Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

1587 beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots

Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots by Robert Herdman. The painting portrays the ex-Queen as a youthful victim of political violence common in the Tudor era.

The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots took place on 8 February 1587 at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England. After nineteen years in English captivity following her forced abdication from the throne of Scotland, Mary was found guilty of plotting the assassination of her cousin, Elizabeth I in what became known as the Babington Plot. The execution of Mary was the first legal execution of an anointed European monarch.[1]

## Background

[edit]

After her forced abdication in favour of her son James VI of Scotland, and an unsuccessful attempt to take back her throne, Mary fled south to England, crossing the Solway Firth into England by fishing boat on 16 May 1568.[2]

Initially hoping her cousin Elizabeth I of England would help her regain her throne, Mary instead was imprisoned for the murder of her English-born husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley though she was found neither guilty nor acquitted of the charge. Over the course of almost nineteen years, she was moved from castle to castle in England and kept under house arrest and under close watch by spies set up in her household by Elizabeth's advisors. Elizabeth saw her as a threat to her rule as Mary, the great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England through his daughter Margaret Tudor, was seen as a potential successor to the crown of England.[3]

### Trial

[edit]

Contemporary drawing of the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, October 1586

On 11 August 1586, after being implicated in the Babington Plot, Mary was arrested while out riding and taken to Tixall Hall in Staffordshire.[4] In a successful attempt to entrap her, Walsingham had deliberately arranged for Mary's letters to be smuggled out of Chartley. Her secretaries Claude Nau and Gilbert Curle and the clerk Jérôme Pasquier were taken to London for questioning.[5] Mary was misled into thinking her letters were secure, while in reality they were deciphered and read by Walsingham.[6] From these letters it was clear that Mary had sanctioned the attempted assassination of Elizabeth.[7]

Mary was moved to Fotheringhay Castle in a four-day journey ending on 25 September. In October, she was put on trial for treason under the Act for the Queen's Safety before a court of 36 noblemen.[8] The proceedings were held in the Great Chamber, where an empty throne represented Queen Elizabeth and Mary was seated in a subordinate position.[9]

Mary denied the charges,[10] telling her triers, "Look to your consciences and remember that the theatre of the whole world is wider than the kingdom of England."[11] She protested that she had been denied the opportunity to review the evidence, that her papers had been removed from her, that she was denied access to legal counsel, and that as a foreign anointed queen she had never been an English subject and therefore could not be convicted of treason.[12]

She was convicted on 25 October and sentenced to death with only one commissioner, Lord Zouche, expressing any form of dissent.[13] Nevertheless, Elizabeth hesitated to order her execution, even in the face of pressure from the English Parliament to carry out the sentence. She was concerned that the killing of a queen set a discreditable precedent and was fearful of the consequences, especially if, in retaliation, Mary's son, James, formed an alliance with the Catholic powers and invaded England.[14]

James VI instructed his diplomats, William Keith of Delny, the Master of Gray, and Robert Melville, to try to stay his mother's execution.[15] Henry III of France and Catherine de' Medici sent Pomponne de Bellièvre to plead for her life.[16][17] Finally, on 1 February 1587, Elizabeth signed the death warrant, and entrusted it to William Davison, a privy councillor.[18] On 3 February,[19] ten members of the Privy Council of England, summoned by Cecil without Elizabeth's knowledge, decided to carry out the sentence at once.[20]

## Execution

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The death warrant of Mary, Queen of Scots, signed by Elizabeth I

On the evening of 7 February 1587, Mary was told she was to be executed the next morning.[21] She spent the last hours of her life in prayer, distributing her belongings to her household, and writing her will and a letter to the King of France.[22] A scaffold was erected in the Great Hall of the Castle and draped in black cloth. It was reached by two or three steps, and furnished with the block, a cushion for her to kneel on, and three stools for her and the earls of Shrewsbury and Kent, who were there to witness the execution.[23] Mary was allowed only four attendants, her steward Andrew Melville, the physician Dominique Bourgoing, her surgeon Jacques Gervais, and her apothecary. In the morning, Mary asked for two women to accompany her on the scaffold.[24]

The executioner and his assistant knelt before her and asked forgiveness, as it was typical for the executioner to request the pardon of the person being executed. Mary replied, "I forgive you with all my heart, for now, I hope, you shall make an end of all my troubles."[25] Her ladies, Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle, and the executioners helped Mary to take off her pomander beads and remove her outer garments,[26] revealing a velvet petticoat and a pair of sleeves in crimson brown, the liturgical colour of martyrdom in the Catholic Church,[27] with a black satin bodice and black trimmings.[28] As she disrobed Mary smiled and said she "never had such grooms before... nor ever put off her clothes before such a company".[29] She was blindfolded by Kennedy with a white veil embroidered in gold, knelt down on the cushion in front of the block on which she positioned her head, and stretched out her arms.[30] Her last words were, In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum ("Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit").[31]

La mort de Marie Stuart \- translated to The Death of Mary Stuart \- by French painter Abel de Pujol

Mary was not beheaded with a single strike. The first blow missed her neck and struck the back of her head. The second blow severed the neck, except for a small bit of sinew, which the executioner cut through using the axe. Afterwards, he held her head aloft and declared "God save the Queen." At that moment, the auburn tresses in his hand turned out to be a wig and the head fell to the ground, revealing that Mary had very short, grey hair.[32]

Cecil's nephew, who was present at the execution, reported to his uncle that after her death, "Her lips stirred up and down a quarter of an hour after her head was cut off",[30] and that a small dog owned by the queen emerged from hiding among her skirts.[33] These details were not included in an eyewitness report by a German Calvinist Emanuel Tomascon.[34] Items supposedly worn or carried by Mary at her execution are of doubtful provenance;[35] contemporary accounts state that all her clothing, the block, and everything touched by her blood was burnt in the fireplace of the Great Hall to obstruct relic hunters.[33]

## Aftermath

[edit]

When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth, she became indignant and asserted that William Davison had disobeyed her instructions not to part with the warrant and that the Privy Council had acted without her authority.[36] Elizabeth's vacillation and deliberately vague instructions gave her plausible deniability to attempt to avoid the direct stain of Mary's blood.[37] Davison was arrested, thrown into the Tower of London, and found guilty of misprision. He was released nineteen months later, after William Cecil and Francis Walsingham interceded on his behalf.[38]

Roger Aston first broke the news to James VI, and Robert Carey was Elizabeth's official messenger.[39] Robert Carvyle, an English officer and message carrier based at Berwick-upon-Tweed was in Edinburgh in February 1587. He heard that James VI was sceptical that Elizabeth I was sorry for his mother's death. The townspeople of Edinburgh were angry and posted comments and poems called "libels" in the street, against James, his diplomats, and Elizabeth who was called a Jezebel.[40]

### Funeral and first burial

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Main article: Funeral of Mary, Queen of Scots

Railings at Peterborough Cathedral marking the former burial spot of Mary, Queen of Scots

Though she requested that she be buried in France, Mary's request was refused by Elizabeth.[41] Her body was embalmed and left in a secure lead coffin until her burial in a Protestant service at Peterborough Cathedral in late July 1587.[42] Her entrails, removed as part of the embalming process, were buried secretly within Fotheringhay Castle.[43]

The procession from the Palace to the church was led by 100 or 120 poor women in black cloth gowns and white Holland linen head dresses (called "kerchers"), provided by John Fortescue. Their appearance was traditional or old-fashioned.[44] Next followed those in mourning cloaks and mourning gowns. Andrew Noel carried the banner of Scotland.[45] Ten women from Mary's household followed, wearing hoods with black taffeta at the front and white veils at the back in the French fashion.[46] Most of the Scottish mourners from Mary's household left the cathedral before the service started, not wishing to attend a Protestant service. Gillis Mowbray or Barbara Mowbray remained in the cathedral with Andrew Melville.[47]

William Wickham, Bishop of Lincoln, gave a sermon and a prayer.[48][49][50] Banners were placed on the hearse, and symbolic objects including armour, a wooden sword, helmet and crown, were delivered from the hearse to the Bishop.[51] Richard Fletcher, Dean of Peterborough, read the funeral service where Mary was buried, and then the broken rods of her officers were placed in the grave.[52]

### Reburial at Westminster Abbey

[edit]

Mary's effigy at Westminster Abbey, by Cornelius Cure

In August 1603, following the Union of the Crowns and his English coronation, Mary's son James VI and I sent William Dethick to Peterborough with an embroidered velvet pall for his mother's grave.[53]

In 1606, Cornelius Cure was commissioned to produce the monument to Mary in Westminster Abbey.[54] He was paid for supplying "touchstone and rauncestone", two kinds of alabaster.[55] The monument was finished by his son William, and painted and gilded by James Mauncy or Manuty (Manucci).[56]

By order of Royal warrant, dated 28 September 1612, Mary's body was exhumed and brought to London and reinterred at Westminster Abbey on 11 October 1612.[57][58] The Earl of Northampton presided over a procession and the burial, held in the evening to avoid the "concourse" of people.[59][60] King James had a marble tomb commissioned for her in the south aisle of the Lady Chapel, opposite the tomb of Elizabeth I.[61]

## See also

[edit]

* List of botched executions
* Execution of Charles I, Mary's grandson and the only other British monarch to be executed
* Execution of Louis XVI, King of France deposed in the French Revolution
* Murder of the Romanov family, extrajudicial execution of the Russian Tsar Nicolas II and his family by the Bolsheviks

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Farquhar, Michael (16 December 2018). "'Forgive me': The brutal execution of Mary, Queen of Scots". The Washington Post.
2. ^ Guy 2004, p. 369; Weir 2008, pp. 433–434: Wormald 1988, p. 173
3. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 391
4. ^ Guy 2004, pp. 484–485; Fraser 1994, p. 493
5. ^ Fraser 1994, pp. 482–483; Guy 2004, pp. 477–480; Scott 2024, p. 212; Weir 2008, p. 507
6. ^ Fraser 1994, pp. 482–483; Guy 2004, pp. 477–480; Weir 2008, p. 507
7. ^ Guy 2004, pp. 483–485; Weir 2008, p. 507; Wormald 1988, p. 185
8. ^ Weir 2008, p. 508; Fraser 1994, p. 509
9. ^ Dillon 2010, pp. 173–174
10. ^ Boyd 1915, pp. 59–65, 143–145, 309–314; Fraser 1994, pp. 506–512; Guy 2004, pp. 488–489, 492; Weir 2008, p. 508
11. ^ Guy 2004, p. 488
12. ^ Fraser 1994, pp. 506–512; Guy 2004, pp. 489–493
13. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 517
14. ^ Fraser 1994, pp. 521–522; Weir 2008, p. 508
15. ^ Rait 1927, pp. 60, 127
16. ^ Paranque 2019, pp. 188–198
17. ^ Tomascon, Emanuel (1924). "79. Execution of Mary Stuart". In von Klarwill, Victor (ed.). The Fugger Newsletters. London: John Lane The Bodley Head. p. 96.
18. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 528
19. ^ Guy 2004, p. 519
20. ^ Guy 2004, p. 496
21. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 531; Guy 2004, p. 498; Weir 2008, p. 508
22. ^ Fraser 1994, pp. 533–534; Guy 2004, p. 500
23. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 537; Guy 2004, p. 4
24. ^ Dillon 2010, pp. 191–192
25. ^ Guy 2004, p. 7; Lewis 1999, p. 118
26. ^ Ellis 1827, p. 116
27. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 538; Guy 2004, p. 7; Weir 2008, p. 209; Wormald 1988, p. 187
28. ^ Morris, John (ed.) (1874). Letter Book of Amias Paulet, pp. 368–369
29. ^ Guy 2004, p. 7; Lewis 1999, pp. 41, 119
30. ^ a b Ellis 1827, p. 117
31. ^ Guy 2004, pp. 7–8
32. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 539; Guy 2004, p. 8
33. ^ a b Fraser 1994, p. 540; Guy 2004, p. 9
34. ^ Tomascon, Emanuel (1924). "79. Execution of Mary Stuart". In von Klarwill, Victor (ed.). The Fugger Newsletters. London: John Lane The Bodley Head. pp. 97–105.97-105&rft.pub=John+Lane+The+Bodley+Head&rft.date=1924&rft.aulast=Tomascon&rft.aufirst=Emanuel&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Execution+of+Mary,+Queen+of+Scots" class="Z3988">
35. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 540
36. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 541
37. ^ Guy 2004, p. 497
38. ^ Hutchinson, Robert (2006). Elizabeth's Spy Master: Francis Walsingham and the secret war that saved England. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 196–201\. ISBN 978-0-297-84613-0.196-201&rft.pub=Weidenfeld+&+Nicolson&rft.date=2006&rft.isbn=978-0-297-84613-0&rft.aulast=Hutchinson&rft.aufirst=Robert&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Execution+of+Mary,+Queen+of+Scots" class="Z3988">
39. ^ Rait 1927, pp. 190–202
40. ^ Ellis 1827, pp. 118–120
41. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 532
42. ^ Fraser 1994, pp. 542, 546–547; Weir 2008, p. 509
43. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 541; Guy 2004, p. 9
44. ^ Phillis Cunnington & Caroline Lucas, Costume for births, marriages & deaths (London, 1972), p. 144.
45. ^ R. Prescott-Innes, The funeral of Mary, Queen of Scots. A collection of curious tracts (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 4.
46. ^ R. Prescott-Innes, The funeral of Mary, Queen of Scots. A collection of curious tracts (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 5: Calendar State Papers Scotland, 9, pp. 459 no. 371, 462 no. 373.
47. ^ John Morris, The Letter-books of Amias Paulet (London, 1874), p. 372.
48. ^ Cuthbert Bede, Fotheringhay and Mary, Queen of Scots pp. 152–156.
49. ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1586-1588, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1915), pp. 456 no. 369, 460 nos. 371-2.
50. ^ R. Prescott-Innes, The funeral of Mary, Queen of Scots. A collection of curious tracts (Edinburgh, 1890), pp. 19–23
51. ^ Peter Sherlock, "The Monuments of Elizabeth Tudor and Mary Stuart: King James and the Manipulation of Memory", Journal of British Studies, 46:2 (April 2007), p. 269.
52. ^ R. Prescott-Innes, The funeral of Mary, Queen of Scots. A collection of curious tracts (Edinburgh, 1890), pp. 6-7.
53. ^ Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott, The tragedy of Fotheringay (London: Sands, 1924), p. 240
54. ^ Marguerite A. Tassi, "Martyrdom and Memory: Elizabeth Curle's Portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots", Debra Barret-Graves, The Emblematic Queen (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), p. 117: Peter Sherlock, "The Monuments of Elizabeth Tudor and Mary Stuart: King James and the Manipulation of Memory", Journal of British Studies, 46:2 (April 2007), pp. 263-289: Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer during the reign of King James I (London, 1836), pp. 35, 50, 75, 168.
55. ^ David Howarth, Images of Rule: Art and Politics in the English Renaissance (University of California, 1997), pp. 167–170: TNA SP14/211 f.58r.
56. ^ Catalogue of Antiquities, Works of Art and Historical Scottish Relics (Edinburgh, 1859), p. xxviii.
57. ^ Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer during the reign of King James I (London, 1836), pp. 151, 190, 320.
58. ^ James Emerson Phillips, Images of a Queen: Mary Stuart in Sixteenth-century Literature (University of California, 1964), p. 226.
59. ^ Peter Sherlock, "The Monuments of Elizabeth Tudor and Mary Stuart: King James and the Manipulation of Memory", Journal of British Studies, 46:2 (April 2007), p. 285.
60. ^ Fraser 1994, p. 554; Guy 2004, p. 504; Weir 2008, p. 509
61. ^ "Mary, Queen of Scots". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 16 December 2024.

### Sources

[edit]

* Boyd, William K., ed. (1915). Calendar of State Papers, Scotland: Volume IX. Glasgow: General Register Office (Scotland).
* Rait, Robert S. (1927). King James's Secret: Negotiations between Elizabeth and James VI, Relating to the Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. London: Nisbet.
* Dillon, Janette (2010). The Language of Space in Court Performance 1400–1625. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-50532-8.
* Ellis, Henry (1827). Original Letters Illustrative of British History, 2nd Series Volume 3. London: Harding and Lepard.
* Fraser, Antonia (1994) [1969]. Mary Queen of Scots. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-17773-9.
* Guy, John (2004). "My Heart Is My Own": The Life of Mary Queen of Scots. London: Fourth Estate. ISBN 978-1-84115-753-5.
* Lewis, Jayne Elizabeth (1999). The Trial of Mary Queen of Scots: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. ISBN 978-0-312-21815-7.
* Paranque, Estelle (2019). Estelle Paranque, Elizabeth I of England through Valois Eyes. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-030-72435-1.
* Scott, Jade (2024). Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary Queen of Scots. London: Michael O'Mara. ISBN 978-1-78929-646-4.
* Weir, Alison (2008) [2003]. Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley. London: Random House. ISBN 978-0-09-952707-7.
* Wormald, Jenny (1988). Mary, Queen of Scots. London: George Philip. ISBN 978-0-540-01131-5.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots at Wikimedia Commons

* v
* t
* e

Mary, Queen of Scots

Queen of Scotland (1542–1567), Queen consort of France (1559–1560)

Family|

* James V of Scotland (father)
* Mary of Guise (mother)
* James VI and I (son)
* Charles I (grandson)
* Elizabeth, Electress of the Palatinate (granddaughter)
* Margaret Tudor (grandmother)
* Edward VI (cousin)
* Mary I (cousin)
* Elizabeth I (cousin)

| Husbands|

* Francis II of France
* Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
* James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell

|

Siblings|

* James, Duke of Rothesay (brother)
* James Stewart, Commendator of Kelso and Melrose (half-brother)
* James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (half-brother)
* John Stewart, Commendator of Coldingham (half-brother)
* Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney (half-brother)
* Jean Campbell, Countess of Argyll (half-sister)

Events|

* Coronation
* Royal Entry
* First wedding
* Second wedding
* Murder of Lord Darnley
* Execution
* Funeral

| Battles and wars|

* Burning of Edinburgh
* Battle of Carberry Hill
* Battle of Corrichie
* Siege of Inverness
* Marian civil war

|

Plots and rebellions|

* Chaseabout Raid
* Ridolfi plot
* Throckmorton Plot
* Babington Plot
* Rising of the North

Treaties and Acts|

* Secret Bond
* Ainslie Tavern Bond
* Accession and Coronation Act 1567
* Treaty of Haddington
* Crown Matrimonial

Cultural depictions|

| Films|

* The Execution of Mary Stuart (1895)
* The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots (1923)
* The Heart of the Queen (1940)
* Mary of Scotland (film) (1936)
* Mary, Queen of Scots (1971 film) (1971)
* The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
* Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
* Mary Queen of Scots (2013)
* Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

|

Television|

* Gunpowder, Treason & Plot (2004)
* Elizabeth I (2005 TV series) (2005)
* Queens: The Virgin and the Martyr (2017)
* Reign (TV series) (2017)

Novels|

* If It Had Happened Otherwise (1931)
* The Other Queen (2008)
* A Column of Fire (2017)

Plays and
operas|

* Il Cromuele
* Episodes (ballet)
* Golden Eagle (play)
* Maria Stuarda
* Marie Stuart (opera)
* Mary Stewart (play)
* Mary Stuart (Schiller play)
* Mary, Queen of Scots (opera)
* Mary, Queen of Scots (play)
* Vivat! Vivat Regina!

Related|

* David Rizzio (private secretary)
* Jewels
* Wardrobe
* Assured Scots
* Casket letters
* Book of Articles
* Oxburgh Hangings
* Ane New Yeir Gift to Quene Mary
* Association of Mary, Queen of Scots, and James VI

| Places of imprisonment|

* Lochleven Castle
* Workington Hall
* Carlisle Castle
* Bolton Castle
* Tutbury Castle
* Sheffield Castle
* Sheffield Manor Lodge
* Wingfield Manor
* Chatsworth House
* Buxton
* Chartley Castle
* Tixall Gatehouse
* Fotheringhay Castle

|

* ← James V
* James VI →

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