In the mid-fifteen hundreds, fascination with Mary Queen of Scots was similar to the recent media fascination with Princess Diana of Wales. Not unlike Lady Di, Mary's life was filled with scandal.
Her father died when she was six days old, making her Queen of Scotland. When she was around six years old, her mother sent her to be raised at the court of the French king, Henri II. There she received an education befitting that of a future ruling Queen.
While in France, Mary lived in luxury traveling from one palace to another. She developed a love of animals - especially dogs - and spent much of time learning. She could speak French, Latin, Spanish and some Ancient Greek. Mary could also play the lute with some skill.
On 24 April, 1558, she married the dauphin Francis and, on the death of Henri II, 10 July, 1559, became Queen Consort of France. Sadly, Francis died two years into the marriage. Mary and Francis had been childhood friends and even though Mary towered over Francis in height and even intellect, she was much devoted to him and was devastated by the death. Even worse, his death left her at the mercy of her mother-in-law from hell, Catherine de Medici.
Soon Mary felt a need to return to the land of her birth and probably a need to put many many miles between her and Catherine. Mary knew that her homeland was brewing with civil and religious discord, but she was determined to face it head on and hopefully bring some sort of peace to the land by declaring that each of her Scottish subjects would be free to worship God as they saw fit.
At age 18, Mary had grown into a beautiful woman. She was 5'11" with flowing red hair, fair skin and golden eyes. Her charm and beauty won over many of her lords and even the commoners.
John Knox, founder of the Scottish Presbyterian Church was a bit more resistant to her charms and under pressure she did consent to certain laws against Catholics. However she refused to abandon the Mass in her own chapel or to approve compulsory attendance at Protestant services.
Mary knew that as queen she must provide an heir to the Scottish throne. One would think that as queen and a beautiful one at that, she'd have no trouble finding a husband. No, being queen made it all the more difficult. The prospect had to be of a certain royal rank, of a certain nation and hopefully have money, lots of money. Ideally, they would have at least some aesthetic appeal.
There was talk of Mary marrying the Archduke Charles, Charles IX of France, the Duke of Guise or Don Carlos, the son of Philip II and even of a Protestant suitor, Leicaster or Eric of Sweden.
Mary tried to arrange a match that would have the approval of Elizabeth since Mary was trying to remain in good graces with Elizabeth so she would name Mary as her heir. It soon became apparent that Elizabeth would oppose most any match.
Therefore, Mary herself chose her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, son of the fourth Earl of Lennox. Darnley was also a contender for the English throne and a Catholic. Mary was very much taken by his fine figure and if you've ever seen pictures of any of the aforementioned suitors, you'd see why Mary chose Darnley.
Looks he may have had, but he was sorely lacking in the personality and brains department. He's been described as, sulky, petulant, a bully, insanely jealous, overbearing, arrogant and syphilitic to boot. On the upside, he was taller than Mary.
When Mary 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 French secretary, David Riccio, into another room and stabbed him to death.
They claimed Riccio had undue influence over her foreign policy but, in reality, they probably meant to cause Mary, from watching this horrific crime, to suffer a miscarriage, losing her child and her own life as well since one usually meant the other in the 16th century. Mary certainly believed that Darnley, angry because she had denied him the crown matrimonial, wanted to kill her and the child, and becoming King of Scots.
But it is unlikely that, had he been successful, Darnley would have lived much longer himself.
Three months later the future James VI of Scotland was born. Still young and healthy after the birth, Mary now had an heir. This was the highlight of her reign, her greatest and happiest moment. In December 1566 James was baptized in the Chapel Royal of Stirling Castle.
Mary, once the fragile last hope of the Stewart dynasty, was just 23 years old and had fulfilled one of a monarch's greatest duties - providing a healthy son and heir. Elizabeth of England, ten years older, watched these events with interest because, even then, she knew her own future would be - by choice - unmarried and childless.
She could well imagine that Mary's son would be her heir as well.
James's birth provided only a temporary calm. By the end of 1566 Mary had befriended James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, and was seeking a way to dissolve her marriage with Darnley. Various schemes were concocted; it seems unlikely, however, that Mary was aware of the actual plot to eliminate her husband. On 10th February 1567 Darnley was murdered at Kirk o' Field where he was recovering from the "pox", AKA syphilis.
The circumstances of his death to this day remain a mystery. What is know is that someone or ones loaded his basement with some sort of explosives, blew up the house and blew Darnley and his aid out into the yard. Now this is where it gets good: Darnley wasn't killed by the explosion, he was strangled to death.
Apparently the assassin/assassins botched the job with the explosives and hoped no one would notice the hand prints around Darnley's neck. The hand prints didn't go unnoticed, but no one really cared all that much about the cause of death.
Only that the prissy simpleton was out of the way. At the time, Bothwell was believed to be the chief instigator. Nevertheless he was acquitted after an all too brief trial. In April, Mary went off with Bothwell, some say she went willingly, some say she was abducted. In May he obtained a divorce from his wife, and on 15th May 1567 he and Mary were wed according to the Protestant rite.
This third marriage of Mary's alienated even some of Mary's closest supporters, namely the Catholic ones. The nobles, many of whom disliked Bothwell, banded together to face Mary and her new husband at Carberry. Mary was forced or persuaded under promise of Bothwell's safe conduct to surrender herself to the Lords, while he retreated to Dunbar and eventually to Scandinavia, where he was arrested and held prisoner until his death.
Mary was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle and later in Lochleven Castle. There she was forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son . The Earl of Moray, a strong Protestant, and Mary's once beloved and later discredited half-brother, was made Regent for James VI. When Mary escaped from Loch Leven Castle the Earl gathered an army together to go after her. Many nobles swore their allegiance to Mary and met with Moray in battle just outside of Glasgow. The battle lasted less than an hour and was won decisively by Moray.
Mary now feared that she would fall into the hands of her enemy and against the advice of the nobles who had supported her she escaped to England and to what she thought would be the protection of one queen for another.
Mary was put under house arrest for the remaining 19 years of her life. Elizabeth felt it would be better to keep her a prisoner than to let her return to Scotland where more plots could be hatched and where her presence could provoke a civil war. As it has been held throughout history, Elizabeth also felt it best to 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer.'
During her 19 years of 'house arrest' Mary continued to hope that somehow she'd be installed as Queen of England. She did have supporters among the Catholics in England and at any given time there were plots and subplots to rescue Mary and/or assassinate Elizabeth. In 1586, Anthony Babington, a one time page of Mary's devised a plot to kill Elizabeth, rescue Mary and then see her as the next queen of England. Babington wrote in code to Mary to explain what he was doing. Mary wrote back, stating that she agreed with what he was doing. Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's secretary of state intercepted both letters. Babington was arrested and charged with treason.
In September 1586, Babington was executed. Now the government had a case against Mary. She was put on trial in October 1586.
After a two day trial Mary was found guilty of plotting to kill Elizabeth. She was sentenced to death. In February 1587, Mary was given just 24 hours notice that she would be executed the next day.
Mary's execution was a curious affair. She dressed in scarlet, the color of martyrdom. She had to be helped onto the scaffold as she was so frail. She spoke her last words in Latin and then putting her head onto the block said "Into your hands, O Lord" three times, again in Latin. It took two goes with the axe to remove her head. When the executioner lifted up her head, he found that he had a wig in his hand and the actual head was still on the scaffold. No one had known that she had lost her hair. Then her body moved. Underneath her skirt, a small dog, a Skye terrier, was seen. Mary had brought her dog, Geddon, to her own execution. It has been said that the little dog had to be coaxed from under Mary's dress, and when finally he came out he placed himself between Mary's shoulders and severed head. The loyal pet died only a few days after his mistress.
