This article is about the Queen of Scotland. For other uses, see Mary. |
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- "These are very secret thoughts that I now commit to these pages, but I must write them out, for indeed they have been haunting me since I last wrote in my diary. Until that moment when I wrote those words, wondering what it would be like to be of simple birth, I had never contemplated a notion of marriage for reasons other than those of state and politics and power and kingdoms."
- —Mary, Queen of Scots[6]
Mary, Queen of Scots (December 8, 1542 – February 8, 1587) was the Queen of Scotland. She ascended the throne after her father James V died when she was six days old. Her mother, Mary de Guise, became her regent in 1554. Mary was briefly Queen of France until the death of her first husband, King Francis II. In 1587, Mary was executed after several years exiled in England.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Mary was born on December 8, 1542.[4] Her parents were James V, the King of Scotland, and Mary de Guise, a French noblewoman. Through her father, she was related to the Tudor royalty of England. Her grandmother was Margaret Tudor, the older sister of King Henry VIII of England. At six days old, Mary became the Queen of Scotland upon the death of her father. Lord Arran, Duke of Châtellerault was appointed to be her regent.
In 1543, Mary was engaged to Edward VI, then the heir apparent of the English throne, through the Treaty of Greenwich. The agreement was broken and Mary was instead betrothed to the future King of France, Francis. At age five, Mary was sent to France to learn the ways of the French court and get to know Francis before marriage. In 1550, her mother came to France for an extended visit.
1553 – 1554[]
By December 1553, Mary was still residing with the French royal family, including her future husband Francis, and his parents King Henry II and Queen Catherine de Medici. Her friends, the Four Marys, including Mary Beaton, Mary Fleming, Mary Seton, and Mary Livingston, were still her beloved ladies-in-waiting. After her eleventh birthday, her uncles Charles and Francis informed her that she was to have her own household. This gave Mary the power to hire her own staff. Before Christmas, Mary and the other children visited Diane de Poitiers at the Château d'Anet. Diane was like a mother to Mary, whom deeply missed her own mother. The children returned to court at Château of Blois for Christmas.
In late January 1554, court moved to Louvre Palace, where Mary met Queen Catherine's astrologer, Nostradamus. He made a prediction about Mary which troubled her. After meeting Nostradamus in secret, she felt better knowing that it had "no precise meaning." At Chenonceau in February, Mary Beaton nearly died while traying to save Mary's dog, Puff, from drowning. Mary stayed at her bedside until she woke up. In March 1544, Mary traveled with Diane to visit her uncles and grandmother, Antoinette de Bourbon, in Meudon. While there, she had to dismiss her regent Lord Arran from his position. Her mother subsequently became regent.
In late March 1554, court moved to Fontainebleau where they were soon joined by a new music teacher, Lorenzo Marcellini. The children returned to Anet in June. On the night of the masquerade, Mary Fleming confided in the others that Signore Marcellini was harrassing her. Soon after, Mary started to suspect that someone was searching her room. She and Mary Beaton set up a trap. At the next ball, the culprit was discovered to be Marcellini under Catherine's orders after he harassed Mary Fleming again. In October, Mary stayed with her grandmother after she had a stroke. She began preparing for her First Communion set for her birthday. She invited Catherine to stand beside her for the ceremony.
Later life[]
On April 24 1558, Mary married Francis in a grand ceremony at the Notre Dame. Some seven months later, Mary's cousin Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England after the death of her sister, Mary Tudor. Mary's father-in-law, Henry II, considered Elizabeth to be illegitimate and therefore declared Mary to be Queen of England instead.[7] After his father's death, Francis became King of France which made Mary Queen. Francis died on December 5, 1560, leaving Mary a widow at eighteen. She returned to Scotland, where she married her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, on July 29, 1565. They had one child, James VI and I.[4]
Lord Darnley died under suspicious circumstances two years later. Mary's third husband, James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, was the suspected murderer of her second. He was later imprisoned in Denmark, where he died in 1578. Mary was forced to abdicate her throne. Shortly after her third marriage, Mary was forced to abdicate the throne to her then thirteen-month-old son, James.[4]
Time in England[]
In 1568, after a rebellion against her, Mary fled to England, apparently expecting support from her cousin, Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth imprisoned had her imprisoned. Being a Catholic, Mary became the focus of those whom wished to see England return to the religion. Elizabeth's secretary of state, Francis Walsingham uncovered the Ridolfi plot, which was meant to have Mary replace Elizabeth, in 1571.[8] Another plot involving Francis Throckmorton was exposed by Walsingham in 1583. Three years later, Mary corresponded with conspirators, including Anthony Babington, in yet another plot. In one of these letters, she approved of Elizabeth being assassinated which made her complicit in the plot. Mary was tried for treason and found guilty. On February 8, 1587, she was executed.
Personality and traits[]
Mary was a pious Catholic and her religion often encouraged her to think introspectively. She tried her best to overcome her faults, which included her aversion to certain people. She had a particular dislike for Catherine de Medici. Mary, at first, thought that two Queens in one country was simply too many. However, after considering it further, she realized that this was the "smallness in [her] soul" and "selfishness." She therefore rose above her dislike for Catherine by showing her kindness. One of Mary's key traits was her impulsiveness, which was her biggest flaw. She often got herself into trouble because she did not think before doing something.
As a child living in France, Mary longed for homeland of Scotland. She spoke Gaelic and enjoyed engaging in Scottish traditions with the Four Marys. Mary greatly enjoyed all outdoor activities, such as horseback riding, hawking, hunting, and archery. She also took lessons in mathematics, music, Latin and Greek.
Family tree[]
René de Lorraine II (1451-1508) | Phillipine von Geldern (1564-1547) | Francois de Bourbon (1470-1537) | Marie de Luxembourg (1476-1546) | ♚James Stuart III (1451-1488) | Margaret Oldenburg (1456-1486) | ♛Henry Tudor VII (1457-1509) | Elizabeth Plantagenet (1465-1503) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Claud de Guise (1496-1550) | Antoinette de Bourbon (1493-1582) | (1) ♚James Stuart IV (1472-1513) | Margaret Tudor (1489-1541) | (2) Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus (1489-1557) | Tudor family | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Anne d'Este | Francis de Guise | Charles | Mary de Guise (1515-1560) | ♚James V (1512-1542) | Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox (1516-1571) | Margaret Douglas (1515-1578) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(1) ♜Francis de Valois II (1544-1560) | ♚Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587) | (2) Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (c.1545-1567) | (3) James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell (c.1535-1578) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
♚♛James VI and I (1566-1625) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Key:
♛ - King of England
♚ - King or Queen of Scotland
♜ - King of France
Behind the scenes[]
- Mary is the main character of Kathryn Lasky's Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country.
- She is mentioned in Lasky's Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor. In the book, Mary's Regent Lord Arran visits the court and Elizabeth discovers him plotting with Mary Tudor.
- Although Mary is only mentioned in The Queen's Spies, she plays a large role in the plot.
Appearances[]
- In chronological order:
- Henry VIII's Wives (Mentioned only)
- Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor (Mentioned only)
- Lady Jane Grey (Mentioned only)
- Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country
- The Queen's Spies (Mentioned only)
- Armada (Mentioned only)
- The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce (Mentioned only)
- London Stories (Mentioned only)
References[]
- ↑ Henry VIII's Wives, Alison Prince, page 233
- ↑ Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, Kathryn Lasky, page 18
- ↑ Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, Kathryn Lasky, page 3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, Kathryn Lasky, The Stuart-de Guise Family Tree, pages 186-188
- ↑ Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, Kathryn Lasky, page 4
- ↑ Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, Kathryn Lasky, page 117
- ↑ Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, Kathryn Lasky, Epilogue, page 177-178
- ↑ The Queen's Spies, Valerie Wilding, Timeline, pages 174-177
See also[]
The Royal Diaries characters | ||||||
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External links[]
- Mary, Queen of Scots at Biography
- Mary, Queen of Scots at Britannica
- Mary, Queen of Scots at the Catholic Encyclopedia
- Mary, Queen of Scots at elizabethi.org
- Mary, Queen of Scots on Wikipedia