Mary, Queen of Scots

Podcast Transcript

One of the most significant figures in 16th-century Britain was Mary Stuart, aka Mary, Queen of Scots.

Mary’s life was one of the most fascinating of the period. Depending on which historian you consult, she was a schemer, a traitor, a pawn, or a victim. According to some, she was all of these things.

What is certain is that Mary played a major role in the union of the Scottish and English crowns and the creation of the United Kingdom we know today.

Learn more about Mary, Queen of Scots, and her incredible story on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

In the aftermath of the War of the Roses in the 15th century, the Tudor Dynasty rose to power with Henry VII’s ascension to the Throne of England.

Everyone thought that Henry VII’s ascension to power finally solved the problem of succession to the English crown. While Henry did end the war, the Tudors ushered in a whole century of succession controversy.

Henry VIII followed Henry VII, and he went through a series of wives in an attempt to produce an heir. In the process, he ousted the Catholic Church and established a new protestant Church of England with him as its head.

Henry VIII eventually did have a son with his third wife, Jane Seymour, Edward.

When Henry VIII died, his Protestant son Edward VI became king at the age of 9 and was dead at the age of 15.

The crown was then passed to his eldest daughter, Mary, from his first wife, the Spanish Katherine of Aragon. This Mary is not the subject of this episode, which often confuses some people.

Mary was Catholic, married the King of Spain, Phillip II, and never had a child. When she died in 1558, the crown passed to her younger half-sister, the daughter of Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was a Protestant, and many Catholics in England didn’t consider her legitimate because Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn wasn’t legitimate.

If Elizabeth wasn’t the true heir, then who would be the monarch? You’d have to go back up the ladder to Henry VII and his eldest daughter and the older sister to Henry VIII, Margaret Tudor.

She was married to King James IV of Scotland. Their son became James V of Scotland. James the V only had two legitimate children. James, who died before he was one year old, and Mary, who, finally, is the subject of this episode.

Mary was nine years younger and a contemporary of Elizabeth. She was born in Scotland on December 8, 1542.

Just six days after Mary’s birth, her father, James V, died, and the infant Mary became the Queen of Scotland.

Her regent selected to rule until she became of age was James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran. He served in the role for 12 years.

It is believed she grew up speaking Scots as her first language and also learned French, the language of her mother. She did eventually learn English, but she never wrote anything in it until later in life and her fluency level was probably low.

In 1548, with the threat of an English invasion of Scotland looming, she was set to the French court to be raised.

Mary was well-educated in the French court, learning Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and her native Scots language, as well as acquiring skills in poetry, horsemanship, and music. She was noted for her beauty, grace, and intelligence, which made her a celebrated figure in the French court.

In 1558, sixteen-year-old Mary was wed to Francis, the Dauphin of France, and was next in line to the throne.

They were wed for a little over a year when the King of France died, and her husband became King Francis II.

Mary was now seventeen years old and was the Queen Monarch of Scotland and the Queen Consort of France.

Her mother had taken over the duties of regent in 1554 and was still exercising them when Mary was married.

Mary’s marriage didn’t last long. Her husband died the next year, in 1560, leaving her a widow at the age of 18.

In 1561, with her influence and power in France now gone due to the death of her husband, she decided to return to Scotland to take up her duties as queen.

Upon her return to Scotland, Mary, a devout Catholic, found herself ruling a nation that had recently undergone a Protestant Reformation. Scotland’s religious tensions were high, and Mary’s Catholicism made her a divisive figure among her Protestant subjects.

One of the leading Protestant figures in Scotland was John Knox. Knox hurled vitriolic invectives and insults at her from the pulpit. Knox feared that having a Catholic monarch meant that she might try to reintroduce Catholicism back to Scotland and perhaps have a Catholic European power such as France or Spain intervene militarily.

Mary, for her part, found Knox’s relentless criticism intolerable, however, there was little she could do about it. In most countries, criticism of the monarch would get you arrested or killed. However, if she did that to Knox, she risked a protestant uprising that could overthrow her monarchy.

To the south in England, her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, constantly had to deal with the issue of marriage and producing an heir. She never did marry or have children.

In 1565, Mary became wedded to her cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. This marriage, initially popular, soon became a source of scandal and conflict. Darnley was arrogant and ambitious and stylized himself as king, despite only being the king consort, and his behavior alienated many of Mary’s supporters. The marriage produced one son, James but it was otherwise disastrous.

On February 9, 1566, Mary’s secretary, David Rizzio, was murdered in front of her by a group of Protestant nobles, heightening tensions between Catholics and Protestants at court.

On the morning of February 10, 1567. Darnley’s residence at Kirk o’ Field in Edinburgh was destroyed by an explosion, but his body, along with that of his servant, was discovered outside the ruins, seemingly unharmed by the blast. It appeared that Darnley had been strangled or suffocated, leading to widespread suspicion that he was murdered. The event was shrouded in intrigue and scandal, with many believing that Mary’s close associate, the Earl of Bothwell, was involved, possibly with Mary’s complicity.

Just three months after the death of Lord Darnley, Mary married the Earl of Bothwell. Given the previous rumors of their involvement in the death of Lord Darnley, this didn’t help their cause.

Rumors had spread throughout all of Europe of Mary’s involvement in the death of her husband. Even her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, warned her about it. She wrote

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. 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. For myself, I beg you to believe that I would not harbour such a thought.

The marriage to Bothwell was deeply unpopular. Her Catholic subjects didn’t recognize Bothwell’s divorce, which allowed him to marry as legitimate. Both Catholics and Protestants objected to her marrying the man accused of killing her ex-husband.

The Scottish nobility became outraged and actively began working against their queen. Twenty-six Scottish nobles came together to create their own army to oppose Mary and Bothwell.

On June 15, 1567, Mary and Bothwell’s army met the nobles at Carberry Hill just east of Edinburgh. However, the Battle of Carberry Hill never happened. As negotiations took place between the two sides, almost all of Mary’s army deserted, abandoning her on the battlefield.

Mary was captured by the Scottish nobles and taken to Loch Leven Castle, north of Edinburgh, where she was held in captivity. During her captivity, she had a miscarriage, and finally, on July 24, she abdicated the Scottish crown in favor of her infant son, who was now James VI of Scotland.

Her husband, the Earl of Bothwell, was allowed to leave. He subsequently fled to Norway and was taken captive in Denmark. He was put in prison, where he died in 1578, 11 years after fleeing Scotland. After he left Carberry Hill, he never saw his wife again.

She never saw her son again as he was to be raised by Protestant nobles, in particular, her illegitimate half-brother James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray.

She was held at Lock Leven for ten months. Then, on May 2, 1568, she escaped with the help of the brother of the owner of the castle. She managed to raise an army of 6,000 and met her half-brother at the Battle of Langside.

Mary lost the battle and fled south into England, where she thought that her cousin Elizabeth would help her.

On the one hand, Elizabeth did want to help her cousin, who was a duly anointed queen. On the other hand, Mary was a threat to Elizabeth as she was a rallying point for all the Catholics in England.

The Scottish regent, James Stewart, presented to Elizabeth a box of letters that were supposed written by Mary to her husband. Known as the Casket Letters were a series of eight controversial documents, including love letters, sonnets, and other papers.

These letters were purportedly found in a silver casket in June 1567, after Bothwell fled following the defeat of his forces by the Scottish nobles. The contents of the letters seemed to suggest that Mary was not only involved in a romantic relationship with Bothwell but also complicit in the plot to murder her husband, Lord Darnley.

Mary was put on trial in York for the murder of Lord Darnley, but Mary didn’t recognize their right to put her on trial.

Elizabeth didn’t want to find her cousin and another queen guilty of murder, so she just put her away.

It should be noted that there has been serious debate amongst historians as to the authenticity of the casket letters.

Mary was held as a captive of Elizabeth for the next nineteen years. She was only 25 years old when her captivity in England began.

Over the years she was moved from castle to castle. Elizabeth’s ministers kept a close eye on all of her visitors and correspondence.

During this time, she became the focus of numerous Catholic plots to overthrow Elizabeth and place Mary on the English throne. Although she denied involvement in these plots, her association with them ultimately led to her downfall.

In 1586, Mary was implicated in the Babington Plot, a plan to assassinate Elizabeth and replace her with Mary. Despite her protests of innocence, Mary was tried and found guilty of treason. Elizabeth was reluctant to sign Mary’s death warrant but eventually did so under pressure from her advisors.

On February 8, 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle. She faced her death with dignity, dressed in red, the color of Catholic martyrdom.

As with the casket letters, there has been a great deal of debate as to if Mary was actually involved with the plots against Elizabeth or if Elizabeth’s advisors set her up to get rid of her and remove a potential threat to her power.

Either way, Mary, Queen of Scotland and France, was dead.

Elizabeth lived for another sixteen years after Mary’s death. When she died in 1603, without heirs, the English crown passed to Mary’s son. James VI of Scotland was now James I of England.

After centuries of division and conflict, the thrones of England and Scotland were now united, and it has remained united to the present day.

Mary, Queen of Scots, played an important role in the history of 16th-century Britain. Some historians consider her a villain, and some consider her a victim. Either, she played a pivotal part in the creation of the modern British monarchy.