serving the Scottish Crown. He was also ambitious, a ladies’ man, and a violent feud. After his controversial acquittal of responsibility for Darnley’s murder, he then decided to take the step. Gathering the chief Scottish lords together, he persuaded them to sign a pledge supporting his marriage to Mary, if she had to choose him. He claimed that this would bring unity and peace to Scotland.
Bothwell’s confidence was misplaced. Mary rejected him. Romance novels and Hollywood movies have portrayed Mary as a madly in love with Bothwell. The evidence does not support this interpretation. Desperately trying not to lose momentum, Bothwell kidnapped Mary while returning from visiting her son in Stirling. He took her to his fort in Dunbar and forced her to have sex with him. Terrified and lonely, Mary reluctantly agrees to marry him. But so far the Scottish lords had turned against Bothwell, and he was going to take Mary with him. Their forces were defeated at Carbery Hill in June 1567. Bothwell escaped and died madly in a Danish prison in 1578. Mary suffered abuse and imprisonment at Locklevin Island Castle. There, she miscarried twins and recovered only with difficulty when on July 24, 1567 she signed a document abdicating the throne for her son. She had threatened to kill if she did not agree.
During the following year, Mary regrouped and escaped captivity. But she could not regain her throne. Her partisans were defeated at the Battle of Langeside in 1568, and Mary, unable to face further imprisonment – or worse – decided to flee to England, where she believed Elizabeth would provide her refuge and support.
Elizabeth and Mary, 1568-1587
The arrival of Mary Elizabeth and her advisors put them in a quandary. There was sympathy from the English queen, but the restoration of Mary would be fraught with military and political obstacles. Darnley’s murder has discredited Mary, unless her innocence is proven. Her first trial was inconclusive, despite the revelations of the “casket letters,” a series of forgeries that appeared to show an adulterous relationship with Bothwell.
Mary lived under house arrest for the rest of her life, in a series of castles in northern and central England. She and Elizabeth have never met. Over the years, Marie became the focus of her cousin’s resentment. European politics also began to affect its fate. Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570, freeing her subjects from obedience to her, and thus condoning assassination attempts. In Scotland, the civil war between supporters of Mary and supporters of her young son continued.
Desperate for his release or any return to power, Mary is drawn into more plots against Elizabeth. But she was no match for Elizabeth’s top advisers, William Cecil and Francis Walsingham. They carefully watched the crystallization of Mary’s last plot. The 1586 Babington Plot revealed that Mary had supported the Spanish conquest and Elizabeth’s death to become Queen of England. At her trial for treason, Mary defended herself eloquently but to no avail. After her conviction in October 1586, Parliament petitioned for her execution on November 12 and 24, 1586.
Why Elizabeth signed the death warrant of the Queen of Scots Mary?
Elizabeth hesitated for several months. She did not sign Mary’s death warrant until February 1. Realizing that his king had regretted it almost immediately, Cecil hastened to deliver the note to Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire, where Mary lived. She calmly responded to the news of her execution the next morning, February 8. 1587. During the last night, she wrote to her brother-in-law, Henry III of France, regretting the mistake she had made when she came to England and criticizing Elizabeth’s treatment of her.
Mary was 44 years old when she died. Although her execution removed an immediate danger, it did not settle the world of England. Religious opposition, economic problems, and rebellion marred the last years of Elizabeth’s rule. In 1603, James VI of Scotland was crowned James I of England, fulfilling his mother’s ambitions by uniting the crowns of England and Scotland.
Given the frequent line that history is written by the victors, who “won” this long-running and ultimately fatal rivalry between the two queens? The quick reply would be that, of course, Elizabeth was the Gloriana of English history and the last of the Tudor family. Taking a longer look, being last isn’t necessarily very glorious. For Mary, Queen of Scots, is often depicted as a governess in love with appalling judgments, out of her depth in the fierce undercurrents of Scottish politics, who ultimately triumphed.
Dr. Linda Porter is the author of the book Mary Tudor: The First Queen, published by Piatkus. She has written five books about the Tudor and Stewart family and can be found on Twitter @DrLindaPorter1
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