Comments on: Mary Queen of Scots – Part Two

By: Claire

Claire — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:49:07 +0000

Yes, pretty close. I think Darnley was 10 Feb 1567 and Mary was 8 Feb 1587.

By: Mickey Mayhew

Mickey Mayhew — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:20:49 +0000

wasn’t Mary executed on roughly the same day as her husband Darnely was blown up, some 20 years previous?!

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:54:34 +0000

Mary Queen of Scots was plotted against by Cecil and also the extreme Protestant John Knox (who wanted her dead from the outset) and used as a political pawn by the powerful Guise family in France. She did not wish to return to Scotland, preferring the continent but was cynically blocked from marrying Don Carlos of Spain by her mother in law Catherine de Medicis. She was a very kind and caring person and loved her French husband dearly so unlike the cunning and ruthless character of Queen Elizabeth 1st.
Mary had no option but to return to Scotland where the nobles were almost as powerful as the monarch and where she was also plotted against by her half-brother the Earl of Moray. (It must be remembered just how hard it was to be a powerful woman in those days).
Queen Elizabeth 1st was the illegitimate daughter of Henry V111 and this was well recognised in England. Mary was more entitiled to the throne of England than Elizabeth and Elizabeth knew this full well and dealt with Mary in a very devious way (which was her want being a person of extreme ruthlessness, vanity and self-interest).
She wasn’t called ‘the pirate queen’ for nothing and executed anyone who opposed her.
Throughout her life, Mary was used as a political pawn and even although she accepted Protestantism, this was not enough to save her.
William Cecil, Elizabeth’s chief advisor plotted, along with Knox, for her death from the time she left France after the death of her young husband – if not before.
The whole matter is extremely unedifying and one can hardly blame Mary Queen of Scots for believing she was entitiled to the English throne as this had been instilled in her from childhood. She was the legitimate grandaughter of the sister of Henry V111 and such she should have been Queen of England.
I believe she has been greatly misunderstood, particularly by those who have only a smattering of knowledge about the reality of her life.

By: Claire

Claire — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:06:02 +0000

Thanks, Jennifer! x

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:23:49 +0000

Claire this is awesome, always provinding the most interesting stuff here, i love it.

By: Impish_Impulse

Impish_Impulse — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:28:55 +0000

Thanks, Claire. The link you provided does indeed go to the same place!

By: Claire

Claire — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:34:35 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Carolyn, and here is your comment from the AB Files with links:-

I’m not sympathetic to Mary, myself, but the discussions here and on The Elizabeth Files made me go looking for images, and I found this book, “Notes on the authentic portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots, based on the researches of the late Sir George Scharf; (1903)”, that can be read online here:
http://www.archive.org/details/notesonauthenti00schagoog

There are lots of portraits, engravings, and prints of Mary, a lot of which I’d never seen before. It also includes primary accounts of her trial and execution. I was able to download a 255 page PDF file at this link:

http://books.google.com/books/download/Notes_on_the_authentic_portraits_of_Mary.pdf?id=OkADAAAAYAAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U1AoT_MFyIEVEFts6NgJvIrajWG1A&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0

Hope that works for anyone who wants to see it!

I also found another picture of her death mask from a more flattering (and serene) angle here:

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/United_Kingdom/Scotland/East_Lothian/Haddington/photo707068.htm

Thanks for those links, Carolyn, I can get the first two to work but not the second one, however, if it’s the same book as the first then you can download a full PDF at http://www.archive.org/download/notesonauthentic00custuoft/notesonauthentic00custuoft.pdf. Think that’s the right one!

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:40:22 +0000

I find it very difficult to feel sorry for Mary, QOS, as she fled to England to escape being held responsible in Scotland for her 2nd husband’s death. Elizabeth didn’t ask her or want her to be there, since Mary had been proclaiming herself the ‘rightful’ queen of England since Elizabeth inherited the crown. She didn’t send her back to death or prison in Scotland, but wasn’t foolish enough to let her roam free stirring up trouble in England, either.

Mary managed to stir up lots of trouble even under house arrest, and basically spent 20+ years going from plot to plot to kill Elizabeth and take her throne. As soon as one plot would be discovered and/or failed, Mary would be busy hatching the next plan. She never stopped trying to have Elizabeth killed. She was even willing to make Philip II her heir instead of her own (now Protestant) son if he would help her kill Elizabeth and take the English throne.

Elizabeth really was between a rock and a hard place. No matter what she did, she would face unpleasant repercussions. I think her council was correct that the plots wouldn’t end until Mary was dead. But it was wrong of Elizabeth to scapegoat poor Davison, or ask Paulet to quietly murder Mary so that Elizabeth could claim she’d died of natural causes.

I posted over on The Anne Boleyn Files, too, and posted links to an online copy of a book you can read or download with lots of pictures, engravings, and primary source descriptions of Mary, her trial, execution, etc. I’ll let Claire decide if she wants to cross-post the links on both sites. Enjoy!