MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS

Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587) was the daughter of James V of Scotland and
Mary of Guise. She became Queen of Scotland when she was six days old after
her father died at the Battle of Solway Moss.
A marriage was arranged between Mary and Edward, only son of Henry VIII but
was broken when the Scots decided they preferred an alliance with France. Mary
spent a happy childhood in France and in 1558 married Francis, heir to the
French throne. They became king and queen of France in 1559.
Sadly, Francis died in 1560 and Mary, not wanting to stay in France, returned to
Scotland. During Mary's absence, Scotland had become a Protestant country. The
Protestants did not want Mary, a Catholic and their official queen, to have any
influence.
In 1565 Mary married her cousin and heir to the English throne, Henry Stuart,
Lord Darnley. The marriage was not a happy one. Darnley was jealous of Mary's
close friendship with her secretary, David Rizzio and in March 1566 had him
murdered in front of Mary who was six months pregnant with the future James I.
Darnley made many enemies among the Scottish nobles and in 1567 his house
was blown up. Darnley's body was found inside, he had been strangled.
Three months later Mary married the chief suspect, the Earl of Bothwell. The
people of Scotland were outraged and turned against her. She was removed from
the throne and fled to England. She appealed to Elizabeth for help and support,
but Elizabeth, suspicious that she was going to raise Catholic support and take
the throne of England, kept Mary a virtual prisoner for the next eighteen years.
In 1586 letters sent to Mary by a Catholic called Thomas Babington, were found.
The letters revealed a plot to kill Elizabeth and replace her with Mary. Elizabeth
had no choice but to sign Mary's death warrant. Mary Queen of Scots was
beheaded at Fotheringay Castle on February 8th 1587.
Elizabeth's solution was to keep Mary, Queen of Scots, in prison. For the next 19 years,
Mary was kept in safe custody in various castles and manor houses. In all this time, Mary
never met Elizabeth.
Mary, Queen of Scots, did not help herself. She made it clear to anybody who would
listen, that she felt that she should be the queen of England. In 1570, she received the
backing of the pope. This meant that there was no reason why a Catholic should not
assassinate Elizabeth because it would not be a sin as the pope had said that Mary
should be queen of England. Mary was clearly becoming a major problem for Elizabeth
and her advisors.
It took many years for the government to build up a case against Mary - even if such a
case actually existed! This work was carried out by Sir Francis Walsingham. His spy
network kept a close eye on Mary.
In 1586, a man called Anthony Babington devised a plot to kill Elizabeth, rescue Mary and
then see her as the next queen of England. Babington wrote in code to Mary to explain
what he was doing. Mary wrote back, stating that she agreed with what he was doing.
Walsingham's spies intercepted both letters. Babington was arrested and charged with
treason. In September 1586, Babington was executed. Now the government had a case
against Mary. She was put on trial in October 1586.

Mary defended herself well but the judges found her guilty of treason. To the judges, who
would not listen to her arguments, she said "You are indeed my enemies". The reply was
"We are the enemy of the enemies of our queen." The trial lasted just 2 days.
Mary was found guilty of plotting to kill Elizabeth. She was sentenced to death. In
February 1587, Mary was given just 24 hours notice that she would be executed the next
day.

Commentary: Even before Mary Queen of Scots had become a threat, her
mother presented some problems for Elizabeth: soon after Elizabeth's
coronation, Mary of Guise, Queen Regent and the mother of Mary Queen of
Scots, found herself facing opposition from Protestant reformers in Scotland
called the "Lords of the Congregation." The Protestant group requested
Elizabeth's aid. Elizabeth certainly wanted to get Mary of Guise's French armies
out of Scotland, but she was afraid that her interference might provoke a French
invasion of England. Elizabeth refused to send troops, instead sending money to
support the Protestants, who overthrew the Queen Regent. Lord Burleigh (then
William Cecil) encouraged military, while Elizabeth, fearful of action as always,
hesitated. Ultimately, Elizabeth used the Navy to cut off French supplies to Mary
of Guise's forces in Scotland. Later, at Cecil's advice, she sent an army, which
was defeated. After Mary of Guise became ill, Cecil negotiated the Treaty of
Edinburgh, a favorable treaty to Elizabeth. It prevented Mary of Guise and her
family from using England's coat of Arms, it forced them to formally recognize
Elizabeth as Queen of England, and it reacquired the removal of French forces
from Scotland. Thus Elizabeth had a long history of conflict with Mary Queen of
Scots' family. Mary Stuart herself refused to ratify the Treaty of Edinburgh.
Other than her later battles against the Spanish Armada, the greatest threat
Elizabeth faced during her rule was from Mary Queen of Scots. But although
Catholics throughout Europe supported her cause, Mary was eventually sorely
disappointed in her expectation that English Catholics would rise against
Elizabeth. Regardless of their religious beliefs, all of England could appreciate the
welcome prosperity and stability Elizabeth's reign had provided. Furthermore,
although Europe's Catholic rulers supported Mary Queen of Scots in principle,
they did not actually assist her, although Elizabeth and Walsingham always
feared this possibility. While it was initially impossible to link Mary to the antiElizabeth plots, the constant danger Mary posed motivated Parliament to push
for her execution.
It was Walsingham's crafty espionage that uncovered Mary Queen of Scot's
involvement in the Babington Plot. Since the execution was rushed through by
Elizabeth's advisors (who claimed that they did it to spare her the pain of having
to order Mary's death) the Queen later claimed that she would not actually have
allowed the execution, and that her advisors had betrayed her wishes. This is
unlikely, as Mary Queen of Scots was a tremendous threat. Indeed, some
scholars speculate that Elizabeth herself secretly orchestrated the execution
ahead of schedule, or led her advisors to think she knew they were ordering the
execution without actually saying anything, so that later she would be absolved
of any guilt. In the end, the question of her complicity hardly mattered, however:
the people of London celebrated wildly upon Mary's death.