Short History Of... - Mary Queen of Scots

Episode Date: September 22, 2024

Born amid the turmoil of 16th century British society, Mary Queen of Scots was a leader trapped between Scotland and England, Catholic and Protestant ideologies, as well as love and duty. But she was also a woman with burning ambition, and her obsession with securing the English throne would define her life, and death. So, was Mary Stuart a plotter who would stop at nothing to realise her dreams? Or a wronged woman, manipulated by those around her? And did her dying father’s prophecy about her role in Scotland’s history prove correct? This is a Short History Of…Mary Queen of Scots. A Noiser Production, written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Tracy Borman, a historian and author of several books, including The Private Lives of the Tudors.  Get every episode of Short History Of a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material, and early access to shows across the Noiser network. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you’re on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the 16th of May, 1568. This is Abbey Burnford, a Cistercian monastery on the Scottish coast. Down by the water, a fishing boat is lashed to a jetty. Sailors are loading up for a journey from this southernmost point of Scotland to the north of England. The wind whips up waves. To make the crossing even more perilous, the fishermen have a secret cargo, a fugitive. A young woman approaches with an entourage of soldiers and attendants and a price on her head.

Scooping up her skirts, she steps carefully on board the bucking boat. Aged just 25, she has striking red hair and a dress of finest fabric, although it is muddy and the threads are snagged and torn. Lingering at the gunwale for a last look at the rolling hills, she has no idea when she will see her native Scotland again. Or the baby boy she has left behind. Settling herself in the prow, she ignores the rude stares of the sailors.

She is accustomed to attention. Not only is she beautiful, but until a year ago, she was their monarch. The woman who was once Mary, Queen of Scots, pulls the blankets over herself, hiding from the blustery weather and spying eyes. The fishermen cast off, unfurling the sails and letting them catch the wind. The pink, dotted hills shrink to the horizon. Mary's stomach starts to churn as they sail out into the Solway Firth. But it's not just the sea that is making her doubt her decision. England is a dangerous place.

Her anxiety grows until suddenly she throws back the blankets, demanding to go to France instead. The captain, though, shakes his head. The wind is too strong. They cannot turn back now. So on they sail, until after four long and cold hours, Mary hears a harbour bell. hours Mary hears a harbour bell. The boat slides into Workington Dock in the northernmost English county of Cumberland. Once it's tied up to the quay Mary is manhandled up the stone steps, her sodden skirts clinging to her legs. She's relieved to see the horses ready and waiting as expected. Her nerves settle now that she is on dry land and in the carriage. The escape is going to plan.

Now she must trust her cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England, to protect her. More than ever, Mary's fate depends on blood ties. After a short ride to Workington Hall, Mary dines in luxury and retires. Her bed is all the more comfortable after many nights living like a wild animal, camping on the ground and drinking sour milk. She sleeps deeply. But wakes to a new dawn. Horses and soldiers outside, a military escort for the 30-mile ride to Carlisle Castle.

When they arrive, the deposed queen is led across the cobbled yard, then into a stone tower, where the wooden door is bolted behind her. As she climbs the steps, her hosts reassure her the security is bolted behind her. As she climbs the steps, her hosts reassure her the security is for her own protection, then show her to a sparse but comfortable room. But when she turns to ask for refreshments, the door closes and keys turn in the lock. Mary drops to the stone floor as she realizes that, for the second time in her short life, she is a prisoner.

Queen from just six days old, Mary lived a life of dangerous privilege. Born amid the turmoil of 16th century society, she was trapped between Scotland and England, Catholic and Protestant, love and duty. But Mary was also a woman with a burning ambition. Once Queen of France and once Queen of Scotland, the dark obsession with also securing the English throne would define her life and death. So was Mary Stuart a plotter who would stop at nothing to realize her dreams? Or a wronged woman used and manipulated by those who would strip her of her power and her freedom?

And did her dying father's prophecy about her critical role in Scotland's royal history prove correct? I am John Hopkins from the Noiser Network. This is a short history of Mary, Queen of Scots. In November 1542, Mary's mother is in the late stages of pregnancy at Linlithgow Palace near Edinburgh. But her father, King James V of Scotland, is occupied elsewhere. One hundred miles south, his army of Scots is in an area known as the Debatable Lands, the disputed border zone between his country and England.

The Scots face the army of King Henry VIII, James's own uncle. Henry, furious that his nephew has refused to break with the Catholic Church and won't enforce the religious reforms he has imposed on the English, has sent an army to make his feelings clear. The two sides meet at Solway Moss. The Scottish are easily defeated, with over a thousand men captured by the English or drowned in the river Esk. Already a sick man, James is not directly involved in the fighting, and now he retreats to Falkland Palace in Fife.

He takes to his bed. He is only 30, but has a lingering illness, possibly cholera. He is also harrowed by the grief of losing both infant sons on one day, only 18 months ago. by the grief of losing both infant sons on one day, only 18 months ago. On the 8th of December, he receives news that his wife, Mary of Guise, has given birth safely. The baby is healthy, a daughter also called Mary. But what might be a cause for celebration is in fact a blow for the king. Though James has numerous illegitimate sons, here, on his deathbed, he learns that his only royal heir is female.

Legend has it his dying words are It cam well lass, and it gang well lass. It started with a girl, and it will end with a girl. He's referring to the Stuart clan's hold on the Scottish crown, which began with Marjorie, daughter of the great Robert the Bruce. But if, as James believes, no female leader can stand up to the belligerent nobility that has riven the nation. It follows that the newborn Mary will be the last steward to reign over Scotland. Six days later, the king is dead, and his prophecy is put to the test.

Tracey Borman is a historian and author of several books, including The Private Lives of the Tudors. She's also a chief curator of the historic royal palaces. Mary is born into this sort of melting pot, really, of different religious ideas, artistic ideas. It's the Renaissance, but it's also the Reformation, and that causes deep divisions across Europe. So it's a fascinating time, but it's also a dangerous time, particularly if you're at the forefront of affairs, if you are at court or if you are the ruler and Mary will be all of those things. So she becomes Queen of Scots at just six days old. I'm sure that is probably a record. And her father, James, saw nothing but disaster for the dynasty now that he was leaving his throne

to a woman because women were generally viewed as second-class citizens, unable to run their own lives, let alone a kingdom. So James thought that the whole thing would end in disaster. Well, he was sort of right, but I'm not sure how much that was to do with Mary's gender. According to tradition, the transfer of power is immediate, and Mary becomes queen at once, even though she hasn't yet been crowned. But a monarch who is both female and less than a week old is not good for stability, and the nation is already deeply divided. The Reformation has split the Scottish Church into Catholic and Protestant factions,

as it has done elsewhere in Western Europe. Church leaders hold enormous social power, but so do rival Scottish nobles, the landowners, who vie for political influence. And there's the perennial problem of conflict with the English. Scotland needs someone to steady the tiller at this turbulent time. So it is that James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, takes on the role of regent on behalf of little Queen Mary. Over the border in England, King Henry VIII sees an opportunity.

His son, Prince Edward, is five years old and the apple of Henry's eye. Within months of Mary's birth, Henry rushes through an agreement called the Treaty of Greenwich, which states that the Queen of Scots will wed Edward, the most eligible bachelor in England, when they both come of age. He hopes this union will finally bring Scotland under his control, and weaken its old alliance with his greatest foe, Catholic France. The treaty is signed by the Earl of Arran, the Regent, but the proposal angers some of his rival Scottish lords, who oppose any union with England.

Oblivious to the decisions made on her behalf, Baby Mary lives at the royal residence in Stirling. It is both a palace and a fortress, a hulking stone castle atop a rocky crag. One day in September 1543, when she is nine months old, her carers dress her in formal robes and a procession of adults in glittering gowns arrive to coo at her. Mary is carried to the royal chapel, where she is entertained by the candlelight glittering off silverware. But as proceedings drag on, she grows bored and starts grizzling. Once she's settled by her mother, the coronation continues. When she is settled by her mother, the coronation continues. The Earl of Arran, the regent, holds the crown, while the sceptre is brought by his rival,

the Earl of Lennox. Other nobles carry items from the crown jewels. Finally, Mary is propped up on the altar to be daubed with holy oil. Once the queen is anointed and all the rituals are performed, she returns to her cot for a nap. It was very sweet when you read the records of Mary's coronation because not much concession was made to her age. This was dangerous to have a baby as ruler in an already turbulent cutthroat kingdom where there would be rival claimants to the throne, the sooner that this tiny new monarch is consecrated in the eyes of God

as the new sovereign, then the harder it will be for anybody to unseat her. At the best of times, life was very short and childhood was very short in this period. So the Tudors believed that childhood ended at the age of six and you would then become an adult. Well, for Mary, it was even younger than that. From her very, very earliest days, she had this huge weight of responsibility thrust on her shoulders. As the baby queen grows up at Stirling Castle, it is clear to everyone that her primary role in life will be to marry well. On that, the Scottish lords agree. What divides them, though, is whom she should marry. A French-leaning faction opposes the promise that she marry Henry VIII's son, Edward.

They think Scotland should ally itself with France or Spain by finding a Catholic suitor from the continent. Amid the infighting, the Scottish Parliament renounces the Treaty of Greenwich. Queen Mary will not marry Prince Edward after all. South of the border, Henry VIII is furious. Henry didn't like to be refused anything and he was incredibly proud of his son Edward. He believed him to be the greatest match in Europe. So the fact that, well, not Mary had turned him down, but her advisors had ultimately chosen alliance with France and it hadn't happened.

Henry was not a forgiving man. Rejection spurs Henry into action. Initially, he tries diplomacy, releasing from prison Scottish lords who were captured at the doomed Battle of Solway Moss. He hopes that his leniency may curry favour north of the border. It does not. So Henry rounds up the troops.

English soldiers are sent with instructions to burn down Edinburgh. They attack the city via Canongate and march up the Royal Mile. Edinburgh Castle is defended by cannons, but the English set fire to Holyrood House and the Abbey. The violence of May 1544 is only the start. What follows is the Eight Years' War, a conflict that will outlive even Henry VIII. His aggressive attempts to force the Queen to marry Edward become known much later as the Rough Wooing. The Rough Wooing, indeed. Is there any other kind with Henry VIII? He wanted to renew the idea of an alliance with Scotland, but that match came to nothing.

And in fact, before he died, Henry VIII was so anti-Scotland by that time that he actually wrote it into his will, and he'd already changed the laws of succession to say that none of his Scottish relatives would inherit the throne of England. And that would have ramifications well into the 17th century. The rough wooing achieves little. Queen Mary has a better offer. In France, King Henry II sets up a match with his first son. Prince Francis, the Dauphin, or heir in waiting, is two years younger than Mary. In July 1548, the child queen is betrothed to the child Dauphin.

She sets sail for France, aged barely six years old. Her mother, Mary of Guise, remains in Scotland, where she will later serve as regent on behalf of her daughter. Now, young Mary must make a new life for herself in France. She grows up knowing that she will one day be Queen of France, just as she is already Queen Regnant in Scotland, even if she is now far away from her disloyal subjects. The so-called old alliance between Scotland and France has been going strong for many years, and so this marriage alliance is the next logical step in that. And she had quite a hampered upbringing in the French court. It was a very sophisticated court.

She was this very pretty queen from Scotland and really stood out with her very pale skin, her beautiful red hair. Even from a young age, she was very tall. And she really stood apart from the other women of the French court. And she was pretty much universally adored. But there always has to be a sort of pantomime villain lurking in the wings, doesn't there? And it was absolutely Catherine. Catherine de' Medici was a formidable matriarch, really. She was the dominant force in the court in France. And there seems to have been jealousy, rivalry, suspicion on Catherine's part. She didn't want to cede any authority or any limelight, I think, to this young Queen of Scots, even if it is of some minor little kingdom like Scotland.

Nevertheless, in 1558, 15-year-old Mary marries Catherine's son, Dauphin Francis. For the lavish wedding at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Mary wears a glittering white gown with a famous ruby known as the Egg of Naples in her headdress. The union makes 14-year-old Francis a king of Scotland. be known as the Egg of Naples in her headdress. The union makes fourteen-year-old Francis a King of Scotland. Without the knowledge of those back home, Mary signs documents that mean the Scottish throne would stay under French control if she should die without an heir. The next year, the French monarch dies unexpectedly after a jousting accident.

Francis is crowned King of France, with Mary as Queen Consort. But just a year after that, Francis himself dies of an ear infection. As he leaves Noair, his ten-year-old brother ascends to the throne throne and Mary is cast aside. The king's mother, the influential Catherine de' Medici, becomes regent for her son. She quickly moves to sideline Mary. As a bona fide queen in her own right, Mary is a danger to Catherine. The following summer, Mary is forced to bid adieu to France and boards a ship to Scotland. But much has changed since she left. Her mother is by now dead, and her cousin Elizabeth is Queen of England.

Mary faces her greatest challenge yet, as she returns to hold down her original job, Queen of Scots. Mary hadn't really been trained for queenship. So let's compare her to the greatest rival of her life. And, you know, full disclosure, I'm a huge fan of Elizabeth I. I am firmly in Team Elizabeth when it comes to this rivalry with Mary. But Elizabeth couldn't have had a more different childhood. She was raised in the school of hard knocks. Her mother was executed on the orders of her father. She witnessed firsthand the perils of court life. And that childhood, turbulent as it was, really chiseled her into this formidable queen.

Whereas Mary had had none of that experience. Yes, there was the resentment of Catherine, but she'd been raised to believe it was all very easy because everybody adored her and all she had to do was dance prettily at court and everybody would be in raptures. And I think that really gave her a false sense of the challenges that lay ahead. a false sense of the challenges that lay ahead. After sailing into the Scottish port of Leith,

she rides on to Edinburgh, where she is presented with keys to the city, a Bible and a book of Psalms. The gifts are designed to assert the Protestant faith over Mary's Catholic religion. Her homeland, which she hasn't seen since she was a child, is riven by political and religious factions. Scottish lords have control over every layer of government. Half her subjects are Protestants who resent a Catholic queen.

The other half are Catholics who see her as a foreigner, a Frenchwoman with airs and graces. At the age of nineteen, Mary is a queen, a widow, and now a threat to the power of the nobility. Her response is to seek once again a strategic marriage with a man who might bolster her position. Her first choice is a Catholic heir to the Spanish throne, but that suitor, Don Carlos, falls down some stairs and suffers brain damage. In England, Queen Elizabeth joins in the matchmaking by setting Mary up with her ally, Lord Robert Dudley. Both Dudley and Mary refuse the match. Dudley, though, suggests a third option, Henry Lord Darnley. With strong claims to both the Scottish and English thrones through his bloodlines, Darnley could be a powerful ally.

Mary and Darnley meet on the 17th of February 1565 at Weems Castle in Fife. The pair have a lot in common. They're both Catholic, well-bred, attractive, ambitious. It's a good political match. It's a good dynastic match. But on a personal level, it's an utter disaster. She sees Darnley, and it does seem to be a case of love at first sight, and she proclaims him the lustiest and best proportioned long man I have ever seen because he's very tall, he's quite slim and he is charming. But then talk about Marian

Haste repent at leisure. Darnley's true character is shown pretty much as soon as the wedding vows have been exchanged. He is arrogant, he's feckless, he's cruel, he's deeply unpopular with those powerful Scottish lords and that really is the beginning of Mary's undoing. They despise Darnley, they fear that Mary is going to make him a sort of joint monarch with her and that's something he definitely wants but by now mary is starting to to realize the scales are falling from her eyes that she's made a big mistake there's no way back down the aisle as a catholic and a queen mary cannot divorce Darnley. But at least she can resist his attempts to usurp her role as monarch. She also does her duty, and by 1566 the queen is pregnant. Friends and allies rally round, including a man called David Rizzio, who first came

to court as a musician, but has risen to be Queen Mary's personal secretary. Rizzio, who first came to court as a musician, but has risen to be Queen Mary's personal secretary. Rizzio is a minor Italian noble and a Catholic, but perhaps it's his experience of life on the continent that endears him to Mary, who spent her happiest years in France. They grow close. Too close. To her pugnacious husband, Lord Darnley, the Italian is an upstart, a possible cookhold, and a target for his violent anger. It's the 9th of March, 1566. Eight o'clock on a Saturday night. Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh is buzzing with nobles, diplomats, servants and soldiers. But Mary retires to her

room. The pregnant queen cradles her belly as she climbs a winding stone staircase to her chamber. Inside, a few close friends are waiting in her private dining room. Seated on a stool, her secretary, David Rizzio, is playing a lute, but now puts the instrument down to pull out her chair at the table. He orders the servants to stoke up the fire. As soon as the queen is comfortable, he ushers the staff away to give the group some privacy. The friends chatter and laugh as they dine, with Rizzio at Mary's side. But then she hears something. Footsteps thunder up the stone stairs leading to the corridor outside,

and everyone stops talking. Fists hammer at the door. Mary instinctively clutches her swollen abdomen, and Rizzio stands in front of her as the door smashes open. A posse of men bundle into the chamber, and Lord Darnley swaggers in behind them. Mary heaves herself to her feet and pushes Ritzia behind her. Her husband is a jealous man. She appeals to him to be calm, just as one of his men points a pistol at her belly.

Another brute grabs her shoulder and throws her aside to gasps of horror from her friends. Mary screams for her husband to stop, but he ignores her, bundling past with his mob to take hold of Rizzio. The Italian tries to break free, but there's too many of them, and soon he is on the ground. A blade flashes in the firelight as one thug raises it high. Mary covers her ears as it finds its target. Mary's friends try to drag her to safety while Rizzio pulls at her skirts in desperation. Then he stops moving. Darnley's men haul Rizzio away and tip him headfirst down the spiral stairs. The posse follow, laughing.

In the silence that follows, Mary looks up to see her husband in the doorway. He wipes his bloody hands on a napkin and flings it at her feet. In June 1566, Mary gives birth to Darnley's son at Edinburgh Castle. The boy is called James, after her father. For once, Mary outshines her cousin, Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen of England, who is childless. But though a son strengthens Mary's claim to the English throne, it weakens her precarious position in Scotland. The lords are vehemently opposed to the volatile, power-hungry Lord Darnley. And now Mary has given them a way to get rid of him.

By sidelining her and putting the new Stuart baby on the throne, they could once again rule under a regent on behalf of an infant monarch. With her husband proving to be a liability, she's running out of good options.

Darnley is a violent man. He's abusive towards Mary. That's very well documented. But that won't be the only occasion, because actually, there's another important man in Mary's life. And he's been sort of on the outskirts for a while. He is James Lord Bothwell. I think Mary's, you get the feeling she's just forever on the rebound, whether it's from a favourite or a husband. She's always searching for this somebody to come and rescue her. She's a very different kettle of fish to her cousin Elizabeth,

who famously says, I will have but one mistress here and no master. Mary, I think, is much more conventional. She wants that solid male consort or advisor in her life. And you can see why. It must have been overwhelming taking on this very volatile political situation and trying to harness it herself. So she becomes very close to Bothwell. And that then leads to yet another catastrophe. Mary met Bothwell when she lived in France.

In his role as naval officer, he is said to have arranged her transport back to Scotland when she returned after the death of her first husband. But years later, Bothwell has become known as a troublemaker. Though his quarrelling and plotting has left him unpopular at court, Mary trusts him with her fears about Lord Darnley's violence. Bothwell comes up with a plan to free the Queen and the country from the dead weight of this dangerous man. Well, Bothwell is certainly aware of how much Mary despises her husband, Darnley.

We will probably never know for certain exactly what happened, but in February 1567, there was a huge explosion at Kirker Field, a house where Darnley was staying in Edinburgh. And Darnley's body was found in the grounds. Now, he had not died from the explosion. There were no marks of the explosion on his body. In fact, there were strangulation marks around his neck and his servant was found similarly murdered. So who done it?

Well, the prime suspect was Bothwell because he by now was mary's most influential advisor he had the means he had the incentive mary stays silent on the matter of who ordered her husband's murder but bothwell is publicly accused by darnley's father he stands trial in april 1567 but is acquitted after a few hours in court, possibly because his supporters intimidate witnesses. After being acquitted, many would have gratefully slipped away to enjoy their freedom. But not Bothwell.

A man of ambition and action, he has set his sights on the ultimate prize to sit beside Queen Mary as King Consort and rule over Scotland. But facing opposition from the nobility, he raises an army. The first person he needs to win over is Mary herself. On the 24th of April, the Queen is traveling from Stirling to Edinburgh after visiting her young son, Prince James. Her entourage is intercepted by Bothwell and hundreds of troops. We know that Mary goes with him to Dunbar Castle,

a stronghold on the coast to the east of Edinburgh. But this is where historical interpretation differs. Some say Mary willingly elopes with Bothwell, or she believes his promise to keep her safe. Other historians say she is forcibly abducted. How could she resist the romantic overtures of Lord Bothwell when he has 800 soldiers at his back? Herein lies another controversy. How much choice did Mary have in this? And I think there is real cause to believe that actually Mary was raped by Bothwell. She eloped with him, as it was described, and she was therefore forced into marriage because they clearly had sex. But

Mary herself and a couple of other contemporaries attested that actually she'd had no choice in that. She'd been forced, and Bothwell did that because it would be a dishonor. It would ruin her reputation if she didn't then marry him. So marry him she did. Just three months after she's widowed for the second time, Mary accepts Bothwell as her third husband, a man who himself divorced his first wife just days previously. To the outraged public, it merely consolidates the rumor that Mary was involved in the death of Lord Darnley. Also, because she marries Bothwell in a Protestant service, she's accused by Catholics of losing her faith. But even the Protestants aren't on her side because Bothwell himself is so unpopular.

Once again, Mary is caught between the factions. Her reputation in tatters, she now faces a coup when the Scottish lords raise an army against her and her new consort. is a coup, when the Scottish Lords raise an army against her and her new consort. At worst, she is seen as a traitor to her faith and a suspect in a murder case. At best, her poor judgment in her choice of husbands casts doubt over her fitness to rule. In a last-ditch attempt to cling to her power as Queen, Mary and Bothwell raise an army to fight off the rebellion from the Scottish lords. The troops go into battle just outside Edinburgh one day in June 1567, just a month after the wedding. But Mary suffers defeat. Bothwell flees from the battlefield and never sees Mary again. The queen is taken hostage, marched through the streets of Edinburgh and imprisoned.

Little does she know that her ill-fated visit to her son, after which she was abducted by Bothwell, would be the last time she ever saw the Prince. In late July 1567, Mary abdicates in favour of her one-year-old child, who becomes King James VI. Now imprisoned in a remote castle on an island in Loch Leven, she miscarries the twins that she conceived with Bothwell. She has lost everything. But still, Mary is not beaten. This is when you have to admire Mary. She's she's down but she's not quite out she manages to escape from loch leven there's another battle she's defeated and she flees south and this is when she makes arguably another bad decision because she needs to get out of scotland

undoubtedly you know there is a price on her head, very much so. But instead of going perhaps to France, she chooses to go to England, and that will be her undoing. And so the 25-year-old deposed queen boards a humble fishing boat. With the help of monks from Abbey Burnfoot, she secretly flees to England across the Solway Firth. Reaching dry land, she hopes that her cousin, Elizabeth I, will not only protect her, but maybe even raise an army to win back the Scottish crown and reinstall Mary as queen.

Instead, the shrewd Queen of England understands that their shared blood ties make Mary a serious contender to her throne. There are Catholics who would willingly depose the Protestant Elizabeth and restore the old religion under Mary. Elizabeth also recognizes Mary's ambitiousness. She's already been a queen twice over. So is this move to England designed to bring her closer to a third crown? Mary had a very strong claim to the English throne. So she was the granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister, Princess Margaret, Margaret Tudor, who married James IV. And so her bloodline was absolutely true and strong in both directions, both to Scotland and to England.

Mary was even more dangerous to Elizabeth on English soil than she had been on Scottish soil because now she was within tantalising reach of all those English Catholics who wanted her to be queen. The two queens have never met face to face. Their entire relationship has been in the form of correspondence, their letters offering historians a tantalizing glimpse of two powerful women cautiously circling one another. But now the balance of power has tipped in Elizabeth's favor. Though the women are on the same side of the border, Elizabeth deftly avoids Mary's invitations to meet. And Mary's quite aggressive towards England. You can't take her letters to Elizabeth at face value. You'd think they were the best of friends,

these two queens, the way that they talk to each other by letter. But in reality, two queens, the way that they talk to each other by letter. But in reality, Mary has her eyes on Elizabeth's throne, and not just in the future. She wants it now, and she's very, very ambitious. While weighing her options, Elizabeth demands proof that Mary was not involved in the plot to kill Lord Darnley. After all, it would damage Elizabeth's reputation to protect a killer. When that evidence is not forthcoming, she sends Mary to Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire, one of the homes of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Although he is benevolent and she lives in luxury with a staff of 30 people in his raft of beautiful estates, he is still essentially her jailer.

beautiful estates, he is still essentially her jailer. But Mary doesn't give up and sneaks in coded letters to powerful allies, especially Catholic supporters on the continent. She hopes that Philip II of Spain might come to her aid, but he does not. Other conspirators do try to free her, but fail. Though she moves between Shrewsbury's properties, she does so as a captive, and her imprisonment stretches from months to years. A decade ticks by. After almost 17 years under lock and key, in 1585 she suggests that she could return to Scotland to rule alongside her son, King James VI. But then, devastatingly, she learns that canny James has already pledged allegiance to Elizabeth, forsaking his mother. Trapped in her gilded cage, Mary grows ever angrier and more bitter.

Something that doesn't go unnoticed by Elizabeth's powerful and notorious principal secretary, Sir Francis Walsingham. Walsingham saves Elizabeth's life on goodness knows how many occasions. He is the greatest spy master of the age. He has these incredibly sophisticated espionage networks. of the age, he has these incredibly sophisticated espionage networks, and he hears of almost daily plots against Elizabeth involving Mary, Queen of Scots, and manages to foil them. He's like MI5, you know, he's an absolute genius. Walsingham introduces a law called the Bond of Association, which makes Mary responsible for any rescue attempts or coups in her name, even if she isn't directly involved in the planning. In 1586, amid increased security,

Walsingham finally gets the proof that he needs to stop Mary once and for all. The Babington conspiracy of 1586 was Anthony Babington, a Catholic gentleman, who again, like all the other conspirators, want to put Mary on the throne, murder Elizabeth, and so England would be restored to the Catholic faith. There is certainly evidence of Mary's involvement because Walsingham Cleverman made sure that there was. It was he who set up a channel of communication between Mary and Babington. Letters stuffed into the corks of beer barrels that went in and out of Mary's lodgings. In one letter, she said something along the lines of, set the sixth gentleman to work.

And that was in response to a letter from Babington saying, look, I've got these six assassins who are going to kill Elizabeth. And, you know, do we have your blessing to go ahead? And basically she seals her doom. Walsingham's agent, who intercepts this letter, has drawn a hangman's noose on it, as if to say, got her. Mary is transported to Fotheringate Castle, 40 miles north of Cambridge, where she faces trial. With the evidence from the letters secured by Walsingham's spies, a charge of treason is an open and shut case, and the former Queen of Scots is sentenced to death. It is the 8th of February, 1587.

A servant is cleaning the great hall of Fotheringay Castle. He's sweeping up sawdust from a construction that carpenters have built in the middle of the vast room. A stage two feet high and twelve feet square with a rail around the edge. More servants are fixing up black cloths to cover its base. It's an incongruous sight in a banqueting room. A fire rages in the hearth, but the hall retains its chilly atmosphere. The servants finish and cross themselves before leaving. Huge doors swing open and various lords, knights, and ladies enter.

The nobles gather in small circles that eventually fill the hall. Some jostle to be closer to the fire. There is chatter, but the voices are low. The crowd seems tense and jittery. At the side of the stage, several senior clergymen quietly gather alongside the executioner. Now a side door opens and those assembled fall silent, turning to watch as a procession enters. Among them is a tall woman dressed in a black gown made of satin and velvet and draped with a floor-length white veil. Mary Stuart, former Queen of Scotland and France.

By her side, ladies-in-waiting weep. By her side, ladies-in-waiting weep. Her apothecary and manservant support her elbows until Mary pauses, squeezes their hands, then walks alone onto the scaffold. She looks calmly around the sparse stage set. A stool, a block, a cushion to protect her knees while they chop off her head. A clerk shouts, God save the Queen. Of course he means the other Queen, Elizabeth I. Now the Protestant Dean of Peterborough approaches. He begs Mary to repent, but she says she is certain of her Catholic faith and is willing to shed blood in defense of it. Despite her obstinacy, the Dean gives a blessing

and the assembly joins in with the Lord's Prayer. Mary, though, puts one hand to the Agnus Dei pendant around her neck, grips a crucifix in the other, and loudly recites a Catholic prayer in Latin. When she is finished, the executioner asks for her forgiveness. Mary says she forgives him with all her heart, as he will bring an end to her troubles. Finally, two women help to remove her robes. The former queen looks at the crowd and jokes that she has never taken her clothes off in front of so many people.

The knights murmur, but no one laughs. Then Mary kneels. Dropping her chin over the block, she places her fingers either side to support herself. But the executioner leans down to gently move her hands out of the way of the axe. In the crowd, her ladies scream and cry out for him to stop. But instead, he steps back and in a blur of motion, it is done. Except it is not over. It takes two blows to remove

Mary's head. And when the executioner lifts it up by the hair to show the crowd, he discovers that Mary Stewart had been wearing a wig. Her head tumbles from his grasp, leaving him holding a bloody handful of black tresses. Forty-year-old Mary's own hair, it is revealed, is cropped and grey. Then the audience gasps again as her skirts appear to move, before Mary's favourite little dog emerges from beneath the fabric and whines for its mistress. The onlookers eventually settle, and the dean concludes the proceedings. Stepping forward, he sternly announces, So perish all the Queen's enemies. So perish all the Queen's enemies. Rejected by her country and abandoned by her son,

Mary does at least manage to stay true to her religion. She dies, in her own eyes, the death of a martyr. Execution is the end of Mary Stuart, the woman, but only the start of Mary, Queen of Scots, the legend. I think her legend is alive and well in Scotland today, and she's certainly one of the most celebrated figures in Scottish history. People have fallen in love with her, I think, over the centuries, which perhaps is a slight irony,

because she was vilified by her Scottish subjects, by most of them anyway, during her own lifetime. Later, it is found that shortly before her execution, Mary had embroidered a cushion with the saying, In my end is my beginning, mirroring the last words of her father. And her stitched message proves to be accurate. The end of her reign, her abdication, put her son James on the throne.

And he doesn't finish there. It certainly did prophesy the future because you might say that in this long-running rivalry between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I, Mary does have the last laugh because it will be her son who inherits the crown, not just of Scotland, but of England. It's the end of the Tudors when Elizabeth dies in March 1603 and the beginning of a new Stuart dynasty. So Mary's legacy for the British monarchy was incredibly enduring.

A monarch of legendary determination, Mary Stuart did, by her bloodline at least, get her hat-trick. The thrones of Scotland, France, and England. Though both men and women tried to use her as a political pawn, hers was a life spent fighting for power of her own. As a woman, a queen and a mother, she was driven by a pure ambition that remains both breathtaking and blinding. I find it really difficult with Mary because she's so often referred to as a tragic heroine and that doesn't ring quite true for me i think mary

wasn't just blown about by the winds of fortune she did have agency and there's no escaping the fact that she did at times make terrible decisions there were serious errors of judgment on Mary's part. And she seemed to particularly misjudge character, notably in at least two of her husbands, and also misjudged the political situation in both Scotland and in England. Her story is tragic, but I'm not sure Mary herself was. Next time on Short History, I will bring you a short history of Sitting Bull.

His legacy is that, his greatest legacy is that his life continues to inspire us in many, many ways. Today, it's that inspiration. And it's an inspiration that comes from resistance, but it's also the way he lived his life, the compassion that he had, the wisdom that he had, his devotion to a way of life or tradition to the very end that he died for. That's next time.