The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots took place on 8 February 1587 at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England. After nineteen years in English captivity following her forced abdication from the throne of Scotland, Mary was found guilty of plotting the assassination of her cousin, Elizabeth I in what became known as the Babington Plot. The execution of Mary was the first legal execution of an anointed European monarch. [1]
After her forced abdication in favour of her son James VI of Scotland, and an unsuccessful attempt to take back her throne, Mary fled south to England, crossing the Solway Firth into England by fishing boat on 16 May 1568. [2]
Initially hoping her cousin Elizabeth I of England would help her regain her throne, Mary instead was imprisoned for the murder of her English-born husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley though she was found neither guilty nor acquitted of the charge. Over the course of almost nineteen years, she was moved from castle to castle in England and kept under house arrest and under close watch by spies set up in her household by Elizabeth's advisors. Elizabeth saw her as a threat to her rule as Mary, the great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England through his daughter Margaret Tudor, was seen as a potential successor to the crown of England. [3]
On 11 August 1586, after being implicated in the Babington Plot, Mary was arrested while out riding and taken to Tixall Hall in Staffordshire. [4] In a successful attempt to entrap her, Walsingham had deliberately arranged for Mary's letters to be smuggled out of Chartley. Her secretaries Claude Nau and Gilbert Curle and the clerk Jérôme Pasquier were taken to London for questioning. [5] Mary was misled into thinking her letters were secure, while in reality they were deciphered and read by Walsingham. [6] From these letters it was clear that Mary had sanctioned the attempted assassination of Elizabeth. [7]
Mary was moved to Fotheringhay Castle in a four-day journey ending on 25 September. In October, she was put on trial for treason under the Act for the Queen's Safety before a court of 36 noblemen. [8] The proceedings were held in the Great Chamber, where an empty throne represented Queen Elizabeth and Mary was seated in a subordinate position. [9]
Mary denied the charges, [10] telling her triers, "Look to your consciences and remember that the theatre of the whole world is wider than the kingdom of England." [11] She protested that she had been denied the opportunity to review the evidence, that her papers had been removed from her, that she was denied access to legal counsel, and that as a foreign anointed queen she had never been an English subject and therefore could not be convicted of treason. [12]
She was convicted on 25 October and sentenced to death with only one commissioner, Lord Zouche, expressing any form of dissent. [13] Nevertheless, Elizabeth hesitated to order her execution, even in the face of pressure from the English Parliament to carry out the sentence. She was concerned that the killing of a queen set a discreditable precedent and was fearful of the consequences, especially if, in retaliation, Mary's son, James, formed an alliance with the Catholic powers and invaded England. [14]
James VI instructed his diplomats, William Keith of Delny, the Master of Gray, and Robert Melville, to try to stay his mother's execution. [15] Henry III of France and Catherine de' Medici sent Pomponne de Bellièvre to plead for her life. [16] [17] Finally, on 1 February 1587, Elizabeth signed the death warrant, and entrusted it to William Davison, a privy councillor. [18] On 3 February, [19] ten members of the Privy Council of England, summoned by Cecil without Elizabeth's knowledge, decided to carry out the sentence at once. [20]
On the evening of 7 February 1587, Mary was told she was to be executed the next morning. [21] She spent the last hours of her life in prayer, distributing her belongings to her household, and writing her will and a letter to the King of France. [22] A scaffold was erected in the Great Hall of the Castle and draped in black cloth. 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. [23] Mary was allowed only four attendants, her steward Andrew Melville, the physician Dominique Bourgoing, her surgeon Jacques Gervais, and her apothecary. In the morning, Mary asked for two women to accompany her on the scaffold. [24]
The executioner and his assistant knelt before her and asked forgiveness, as it was typical for the executioner to request the pardon of the person being executed. Mary replied, "I forgive you with all my heart, for now, I hope, you shall make an end of all my troubles." [25] Her ladies, Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle, and the executioners helped Mary to take off her pomander beads and remove her outer garments, [26] revealing a velvet petticoat and a pair of sleeves in crimson brown, the liturgical colour of martyrdom in the Catholic Church, [27] with a black satin bodice and black trimmings. [28] As she disrobed Mary smiled and said she "never had such grooms before... nor ever put off her clothes before such a company". [29] She was blindfolded by Kennedy with a white veil embroidered in gold, knelt down on the cushion in front of the block on which she positioned her head, and stretched out her arms. [30] Her last words were, In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum ("Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit"). [31]
Mary was not beheaded with a single strike. The first blow missed her neck and struck the back of her head. The second blow severed the neck, except for a small bit of sinew, which the executioner cut through using the axe. Afterwards, he held her head aloft and declared "God save the Queen." At that moment, the auburn tresses in his hand turned out to be a wig and the head fell to the ground, revealing that Mary had very short, grey hair. [32]
Cecil's nephew, who was present at the execution, reported to his uncle that after her death, "Her lips stirred up and down a quarter of an hour after her head was cut off", [30] and that a small dog owned by the queen emerged from hiding among her skirts. [33] These details were not included in an eyewitness report by a German Calvinist Emanuel Tomascon. [34] Items supposedly worn or carried by Mary at her execution are of doubtful provenance; [35] 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. [33]
When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth, she became indignant and asserted that William Davison had disobeyed her instructions not to part with the warrant and that the Privy Council had acted without her authority. [36] Elizabeth's vacillation and deliberately vague instructions gave her plausible deniability to attempt to avoid the direct stain of Mary's blood. [37] Davison was arrested, thrown into the Tower of London, and found guilty of misprision. He was released nineteen months later, after William Cecil and Francis Walsingham interceded on his behalf. [38]
Roger Aston first broke the news to James VI, and Robert Carey was Elizabeth's official messenger. [39] Robert Carvyle, an English officer and message carrier based at Berwick-upon-Tweed was in Edinburgh in February 1587. He heard that James VI was sceptical that Elizabeth I was sorry for his mother's death. The townspeople of Edinburgh were angry and posted comments and poems called "libels" in the street, against James, his diplomats, and Elizabeth who was called a Jezebel. [40]
Though she requested that she be buried in France, Mary's request was refused by Elizabeth. [41] 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] Her entrails, removed as part of the embalming process, were buried secretly within Fotheringhay Castle. [43]
The procession from the Palace to the church was led by 100 or 120 poor women in black cloth gowns and white Holland linen head dresses (called "kerchers"), provided by John Fortescue. Their appearance was traditional or old-fashioned. [44] Next followed those in mourning cloaks and mourning gowns. Andrew Noel carried the banner of Scotland. [45] Ten women from Mary's household followed, wearing hoods with black taffeta at the front and white veils at the back in the French fashion. [46] Most of the Scottish mourners from Mary's household left the cathedral before the service started, not wishing to attend a Protestant service. Gillis Mowbray or Barbara Mowbray remained in the cathedral with Andrew Melville. [47]
William Wickham, Bishop of Lincoln, gave a sermon and a prayer. [48] [49] [50] Banners were placed on the hearse, and symbolic objects including armour, a wooden sword, helmet and crown, were delivered from the hearse to the Bishop. [51] Richard Fletcher, Dean of Peterborough, read the funeral service where Mary was buried, and then the broken rods of her officers were placed in the grave. [52]
In August 1603, following the Union of the Crowns and his English coronation, Mary's son James VI and I sent William Dethick to Peterborough with an embroidered velvet pall for his mother's grave. [53]
In 1606, Cornelius Cure was commissioned to produce the monument to Mary in Westminster Abbey. [54] He was paid for supplying "touchstone and rauncestone", two kinds of alabaster. [55] The monument was finished by his son William, and painted and gilded by James Mauncy or Manuty (Manucci). [56]
By order of Royal warrant, dated 28 September 1612, Mary's body was exhumed and brought to London and reinterred at Westminster Abbey on 11 October 1612. [57] [58] The Earl of Northampton presided over a procession and the burial, held in the evening to avoid the "concourse" of people. [59] [60] King James had a marble tomb commissioned for her in the south aisle of the Lady Chapel, opposite the tomb of Elizabeth I. [61]
Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The Babington Plot was a plan in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, a Protestant, and put Mary, Queen of Scots, her Catholic cousin, on the English throne. It led to Mary's execution, a result of a letter sent by Mary in which she consented to the assassination of Elizabeth.
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley was King of Scotland as the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, from 29 July 1565 until his murder in 1567. Lord Darnley had one child with Mary, the future James VI of Scotland and I of England. Through his parents, he had claims to both the Scottish and English thrones. Less than a year after the birth of his son, Darnley was murdered at Kirk o' Field in 1567. Many contemporary narratives describing his life and death refer to him as simply Lord Darnley, his title as heir apparent to the Earldom of Lennox.
Sir Amias Paulet of Hinton St. George, Somerset, was an English diplomat, Governor of Jersey, and the gaoler for a period of Mary, Queen of Scots.
William Davison was an English diplomat and secretary to Queen Elizabeth I. As a Secretary of some influence, he was active in forging alliances with England's Protestant friends in Holland and Scotland to prevent war with France. He was involved in the 1587 execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was made a scapegoat for this event.
The Chaseabout Raid was a rebellion by James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, against his half sister, Mary, Queen of Scots, on 26 August 1565, over her marriage to Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. The rebels also claimed to be acting over other causes including bad governance, and religion in the name of the Scottish Reformation. As the government and rebel forces moved back and forth across Scotland without fighting, the conflict became known as the "chase about raid." Queen Mary's forces were superior and the rebel lords fled to England where Queen Elizabeth censured the leader.
Michel de Castelnau, Sieur de la Mauvissière was a French soldier and diplomat, ambassador to Queen Elizabeth. He wrote a memoir covering the period between 1559 and 1570.
Archibald Douglas, Parson of Douglas, was also Parson of Glasgow, a Senator of the College of Justice, Ambassador to Queen Elizabeth I of England, and a notorious intriguer.
Gilbert Gifford was a double agent who worked for Sir Francis Walsingham and played a role in the uncovering of the Babington Plot. Shortly before his death in Paris, he was ordained as a Catholic priest in Rheims. His true allegiances, whether to Queen Elizabeth I or to Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Catholic cause – are unclear.
Claude Nau or Claude Nau de la Boisseliere was a confidential secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, in England from 1575 to 1586. He was involved in coding Mary's letters with cipher keys.
Bastian Pagez was a French servant and musician at the court of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was born in Auvergne. He devised part of the entertainment at the baptism of Prince James at Stirling Castle in 1566. When Mary was exiled in England, Bastian and his family continued in her service. The 19th-century historians Agnes Strickland and William Barclay Turnbull considered his court role as equivalent to the English Master of the Revels; in England he was Mary's chamber valet and designed her embroidery patterns.
Jane, Janet, or Jean Kennedy was a companion of Mary, Queen of Scots, during her captivity in England.
Andrew Melville of Garvock was a Scottish courtier and servant of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587), are mainly known through the evidence of inventories held by the National Records of Scotland. She was bought jewels during her childhood in France, adding to those she inherited. She gave gifts of jewels to her friends and to reward diplomats. When she abdicated and went to England many of the jewels she left behind in Scotland were sold or pledged for loans, first by her enemies and later by her allies. Mary continued to buy new jewels, some from France, and use them to reward her supporters. In Scotland her remaining jewels were worn by her son James VI and his favourites.
Gilbert Curle or Curll was a Scottish secretary who served Mary, Queen of Scots during her captivity in England. He married Barbara Mowbray, one of three sisters serving Mary.
Dominique Bourgoing was a French physician in the household of Mary, Queen of Scots. He is notable as the author of an influential account of Mary's captivity and execution.
Guillaume de l'Aubespine de Châteauneuf (1547–1629) was a French diplomat in London between 1585 and 1589, involved in the affairs of Mary, Queen of Scots. He became the Marquis of Châteauneuf.
The Association was the name given to plans in the 1580s for Mary, Queen of Scots, to return to Scotland and rule jointly with her son, King James VI. The plans came to nothing, despite diplomatic efforts.
Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587) married Francis, Dauphin of France (1544–1560), at Notre-Dame de Paris on 24 April 1558. The festivities included pageants, some designed by Bartolomeo Campi.
Mary, Queen of Scots, was buried at Peterborough Cathedral on 1 August 1587 with a heraldic funeral, following her execution at Fotheringhay Castle on 8 February 1587. In 1612, her son James VI and I ordered her reburial at Westminster Abbey.
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