Veronika Pidimová, MCR-AJ






 CORONATION
 ROUGH WOOING
 LIFE IN FRANCE
 SCOTLAND
 FLIGHT TO ENGLAND
 EXECUTION

Mary Stuart, known to history as Mary, queen of Scots,
was one of the most fascinating and controversial
monarchs of 16th century Europe. At one time, she
claimed the crowns of four nations - Scotland, France,
England and Ireland. Her physical beauty and kind
heart were acknowledged even by her enemies.
Mary, famous for her beauty and wit, her crimes and her
fate was born at Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian,
Scotland, on Decembre 8, 1542 to King of Scotland,
James V and his French wife Mary de Guise. But James
died on December 14 at the age of thirty, probably from
cholera, although his contemporaries believed his death
to have been caused by grief over the Scots' humiliating
loss to the English at the Battle of Solway Moss. And the
six-day-old Mary became Queen of Scotland. The
Scottish nobility decided that they must make peace
with England, and they agreed that she should marry
Henry VIII's son, the future Edward VI.So six months after
her birth, In July 1543, the Treaties of Greenwich promised Mary to be married
to Edward, and for their heirs to inherit the Kingdoms of Scotland and
England. Two months later, Mary and her mother, who strongly opposed the
marriage proposition, went into hiding in Stirling Castle, where preparations
were made for Mary's coronation.

Mary was crowned as Queen of Scots in the Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle on
September 9, 1543. Due to the age of the Queen and the unique ceremony,
the coronation was the talk of Europe. On the day of the coronation Mary
was dressed in heavy regal robes in miniature. A crimson velvet mantle, with a
train furred with ermine, was fastened around her tiny neck, and a jeweled
satin gown, with long hanging sleeves, enveloped the infant, who could sit up
but not walk. She was carried by Lord Livingston in solemn procession to the
Chapel Royal. Inside, Lord Livingston brought Mary forward to the altar and
put her gently in the throne set up there. Then he stood by, holding her to
keep her from rolling off.
Quickly, Cardinal David Beaton put the Coronation Oath to her, which Lord
Livingston answered for her. Immediately then the Cardinal unfastened her
heavy robes and began anointing her with the holy oil on her back, breast,
and the palms of her hands. When the chill air struck her, she began to cry.
The Earl of Lennox (whose son Henry, Lord Darnley, later became Mary's 2nd
husband) brought forward the Sceptre and placed it in her baby hand, and
she grasped the heavy shaft. Then the Sword of State was presented by the
Earl of Argyll, and the Cardinal performed the ceremony of girding the threefoot sword to the tiny body.
Then, the Earl of Arran carried the Crown. Holding it gently, Cardinal Beaton
lowered it onto the child's head, where it rested on a circlet of velvet. The
Cardinal steadied the crown and Lord Livingston held her body straight as the
Earls of Lennox and Arran kissed her cheek in fealty, followed by the rest of
the prelates and peers who knelt before her and, placing their hands on her
crown, swore allegiance to her.

The Treaties of Greenwich fell apart soon after Mary's coronation. The
betrothal did not sit well with the Scots, especially since Henry VIII suspiciously
tried to change the agreement so that he could possess Mary years before
the marriage . He also wanted them to break their traditional alliance with
France. Fearing of an uprising among the people, the Scottish Parliament
broke off the treaty at the end of the year.
This did not sit well with Henry VIII however, and he began his "rough wooing"
designed to impose the marriage to his son on Mary. This consisted of a series
of raids on Scottish territory and other such actions. It lasted until June 1551,
costing over half a million pounds and many lives.
In July 1548, they sent the five-year-old Mary to France, her mother's
homeland to be brought up at the French Court and the Scots Parliament
had agreed to her marriage with Francis, the heir of Henry II, king of France
from 1547 to 1559. It is said that the spelling of the royal family name of
Stewart changed to Stuart at that time, to suit French conventional spelling.
Mary sailed from Dumbarton Castle to France, using this route to avoid English
ships patrolling the English Channel. Vivacious, pretty, and clever (according
to contemporary accounts), Mary had a promising childhood. When Mary left
Scotland, she travelled with the children of Scotland's nobility, including the
'Four Maries,' the women who would stay with her throughout her later
imprisonment and execution. They were Mary Fleming, Mary Seton, Mary
Beaton and Mary Livingstone. Mary Seton was the only one to die unmarried
and lived on until 1615, praying for Mary's soul and giving alms in her memory.
The group arrived in France in August 1548.

Mary was given a royal welcome in France by King Henry II. He ordered that
she would have precedence over his own daughters as she was sovereign of
an independent country and also because she was to wed his heir, the
Dauphin. The king also became very fond of the child, saying, 'The little
Queen of Scots is the most perfect child I have ever seen.'
Mary was 5 when she first met the four-year-old Dauphin, her betrothed
husband. According to most contemporaries, they were close and
affectionate with one another even as children. They travelled from one
royal palace to another - Fountaineblea to Meudon, or to Chambord or
Saint-Germain. They were always attended by a retinue of servants and,
even then, Mary had developed a fondness for animals, especially dogs,
which was to continue throughout her life. Mary was also educated in the
traditional manner of French princesses; she spoke French and learned Latin,
Italian, Spanish and a little Greek. She learned to dance, sing, play the lute as
well as conversed on religious matters. Her religious tutor was the prior of
Inchmahome, a Scottish priest. When she was seven, her mother came to
France to visit her; when Mary of Guise returned to Scotland, neither realized
that they would never see each other again.
By the age of eleven, Mary was deemed to be as intelligent and well-spoken
as a woman of twenty-five by her doting father-in-law. It is worth noting that
the Guise family regarded Mary as one of their own; not only was betrothed
to the heir to the throne but her mother was a Guise as well. Her uncle,
Cardinal Guise, taught her about statecraft, perhaps encouraging her natural
feelings of clemency and mercy.
On April 24, 1558 she married the dauphin Francois in an
incredible celebration in Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.She
wore white dress although the white was mourning colour of
French queens. Mary secretly agreed to bequeath Scotland
to France if she should die without a son. Exceptionally tall for
a woman in the 16th century, Mary was every inch the regal
Queen; she had an oval face, shapely chin, and small mouth
which were set off by her golden-red hair, her large forehead,
and hazel eyes. Many considered Mary to be the most
beautiful princess in Europe.
On Novembre 17, 1558 the English Queen Mary Tudor passed away and her
sister Elizabeth I secceeded to the throne. And under the ordinary laws of
succession, Mary was next in line to the English throne after her cousin, Queen
Elizabeth I, who was childless. However, according to the Catholic religion,
Elizabeth was illegitimate, what made Mary the true heiress.
After the Mary´s death Henry II of France encouraged his daughter-in- law to
assume the royal arms of England. This had serious repercussions throughout
Mary's life. Elizabeth I never forgot this first offense and never rested easily
while her Catholic relative was alive.
In 1559, Henry II of France, died at the age of 40. Mary and her husband were
crowned Queen and King of France. But in June of 1560, Mary's mother died
in Scotland at the age of 45. And just six months later, her young husband
also died of an ear infection. Mary was understandably devastated by this
chain of tragic events. . By long watching him during his sickness and painful
diligence about him she had become exhausted and made herself ill. She
wrote a poem, in French, about her grief at his death; this is a translation of
one verse:
By day, by night, I think of him/ In wood or mead, or where I be/ My heart
keeps watch for one who's gone./ And yet I feel he's aye with me.
What was Mary to do next? She left for Scotland, a land rife with religious and
civil discord. Without waiting for a safe-conduct pass from Elizabeth, whose
ships were patrolling her route, Mary set out for Scotland on 14 August 1561
and, five days later, reached Leith, the port of Edinburgh.

In Scotland she immediately took the advice of the moderates James Stuart
(her half-brother, later earl of Moray) and William Maitland of Lethington. She
recognised the Reformed (Presbyterian) church and allowed it a modest
endowment but not full establishment. The Protestant reformers, including
John Knox, were horrified because she had Mass in her own chapel, and the
Roman Catholics were worried about her lack of zeal for their cause. For the
next few years Mary tried to placate the Protestants and befriend Elizabeth .
Within a year of her arrival, one-sixth of all Church benefices was given to the
Protestant ministers to relieve their poverty. She also attempted to strengthen
the power of the Crown against Scotland's notoriously
difficult-to-control nobles. Of course, such a strategy
would lead to more peace and stability within the realm.
As a result, she was popular with the common people but
not the nobility; she played croquet, golf, went for hunts
and archery practice, sung, danced, and, in general,
showed an admirable zest for life.
In the political realm, Mary kept up peaceful relations with
France, Spain, and England, though she never met
Elizabeth face-to-face. But, in 1566, her patience was tried
by the English ambassador's persistent and obvious spying; she ordered him
out of the kingdom and declared him persona non grata. She wanted peace
and prosperity, and she kept Scotland safely distanced from political
machinations. When the threat to Mary's reign finally came, it was not from
one of these outside powers; indeed, it came from her own nation.
As queen, Mary was more than aware that she should marry and provide
heirs to the throne. In July of 1565 at Holyrood Palace, she wed a cousin
named Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, a weak, vain, and unstable young man;
like Mary , he was also a grandchild of Henry VIII's sister Margaret. She wore
black dress which she used at funeral of Francis.
Why Mary wed Darnley remains a mystery; he was superficially
charming and, unlike most men, taller than the queen. He was
fond of courtly amusements and thus a nice change from the
dour Scottish lords who surrounded her. But he never seemed to
care for Mary and sought far more power than she was willing to
give him.
Before long, Mary became pregnant, but Darnley soon became arrogant
and demanding, insisting on power to go with his courtly title of "King". He was
jealous of Mary's friendship with her private secretary, David Rizzio, and, in
March 1566 Darnley joined a group of Scottish nobles (who had rebelled
against Mary in the Chaseabout Raid), they broke into her supper-room at
Holyrood Palace and dragged her French secretary, David Riccio, into
another room where they stabbed him to death. This action was the catalyst
for the breakdown of their marriage. Darnley soon changed sides again and
betrayed the lords.
After Rizzio's death, the nobles kept Mary as a prisoner at Holyrood Palace.
Entering the later stages of her pregnancy, she was desperate to escape so
she pretended love to Darnley, she won over him and they escaped
together. Three months later the future James VI of Scotland was born and
congratulations came from all over Europe. Still young and healthy after the
birth, Mary now had an heir. This was the apex of her reign, her greatest and
happiest moment. Mary, once the fragile last hope of the Stewart dynasty,
was just 23 years old and had fulfilled one of a monarch's greatest duties providing a healthy son and heir. Elizabeth of England, ten years older,
watched these events with interest, even then, she knew her own future
would be - by choice - unmarried and childless. She could well imagine that
Mary's son would be her heir as well.
Following the birth of the heir — the future James I of
England and James VI of Scotland — in June 1566,
Mary allegedly began a liaison with James Hepburn,
4th, Earl of Bothwell, an adventurer who would
become her third husband. A plot was hatched to
remove Darnley, who was already ill (possibly
suffering from smallpox). He was recovering in a
house in Edinburgh where Mary visited him frequently,
so that it appeared a reconciliation was in prospect.
But in February 1567, an explosion occurred in the
house, and Darnley was found dead in the garden;
he appeared to have been strangled. This event, which should have been
Mary's salvation, only harmed her reputation. Bothwell was generally believed
to be guilty of the assassination.
On April 24 Mary visited her son at Stirling Castle. On her way back to
Edinburgh she was abducted, willingly or not, by Bothwell and his men and
taken to Dunbar Castle where she may have been raped by him. On May 6
they returned to Edinburgh and on May 15, at Holyrood Palace, Mary and
Bothwell were married according to Protestant rites.
The nobility turned against Mary and Bothwell and raised an army against
them. Mary and Bothwell confronted the Lords at Carberry Hill on June 15, but
there was no battle as Mary agreed to follow the Lords on condition that they
let Bothwell go. But the Lords broke their promise and took her to Edinburgh
and then imprisoned her in Loch Leven Castle, situated on an island in the
middle of Loch Leven. Between July 18 and July 24, 1567, Mary miscarried
twins at that castle. On July 24, she was also forced to abdicate the Scottish
throne in favour of her one-year-old son James.


Mary escaped from Lochleven in 1568, only to be defeated at the Battle of
Langside, near Glasgow, on 13 May. Fleeing south, she sought shelter in
England, believing that Queen Elizabeth I would support her cause, but
instead she was kept in captivity in England for 19 years.
When she came to London she begged of Elizabeth for meeting but she
rather ovoid it.Elizabeth even didn´t invite Mary to her court, it was because
of Elizabeth´s conceit that beautiful Mary belittled her. But she also realised
that it would be better to have Mary in England. The reason was simple,
Elizabeth considerd Mary as a serious menace to English throne. The problem
was that she missed reason to keep Mary in captivity. But actually there was
one-mureder of Darnley.There was some investigation but finally Mary was
found innocent because of deficient proofs. But from this time she was kept in
prison in England.
First Mary was moved from prison to prison (in castles Bolton, Chatsworth,
Sheffield, Tutbury, Windfield), when eventually ended up at Fotheringhay
Castle, about 70 miles north-west of London and as close to Elizabeth as she
ever came.
In October of 1586, Mary was put on trial at Fotheringhay for plotting to kill
Elizabeth and claiming the English throne. Elizabeth's last letter to Mary was
delivered at the start of the trial:
You have in various ways and manners attempted to take my life and to bring
my kingdom to destruction by bloodshed. I have never proceeded so harshly
against you, but have, on the contrary, protected and maintained you like
myself. These treasons will be proved to you and all made manifest. Yet it is
my will, that you answer the nobles and peers of the kingdom as if I were
myself present. I therefore require, charge, and command that you make
answer for I have been well informed of your arrogance.
Act plainly without reserve, and you will sooner be able to obtain favour of
me.
Elizabeth.
Mary defended herself admirably though she had no friends or supporters at
the trial and, essentially, the verdict had been decided before the
proceedings began. Mary admitted her desire to escape but stated, 'I have
not procured or encouraged any hurt against Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.'
And she appealed for mercy, mentioning her own reputation for tolerance
and kindness: 'My subjects, now complain, they were never so well off as
under my government.' But she also accepted the inevitable, telling the
assembled nobles, 'May God keep me from having to do with you all again.'
When the verdict was read to her, she said, 'I do not fear to die in a good
cause.'
The trial lasted just two days and was over on 16 October 1586 but it was not
until 7 February 1587 that she was told she would be executed the next
morning. She asked for her chaplain but was refused this last comfort. The
Earl of Kent said: 'Your life would be the death of our religion, your death
would be its life.' In fact, Mary had been a tolerant ruler in Scottish religious
matters. But such was the extreme religious upheaval of the time, tolerance
itself was a sign of weakness. The death-sentence was signed by Elizabeth
who later argued that her secretary Davison had deceived her as to its
contents; she said she would not have signed it otherwise. Her letter to Mary's
son James about the execution, written on 14 February, is a remarkable
document:
My dear Brother, I would you knew (though not felt) the extreme dolor that
overwhelms my mind, for that miserable accident which (far contrary to my
meaning) hath befallen. I have now sent this kinsman of mine, whom ere now
it hath pleased you to favour, to instruct you truly of that which is too irksome
for my pen to tell you. I beseech you that as God and many more know, how
innocent I am in this case : so you will believe me, that if I had bid aught I
would have bid by it. I am not so base minded that fear of any living creature
or Prince should make me so afraid to do that were just; or done, to deny the
same. I am not of so base a lineage, nor carry so vile a mind. But, as not to
disguise, fits not a King, so will I never dissemble my actions, but cause them
show even as I meant them. Thus assuring yourself of me, that as I know this
was deserved, yet if I had meant it I would never lay it on others' shoulders; no
more
will
I
not
damnify
myself
that
thought
it
not.
The circumstance it may please you to have of this bearer. And for your part,
think you have not in the world a more loving kinswoman, nor a more dear
friend than myself; nor any that will watch more carefully to preserve you and
your estate. And who shall otherwise persuade you, judge them more partial
to others than you. And thus in haste I leave to trouble you: beseeching God
to
send
you
a
long
reign.
Your most assured loving sister and cousin,
Elizabeth R.
Mary did not retire until two in the morning on the last day of her life. She
spent her final hours making a will and generously providing to those who had
served her faithfully. Early on the morning of 8
February 1587, dressed in black satin and velvet, she
entered the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle. She
commanded her servant, Melville, to go to her son
and tell him that she had never done anything to
compromise their kingdom of Scotland. Mary was
calm and composed before the several hundred
spectators presented; she listened while the
execution warrant was read and then prayed aloud in English for the Church
and her son. She also mentioned Queen Elizabeth and prayed for her to
continue to serve God in the years to come.

Mary comforted her weeping servants, her friends and supporters to the
last. They helped her get dress; beneath her all-black gown, she wore a red
petticoat and bodice. Her women helped her attach the long red sleeves.
Mary thus died wearing the liturgical color of Catholic martyrdom. She gave
them her golden rosary and Agnus Dei, asking them to remember her in their
prayers. Her eyes were covered with a white cloth. While her servants wept
and called out prayers in a medley of languages, she laid her neck upon the
block, commended herself to God and received the death-stroke. But the
executioner was unsteady and the first blow cut the back of her head; Mary
whispered, 'Sweet Jesus', and the second blow descended.
When the executioner lifted her head and cried out, 'God save the Queen,'
a macabre surprise occurred. Mary, queen of Scots had worn an auburn wig
to her execution. It was left in the executioner's hand as her head, with its
short, grey hair, fell to the floor.
Mary had always loved animals and her little Skye terrier had brought her
great comfort during the years in prison. It had curled itself around her feet
while she knelt at the block and died just days after the queen. It is worth
remembering that Mary's motto had been 'In my end is my beginning,' apt
words to sum up her tumultuous life.
Mary was initially buried at Peterborough Cathedral. Sixteen years after her
death, Mary's son became King of England and Scotland. In 1612, he moved
her body to Westminster Abbey, London, constructing a magnificent tomb
which rivaled Elizabeth I's.
Most portraits of Mary made after her death
emphasize her piety and Catholic 'martyrdom'. She wears blafl and a rosary is
prominently displayed.
Zdroje:


Internet
Marie Stuartovna, Antonia Fraser