With help of French Ambassadors, Mary was smuggled Dumbarton to avoid capture and or death.
France resolved that Scotland should not become a subject of England, sent troops to help in disputes. Also, Henry II, son of Francis I sued for the hand of Mary Steward for his son and heir, Francis. (August 7, 1548, Mary was shipped to France at the age of 5 years and 8 months. Mary was received in France with overwhelming pomp. She was welcomed with much ceremony though every town and village she passed on her way to Paris.
This Mary's ancestry was not only noble but royal as well. James IV was her grandfather, as well as Mary Stuart's grandfather. There is confusion about her grandmother who was a mistress of James IV. Some say it was Jane Kennedy and some say Lady Agnes Stewart who became the Countess of Bothwell. Lady Janet Fleming, the mother of Mary Fleming, had six children by her husband and
a son by the King of France while she was governess to the young Queen Mary. The story goes
that because of this indiscretion she was sent home to Scotland - not so much because of the child that she bore, but because she flaunted her condition in public. La Flamina was the only one of the four who would take Mary's dares and could outdo her in mischief. And she was the only one of the four who was pure Scots. The other three Marys had Scottish fathers, but French mothers. Mary Fleming
married a nible-witted man, Maitland of Lethington, the queen's secretary and a very suble politician. After the queen's marriage to Bothewll, Maitland deserted her cause and joined the rebelling lords. However, he returned to the queen's side and was one who held Edinburgh Castle for her until it fell to the English. Upon his capture, he chose suicide instead of the executioner's axe. Mary Fleming was purported to have inherited the Stewart beauty and charisma. She was described as the flower of the
flock. The Englishman Randolph called her a Venus for beauty, a Minerva for wit, and a Juno in wealth. When Maitland courted this lovely woman, there was much joking at the court. He was in his 40's and a widower. She remained loyal to Maitland even after his death and raised her children in somewhat impoverished conditions.
She was plump and pretty and inclined to daydreaming. She was called Beaton because it rhymed with Seton. The Beatons of Fife were one of the most powerful clans in Scotland in the 16th century. There were may branches of the Beaton family. It seems to have been a prolific one. The difference brances sometimes spelled their names differently such as Beaton, Betoun or Bethune. Mary's branch of the Beatons were those of Creich. They were not of noble blood but held high offices, one a Lord
High Treasurer to Jams IV, her father and grandfather both keepers of Falkland Palance and masters of the royal household. Her mother was another of Mary of Guises's ladies-in-waiting. Mary Beaton's father had many sisters and several were prominent among the women of their time. Elizabeth was a mistress of Jaames V who bore him a child (Jean, Countess of Argyll). The eldest sister, Janet, was thought to be a lover of the Earl of Bothwell and gossip implicated her wit him in the murder of Darnley. Mary Beaton, like Fleming, attracted the attentions of an older man, Thomas Randolph, Queen Elizabeth's ambassador. He wanted Mary Beaton to spy on her mistress for him. She turned him down and eventually married Alexander Ogilvie a young Scotsman.
Thanks to Linda Bruce Caron for this story
She was very robust and athletic and the others called her Lust. Her father was one of Mary Stuart's guardians and sailed with her to France. Like the fathers of Mary Beaton and Mary Seton, he also had a French wife. Mary Livingstone's brother inherited when her father died and his loyalty to the queen never waivered. He was one of the few nobles who attended the queen's marriage to Bothwell and he went with her into exile in England. Mary Livingston was the first of the four girls to marry. Her husband was John Sempill, a member of another loyal family to the queen.
As a child, she was very tall and stately and was always called by the others by her surname of Seton. "The Setons were among the most illustrious of the great houses of Scotland," says the book The Great Historic Families of Scotland (an 18th century compedium, "who were conspicuous throughout their whole history for their loyalty and firm attachment t othe Stewart dynasty." The founder of the family, Secker de Seye, which later became Seton, was granted land sin East Lothian. Sir Christopher Seton married the sister of Robert the Bruce. He was caputed by the English, a person of heroic deeds, and executed at Dumfries. One of his brothers was killed with his but one survived and was a signator to the Declaration of Arbroath. The family continued to gain lands and to marry into other noble families. Mary Seton's grandfather inherited diminished property and estate because of the extravagance of his father who was a Renaissance man who dabled in medicine, science, music, theology and astronomy. He was an extrvagant man, building large buildings, churches and even a
gret ship. Mary Seton's grandfather did not have long to enjoy what estates were left to him as he died a Flodden. Mary Livingstone's grandfather and both of Mary Fleming's grandfathers also died at Flodden. Mary Seton's father was married twice.
His second wife was Marie Pieris, a lady-in-waiting to Mary of Guise. Mary Seton's brother, George, played a large part in the Queen's affairs. When Mary Stuart retured to Scotland as queen, Seton was appointed grand master ofher household. Seton residences played a significant part in many crucial moments of Mary's reign. Mary Stewart spent her honeymoon with Darnley at Seton's. Darnley was a
cousin of Seton by the way. Ironically, the last night of her marriage to Bothwell was spent at the Seton house. The Queen fled to Seton when Rizzio was murdered and again when Darnley was killed. It was again to Seton she fled after her escape from Lochleven. Seton was taken prisoner and his estates forfeit. He remained a prisoner until 1569, managing to stay in contact wit the Queen and pursuing and delivering petitions on her behalf to Elizabeth. He was forced to flee to France where he was so destitute he was forced to drive a wagon for his livelihood. When James VI came to power, he was reinstated as ambassador to France. Mary Seton was the only one of the Maries not to marry.
She remained in service to the queen and shared her captivity in England for 15 years. With failing health, she retired to a convent in France. She remained there until she died in her seventies. The abbess of the convent was a Guise, Mary Stuart's aunt, Renee de Guise.
Thanks to Linda Bruce Caron for this story
The four Maries, Mary's ladies-in-waiting were Mary Fleming, considered chief among them by reason of her mother's royal blood, Lady Fleming; Mary Seton daughter of a French woman, Marie Pieris, who herself had been maid-of-honour to Marie of Guise, and of George, 6th Lord of Seton; Mary Beaton, daughter of Robert Beaton of Creich and grand-daughter of Sir John Beaton, the hereditary keeper of Falkland Palace, and finally Mary Livingston, daughter of Mary Stuart's guardian, Lord Livingston. It was Mary Seton who never married and remained faithful to her Queen almost until the very end when Mary sent her away to retire. The name Mary derives from the Icelandic word "maer" meaning virgin or maid.
They became her classmates, her companions in the foreign land, and later maids of honor. They took a vow not to enter the married state before Mary herself had found a spouse. Even after three of them had forsaken the queen in the days when misfortune befell her, the fourth of the Marys followed her mistress, cleave to her in adversity, shared in her exile and her prisons, waited upon her when she dies on the scaffold, and never left her until her body had been consigned to the grave.
Mary married Francis, the son of Henri II of France, her childhood playmate ( who was sickly and not yet 14 years of age ) on April 2, 1558 in Paris. She was very fond of white and
wore white for her wedding, although it was regarded as the color of mourning. That same year Mary Tudor, Queen of England died, Elizabeth, her half sister succeeded to the crown. Mary Steward was announced on the continent as the Queen of France, Scotland and England.
A few months after she went to France, Henry VIII's daughter, Bloody Mary Tudor died childless and the English throne passed to Elizabeth, the Queen of Scot's cousin.
Because of her marriage to the Dauphin, the Catholics believed that Mary Stuart had a better claim to the English throne and the King of France declared that his daughter-in-law was the rightful queen of England. Elizabeth was furious about the French's putting forth a claim for Mary as the rightful Queen of England. Elizabeth was very jealous of Mary's beauty and feared greatly for her throne. Roman Catholics had never recognized the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn and so for many, Mary was
more than the true heiress to the English Crown, she was the Queen of England.
Mary became the Queen of France when Henri died in 1559 and the Dauphin assumed the throne. Secret treaties were signed stating that if Mary should die without heirs, that the throne of Scotland would be conveyed to the French. The Guises were now in a very solid position of power. The following year her mother, Mary of Guise, died after having been the regent of Scotland for six years. The King of
France died leaving Mary a widow on December 6, 1560.
(Part of a poem written by Mary Queen of Scots at the age of 17 on the death of her husband, François II, who was 16 years old.)
(The drawings above are from the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris and were made by Clouet at around the time of the marriage of Mary and François)
"En mon triste et doux chant
D'un ton fort lamentable
Je jette un oeil tranchant
De perte incomparable,
Et en souplirs cuisants
Passe mes meilleurs ans."
"In my sad and gentle song
Of profound lamentation
I look deeply
At incomparable loss,
And in burning sighs
Pass my best years."
Mary, no longer Queen of France (she had only Crown Matrimonial ) had to yield precedence to Catherine de' Medici. The rigors of regal etiquette in France decreed that a king's widow should pass 40 days in strict seclusion. She could not leave her own apartments, or admit daylight into her rooms. In the first two weeks of mourning she was forbidden to receive any visitors except the new king and his next of kin. A royal widow would not wear black as adopted almost universally as sign of bereavement. The widow of a French monarch had to don the white garments prescribed by the law of the land.
With her husbands death, Mary lost not only her life's companion, but also her position among European potentates, her power and her security. Catherine de' Medici's open hostility made her situation at the French court even more dangerous. The old Queen played second at her own court; first to the Diane de Poitiers, then to Mary Stuart's rise.
As soon as the 40 days of mourning were over, new suits for the hand of the young Queen begun. The Spanish ambassador was suing on behalf of Don Carlos, the heir to two worlds; the court of Austria was simultaneously undertaking secret negotiations; the Kings of Sweden and of Denmark were offering her throne and hand. Knowing that she would never be allowed to be happy in France, after 12 years of residing there, she begun looking back to returning to Scotland.
In Scotland during that time the Protestant Lords of the Congregation had gained power of State. They made it clear that they did not want a Catholic, to return to the land and were trying to postpone the Queen's return while bartering the Scottish crown to Mary's rival. They proposed that the Queen of England should marry the Protestant James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, who was the next heir to the Scottish throne. It did not help much that James Steward, Mary's half brother was in Elizabeth's pay.
France said goodbye to Mary with full honors. The roads upon she traveled were colorful, and bright with polished steel of weapons. Her Majesty's horses were harnessed in gold and precious metals. Riders were dressed in full splendor. Mary was surrounded by the four girls who never left her, by noblewomen, pages, poets and musicians. The train was followed by a succession of chariots bearing costly furniture, crown jewels closed in a shrine.
Return to Scotland
Before beginning her travels, Mary asked Elizabeth for safe - conduct through English territories. It was at first fiercely refused. The English Ambassador wrote an express letter warning her of her decision after the tongue lashing he received from the Scottish queen. Travel passport arrived for Mary, but missed the queen who was already two days into the voyage started on August 14, 1561.
Her voyage was interrupted by English ships, which captured one of the accompanying vessels taking amongst her other possessions, Her Majesties horses. She arrived in Scotland on August 19th 1561, ahead of schedule. Lord James Stuart, Earl of Moray, half brother to the queen upon finding out that his sister arrived in Scotland, with a handful of nobles went to fetch the queen.
She found her country poverty stricken. Her coffers were empty, her noblemen in pay of the English Queen, her people fighting each others because of their Political and Religious views. Many towns through which she traveled had been ravaged by the English. But as poor the countryside may have been, the people were ardent for their queen's arrival. They constructed huge bonfires in public squares and lit up the sky. They gathered beneath her window and serenaded her with bagpipes and other outlandish instruments, and with their songs.
Upon her return to Scotland she also found herself without friends. Her half brother was the most powerful man in the realm. Numerous wars, subsidies from Elizabeth, and destruction of catholic churches made him very rich. Mary also felt that was her greatest enemy. A bastard, though acknowledged by the Pope as one of the royal blood, he resented his sister for her station and the impossibility of his attaining that position. James, a man of thirty and a protestant, looked on his half sister as a child who might go on playing as long as her games did not disturb his circles. She tried to strengthen her friendship with her keen my making him prime minister.
Maitland of Lethington, Mary's secretary of State, next only to her half-brother in importance as her court was also a Protestant. Although he supported the Queen, he was mostly devoted to himself. By Elizabeth he was called " the flower of the wits of Scotland." He took artistic pleasure in diplomacy and in company of Mary Fleming, who became his wife.
John Knox, a devout Calvinist who forced acceptance of the Reformation on Scotland spoke harshly against both Mary and her religion. He preached his dogma against all Catholics and rejoiced is a Catholic or any other he regarded as a heretic was slain or humiliated. When Mary of Guise died, he did not hesitate to pray for the death of Mary Queen of Scots :"God, for his great mercy's sake, rid us from the rest of the Guisian brood." To him Mary was Queen Jezebel. Before her return to Scotland Mary promised her subjects absolute freedom of practice their believes. She stood against the law which prohibited any public celebration of Mass in Scotland.
First Sunday after her arrival home, while in preparation for mass, a crowd that gathered before her chapel smashed the candlesticks that were carried in the procession. The crowd also demanded that the priests should be slain; at any moment it seemed that the queen's private chapel, and they would have if it were not for the help of Lord James Stuart.
Courting
One of the first men in Scotland to Court her was a Huguenot who traveled with Her Majesty from France, Monsieur d'Anville. His advances though done mostly in a poetical form were looked upon as inappropriate. He forgot the barriers separating a lady of high estate from her servitor, overstepped the limits that respect imposes upon camaraderie, that decorum enforces upon gallantry. One evening he was he was discovered hiding in queens bedchamber watching her undress. Mary uttered a wild cry and Moray came to her rescue. Few days later Chastelard was led to public execution.
The incident urged Mary to wed without delay.
Elizabeth of England and Mary of Scotland were probably the most courted damsels of their day. Whoever in Europe happened to be heir to the throne, or already a king, sent an official wooer to the queens.
Houses of Habsburg and Bourbon, Phillip II of Spain, his son Don Carlos, the Archduke of Austira, together with the Kings of Sweden and Denmark, old men and young, became aspirants for one or the other of those two fair hands.
Both Mary and Elizabeth were exceptionally gifted for the parts they were allotted. Their energy and vitality were in crass contrast with the ineptitude of the other reigning monarchs of the period: Phillip of Spain was monkish and bigoted; Charles IX of France was a mere boy, extremely weak, and possessing queer tastes, Ferdinand of Austria was utterly insignificant - none of those kings attained the high stage of intellectual development which these women reached.
Both Mary and Elizabeth in addition to the mother tongues conversed fluently in Latin, French, and Italian. Elizabeth, moreover had a fair command of Greek.
Mary left most of the bargaining for her hand to James Stuart. He hoped to send Mary out of the country to marry abroad. He sent envoys to Paris, Vienna and Madrid. Elizabeth interposed a veto. She made it known in plain terms that Mary should accept a husband of royal blood from Austria, France or Spain, she (Elizabeth) would regard this as unfriendly act. Elizabeth did not have the slightest objection to her cousin marrying a Protestant Prince, to the King of Denmark, or the Duke of Ferrara. She also wrote to her Cousin that Mary should choose a husband from either English or Scottish Aristocracy. Elizabeth announced that should she marry a man she would choose for her cousin, that man she would appoint her own successor.
The chosen suitor was Robert Dudley, Elizabeth's horse master and lover, a man whose reputation was further blackened by the suspicious death of his wife. Amongst other reasons that this suitor would never be accepted was that to Mary the idea that she should wed anyone not of Royal Blood was little short of blasphemous. To buy time for other proposals to finally bind her fate, Mary did not outright reject Dudley, but sent Melville to England to negotiate the event further.
Melville the most loyal and trustworthy of Mary's courtiers was a skilful diplomat. Elizabeth tried to make the best impression possible, knowing that he lived and was educated at the French and German courts. According to the letters Sir James left, he was not impressed. Elizabeth strutted forth one antic after another. From her extensive wardrobe, some cut excessively low, to taking turn in speaking Latin, French, Italian, to even asking him who was prettier of the two Queens. Melville kept his cool head and clear vision; he was not taken in by languishing. He had an alternative motives to going to London. The most important was to convince the Spanish Ambassador that Queen of Scots would not wait any longer for the decision in the Matter of Don Carlo's suit. Next, Melville was with due direction, to get in touch with a candidate of the second class, Henry Darnley.
Mary tried to hold this match in reserve. Darnley was 18, and a descendant of Tudor stock. Further, he was Catholic, and seemed a good choice. Henry Darnley left for Scotland in 1565.
Lord Darnley
An unmarried queen was a great asset for any country. There was talk of Mary marrying the Archduke Charles, Charles IX of France, the Duke of Guise or Don Carlos, the son of Philip II and even of a Protestant suitor, Leicaster or Eric of Sweden. Mary tried to arrange a match which would have the approval of Elizabeth since Mary was trying to remain in good graces with Elizabeth so she would name Mary as her heir. It soon became apparent that Elizabeth would oppose most any match. Therefore, Mary herself chose her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, son of the fourth Earl of Lennox. Darnley was also a contender for the English throne and a Catholic. Mary was very much taken by his fine figure and they fell in love and was married to him on Sunday, July 29th, 1565 in the Chapel Royal at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, without waiting for a dispensation from Rome (they were first cousins) or for Elizabeth's approval. Mary possibly was a virgin when she met Darnley, even though she had been married to the King of France. Undoubtedly, there was a strong sexual attraction to him. Darnley was a very ambitious young man, not too bright, and wanted to rule the country not as
the consort of the Queen but as the King in his own right. He proved to be arrogant, ill behaved, faithless and untrustworthy. Mary by now was pregnant with the child who would eventually become James VI of Scotland. Because Darnley had proved such a disappointment to her, she turned her attentions and affection to an Italian singer, David Riccio, whom she made her secretary.
David Riccio
Mary and Riccio shared a close friendship, which angered Darnley, being a jealous person. I don't think that Mary and Riccio ever had an intimate relationship but were close as only good friends can be. It has been advanced that Riccio was a spy of the Pope. Not too much is known about him other than he was a musician and before long was supplanting Darnley in counsel and in companionship. One night, Darnley, in a drunken rage, invaded Mary's apartments where she was having a supper party. Darnley and his men dragged poor Riccio out into the hallway and stabbed him to death before the shocked and horrified Queen's eyes. Not long after this, Mary and Darnley reconciled. I personally believe that this was merely artifice on Mary's part to make Darnley assured of his position in her life until she could find a way to rid herself of him.
Shortly after the birth of Mary's son, Darnley was killed in an explosion at his home. He had escaped the explosion that destroyed the house he was living in but was found with his page dead a short distance from the house. It was rumored, and is probably true, that he was killed by James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell. It was found that Darnley had died by strangulation.
The Earl of Bothwell
Mary married the Earl three months later. The marriage to James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell took place on May 15, 1567 in the Chapel of Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh. This was one of Mary's biggest mistakes. It proved to be a political tragedy for her. Bothwell seems to have had a strong influence on Mary. She always
seemed in need of a strong man for counsel. As a child she could trust and relied upon her French relatives for advice. Bothwell persuaded her that if she returned to Edinburgh from Stirling where she
had had her baby, her life would be in danger. She went with him to Dunbar Castle where Bothwell could protect her. There are some who believe that Mary was forced to marry Bothwell because of their conspiracy to murder Darnley. However, it is more likely that she was attracted to Bothwell and his strength which was in such opposition to Darnley's weaknesses. Mary may have felt that getting rid of Darnley would be approved by Parliament since she could not divorce him lest her son be jeopardized. Bothwell was brought to trial for the murder of Darnley but he was acquitted and obtained a recommendation by some of the nobles that he should marry Mary. Bothwell had been married only a
short time to another woman whom he divorced in order to marry Mary. They were married at
Holyroodhouse in a Protestant ceremony after he had been created the Duke of Orkney.
Mary's Capture
Scotland was shocked, more by the fact of the marriage than by the murder of Darnley. A great deal of deceit revolved around Mary and she had many enemies. Many of the nobles opposed her marriage to Bothwell and they rose against her and Bothwell. A Protestant army of 3000 men led by the Earl of Morton, met them at Carberry Hill and after six hours of fighting, Mary persuaded Bothwell to leave the
field. She surrendered herself and was taken to Lochleven Castle. She soon realized the seriousness of her predicament as she was forced to ride among the rebels without food or rest and with no attendants. When she arrived in Edinburgh she was met with jeers from the crowd and cries of burn the whore. Death by burning was the fate of a woman who murdered her husband. She was confined in a small room in the Provost's house. The mob outside continued to call for her death. Fearing for her life, the nobles moved her to Holyrood by using the "blue blanket," the fighting flag of the crafts community of Edinburgh to shield her from the mob. Still the danger was so great that she was moved once again to Loch Leven. Here she miscarried twins by Bothwell and was forced to abdicate in favor of
her young son who was hastily crowned at Stirling. She saw her son for the last time when he was ten months old.
Bothwell escaped to Norway, was arrested by the King of Denmark and held captive until his death.
