INTRODUCTION
1 Bothwell
1. THE THREE CROWNS
Knox
Diurnal of Occurrents
Knox. Knox’s quotation was altered in the 1570s by the chronicler Robert Lindsay of Pittscottie into the more famous version of King James’s words, “It cam wi’ a lass, and it will gang wi’ a lass.”
Diurnal of Occurrents
CSP Scottish
The Letters of Henry VIII, ed. Muriel St. Clair Byrne, London, 1936
Lindsay of Pittscottie
State Papers in the Public Record Office
Raphael Holinshed: Chronicles (London, 1577)
Cited by Bingham: The Making of a King
Spottiswoode
Cited by Woodward
Cited by Thomson: The Crime of Mary Stuart
Melville
For a fuller discussion, see Smailes and Watkins
CSP Foreign
Cited by Woodward
CSP Scottish; Knox; Antonia Fraser. Mary never mastered Gaelic, the language spoken in the Scottish Highlands.
Brantôme
Ibid.
Melville; Jebb
Tytler: History of Scotland
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Herries
CSP Scottish
Cited by Gore-Browne
Blackwood
Cited by Gore-Browne
Ibid. 31 If the mummified skeleton at Faarvejle Church in Denmark is his, as seems probable.
Melville
CSP Scottish
Anderson: Collections
CSP Scottish
“A Declaration of the Lords’ Just Quarrel,” in Satirical Poems
CSP Venetian
CSP Spanish; see Antonia Fraser: Mary, Queen of Scots for a full discussion of the matter.
Fraser: The Lennox
Ibid.
Cited by Bingham: The Making of a King
Bothwell
CSP Venetian
CSP Scottish
CSP Venetian
Ibid.; CSP Foreign
2. “THE MOST BEAUTIFUL IN EUROPE”
Fraser: The Lennox; CSP Foreign; CSP Scottish; CSP Spanish
Cited by Black: Reign of Elizabeth
Melville
Diurnal of Occurrents
Brantôme
Cited by Steel
Cited by Watkins
After James VI became James I of England in 1603 and moved south, Holyrood Palace was rarely used. In 1650, following a serious fire, Oliver Cromwell ordered his troops to repair it. After 1671, Charles II completed James V’s original plan and built the other three sides of the main quadrangle, as well as the South Tower, which was designed to match the North Tower, in which larger sash windows were installed. James V’s chapel royal was dismantled at this time, along with other 16th-century state rooms; they were all replaced by new royal apartments. Under Charles II, the abbey church became the chapel royal, but in 1768 the roof collapsed, leaving the abbey in the ruinous condition in which it remains today.
At the time of the 17th-century restoration, the old King’s Lodgings on the first floor of the North Tower were remodelled and became the Queen’s Apartments, although their layout remains much as it was in Mary’s day. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Mary’s former rooms were occupied by the Dukes of Hamilton, and for a long time it was erroneously believed that the furniture in them had once been Mary’s. By the early 19th century, these rooms were ruinous, and they were not fully restored until 1976. The Jacobean frieze in the bedchamber, discovered in the early 20th century, dates from about 1617, when the initials of Mary and James VI were added to the original oak ceiling.
After George IV’s visit to Scotland in 1822, Holyrood Palace regained favour as a royal residence; since then, it has again become the official Scottish residence of the sovereign.
Cited by Erickson
CSP Scottish
CSP Venetian
Lennox Narrative
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Cited by Mahon, Hosack and Goodall; Lennox Narrative
Maitland was often incorrectly referred to by his contemporaries as Lethington, a title that in fact belonged to his father.
Cited by Black: Reign of Elizabeth
Cited by Skelton: Maitland
Cited by Stevenson
Bothwell
3. “POWERFUL CONSIDERATIONS”
Bothwell
Knox
Blackwood
Bothwell
Knox
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
Lord John Stewart died in 1563, aged only 31. Mary grieved deeply for him, saying that God always took from her those she loved best. Lord John left one son, Francis, who was created Earl of Bothwell in 1581 by James VI. He was a notorious sorcerer and troublemaker, and died in exile in 1612.
CSP Scottish; Knox
Bothwell
Ibid.; State Papers in the Public Record Office; Pitcairn
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
State Papers in the Public Record Office
CSP Spanish
Ibid.
CSP Scottish
CSP Domestic
Diurnal of Occurrents; Pitcairn; Knox
Bothwell
State Papers in the Public Record Office
Bothwell
Ibid.; CSP Scottish
Cited by Sitwell
CSP Spanish
Ibid.
Ibid.
CSP Scottish
Strickland: Lives of the Queens of England (Elizabeth I)
Knox
Brantôme
CSP Spanish
CSP Venetian
CSP Spanish
Teulet
Melville
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Report on the state of Scotland during Mary’s reign, sent in 1594 by Jesuit priests to Pope Clement VIII, and cited by Stevenson in his edition of the Memorials of Claude Nau
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.; Diurnal of Occurrents
CSP Scottish
Melville
Ibid.
Ibid.
The Lennox Jewel was purchased by Queen Victoria and is now in the Royal Collection at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh.
Cited by Gore-Browne
Bothwell
CSP Foreign
Melville
CSP Scottish
Melville
Cited by Keith
CSP Spanish
Teulet. Knox and Buchanan also took the view that Elizabeth supported a marriage between Mary and Darnley, a belief that was widely prevalent in European diplomatic circles. See Papal Negotiations and CSP Scottish .
Diurnal of Occurrents
CSP Scottish
4. “A HANDSOME, LUSTY YOUTH”
The first Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, had been born in March 1545 at the Palace of Stepney, which had been granted by Henry VIII to the Lennoxes, and died on 28 November that year. He was buried in the Parish Church of St. Dunstan, Stepney.
Papiers d’Etat, ed. Teulet
See Bingham: Darnley
The names of the four girls and one other boy who died young are nowhere recorded, so they must have died before baptism. The number of children, and their sex, are known only from the weepers on their mother’s tomb in Westminster Abbey.
Teulet
Pearson
Lennox Narrative; cf. Darnley’s own letters in various sources, chiefly Bingham: Darnley
CSP Scottish
Knox
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
Historie of James the Sext
Nau
Historie of James the Sext
Melville
5. “MOST UNWORTHY TO BE MATCHED”
Melville
Lennox Narrative
CSP Scottish
Labanoff
Cited by Donaldson
CSP Scottish
Melville
CSP Scottish
Bothwell; CSP Scottish
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.; Keith
Keith
Bothwell
CSP Spanish
Melville
CSP Scottish
Melville
Buchanan
Cited by Sitwell
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Leslie: Defence; Anderson: Collections
Additional MSS.; Bannatyne MSS.
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Keith
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
Pitcairn
Teulet
Labanoff
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.; Throckmorton noticed Mary’s coldness towards Maitland.
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Register of the Privy Council
Bothwell
Ibid.; Diurnal of Occurrents
Cotton MSS. Caligula
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.; Buchanan
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Teulet
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Randolph to Cecil, cited by Keith
Keith
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Melville
CSP Scottish
Knox
Ibid.
Bothwell
The Moray plot is well attested: see Randolph to Cecil, 4 July 1565, in Keith; CSP Spanish; Melville; Leslie; Knox; Labanoff; Lindsay of Pittscottie; Blackwood. Buchanan dismisses the alleged plot of his patron Moray against the Queen as existing only in her imagination, and asserts that Moray had been warned by Ruthven of a plot by Mary and Darnley to murder him at Perth, which was the reason why he had stayed away. This differs from Randolph’s contemporary account of events, which alleges that Darnley and Rizzio were plotting against Moray; Buchanan’s version is obviously an attempt to blacken Mary’s name.
CSP Scottish
Seton Palace was extended in the 17th century but largely demolished in 1789–90, when the present Seton Castle, designed by Robert Adam, was built. Only the vaulted ground floor remains from Mary’s time. The apartments she occupied were on the first floor. Seton Collegiate Church, which dates from c.1434 and stood beside the palace, still remains in the grounds.
CSP Scottish
Melville
Pollen: “Dispensation”
CSP Scottish
Keith
CSP Spanish
6. “THE CHASEABOUT RAID”
Diurnal of Occurrents
Melville
Randolph to Leicester, in CSP Scottish
Inventaires
Randolph to Leicester, in CSP Scottish
Household Expenses for 29 July 1565, in the Scottish Record Office
Randolph to Leicester, in CSP Scottish
CSP Scottish
A silver medal commemorating the marriage and showing both Mary and Darnley crowned and bearing the legend in Latin “Whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder,” is in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery; there are only two surviving examples of the “Henricus et Maria” silver ryal coin: one is in the British Museum, and another, in better condition, is in a private collection.
Book of Articles
CSP Scottish
Melville
CSP Scottish
Melville
Ibid.
Lennox Narrative
Knox
Register of the Privy Council
CSP Spanish
Teulet
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Register of the Privy Council; Diurnal of Occurrents
CSP Scottish
Teulet
Keith
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Diurnal of Occurrents
Knox
Buchanan
CSP Scottish; Diurnal of Occurrents
Teulet
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Buchanan; Register of the Privy Council
Papal Negotiations
Labanoff
CSP Scottish
Register of the Privy Council
Buchanan
CSP Scottish
CSP Foreign
Letter cited by Strickland in Lives of the Queens of Scotland
Labanoff
Teulet
Nau
Teulet
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Diurnal of Occurrents
Cited by Wright; CSP Scottish; CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
Papal Negotiations
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
Teulet
CSP Scottish
7. “THERE IS A BAIT LAID FOR SIGNOR DAVID”
Randolph, in CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
Lennox Narrative
Keith
Herries
Ibid.
CSP Spanish
Register of the Privy Council
CSP Scottish
Papiers d’Etat, ed. Teulet.
Cecil Papers
Lennox Narrative
CSP Spanish; CSP Scottish
Labanoff
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Cecil Papers
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; CSP Foreign. The new coins had on the obverse a design of a tortoise, representing Darnley, climbing a crowned palm tree, representing Mary. An example may be seen in the National Museums of Scotland. See Stewart: Scottish Coinage.
Register of the Privy Council. Randolph and Buchanan are incorrect in claiming that Darnley’s name was placed second on all documents. In all the Acts of the Privy Council, only one, that authorising the change of coinage, has the Queen’s name appearing first. It also appears first on documents on which Darnley’s sign manual was obviously added later.
CSP Scottish
Inventaires
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Keith; Strickland
Register of the Privy Seal
CSP Scottish
Melville
McCrie
Papal Negotiations
CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish
Melville
CSP Spanish
Gore-Browne
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Bedford later informed Cecil that this rumour was baseless.
CSP Foreign
Buchanan
Melville
State Papers in the Public Record Office: Domestic, James I. The elder Anthony Standen was a minor player in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
Ruthven: Narration
Melville
Ruthven: Narration
Melville; Bothwell
Bothwell
Ruthven: Narration; Cecil Papers; Wright
Cecil Papers
Melville
Ibid.
CSP Scottish
Cecil Papers
Ruthven describes his illness as “an inflammation of the liver and a consumption of the kidneys”; it could have been cancer, or perhaps the consequence of heavy drinking.
Ruthven: Narration
Melville
Blackwood
CSP Scottish; Ruthven: Narration; Keith; Labanoff; Knox; Buchanan
Melville
CSP Scottish
Harleian MSS.
Knox
Diurnal of Occurrents
Keith; Tytler: History; MSS. in the National Library of Scotland
Keith
Ibid.
CSP Scottish
Melville
CSP Scottish
Inventaires
A document alleged to be this dispensation is preserved at Dunrobin Castle, but may not be authentic.
Knox
In 1599, Jean married Ogilvy as her third husband.
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Ruthven: Narration; Keith; Buchanan; Knox
Diurnal of Occurrents
CSP Scottish; Miscellany of the Maitland Club (3 vols., 1833)
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Cotton MSS. Caligula
Knox
CSP Spanish
Knox; Buchanan
Knox
8. “THIS VILE ACT”
Strickland: Lives of the Queens of Scotland
There are several accounts of the events that followed. Two were by eyewitnesses: Mary’s version appears in two similar letters, one to Archbishop Beaton (2 April 1566, in Labanoff, hereinafter referred to as Mary to Beaton) and the other to Charles IX and Catherine de’ Medici (CSP Venetian, hereinafter referred to as Mary to Charles IX).
Lord Ruthven wrote his account in his 6,000-word Narration, which, after being edited by Cecil, was completed on 30 April 1566 in England (hereinafter referred to as Ruthven). It was written for the benefit of the English Privy Council and is obviously an attempt to portray Ruthven and his accomplices in the best possible light.
On 11 March, in Berwick, Randolph wrote an account of Rizzio’s murder (additional MSS., hereinafter referred to as Randolph), based on information given him by one Captain Carew, an English spy in Edinburgh, who had spoken with Mary, Darnley and others involved.
On 27 March, Randolph and Bedford wrote a joint letter to Cecil describing the recent shocking events (Cotton MSS. Caligula; Wright, hereinafter referred to as Randolph and Bedford).
In the 1570s, Claude Nau compiled a detailed account of the murder, based probably on Mary’s own reminiscences; it gives details that only she could have known.
Melville’s memoirs are those of someone who was well informed but was not actually an eyewitness, although he was at Holyrood at the time of the murder; his record of events is succinct and probably accurate.
There are very few discrepancies in all these accounts, and together they provide what is probably the truth about the events of 9–12 March, 1566.
Randolph
Ruthven; Randolph and Bedford
Register of the Privy Council; Keith; Pitcairn; Ruthven; Gore-Browne
Melville
Ibid. Mary gives the time as 7 p.m.
Ruthven. Mary gives a similar account of this conversation, although less detailed.
Mary to Beaton
Ruthven
Mary to Beaton
Ruthven
The full text is given by Gore-Browne.
State Papers in the Public Record Office: Domestic, James I
Ruthven
Ibid.; Randolph and Bedford
Melville
Birrel
Randolph and Bedford
Ruthven; Mary to Beaton
Randolph and Bedford
Herries says Morton struck the first blow; Paul de Foix (Papiers d’Etat, ed. Teulet) says it was George Douglas.
CSP Scottish. On 23 March, Drury reported to Cecil that one of Ruthven’s followers had arrived in Berwick with his arm bound up—he had been wounded whilst attacking Rizzio.
Ruthven; Randolph and Bedford
Ibid.
Mary to Beaton
Ibid. Randolph and Bedford say there were 60 wounds on the body. From 1722 onwards, a supposedly indelible bloodstain was said to denote the place where Rizzio was murdered, a myth that was still current in the 19th century. Today, a plaque marks the spot. In the 18th century, a richly inlaid dagger was discovered hidden in the rafters of Queen Mary’s Bath House; it may have been hidden there by one of Rizzio’s murderers.
CSP Scottish
Ruthven
Randolph and Bedford
Mary to Beaton
Herries
Ruthven
Mary to Beaton
Ibid.; Nau
Mary to Beaton
Randolph
Mary to Beaton
Nau
Melville
Ibid.; Bothwell; Ruthven; Papiers d’Etat, ed. Teulet
Melville
Mary to Beaton
Nau
Ibid.; Ruthven
Melville
Nau
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.; Leslie
Nau
Ibid.
Randolph
Nau
Mary to Beaton. It must have been Darnley who informed her of this.
Nau
Cited by Sitwell
Nau
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ruthven; Randolph and Bedford
Ruthven; Keith
Melville
Mary to Beaton
Nau
Mary to Beaton; Randolph and Bedford
Ruthven
Ibid.
Ibid.
Mary to Beaton
Cited by Sitwell
Ruthven
Diurnal of Occurrents
Nau
Ibid.
Cited by James Mackay
Nau
Ruthven
Ibid.; Melville
Ruthven
Mary to Charles IX
Bothwell
Nau
Melville
Nau
Ibid.; Ruthven
Nau
Lennox Narrative
Nau. In her letter to Charles IX, Mary states that she and Darnley were attended by Traquair, Erskine and “two other persons only,” one of whom was Standen and the other, according to Randolph, “one gentlewoman,” who was probably Margaret Carwood, one of the Queen’s favourite maids-of-honour. Later that year, Mary got Darnley to knight Standen for his loyal service.
Nau
Armstrong Davison
Nau
Randolph
Memoir to Cosimo de’ Medici, in Labanoff
9. “AS THEY HAVE BREWED, SO LET THEM DRINK”
Because of its infamous associations with Bothwell, Dunbar Castle was dismantled on the orders of Parliament in 1568. Only ruins remain.
Bothwell
Mary to Charles IX
Randolph to Cecil, State Papers in the Public Record Office
Nau
Register of the Privy Seal; CSP Scottish
CSP Scottish; Labanoff
CSP Venetian
Nau
Register of the Privy Council; Diurnal of Occurrents; Ruthven
Ruthven
Nau
Melville
Ibid.
Mary to Charles IX
Melville
Randolph to Cecil, State Papers in the Public Record Office
Melville
Ibid.
Randolph says she lodged on the High Street.
Randolph and Bedford; Nau; Diurnal of Occurrents
Lennox Narrative
Mary to Charles IX
Buchanan
Register of the Privy Seal
Nau
Melville
Cited by Gore-Browne
CSP Spanish; Papiers d’Etat, ed. Teulet; CSP Foreign ; Keith
Mary to Beaton
Mary to Charles IX
Diurnal of Occurrents; Papiers d’Etat, ed. Teulet; Buchanan
State Papers in the Public Record Office
CSP Scottish
Cited by Bowen
CSP Scottish
Cited by Prebble
State Papers in the Public Record Office
CSP Spanish
Ibid.
CSP Venetian
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Bothwell
CSP Scottish
Register of the Privy Council; Diurnal of Occurrents; Pitcairn; Keith; Bothwell
CSP Scottish
Melville
Lennox Narrative
Register of the Privy Council. Darnley continued to sign documents, or they were stamped with his sign manual, but he had no say in the formulation of policy.
From “Lord Bothwell,” in English and Scottish Popular Ballads
Nau; CSP Foreign
Register of the Privy Council; Nau
During the siege of 1573, King David’s Tower was destroyed. In 1578, the Regent Morton refortified Edinburgh Castle and built the Half Moon Battery on the site of David’s Tower. In 1615–17, the royal lodgings were remodelled for James I, at which time painted decorations were added to the tiny room in which he was born; the panelling was not installed until 1848. The initials of James’s parents were probably placed over the doorway in 1617; they may have come from elsewhere. In 1650, Oliver Cromwell dismantled much of the castle’s fortifications. Since the Act of Union of 1707, Edinburgh Castle has been kept in good repair. The Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny are housed in the former royal lodgings.
CSP Scottish
Nau
Teulet; CSP Scottish
CSP Scottish
Lennox Narrative
Labanoff
CSP Spanish
Original Letters
Inventaires
CSP Foreign
Randolph, in CSP Foreign, 13 May 1566
Diurnal of Occurrents
Nau
CSP Foreign
Nau
Melville
Nau
Ibid.
Ibid.
Melville
Lennox Narrative
CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish, 18 May 1566
Nau
CSP Scottish; Nau
Maitland to Randolph, in Cotton MSS. Caligula; CSP Spanish
CSP Spanish; CSP Scottish
Barberini MSS., Barberini Library, Rome
Papal Negotiations
CSP Spanish
Ibid.; Papal Negotiations
Egerton MSS.
Papal Negotiations
This had been Pius’s own See prior to his elevation to the Papacy.
Leslie
Papal Negotiations
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Knox
Additional MSS., Bodleian Library
Calendar of the Manuscripts at Hatfield House
Lennox Narrative; Hume: Love Affairs
Nau
Buchanan alleges that Mary ignored Darnley in her Will and that Bothwell not only featured prominently but was also appointed Governor of her child and of the realm. Mary’s Will was perhaps destroyed so that the lies in the libels would not be exposed. Moray, under whose auspices Buchanan wrote, must have been aware of the Will’s true contents, as he was to have been a beneficiary.
Inventaires. Mary’s Will does not survive, but a testamentary inventory of the jewels she meant to bequeath, annotated by herself, still exists in the Register House in Edinburgh.
Clerk of Penicuik MSS., Register House in Edinburgh
State Papers in the Public Record Office; Chalmers
CSP Scottish
Nau
Melville
Nau
CSP Scottish; Calderwood
Nau
10. “AN UNWELCOME INTRUDER”
Melville
Bannatyne Miscellany. She was the wife of Sir Arthur Forbes of Reres.
Nau
Herries says he was born between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.; Melville had the news from Mary Beaton between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and claims he was the first to be informed. Nau and the Diurnal of Occurrents state that the Prince was born between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Buchanan says he was born a little after 9 a.m.
Cited by William Robertson
Diurnal of Occurrents; Nau
Herries
Strickland
See Gent, and Antonia Fraser.
Nau
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Bothwell
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
State Papers in the Public Record Office: Domestic, James I
CSP Spanish
Ibid.
CSP Scottish
Nau
CSP Scottish
Ibid. James’s cradle is now at Traquair House, Innerleithen.
CSP Spanish
Teulet
CSP Foreign; Cecil Papers
CSP Spanish
CSP Foreign; Cecil Papers
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
CSP Spanish; CSP Scottish
Nau says she was at Alloa on 28 July.
Selections from Unpublished Manuscripts
Ibid.
Register of the Privy Council
Register of the Privy Seal
Buchanan
Ibid.
CSP Scottish; Nau
Knox
Alloa Tower is still owned by the Erskines, but is substantially altered from what it was in Mary’s day. In the early 18th century, it was remodelled to match a nearby mansion, and in 1800, a serious fire damaged the roof and consumed many of the family heirlooms, among them what was said to be the only portrait of Mary painted while she was in Scotland. The Tower was restored in the 1990s and reopened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997.
Lennox Narrative
Selections from Unpublished Manuscripts; CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish
Nau
Melville
Cotton MSS. Caligula; Selections from Unpublished Manuscripts; CSP Foreign; Keith; Illustrations of the Reign of Queen Mary
CSP Foreign
Lennox Narrative
Nau
CSP Scottish
Leslie
Ibid.
Ibid.
Papal Negotiations
Raumer
Keith
Inventaires
CSP Scottish; Nau
The peel tower in which Mary stayed is the oldest part of Traquair House, and is now attached to the north end of the main block, which was built in 1642. At the end of the 17th century another wing was added. In the King’s Room is a bed slept in by Mary when she stayed with Lord Herries at Terregles Castle in 1568, just prior to her flight to England; this bed was brought to Traquair in 1890. Also at Traquair are a rosary, crucifix, reticule and purse said to have belonged to Mary, and a document dated 1565, bearing her signature and Darnley’s.
Nau
Ibid.
Papal Negotiations
CSP Spanish
CSP Foreign
Keith
Nau
Ibid.
Cited by Gore-Browne
CSP Foreign
11. “NO OUTGAIT”
Cecil Papers
CSP Scottish; CSP Foreign
Du Croc to Archbishop Beaton, in Keith
Papal Negotiations
The Privy Council to Catherine de’ Medici, in Keith
Du Croc to Archbishop Beaton, ibid.
The Privy Council to Catherine de’ Medici, ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.; du Croc to Archbishop Beaton, in Keith; Papiers d’Etat , ed. Teulet
Du Croc to Catherine de’ Medici, in Keith; Papiers d’Etat, ed. Teulet; Labanoff
Nau
The Privy Council to Catherine de’ Medici, 8 October 1566, in Keith; Teulet
Ibid.
Leslie; Keith
Papal Negotiations
Register of the Privy Council
Melville
Register of the Privy Council
Lennox Narrative
“The Answer of Moray,” 1569, in Keith
Archibald Douglas to Queen Mary, ibid.
Diurnal of Occurrents
Bothwell had shot Elliott in the leg with a pistol before being wounded himself. There are conflicting reports as to Elliott’s fate: some claimed he died of his wounds, but Sir John Forster stated that he escaped and recovered (Additional MSS., British Library). There is some evidence that he continued to pursue his lawless existence until 1590, when he may have died.
Buchanan
Cited by McKechnie
Nau
Keith
Cited by Gore-Browne
Teulet
CSP Scottish
Keith; Papiers d’Etat, ed. Teulet
Labanoff
Du Croc to Catherine de’ Medici, in Keith; Papiers d’Etat, ed. Teulet; Labanoff
Report of 12 November, in Papal Negotiations
Keith; Teulet
Cotton MSS. Caligula
Diurnal of Occurrents; CSP Foreign; Register of the Privy Seal ; Tytler: Scotland
Hermitage Castle still stands today, its courtyard in ruins but its outer walls intact. Although extensively restored in 1820, it is perhaps the best preserved example of a Border fortress.
CSP Scottish; Nau
A French 16th-century pocket watch and case were unearthed by a mole and found on this spot by a shepherd in the early 19th century. Both are now on display at Mary, Queen of Scots’ House in Jedburgh.
Lennox Narrative
Chalmers; Tytler: Scotland
Nau, writing in the 1570s, states she fell ill on the day after her ride to Hermitage, i.e., on 16 October; on 18 October 1566, the Council informed Beaton that the illness came on two days after the ride, i.e., on 17 October. As their account was written only a day later, the Council are more likely to be correct.
Nau
Ibid.
CSP Venetian
Ibid.
Nau
Ibid.
Keith
CSP Spanish
Buchanan
Register of the Privy Council
Bishop Leslie to Archbishop Beaton, in Keith
Ibid.
Cited by Tytler: Scotland
Bishop Leslie to Archbishop Beaton, in Keith
Nau; CSP Spanish. Mary’s instructions are in the archives of Edinburgh University.
Register of the Privy Council
Leslie; Nau
Nau; Leslie
Nau; Leslie
Bishop Leslie to Archbishop Beaton, in Keith; Diurnal of Occurrents
Keith
Diurnal of Occurrents
The building known today as Mary, Queen of Scots’ House was greatly altered and extended in the 17th and 19th centuries, but was restored largely to its 16th-century state in 1986–87.
CSP Scottish
CSP Foreign
Teulet
Papal Negotiations
De Silva states he had learned about what followed in a letter from Mary “dated the 1st instant” (CSP Spanish). Buchanan incorrectly states that Mary received the letter from or about Darnley on 5 November when she was on her way to Kelso, but she did not leave Jedburgh until 9 November, and her messenger, Stephen Wilson, had left for England with news of the Darnley letter around the 8th. Mary must therefore have received the letter on or shortly before 1 November while she was still at Jedburgh.
Buchanan says the letter was from Darnley but it is hardly likely that Darnley would have himself divulged to Mary the information that de Silva states was in it. Armstrong Davison speculated that it had come from the Comte de Brienne, but he did not arrive in Scotland until 2 or 3 November.
CSP Spanish
Ibid., 17 February 1567
CSP Spanish
Labanoff; Papal Negotiations
Fr. Edmund Hay, SJ, to Francis Borgia, Father General of the Society of Jesus, in the archives of the Society of Jesus
Keith
Sir John Neale: Elizabeth I and her Parliaments (2 vols, London, 1953–7)
CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish
CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
Papal Negotiations
Melville
Buchanan: Detectio. A slightly different version appears in the Book of Articles, where it is said that Lady Reres’s purpose was “not altogether unknown to such as attended in the Queen’s company.”
Diurnal of Occurrents; Keith
Keith
12. “UNNATURAL PROCEEDINGS”
Book of Articles
Du Croc to Archbishop Beaton, 6 December 1566, in Keith
Papal Negotiations
Keith
Du Croc to Archbishop Beaton, 6 December 1566, in Keith
Cotton MSS. Caligula. The full text is in Keith, Goodall and Mumby: Fall of Mary Stuart.
It was not unusual for two people of the same sex to share a bed when space was at a premium.
Although restored to his title and earldom, Huntly had yet to recover his estates.
Goodall
It was actually drawn up two months before, not three, but after six years it would be natural for Ormiston to be a little inaccurate as to dates. Elsewhere in his confession, Ormiston quotes Bothwell as saying that the matter had been concluded at Craigmillar.
Pitcairn
Register of the Secret Seal; Inventaires; Register of the Privy Seal
The official record is in Cambridge University Library.
Moray’s Answer, dated 19 January 1569 and written by Moray and Cecil in London, is pasted to the back of the Protestation.
CSP Foreign
Nau
Du Croc to Archbishop Beaton, in Keith
Sir John Forster to Cecil, 11 December 1566, in CSP Foreign
Melville
Register of the Privy Council
Lennox Narrative
Casket Letter II, in CSP Scottish
Lennox Narrative
CSP Spanish; Teulet
Register of the Privy Council; Keith
Papal Negotiations
Du Croc to Archbishop Beaton, in Keith
Keith; CSP Venetian; Diurnal of Occurrents
Du Croc to Archbishop Beaton, in Keith
Inventaires; Cotton MSS. Caligula; CSP Foreign. Buchanan later referred only to Mary providing clothing for Bothwell: “The Queen did her best to make Bothwell appear the most magnificently dressed of all her subjects and guests.” He meant to emphasise that she was singling Bothwell out for special favour because he was her lover. This is a typical example of how Buchanan massaged the facts in order to support his denunciation of Mary.
Nau
Ibid.
Du Croc to Archbishop Beaton, in Keith
Buchanan
Knox
Du Croc to Archbishop Beaton, in Keith
The Elizabethan historian William Camden says that Bedford had been instructed not to acknowledge Darnley as King.
Cotton MSS. Caligula; Nau
Du Croc to Archbishop Beaton, in Keith
Mary to Archbishop Beaton, 20 January 1567, in Labanoff
Ibid.
Register of the Secret Seal; Register of the Privy Seal
Antonia Fraser
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Bothwell; Bannatyne Miscellany; CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
Register of the Privy Seal
CSP Scottish
Morton’s confession of 1581, in Holinshed. Buchanan alleges that Darnley left Stirling because his rival Bothwell had been “set up to his face as an object of universal respect,” but this is not corroborated by the other evidence.
Lennox Narrative; Mary to Beaton, 20 January 1567, in Labanoff
13. “THE DAYS WERE EVIL”
Knox; Buchanan
Lennox Narrative
Pearson
CSP Scottish
Inventaires
The skull, which had been removed in 1768 from the vandalised royal vault at Holyrood, is now in the Royal College of Surgeons, London.
Pearson
Knox
CSP Spanish
Keith
Ibid.
Register of the Secret Seal
Ibid.; Keith; Buchanan
This interview must have taken place in the New Year, after Darnley had left Stirling and Mary had returned from Tullibardine. This would have been the first opportunity that Walker had had to speak with her.
Mary to Archbishop Beaton, 20 January 1567, in Labanoff
CSP Scottish
Labanoff
CSP Scottish; Keith
Cabala
Inventaires
Labanoff
CSP Foreign; CSP Scottish; Keith
State Papers in the Public Record Office; CSP Foreign
Nau
Lennox Narrative
Nau
Buchanan says Mary had tried to lull Darnley’s suspicions “by her frequent loving letters,” but this seems unlikely in view of the other evidence.
CSP Scottish
Teulet
Throughout this book, I have quoted the modern English translations of the Casket Letters, except where there are discrepancies in the Scots, French and Latin versions.
CSP Scottish
Mahon: Lennox Narrative
Buchanan
Keith
Birrel says the 13th, the Diurnal of Occurrents the 14th. These two sources often show a discrepancy of one day.
CSP Scottish
The date of the meeting at Whittinghame is not recorded, but it must have been after Maitland left Edinburgh on 17 January. As it was reported by Drury on the 23rd, it must have taken place around 18 or 19 January. For the Whittinghame episode, see CSP Scottish; Morton’s confession of 1581 in Holinshed; Archibald Douglas’s letter to Mary of 1583 in Inventaires ; Diurnal of Occurrents; Bannatyne Miscellany; Calderwood
Bothwell
Inventaires
CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish
Holinshed
Inventaires
Nau; his account is corroborated by a letter from Drury to Cecil dated 13 August 1575.
Labanoff
14. “SOME SUSPICION OF WHAT AFTERWARDS HAPPENED”
Diurnal of Occurrents. Birrel; Anderson: Collections; Book of Articles; Moray’s Journal, in Cotton MSS. Caligula
Moray’s Journal, in Cotton MSS. Caligula; Anderson: Collections; Book of Articles
Buchanan
Drury reported she had arrived on the 22nd (CSP Scottish).
Crawford’s Deposition, original MS. in Cambridge University Library, edited copy in CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish; CSP Foreign
CSP Spanish
Cambridge University Library
CSP Scottish; Goodall. After this was read out, Crawford said that the words quoted in his deposition were “the same in effect and substance as they were delivered by the King to him, though not perhaps in all parts the very words themselves.”
CSP Scottish; Labanoff
Lennox Narrative
Ibid.
Moray’s Journal, in Cotton MSS. Caligula
The English version is among the State Papers in the Public Record Office. The only parts omitted here are a few minor irrelevancies. The letter appears here with corrected translations.
The last four words appear only in the Scots, Latin and French versions.
It will be seen that these passages are very similar to Crawford’s Deposition.
The original letter, which was in French, has disappeared, but it is clear from the Scots, French and Latin versions that the English translator has made errors. This has been mistranslated in the English version as “to let blood.”
Another mistranslation: “journée” means “day” in French, not “journey,” which appears in the English version.
The last part of this sentence only appears in the English version.
Labanoff
Probably mistranslated. The word appears as “Devil” in the Scots version and as “yeere” in the English.
Given as “bible” in the English version, which is probably a mistranslation of “billet.”
An obvious mistranslation. It is probably a reference to Darnley’s skin eruptions.
The other versions state that the writer was sitting at the foot of the bed.
This last part of the sentence has next to it in the margin a translation from the original French in Cecil’s own hand, since the English translator has made an error. This sentence does not appear in the Scots version, and may well have caused problems for the Scottish translator also.
In the English version, this word is given as “grief”; all the other versions give “trouble.”
Lang
CSP Scottish
Cited by Mahon: Lennox Narrative
Papal Negotiations
CSP Scottish
Moray’s Journal, in Cotton MSS. Caligula
CSP Venetian
Maitland to Cecil, 8 February 1567, in CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
Keith; Teulet
15. “ALL WAS PREPARED FOR THE CRIME”
Lennox Narrative
Drury to Cecil, 26 January 1567, in CSP Scottish; CSP Venetian ; Buchanan
Book of Articles
Moray’s Journal, in Cotton MSS. Caligula; Lennox Narrative; CSP Scottish
Nau
Book of Articles
Cotton MSS. Caligula
Lord Scrope to Cecil, 28 January 1567, in CSP Scottish
Thomson: Crime of Mary Stuart
Buchanan
Moray’s Journal states 30 January, Birrel 31 January, and the Diurnal of Occurrents 1 February.
Lennox Narrative
CSP Venetian
Melville
Inventaires
Pitcairn; Goodall; Anderson: Collections. Thomas Crawford made a similar deposition (Cambridge University Library).
Lennox Narrative
Ibid.
Mahon: Lennox Narrative
Pitcairn
Book of Articles
CSP Spanish
CSP Venetian
Inventaires
Nelson’s deposition, in Pitcairn, Goodall and Anderson: Collections
Inventaires; Leslie
Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, cited by Gore-Browne
The buildings and topography of Kirk o’Field were extensively researched by Mahon for his book The Tragedy of Kirk o’Field, a work to which many authors, including myself, are deeply indebted. There is also a contemporary plan of Kirk o’Field, which was drawn up by one of Cecil’s agents hours after Darnley’s murder on 10 February 1567, which is now in the Public Record Office.
The collegiate buildings at Kirk o’Field were later converted into the College of King James and a house for its Principal, and in the late 18th century, the central quadrangle of Edinburgh University and its Hall of the Senate, designed by Robert Adam, were built on the site.
None of the original collegiate buildings remains, but the site of the Prebendaries’ Chamber and the Old Provost’s Lodging lies just inside the right angle created by South Bridge Street and South College Street. Tour guides in the city vaults point out what they say are the remains of the cellars of Darnley’s house and an adjacent close, the cellars being distinguished by Gothic arches, but these are not in the correct location.
Buchanan
Nelson’s deposition in Pitcairn, Goodall and Anderson: Collections
Details of all the furniture and hangings in the Old Provost’s Lodging are in Inventaires. Thomas Nelson is the source for the changing of Darnley’s bed (Pitcairn; Goodall; Anderson: Collections).
Nelson’s deposition, in Pitcairn, Goodall and Anderson: Collections
Nau
CSP Spanish; Leslie
Lennox Narrative
Leslie
Ibid.
Knox
Nau
Nelson’s deposition, in Pitcairn, Goodall and Anderson: Collections
Lennox Narrative
Ibid.
William Tytler
Lennox Narrative
Ibid; cf. Buchanan
Buchanan
Nau
Nelson’s deposition, in Pitcairn, Goodall and Anderson: Collections
Buchanan says “three days before the murder.”
Melville
The Indictment of 1568 states Saturday afternoon, the Book of Articles and Paris’s deposition Saturday morning.
Melville
CSP Scottish; Goodall
The English translation appears to be a copy from the original French, and is among the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House. Moray’s Journal, in Cotton MSS. Caligula, states that Mary’s confrontation with Lord Robert and Darnley “conform[ed] to her letter written the night before.”
See Armstrong Davison
The original French copy is in the Public Record Office. This English translation is taken from the Scots version in CSP Scottish.
Inventaires
Papal Negotiations
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
Papal Negotiations; reported by Father Hay to Mondovi.
In the Detectio, Buchanan says she had smallpox during pregnancy; in his History, he claims she had a miscarriage.
Lennox Narrative; CSP Venetian. Lennox states that Mary had decided that Darnley should return to Holyrood on 10 February.
In the Register House in Edinburgh.
This house was owned by Mr. John Balfour (Book of Articles), not Sir James Balfour, as is sometimes stated.
Inventaires; Book of Articles; Mondovi to Alessandria, 27 February 1567, in Papal Negotiations
Mondovi to Alessandria, 27 February 1567, in Papal Negotiations
Labanoff. Buchanan says she had a “fairly large” or “a numerous attendance.” Clernault (Papal Negotiations) states she was accompanied by “all the principal Lords of her court.”
CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish
CSP Venetian
Clernault’s report, in Papal Negotiations
Lennox Narrative
Keith
CSP Scottish
CSP Venetian; Giovanni Correr, the Venetian ambassador in Paris, was informed of this by Moretta.
CSP Venetian (Moretta to Correr); Book of Articles; Lennox Narrative; Nelson’s deposition, in Pitcairn, Goodall and Anderson: Collections; Crawford’s deposition in Cambridge University Library; Buchanan: History; untitled ballad on the death of Darnley by Robert Lekprevik of Edinburgh, in CSP Scottish; CSP Spanish—de Silva says Mary gave Darnley “a jewel.”
Lennox Narrative; Buchanan repeats this in his History
Nau
Collector of the Queen’s rents.
Thomas Wilson
Nelson’s deposition, in Pitcairn, Goodall and Anderson: Collections
CSP Scottish
Buchanan; Thomas Wilson
Mahon: Tragedy of Kirk o’Field
Bothwell
Nelson’s deposition, in Pitcairn, Goodall and Anderson: Collections
CSP Scottish
Lennox Narrative
Nelson’s deposition, in Pitcairn, Goodall and Anderson: Collections
Buchanan
Nau
16. “MOST CRUEL MURDER”
Additional MSS.; CSP Venetian
Mondovi to Cosimo de’ Medici, in Labanoff; Mondovi to Alessandria, 15/16 March 1567, in Papal Negotiations. Mondovi had received this information from Moretta.
The Privy Council to Catherine de’ Medici, 10 February 1567, in the Sloane MSS.
Buchanan
Mary to Archbishop Beaton, 10/11 February 1567, in Keith; cf. the Seigneur de Clernault in State Papers in the Public Record Office, CSP Scottish and Papal Negotiations
State Papers in the Public Record Office; CSP Scottish; Papal Negotiations
Pitcairn
Sloane MSS.
Ibid.; Keith
Historie of James the Sext
State Papers in the Public Record Office; CSP Scottish; Papal Negotiations
Additional MSS.
Buchanan
Clernault, in State Papers in the Public Record Office, CSP Scottish and Papal Negotiations. According to Buchanan, “the Queen, in great expectation of success, how finely she played her part it is marvellous to tell: for she not once stirred at the noise of the fall of the house, which shook the whole town, nor at the fearful outcries that followed.” Lennox states that, “upon the crack and noise, which the Queen waited for to hear, she went to bed” (Lennox Narrative ). Buchanan says much the same thing elsewhere, and in the Book of Articles claims that the explosion “neither feared nor moved the Queen.”
Clernault, in State Papers in the Public Record Office, CSP Scottish and Papal Negotiations
Book of Articles
Deposition of William Powrie, in Pitcairn
Bothwell
Pitcairn
CSP Spanish
Clernault, in State Papers in the Public Record Office, CSP Scottish and Papal Negotiations
Buchanan. See the sketch of the murder scene in the Public Record Office for the positions of the bodies.
Herries; Knox
Buchanan; CSP Spanish
Knox
Buchanan
Pitcairn
Additional MSS.
The Book of Articles states that it was Bothwell, but it is more likely that Mary would have been informed of Darnley’s death before Bothwell was.
Bothwell
Buchanan
Bothwell
Clernault, in State Papers in the Public Record Office, CSP Scottish and Papal Negotiations
CSP Venetian
Bothwell
Ibid.; Knox
Knox. The Book of Articles alleges that Darnley’s body was “left lying in the yard [sic] where it was apprehended the space of three hours” before “the rascal[ly] people transported him to a vile house near the room where before he was lodged.” This is obviously a distortion of the truth.
Bothwell
Ibid.
Ibid.
Now in the Public Record Office.
Nau
Crawfurd: Memoirs
Papal Negotiations
Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer, 15 February 1567
In his Detectio, Buchanan wrote that this was the custom in Scotland also, and de Silva reported that Robert Melville had left Mary “confined to her chamber, with the intention of not leaving it for forty days, as is the custom of widows there” (CSP Spanish). However, there is no evidence that either of the two previous widowed Queens, Margaret Tudor, wife of James IV, and Marie de Guise, wife of James V, ever observed this custom.
Melville
In his Detectio and The Book of Articles, Buchanan states that Mary slept till noon, but in his History, he claims that she slept most of the day. This is another example of the inconsistencies in his narratives.
Nau
Mary herself reported this in a letter written on 16 February 1567 to Mondovi, who in turn reported it to Alessandria (Papal Negotiations) .
Knox
The Book of Articles states that Darnley “remained 48 hours as a gazing stock,” but this cannot be true. His body was laid in state on 12 February, and it would have taken a day or so for the embalming processes to be completed.
Melville
Sloane MSS.
Keith
Keith; Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer
Book of Articles
Buchanan; Book of Articles; CSP Scottish
17. “NONE DARE FIND FAULT WITH IT”
Adam Blackwood, a Catholic supporter of Mary whose work was published in 1581 in France, is the only source to mention torture. He states that these deponents “had been extraordinarily racked” and beaten with hammers “to draw some one word against their mistress,” but they refused to say anything to condemn her.
The texts of the depositions quoted in this chapter are to be found in Pitcairn, Anderson: Collections, and Goodall. Three modern works that have proved very useful for this chapter are Mahon: Tragedy of Kirk o’Field, which is the result of ten years’ research and sets out to show that Darnley was responsible for the explosion, a theory that is now largely discredited; Gore-Browne: Bothwell, which reaches the same conclusion; and Thomson: Crime of Mary Stuart, which attempts to reconstruct the murder from the depositions.
CSP Scottish
For a fuller discussion of 16th-century gunpowder, see Mahon: Tragedy of Kirk o’Field.
Book of Articles
CSP Scottish
Melville
CSP Scottish. Hepburn says that Bothwell had 14 counterfeit keys; Ormiston mentions only 13. The lockable doors were as follows:
Front door from quadrangle
Side door in alley leading to cellar/kitchen
Downstairs door to stairs
Door to Queen’s garderobe
Door to Queen’s bedchamber (2 keys)
Door to downstairs passage to garden
Door to passage leading to Prebendaries’ Chamber
Door to Prebendaries’ Chamber
Upstairs door to stairs (used as cover for Darnley’s bath)
Door to King’s garderobe
Door to King’s bedchamber
Door to postern gate in Flodden Wall
N.B. There was no lock on the back door, which was bolted on the inside. Allegations that the conspirators had two keys to this door are spurious.
There were therefore 13 keys to the house.
In one deposition Paris says this incident took place on Friday, in the other, on Saturday. The latter is more likely to be correct. Paris made his deposition more than two years later, so an allowance must be made for a lapse in memory.
This close no longer exists; it led off the Grassmarket, which lies to the south of Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile.
Mahon: Tragedy of Kirk o’Field
The Book of Articles states incorrectly that Hob Ormiston was Black Ormiston’s father.
Hay claimed that Bothwell was walking up and down the Canongate while the powder was being transported, which took place between 8 p.m. and 10:15 p.m., but Powrie claimed that he did not begin shifting the powder until 10 p.m.
Mahon: Tragedy of Kirk o’Field
Gore-Browne
Nau; Lennox says nothing about Paris giving a signal.
Nau
The accounts by Hay, Hepburn, Powrie and Dalgleish of Bothwell’s return journey to Kirk o’Field are almost identical.
Mahon: Tragedy of Kirk o’Field; CSP Scottish
CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish
CSP Venetian
CSP Scottish
It was later alleged that Bothwell himself had lit the fuse, but there is no evidence that he went into the house.
Calendar of Letters and State Papers . . . in Rome. This story was told by Hepburn just before his execution, to another prisoner, Cuthbert Ramsay, who repeated it in 1576 in Paris as evidence in support of Mary’s plea for an annulment of her marriage to Bothwell.
Buchanan
18. “THE CONTRIVERS OF THE PLOT”
Papal Negotiations
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
CSP Venetian
Sloane MSS.
Cited by Mahon: Tragedy of Kirk o’Field
CSP Scottish; Diurnal of Occurrents
CSP Scottish; Melville
Spottiswoode
Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland
Teulet
State Papers in the Public Record Office; CSP Scottish; CSP Foreign
Cabala
Notably Mahon: Tragedy of Kirk o’Field, and Gore-Browne.
CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
Keith
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
State Papers in the Public Record Office; Tytler
Papal Negotiations
Bothwell
Papal Negotiations
CSP Spanish
Morton’s confession, in Pitcairn
CSP Spanish; Teulet
CSP Foreign
Papal Negotiations
Gore-Browne
Sloane MSS.
CSP Spanish
CSP Venetian
Report of Sir William Drury, in CSP Scottish
CSP Venetian
Ibid.
Papal Negotiations
Diurnal of Occurrents
Pepys MSS.
19. “GREAT SUSPICIONS AND NO PROOF”
Buchanan
CSP Foreign
Buchanan; Camden
Melville
Inventaires
Keith
CSP Scottish; The Book of Articles is in the Hopetoun MSS. in the Register House, Edinburgh
Buchanan
Ibid.
Book of Articles
Lennox Narrative
Drury to Cecil, 19 February 1567, in CSP Scottish; Moray’s Journal, in Cotton MSS. Caligula. Mary’s surviving letters from this correspondence with Lennox are all in Scots, which suggests that they were not written by Mary herself but by her Council on her behalf.
Keith
Labanoff
Buchanan
CSP Spanish
Inventaires
Papal Negotiations
CSP Spanish
Ibid.
Drury to Cecil, CSP Scottish; Drury does not mention Hay.
Diurnal of Occurrents; Clernault, in Papal Negotiations . Knox claimed incorrectly that Darnley was buried in Holyrood Abbey.
Under Charles II the chapel royal was demolished and the royal remains removed to a new vault in Holyrood Abbey, which was now designated the new chapel royal. During the Glorious Revolution of 1688, a mob vandalised the abbey and forced open the royal vault but did not disturb the bodies. When the abbey roof collapsed in 1768, the vault was opened again and Darnley’s skull was removed along with that of Madeleine of France, first wife of James V.
Darnley’s skull was examined in 1798 and found to bear the marks of syphilis. After three changes of ownership, it was presented to the Royal College of Surgeons in 1869. See Bingham: Darnley.
By the 19th century, the royal vault was in a ruinous condition, and several of Darnley’s bones were removed; one was advertised for sale in a Harrogate newspaper. The vault has since been restored.
Papal Negotiations
Leslie
Diurnal of Occurrents
Ibid.
Mahon: Tragedy of Kirk o’Field
State Papers in the Public Record Office
Buchanan; Book of Articles
Report of the King of Scots’ Death, in CSP Scottish
Keith
CSP Scottish
Antonia Fraser
CSP Scottish. Drury recorded that he passed through Berwick on 19 February.
Mahon: Tragedy of Kirk o’Field
Labanoff
Diurnal of Occurrents
Cecil to Sir Henry Norris, 20 February 1567, in the Cecil Papers
CSP Spanish
CSP Foreign
Ibid., report of 22 February 1567
Papal Negotiations
Anderson: Collections; Keith
CSP Spanish
CSP Venetian
Labanoff
Robert Melville to Cecil, 26 February 1567, CSP Scottish
Anderson: Collections; Keith; Labanoff
CSP Spanish
Ibid.
State Papers in the Public Record Office; CSP Scottish. There are several translations of this letter from the original French, which accounts for the various versions in different books. I have largely followed Froude’s translation
CSP Scottish. The Diurnal of Occurrents claims that it was also proclaimed on 27 February.
Letter of 28 February 1567, in CSP Foreign
Leslie
CSP Scottish
Keith; Sir Henry Killigrew to Cecil, 8 March 1567, CSP Scottish
Tytler
Drury to Cecil, 27 February 1567, CSP Foreign
Nau
Drury to Cecil, 28 February 1567, CSP Foreign
CSP Foreign
Papal Negotiations
Drury to Cecil, 28 February 1567, CSP Foreign
Bothwell
CSP Scottish; for the placard campaign, see also CSP Foreign; Birrel; Anderson: Collections
CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish
Killigrew to Cecil, 8 March 1567, CSP Scottish
Buchanan
Bothwell
Pitcairn; Anderson: Collections; Goodall
Register of the Privy Seal
Labanoff
Killigrew to Cecil, 8 March 1567, CSP Scottish
Bingham: Darnley; CSP Scottish. The two mermaid placards are now in the Public Record Office.
CSP Spanish
Register of the Privy Council
Ibid.
Papal Negotiations
Teulet
Diurnal of Occurrents
Killigrew to Cecil, 8 March 1567, CSP Scottish
Ibid. Anthony Standen had returned to England by 15 March, when Mary, or her Council, wrote to Robert Melville in London, asking him to seek the favour of the English government on Standen’s behalf (Labanoff).
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Papal Negotiations
Selections from Unpublished Manuscripts
Ibid.; Keith
20. “LAYING SNARES FOR HER MAJESTY”
Papal Negotiations
Ibid.
For Moray’s letter and communication with Killigrew, see CSP Scottish
CSP Foreign
State Papers in the Public Record Office; CSP Scottish
CSP Scottish
Register of the Privy Council; Anderson: Collections
Drury to Cecil, 20 March 1567, CSP Foreign
Drury to Cecil, 29 March 1567, ibid.
Teulet
Drury to Cecil, 30 March 1567, CSP Foreign
Papal Negotiations
Ibid.
Ibid.
CSP Venetian
Keith
Bothwell
Acts of the Parliament of Scotland; Diurnal of Occurrents
Drury incorrectly states that Janet Beaton, the Lady of Buccleuch, was cited as co-respondent (CSP Foreign).
CSP Venetian; CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
Register of the Privy Council
Birrel
Drury to Cecil, 29 March 1567, CSP Foreign
The word “prevent” did not acquire its present meaning until the 17th century.
Labanoff
CSP Spanish
Ibid.
CSP Foreign
Ibid.
Drury to Cecil, 29 March 1567, CSP Foreign
Ibid.; Inventaires
Register of the Privy Council; Keith; Anderson: Collections
Hosack (see Book of Articles)
Labanoff
CSP Foreign. Cecil was aware of the divorce suit by 3 April.
CSP Scottish
Teulet
CSP Spanish
CSP Foreign
De Silva to Philip II, 21 April 1567, CSP Spanish
Ibid.
Teulet
Keith
Cotton MSS. Caligula
Mitchell
Book of Articles
Ibid.
CSP Foreign
Ibid.; de Silva to Philip II, 21 April 1567, CSP Spanish
Papal Negotiations
CSP Foreign
William Robertson: History of Scotland
Gore-Browne
21. “THE CLEANSING OF BOTHWELL”
Knox did not take part in this campaign; after Darnley’s murder, he had retired from Edinburgh to work on his History of the Reformation.
Letter to Cecil, 15 April 1567, CSP Foreign
Goodall; Keith; CSP Scottish
Drury to Cecil, 15 April 1567, in Tytler: Scotland
Ibid. James Anthony Froude, the eminent but biased 19th-century historian, had no time for Mary and was not above inventing evidence against her. He alleges that she was seen to give Bothwell a friendly nod from her window as he rode off to the Tolbooth, and also asserts that Bothwell was riding Darnley’s horse. These details do not appear in contemporary sources but have been frequently repeated by other writers.
CSP Scottish
CSP Foreign
Anderson: Collections
Keith
Buchanan
Keith
CSP Scottish
10 May 1567, CSP Scottish
CSP Foreign
Diurnal of Occurrents
CSP Foreign
Bothwell
CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish. Drury sent a copy of one of these answers to Cecil on 19 April (CSP Foreign).
Keith
Ibid.; Gore-Browne
Leslie and Nau also claimed that Bothwell’s acquittal was ratified by Parliament.
De Silva to Philip II, 21 April 1567, CSP Spanish
Acts of the Parliament of Scotland
CSP Scottish
The word “pit” meant “prison” in Scots.
CSP Foreign
For copies of the Ainslie’s Tavern Bond, see Cotton MSS. Caligula; Keith; Anderson: Collections; CSP Scottish
Buchanan says the Bishops added their signatures the following day.
Cotton MSS. Caligula
CSP Spanish
Both lists are in Keith.
Keith
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Nau
Ibid.
Labanoff. This gives the lie to Throckmorton’s claim, made on 30 April in a letter to Leicester, that Mary and Bothwell had been married at Seton before she went to Stirling (CSP Foreign).
Forster to Cecil, 24 April 1567, CSP Scottish
Bothwell
Nau
State Papers in the Public Record Office; CSP Scottish
CSP Scottish
22. “WE FOUND HIS DOINGS RUDE”
Diurnal of Occurrents; CSP Scottish
Cecil Papers; Lang
CSP Foreign
Papal Negotiations; Labanoff
CSP Scottish
Cited by MacNalty
The letter was sent via Drury.
Cited by Plowden: Two Queens in One Isle
Buchanan
Estimates of the number of Bothwell’s men vary. Nau says there were 1,500, the Diurnal of Occurrents 800, Buchanan 600 and de Silva 400. The Diurnal is the most likely to be correct.
Gore-Browne
CSP Foreign
Calendar of Letters and State Papers . . . in Rome (Cuthbert Ramsay’s evidence, 1576)
Pitcairn; Anderson: Collections; Goodall
State Papers in the Public Record Office; CSP Scottish. Some historians wrongly ascribe this letter to Lennox, claiming it was the one he wrote to his wife on 23 April.
Register of the Privy Council; Diurnal of Occurrents
De Silva to Philip II, 1 May 1567, CSP Spanish
Diurnal of Occurrents; CSP Scottish; Melville; Gore-Browne. The exact location of the abduction has not been fully established. In an Act of Parliament of 1567, the place is referred to as being “near the bridges, commonly called Foulbriggs” (or Foulbridge), which Strickland identified with Fountainbridge, but this is only just south of the West Port and nowhere near the River Almond. The Diurnal says the abduction took place “between Kirkliston and Edinburgh at a place called The Bridges.” In the 17th century, there was a farm called The Bridges at the village of Over Gogar, which has now been swallowed up by Edinburgh’s suburban sprawl. Buchanan and Herries state that the location was “Almond Bridge,” while a pardon of October 1567 says “near the Water of Almond.” Birrel claims it was at “Cramond Bridge,” on the road between Edinburgh and South Queensferry. The likeliest location is a little way to the south of Cramond, in the area referred to in the text. (See Gore-Browne.)
Letter to the Bishop of Dumblane, in Labanoff
CSP Spanish
Melville
De Silva to Philip II, 1 May 1567, CSP Spanish. De Silva had got his information from Cecil and from the messenger who brought the news to London.
Robert Melville to Cecil, 7 May 1567, CSP Scottish; Calendar of Letters and State Papers . . . in Rome (Cuthbert Ramsay’s evidence, 1576)
Robert Melville to Cecil, 7 May 1567, CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish
Labanoff
Ibid.
Nau
CSP Spanish
Labanoff
At this date, the word “ravish” meant “abduct” or “kidnap,” as well as “rape,” and was more commonly used in the former context; cf Moray’s Journal: “He met her upon the way, seemed to ravish her, and took Huntly and the Secretary prisoners.” The different meanings of the word have led to some confusion on the part of historians.
Melville
This probably refers to the Ainslie’s Tavern Bond.
Labanoff
CSP Scottish
The confession is printed as an appendix to Bothwell.
Labanoff
State Papers in the Public Record Office; CSP Scottish
Melville. Blackadder had been freed by the authorities after being arrested for Darnley’s murder, probably through the good offices of Bothwell.
CSP Foreign
Letter to Philip II, 3 May 1567, CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
Acts of the Parliament of Scotland
Bittersweet Within My Heart
Drury to Cecil, 6 May 1567, CSP Foreign
Drury to Cecil, 2 May 1567, ibid. Somehow, Maitland was managing to smuggle out messages to Drury.
Melville
CSP Foreign; CSP Scottish
State Papers in the Public Record Office; CSP Scottish
CSP Scottish
Stuart: Lost Chapter. The documents relating to the case are in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The Commissary Court had replaced the old Catholic Consistory Court in dealing with matrimonial causes.
Buchanan
Stuart: Lost Chapter
A document purporting to be this dispensation is preserved at Dunrobin Castle in Sutherland, Jean’s home after her second marriage, but its authenticity has been questioned.
Hosack (see Book of Articles)
Maitland’s Narrative
CSP Scottish
CSP Foreign
Drury to Cecil, 4 and 6 May 1567, CSP Foreign
Stuart: Lost Chapter
Robert Melville to Cecil, 7 May 1567, CSP Scottish; Grange to Bedford, 8 May 1567, ibid.; Register of the Privy Council
He arrived there by the end of April.
Keith
De Silva to Philip II, 11 May 1567, CSP Spanish
CSP Foreign; Buchanan; Book of Articles
CSP Spanish
De Alava to Philip II, 3 May 1567, Teulet
State Papers in the Public Record Office
Diurnal of Occurrents; Stuart: Lost Chapter
Calendar of the Manuscripts at Hatfield
De Silva to Philip II, 11 May 1567, CSP Spanish
Ibid.
Stuart: Lost Chapter
Hailes Castle, which is 1.5 miles south-west of East Linton, was built before 1300 and was the original seat of the Hepburns. Now a ruin, it is one of the oldest surviving stone castles in Scotland. It was partly dismantled by Parliamentary forces in 1650, during the Civil War. The chapel dates from the 16th century.
Stuart: Lost Chapter
Calendar of Letters and State Papers . . . in Rome (Cuthbert Ramsay’s evidence, 1576)
CSP Scottish
Diurnal of Occurrents
Buchanan
The Scottish Privy Council to Throckmorton, 11 July 1567, Keith
Stuart: Lost Chapter. Jean Gordon was given valuable estates as part of her divorce settlement, and held them until her death in 1629 in the reign of Mary’s grandson, Charles I. She married secondly Alexander Gordon, 12th Earl of Sutherland (d. 1594), then thirdly her former suitor, Alexander Ogilvy of Boyne (Keith).
CSP Spanish
The Book of Articles incorrectly refers to him as the Reader of St. Giles. A reader was an unordained assistant to the Minister (Donaldson).
Keith
Melville
Ibid.
CSP Scottish
Grange to Bedford, 8 May 1567, CSP Scottish
Knox
Diurnal of Occurrents
Melville
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Stuart: Lost Chapter
Book of Articles
Cited by Gore-Browne
Register of the Privy Seal
Keith. Elizabeth’s condemnation of Grange’s letters is also mentioned by Nau.
Anderson: Collections
Calendar of Letters and State Papers . . . in Rome (Cuthbert Ramsay’s evidence, 1576)
Drury to Cecil, 20 May 1567, CSP Foreign; Keith; Anderson: Collections; Buchanan; Book of Articles
Register of the Privy Seal; Diurnal of Occurrents. The others were James Cockburn of Langton, Patrick Hay of Whitelaw and Patrick Hepburn of Beanston. Although, strictly speaking, Bothwell should from henceforth be referred to as Orkney, for the sake of clarity I have continued to refer to him as Bothwell.
CSP Spanish
Keith
CSP Foreign
Labanoff; Goodall
CSP Foreign
Melville
Cotton MSS. Caligula; Anderson: Collections; Book of Articles
23. “WANTONS MARRY IN THE MONTH OF MAY”
Diurnal of Occurrents; Melville. The Diurnal states that the marriage took place at “ten hours afore noon.” De Silva, who got his information from Cecil, says incorrectly that it was “at four o’clock in the morning.” (Letter to Philip II, 24 May 1567, CSP Spanish)
Drury to Cecil, 20 May 1567, CSP Foreign
Inventaires
This gives the lie to de Silva, who had heard from Cecil and Leicester that “there were only three persons of rank at the marriage.”
Diurnal of Occurrents
Calendar of Letters and State Papers . . . in Rome (James Curl’s evidence, 1576)
Inventaires
Leslie; Keith
Labanoff; Anderson: Collections
Teulet; Keith
Du Croc to Catherine de’ Medici, 18 May 1567, Teulet; Anderson: Collections; Keith
Keith; Melville
CSP Spanish
CSP Foreign
Teulet
Keith
Ibid.
Ibid.
Melville
Teulet
Drury to Cecil, 27 May 1567, CSP Foreign
Drury to Cecil, ibid.
Register of the Privy Council
Bothwell
Teulet
CSP Foreign
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
Tytler: Scotland
CSP Spanish
Ibid.
Melville
CSP Foreign
Selections from Unpublished Manuscripts; Teulet
In 16th-century usage, the word “accident” merely meant “something that happens.”
Selections from Unpublished Manuscripts; Teulet
Teulet
Buchanan
CSP Venetian
Cited by Plowden: Two Queens in One Isle
Cited by Black: Reign of Elizabeth
CSP Venetian
CSP Scottish
Register of the Privy Council; Diurnal of Occurrents; Keith
Keith
Register of the Privy Council; Wormald
Labanoff; CSP Scottish
Keith
Melville. The second bond is undated but was drawn up after the Bothwell marriage.
CSP Foreign
Ibid.
Letter to Cecil, 7 June 1567, ibid.
Buchanan
Leslie
Teulet
Gore-Browne
Drury to Cecil, 7 June 1567, CSP Foreign
Borthwick Castle was only slightly damaged during its bombardment by Cromwell’s forces in 1650, after which it was abandoned. It was restored in 1890 and is now one of the best preserved castles in Scotland, and remains very much as it was in Mary’s day. The castle is now a hotel, and guests may stay in the actual chambers used by Mary and Bothwell.
Teulet; Diurnal of Occurrents; CSP Foreign
Keith
Bothwell
Melville
Keith
Nau
Keith
Nau; Drury to Cecil, CSP Foreign
Drury to Cecil, CSP Foreign
For the events at Borthwick, see the Diurnal of Occurrents, a letter from an eyewitness, John Beaton, to his brother, Archbishop Beaton, in the Sloane MSS., and the narrative of the Captain of Inchkeith, in Teulet. Estimates of the strength of the Lords’ forces vary from 7–800 to 1,000 or 1,200.
John Beaton, in Sloane MSS.; Diurnal of Occurrents; CSP Scottish
Bothwell
Cited by Sitwell
Bothwell
Knox
Diurnal of Occurrents; Teulet; John Beaton, in Sloane MSS.
The window through which Mary is said to have escaped can still be seen today.
John Beaton, in Sloane MSS. The Book of Articles states that Ormiston was one of those sent to meet Mary.
Nau
CSP Foreign; Teulet
Nau
Diurnal of Occurrents
Melville
Nau
Ibid.
John Beaton, in Sloane MSS.
Nau
Teulet; Diurnal of Occurrents. Nau incorrectly gives the strength of the royal forces as 4,200. Reports that the two armies were of roughly equal size are therefore incorrect.
Cited by Antonia Fraser
Cited by Gore-Browne
Nau
CSP Scottish
For the Battle of Carberry Hill, see Bothwell; Diurnal of Occurrents ; Nau; Melville; du Croc’s account, in Teulet; Book of Articles.
CSP Scottish. A coloured drawing of the Darnley banner is in the Public Record Office.
Cited by Sitwell
Cited by Prebble
Bothwell
Nau
Ibid.
Bothwell
Nau
Ibid.
Melville
Letter to Cecil, 10 June 1567, CSP Foreign
Melville
Nau
Du Croc to Catherine de’ Medici, 17 June 1567, Teulet
Drury to Cecil, 18 June 1567, CSP Foreign
Calderwood
Nau
Diurnal of Occurrents; Teulet. The Black Turnpike was demolished in 1788. An erroneous tradition claims that it was located opposite the Mercat Cross, where the offices of Edinburgh City Council now stand, but it has been established that it probably stood on the north side of the High Street, on the site of the entrance to Cockburn Street (Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, cited by Gatherer, editor of Buchanan).
Cited by Neale
24. “THIS TRAGEDY WILL END IN THE QUEEN’S PERSON”
Drury to Cecil, 18 June 1567, CSP Foreign; Buchanan
Teulet; John Beaton, in Sloane MSS.
Nau
Du Croc to Catherine de’ Medici, 17 June 1567, Teulet
Melville. In 1573, Robert Melville stated that he had refused to smuggle out a letter from Mary to Bothwell, so the Queen had burned it in anger.
CSP Foreign
This was also Drury’s opinion (ibid.).
Teulet
Melville
Bothwell
Diurnal of Occurrents; Nau
Nau; Leslie
Nau
CSP Scottish
Nau
Ibid.
Lochleven Castle is now a ruin. However, Mary’s chamber in the south-east tower and the chapel have been identified.
Nau
CSP Foreign
Nau
Cited by Brigden
Nau; Calderwood
CSP Scottish
Bothwell
Ibid.
John Beaton, in Sloane MSS.
CSP Scottish
CSP Foreign
Pitcairn; Keith
Morton’s account was read out to the Westminster Commission on 9 December 1568. It is entitled: “The true declaration and report of me, James, Earl of Morton, how a certain silver box overgilt, containing divers missive writings, sonnets, contracts and obligations for marriage betwixt the Queen, mother to our Sovereign Lord, and James, sometime Earl of Bothwell, was found and used.” (Additional MSS., hereinafter referred to as Morton’s Statement)
Leslie
Diurnal of Occurrents; CSP Scottish
Melville states incorrectly that Dalgleish was arrested in September 1567 in Orkney.
Morton’s Statement
CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
See Henderson
Morton’s Statement
CSP Scottish
Randolph to Cecil, 15 October 1570, CSP Foreign
CSP Foreign
Ibid.
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish; Teulet
Pitcairn; Anderson: Collections; Goodall
CSP Scottish
Pitcairn; Anderson: Collections; Goodall
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
CSP Spanish
The Scottish penalty for treason was hanging and quartering, which was less barbaric than the English equivalent, which also involved castration and disembowelling.
Pitcairn; Keith
Pitcairn
CSP Domestic, James I, in the Public Record Office
Melville
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Spottiswoode
CSP Scottish
Cited by Somerset
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Keith
CSP Scottish
Papal Negotiations
CSP Foreign
Keith
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish; Keith
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Nau
CSP Scottish
De Silva to Philip II, 21 July 1567, CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
Ibid; Selections from Unpublished Manuscripts; Keith
Nau
Ibid.
Register of the Privy Council; Diurnal of Occurrents; CSP Scottish
Nau
Keith
Ibid.; CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
25. “FALSE CALUMNIES”
CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Diurnal of Occurrents
CSP Scottish
State Papers in the Public Record Office
CSP Foreign
De Silva to Philip II, 2 August 1567, CSP Spanish
Ibid.
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.; Register of the Privy Council
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Melville
Historie of James the Sext
CSP Scottish
Ibid.; Keith; Nau; CSP Spanish
CSP Scottish
CSP Spanish
Throckmorton to Cecil, 20 August 1567, CSP Scottish
CSP Scottish; Bothwell
CSP Scottish; Register of the Privy Council; Diurnal of Occurrents
CSP Foreign
Cited by Marshall: Elizabeth I
CSP Scottish
CSP Foreign. In two reports, dated 15 June and 1 July 1567, Drury reported that Paris had drowned, yet it is clear from later evidence that he was with Bothwell in Scandinavia. Because it was generally believed he was dead, no one thought to ask for his extradition.
Bothwell
This letter no longer exists.
Frederick’s daughter Anne (1574–1619) was married in 1589 to Mary’s son, James VI.
CSP Scottish
State Papers in the Public Record Office
Ibid.
Pitcairn; Anderson: Collections; Goodall
CSP Scottish
Pitcairn; Anderson: Collections; Goodall
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
CSP Foreign
The word “wanton” could then mean “capricious” or “revelling in luxury,” as well as “promiscuous.”
CSP Foreign
Wright
CSP Foreign
Goodall; Cecil Papers; CSP Scottish
Nau
Acts of the Parliament of Scotland; Diurnal of Occurrents; Nau; Goodall
Hosack (see Book of Articles)
Schiern
Goodall
This notorious Act was later expunged from the parliamentary record and is only known today because it was printed in 1568.
Acts of the Parliament of Scotland
Ibid.; CSP Scottish
Nau
Goodall
Drury to Cecil, 4 January 1568, CSP Foreign
Archbishop Beaton to the Cardinal of Lorraine, 6 February 1568, Sloane MSS.
Diurnal of Occurrents
A slightly later copy of the picture is in the collection of the Duke of Richmond at Goodwood House, and was engraved by George Vertue in the 18th century.
Bothwell. The original manuscript was preserved in the collection of the Comtes d’Esneval at Château Pavilly in France, but was apparently lost in the destruction of the library during the Second World War. A copy of the MS. was once in the royal library at Stockholm, but is also missing. It is only known through a copy made in 1828.
CSP Foreign
Castlenau; Jebb. These memoirs were first published in 1731.
Teulet; Labanoff
Ibid.
26. “I AM NO ENCHANTRESS”
Niddry Castle was built around 1511. It is today in ruins, but has recently undergone some restoration.
Tytler
Diurnal of Occurrents; Nau
The ruins of Cadzow Castle, which lie to the south of the town of Hamilton, are now in a dangerous state, and may only be viewed from outside.
Seton was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle until 1569. After his release, he continued to work actively on Mary’s behalf.
Nau
Mumby: Fall of Mary Stuart
CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
Teulet
CSP Foreign
Nau
Now in Cambridge University Library. The Narrative is 14 pages long. The first page and part of the second are in Lennox’s handwriting; the rest was probably dictated to a clerk, suggesting that a degree of urgency was involved.
Lennox Narrative
CSP Scottish; Goodall
CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Nau
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Mary, Queen of Scots: Letters, ed. Strickland
Nau
Ibid.; Teulet
Cotton MSS. Caligula
Nau; Herries to Mary, 23 June 1568, Teulet
Herries to Mary, 23 June 1568, Teulet
CSP Scottish; Goodall
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Cotton MSS. Caligula; Perry
Moray to Elizabeth, 13 July 1568, CSP Scottish
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Ibid.
CSP Spanish; Teulet
Additional MSS., British Library
CSP Scottish
The proclamation was repeated on 17 November.
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Goodall
Register of the Privy Council; Goodall
Goodall
CSP Scottish
Ibid.
Goodall
CSP Scottish
27. “THESE RIGOROUS ACCUSATIONS”
Cecil Papers; CSP Scottish; Goodall
CSP Scottish; Goodall. The records of the York and Westminster conferences are preserved in CSP Scottish and Goodall. Unless otherwise stated, all references in this chapter come from these sources.
CSP Scottish; Goodall; Anderson: Collections; Cotton MSS. Caligula
Ibid.
Cecil Papers. This was revealed by Leslie under interrogation in the Tower of London in 1571.
Cecil Papers; CSP Scottish; Melville
Melville
Cecil Papers
Labanoff
Calendar of the Manuscripts at Hatfield
Labanoff
Goodall; Cecil Papers; Calendar of the Manuscripts at Hatfield
This document was found by Schiern in the Danish archives at Roskilde.
She had heard it from the French ambassador.
Cecil Papers
Ibid.
Labanoff
It is not amongst the companion documents in the Public Record Office or the Cotton MSS., but is to be found in the Hopetoun MSS. in the Register House, Edinburgh.
28. “PRETENDED WRITINGS”
Goodall claimed incorrectly that Morton left the Casket Letters to his nephew and heir, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus and Morton.
Henderson
CSP Scottish; Goodall
The texts of the Casket Documents can be found in the appendix to CSP Scottish.
Of the copies made during the Westminster conference in 1568, the following survive:
In the Public Record Office: Casket Letters I, II and V in English, and Casket Letters III and V in French.
Among the Cecil Papers at Hatfield: Casket Letters IV and VI in French and English.
A copy of the French marriage contract is in Cotton MSS. Caligula.
There are no contemporay copies of the other documents.
Casket Letters I, II and IV were printed in the Latin edition of Buchanan’s Detectio (1571).
All eight letters were printed in the Scots edition of the Detectio (1571) and in Thomas Wilson’s English edition of 1572.
Seven of the letters, omitting Casket Letter III, were printed in the French edition of 1573.
Casket Letters VII and VIII, the love poem and the marriage contract in Scots exist only in printed form.
Henderson
CSP Scottish; Goodall
Armstrong Davison
CSP Scottish; Goodall
Lang; Antonia Fraser; James Mackay
CSP Scottish; Goodall
CSP Scottish; Goodall
CSP Scottish; Goodall
CSP Scottish
Teulet
Inventaires
29. “MUCH REMAINS TO BE EXPLAINED”
Unless otherwise stated, all references in this chapter come from CSP Scottish and Goodall.
Morton’s original declaration has been lost; it is known through a copy in Additional MSS.
CSP Spanish
Labanoff
Cotton MSS. Caligula
Calendar of the Manuscripts at Hatfield
Labanoff
Cotton MSS. Caligula; Cecil Papers
State Papers in the Public Record Office
Keith
CSP Spanish
Cited by Bowen
Leslie
30. “THE DAUGHTER OF DEBATE”
Nau’s original Latin manuscript is in the Vatican Archives.
Watkins
The Catholic martyr image was well developed by the time Leslie published his Latin history of Scotland in 1578 in Rome; his work emphasises Mary’s sufferings for her faith.
Cotton MSS. Caligula
State Papers in the Public Record Office
Chalmers
Cecil Papers
They included Atholl and Huntly.
Tytler
Nau
Laing
Paris’s original depositions are in the Public Record Office; copies are in Cotton MSS. Caligula. They were first published in Anderson’s Collections in 1725.
CSP Scottish; Historie of James the Sext
Nau
CSP Scottish
Cotton MSS. Caligula
Buchanan
Labanoff
Cited by Robertson: History of Scotland
Cited by Froude
Cited by Robertson: History of Scotland
Cited by Mahon: Lennox Narrative
CSP Scottish
Teulet
Ibid.
State Papers in the Public Record Office
CSP Foreign
CSP Scottish
Herries
CSP Scottish
Calendar of the Manuscripts at Hatfield; Cecil Papers
Ibid.
Melville
Knox was buried in St. Giles’s Churchyard in Edinburgh, the site of which is now occupied by the Law Courts. Knox’s grave is marked by a slab in the car park, which is marked “I.K. 1572.” His young widow married Ker of Fawdonside.
Register of the Privy Council, 8 January 1573
Spottiswoode
Keith
A plaque in Edinburgh Castle now commemorates Grange’s gallant defence of it.
He is said to have been imprisoned in a vault under Leith parish church (Bingham: Making of a King).
CSP Scottish. Maitland’s burial place is unknown.
Cited by Gore-Browne
Gore-Browne
In the late 17th century, parts of Dragsholm Castle were destroyed during a war between Denmark and Sweden. The castle was partially rebuilt in 1694–7, although large parts of the mediaeval building survive. Nowadays, Dragsholm is surrounded by woodland and farms.
Register of the Privy Council
Pitcairn
CSP Domestic Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth
Lennox was married in December 1574 to Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury. Their only child was Arbella Stuart (1575–1615), who inherited Darnley’s claim to the English throne.
CSP Scottish
Robertson: History of Scotland
Cited by Ashdown
CSP Foreign. Mary’s undated instructions to Leslie are in Cotton MSS. Caligula.
Calendar of Letters and State Papers . . . in Rome
State Papers in the Public Record Office
Ashdown
For a fuller discussion of this local tradition, see Gore-Browne.
Melville. Buchanan says that Bothwell “ended his life in well-deserved misery.” Spottiswoode says he “made an ignominious and desperate end.” For evidence for the date of his death, see Gore-Browne.
Cheetham suggested that the head was Bothwell’s and the body Clerk’s, but this theory was based on the erroneous assumption that they died in the same week. Clerk had already been dead for over two years.
See, chiefly, Lang: Mystery of Mary Stuart, and Gore-Browne.
Labanoff
Archibald Douglas had been a judge or Lord of the Court of Session since 1565.
Spottiswoode
Melville
Ibid.
CSP Scottish
Tytler
Melville
Ibid.
Labanoff
Pitcairn. The record of his trial is incomplete and may have been deliberately destroyed in part.
CSP Scottish
Cited by Thomson
Nau
Jebb
Pitcairn; Gore-Browne
He had succeeded his brother Charles IX in 1574.
This letter is in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Cited by Neale