The life of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots

Front matter

EXECUTION OP MART STITABT.

THE

QUEEN OF SCOTS.

Chapter I

Birth of Mary — Troubles during her Minority — She is conveyed to France. . . • 19

CHAPTER 11.

Continuation of Troubles — Reign and Death of Mary, of England — Elizabeth — Peace of Cateau Cambresis — Marriage of Mary Stuart. 48

CHAPTER in.

Hatred of Elizabeth to ]\tary — Her Apostasy — Death of Henry II. — Accession of the Dauphin and Mary 73

CHAPTER IV.

Death of Francis II. — Mary's Return to Scotland. . . .'_^I16

CHAPTER V.

Eeign of Mary — She marries Darnley 138

CHAPTER VI.

Murder of Rizzio — Assassination of Darnley 162

CHAPTER VH.

Parties foraied — The Queen is carried off by Bothwell, and forced to marry him. 191

CHAPTER VIII.

Conspiracy against Bothwell and Mary — She is confined in a Castle, from whence she escapes — She seeks an Asylum in.

England, and finds only a Prison 208

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

Trial of Mary — The York Conferences — Attempts to escape discovered 233

CHAPTER X.

Negotiations with Mary — Troubles in Scotland ~ Execution of Norfolk 264

CHAPTER XL Association — Troubles — Conspiracy of Babington — Mary is implicated in it. — Her Trial, Condemnation, and Death. . 292

Appendix

Letter No.

1. — The Queen of Scots to the Archbishop of Glasgow. . 331

4. — Mary to Elizabeth. . " . . . .343 6. — Mary to Elizabeth. . . . . . .348

9. — Mary to Mauyissiere. ..... 373

11. — Mary to the Duke of Guise. . . . .380

12. — Mary to Pope Sixtus V 383

13. — Mary to Le Preau, her Almoner. . . .385

14. Mary to the Duke of Guise. . . . .387 15 Mary to the K.ing of France. .... 390

INTRODUCTIOlSr.

James V., King of Scotland, had freed himself from the odious guardianship of the Earl of Angus, whose devotedness Henry VIII. had purchased. This sufficed for the misunderstanding which arose between the two princes ; and as courtiers are in the habit of espousing the quarrels of their masters, so as to lay claim to their favor, the frontier governors of the two l^ingdoms reciprocally commenced acts of hostility, which would have certainly led to war, had not the amicable intervention of Francis I. prevented it. 'When the uncle and nephew* were reconciled, at least in appearance, it was proposed to give as a spouse to the King of Scotland the princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIH. and the unfortunate infanta of Spain, Catharine, whose unfaithful husband had sacrificed her to

* James was a nephew of Henry, a sister of the latter being hi8 mother.

. (9)

Introduction

his unbridled lust. Henry at first had seemed to desire this union ; but that was before he had extorted a sentence of divorce from the iniquitous judges. The divorce granted, he had married Anne Boieyn ; and he then feared that the children of Mary, should she marry the king of Scotland, would one day dispute the crown with his own issue by the woman whom he had debauched by seating her on a defiled throne : he refused his consent.

Offended at this refusal, James resolved to solicit a consort from some one of the continental princes, expecting by this alliance to strengthen himself against the King of England. Henry divined the intention of his nephew, and wished to render it abortive by indu-ect means. He at first endeavored to gain him to his religious views ; if James would adopt these and abjure the faith of his fathers, he could no longer count on an alliance with Catholic princes ; and it was a capital stroke. He sent his agent Barlow to Scotland, as bearer of a dogmatic treatise on the spiritual supremacy of princes. James received the book and the envoy very coldly ; Barlow returned dissatisfied, and revenged himself by abusive language and calumnies on the manner of his reception.

INTRODUCTION.

Henry was not disheartened ; he demanded an interview of his nephew, and designated the city of York as the place of meeting. But James knew the Punic faith of his uncle, and took care not to endanger his personal safety : he replied that he much desired an interview, provided it took place in France, in the presence of Francis I., which proposition Henry on his part rejected. Negotiations were broken off, and James expressed himself for France. The hand of Mary of Bourbon, a French princess, was offered him ; but before concluding the match he wished to see her, and under pretence of joining Francis, who was driving the Imperialists from Provence, whither they had penetrated, he repaired to Dieppe, saw his intended, and, not finding her to his taste, rapidly pursued his route towards Lyons. He there met Francis, who brought him to Paris. In the midst of the fetes and pleasures with which Francis surrounded him, James entirely forgot Mary of Bourbon.

He had seen Magdalen of France, daughter of the king, and conceived a violent passion for her. He married her ; but unhappily the health of Magdalen was feeble and delicate : scarcely had she arrived in Scotland ere she fell ill, and three months had not elapsed since her marriage, when

INTRODUCTION.

she beheld the tomb open to receive her. She descended into it with courage, and her resignation at so tender an age increased the regret caused by her loss. For several months James appeared inconsolable. But there is no grief that time does not assuage : the following §iear (1538) he espoused Mary, a princess of Lorraine, daughter of the Duke of Guise and the Duchess dowager of Longueville.-'^ James increased his glory by this alliance, as the virtuous Mary had refused to share with Henry VIII. the brilliant throne of England.

Henry had seen with grief this intimate alliance between Scotland and France. In his designs of conquest and proselytism, he flattered himself, if the King of Scotland had no allies, with being able to compel him without difficulty to acknowledge th^e doctrines which he had entailed upon his own kingdom, and perhaps even make of Scotland an English province. But sustained by France, James could resist successfully ; it was necessary, then, to deprive Scotland of this support, and afterwards profit by its isolated position to subjugate it. Henry decideiJ at once, if the negotiations which were about to be resumed did not prosper, he would use force, and convert those with his sword whom

INTRODUCTION.

his controversial work had been unable to pervert.

Sadler was sent to James on the same secret mission that Barlow had been, and he demanded a special interview with the king, (1540,) which James granted. Sadler showed him a pretendedly intercepted letter from Cardinal Beaton* to his agent at Rome ; he was using his influence, said Sadler, to subject the royal authority to the temporal power of the pope. The king was pleased to reply that this letter was well known to him, and that before its transmission, which had taken place with his express consent, the cardinal had given him a copy of it.

" My master," replied Sadler, " blushes at your weakness. You are but the steward of your kingdom, instead of being its sovereign. You need money ; why not seize the goods of the church ? O, in the dissolute manners of your clergy you will find a thousand reasons which should justify you in your own eyes, if you need being justified."

" Sadler," responded the king, " the goods which Heaven has given me are sufficient. I have no need of usurping the property of others.

* This cardinal, Archbishop of St. Andrew's and Primate of Scotland, had succeeded his uncle in the charge of the archiepiscopal see.

INTRODUCTION.

If I were in real need, the clergy, I am certain, would come magnanimously to my assistance ; and if, unfortunately, some members of the clergy profane their holy ministry, there are many others who merit all our eulogies, and it is not just to punish the innocent with the guilty."

Henry's envoy then turned to the question of policy. He desired to prove to the King of Scotland that the alliance of his uncle would be a thousand times more advantageous to him than that of France; for, after the death of Prince Edward, who was in ill health, he would become the heir presumptive to the English throne. Sadler concluded by urging the king to accept the interview at York. The king thanked him for the zeal he showed for his interest, but very ingeniously eluded the invitation to repair to York.

This invitation was once more renewed, and Henry w^as even induced to believe that his nephew would accept. It is added that in general the nobles appeared eager enough to enrich themselves at the expense of the clergy, and that this body, which did not wish to be despoiled of their property, opposed them energetically. Meanwhile the cardinal departed for Rome. When Henry heard of his departure he was at

INTRODUCTION.

first much disquieted, since he imagined that the cardinal had only travelled through France to engage Francis to enter into a league against him. But after having reflected on it, he rejoiced at his departure : he thought it would be easier to triumph over the obstinacy of James, who would be no longer sustained by the presence and influence of this prelate. Impressed with this idea he repaired to Yorkshire, there to await his nephew ; but James persisted in his refusal, for he feared with reason that if once his uncle got him within his clutches, he would not restore him to liberty until after he had constrained him to renounce his alliance with France and decline the spiritual jurisdiction of the pope. Henry returned to London, much irritated at his nephew ; and he refused for a long time to receive the Scottish ambassador, specially charged to offer his master's excuses.

Henry was fully decided on having recourse to force to obtain from James what he could not draw from him by stratagem ; nevertheless, before commencing the war, he wished to sound the court of France. His agents informed him by letter that notwithstanding all the good will which Francis bore to the King of Scotland, the latter could scarcely expect any assistance from

INTRODUCTION.

him, on account of the embarrassment which the emperor* caused the King of France himself. Upon that Henry no longer hesitated. He ordered his governors of the frontier to commence hostilities, and soon after, to revenge himself for a check received in the beginning by his arms, he ordered the Duke of Norfolk to assemble an army in York, take the command of it, and immediately invade Scotland. James was not prepared for war ; he commenced negotiations which detained the Duke of Norfolk in York, but in a few days the duke was formally ordered to advance into Scotland.

The duke obeyed, and had the deplorable advantage of delivering to the flames two defenceless cities and twenty villages. After this exploit, the want of provisions obliged him to retire. (1542.) James wished to pursue the English, but all his officers remonstrated with him, as — should the same misfortune happen to him as to his father at Flodden Field — his death would leave Scotland exposed to become the prey of his uncle, who would not fail to claim his inheritance as his nearest heir. James yielded only in part to the counsel of his officers : he disbanded the troops collected around

* Charles V.

INTRODUCTIOxX.

him, bat immediately proceeded to the western frontier, where he had a body of ten thousand men, whom he ordered to advance into England, and spend as .many days there as Norfolk had passed in Scotland.

James had to repent of having yielded to momentary wrath. These ten thousand men perceived beyond the frontier some English troops, seemingly prepared to dispute the passage ; and whether they refused to fight because they were commanded by an unpopular officer, or that they imagined they were to oppose Norfolk's whole army, they dispersed without having drawn a sword, and fled in every direction. Twenty-four pieces of artillery and all the baggage fell into the hands of the English, and one thousand prisoners, among whom were two earls, five barons, and two hundred knights, were sent to England to attest a victory which had not cost a single man.

This unexpected disaster grieved the heart of James. He departed ill for Edinburgh, whence he reached the solitary manor of Falkland. Hardly had he arrived, when he was seized with a fever, which, finding him already undermined by chagrin, made rapid progress. He exph'ed 2*

18 INTRODUCTION.

f

on the 14th of December, twenty days after the eventful disaster to his arms, and ^ight days after his wife had given birth to a daughter. This daughter, born under such sad auspices, was Mary Stuart, a woman as accomplished as she was unfortunate, upon whom Nature lavished all her gifts, upon whom Misfortune wore out all her darts.

LIEE OF MARY STUART.

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH OP MA.EY. — TROUBLES DURING HER MINORITY. — SHE IS CONVEYED TO FRANCE.

The birth of Mary was not celebrated by public fetes, and no joyful strain made the mountain echoes resound ; she enters into the world, overwhelmed with her mother's tears, opening her eyes before a tomb which awaits its prey, receiving life and losing him who imparted it to her. Scotland's weeds overhang her cradle, funereal crape girds her forehead ; whilst not far off, hostile rivalries, ambitious designs, are being agitated ; at the foot of the tableau Discord brandishes her torches, and the flames of war 'light up the scene. Two parties, equally numerous and powerful, are formed about the infant royal : the one wishes to subject her country to England, the other to save it by relying

LIFE OF MARY. STUART.

upon France. Henry VIII. had no sooner received the news of the twofold event which gave a sovereign to Scotland in place of the deceased king, than, immediately abandoning the part of converter, to be assumed thereafter, he conceived the project of adding Scotland to his kingdom, destining the new-born princess as a spouse for his son. If the Scottish Parliament would accept his proposition, he would assume without opposition the government of the kingdom, either as father-in-law or as grand-uncle of the queen. The Earl of Angus and Sir George Douglas, upon whom he had plentifully bestowed, his bounty, the Earls of Cassilis and Glencairn, Lords Maxwdl, Fleming, Somerville, Oliphant, and Gray, who were made prisoners in the unfortunate affair of Solway Moss, were taken by Henry into his confidence, and all engaged to serve him in his designs : the two former acted through gratitude, the others through the hope of being soon restored to liberty. Nevertheless, Henry did not allow them to depart until he had received hostages from them as guarantees of their return in case they did not' succeed.

In vain had King James, before dying, expressed in a will his last wishes ; in vain had he recommended his daughter and his spouse to

LIFE OF MARY STUART.

the lords who surrounded him. Hardly had he closed his eyes than his entreaties, his recommendations, the promises he had obtained, were all forgotten. To see these courtiers, humble and cringing before their master, become haughty and fierce when this master was no more, one would say that, enemies of all superiority, they wished, by disobedience, to indemnify themselves for the restraint to which they had been subjected; to wash themselves, by breaking the idol, of the humiliation of having worshipped it. When, after the king's death, Cardinal Beaton •— called by the French Bethune — made known the will, which conferred the regency upon himself, three Scottish lords being given him for colleagues, no account was taken of this document, which some suspected of being forged and substituted, whilst it was rejected by others because it disposed of the regency in favor of persons who were not their choice. Several lords, having met at Edinburgh, appointed regent James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, who was, moreover, regarded as heir presumptive to the throne, in case of the death of the new born. Cardinal Beaton agreed to an arrangement which he could not prevent. It was after this transaction that the two exiles, Angus and Douglas, and the

LIFE OF MARY STUART.

prisoners of Solway Moss* arrived at Edinburgh.

The English party was strengthened by all those men whose services could be purchased. Nevertheless, there were many amongst them ^ who interested themselves but little for the King of England : they only desired to withdraw safe and sound from his hands those whom they had left as hostages. The French party had at its head the queen mother, the cardinal, the Earls of Huntley, Murray, and Argyle. This party could count more on the cooperation of the members of the clergy, whom the fear of religious innovation would have alone determined even if their chief motive had not been patriotism. The nation in general appeared to favor the party of the queen ; for it hated English domination as much as it was attached to France, its ancient and loyal ally.

The regent was in great embarrassment. The opposition which he had received from Cardinal Beaton would have impelled him from spite to join the English party, had he not otherwise mistrusted Henry's projects. He was well aware that whichever party prevailed, his own rights to the succession of James would be equally endangered. Henry, to terminate his hesitation,

LIFE OF MARY STUART.

offered him the hand of the Princess Elizabeth for his young son ; but the regent understood that this offer was only made him to prevent his son espousing the young queen herself. This reflection did not prevent him from pronouncing himself in favor of Henry ; he even imprisoned the cardinal, under the pretext that the latter had engaged the Duke of Guise to raise an army and send it to Scotland to sustain the interests of the queen mother against him. (1543.)

Meanwhile Parliament had been convoked, and had acted upon Henry's propositions. It accepted that which proposed the marriage of Prince Edward and the queen, but rejected all the others, which treated of confiding the queen to his care, as well as the administration of the government and the occupation of all fortified places, during her minority. It was believed that Scottish pride would revolt against such exorbitant pretensions. Henry, however, persisted ; and when the envoys of the regent informed him of what had passed, he did not dissemble his resentment. He even reproached the Earl of Angus and his adherents, through Sir Ralph Sadler, complaining bitterly of having been badly served by them, and accusing them of betraying their promises.

LIFE OF MARY STUART.

* Angus responded that his friends and himself had obtained all it was possible to obtain under the present circumstances. He urgently exhorted him to content himself provisorily with what he had obtained ; all the rest, added the earl, will be obtained in time, but we can only proceed slowly. If, nevertheless, he had not patience to wait, he could invade Scotland with an army strong enough to inspire terror ; and in this case the loyal Scot would engage to assist the dangerous enemy of his country with all his forces. Henry, who to all his faults joined much obstinacy, resisted for three months the advice of the Earl of Angus. Being finally convinced that the longer he delayed his decision, the more time he allowed the French party to gain strength, he signed a treaty of peace between the two kingdoms ; it was moreover determined that Mary should espouse Prince Edward, and that so soon as she attained her tenth year she should be conveyed to England.

Thus, in disposing of the noble daughter of the kings of Scotland, they wait not for her to form a vow, a desire ; they stipulate for her, and reckon as nought neither her heart, her future affections, nor her repugnances. Such is the condition of kings : in exchange for the supreme power which society confides to them, it is desired that they devote themselves more to society than to their families, than to themselves. But Heaven sports with the projects of men : those of the King of England were not to be accomplished. Undoubtedly, if Mary had become the wife of Edward, her head would have been adorned with a double diadem ; perhaps she would even have given to England an heir to the throne. But assuredly the infant Mary, educated in the midst of a corrupt court, composed entirely of men \vho had sold their consciences for lucre ; delivered to a fanatical husband, who impelled proselytism and converting zeal still farther than his father ; surrounded by seductions in an age when reason could not make itself heard, — Mary would have yielded : she would have abjured the faith of her fathers. Hurried at his instigation from abyss to abyss, she would have embraced the reformed religion, the perishable work of her grand-uncle. It was not thus : God wished the soul of Mary for himself, and in order that she might be worthy of him, he desired to preserve her incontaminate. A few momentary weaknesses, expiated by a long martyrdom, have not hindered her from receiving in the bosom of her Creator the reward of her royal virtues. 3

LIFE OF MARY STUART.

Meanwhile Cardinal Beaton had obtained his liberty from the regent upon certain conditions, and on the other hand Francis had transported assistance in money and ammunition, which augmented the hope cherished by the queen's party. An unforeseen circumstance happened to complicate the various interests which then agitated Scotland. The Earl of Lennox, claiming to be the sole heir in case of Mary's decease, demanded the regency, which, according to him, could not belong to the Earl of Arran, who was only an illegitimate son of James IV. The cardinal appeared disposed in favor of Lennox ; Lennox in his turn assisted the cardinal in rendering his party dominant in the northern provinces of Scotland, by taking under his special charge the infant royal and transporting it to Stirling Castle, one of the strongest in the country.

Henry heard of this translation with pain ; he feared that Mary w^ould be sent to France, and he endeavored to prevent it. He offered the regent the assistance of an English army ; he promised him anew the hand of Elizabeth for his son, and for himself the sovereignty of Scotland beyond the Frith ;* and as the regent did

* The Frith is the Bavigable outlet of *e River Forth, which laves the walls of Edinburgh.

LIFE OF MARY STUART.

not respond to his advances, Henry sided with Lennox, who disagreed with the cardinal, because the cardinal was on terms of agreement with the regent. Lennox, influenced likewise by his passion for Margaret Douglas, daughter of the earl of Angus, and niece of Henry, concluded by joining the partisans of England. They were all bound by an oath, similar to that which formerly bound the brothers in arms, to live and die for each other. Knowledge of this compact was obtained through a copy of the oath found upon Somerville, who was arrested by the order of the regent; besides this copy was a letter to King Henry, asking assistance of him.

The regent, being urged then by the pope's legate, Mark Germani, and by the French ambassador, Labroche, decided unwillingly upon making war. He commenced by convoking Parliament, which assembled on the 3d of December. After a warm discussion, it was declared that the friends of England were traitors to their country, and that the treaty of the 1st of July, was null, either on account of the delay of Henry to ratify it, or because he had permitted and sanctioned the hostile acts of his frontier governors, and because he had seized many merchant ships belonging to the inhabitants of

LIFE OF MARY STUART.

Edinburgh. Notwithstanding this formal declaration, the Earl of Arran endeavored to resume negotiations ; but the king, who regarded him as alone culpable, would hear nothing, and during the month of May, (1544,) Seymour, earl of Herfort, and uncle of Prince Edward, arrived in the Frith with an armed body of ten thousand men. He demanded that the young queen be dehvered to him ; and, upon the regent's refusal, disembarked his troops, and marched to Edinburgh, where he was joined by a body of five thousand knights, who came from Berwick. The next day he forced the gate of the city, which was delivered up, for four days, to pillage and incendiarism. After this noble exploit, and upon the news that the regent was collecting his troops, Seymour gave the order to retreat. He burned, as he passed, the cities of Seaton, Haddington, and Dunbar, whilst his fleet burned Leith and demolished the pier ; he arrived at Berwick without having suffered much loss.

This war lasted nearly three years; on each side were cities ruined, territory devastated, and much blood spilled; yet Henry's demands had not been acceded to. Lennox, on marrying Margaret Douglas, had promised Henry his castle of Dumbarton ; but the indignant garrison closed the gates of the fortress, refused to receive Lennox himself, and shortly afterwards delivered the place to the regent. The barbarous Henry, hearkening only to his wrath, ordered the throats of the Scottish hostages, who were confined at Carlisle, to be cut. Surely, if before the war the Scots were opposed to English rule, the manner in which they were treated, and the massacre of the hostages, no longer allowed them to see in Henry but an odious tyrant, an enemy of God and man, seeking to extinguish his unjust resentment in the blood of the people.

Unhappily for Scotland, the King of France was only able to send a small body of troops. Obliged to defend himself at the same time against his eternal enemy, Charles V., and against Henry, his old friend and the perfidious instigator of this war, he had need of all his resources for himself, and was constrained to neglect Scotland. This was what Henry desired, who, besides, to color his aggression, spoke very haughtily of his three grievances against Francis ; fomenting the troubles in Scotland, and furnishing succor of every kind to those whom he styled rebels ; that is to say, to the partisans of the young queen and the regent, the enemies of English sovereignty; of wishing to seize Mary, to 3*

LIFE OF MARY STUART.

convey her to France in order to hinder the future union of Scotland and England by the marriage of the heir of the kingdom with Prince Edward ; of having said — and this was Henry's principal charge, being a new prophet, who wished that his opinions and acts should be for the whole world acts of faith — that his marriage with Anne Boleyn was null, and that he had only contracted it by violating his promise not to marry this woman.

It is true that Barnet published a statement in which it is contended that Francis had declared that Henry's marriage with Catharine, his brother's widow, was radically null ; that consequently that of Anne was valid, and that the pope's decision in the affair was the consequence of error and injustice. Barnet went farther: Francis, according to him, obligated himself and his successors to maintain this opinion by arms. As this paper has neither date nor signature, it is presumable that it was fabricated in England, presented, perhaps, to the King of France, and rejected by him ; who, according to the testimony of Cardinal Pole, responded to the warm solicitations of Henry on the subject of the divorce: " I am and wish to be his friend, hut only to the altar.

LIFE OF MARY STUART.

Charles V., who was as dishonest as he was powerful, was much less scrupulous than the King of France, and he was easily persuaded by- Henry ; for since the natural death of Catharine — the emperor's aunt — and the violent death of Anne Boleyn — she was decapitated — there was no longer any subject for misunderstanding between them, and nothing should hinder them from uniting against France. The emperor modestly exacted one condition : he wished the Princess Mary, daughter of Catharine, to be reestablished in her rank of legitimate daughter of the king, and consequently, in all her rights to the succession. This was placing Henry in great embarrassment ; for this recognition of the rights of the daughter proved explicitly the rights of the mother ; Parliament complaisantly upheld him in this evil course, declaring Mary capable of succeeding, without making any mention of her legitimacy; it was a kind of compromise between the exigencies of the emperor and the old hatred of Henry. It was agreed between them, by the treaty of the 11th of February, 1543, that they would jointly summoji Francis I. to renounce his alhance with the Porte, to repay all the damage which might have resulted to individual Christians by this impious alii-

LIFE OF MARY STUART.

ance * by paying to the King of England the arrears of the pension which he claimed from him, and by giving him security for the payment of expiring annuities. Finally, if the King of France did not settle these sums in forty days from his acceptance of these conditions, the emperor would reclaim the duchy of Bm-gundy, and the King of England would claim all the possessions of his predecessors in France.