General Notes

On December 7th, 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Marie of Guise, wife of James V of Scotland, gave birth to Mary Stuart. On Dece mber the 13th her father, James died, making the 6 day-old Mary the Queen of Sc otland. From very early on in her life, Mary was the subject of plots by both t he pro-English and pro-French forces in Scotland who wanted to gain control of the throne through her. Later, when her mother became Queen Regent of France, M ary was sent to France to live as part of the French Royalty. While in France M ary eventually married, in April of 1558, Dauphin Francis. She later became the Queen of France, as well as Scotland, when Francis succeeded his father to bec ome King Francis II in July 1559. In addition, Mary was also recognized as the true Queen of England by many Roman Catholics who believed her claim to the thr one was stronger than that of the Protestant (and cousin of Mary) Elizabeth I. Mary was forced to return to Scotland however when her husband Francis II died after only a 17-month reign.

Mary's ship landed in Leith on 19th August 156 1 and she almost immediately followed the suggestions of her advisors by recogn izing the Reformed Presbyterian church. This act did not sit very well with the Catholics who thought she should be more zealous in the support of their cause , and the Protestants were naturally suspicious of her motives because of her C atholicism. She spent several years trying to placate the Protestants, but all this became undone when, on 29th July 1565, she married her first cousin Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley

This marriage caused great outrage among the Protesta nts, some of whom staged a rebellion, which was quickly crushed by Mary. Things started to go downhill for her from this point; the rebellion caused her to wi thdraw some of her support from the Reformed Church and her marriage to Lord Da rnley began to sour. The culmination however came on 9th March 1566 when a grou p of Protestants, under the instruction of Darnley, forced Mary to watch as the y murdered her Italian Secretary David Rizzio. Many of the Protestant lords bel ieved that Rizzio had too much influence over Mary, and also suspected him of b eing a papal spy.

The murder, which occurred while Mary was 6 months pregna nt, left her alienated from Darnley and her supporters, and also caused her to befriend James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. In Edinburgh Castle on 19th June 1566 , she gave birth to a son, James, and soon afterwards began looking for ways to end her marriage with Darnley in favour of Bothwell. Darnley was murdered on t he10th February, 1567 at Kirk o' Field under mysterious circumstances that are still unexplained to this day. Bothwell was believed to have committed, or at l east instigated, the killing, but was acquitted because there was no proof.

Bothwell, shortly after obtaining a divorce from his wife, was wed with Mary a ccording to the Protestant rite (there is some belief among historians that Bot hwell kidnapped Mary and then married her against her will). This estranged Mar y from even some of her most loyal supporters, causing them and many of the nob les to confront Mary and her new husband at Carberry. Bothwell fled while she w as forced to surrender and was imprisoned at Lochleven Castle. Then, on 24th Ju ly 1567, she was forced to abdicate, making her son James the King, but she lat er escaped with the aid of a few of her remaining allies.

After her escape, Mary quickly raised an army, but was soundly beaten in battle at Langside on 1 3th May 1568 by Protestant forces. Her army and support gone, Mary was forced t o flee to England to beg for aid from Elizabeth, the Queen and her cousin. Rath er than helping her however, Elizabeth had Mary imprisoned, where she spent the remainder of her life. During her incarceration, many Roman Catholic plots to remove the Protestant Queen from power revolved around Mary, but were thwarted by English agents.