Mary Stuart

Mary Stuart (1542-87) was the daughter of James V. of Scotland and Mary of Lorraine, and succeeded as a baby to the throne of her father, who died at feud with his nobles. At the age of six the little princess was betrothed to the Dauphin of France, and went to Paris to be trained by Catharine de' Medici (q.v.). She was married in 1558, and three years after as Dowager Queen of France she returned to her Scottish kingdom, now become almost alien to her in religion and in tastes. Her controversies and struggles with John Knox and his congeners were ominous of what was to come. At the outset of her reign her half-brother, Murray, and Maitland were' her friends, and, although the affair of Chastelard may have done her some damage, it was not till her ill-fated marriage with Darnley that the tide of misfortune really set in. The murder of Rizzio, followed by that of Darnley, as to which the question of Mary's guilt or innocence has always been matter of doubt, her mysterious relations with Bothwell, her imprisonment at Lochleven, her abdication in favour of Murray as Regent, her escape from Lochleven by aid of George and Willie Douglas, and the battle of Langside, which crushed her prospects, followed each other in rapid succession; and in 1568 she took the next fatal step of her life in landing at Workington and trusting herself to the hospitality of her rival Elizabeth. The Queen of England imprisoned her for 20 years, and at various times the captive queen intrigued to gain her liberty. The plan of her marriage with the Duke of Norfolk gave dire offence to Elizabeth, and her real or supposed concern in Babington's conspiracy was made the pretext for her removal to Fotheringay in 1586, and her trial and execution in 1587.