Mary Stuart: the tragic fate of the Queen of Scotland. Mary, Queen of Scotland: a biography. History of Queen Mary Stuart Who was Mary Stuart

Queen Mary of Scotland was married three times. But if there had been only one wedding in her life, if young Mary had not been widowed, if she had remained the Queen of France, perhaps we would not have found a legend, but she would have been much happier? ..

When the French dauphin Francis was four years old, his bride and future wife, the daughter of the Frenchwoman Mary de Guise and the Scottish king James V, the five-year-old Queen of Scotland Mary Stuart, arrived in France. They were to be brought up together; fortunately, the tall, beautiful, very lively girl did not alienate the short, sickly boy who did not look his age. On the contrary, Francis and Mary became close almost immediately. The young queen grew up, and the French court fell more and more under her charm, including the future father-in-law, King Henry II. Years passed. The influence of the Guises, the family of Mary on the mother's side, grew all the time, and, despite the youth of the Dauphin, they increasingly insisted on his speedy wedding. The Dauphin, who adored his beautiful bride, would only be happy. But Catherine de Medici and Diane de Poitiers, Henry's legal wife and mistress, who had been at enmity all their lives, this time both were not happy - neither one nor the other wanted the rise of Guise. However, the king did not listen to them.

On April 19, 1558, the betrothal ceremony took place at the Louvre. The shining bride in a white satin dress embroidered with precious stones was brought to the Cardinal of Lorraine by King Henry II, and Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre, accompanied the groom. Mary was fifteen and a half, Francis fourteen. The cardinal solemnly connected their hands, and they, still almost children, exchanged rings. After that, a magnificent feast took place.

However, the festivities that followed surpassed this day in scope and splendor. Still would! The French dauphin and the Scottish queen were married, bringing a whole country as a dowry.

The wedding took place on April 24 in the heart of Paris. Notre Dame Cathedral and the palace of the Archbishop of Paris were connected by a high, about 4 m, wooden gallery, along which the wedding procession was supposed to pass. The gallery connected with a huge platform built at the entrance, and went further inside the cathedral itself up to the altar. Above it stretched a velvet canopy of azure color with embroidered golden fleur-de-lis, but the gallery was open on the sides, so that everyone could see the bride and groom and those who accompanied them.

Place on the platform was occupied by foreign ambassadors and dignitaries, simple Parisians in huge crowds filled the entire space around, and the holiday began. The first, at ten in the morning, were the Swiss halberdiers, and for half an hour, to the music, they demonstrated their ability to wield weapons. Then, at the command of the uncle of the bride, the Duke of Guise, who was the master of ceremonies, musicians in red and yellow suits appeared. After their speech, the wedding procession solemnly moved - dressed up court gentlemen, princes and princesses of the blood, followed by representatives of the church. Next came the groom, fourteen-year-old Francis, accompanied by his younger brothers (the future kings Charles IX and Henry III) and the king of Navarre; his father, Henry II, led the bride, and Catherine de Medici closed the procession, accompanied by the brother of the king of Navarre and her ladies-in-waiting.

However, the star of this holiday was Mary Stuart. In the morning she wrote a letter to her mother, Mary of Guise, Dowager Queen of Scots, that she felt like the happiest woman in the world. She was young, she was beautiful, she was the queen of one country, and now she was married to the future king of another. She was dazzling, and she certainly knew it.

What was the dress of the bride that day, the sources tell differently. Some mention that the dress was snow-white, extraordinarily rich, embroidered with diamonds and other precious stones, and went very well with her fair skin. In others, Maria wore this luxurious white dress on the day of her engagement, and at the wedding she was in blue velvet embroidered with silver lilies and precious stones. Be that as it may, Maria really wore a white dress for wedding celebrations, and after all, the mourning color of the French queens is white ... It won't even be three years before she has to wear it.

Mary's neck was decorated with a gift from the king, a large precious pendant with his initials; the hair of a young innocent bride was loose over her shoulders, and her head was crowned with a small golden crown, completely studded with pearls, diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds. Chronicler Branthom wrote: "On that majestic morning, when she walked to the crown, she was a thousand times more beautiful than the goddess descended from heaven; and she looked the same in the afternoon when she danced at the ball; and she was even more beautiful when she descended evening, and she, with restraint, in arrogant indifference, went to complete the vow made at the altar of Hymen by consummation. And everyone at court and in the great city praised her, and said that blessed be a hundred times the prince who was combined with such a princess. And if Scotland was a great value, then her queen even more; and even if she did not have a crown or scepter, divinely beautiful, she herself would be worth a whole kingdom; however, being a queen, she made her husband doubly happy.

The bride and groom were met at the entrance by the Archbishop of Paris, and escorted to the royal chapel. There they knelt on golden brocade cushions and took communion.

While the solemn ceremony was going on, gold and silver coins were thrown to the townspeople several times on behalf of the King and Queen of Scots. This, of course, caused a storm of enthusiasm, but no less violent clashes - literally a few steps from the luxurious platform, a stampede and a fight for coins began, so that the heralds had to intervene so that the matter did not end with someone's death.

After the wedding, the wedding procession went back to the archbishop's palace for a wedding dinner, followed by a ball. Mary's gold, jeweled crown began to put too much pressure on her forehead, so one of the courtiers held it over the head of the Queen of Scots and the Dauphine of France for almost the entire dinner, and at the ball Mary danced without a crown.

But the holiday didn't end there. After the ball, at five o'clock, the wedding procession went to the official residence of the city government, to the other end of the Cité, and the route was not the shortest, but, on the contrary, more authentic so that the Parisians could admire the cortege. Mary rode in a gilded carriage, along with her mother-in-law, Catherine de Medici, Francis and King Henry accompanied them on horseback with a very rich harness.
The sumptuous banquet was forever engraved in the memory of those who attended it. However, it is really difficult to forget the performances that were played out in front of the guests - for example, seven beautiful girls in luxurious costumes, who depicted seven planets, and sang the epithalama; or twenty-five ponies with gilded harness, on which rode "little princes in shining robes"; white ponies pulled the wagons on which the ancient gods rode, and the muses, and they all praised the newlyweds.

The culmination of the performance was a naval battle. Six ships rode into the hall, decked in brocade and scarlet velvet, with silver masts and sails of silver gauze. They were mechanical, and moved along a painted canvas depicting sea waves, and the thinnest sails were inflated from the wind (hidden furs). There were two seats on the deck of each ship, one occupied by the captain, whose face was hidden under a mask, the other was empty. After making seven circles around the hall, each ship stopped in front of a lady, at the choice of its captain. The Dauphin is in front of his mother, the queen, and the king is in front of Mary. When the ships, this time with their beautiful passengers, again circled the hall, the audience was told that in front of them was the voyage for the Golden Fleece, which was led by Jason. By capturing Fleece Mary, he will henceforth "create an empire" that will include France, England and Scotland.

In honor of the newly concluded marriage union, many speeches and poems were heard at this holiday, and the main motive was the unification of France with its neighbors - of course, under its leadership. Well, just six months after this wedding, the English Queen Mary Tudor will die, and her half-sister Elizabeth will ascend the throne; what is worse, they thought in France (and not only) the Catholic Mary Stuart, the legitimate Queen of Scots, the great-granddaughter of Henry VII Tudor, than his granddaughter Elizabeth, a Protestant, the daughter of an executed mother? Thus begins a long story, which, in the end, will lead Mary Stuart to the chopping block.

Yet the outcome might have been different if the ideal dynastic marriage between France and Scotland, between the young Mary and Francis, had not ended so early with the death of the latter - the poor thing died before he was even sixteen. Maria's life in France, where she grew up, where she was adored, ended. The golden cage turned out to be wide open - but life in the wild is not easy to maintain ...

Introduction

Mary I (née Mary Stuart) Mary Stewart; December 8, 1542 - February 8, 1587) - Queen of Scots from infancy (in fact from 1560) until deposition in 1567, as well as Queen of France in 1559-1560 (as the wife of King Francis II) and pretender to the English throne. Her tragic fate, full of quite "literary" dramatic turns and events, attracted writers of the romantic and subsequent eras.

1. Young years

1.1. Regency of Arran

Mary Stuart was the daughter of King James V of Scotland and Princess Mary of Guise of France. It was she who introduced the Frenchized spelling of the name of the dynasty Stuart, instead of the previously accepted Stewart.

Mary was born on December 8, 1542 at Linlithgow Palace in Lothian, and 6 days after her birth, her father, King James V, died, unable to bear the humiliating defeat of the Scots at Solway Moss and the recent deaths of his two sons. In addition to Mary, the king had no legitimate children, and since by this time there were no longer any of the direct descendants in the male line of the first king of the Stuart dynasty, Robert II, Mary Stuart was proclaimed Queen of Scots.

James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, the closest relative of Mary Stuart and her heir, became regent of the country under the minor queen. Emigrant nobles returned to Scotland - supporters of an alliance with England, expelled or fled from the country under James V, who pursued a pro-French policy. With their support, the regent Arran formed a pro-English government at the end of January 1543, stopped the persecution of Protestants and began negotiations on the marriage of the young queen with the heir to the English throne. These negotiations ended in July 1543 with the signing of the Treaty of Greenwich, according to which Mary was to marry the son of King Henry VIII of England, Prince Edward, which in the future was to lead to the accession of Scotland to England. Meanwhile, on September 9, 1543, Mary Stuart was crowned Queen of Scots at Stirling Castle.

Mary Stuart in her youth

1.2. War with England

The rise of the pro-French party of Scottish nobles, led by Cardinal Beaton and the Queen Mother, and Henry VIII's demand that Mary Stuart be handed over to him, caused a turn in Scottish politics. At the end of 1543, the pro-English barons, led by Earl Angus, were removed, and Cardinal Beaton and supporters of orientation towards France came to power. This could not but cause a response from England. In 1544-1545. The English troops of the Earl of Hertford repeatedly invaded Scotland, destroying Catholic churches and devastating Scottish lands. At the same time, Protestantism became more and more widespread in the country, whose adherents politically advocated rapprochement with England. On May 29, 1546, a group of radical Protestants killed Beaton and captured St. Andrews Castle. The government was unable to cope with the situation and turned to France for help.

French troops arrived in Scotland early in 1547 and drove the Protestants out of St. Andrews. In response, the English army again crossed the border and utterly defeated the Scots at the Battle of Pinky in September 1547. The British captured the main Scottish fortresses in Lothian and on the banks of the Firth of Tay, thus subjugating the most important part of the kingdom. Mary of Guise was forced to hide her daughter at Dumbarton Castle. By this time, Henry II, a supporter of a decisive struggle against England, had entered the throne of France. At his suggestion, on June 7, 1548, an agreement was signed on the marriage of Queen Mary Stuart and the heir to the French throne, Dauphin Francis. French troops were introduced into Scotland, which by the end of 1550 were able to achieve the withdrawal of the British from the country. On August 7, 1548, Queen Mary, who by that time was only five years old, sailed for France.

Mary Stuart and Francis II

1.3. Life in France

Together with the young Mary, on August 13, 1548, her small retinue arrived in France, including the half-brother of the Count of Moray and the “four Marys” - four young daughters of Scottish aristocrats with the same name. The French court, probably the most brilliant in Europe at that time, welcomed the young bride with magnificent celebrations. King Henry II felt sympathy for Mary Stuart and provided her with one of the best educations: the young queen studied French, Spanish, Italian, ancient Greek and Latin, works of ancient and modern authors. She also learned to sing, play the lute, and developed a love of poetry and hunting. Maria fascinated the French court, poems were dedicated to her by Lope de Vega, Brant, Ronsard.

In 1550, the queen's mother, Mary of Guise, arrived in France to strengthen the Franco-Scottish alliance. She, however, did not stay with her children, and returned to Scotland in 1551 to ensure her daughter a stable power in a country divided by religious disputes. In 1554, Mary of Guise succeeded in removing the Earl of Arran from power and leading the government of Scotland herself.

1.4. Regency of Mary of Guise

The reign of Mary of Guise was marked by an increase in French influence in Scotland; French troops were stationed in Scottish fortresses, and the royal administration was dominated by immigrants from France. On February 24, 1558, the wedding of Mary Stuart and Dauphin Francis took place in Notre Dame Cathedral. In a secret appendix to the marriage contract, the queen gave Scotland to the king of France in the absence of children from this marriage.

Such a policy could not but arouse the displeasure of most of the Scottish aristocracy. At the same time, the spread of Protestantism finally split society. The situation was aggravated by the accession to the throne of England at the end of 1558 of Queen Elizabeth I, who began to support the Protestants in Scotland. Elizabeth I, according to the canon law of the Catholic Church, was illegitimate, so Mary Stuart, who was the great-granddaughter of King Henry VII Tudor of England, declared herself Queen of England. This decision of Mary became fatal: Scotland did not have the strength to defend her right to the throne, and relations with England were hopelessly damaged.

On July 10, 1559, Henry II died, and Francis II ascended the throne of France. Mary Stuart became queen of France.

1.5. Protestant revolution

Francis II was a weak sovereign, and Queen Mother Catherine de Medici and Guise, Mary Stuart's uncle, came to the fore in France. At the same time, the Protestant Revolution began in Scotland. Most of the Scottish aristocrats joined the rebellious Protestants and turned to England for help. English troops were introduced into the country, who were met by Protestants as liberators. Queen Mary of Guise and the French garrison were besieged at Leyte. Mary Stuart could not help her mother: the Amboise conspiracy in March 1560 eliminated the influence of the Guises at court, religious wars between Catholics and the Huguenots were brewing in France, and Catherine de Medici did not want to aggravate relations with England. On June 11, 1560, Mary of Guise died - the last obstacle to Scotland's movement towards Protestantism and union with England. The Treaty of Edinburgh, concluded between France and England on July 6, 1560, ensured the withdrawal of both English and French troops from Scotland and secured the victory of Protestantism in the country. Mary Stuart refused to approve this treaty because it contained the recognition of Elizabeth I as Queen of England.

On December 5, 1560, Francis II died. This meant the imminent return of Mary Stuart to Scotland. The prospect of the arrival of a Catholic queen forced the Scottish Protestants to speed up the formation of a new state church: the Protestant creed and disciplinary charter were approved by the country's parliament, the Scottish church broke with Rome and the Catholic Mass was banned.

2. Return to Scotland

Mary Stuart after returning to Scotland

2.1. Domestic politics

On August 19, 1561, the eighteen-year-old queen arrived in Scotland. The country to which she returned was a divided nation. The conservatives, led by the Earl of Huntly, were ready to unconditionally support the queen, who ceased to personify French dominance after the death of Francis II. Radical Protestants, led by John Knox, demanded the Queen's break with Catholicism and her marriage to the Earl of Arran, one of the Protestant leaders. The moderate wing of Lord James Stewart and Secretary of State William Maitland could support Mary Stuart only if the Protestant religion remained and continued rapprochement with England.

From the first days of her reign, Mary Stuart began to pursue a cautious policy, not trying to restore Catholicism, but not going over to Protestantism either. The main roles in the royal administration were retained by James Stewart, who became Earl of Moray, and William Maitland. Extreme Protestants tried to plot to capture the queen, but it failed. Arran soon went mad, and the radicalism of John Knox no longer met with understanding among the broad strata of the Scottish nobility. On the other hand, the Conservative wing was beheaded in 1562: the Earl of Huntly, who sought the transfer of the earldom of Moray to him, raised a rebellion against Mary Stuart, but was defeated by Lord James and soon died. In 1562-1563. The queen officially recognized Protestantism as the state religion of the country and approved the procedure for distributing church revenues for religious and state needs. Mary Stuart refused to send a Scottish delegation to the Council of Trent, which completed the formalization of Catholic doctrine. At the same time, she did not break with Rome, continued to correspond with the pope, and a Catholic mass was served at court. As a result, the beginning of the reign of Mary Stuart was marked by the achievement of relative political stability.

The support of the nobility was in no small part due to the new opportunities that opened up for young Scottish aristocrats after the creation of a royal court on the French model in Mary's Palace of Holyrood. A young, slender, beautiful queen, who loves music, dancing, masquerades, hunting and golf, could not help but attract the Scottish nobles, who had lost the habit of court life during the civil wars. By entrusting the day-to-day administrative work to Moray and Maitland, Mary Stuart was able to create a miniature Louvre in Holyrood.

2.2. Foreign policy

Foreign policy presented a serious problem. The leaders of the Scottish government - Moray and Maitland - were staunch supporters of the Anglo-Scottish rapprochement. Queen Mary herself refused to recognize Elizabeth I as Queen of England, hoping to exercise her rights to the English throne. A compromise could be possible on the terms of Mary's renunciation of claims to the crown during the life of Elizabeth in exchange for recognition of her as the heiress of the Queen of England. However, neither Mary, driven by self-confident hopes, nor Elizabeth, not ready to solve the issue of inheritance, did not want to go for rapprochement.

At the same time, the question arose of a new marriage for Queen Mary. There were many contenders for her hand among European monarchs (the kings of France, Sweden, Denmark, the archduke of Austria). For a long time, Don Carlos, the son of King Philip II of Spain, was considered the most likely suitor. Negotiations about this union worried England: Elizabeth I even offered to recognize Mary as her heiress for refusing a Spanish marriage. However, by the end of 1563, it became clear that Don Carlos was mentally insane, and this project failed. Elizabeth, for her part, offered the hand of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, her likely lover, which naturally aroused the indignation of the Queen of Scots.

3. Crisis and fall of Mary Stuart

Mary Stuart and Henry, Lord Darnley

3.1. Second marriage and murder of Riccio

In 1565, the Queen's cousin, nineteen-year-old Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, son of the Earl of Lennox and maternal descendant of the English King Henry VII, arrived in Scotland - a tall, handsome young man. Mary Stuart fell in love with him from the first meeting and already married him on July 29, 1565, to the great displeasure of Elizabeth I. This marriage not only meant a break with England, but at the same time alienated her former allies from the queen - Moray and Maitland. In August 1565, Moray tried to raise an uprising, but Mary Stuart, enlisting the support of the Gordons and Hepburns and pawning her jewelry to pay for the soldiers, instantly attacked the rebel and forced him to flee to England.

Moray's performance demonstrated to the queen that radical Protestants and Anglophiles were far from unconditional loyalty. This caused a turn in the Queen's policy. She began to approach the Catholics and resumed correspondence with the king of Spain. At the same time, Mary alienates the leading Scottish aristocrats from herself and brings closer people of humble origin and foreigners who are personally pleasing to the queen. The situation aggravated the cooling in relations with her husband: Mary Stuart realized that Lord Darnley was morally unprepared for the royal title, that she had married a man without special talents and virtues. The queen, realizing her mistake, began to neglect her husband.

As a result, by the beginning of 1566, a hostile coalition of Darnley and the Protestant lords, led by Moray and Morton, had formed. On March 9, 1566, in the presence of the pregnant queen, the leaders of the opposition brutally murdered David Riccio, one of the closest friends, favorite and personal secretary of Mary Stuart. Probably, with this atrocity, the conspirators wanted, by creating a threat to the life of the queen, to force her to make concessions. However, Mary's effective actions once again destroyed the plans of the opposition: the queen defiantly reconciled with her husband and Morey, which caused a split in the ranks of the conspirators, and resolutely cracked down on the perpetrators of the murder. Morton and his associates fled to England.

3.2. Assassination of Darnley and deposition of the Queen

The reconciliation of Mary Stuart with her husband was short-lived. Her sympathy for James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who contrasted sharply with Darnley in his strength, virility and determination, soon became apparent. The gap between the queen and the king becomes a fait accompli: Darnley even refuses to attend the christening of their child, the future King James VI, born on June 19, 1566. Mary Stuart's policy is increasingly beginning to be determined by her feelings, primarily passion for Bothwell. Darnley becomes an obstacle to overcome.

On February 10, 1567, under mysterious circumstances, a house exploded in Kirk o'Field, a suburb of Edinburgh, where Darnley was staying, and he himself was found killed in the yard, apparently stabbed to death while trying to escape from a burning house. The question of the participation of Mary Stuart in organizing the murder of her husband is one of the most controversial in all of Scottish history. Apparently, the earl of Moray and Maitland at least knew about the impending atrocity, and perhaps they themselves participated. Also, with a significant degree of certainty, we can talk about the presence of a conspiracy against Darnley by his former partners in the murder of Riccio, led by Morton, whom the king betrayed. Participation in the conspiracy of Count Bothwell is also more than likely. Moreover, if Bothwell, apparently, wanted to clear his way to the hand of Queen Mary, then the groups of Morton and Moray, perhaps by killing Darnley, tried to cause a crisis of confidence in the queen and her overthrow. Perhaps all of these groups acted independently of each other.

However, whoever was the real killer of Darnley, public opinion in Scotland placed at least indirect blame for this crime on the queen as an unfaithful wife. Mary Stuart did nothing to prove her innocence. On the contrary, already on May 15, 1567, the marriage of Mary and the Earl of Bothwell took place in Holyrood. This marriage to the likely murderer of the king deprived Mary of Scots of all support in the country, which was immediately taken advantage of by the Protestant lords and supporters of Moray. They organized a "confederation" of lords and, having gathered a significant military force, drove the queen and Bothwell out of Edinburgh. On June 15, 1567, the Queen's troops, having encountered the Confederate army at Carberry, fled. Mary Stuart was forced to surrender, having previously ensured the unhindered departure of Bothwell, and was escorted by the rebels to Lochleven Castle, where on July 24 she signed the abdication in favor of her son James VI. The earl of Moray was appointed regent of the country during the minority of the king.

4. Flight to England

Mary Stuart in England, c. 1578

The overthrow of the legitimate queen could not but cause discontent among the Scottish aristocracy. The Union of "Confederates" quickly disintegrated, the establishment of the regency of Moray caused the transition to the opposition of the Hamiltons, the Earls of Argyll and Huntly. May 2, 1568 Mary Stuart fled from Lochleven Castle. She was immediately joined by the barons opposed to Morea. However, the Queen's small army was defeated by the Regent's troops at the Battle of Langside on May 13, and Mary fled to England, where she turned to Queen Elizabeth I for support.

Initially, Elizabeth I promised Mary help, but she was far from the idea of ​​​​military intervention in favor of her rival to the English throne. Elizabeth assumed the functions of an arbitrator in the dispute between Mary Stuart and the Earl of Moray and initiated an investigation into the circumstances of the death of Darnley and the overthrow of the Queen of Scots. During the investigation, the supporters of the regent presented as evidence of the infidelity of Mary Stuart and her participation in a conspiracy against her husband the famous " Letters from the chest abandoned by Bothwell after his flight. Apparently, some of these letters (for example, poems addressed to Bothwell) were indeed genuine, but the other part was fake. The result of the investigation was a vague verdict by Elizabeth in 1569, which, however, allowed the Moray regime to establish itself in Scotland and gain recognition in England.

The case of Mary Stuart was not yet completely lost. After the assassination of Moray in January 1570, civil war broke out in Scotland between the Queen's supporters (Argyll, Huntly, Hamiltons, Maitland) and the King's party (Lennox and Morton). Only thanks to the intervention of Elizabeth I on February 23, 1573, the parties signed " Perth reconciliation”, according to which James VI was recognized as the king of Scotland. Soon Morton's troops captured Edinburgh and arrested Maitland, the last supporter of the Queen's party. This meant the loss of Mary Stuart's hope for her restoration in Scotland.

5. Imprisonment and execution of Mary Stuart

Execution of Mary Stuart

The failure in Scotland did not break the Queen. She still remained a pretender to the English throne, refusing to renounce her rights, which could not but worry Elizabeth I. In England, Mary was kept under surveillance in Sheffield Castle. It cannot be said that the conditions of the imprisonment of Mary Stuart were severe: she had a significant staff of servants, large sums of money were allocated for the maintenance of the queen by England and France. However, she was cut off from her friends in Scotland and slowly grew old in solitude.

Mary did not cease to intrigue against Elizabeth I, having started a secret correspondence with the European powers, but she did not take a real part in the uprisings against the English queen. Nevertheless, the name of Mary Stuart, the legitimate great-granddaughter of King Henry VII of England, was actively used by conspirators against Elizabeth I. In 1572, the Ridolfi conspiracy was uncovered, the participants of which tried to depose Elizabeth and put Mary Stuart on the throne of England. In 1586, perhaps not without the participation of Elizabeth's minister, Francis Walsingham, and her jailer, Amyas Paulet, Mary Stuart became involved in a careless correspondence with Anthony Babington, an agent of the Catholic forces, in which she supported the idea of ​​a plot to assassinate Elizabeth I. However, the plot was opened and the correspondence fell into the hands of the Queen of England. Mary Stuart was put on trial and sentenced to death. On February 8, 1587, Mary Stuart was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle.

The Queen was buried in Peterborough Cathedral, and in 1612, by order of her son James, who became King of England after the death of Elizabeth I, the remains of Mary Stuart were transferred to Westminster Abbey, where they were buried in the immediate vicinity of the grave of her eternal rival Queen Elizabeth.

6. Mary Stuart in art and literature

Mary Stuart before her execution

The fate of Mary Stuart, which intertwined ascent to the heights of power and fall, love and betrayal, success and disappointment, passion and statesmanship, for many centuries interested not only historians, but also cultural and art figures. Was the queen guilty of killing her husband? How true are the "letters from the casket"? What caused her fall: the passion and insidious conspiracy of Mary's opponents, or the natural course of Scottish history? These and many other questions have been answered by such prominent writers as Jost van den Vondel, Friedrich Schiller, Juliusz Słowacki and Stefan Zweig. In terms of the number of historical and fictional biographies published with enviable regularity from the 16th century to the present, Mary Stuart has no equal personalities in Scottish history. The romantic image of the queen inspired the creation of the operas "Mary Stuart" by Gaetano Donizetti and Sergei Slonimsky, as well as the cycle of poems "Twenty Sonnets to Mary Stuart" by Joseph Brodsky. Lesya Ukrainka dedicated the poem "The Last Song of Mary Stuart" to her.

The episode of the execution of Mary Stuart is reproduced in the 11-second film "The Execution of Mary of Scotland", filmed in August 1895 by T. Edison's studio. The fate of the queen formed the basis of several feature films: Mary of Scots (1936, starring Katharine Hepburn), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971, starring Vanessa Redgrave), Plot Against the Crown (Gunpowder, Treason & Plot) "(2004, BBC). In addition, in April 2008, filming began on another adaptation of the story of Mary Stuart, this time with American actress Scarlett Johansson in the title role.

7. Marriage and children

(1558) Francis II, King of France

(1565) Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley

James VI, King of Scotland (1567-1625), also known as King James I of England (1603-1625).

(1567) James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell

Literature

Antonio de Herrera. Historia de lo sucedido en Escocia, è Inglaterra, en quarenta y quatro años que biuio Maria Estuarda, Reyna de Escocia. - Madrid, 1589.

Pitaval, E. Mary Stuart. In the fight for the throne. On the way to the block, 2002

Zweig S. Mary Stuart, 1935

Donaldson G. Scotland: James V-James VII, 1965

Fraser, A. Mary, Queen of Scots, 1969

Guy, J. Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart Houghton Mifflin Books, 2004

Dumas, A. (father). Two Dianas (indirectly) 1847

Dumas, A. (father). Mary Stuart

Karpuschenko, S. Sorcerer's Power, 2004

Victoria Holt. Mary Stuart - Captured Queen

Victoria Holt. Mary Stuart. Return to Tutbury

Schiller F. Mary Stuart, 1801

9. Image in art

Samantha Morton in The Golden Age

Yakovleva, Elena Alekseevna in the play “We play ... Schiller!” Theater "Sovremennik"

Mary I (born Mary Stuart Gaelic Màiri Stiùbhart, English Mary I Stuart; December 8, 1542 - February 8, 1587) - Queen of Scots from infancy, actually reigned from 1561 to deposition in 1567, and also Queen of France in 1559-1560 years (as the wife of King Francis II) and pretender to the English throne. Her tragic fate, full of quite "literary" dramatic turns and events, attracted writers of the romantic and subsequent eras.

Mary Stuart, official portrait

Unknown artist

Portrait of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland.

Youth

Regency of Arran

Mary Stuart was the daughter of King James V of Scotland and Princess Mary of Guise of France. It was she who introduced the Frenchized spelling of the name of the dynasty Stuart, instead of the previously adopted Stewart.

Father - James V of Scotland

Cornel de Lyon

Mother -Portrait of Mary de Guise (1515 - 1560)

James V and Mary of Guise

James V and Mary of Guise

Mary was born on December 8, 1542 at Linlithgow Palace in Lothian, and 6 days after her birth, her father, King James V, died, unable to bear the humiliating defeat of the Scots at Solway Moss and the recent deaths of his two sons. In addition to Mary, the king had no legitimate children, and since by this time there were no longer any of the direct descendants in the male line of the first king of the Stuart dynasty, Robert II, Mary Stuart was proclaimed Queen of Scots.

James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, the closest relative of Mary Stuart and her heir, became regent of the country under the minor queen. Emigrant nobles returned to Scotland - supporters of an alliance with England, expelled or fled from the country under James V, who pursued a pro-French policy. With their support, the regent Arran formed a pro-English government at the end of January 1543, stopped the persecution of Protestants and began negotiations on the marriage of the young queen with the heir to the English throne. These negotiations ended in July 1543 with the signing of the Treaty of Greenwich, according to which Mary was to marry the son of King Henry VIII of England, Prince Edward, which would later lead to the unification of Scotland and England under the rule of one royal dynasty. Meanwhile, on September 9, 1543, Mary Stuart was crowned Queen of Scots at Stirling Castle.

James Hamilton

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

War with England

The rise of the pro-French party of Scottish nobles, led by Cardinal Beaton and the Queen Mother, and Henry VIII's demand that Mary Stuart be handed over to him, caused a turn in Scottish politics. At the end of 1543, the pro-English barons, led by Earl Angus, were removed, and Cardinal Beaton and supporters of orientation towards France came to power. This caused a reaction from England. In 1544-1545. The English troops of the Earl of Hertford repeatedly invaded Scotland, destroying Catholic churches and devastating Scottish lands. At the same time, Protestantism became more and more widespread in the country, the adherents of which politically advocated rapprochement with England. On May 29, 1546, a group of radical Protestants assassinated Cardinal Beaton and captured St. Andrews Castle. The Scottish government was unable to cope with the situation and turned to France for help.

David Beaton (. 1494 - May 29, 1546) - Cardinal, Archbishop of St. Andrews (since 1539), leader of the Catholic pro-French party in Scotland in the first half of the 16th century. Archibald Douglas (1489-1557), 6th Earl of Angus (from 1513) - Scottish baron, leader of the Anglophile party at the beginning of the 16th century, who seized power several times in the country. Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1500 - January 22, 1552) - uncle of King Edward VI, in 1547-1549 years - Regent (Lord Protector) of England.

French troops arrived in Scotland early in 1547 and drove the Protestants out of St. Andrews. In response, the English army again crossed the Anglo-Scottish border and utterly defeated the Scots at the Battle of Pinky in September 1547. The English captured the main Scottish fortresses in Lothian and on the banks of the Firth of Tay, thus subjugating the most important part of the Scottish kingdom. Mary of Guise was forced to hide her daughter at Dumbarton Castle. By this time, Henry II, a supporter of a decisive struggle against England, had entered the throne of France. At his suggestion, on June 7, 1548, an agreement was signed on the marriage of Queen Mary Stuart and Dauphin Francis. French troops were introduced into Scotland, which by the end of 1550 were able to practically oust the British from the country. On August 7, 1548, Queen Mary Stuart, who by that time was only five years old, left for France.

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, as a child.

Dumbarton Castle

Departure of Mary of Scotland to France

Life in France

Together with the young Mary, on August 13, 1548, her small retinue arrived in France, including the half-brother of the Count of Moray and "Four Maries"- four young daughters of Scottish aristocrats with the same name - Beaton, Livingston, Seton and Fleming. The French court, probably the most brilliant in Europe at that time, welcomed the young bride with magnificent celebrations. King Henry II felt sympathy for Mary Stuart and provided her with one of the best educations: the young queen studied French, Spanish, Italian, ancient Greek and Latin, works of ancient and modern authors. She also learned to sing, play the lute, and developed a love of poetry and hunting. Maria fascinated the French court, poems were dedicated to her by Lope de Vega, Brant, Ronsard.

Mary Stuart at the age of 13, delivering a solemn speech before the king...

In 1550, the queen's mother, Mary of Guise, arrived in France to strengthen the Franco-Scottish alliance. She did not stay with her children, however, and returned to Scotland in 1551 to secure her daughter a stable position in the religiously divided country. In 1554, Mary of Guise succeeded in removing the Earl of Arran from power and leading the government of Scotland herself.

Regency of Mary of Guise

The reign of Mary of Guise saw the rise of French influence in Scotland. French troops were stationed in Scottish fortresses, and French people dominated the royal administration. On April 24, 1558, the wedding of Mary Stuart and the Dauphin Francis took place in Notre Dame Cathedral. In a secret appendix to the marriage contract, the queen gave Scotland to the king of France in the absence of children from this marriage.

The wedding of Mary Stuart and the heir to the French throne, Francis. 1558

Such a policy could not but arouse the displeasure of most of the Scottish aristocracy. At the same time, the spread of Protestantism finally split Scottish society. The situation was aggravated by the accession to the throne of England at the end of 1558, Queen Elizabeth I, who began to support the Scottish Protestants. Elizabeth I, according to the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, was considered illegitimate, so Mary Stuart, who was the great-granddaughter of King Henry VII Tudor of England, had the right to the English throne.

Henry VII (January 28, 1457 - April 21, 1509) - King of England and sovereign of Ireland (1485-1509), the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty.

Coronation portrait of Elizabeth I

However, Mary and her advisers chose something in between: the young queen did not prevent her cousin Elizabeth from being recognized as the rightful queen, but did not renounce her claims to the crown either. The English crown appeared on the coat of arms of Francis and Mary. This decision of Mary, taken as if to tease Elizabeth, became fatal: Scotland did not have the strength to defend her right to the English throne, and relations with England were hopelessly damaged.

On July 10, 1559, Henry II died and Francis II ascended the throne of France. Mary Stuart also became Queen of France.

Mary Stuart

Francis II and Mary Stuart.

Protestant revolution

Francis II was a weak, sick young man and could hardly rule firmly and decisively, and the queen mother Catherine de Medici and Giza, the uncle of Mary Stuart, came to the forefront in France. At the same time, the Protestant Revolution began in Scotland. Most of the Scottish aristocracy joined the rebellious Protestants and turned to England for help. English troops were introduced into the country, who were met by Protestants as liberators. Queen Mary of Guise and the French garrison were besieged at Leyte. Mary Stuart could not provide military assistance to her mother: the Amboise conspiracy in March 1560 eliminated the influence of the Guises at court, religious wars between Catholics and the Huguenots were brewing in France, and Catherine de Medici did not want to aggravate relations with England.

Francis II of France

Francois Clouet

Queen of France Catherine de Medici.

Francois de Guise

Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine

On June 11, 1560, Mary of Guise died - the last obstacle to Scotland's movement towards Protestantism and union with England. The Treaty of Edinburgh, concluded between France and England on July 6, 1560, ensured the withdrawal of both English and French troops from Scotland and sealed the victory of Protestantism in the country. Mary Stuart refused to approve this treaty because it contained the recognition of Elizabeth I as Queen of England.

Mary Stuart, Francois Clouet

Mary Stuart, Francois Clouet

Mary Stuart, Francois Clouet

On December 5, 1560, Francis II died of a serious illness. This meant the imminent return of Mary Stuart to Scotland. The prospect of the arrival of a Catholic queen forced the Scottish Protestants to speed up the formation of a new state church: the Protestant creed and disciplinary charter were approved by the country's parliament, the Scottish Church broke with Rome and the Catholic Mass was banned.

Mary Stuart in mourning clothes, Mary Stuart

Mary Stuart in mourning clothes, Mary Stuart

Return to Scotland

On August 19, 1561, the eighteen-year-old queen arrived in Scotland. The country to which she returned was a divided nation. The conservatives, led by the Earl of Huntly, were ready to unconditionally support the queen, who ceased to personify French dominance after the death of Francis II. Radical Protestants, led by John Knox, demanded that the queen break with Catholicism and her marriage to the Earl of Arran, one of the Protestant leaders. The moderate wing of Lord James Stewart and Secretary of State William Maitland could support Mary Stuart only if the Protestant religion remained and continued rapprochement with England.

Farewell to France Mary of Scotland

Mary, Queen of Scots leaves France.

Mary, Queen of Scots leaves France.

From the first days of her reign, Mary Stuart began to pursue a cautious policy, not trying to restore Catholicism, but not going over to Protestantism either. The main roles in the royal administration were retained by James Stewart, who became Earl of Moray, and William Maitland. Extreme Protestants tried to plot to capture the queen, but the plot failed. Arran soon went mad, and the radicalism of John Knox no longer met with understanding among the broad strata of the Scottish nobility.

The Return of Mary Queen of Scots to Edinburgh by James Drummond.

James Stewart

On the other hand, the Conservative wing was beheaded in 1562: the Earl of Huntly, who sought the transfer of the earldom of Moray to him, raised a rebellion against Mary Stuart, but was defeated by Lord James and soon died. In 1562-1563. The queen officially recognized Protestantism as the state religion of Scotland and approved the procedure for distributing church income for religious and state needs. Mary Stuart refused to send a Scottish delegation to the Council of Trent, which completed the formalization of Catholic doctrine. At the same time, she did not break with Rome, continued her correspondence with the Pope, and a Catholic mass was served at the court. As a result, the beginning of the reign of Mary Stuart was marked by the achievement of relative political stability.

Queen of Scots Mary Stuart.

The support of the nobility was in no small part due to the new opportunities that opened up for young Scottish aristocrats after the creation of a royal court on the French model in Mary's Palace of Holyrood. A young, slender, beautiful queen, who loves music, dancing, masquerades, hunting and golf, could not help but attract the Scottish nobles, who had lost the habit of court life during the civil wars. By entrusting the day-to-day administrative work to Moray and Maitland, Mary Stuart was able to create a miniature Louvre in Holyrood.

Queen of Scots Mary Stuart.

Queen of Scots Mary Stuart.

Foreign policy

Foreign policy was a serious problem for Mary Stuart. The leaders of the Scottish government, Moray and Maitland, were staunch supporters of the Anglo-Scottish alliance. Queen Mary herself refused to recognize Elizabeth I as Queen of England, hoping to exercise her rights to the English throne. A compromise could be possible on the condition that Mary renounce her claims to the English crown during the life of Elizabeth I in exchange for recognition of her as the heiress of the Queen of England. However, neither Mary, driven by self-confident hopes, nor Elizabeth I, not ready to solve the issue of succession to the English throne, did not want to go for rapprochement.

Queen of Scots Mary Stuart

At the same time, the question arose of a new marriage for Queen Mary. Many European monarchs claimed her hand (the kings of France, Sweden, Denmark, the archduke of Austria). For a long time, Don Carlos, the son of King Philip II of Spain, was considered the most likely suitor. Negotiations about this union worried England: Elizabeth I even offered to recognize Mary as her heiress for refusing a Spanish marriage. However, by the end of 1563, it became clear that Don Carlos was mentally insane, and this project failed. Elizabeth, for her part, offered the hand of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, her likely lover, which naturally aroused the indignation of the Queen of Scots.

Don Carlos, Prince of Asturias (July 8, 1545, Valladolid - July 24, 1568, Madrid) - heir to the Spanish throne, son of King Philip II of Spain and his first wife Mary of Portugal.

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (June 24, 1532 - September 4, 1588) was an English statesman of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I Tudor, a favorite of the queen.

Robert Dudley and Elizabeth I

Crisis and fall of Mary Stuart

Second marriage and murder of Riccio

In 1565, the Queen's cousin, nineteen-year-old Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, son of the Earl of Lennox and Margaret Douglas, a maternal descendant of the English King Henry VII, arrived in Scotland - a tall, handsome young man.

Mary, Queen of Scots

Henry Stuart (Eng. Henry Stuart; December 7, 1545 - February 10, 1567), Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany and Ross - King consort of Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland.

Mary Stuart and Henry, Lord Darnley

Mary Stuart and Lord Darnley

Mary Stuart fell in love with him from the first meeting and already married him on July 29, 1565, to the displeasure of Elizabeth I. This marriage not only meant a break with England, but at the same time alienated her former allies from the queen - Moray and Maitland. In August 1565, Moray tried to start a rebellion, but Mary Stuart, enlisting the support of the Gordons and Hepburns and pawning her jewelry to pay the salaries of the soldiers, instantly attacked the rebel and forced him to flee to England.

Queen of Scots Mary Stuart

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley.

Moray's performance demonstrated to the queen that radical Protestants and Anglophiles were far from unconditional loyalty. This caused a turn in the Queen's policy. She began to approach the Catholics and resumed correspondence with the king of Spain. At the same time, Mary alienates the leading Scottish aristocrats from herself and brings closer people of humble origin and foreigners who are personally pleasing to the queen. The situation aggravated the cooling in relations with her husband: Mary Stuart realized that Lord Darnley was morally unprepared for the royal title, that she had married a man without special talents and virtues. The queen, realizing her mistake, began to neglect her husband.

David Riccio (c. 1533, Turin - March 9, 1566, Edinburgh) - Italian, personal secretary to Queen Mary of Scots, Mary Stuart, brutally murdered by Protestant conspirators in 1566.

Mary Stuart and David Riccio

Mary Stuart and David Riccio

Jealousy Darnley

As a result, by the beginning of 1566, a hostile coalition of Darnley and the Protestant lords of Scotland, led by Moray and Morton, had formed. On March 9, 1566, in the presence of the pregnant queen, opposition leaders brutally murdered David Riccio, one of the closest friends, favorite and personal secretary of Mary Stuart. Probably, with this atrocity, the conspirators wanted, by creating a threat to the life of the queen, to force her to make concessions. However, Mary's effective actions once again destroyed the plans of the opposition: the queen defiantly reconciled with her husband and Morey, which caused a split in the ranks of the conspirators, and resolutely cracked down on the perpetrators of the murder. Morton and his associates fled to England.

Assassination of David Riccio

Assassination of David Riccio

Assassination of David Riccio

James Douglas c. 1525 - June 2, 1581), 4th Earl of Morton (since 1553) - a major statesman of Scotland in the second third of the 16th century, one of the leaders of the Protestants and regent of Scotland in 1572-1581. during the minority of King James VI.

Assassination of Darnley and deposition of the Queen

The reconciliation of Mary Stuart with her husband was short-lived. Her sympathy for James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who contrasted sharply with Darnley in his strength, virility and determination, soon became apparent. The gap between the queen and the king became a fait accompli: Darnley even refused to attend the christening of their child, the future King James VI, born on June 19, 1566. The policy of Mary Stuart is increasingly beginning to be determined by her feelings, primarily her passion for Bothwell. Darnley becomes an obstacle to overcome.

Paired portrait of Mary Stuart with her son Jacob

Mary, Queen of Scots and her son James I.

Mary, Queen of Scots and King James VI

On February 10, 1567, under mysterious circumstances, a house in Kirk o'Field, a suburb of Edinburgh, where Darnley was staying, exploded under mysterious circumstances, and he himself was found murdered in the yard, strangled, while trying to escape from a burning house along with a page. The question of the participation of Mary Stuart in organizing the murder of her husband is one of the most controversial in the history of Scotland. Apparently, the earl of Moray and Maitland were at least aware of the impending atrocity, and perhaps they themselves participated. Also, with a significant degree of certainty, we can talk about the presence of a conspiracy against Darnley among his former partners in the murder of Riccio, led by Morton, whom the king betrayed. Participation in the conspiracy of Count Bothwell is also more than likely. Moreover, if Bothwell, apparently, wanted to clear his way to the hand of Queen Mary, then the groups of Morton and Moray, perhaps by killing Darnley, tried to cause a crisis of confidence in the queen and her overthrow. Perhaps all of these groups acted independently of each other.

Matthew Stuart, Margaret Douglas, their son Charles Stuart and grandson King James VI of Scotland mourn the murder of Henry Stuart

However, whoever was the real murderer of the king, public opinion in Scotland placed at least indirect blame for this crime on the queen as an unfaithful wife. Mary Stuart did nothing to prove her innocence. On the contrary, already on May 15, 1567, the marriage of Mary and the Earl of Bothwell took place in Holyrood.

Queen of Scots Mary Stuart.

James Hepburn (c. 1535 - April 14, 1578) - 4th Earl of Bothwell (in another spelling Boswell) in 1556-1567, Duke of Orkney, Scottish nobleman, third husband of Mary Queen of Scots, Queen of Scots, marriage to which led to the overthrow of the queen in 1567.

This marriage to the likely murderer of the king deprived Mary of Scots of all support in the country, which was immediately taken advantage of by the Protestant lords and supporters of Moray. They organized a "confederation" of lords and, having gathered a significant military force, drove the queen and Bothwell out of Edinburgh. On June 15, 1567, the Queen's troops, having encountered the Confederate army at Carberry, fled. Mary Stuart was forced to surrender, having previously ensured the unhindered departure of Bothwell, and was escorted by the rebels to Lochleven Castle, where on July 24 she signed the abdication in favor of her son James VI. The earl of Moray was appointed regent of the country during the minority of the king.

Confrontation at Carberry

Mary Stuart as a prisoner is led through Edinburgh

Abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary of Scotland abdicates her crown at Lochleven Castle

Flight to England

The overthrow of the rightful queen caused discontent among some of the Scottish lords. Union "confederates" quickly disintegrated, the establishment of the regency of Moray caused the Hamiltons, the Earls of Argyll and Huntly to go into opposition. On May 2, 1568, Mary Stuart fled Lochleven Castle. She was immediately joined by the barons opposed to Morea. However, the Queen's small army was defeated by the Regent's troops at the Battle of Langside on May 13, and Mary fled to England, where she turned to Queen Elizabeth I for support.

Mary Stuart is the Queen of Great Britain, known for her tragic fate. The woman was born in December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace. During her life, she made many mistakes, but the girl had to face baseless accusations.

On February 8, 1587, the Queen was executed at Fotheringate Castle, accused of complicity in a Catholic conspiracy. She spent the previous twenty years of her life in captivity with Elizabeth.

Childhood and origin of the future queen

Mary was born on the night of December 7-8, 1542 in the family of the Scottish king and princess of France. Father, James V, died a week after the birth of his daughter. Her mother, Mary of Lorraine, became queen after her husband's death. Since the woman was busy taking care of the girl, her closest relative and heir, James Hamilton, began to rule the country. It is noteworthy that the young Mary had every right to the throne, since her great-grandfather was Henry VII.

Stewart has been married three times in her life. It is important to remember that the Queen cannot choose a spouse based solely on her own interests. Her marriage is closely connected with the politics and well-being of the country, so they began to choose a husband for the girl from early childhood. Competing parties sought to bring Mary together with the descendants of the French and English kings, everything ended with the signing of an agreement with England in July 1543. It meant that the future queen should become the wife of Prince Edward.

The Scottish nobles were unhappy with this decision of the government, so they rebelled against the authorities. France came out on their side, by joint efforts they managed to overthrow the pro-British party. In response, England sent its troops into Scotland. The war lasted until June 1548, when a new treaty was signed. This time Stewart was to become the wife of the Dauphin Francis, heir to the French throne. At that time, the queen was only 5 years old. On the seventh of August she went to France, where she lived until she came of age.

The girl received an education appropriate to her origin. In France, she studied various arts and languages. Since childhood, Maria had a talent for writing poems. She recited at the court works in Latin, which she composed herself. Already at the age of 14, the baby married the Dauphin of France mentioned above, this happened on April 24, 1558. Thanks to this marriage, she became the French queen. A few months later, a seat on the English throne became vacant, but the citizens preferred to be ruled by Elizabeth, the second heir.

Title loss

After marriage with Francis II, the girl managed to subdue her husband. Together with relatives, she manipulated him, pursuing her interests. But already in November 1560 the king died. Because of this, Stewart lost not only her title, but also the opportunity to stay further in France. On August 15, 1561, Catherine de Medici forced the girl to sail for Scotland.

In the country where the queen was born, not everything was smooth. The attitude towards her among the citizens was radically different, because Mary was brought up in the spirit of the Renaissance and professed Catholicism. At the same time, the Scots were ruled by John Knox, the ideals of Protestantism reigned in the country. The girl chose diplomatic tactics. She did not renounce her own religion, but recognized Protestantism as the official religion.

Stewart surrounded herself with creative people. She loved golf, theater, balls and hunting. Thanks to her mental and musical abilities, Maria had many admirers. It is known that even Pierre de Ronsard, the greatest poet of the Renaissance, admired her. Because of the constant chivalrous admiration on the part of her subjects, Mary was subjected to merciless criticism from the Protestants. It became obvious that she needed to remarry. At the same time, the girl's mother died.

Second marriage

Elizabeth felt that her rival could at any moment claim her rights to the throne. That is why she imposed her favorite Earl of Leicester on Mary. Nevertheless, Stewart was a smart woman, so she chose her husband on her own. Despite the pressure, she managed to marry a second time for love. The chosen one was the refined and handsome Catholic Henry Stuart. In July 1565, the couple married.

Unfortunately, Maria's husband turned out to be a cowardly egoist. He did not become her reliable support and assistant, instead he dreamed of ruling along with his wife. When Henry realized that this would not happen, he organized a conspiracy. Stewart was pregnant at this time, so she became especially weak. The husband became addicted to alcohol, was constantly in an inadequate state. He came up with the idea that Mary's secretary, David Riccio, is her lover. In front of the woman's eyes, David was cut to pieces by her husband's helpers. She was held as a hostage at Edinburgh Castle for another week, but then the girl managed to escape.

The birth of a son

On June 19, 1566, a son was born to the queen, he was named Jacob in honor of his grandfather. At the same time, Mary begins to communicate closely with Count Boswell. He always supported her in difficult times, and the girl's heart could not stand it. The only hindrance to the lovers was Lord Dunlay. On February 9, 1567 Bothwell and his men killed Stuart's wife. Then they blew up a powder keg near his body, but failed to deceive the eyewitnesses. There were no burn marks on the lord's body.

Nevertheless, Mary achieved what she wanted: on May 15, 1567, she and the count got married. The Scots took up arms against the queen, because they did not believe in her innocence in the murder of her husband. The girl did not try to justify herself, so her family was soon persecuted. Soon the queen was captured, the lords imprisoned her in Lochleven Castle. She abdicated in favor of her only son. At the same time, the newly-made husband fled, he later became a pirate and ended his life in prison off the Norwegian coast.

last years of life

Mary entered into a relationship with the son of the commandant of the castle, whose name was George Douglas. Thanks to his help, the queen fled to England, where she found shelter with her cousin Elizabeth. She was given a small yard, in fact, the girl was in prison. She did not have the opportunity to go beyond the territory, she lost all her power and authority. Accompanied by guards, Stuart was allowed to go hunting. Son Jacob abandoned her because he hated his mother for the murder of Lord Dunley.

19 years after the conclusion, the girl again risked regaining her crown. She entered into a conspiracy with the Babingtons, who intended to kill Elizabeth. But the letters discussing the deal were discovered and became indisputable evidence at trial. At the same time, she was accused of murdering her husband, Stuart and several other conspiracies against the queen were attributed.

Elizabeth until the last expected that her sister would beg for forgiveness. But Mary was too proud, so she meekly accepted her fate. With great difficulty, the queen decided to sign the death warrant. At this point, she was guided more by considerations of the security of the state than by personal feelings.

On February 8, 1587, the execution of the greatest ruler took place at Fotheringate Castle. She climbed the scaffold in luxurious attire, with her head held high. The executioners asked for forgiveness from the woman, to which she replied that only in death she sees for herself the solution to all problems and earthly torments. Until her last breath, she did not show weakness and fear. It was possible to kill the queen only with the third blow with an ax.

Even before her death, Mary did not want to give up her rights to the throne. Elizabeth offered to save her from execution if Stuart signed the necessary documents, but the queen refused her freedom. 16 years after her death, James I became king. Subsequently, Elizabeth and Mary were buried under the same roof thanks to the efforts of their descendants.

Mary Stuart (1542-1587), Queen of Scotland (1542-1567).

In 1548, Mary Stuart was sent to France, where she was brought up at the French court and in 1558 was married to the Dauphin Francis (since 1559 King Francis II).

After Mary I Tudor (1558), Mary Stuart, as the great-granddaughter of Henry VII, claimed the English throne.

After being widowed (1560), she returned to Scotland (1561), where the influence of the Calvinists was strong. At first, the Catholic Mary Stuart coexisted peacefully with the Protestants and with England. However, later she began to actively contact with Rome and the Catholic powers, as well as with the Irish rebels. This aroused the displeasure of the Scottish lords, incited by England.

In July 1565, Mary Stuart married the Catholic Henry Darnley, but the marriage was unsuccessful. On February 10, 1567, a group of noblemen, led by Mary's favorite, the Earl of Boswell, strangled Darnley and blew up his house.

He was unpopular among the people, the marriage was also disapproved of by the nobility; in the summer of 1567, the Calvinists raised an armed uprising.

Mary Stuart was forced to abdicate in favor of her son (Scottish king James VI, from 1603 English king James G) fled to England from 1568, where, by order of Queen Elizabeth I, she was imprisoned and accused of killing Darnley. At the same time, in the event of the death of Elizabeth, the captive remained a contender for the throne, and the Catholic nobles, with her help, tried to restore the dominance of the Catholic Church in England.

After the discovery of a series of conspiracies against Elizabeth, in which Mary Stuart was involved, she was put on trial and sentenced to death. Mary Stuart was executed on February 8, 1587 at Fotheringay Castle. Subsequently, her son Jacob, who inherited the English throne, ordered that his mother's body be buried in Westminster Abbey.