Mary Stuart (1542-1587)
(Part  III)

Mary's army met that of her enemies at Carberry Hill, but when she realized her army could not win, she surrendered without even putting up a fight. She was taken prisoner to Loch Leven Castle. Against her will, she was forced to sign the abdication papers in favour of her infant son King James VI of Scotland. Her half-brother James Stewart, Earl of Murray, became regent. He did not live long as he was assassinated in 1570 by one of Mary's supporters.

After a few months, a careful plan was made to free her. She was guided out of the castle by a sixteen year old page, Willie Douglas, Mary dressed as a laundress and they secretly made their way to the lake. She was rowed across the lake, and on the other side, friends waited to meet her. Mary was provided with a horse, and rode for her life and freedom. She then rose another army, but was defeated at the Battle of Langside on 13^th May 1568.

Mary helplessly fled to England to beg for support from her cousin Elizabeth. She had few friends and many enemies, and even her European supporters had turned against her. This was a very difficult time for Elizabeth who had always feared Mary's power and influence.

Elizabeth took Mary under her protection, but in reality she was a prisoner for 19 years.  Mary was kept in various Castles in England including Sheffield for fourteen years, Bolton, Wakefield, and Tutbury. In 1570, she got divorced from Bothwell, he died insane in a prison in the Netherlands in 1578.

Many people wanted Mary dead, but Elizabeth didn’t want to release Mary to her enemies because they would kill her immediately.

Mary was placed in the care of George Herbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, and was watched carefully by the Elizabethan government who feared that she would become the focus of Catholic plots. Their fears were not unfounded. For the next twenty years there were attempts to release Mary from her prison and make her Queen of England. Elizabeth's advisors continued to urge her to have the Scottish Queen executed, but Elizabeth resisted them. It was not until the Babington plot of 1586 that she finally agreed, and only then because there was proof of Mary's complicity.

Elizabeth was hurt and angry. She wrote a letter to Mary to this effect. It was the plan of Sir Anthony Babington and his conspirators to release Mary at Chartely where she was kept, and to depose and kill Elizabeth. Their plans failed, however, as Sir Francis Walsingham, one of Elizabeth's most influential ministers, had created a very effective spy-network, that monitored the actions of English Catholics by using double agents and spies. Anthony Babington and his supporters were tortured and put to death, and Mary was put on trial. She was found guilty of treason, and condemned to death. But despite this judgment by Elizabeth's judges, Elizabeth could not bring herself to sign her cousin's death warrant. In the end she reluctantly signed the warrant. Her ministers secretly rushed through the execution, and Elizabeth was not told until it was over.

The night before her execution, Mary took a quick supper and wrote her will, then gave some presents to the servants. Between 8 and 9 o’clock in the morning, Mary was conducted to the execution site, she was dressed in black, carried a crucifix and a bible in her hands. Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle were her two servants who accompanied her in that moment. Jane bound her eyes with a white cloth, her little dog, a Skye Terrier was under her skirts and it’s said that it stopped eating when it realized her owner was dead.

Mary was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle on 8^th February 1587. Her last words were “Into thy hands Oh Lord I commend my spirit”.

Legend has it that after her execution, thistles began to grow in the place where she died. Local people began calling those thistles “Queen Mary’s Tears”.

Mary was first buried in Peterborough Cathedral, but was moved to Westminster Abbey in 1612. In life, Mary and Elizabeth never met. Both of them lie in the greatest of all English Abbeys, Westminster Abbey in London.

Mary was a gifted woman, and reputedly very tall, elegant and beautiful.  She introduced French customs, language and new ways of dancing into the Scottish court; but in the often bitter struggle for power between her and Elizabeth, Mary lost because unlike her English cousin, she let her heart rule her head, sacrificing politics for passion. Mary left her legacy to history, and following Elizabeth's death in 1603, her son was proclaimed King of England, and his accession brought a new dynasty to the English throne: “The Stuarts”.

Back to:  Part I  /  Part II

Mary Stuart by Norman Trench

Loch Leven Castle

Bolton Castle

Tutbury Castle

Fotheringhay Castle

Copyright Mónica Loreto