[15], King Henry VIII of England took the opportunity of the regency to propose marriage between Mary and his own son and heir, Edward, hoping for a union of Scotland and England. But the two never actually met in person, a fact some historians have drawn on in their critique of the upcoming film, which depicts Mary and Elizabeth conducting a clandestine conversation in a barn. | READ MORE. Moray refused, as Chastelard was already under restraint. [128] Lennox, Darnley's father, demanded that Bothwell be tried before the Estates of Parliament, to which Mary agreed, but Lennox's request for a delay to gather evidence was denied. The daughter of King Henry VIII and the Spanish princess Catherine . [206] In a successful attempt to entrap her, Walsingham had deliberately arranged for Mary's letters to be smuggled out of Chartley. [123] There were no visible marks of strangulation or violence on the body. She became queen at 6 days old. [106] The former rebels Lords Moray, Argyll and Glencairn were restored to the council. Mary was horrified and banished him from Scotland. Mary, aged 22, described her 19-year-old groom as the lustiest and best proportioned long man that she had seen but her infatuation was to be her downfall, and her initial happiness didnt last. To date, acting luminaries from Katharine Hepburn to Bette Davis, Cate Blanchett and Vanessa Redgrave have graced the silver screen with their interpretations of Mary and Elizabeth (though despite these womens collective talent, none of the adaptations have much historical merit, instead relying on romanticized relationships, salacious wrongdoings and suspect timelines to keep audiences in thrall). The wedding took place at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, however less than a year after the ceremony, Franciss father Henry II died and the young couple became king and queen of France. [30] In February 1548, Mary was moved, again for her safety, to Dumbarton Castle. [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. Marys blood claim was worrying enough, but acknowledging it by naming her as the heir presumptive would leave Elizabeth vulnerable to coups organized by Englands Catholic faction. 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]. 7. Although she was famously dubbed the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth only embraced this chaste persona during the later years of her reign. [77] Her own attempt to negotiate a marriage to Don Carlos, the mentally unstable heir apparent of King Philip II of Spain, was rebuffed by Philip. [152] In Scotland, her supporters fought a civil war against Regent Moray and his successors. [199] After the Throckmorton Plot of 1583, Walsingham (now the queen's principal secretary) introduced the Bond of Association and the Act for the Queen's Safety, which sanctioned the killing of anyone who plotted against Elizabeth and aimed to prevent a putative successor from profiting from her murder. [197] Plots centred on Mary continued. 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. A post-mortem revealed internal injuries, thought to have been caused by the explosion. Mary certainly believed that Darnley, angry because she had denied him the crown matrimonial, wanted to kill her and the child, thus becoming King of Scots. 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. [105] On the night of 1112 March, Darnley and Mary escaped from the palace. 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. The original letter is in French, this translation is from. The brief brush with freedom Guy refers to took place in May 1568, when Mary escaped and rallied supporters for a final battle. In her lifetime, Mary married three times her final husband causing her downfall. A Huguenot uprising in France, the Tumult of Amboise, made it impossible for the French to send further support. [63] Having lived in France since the age of five, Mary had little direct experience of the dangerous and complex political situation in Scotland. Ultimately, Guy argues, If Elizabeth had triumphed in life, Mary would triumph in death., The queen herself said it best: As she predicted in an eerily prescient motto, in my end is my beginning.. She later charged him with treason, but he was acquitted and released. He was released nineteen months later, after Cecil and Walsingham interceded on his behalf. [37] Mary learned to play lute and virginals, was competent in prose, poetry, horsemanship, falconry, and needlework, and was taught French, Italian, Latin, Spanish, and Greek, in addition to her native Scots. Mary was misled into thinking her letters were secure, while in reality they were deciphered and read by Walsingham. Norfolk was executed and the English Parliament introduced a bill barring Mary from the throne, to which Elizabeth refused to give royal assent. 04 July 2022 | The story of the three husbands of Mary Queen of Scots: Francis II of France, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. Not content with his position as king consort, he demanded the Crown Matrimonial, which would have made him a co-sovereign of Scotland with the right to keep the Scottish throne for himself, if he outlived his wife. [156] Mary denied writing them and insisted they were forgeries,[157] arguing that her handwriting was not difficult to imitate. [97] In what became known as the Chaseabout Raid, Mary with her forces and Moray with the rebellious lords roamed around Scotland without ever engaging in direct combat. Not only were the two absolute rulers in a patriarchal society, but they were also women whose lives, while seemingly inextricable, amounted to more than their either their relationships with men or their rivalry with each other. [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. Queen of Scotland (r. 15421567) and Dowager Queen of France, Consorts to debatable or disputed rulers are in, Sadler to Henry VIII, 23 March 1543, quoted in, Sadler to Henry VIII, 11 September 1543, quoted in, A dispensation, backdated to 25 May, was granted in Rome on 25 September (, Confession of James Ormiston, one of Bothwell's men, 13 December 1573, quoted (from. Widowed following the unexpected death of her first husband, France's Francis II, she left. Get the latest History stories in your inbox? Mary would go back to claim her throne in Scotland, leaving Charles Franciss younger brother who was only 10 years old at the time-to inherit his brothers title and position as king. [52], When Henry II died on 10 July 1559, from injuries sustained in a joust, fifteen-year-old Francis and sixteen-year-old Mary became king and queen of France. All were said to have been found in a silver-gilt casket just less than one foot (30cm) long and decorated with the monogram of King Francis II. Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart, was born into conflict. Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history. They took temporary refuge in Dunbar Castle before returning to Edinburgh on 18 March. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. After Riccios death, the nobles kept Mary prisoner at Holyrood Palace. [67] She summoned him to her presence to remonstrate with him but was unsuccessful. With Angela Bain, Richard Cant, Guy Rhys, Thom Petty. Mary Queen of Scots picks up in 1561 with the eponymous queen's return to her native country. James went along with the idea for a while, but eventually rejected it and signed an alliance treaty with Elizabeth, abandoning his mother. They next met on Saturday 17 February 1565 at Wemyss Castle in Scotland. [183], Mary was permitted her own domestic staff, which never numbered fewer than 16. They traveled from one royal palace to another Fontainebleau to Meudon, or to Chambord or Saint-Germain. The nobles who had plotted with Darnley now felt betrayed by him; after all, they had captured the queen and her potential heir, murdered her dear friend, and were in a position to demand anything. Mary Queen of Scots, 1543 - 1567, d. 1587. Link will appear as Hanson, Marilee. [236] Her body was embalmed and left in a secure lead coffin until her burial in a Protestant service at Peterborough Cathedral in late July 1587. [42] At some point in her infancy or childhood, she caught smallpox, but it did not mark her features. [80] The proposal came to nothing, not least because the intended bridegroom was unwilling. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scotland, Mary was six days old when her father died and she inherited the throne. 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. In July, Elizabeth sent Sir Henry Sidney to cancel Mary's visit because of the civil war in France. [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. But in June of 1560, Marys mother died in Scotland at the age of 45. [16][17] The treaty provided that the two countries would remain legally separate and, if the couple should fail to have children, the temporary union would dissolve. [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. 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 . Marys mother Marie de Guise had arranged the marriage when Mary and Francis were infants, and so Mary was brought up knowing she would one day be queen of France and Scotland. His death occurred soon after an unsuccessful rebellion in the North of England, led by Catholic earls, which persuaded Elizabeth that Mary was a threat. [228], Mary was not beheaded with a single strike. James Feder. [91] Their children, if any, would inherit an even stronger, combined claim. Privacy Statement The marriage of Mary Queen of Scots: 24 April 1558. 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 portraits were made by an unknown artist in around 1565, at the time of their marriage. [163], Mary's biographers, such as Antonia Fraser, Alison Weir, and John Guy, have come to the conclusion that either the documents were complete forgeries,[164] or incriminating passages were inserted into genuine letters,[165] or the letters were written to Bothwell by a different person or written by Mary to a different person. A royal residence, a vital stronghold and an iconic structure, Edinburgh Castle is one of the most famous castles in the world. [230], When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth, she became indignant and asserted that Davison had disobeyed her instructions not to part with the warrant and that the Privy Council had acted without her authority. Relations between Mary and Elizabeth had soured following the Scottish queens union with Darnley, which the English queen viewed as a threat to her throne. 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. Her Marys returned with her as ladies-in-waiting. [121] On the night of 910 February 1567, Mary visited her husband in the early evening and then attended the wedding celebrations of a member of her household, Bastian Pagez. Visitors can still see the small room where this monarch was born. Only four of the councillors were Catholic: the Earls of Atholl, Erroll, Montrose, and Huntly, who was Lord Chancellor. Who were the husbands of Mary Queen of Scots? [38] Her future sister-in-law, Elisabeth of Valois, became a close friend of whom Mary "retained nostalgic memories in later life". 1. [82] In early 1563, he was discovered during a security search hidden underneath her bed, apparently planning to surprise her when she was alone and declare his love for her. Janet Dickinson paints the Scottish queens relationship with Elizabeth in similar terms, arguing that the pairs dynamic was shaped by circumstance rather than choice. [19][17], Beaton wanted to move Mary away from the coast to the safety of Stirling Castle. On the promise of French military help and a French dukedom for himself, Arran agreed to the marriage. 3 The lords took Mary to Edinburgh, where crowds of spectators denounced her as an adulteress and murderer. [174] Elizabeth, as she had wished, concluded the inquiry with a verdict that nothing was proven against either the confederate lords or Mary. She joined with Moray in the destruction of Scotland's leading Catholic magnate, Lord Huntly, in 1562, after he led a rebellion against her in the Highlands. Mary, Queen of Scots was queen of France and Scotland. Margaret Tudor, (born November 29, 1489, Londondied October 18, 1541, Methven, Perth, Scotland), wife of King James IV of Scotland, mother of James V, and elder daughter of King Henry VII of England. Mary married her half-cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, in 1565, and in June 1566, they had a son, James. She refused to attend the inquiry at York personally but sent representatives. All too frequently, representations of Mary and Elizabeth reduce the queens to oversimplified stereotypes. He remained ill for some weeks. [124][125] Bothwell, Moray, Secretary Maitland, the Earl of Morton and Mary herself were among those who came under suspicion. Both Protestants and Catholics were shocked that Mary should marry the man accused of murdering her husband. After spending the night at Dundrennan Abbey, she crossed the Solway Firth into England by fishing boat on 16 May. Edinburgh Castle. Elizabeth had succeeded in maintaining a Protestant government in Scotland, without either condemning or releasing her fellow sovereign. 2572212 | VAT registration No. This legendary statement came true much later not through Mary, but through her great-great-granddaughter Anne, Queen of Great Britain. [100], Before long, Darnley grew arrogant. 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 was accused of involvement in the murder, the prime suspect was the Earl of Bothwell, who within weeks would be Mary's husband. Barely a month after the marriage, rebel nobles and their forces met Marys troops at Carberry Hill, 8 miles south-east of Edinburgh. Darnley shared a more recent Stewart lineage with the Hamilton family as a descendant of Mary Stewart, Countess of Arran, a daughter of James II of Scotland. [136] Bothwell was given safe passage from the field. Even the one significant later addition to the council, Lord Ruthven in December 1563, was another Protestant whom Mary personally disliked. . The authenticity of the letters, now known only by copies, continues to be debated. Men say that, instead of seizing the murderers, you are looking through your fingers while they escape; that you will not seek revenge on those who have done you so much pleasure, as though the deed would never have taken place had not the doers of it been assured of impunity. Her last words were, In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum ("Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit"). [150] Mary's clothes, sent from Loch Leven Castle, arrived on 20 July. [216], Elizabeth asked Paulet, Mary's final custodian, if he would contrive a clandestine way to "shorten the life" of Mary, which he refused to do on the grounds that he would not make "a shipwreck of my conscience, or leave so great a blot on my poor posterity". [231] Items supposedly worn or carried by Mary at her execution are of doubtful provenance;[232] contemporary accounts state that all her clothing, the block, and everything touched by her blood was burnt in the fireplace of the Great Hall to obstruct relic hunters. Instead, worried that Mary wanted to . Bothwell fled to Denmark, where he died in captivity 11 years later. [131] On 6 May, Mary and Bothwell returned to Edinburgh. [217] On 1 February 1587, Elizabeth signed the death warrant, and entrusted it to William Davison, a privy councillor. However, this newfound love turned dark quickly, and Marys initial happiness soon faded. James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, was a vainglorious, rash and hazardous young man, according to ambassador Nicholas Throckmorton. Mary replied, "I forgive you with all my heart, for now, I hope, you shall make an end of all my troubles. The Tudor queen pressured Mary to ratify the 1560 Treaty of Edinburgh, which wouldve prevented her from making any claim to the English throne, but she refused, instead appealing to Elizabeth as queens in one isle, of one language, the nearest kinswomen that each other had., To Elizabeth, such familial ties were of little value. Francis and his new wife became king and queen of France less than a year after their wedding ceremony at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. 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. Catholics considered the marriage unlawful, since they did not recognise Bothwell's divorce or the validity of the Protestant service. John Knox, a Protestant reformer who objected to both queens rule, may have declared it more than a monster in nature that a Woman shall reign and have empire above Man, but the continued resonance of Mary and Elizabeths stories suggests otherwise. Whereas Mary aged in the relative isolation of house arrest, Elizabeths looks were under constant scrutiny. In February of 1567 they had Darnleys house, Kirk o Field, blown up; Darnleys strangled body was found in the garden. [237] Her entrails, removed as part of the embalming process, were buried secretly within Fotheringhay Castle.