Mary Queen of Scots (1542 - 1567)

To understand the reign of Mary it is necessary to begin with her minority. The heir presumptive, James Hamilton Earl of Arran, along with the Queen Mother, Mary of Guise, was confirmed as Governor. Mary of Guise ensured that there was a pro-French faction with the arrival from France of Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox, who was also considered to have a claim to the succession. Another pro-French figure was Cardinal Archbishop of St Andrews, David Beaton until he was murdered in 1546.

The murder of Beaton was instigated by Henry VIII but before this he consolidated his military successes with a campaign of bribery and diplomacy which resulted in the Treaty of Greenwich in 1543. This treaty included the provision for the marriage of Mary to Henry's heir, Prince Edward. Henry never ratified the agreement, however, and the prospect of domination by England gave the Scottish Council second thoughts. Henry then started on the campaign known as the 'Rough Wooing'. The campaign was led by the Earl of Hertford and during it he plundered 243 villages, destroyed seven monasteries, burned five market towns and razed four abbeys, including Dryborough and Kelso. The Scots won a victory against the English at Ancrum Moor but were severely beaten at the Battle of Pinkie on Black Friday (10th September 1547). Although Henry VIII had died earlier in the year the Protector of the Realm, Earl of Somerset proceeded to occupy most of the east of southern Scotland in the name of Edward VI.

Melgund Castle, one of the homes of Cardinal Beaton

Queen Mary was taken to France in 1548 for her safety and spent the next 13 years there. Back in Scotland Mary of Guise consolidated her power and became sole regent in 1554. Many Scots felt that the encroachment of French power was no more welcome than that of the English and the rise of Protestantism also included a nationalistic element. In 1557 a group known as the Lords of the Congregation drew up the Covenant which attracted a good deal of support.

Portrait of Mary

The Protestants and nationalists were right to be worried. The French had arranged that the fifteen-year-old Queen was to be married to the dauphin, Francis, and she had also signed three secret documents giving the French what they asked for. This was the first of Mary's many political mistakes. By 1559 Mary of Guise and the Lords of the Gongregation were in open warfare the result of which was that the Congregation overthrew the regent and took control of Edinburgh. French troops had arrived and stationed themselves in Leith ready for a counter-attack. In July of 1559 Henry II died which left Mary's husband as King of France and Scotland. The Scots sent to England for help from the Protestant Elizabeth I, who was already at war with France, thus ending the end of the Auld Alliance. By August Elizabeth's money had arrived and troops arrived the following year and by June the Queen Mother had died of dropsy. The Guise cause then collapsed. The French and English came to an agreemnet at Edinburgh whereby all foreigners were excluded from taking posts in the Scottish government. A Great Council of the Realm was also set up (Queen Mary was to appoint seven members and parliament five). Queen Mary refused to ratify the Treaty of Edinburgh, however, and parliament then went on to declare Scotland to be legally Protestant. By Christmas her husband was dead of a septic ear and Mary made plans to return to Scotland. She arrived on 19 August 1561, in the company of John Lesley, having avoided English vessels sent to intercept her.

Mary left much of the day-to-day government of Scotland to the Council, she preferred to stay in her rooms with her followers, including her secretary Riccio, the Englishman Fowler and Francisco de Busso. This left councillors such as Lord James Stewart, Earl of Moray and Secretary of State William Maitland in difficult position and they soon became restless. Although Mary insisted on having Mass said in her chapels she did not move against the Protestants, even after John Knox's address to her. In fact, in 1566 she donated £10,000 of her own money to the church. There were plots, however, one by the Earl of Arran and another by Earl Huntley, both came to nothing.

Mary & John Knox

Murder of Riccio

It was her marriage to Henry Lord Darnley that finally brought matters to a head. She seems to have married him for several reasons, he was good looking and she believed that the marriage would strengthen her claim to the throne of England. This provoked another revolt by Lord James and other Protestant nobles which was put down in the 'Chase About Raid'. Mary was soon estranged from her weak husband. In 1566 he was involved in a plot, along with the Earl of Morton, Lord Ruthven and Lord Lindsay, to rid the court of the Queen's favourites. Their main target was Riccio and he was torn from Mary's skirts to be murdered outside her room. Mary was six months pregnant at the time and she never forgave Darnley for endangering her unborn child even though a reconciliation was effected.

After the future James VI was born, and baptised by Archbishop Hamilton, Mary started an affair with James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. There is mystery over who was responsible for the murder of Darnley but it is known that he was at Kirk O' Fields House outside Edinburgh recovering from a bout of syphilis when the house was blown up. That same night, 10 February 1567, Darnley was found strangled in the grounds of the house. Bothwell promptly divorced his wife and in May married Mary. Mary's reign now collapsed. She was taken prisoner, first in Edinburgh and later at Loch Leven, where she was forced to abdicate in favour of her son. She escaped from Loch Leven found some support but lost at the battle of Langside in May 1568. After the battle she fled by sea to England only to be detained by Elizabeth I. While she was detained in England many of her supporters made contact with her and some, such as Ninian Winyet, served her for a time. Finally she was executed in Fotheringay Castle on 8 February 1587.

Aberdour Castle, home of Earl Morton

History Books on Mary Queen of Scots:

Author	Title	Published	Price	Order Now From:
Bingham, C.	Darnley: Concort of Mary, Queen of Scots	1997	£9.99	Amazon.co.uk
Dazzlingly good looking, accomplished and arrogant, Darnley was a murderer and then himself the victim of one of the most famous unsolved murders in history. In this biography, the author uses her knowledge of Scottish history to recount the life and times of a neglected Scottish Consort.
Cheetham, J. Keith	On the Trail of Mary Queen of Scots	1999	£7.99 or $14.95	Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Part of a series examining key figures, this text traces the major events in the turbulent life of the beautiful enigmatic queen. More than four centuries after her execution, her romantic reign and tragic fate exert an undimmed fascination. The book includes maps, line drawings and illustrations.
Donaldson, G.	First Trial of Mary, Queen of Scots	1983	£47.50	Amazon.co.uk
Fraser, A.	Mary, Queen of Scots	1989	£10.00 or $19.95	Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
This biography won the James Tait Black Prize. It provides an enlightening, scholarly yet moving account of the life and death of one of the most romantic figures in British history.
Lewis, Jane Elizabeth	Mary, Queen of Scots : Romance and Nation	1998	£14.99 or $22.95	Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
This text examines the enigma of Mary Queen of Scots by exploring the history of her representation in Britain from the late Tudor period to the end of the first World War.
Merriman, Marcus	The Rough Wooings: Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 - 1551	2001	£25.00 or $39.95	Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Mary Queen of Scots was a daughter of debate from the week of her birth. The Rough Wooings for her hand in marriage were the last major war between Scotland and England. This is the story of her beginning, which involves the major figures of early modern history - such as Henry VIII and Francois I.
Swain, M.	Needlework of Mary, Queen of Scots	1986	£10.95 or $18.95	Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Although a large body of needlework has always been attributed to Mary Queen of Scots, little attempt was made to authenticate these pieces or to explain how so energetic and impetuous a woman could have found pleasure in the meticulous craft of embroidery. This is the first comprehensive study of the Queen as a needlewoman describing all the works associated with her. For the first time every piece marked by her cipher or monogram is illustrated in full. A biographical outline provides the framework for understanding her work by setting it in the context of her unsettled and stormy life. It recounts the influence of her formative years in France and her absorption in needlework during the years of imprisonment. Many of the embroideries can be seen in British country houses such as Harwick Hall and Oxburgh Hall, and in Scottish collections.
Watkins, Susan	Mary, Queen of Scots	2001	£19.95 or $40.00	Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Mary's inheritance gave her both the Scottish throne and a claim to the English throne that would lead to her death. This title re-creates the world in which Mary lived - the landscapes, the palaces and the courtly culture, and the fine details of the domestic scene.

History Books on this time period:

Author	Title	Published	Price	Order Now From:
Donaldson, G.	Scotland: James V - VII	1965	£16.99	Amazon.co.uk
The four-volume Edinburgh History of Scotland is the most important project in Scottish historical writing for more than half a century; each volume is written by an expert on the period who brings to his work the direct acquaintance with original sources on which authoritative historical writing can alone be based. This, the third volume, deals with the time when many of the most significant and familiar episodes in Scottish history took place. The period was one in which Scotland was transformed, partly as a result of conspicuous events but largely because of more subtle and less perceptible changes in the constitutional, ecclesiastical and economic structure, the end result of which was an emergence of life more akin to that we know today. Since the early years of the 20th century much research has been done into this period. Its results form the foundation of this major work, which makes available information hitherto only found scattered throughout numerous books and periodicals.
Wormald, J.	Court, King & Community: Scotland 1470-1625	1991	£9.95	Amazon.co.uk
The last period of Scotland's existence as an independent kingdom with the focus on the events and consequences of the Reformation.

Historical Fiction Books on Mary and her times

Author	Title	Published	Price	Order Now From:
Tannahill, Reay	Fatal Majesty	1998	£6.99	Amazon.co.uk
The life and death of Mary, Queen of Scots, is arguably the most famous murder story in history. This novel tells the story as a saga of political and sexual intrigue, in which the early equivalents of MI5 and the CIA play cat-and-mouse with a fascinating woman.
Tranter, Nigel	Highness in Hiding	1996	£5.99	Amazon.co.uk
A tale of courage and danger in the aftermath of the Jacobite Rising.
Tranter, Nigel	Warden of the Queen's March	1997	£5.99	Amazon.co.uk
The story of Thomas Kerr of Ferniehirst and his loyal service to the beautiful ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots as both are caught up in the turmoil created by John Knox, the Regent Moray, Darnley, Rizzie, Bothwell and Elizabeth Tudor.
Tranter, Nigel	Mail Royal	1989	£5.99	Amazon.co.uk
David Gray is commissioned by his uncle to be his envoy south of the border to James I of England in his new English domain. But first David has to find Queen Mary's famously incriminating letters, said to be hidden in Fast Castle, a stronghold halfway down a cliff on the Berwickshire coast.
Tranter, Nigel	The Marchman	1997	£5.99	Amazon.co.uk
At the beginning of Elizabeth I's reign, John Maxwell, a loyal supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, seeks to play his part on the March of Dumfries and Galloway. Inevitably he is to find himself drawn into the wider sphere of the kingdom's affairs, becoming involved with Mary's courtiers and enemies.
Tranter, Nigel	The Master of Gray Trilogy	1996	£12.99	Amazon.co.uk
A 16th-century tale of one of Scotland's noblest families, comprising the novels LORD AND MASTER, THE COURTESAN and PAST MASTER, focusing on Patrick, Master of Gray, the son and heir of the 5th Lord Gray, who was to become involved in daring plots to free the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots.
Tranter, Nigel	Queen's Grace	1992	£5.99	Amazon.co.uk
Events surrounding the life & times of Mary Queen of Scots .