Born: 8 December 1542, United Kingdom
Died: 8 February 1587
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Mary I of Scotland
This biography, written by Johanna Strong, is shared with permission from Team Queens, an educational history blog run by a collective of historical scholars. All rights reserved; this material may not be republished without the author’s consent.
Mary Queen of Scots was born on December 8, 1542, at Linlithgow Palace to James V of Scotland and Marie de Guise. Less than a week later, James V died and Mary became queen regnant of Scotland.
After the ‘Rough Wooing’ and failed marriage negotiations with England, Mary was betrothed to the French Dauphin François – the future François II – and spent her childhood in France, learning Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, and some Greek, as well as hunting and dancing. Mary and François married on April 24, 1558, and Mary was queen consort of France from 1559 until François’ death in 1560, at which point she returned to Scotland.
In July 1565, she married Henry, Lord Darnley, and in June 1566 they celebrated the birth of their son James VI/I. This unstable marriage ended with Darnley’s death in mysterious circumstances on February 10, 1567. Mary then married James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, to the disapproval of her Lords, who imprisoned her. She was deposed on July 24, 1567, in favour of her son.
In May 1568, Mary escaped confinement and gathered an army to regain her throne, but she was defeated. After fleeing to England, the Protestant Elizabeth imprisoned the Catholic Mary, largely due to Mary’s political and religious threat to England. During her imprisonment, Mary embroidered now-famous pieces full of political symbolism.
She became embroiled in a variety of plots against Elizabeth and, caught in traps set by Elizabeth’s councillors, was found guilty of treason. After 20 years of imprisonment, Mary was executed on February 8, 1587, at the age of 44. She was originally buried at Peterborough Cathedral, but was later reburied in the Henry VII Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey.
Recommended Reading
John Guy, My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots (London: HarperPerennial, 2004)
“Mary Queen of Scots”, Westminster Abbey. https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/mary-queen-of-scots (photos of Mary’s tomb and effigy are copyright to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster)
“Mary Queen of Scots at Carlisle Castle”, English Heritage. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/carlisle-castle/history/mary-queen-of-scots/
“The Prison Embroideries of Mary, Queen of Scots”, The Victoria and Albert Museum. https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/prison-embroideries-mary-queen-of-scots
Kate Williams, Rival Queens: The Betrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots (London: Hutchinson, 2018).
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland from 1542 to 1567, born at Linlithgow Palace, the daughter of James V of Scotland by Mary of Guise. Her father died within a week of her birth, and she was proclaimed queen. Negotiations with France having been concluded for her marriage to the Dauphin, Mary was sent to France in 1548 and at the French Court received her education. Ten years later she married Dauphin and during his short reign as Francis II she exerted supreme influence.
On his death in 1560 Mary returned to Scotland, where her French Catholic training and the new Scottish reformation made her position a hard one. She diplomatically yielded to the force of circumstances and surrounded herself with Protestant advisers, but in 1565 married her cousin, Lord Darnley, hoping to win by this marriage the English Catholics, with whom Darnley had great influence, and to unite all Catholic claims to the English throne, Darnley being next in succession to Mary. His weak ambition made him the tool of the Protestant plot against David Rizzio, a favorite of the queen, her confidential advisor, an Italian of great ability. On March 9, 1566, Rizzio was brutally dragged from Mary’s dining room, and assassinated in the palace of Holyrood. Mary dissembled her indignation at her husband’s treachery, succeeded in detaching him from the conspirators and persuaded him to escape with her and deny all complicity in their designs.
Three months later Mary gave birth to a son, afterwards James I of England. She was apparently reconciled to Darnley, though meanwhile showing more and more favor to James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, a needy and profligate noble. In January, 1567, Darnley fell ill, and Mary brought him to Edinburgh, where he was lodged in a small mansion. Here on February 9th the queen visited him, and left him about ten o’clock in the evening. Early the next morning the house in which Darnley slept was blown up, and his lifeless body was found in a neighboring garden. Bothwell was undoubtedly the murderer, and it is a matter of controversy whether or not Mary was privy to the deed.
A mock trial was held, Bothwell was acquitted, and on May 15, 1567 – three months after her husband’s murder – Mary became Bothwell’s wife. This act turned all the nobles against her, she had to abandon Bothwell and surrender herself to the confederated lords who compelled her to sign and abdication in favor of her son.
Escaping from her island prison in May 1568, in spite of the entreaties of her best friends, she crossed into England and threw herself on the protection of Queen Elizabeth, only to find herself a prisoner for life. Fully nineteen years were spent by Mary as a prisoner in various castles, until in April, 1585, she was placed in the care of Sir Amyas Paulet, and here all opportunity was given her to become entangled in the conspiracy of Anthony Babington against Elizabeth. For this she was brought to trial, and though she denied all complicity and conducted the whole of her own defence with courage and ability, she was found guilty, and beheaded on February 8, 1587, at Fotheringay Castle, meeting her fate with composure and dignity.
Of great ability and varied accomplishments, reputed to be the most beautiful woman of her time, Mary Stuart’s whole life was dramatic, and it has never ceased to interest poets and historians, while numerous dramas have been written about her.
From Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.:
Mary, Queen of Scots, Beheaded by Queen Elizabeth, 1542 – 1587 A.D.
Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, celebrated for her beauty, her wit, her learning, and her misfortunes, was born December 8, 1542. She was the daughter of James V of Scotland by Marie of Lorraine, a French princess of the family of Guise. Her father died a few days after her birth, and on September 9, 1543, she was crowned queen of Scotland, the Earl of Arran conducting the government.
In 1548 she was affianced to Francis, Dauphin of France, son of Henry II and Catharine de’Medici, and in the same year she was brought to France to be educated at the French court. When she grew up she added to a striking and fascination personal beauty all of the accomplishments and charms which a perfect education can give.
Her marriage with the dauphin was celebrated April 24, 1558, in the Church of Notre Dame, and when Mary I of England died in the same year she had her arms quartered with those of England, and threatened to rouse the Catholics against Elizabeth’s title.
On July 10, 1559, Henry II died, and was succeeded by Francis II. Mary thus became the Queen of France, but Francis died December 5, 1560; she was childless and had little power at court, where the influence of Catharine de’Medici was now paramount. In the same year her mother died, and she then returned to Scotland.
Brought up a Roman Catholic and used to the gay life of the French court, she found the dominant Protestantism of Scotland and the austere manners of her subjects almost intolerable. Nevertheless, the first period of her reign was fairly successful; and she strove to conciliate the Protestants. The latter, however, were soon estranged by her unfortunate marriage with her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, a Catholic, who, on February 9, 1567, was blown up by gunpowder as the result of a treacherous plot he inspired. Three months after the death of her husband Mary married the Earl of Bothwell, whom public opinion accused of the Murder of Darnley.
From this time a series of misfortunes attended the queen, and a general revolutionary uprising took place. In the battle of Carberry Hill (June 15) Bothwell was defeated and fled, and Mary was confined in Lochleven Castle and compelled to abdicate. She escaped, however, and rallied a new force, but was defeated at Langside, May 13, and fled to England. Here she was immediately imprisoned – first at Carlisle, afterwards in various other places, and at last in Fotheringay Castle.
After eighteen years’ imprisonment, during which she was the center of Catholic plots, she was tried on a charge of complicity in the conspiracy of Antony Babington against the life on Elizabeth, and on October 25, 1586, a sentence of death was pronounced against her. On February 1, 1587, Elizabeth signed the warrant of execution, and on February 8, Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded. She insisted to the last that she was innocent of Babington’s plot.
She was buried at Perterborough, whence, in 1612, her body was removed to the chapel of Henry VII at Westminister.
At the intimation, in her death verdict rendered by the queen’s council, that her life was an impediment to the security of the revealed religion, Mary “seemed with a certain unwonted alacrity to triumph, giving God thanks, and rejoicing in her heart that she was held to be an instrument” for the restoration of her own faith. This note of exultation as in martyrdom was maintained with unflinching courage to the last. She wrote to Elizabeth and the Duke of Guise two letters of almost matchless eloquence and pathos, admirable especially for their loyal and grateful remembrance of all her faithful servants.
That the life of Mary Stuart was not one of unmingled innocence and virtue is abundantly evident, but the exact measure of her guilt, or the exact degree of her complicity in the crimes committed for her sake and in her name, has not been made out. And still more obscure and entangled seem those ideas and passions from which such guilt sprang. There are two brilliant dramatical delineations of her character – one by Schiller and the other by Björnson – and a number of prose works relating to her history that give us varying estimates of this romantic and unhappy personage.
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Third child and only daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise, and great grand-daughter of Henry VII. Mary became Queen in infancy on the death of her father. She was sent to France in 1548 and the agreement for her marriage with the dauphin of France (Francis II) was ratified. Mary was educated with the children of the Royal Family of France and was brought up a strict Roman Catholic. She was taught various accomplishments, but not the English language, and was regarded as the great hope of Catholicism. Mary was married to Francis II in 1558 and a secret treaty was made delivering Scotland to France in the case of her death without heir. On the death, in 1558, of Mary I (Queen of England) she laid claim to the English throne and styled herself Queen of England. Francis II died in 1560 and Mary afterwards entertained various proposals of marriage which were brought forward by the Guises, but obstructed by Catherine de Medici. Mary returned to Scotland in 1561 and carried on negotiations with Queen Elizabeth (of England) for a reconciliation. Mary entered into the life of the people of Scotland and disarmed the hostility felt by them towards her Catholic sympathies.
In 1563 Mary sent Maitland to England to claim right of succession of Elizabeth. Her project of marriage with Don Carlos of Spain was thwarted by the French, and Mary pretended to be guided by Elizabeth in the choice of a husband. Elizabeth proposed that she should marry the Earl of Leicester, but in 1565 she married Henry Stewart, earl of Darnley, thus strengthening her claims as heir-presumptive of the English throne and defying Elizabeth. Mary was determined to make herself absolute and to impose Roman Catholicism in the country, which caused quarrels with Darnley and many of her nobles. Darnley was killed in 1567 and Mary subsequently married James Hepburn, fourth earl of Both well, at Edinburgh. In the same year Mary consented to the prohibition of cathedral services throughout Scotland, and went with Bothwell to Dunbar where she delivered herself to the lords at Carberry Hill and was imprisoned at Lochleven. Mary was allowed to choose between a divorce, a trial at which the Casket letters were to be adduced as evidence, and abdication (which she chose); and the Earl of Moray was named Regent. Mary escaped from Lochleven, in 1568, with George Douglas, to Hamilton Palace, where she was joined by nobles and six thousand men. After losing the battle of Langside, Mary escaped to Carlisle, where she was closely guarded. Elizabeth would not grant her an interview until she had cleared herself of the reputation of the murder of Darnley. Mary refused to allow Elizabeth’s jurisdiction when the conferences which met at York and Westminster reached a formal verdict. Nothing had been proved against either party, but Mary was, nevertheless, kept a prisoner for life by Elizabeth. She was removed to the care of the Earl of Shrewsbury (1569) to Tutbury, and to Wingfield. In 1569 Mary accepted a proposal of marriage with Norfolk and joined in a plot for her escape and for a Catholic rising. As a preventive she was removed to Coventry. In 1570 Mary obtained a papal bull dissolving her marriage with Bothwell, and was afterwards transferred to Chatsworth, and then to Sheffield. After the Ridolfi plot in 1572 and the massacre of St. Bartholomew, Elizabeth contemplated the death of Mary, but did not act in the matter. Mary proposed the conquest of England to the Pope and to Philip of Spain and superintended details of the projected invasion under the Duke of Guise. On the accusation of the Countess of Shrewsbury, Mary was, once more, removed to Wingfield. Her son, James VI of Scotland, ignored her and negotiated with England in 1584, upon which Mary bequeathed her crown to Philip II of Spain. She was removed to Tutbury and then to Chartley in 1586, where she became involved, through the facilities afforded her by Walsingham, in the Babington conspiracy. After this she was moved to Fotheringay and put on trial there. She was condemned to death, and was at length executed in 1587, Elizabeth maintaining that she had never intended the execution to take place.