Mary Stuart A Tragic Life

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Zainab Ali

Mrs. Buchala

English 4 Honors

Mary Stuart: A Tragic Life

To live a royal life sounds more spectacular rather than living an ordinary life, but when thinking about it for just a moment, is it really all happiness and perfection? There once lived a young girl, who was born into royalty and her name was Mary Stuart. She grew up to be a talented woman, but a life full of success was just not her fate. The beautiful, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland lived a tragic life as her marriages ceased, actions led to her imprisonment and execution. She however demonstrated a great heart in all her endeavors.

Mary was born in Linlithgow, Scotland in the year of 1542. She was the daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. After a few days from when she was born, Mary’s father passed away. Mary being not even one-year old yet, was crowned Queen of Scotland and the regent of Scotland was appointed to Earl of Arran, James Hamilton. James made a proposal where Edward, who was the son of Henry VIII, was to wed Mary though Henry VIII became very unpredictable during this time as he continued to send his army north. In 1546, the murder of great Scots patriot, Cardinal Beaton, was encouraged by Henry VIII and for any expenses associated with the murder plot, Henry was ready to offer one thousand pounds. As the Scots came to know about all of this, they avoided the marriage, later rejecting the proposal.

In 1548, Mary was sent to her mother’s homeland France where Francis, son of Henry II of France was then announced to be married to Mary with the agreement of the Scots Parliament. As Mary sailed, observers described her as a lovely princess and in the same year of 1548, a group called the "Four Maries" arrived in France. This group consisted of four women who were also named Mary, (Fleming, Seton, Beaton and Livingstone) who stayed throughout Mary Stuart’s tough life moments. King Henry II gave Mary a royal welcome when she arrived and took her to be more important than his own daughter with the thought that she will be wedding his heir, his oldest son also known as the Dauphin. Furthermore, the King even stated, "The little Queen of Scots is the most perfect child I have ever seen."

Francis and Mary met one another when Francis was four and Mary was five and they were told to be very affectionate with one another and close even if they were young. Both children traveled to one royal palace to another such as Fountaineblea to Saint-Germain, Chambord or Meudon. As time went on, Mary was educated to the languages of Italian, Latin, Spanish and a little bit of Greek and She even learned to dance, sing and play the lute as well as greatly converse on religious matters. At age eleven, she was deemed to be just as intelligent and well-spoken as a twenty-five year old woman. Her uncle, Cardinal Guise, encouraged her feelings about mercy by teaching her about statecraft which made Mary to be open with all opinions, thoughts and remarks (even religion.)

The Sunday of April 24, 1558, the service of Mary and Francis’ wedding took place in the cathedral of Notre-Dame which was the spiritual heart of Paris. As Mary walked in between Henry II and her cousin, Charles Duke of Lorraine, all eyes were on her beauty as Francis was virtually ignored. Before the ceremony, Mary wrote to her mother stating, "All I can tell you is that I account myself one of the happiest women in the world." Heralds also being so happy, threw silver and gold coins as confetti, later on being begged to stop before someone could be hurt. Though even before the letter, Mary was asked to sign three secret documents that consisted of France’s rights to inherit Scotland, full rights of all revenues of Scotland and a letter of renunciation. The documents were very clever, but Mary only being fifteen years old, did not know much and trusted her Guise family too easily. Mary lacked experience of politics and as the Kings of France got their way, Scottish lords saw themselves as co-rulers rather than rulers. She became dependent emotionally and politically on her Guise relations.

In 1559, Henry II died of a massive stroke, proclaiming Francis to be the King of France and Mary the Queen. This is when Philip II of Spain came into play and as he was against Mary, he wanted to support Elizabeth, cousin of Mary, by marrying her. In 1560, the Guises were in need of Philip’s aid and at the same time, the ships of Marquis d’Elbeuf, the youngest of the Guise siblings were lost. He appointed two envoys to intervene the crisis, one being sent to England and the other to France which allowed him to propose that Spain and France should unite to subdue Scotland. England would be given as a dowry to the future son of Philip II and Elizabeth of Valois and as an inducement. That son would in turn have to marry the daughter or Francis II and Mary, making Mary possibly surrender her own dynastical claim. Mary was not consulted about this by her uncle leaving her to feel ignored and with this going on, her beloved mother was dying slowly on the contrary. Furthermore, after the treaty of Edinburgh was signed, which was also a plan of Philip, France recognized Elizabeth to be the rightful queen of England. Both Francis and Mary were not consulted about these terms and Mary never agreed to negotiate with Elizabeth and her chief adviser, Cecil.

On June 11, 1560, Mary’s mother passed away leaving Mary to feel devastated. In the summer of the same year, Mary was told to be pregnant which was obligatory for a queen in France, later to find out that the test was false. By the month of November, when returning from hunting, Francis grew an ear infection later on having many violent seizures. He died a month after making his brother Charles IX, to be the next king. Mary was exhausted with all of these tragic events occurring that she made herself ill. She even wrote a poem for Francis, a few lines that stated, "By day, by night, I think of him/ In wood or mead, or where I be/ My heart keeps watch for one who's gone./ And yet I feel he's aye with me?"

On August 14, 1561, Mary headed back to Scotland and reached the port of Edinburgh five days later where she was determined to make a bright future after she had recently gone through so much grief. The Scots received Mary with great joy and Mary at once, started to help them where Protestant ministers were given one-sixth of all Church benefices to relieve their poverty. Mary had become more popular to the common people, but not the nobility. She played croquet, golfed, went for hunts and archery practice, sung, danced, and just showed an admirable zest for life. In 1563, the ‘royal progress’ was begun by Mary throughout Scotland and in 1564, the fourth Earl of Atholl organized a great hunt where Mary charmed everyone.She became good friends with one of the most learned Protestants of the time, George Buchanan even though she was a Catholic herself. Mary wanted to and did keep peaceful relationships with France, Spain and England even if she and Elizabeth had never met in person. In 1566, Mary ordered the English ambassador out of the kingdom due to his persistent and obvious spying. She kept her peace with Spain and France without a treaty even though it would have been much better with one.

Knowing that she would need to prove heirs to the throne, Mary decided to marry her cousin, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley in 1565. He was a weak, vain, and unstable man who was the grandchild of Henry VIII’s sister, Margaret. It is not known why Mary chose him to be married to because Darnley did not care much for Mary and in fact, he stabbed her secretary while Mary was six months pregnant, in hope that a miscarriage would occur. Mary believed that Darnley was angry and wanted to be crowned the King and, wanted his wife and child to be killed. After escaping with Darnley, three months later, Mary gave birth to James VI Scotland. Many congratulated the couple and James in 1566, was baptized in the Chapel Royal of Sterling Castle. While everyone was happy, those who had plotted plans with Darnley were furious. The men were angry because they had helped Darnley capture the queen, kill her good friend and were ready to demand for anything. However, on the other side, Darnley escaped with Mary making the other men feel betrayed. They had Darnley’s house blown up, where his strangled body was then found in the garden in 1567.

James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell met up with Mary six miles out of Edinburg with six hundred of his men. He escorted Mary to his castle at Dunbar, warning her that she will not be safe in Edinburgh. Mary being afraid of any more deaths or problems, followed his suggestions and his friends as well as himself thought of the idea of him being married to Mary, but Mary refused. Though after some thinking, Mary agreed due to the fact that she would be powerless right now and she has a son living too. They both wedded in 1567 at Holyrood, following with Mary writing that it was for the best for their country. The nobles at first ordered for the wedding to take place, but then after the thought that Bothwell would now be really powerful, waged a war against him. They told Mary to abandon him, but she refused and just reminded them of their earlier order. Mary ended up turning herself in because she did not want to see the bloodshed of the battle. She was taken to Lochleven Castle where she grew ill and was held as a prisoner, fearing for her life. She was forced to sign a document which abdicated the crown to her one-year old son. At the end of July in 1567, James was crowned king and James Stewart who was Mary’s bastard half-brother became Regent. James repaid Mary’s kindness in a different manner, by stealing her son and jewels. However, he deserved his punishment three years later when he got murdered and in fact, the regents after him were also killed. James just as a teenager in 1580, had one of the traitors executed.

In 1568, a man named John Hay had aided Mary greatly by making a statement that the nobles were the ones who murdered Darnley, since at first, the nobles tried hard to accuse Mary for the death of Darnley. Another man named George Douglas helped Mary escape for the castle. Being captivated for about ten months, Mary was now free to fight for her throne. She had an army of supporters with her as they made their way to Dumbarton Castle, but then a battle broke out at Langside, Glasgow. Unfortunately, Mary and her forces lost and therefore, she had to flee with her supporters. She was now planning to go south to ask her cousin Elizabeth I for support which she was very confident in achieving.

On May 16, 1568, Mary set sail for England soon arriving to Workington, Cumbria. Elizabeth confused on what to do, kept Mary guarded at north. Elizabeth in the past has helped Mary’s enemies without her knowing by promising them money for their treacherous behavior against their queen. She was determined to keep Mary’s kingdom in continual strife knowing that if Mary is busy at home, she will not have the time to plot against her. Elizabeth appointed commissioners for her matter and in December of 1569, Casket Letters were presented at Westminster. The Casket Letters were told to be belonging of Bothwell that was found in his casket. In the same year, Mary was told to now wed the Duke of Norfolk. This indicated that English nobles, including Elizabeth believed that Mary was innocent of Darnley’s murder. However, Elizabeth did not consent to the marriage and so left Mary to be under lock and key. Mary was moved from prison to prison and she tried from the beginning to escape because she knew that she was being held against her will. Though as years passed, the plots made grew to be more murderous and outlandish.

In October 1586, Elizabeth put Mary on trial with the blame that she plotted a plan to kill her. Mary sadly had no friends or supporters during the trial, but she tried to speak for herself. She stated, "I have not procured or encouraged any hurt against Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth" which showed that she knew she was innocent. However, she also stated in the end that, "I do not fear to die in a good cause" showing that she was not afraid. This trial against Mary was only held for two days, coming to a cease on October 16, 1586. A few months later, February 7, 1587 to be exact, Mary was told that she would be executed the next morning. Mary spent her final hours by making a will and providing generously to those they were faithful to her. The next morning, Mary entered the Fotheringhay Castle in a black, satin and velvet dress. She told her servant to tell her son that she has done nothing to compromise their kingdom of Scotland. She then remained calm during the whole time and even in the end, prayed for Queen Elizabeth to serve God in the following years. Mary comforted her weeping servants, friends and supporters who helped undress her leaving her in the color of Catholic martyrdom. She gave them her golden rosary, asked them to remember her in their prayers and then received her death stroke. In 1612, when Mary’s son was the King of England and Scotland, moved her body to Westminster Abbey in London. A magnificent tomb was constructed which rivaled Elizabeth I’s tomb.

After researching about this beautiful lady, I realized how unfair life could be sometimes. Now, everyone has their own opinions and thoughts especially when it comes to a topic in history, and in my opinion, Mary Stuart were an amazing woman who just had a horrible fate in everything. All her marriages ended up to die out in one way or another. She had people plotting against her and lastly, she was accused of a false accusation which leads to her death. Mary portrayed a great image of herself to me as a queen and even though her life was tragic, she withheld a strong character and demonstrated a great heart in all her endeavors. I believe that the importance of this information is that it made me realize so much about a person’s life and how I would not have known what she went through if I hadn’t went in dept to research about her. All the information shows that even if one is born into royalty, they can have it just as tough as or even tougher than a lower-class person. The information displays ordinary tragedies such as death and many royal problems too. I believe that even though this took place in the 1500’s, the trend has continued in the future. Jealousy still came up and does come up in royal families. There are always people who will try to bring you down and will do anything to make you fall, even if it leads to your death. Problems do occur all the time in all sorts of shapes and figures and simply the royal life isn’t always the best life to live. This research has actually impacted me because I never realized how tragic a queen’s life could be. I always expected it to be perfect, but then to realize and acknowledge Mary’s one tragedy to another, made me feel really bad for her. I believe that she had a great heart and served as a both strong and weak history heroin. Strong because she never gave up and stayed true to everyone and weak because she could have been stronger politically and plotting back.