Jane, Janet, or Jean Kennedy (died 1589) was a companion of Mary, Queen of Scots, during her captivity in England. [1]
Jane was perhaps a daughter of Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassilis.
After the battle of Carberry Hill, Jane waited on Mary at Lochleven Castle where Mary was confined and signed abdication papers. Varying accounts mention her jumping from a wall while practising for the Queen's escape, or leaping from a window to join the Queen as she fled the island, and helping row the boat to Kinross. Stories of Kennedy's role at Lochleven were publicized by Nicolas Caussin in La Cour Sainte (Paris, 1664).
In England, Jane was listed as a "maid" in Queen Mary's household at Tutbury Castle in October 1569, her name recorded by a French scribe as "Gin Cannate". [2] At Sheffield Castle, in 1571, she was listed as a "maid of the chamber". [3] The Earl of Shrewsbury wrote to William Cecil about a suspected servant called Martin, mentioning he seemed to be forming a relationship with "Jane Kenyte, the Scottish queen's woman". Shrewsbury made him swear on the Bible to have no further dealings with her. [4] Mary made a will at Sheffield Manor, bequeathing 1000 Francs to "Jeanne Kenedy" in recompense for her service. [5]
In 1586, at Chartley Manor, Jane, described a Gentlewoman of the Queen's chamber, was responsible for Mary's jewels. An inventory of the jewels and silver in Jane's keeping was made when Mary was taken to Tixall for a fortnight and her possessions searched. Jane was also in charge of linen and laundry. At Fotheringhay Castle, Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle helped Mary onto the scaffold and Jane tied her blindfold. [6] [7] Jane and Elizabeth had been chosen for this duty by Mary herself. [8]
The two ladies are featured and named in the Blairs Memorial Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots; Jane holds a white cloth. Another version of the picture is in the Royal Collection. [9] One narrative of the execution describes the cloth as "a handkerchief of cambric all wrought over with gold needlework", [10] another, as a "Corpus Christi cloth". [11] A "Corpus Christi cloth" is used during the Catholic Mass to cover the consecrated host. [12]
At the funeral of Queen Mary at Peterborough Cathedral on 1 August 1587, her ladies joined the procession in this order; Barbara Moubray, Christine Hog (the wife of Bastian Pagez), Renée du Raullay, Marie Pagez, Jane Kennedy, and Susannah Kirkcaldy. [13]
Jane Kennedy collected two beds from Mary's belongings, one for the Duchess of Guise, the other for Madame de Châlons. She told the Spanish ambassador Bernardino de Mendoza that she had blindfolded Mary at the execution, as she had precedence of birth before Elizabeth Curle. Mendoza was considering if she should have a pension from Spain. He wrote that her ship was driven back to Portsmouth by a storm. [14]
Jane Kennedy returned to Scotland from France in January 1588. She talked to James VI for two hours about Mary's last days and told his courtiers about the execution. [15] King James was sad and pensive and had no supper that day. [16]
She married Andrew Melville of Garvock. Garvock is near to Dunfermline. Andrew was a brother of the diplomats James Melville of Halhill and Robert Melville. In 1568 he had brought a gold chain to Mary when she was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, which she had left with the goldsmith James Mosman to make into a necklace. [17] He became the master of Mary's household in England. Andrew and Jane were placed in joint custody of Mary's remaining jewels and silver plate. [18] Mary had asked Andrew to take some of her belongings back to Scotland and her son King James VI after her execution, including portraits of her ancestors and a piece of unicorn horn. [19] Andrew Melville was detained in England for a time after Mary's execution, and James VI asked his ambassador Archibald Douglas to secure his release. Douglas found that Melville was already free. [20]
Jane and her servant Susannah Kirkcaldy were drowned on the 7 or 8 September 1589 crossing the river Forth between Burntisland, where the Melvilles held Rossend Castle, and Leith. The ferry boat was "midway under sail, and the tempest growing great carried the boat with such force upon a ship which was under sail as the boat sank presently." Jane had been summoned by James VI to await the arrival of Anne of Denmark, who was then expected to arrive at Leith. [21]
The ferry boat sank after colliding with another vessel during the storm, and the sailors of the other boat, William Downie, Robert Linkhop, and John Watson of Leith were put on trial for the deaths of sixty passengers in January 1590. The outcome of the trial is not recorded. [22] The loss of the ferry boat in stormy weather with all but two of the passengers was subsequently blamed on witchcraft. [23] [24] In the following year people from North Berwick were made to confess to raising the storms and incriminate Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell. According to the account of the witch trials in the tract Newes from Scotland , Agnes Sampson confessed to causing the storm by sinking a dead cat into the sea near Leith. [25]
In later years the disaster came to be blamed on an error of the sailors, said to be drunk in calm weather by a writer in 1636, who added that £10,000 of goods and jewels were lost. [26]
Andrew Melville continued to serve as a Master of the Royal Household. He was given £200 to buy clothes to attend the coronation of Anne of Denmark. [27] In 1591 he was on hand to protect the King at Holyroodhouse when he was surprised by Francis, Earl of Bothwell. Andrew, who lived on the north side of Holyrood close, armed himself and entered the palace through the Abbey using a secret passage. [28] In July 1594 he and his brothers entertained the Danish and German ambassadors who had arrived for the baptism of Prince Henry. [29]
He remarried to Elizabeth Hamilton and James VI gave a ring to his wife at the christening of their child in 1594. [30] In 1600 they had a daughter, Janet, and a son Andrew in 1603, and John in 1604. [31] He died in 1617. In January 1624 his daughter Anna married Sir James Murray of Tippermuir, known as the compiler of a miscellany of verse. [32] His son George married the widow of the king's servant David Drummond. [33]
In Friedrich Schiller's play Maria Stuart , Jane, as "Hanna Kennedy" is portrayed as Mary's nurse, and Andrew is "Melvil." [34]
David Rizzio or Riccio was an Italian courtier, born in Pancalieri close to Turin, a descendant of an ancient and noble family still living in Piedmont, the Riccio Counts di San Paolo e Solbrito, who rose to become the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, is said to have been jealous of their friendship because of rumours that Rizzio had impregnated Mary, and he joined in a conspiracy of Protestant nobles to murder him, led by Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven. Mary was having dinner with Rizzio and a few ladies-in-waiting when Darnley joined them, accused his wife of adultery and then had a group murder Rizzio, who was hiding behind Mary. Mary was held at gunpoint and Rizzio was stabbed numerous times. His body took 57 dagger wounds. The murder was the catalyst of the downfall of Darnley, and had serious consequences for Mary's subsequent reign.
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 consort Henry Darnley. He was the last of the four regents of Scotland during the minority of James VI. 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.
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.
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.
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. Historian Antonia Fraser similarly argues that the documents were whole or partial forgeries, pointing to various inconsistencies in the texts, both with the Queen's known style and with details of geography, date, and relationships with persons mentioned.
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.
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.
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.
Master John Wood, was a Scottish courtier, administrator and secretary to the Earl of Moray. He was assassinated on 15 April 1570.
Robert Melville, 1st Lord Melville was a Scottish diplomat, administrator, jurist, and intriguer, and uncle of the poet Elizabeth Melville.
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.
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.
Andrew Beaton was a Scottish courtier, and Master of the Household to Mary, Queen of Scots in England.
The wardrobe of Mary, Queen of Scots, was described in several contemporary documents, and many records of her costume have been published.
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.
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.