| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | Act Anent the demission of the Crown in favour of our Sovereign Lord, and his Majesty's Coronation. |
|---|---|
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 12 December 1567 |
The Act Anent the demission of the Crown in favour of our Sovereign Lord, and his Majesty's Coronation was an Act of the Parliament of Scotland passed on 12 December 1567. It confirmed the dethronement of Mary, Queen of Scots, in favour of her son, James VI.
The 1567 December Act of Parliament narrated that Mary I (who was a prisoner at Lochleven Castle after her capture at Carberry Hill) had signed and sealed letters making over the crown and "regiment of the realm of Scotland" to James VI on 24 July 1567 and appointing regents. The coronation of James VI on 29 July 1567 at Stirling was deemed lawful. Queen Mary's reasons for her removal were given as vexation and weariness. [1]
Two statements purportedly signed by Mary giving this reason for resigning, mentioning her spiritual and physical exhaustion;
"not onlie is our body, spirite and sencis sa vexit, brokin and unquyetit that langer we ar not of habilitie be ony meane to indure sa greit and intollerabill panis and travellis, quhairwith we ar altogidder weryit, bot als greit commotiounis and troublis be sindrie occasiounis in the meintyme hes ensewit thairin, to our greit greif."
not only is our body, spirit and senses so vexed, broken and disquietened that (no) longer are we of the ability by any means to endure so great and intolerable pains and ordeals, with which we are altogether wearied, and as great commotions and troubles by sundry causes in the meantime has ensued therein, to, our great grief. [2]
On 25 July 1567 Lord Lindsay had brought this resignation, or commission, to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh where it was read aloud. [3] The statements were produced again and read on 29 July in the Holy Rude Kirk at Stirling before the coronation of James VI, after Lindsay and Lord Ruthven declared on oath that Mary had "resigned willingly without compulsion." [4] Mary's half-brother, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, would rule as regent on behalf of the infant king. Because the Earl of Moray was not in Scotland at the time, the second statement provided a committee of seven joint depute regents to rule till he returned. The Earl of Morton made the oath of regency on behalf of Moray, then the infant king was anointed by Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney. [5] This arrangement of rule by regents was intended to last for 17 years until James VI was of age. [6]
On 4 December 1567 Moray's privy council had made an act prior to the sitting of the Parliament, which declared that not only was the Earl of Bothwell guilty of the murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, but Mary herself was by "diverse her previe letters writtin and subscrivit with hir awin hand and sent by hir to James erll Boithvile chief executor of the said horrible murthour, ..., it is maist certain that sche wes previe, art and part, (complicit) and of the actuale devise (plot) and deid of the foir-nemmit murther of her lawful husband." [7]
The Parliament heard Mary's purported letters of resignation again and accepted the authority of Regent Moray, but also asked for his explanation for Mary's detention at Lochleven Castle;
This present assemblie, considering the detentioune of the quenis grace in the hous of Lochlevin (na manifest declaratioun maid of the occasioun thairof), quhairfoir thai, as ane member of the commone weill of this realme, not onlie for thame selfis bot als in name of the commone people thairof, desyris and maist humilie requiris my Lord Regent and estatis of parliament to oppin and mak manifest unto thame and to the people the caus of the detentioun of the quenis grace in the said house, or ellis to put hir to libertie furth of the samyn. [8]
A year later, the document called "Hay's Article's" claimed that the discovery of the casket letters in June 1567 had resulted in Mary signing at Loch Leven. [9] Mary would later claim that she signed the papers at Loch Leven under compulsion, and on the advice of the English ambassador Nicholas Throckmorton, who had assured her that they could not have legal validity. [10]
Mary escaped from Lochleven Castle in May 1568. At Hamilton she gave her oath that she had made her abdication under duress and had a strongly-worded revocation of the demission drafted by her lawyer Sir John Spens of Condie, [11] denouncing the Earl of Morton, the Earl of Moray, the Earl of Mar, and many others. [12]
Her supporters were defeated at the battle of Langside and she went into exile and captivity in England. Over the next five years her supporters in Scotland fought a civil war against the regents who ruled Scotland in the name of James VI.
In the 1580s, Mary attempted to negotiate her return to Scotland and conjoint rule with James VI, a scheme known as the "association". Mary declared her abdication in 1567 was obtained under duress and was invalid. [13]
Year 1567 (MDLXVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.
The Battle of Langside was fought on 13 May 1568 between forces loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots, and forces acting in the name of her infant son James VI. Mary’s short period of personal rule ended in 1567 in recrimination, intrigue, and disaster when, after her capture at Carberry Hill, she was forced to abdicate in favour of James VI. Mary was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, while her Protestant half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, was appointed Regent on behalf of his nephew. In early May 1568 Mary escaped, heading west to the country of the Hamiltons, high among her remaining supporters, and the safety of Dumbarton Castle with the determination to restore her rights as queen. Mary was defeated and went into exile and captivity in England. The battle is generally considered the start of the Marian civil war.
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton was a Scottish nobleman. He played a leading role in the murders of Queen Mary's confidant, David Rizzio, and king Henry Darnley. He was one of the last of the four regents of Scotland during the minority of James VI and I. He was in some ways the most successful of the four, since he won the civil war that had been dragging on with the supporters of the exiled Mary, Queen of Scots. However, he came to an unfortunate end, executed by means of the Maiden, a predecessor of the guillotine.
James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray was a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland. At times a supporter of his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, he was the regent of Scotland for his half-nephew, the infant King James VI, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570. He was the first head of government to be assassinated with a firearm.
William Douglas, 6th Earl of Morton was the son of Robert Douglas of Lochleven and Margaret Erskine, a former mistress of James V of Scotland.
John Erskine, 1st Earl of Mar was a Scottish aristocrat and politician. He was the custodian of the infant James VI of Scotland and Regent of Scotland.
George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly, was Lord Chancellor of Scotland and major conspirator of his time.
The Casket letters were eight letters and some sonnets said to have been written by Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Earl of Bothwell, between January and April 1567. They were produced as evidence against Queen Mary by the Scottish lords who opposed her rule. In particular, the text of the letters was taken to imply that Queen Mary colluded with Bothwell in the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley. Mary's contemporary supporters, including Adam Blackwood, dismissed them as complete forgeries or letters written by the Queen's servant Mary Beaton. The authenticity of the letters, now known only by copies, continues to be debated. Some historians argue that they were forgeries concocted in order to discredit Queen Mary and ensure that Queen Elizabeth I supported the kingship of the infant James VI of Scotland, rather than his mother. The historian John Hungerford Pollen, in 1901, by comparing two genuine letters drafted by Mary, presented a subtle argument that the various surviving copies and translations of the casket letters could not be used as evidence of their original authorship by Mary.
Lady Margaret Erskine was a mistress of King James V of Scotland and mother of Regent Moray.
Christina Stewart Douglas, Countess of Buchan, also known as Christian, was a Scottish noblewoman, the suo jure Countess of Buchan.
Agnes Keith, Countess of Moray was a Scottish noblewoman. She was the wife of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland and the illegitimate half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots, making her a sister-in-law of the Scottish queen. As the wife of the regent, Agnes was the most powerful woman in Scotland from 1567 until her husband's assassination in 1570.
Agnes Leslie, Countess of Morton was a Scottish noblewoman, being the daughter of George Leslie, 4th Earl of Rothes as well as a great-granddaughter of King James II. She was the wife of William Douglas, 6th Earl of Morton, who as Laird of Lochleven Castle was the custodian of Mary, Queen of Scots during her captivity from June 1567 until her escape on 2 May 1568. Agnes was Queen Mary's chief female companion throughout her imprisonment; thus it was while Lady Agnes was recovering from childbirth that the queen successfully escaped from Lochleven.
Ninian Cockburn was a Scottish soldier and officer of the Garde Écossaise, a company which guarded the French king. He had an ambiguous role in political relations between Scotland, France and England during the war of the Rough Wooing and the Scottish Reformation.
The Treaty of Haddington was a treaty signed in 1548 between France and Scotland that promised Mary, Queen of Scots to Dauphin Francis in marriage in return for French assistance in the Siege of Haddington and subsequent French influence in Scotland. Mary, only six years old at the time, subsequently went to live in France, eventually marrying the Dauphin, while her regents ruled in her name in Scotland.
Robert Sempill, 3rd Lord Sempill was a Scottish lord of Parliament.
The Marian civil war in Scotland (1568–1573) was a period of conflict which followed the abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her escape from Lochleven Castle in May 1568. Those who ruled in the name of her infant son James VI fought against the supporters of the Queen, who was exiled in England. Edinburgh Castle, which was garrisoned in her name, became the focus of the conflict and surrendered only after an English intervention in May 1573. The conflict in 1570 was called an "intestine war in the bowels of this commonwealth", and the period was called soon after an "intestine war driven by questions against authority."
Patrick Lindsay, 6th Lord Lindsay of the Byres, (1521–1589), Scottish courtier and Confederate lord.
Robert Pitcairn (1520?–1584) was a Scottish administrator, diplomat and judge, secretary of state and commendator of Dunfermline.
Nicolas or Nicoll Elphinstone was a Scottish courtier and diplomatic messenger. He was the son of Lawrence Elphinstone of Selmys, 1435-1515. He worked for James Stewart, Regent Moray and was involved in attempts to sell the jewels and pearls of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1567 and 1568. Moray needed to raise money to govern Scotland and subdue Mary's supporters by force.
James Stewart (1566–1625), son of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587) and Lord Darnley (1546–1567), was crowned King of Scotland by Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, in the Holy Rude Kirk at Stirling on 29 July 1567.
