Mary, Queen of Scots, Is Executed
Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart, was executed on February 8, 1587, a significant event in the tumultuous political landscape of 16th-century Britain. Born in December 1542, she became queen at just a week old after the death of her father, King James V of Scotland. Her early life was marked by political intrigue, including a proposed marriage to Prince Edward of England, which was thwarted by Scottish resistance. After spending her formative years in France and marrying the French dauphin, she returned to Scotland in 1561 to reclaim her throne.
Her reign was marred by scandal, including her disastrous marriage to Lord Darnley and his subsequent murder, which led to her forced abdication in favor of her son, James VI. Seeking refuge in England, she became a prisoner of Queen Elizabeth I, who viewed Mary as a Catholic threat to her Protestant rule. After being implicated in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth, Mary was tried for treason, ultimately leading to her execution. Mary's tragic fate underscores the intense religious and political conflicts of the era and her enduring legacy as a figure of intrigue in European history.
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Mary, Queen of Scots, Is Executed
Mary, Queen of Scots, Is Executed
Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart, was executed on this day in 1587. She was the daughter of King James V of Scotland by his second wife, Mary of Guise, and was born at Linlithgow Palace in Scotland in December 1542. The exact day is uncertain, but it is clear that almost from birth she was an important figure in the politics of succession in Europe, a situation that would eventually lead to her execution.
When she was barely a week old, her father died and Mary became the queen of Scotland, since she was his only legitimate heir. King Henry VIII of England sought her betrothal to his son, Prince Edward, in order to unite the crowns of the two countries and bring Scotland under English control. However, the Scottish parliament refused to approve it, leading to war with England and Mary's being sent to France for her upbringing. Her mother governed Scotland in her stead, sometimes with the help of French troops.
Mary spent her childhood in France and was married to the crown prince, or dauphin, of France in 1558. Her husband became King Francis II in 1559 but died the next year, so at the tender age of 18 Mary was both queen of Scotland and dowager queen of France. She could have stayed in France and lived off the lands left to her by the marriage, but in 1561 after the death of her mother she decided to return to Scotland and rule as queen.
Young, impetuous, and beautiful, Mary initially made a good impression in her new kingdom. She acted with prudence in the important matter of religion, making no out-right attempt to impose her own Catholic faith on all her subjects, many of whom were Protestant. For her dynasty to continue, however, she would need a husband, and in 1565 she married a handsome Scottish nobleman, Lord Darnley. The marriage was a disaster. Darnley was determined to exercise royal power in his own right, and in 1566 he conspired with several other lords to murder David Rizzio, Mary's most trusted adviser. In 1567 Darnley in his turn was murdered and his house blown up with gunpowder, most likely by agents of the Earl of Bothwell, who had become the queen's champion. He abducted her, and upon their return to Edinburgh, they were married.
Convinced that Mary had connived at Darnley's murder, most of the Scottish nobles rose in rebellion. She attempted to suppress the rebels, but her army was defeated at Carberry Hill on June 15, 1567. Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son, James VI, on July 24 of that same year, and she was imprisoned on an island at Lochleven. However, on May 2, 1568, she escaped and managed to assemble an army of loyalists in an effort to regain the throne. Mary was defeated once again, this time at Langside on May 12. Shortly thereafter she fled to England and sought refuge at the court of Queen Elizabeth I.
Elizabeth welcomed Mary—and made her a permanent prisoner. Elizabeth was the last surviving child of Henry VIII, and her hold on the throne was not yet secure. In the eyes of Catholics, both at home and abroad, Elizabeth had no right to inherit the crown, for she was the child of divorce and moreover a Protestant. (The pope himself would shortly pronounce her a heretic and a usurper, and release her subjects from the bonds of allegiance.) Mary, on the other hand, was impeccably descended from Henry VIII's sister and had titles of her own in France and Scotland. She had a plausible claim to be Elizabeth's successor; many of her fellow Catholics went further and hoped she would become Elizabeth's replacement, so that their old religion could be restored.
For the next two decades the hopes of England's beleaguered Catholic minority, as well as the schemes of the great continental powers, centered upon the imprisoned Queen of Scots, who became the focus of any number of intrigues and plots. The last and most serious was that of Anthony Babington, Mary's former servant, who was caught planning to assassinate Elizabeth and lead an uprising on Mary's behalf. Mary was tried and found guilty of conspiring against the queen's life, sentenced to death on October 25, 1586, and beheaded on February 8, 1587, at Fotheringay Castle. Her son, James, raised as a Protestant in Scotland, eventually became king of both Scotland and England.