In 1561, Mary returned to Scotland, attempting to reassert her power there. He was jealous of her friendship with her Catholic private secretary, David Rizzio, who was rumoured to be the father of her child. [51] Mary's claim to the English throne was a perennial sticking point between herself and Elizabeth. Her Marys returned with her as ladies-in-waiting. [106] The former rebels Lords Moray, Argyll and Glencairn were restored to the council. [114], At Craigmillar Castle, near Edinburgh, at the end of November 1566, Mary and leading nobles held a meeting to discuss the "problem of Darnley". This time, the victim was Darnley himself. For the list of documents see, for example. [142], On 2 May 1568, Mary escaped from Loch Leven Castle with the aid of George Douglas, brother of Sir William Douglas, the castle's owner. [11] Rumours spread that she was weak and frail,[12] but an English diplomat, Ralph Sadler, saw the infant at Linlithgow Palace in March 1543, unwrapped by her nurse Jean Sinclair, and wrote, "it is as goodly a child as I have seen of her age, and as like to live. Mary Queen of Scots picks up in 1561 with the eponymous queens return to her native country. Bothwells 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. Coronation of Mary, Queen of Scots in Stirling Castle . [188] She was occasionally allowed outside under strict supervision,[189] spent seven summers at the spa town of Buxton, and spent much of her time doing embroidery. [220], At Fotheringhay, on the evening of 7 February 1587, Mary was told she was to be executed the next morning. [66] The Protestant reformer John Knox preached against Mary, condemning her for hearing Mass, dancing, and dressing too elaborately. [154] As evidence against Mary, Moray presented the so-called casket letters[155]eight unsigned letters purportedly from Mary to Bothwell, two marriage contracts, and a love sonnet or sonnets. One of the most shocking scenes in the upcoming Mary Queen of Scots movie comes when Mary Stuart, played by Saoirse Ronan, walks in on her husband Henry . The Husbands of Mary Queen of Scots - English History [Marys] failures are dictated more by her situation than by her as a ruler, she says, and I think if she had been a man, she would've been able to be much more successful and would never have lost the throne.. On 1 July 1543, when Mary was six months old, the Treaty of Greenwich was signed, which promised that, at the age of ten, Mary would marry Edward and move to England, where Henry could oversee her upbringing. Mary Queen of Scots, 1543 - 1567, d. 1587. [149] In mid-July 1568, English authorities moved Mary to Bolton Castle, because it was farther from the Scottish border but not too close to London. [197] Plots centred on Mary continued. On 15 May, at either Holyrood Palace or Holyrood Abbey, they were married according to Protestant rites. He was ultimately found with Henry VII. They were Mary Fleming, Mary Seton, Mary Beaton and Mary Livingstone. It was reached by two or three steps, and furnished with the block, a cushion for her to kneel on, and three stools for her and the earls of Shrewsbury and Kent, who were there to witness the execution. [160], The authenticity of the casket letters has been the source of much controversy among historians. "[117] Darnley feared for his safety, and after the baptism of his son at Stirling and shortly before Christmas, he went to Glasgow to stay on his father's estates. 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. Terms of Use Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley - Wikipedia Advertising Notice [34] Janet, Lady Fleming, who was Mary Fleming's mother and James V's half-sister, was appointed governess. The nobles demanded that Mary abandon Bothwell, whom they had earlier ordered her to wed. She refused and reminded them of their earlier order. 24 Apr 1558. Robbie provides the foil to Ronans Mary, donning a prosthetic nose and clown-like layers of white makeup to resemble a smallpox-scarred Elizabeth. [90] Although her advisors had brought the couple together, Elizabeth felt threatened by the marriage because as descendants of her aunt, both Mary and Darnley were claimants to the English throne. She reacted with fury and fear. [119], In late January 1567, Mary prompted her husband to return to Edinburgh. [67] She summoned him to her presence to remonstrate with him but was unsuccessful. Mary had one ally leftor so she thought. Days after this final meeting, Mary fled Scotland to seek refuge in England, hoping for the protection of Elizabeth I of England. [126] Elizabeth wrote to Mary of the rumours: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, I should ill fulfil the office of a faithful cousin or an affectionate friend if I did not tell you what all the world is thinking. Explore the story of Mary's three husbands. [140] Moray was made regent,[141] while Bothwell was driven into exile. A Protestant husband for Mary seemed the best chance for stability. [207] From these letters it was clear that Mary had sanctioned the attempted assassination of Elizabeth. The sensational life of Mary Stuart is on the . [122] In the early hours of the morning, an explosion devastated Kirk o' Field. But Darnleys decision to help Mary escape infuriated them. Catholics considered the marriage unlawful, since they did not recognise Bothwell's divorce or the validity of the Protestant service. Within two months of the wedding, she became pregnant with future King James I. During her childhood, Scotland was governed by regents, first by the heir to the throne, James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, and then by her mother, Mary of Guise. [76], Mary then turned her attention to finding a new husband from the royalty of Europe. [217] On 1 February 1587, Elizabeth signed the death warrant, and entrusted it to William Davison, a privy councillor. [62] Mary returned to Scotland nine months later, arriving in Leith on 19 August 1561. Mary, Queen of Scots is born, daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise . Mary I | Biography & Facts | Britannica Two days later, he forced his way into her chamber as she was about to disrobe. In the eyes of the Catholic Church, Elizabeth was the illegitimate product of an unlawful marriage, while Mary, the paternal granddaughter of Henry VIIIs older sister Margaret, was the rightful English heir. [166] Guy points out that the letters are disjointed and that the French language and grammar employed in the sonnets are too poor for a writer with Mary's education[167] but certain phrases in the letters, including verses in the style of Ronsard, and some characteristics of style are compatible with known writings by Mary. Following an uprising against the couple, Mary was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle. Rejoice don't weep These words of comfort were spoken by Mary to one of her servants as she faced execution. Who were the husbands of Mary Queen of Scots? - History Scotland As a great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England, Mary had once claimed Elizabeth's throne as her own and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics, including participants in a rebellion known as the Rising of the North. Barely a month after the marriage, rebel nobles and their forces met Marys troops at Carberry Hill, 8 miles south-east of Edinburgh. He ignored the edict. Her recovery from 25 October onwards was credited to the skill of her French physicians. [137] The following night, she was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle on an island in the middle of Loch Leven. Mary married a total of three times. December 14 2018 5:26 PM EST. Despite these concerns, Elizabeth certainly considered the possibility of naming Mary her heir. Chastelard was tried for treason and beheaded. How Mary dealt with this incident sealed her fate. Her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I held her. The denouement of Mary and Elizabeths decades-long power struggle is easily recalled by even the most casual of observers: On February 8, 1587, the deposed Scottish queen knelt at an execution block, uttered a string of final prayers, and stretched out her arms to assent to the fall of the headsmans axe. Unlike her Scottish counterpart, whose position as the only legitimate child of James V cemented her royal status, Elizabeth followed a protracted path to the throne. Visitors can still see the small room where this monarch was born. For nineteen years she was kept under lock and key until she was finally executed in 1587 for conspiring against Elizabeth. [105] On the night of 1112 March, Darnley and Mary escaped from the palace. From the beginning of her reign, Elizabeth was keenly aware of her tenuous hold on the crown. This is a painting of Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587), and her second husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1545/46-1567). [32], With her marriage agreement in place, five-year-old Mary was sent to France to spend the next thirteen years at the French court. Now, they were angry that Bothwell would be all-powerful and they decided to wage war against him. 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. [235], Mary's request to be buried in France was refused by Elizabeth. [133], Originally, Mary believed that many nobles supported her marriage, but relations quickly soured between the newly elevated Bothwell (created Duke of Orkney) and his former peers and the marriage proved to be deeply unpopular. Telling the queen that he had kidnapped her for her own safety, Mary was either raped by Bothwell or agreed to consummate her relationship with him (accounts vary) and on 15 May the pair were married at Holyrood Palace. Mary, once the fragile last hope of the Stuart dynasty, was just 23 years old and had fulfilled one of a monarchs greatest duties providing a healthy son and heir. Instead, Elizabeth placed Maryan anointed monarch over whom she had no real jurisdictionunder de facto house arrest, consigning her to 18 years of imprisonment under what can only be described as legally grey circumstances. But the nobles were still not to be trusted. She was said to have been born prematurely and was the only legitimate child of James to survive him. Widowed following the unexpected death of her first husband, France's Francis II, she left. When Mary left for Scotland, she travelled with the children of Scotland's nobility, including the 'Four Maries,' the women who would stay with her throughout her later imprisonment and execution. Mary's life and subsequent execution established her in popular culture as a romanticised historical character. As she settled into her new rolealthough crowned queen of Scotland in infancy, she spent much of her early reign in France, leaving first her mother, Mary of Guise, and then her half-brother James, Earl of Moray, to act as regent on her behalfshe sought to strengthen relations with her southern neighbor, Elizabeth. [150] Mary's clothes, sent from Loch Leven Castle, arrived on 20 July. 3 In May 1567 they wed at Holyrood and Mary wrote to the foreign courts that it was the right decision for her country. Sketch of Mary, queen of Scots, age 12 or 13, by Clouet. 'Deciphering Mary Stuarts lost letters from 1578-1584', "Stewart, Henry, duke of Albany [Lord Darnley] (1545/61567)", "Deciphering Mary Stuart's Lost Letters to Michel de Castelnau Mauvissire", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary,_Queen_of_Scots&oldid=1152038397, People executed by Tudor England by decapitation, People executed under the Tudors for treason against England, Heads of government who were later imprisoned, Kingdom of Scotland expatriates in France, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using Sister project links with wikidata namespace mismatch, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 27 April 2023, at 19:51. James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell was a Scottish nobleman who was accused of Darnleys murder, although he was later acquitted. She announced that she was ready to stay in England, to renounce the Pope's bull of excommunication, and to retire, abandoning her pretensions to the English Crown. Mary and Bothwell confronted the lords at Carberry Hill on 15 June, but there was no battle, as Mary's forces dwindled away through desertion during negotiations. [47][48], In November 1558, Henry VIII's elder daughter, Mary I of England, was succeeded by her only surviving sibling, Elizabeth I. She had been queen for all but the first six days of her life, John Guy writes in Queen of Scots, [but] apart from a few short but intoxicating weeks in the following year, the rest of her life would be spent in captivity.. [145] She landed at Workington in Cumberland in the north of England and stayed overnight at Workington Hall. Elizabeth refused to name a potential heir, fearing that would invite conspiracy to displace her with the nominated successor. [218] On 3 February,[219] ten members of the Privy Council of England, having been summoned by Cecil without Elizabeth's knowledge, decided to carry out the sentence at once. Mary Queen of Scots: Directed by Josie Rourke. [68], To the surprise and dismay of the Catholic party, Mary tolerated the newly established Protestant ascendancy,[69] and kept her half-brother Moray as her chief advisor. This legendary statement came true much later not through Mary, but through her great-great-granddaughter Anne, Queen of Great Britain. The arrests caused anger in Scotland, and Arran joined Beaton and became a Catholic. But by February 1567, tensions had thawed enough for Mary to name Elizabeth protector of her infant son, the future James VI of Scotland and I of England. (Francis younger brother, Charles IX, became king of France at just 10 years old with his mother, Catherine de Medici, acting as regent. Mary's numbers were boosted by the release and restoration to favour of Lord Huntly's son and the return of James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, from exile in France. Mary, Queen of Scots, may have been the monarch who got her head chopped off, but she eventually proved triumphant in a roundabout way: After Elizabeth died childless in 1603, it was Marys son, James VI of Scotland and I of England, who ascended to the throne as the first to rule a united British kingdom. [174] Elizabeth, as she had wished, concluded the inquiry with a verdict that nothing was proven against either the confederate lords or Mary. [248] There is no concrete proof of her complicity in Darnley's murder or of a conspiracy with Bothwell. [146] On 18 May, local officials took her into protective custody at Carlisle Castle. The French fleet sent by Henry II, commanded by Nicolas de Villegagnon, sailed with Mary from Dumbarton on 7 August 1548 and arrived a week or more later at Roscoff or Saint-Pol-de-Lon in Brittany.[33]. "[224] Her servants, Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle, and the executioners helped Mary remove her outer garments, revealing a velvet petticoat and a pair of sleeves in crimson brown, the liturgical colour of martyrdom in the Catholic Church,[225] with a black satin bodice and black trimmings. [36] At the French court, she was a favourite with everyone, except Henry II's wife Catherine de' Medici. Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1546 - 10 February 1567), was an English nobleman who was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the father of James VI of Scotland and I of England. [215] Nevertheless, Elizabeth hesitated to order her execution, even in the face of pressure from the English Parliament to carry out the sentence. [25] The rejection of the marriage treaty and the renewal of the alliance between France and Scotland prompted Henry's "Rough Wooing", a military campaign designed to impose the marriage of Mary to his son. [115] Divorce was discussed, but a bond was probably sworn between the lords present to remove Darnley by other means:[116] "It was thought expedient and most profitable for the common wealth that such a young fool and proud tyrant should not reign or bear rule over them; that he should be put off by one way or another; and whosoever should take the deed in hand or do it, they should defend. Mary Queen of Scots First Husband: King Francis II of France [202], In February 1585, William Parry was convicted of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth, without Mary's knowledge, although her agent Thomas Morgan was implicated. Mary, Queen of Scots: what happened to her ladies-in-waiting? Mary's guardians, fearful for her safety, sent her to Inchmahome Priory for no more than three weeks, and turned to the French for help. [43], Mary was eloquent, and especially tall by 16th-century standards (she attained an adult height of 5 feet 11 inches or 1.80 m);[44] while Henry II's son and heir, Francis, stuttered and was unusually short. Link will appear as Hanson, Marilee. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, was generally believed to have orchestrated Darnley's death, but he was acquitted of the charge in April 1567, and the following month, he married Mary. [124][125] Bothwell, Moray, Secretary Maitland, the Earl of Morton and Mary herself were among those who came under suspicion. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, she fled southward seeking the protection of her first cousin once removed, Elizabeth I of England. Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart, was born into conflict. [193] Early the following year, Moray was assassinated. Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart, Catholic Queen, Protestant Patriarchy: Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Politics of Gender and Religion, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamondand Why the British Won't Give It Back. Mary was born on 8 December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, to King James V and his French second wife, Mary of Guise. [127], By the end of February, Bothwell was generally believed to be guilty of Darnley's assassination. Then, news of another killing broke. Beaton's claim was based on a version of the king's will that his opponents dismissed as a forgery. Under the Third Succession Act, passed in 1543 by the Parliament of England, Elizabeth was recognised as her sister's heir, and Henry VIII's last will and testament had excluded the Stuarts from succeeding to the English throne. [95], Mary's marriage to a leading Catholic precipitated Mary's half-brother, the Earl of Moray, to join with other Protestant lords, including Lords Argyll and Glencairn, in open rebellion. [171] At least some of Mary's contemporaries who saw the letters had no doubt that they were genuine. France recognised Elizabeth's right to rule England, but the seventeen-year-old Mary, still in France and grieving for her mother, refused to ratify the treaty. . Despite being married three times, there are relatively few portraits of Mary with her husbands. [29], King Henry II of France proposed to unite France and Scotland by marrying the young queen to his three-year-old son, the Dauphin Francis. The versions of Mary and Elizabeth created by Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie may reinforce some of the popular misconceptions surrounding the twin queensincluding the oversimplified notion that they either hated or loved each other, and followed a direct path from friendship to arch rivalrybut they promise to present a thoroughly contemporary twist on an all-too-familiar tale of women bombarded by men who believe they know better. Above: Replica of the tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots. There was never any intention to proceed judicially; the conference was intended as a political exercise. She assumed the throne as queen of Scotland when she was just six days old, upon the death of her father. Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart[3] or Mary I of Scotland,[4] was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. She became queen at 6 days old. [61] Her mother-in-law, Catherine de' Medici, became regent for the late king's ten-year-old brother Charles IX, who inherited the French throne. [151] A commission of inquiry, or conference, as it was known, was held in York and later Westminster between October 1568 and January 1569. English forces mounted a series of raids on Scottish and French territory. Who were the husbands of Mary Queen of Scots? This decision proved to be disastrous, since Mary was soon a prisoner of the queen and would spend the next nineteen years as Elizabeths prisoner, before she was executed for plotting against the queen on 8 February 1587 at Fotheringay Castle. [132] Bothwell and his first wife, Jean Gordon, who was the sister of Lord Huntly, had divorced twelve days previously. The prime suspect was the man who was to become Mary's third husband: James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. He was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was the father of James VI of Scotland, who succeeded Elizabeth I of England as James I. Jenn Scott of the Stewart Society tells the story . Afterwards, he held her head aloft and declared "God save the Queen." And just six months later, her young husband also died of an ear infection on December 5th 1560. At the height of her power, she juggled proposals from foreign rulers and subjects alike, always prevaricating rather than revealing the true nature of her intentions. [59], King Francis II died on 5 December 1560 of a middle ear infection that led to an abscess in his brain. [238] Her body was exhumed in 1612 when her son, King James VI and I, ordered that she be reinterred in Westminster Abbey in a chapel opposite the tomb of Elizabeth. Elizabeth had succeeded in maintaining a Protestant government in Scotland, without either condemning or releasing her fellow sovereign. Mary's illegitimate half-brother, the Earl of Moray, was a leader of the Protestants. Only four of the councillors were Catholic: the Earls of Atholl, Erroll, Montrose, and Huntly, who was Lord Chancellor. Her height emphasized Marys seemingly innate queenship: Enthroned as Scotlands ruler at just six days old, she spent her formative years at the French court, where she was raised alongside future husband Francis II. Published on December 6, 2018 11:00 AM. [64], As a devout Catholic, she was regarded with suspicion by many of her subjects, as well as by the Queen of England. [184] She needed 30 carts to transport her belongings from house to house. Darnley's parents, the Earl and Countess of Lennox, were Scottish aristocrats as well as English landowners. [108] In October 1566, while staying at Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders, Mary made a journey on horseback of at least four hours each way to visit the Earl of Bothwell at Hermitage Castle, where he lay ill from wounds sustained in a skirmish with border reivers. Mary's husband, Francis II, ruled in France for only a little over a year, dying in December 1560. Mary, unwilling to cause further bloodshed and understandably terrified, followed his suggestions. She was thought to be dying. Bothwell fled to Denmark, where he died in captivity 11 years later. The diabolical death of Henry, Lord Darnley It's 450 years on 10 February 2017 that the second husband of Mary Queen of Scots, Henry, Lord Darnley, was murdered smack-bang (literally) in the middle of Edinburgh.
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