MURDER OF RIZZIO TO MURDER OF DARNLEY
_CONTENTS_
1. Murray's plea for the Rizzio rebels.
2. The relations between Mary and Darnley.
(_a_) Mary's Will.
(_b_) The Birth of Prince James.
3. Mary to Elizabeth anent her support of the rebels.
4. Mary's treatment of Darnley, and Darnley's conduct towards Mary.
(_a_) As reported by M. le Croc, the French Ambassador.
(_b_) As reported by Buchanan, with the Alloa story.
(_c_) Nau's account of the Alloa story, and a letter of
Mary's from Alloa.
5. The Ride to Hermitage.
(_a_) As reported in the Diurnal of Occurrents.
(_b_) As reported by Nau.
(_c_) As reported by Buchanan.
6. The Queen's illness at Jedburgh.
7. The Craigmillar Conference.
(_a_) As reported by Buchanan.
(_b_) In the Protestation of Huntly and Argyll.
8. The events immediately before the Darnley murder.
(_a_) Letter from Du Croc.
(_b_) The Baptism of the Prince.
(_c_) Restoration of the consistorial jurisdiction.
(_d_) Mary on Darnley's conduct.
(_e_) Beaton's warning.
9. The visit to Glasgow and the murder.
(_a_) As reported by Buchanan in the _Detection_.
(_b_) As described by Mary.
(_c_) As described by Nau.
(_d_) As described by Buchanan in his _History_.
Relations between Mary and Darnley.
_Bedford and Randolph to Cecil, from Berwick_, March 27,
1566. _Wright's Elizabeth_, vol. i. p. 235.
My Lord of Murray by a special servant sent unto us desireth your
Honour's favour to these noblemen {the fugitives}, as his dear friends,
and such as for his sake hath given this adventure.
"_TO THE KING WHO GAVE IT ME_"
Bequests to the King.
_Robertson's Inventories._
Before the birth of her son, Mary made a will, of which no copy is
extant. But Mr. Joseph Robertson found an inventory of her jewels, made
at the same time, with marginal notes, in the Queen's own handwriting,
indicating their disposition. There are fifteen entries "Au Roy," from
which we quote the most interesting marginal note:--
It was with this that I was
married, to the King, who A diamond ring enamelled
gave it me. in red.
There are also bequests to the Crown of Scotland, the Earl and Countess
of Lennox, and the Earl of Murray, also a jewel with the marginal
note:--
"To Joseph {Riccio}, which his brother gave me."
At the end of the first section of the inventory, there is the following
note in Mary's hand:--
"I wish that these provisions be carried out in case that the child does
not survive me, but if it live, it is to inherit everything. MARIE R."
Illustration: QUEEN MARY'S SIGNET-RING AND MONOGRAM.
Mary's Will as described in the "Book of Articles" (cf. p. 144).
_Hosack's Mary_, vol. i. p. 525.
This her rooted disdain still continuing a little before her deliverance
of her birth in May or June 1566, in making of her latter will and
testament, she named and appointed Bothwell among others to the tutele
{guardianship} of her birth {child} and issue, and government of the
realm in case of her decease, and unnaturally excluded the father from
all kind of cure and regiment over his own child, advancing Bothwell
above all others to be lieutenant-general.... She disponit also her
whole moveables to others beside her husband.
_ELIZABETH'S RECEPTION OF THE NEWS_
The Birth of Prince James.
_Melville's Memoirs_, p. 158.
All this while I lay in the castle of Edinburgh, praying night and day
for her Majesty's good and happy delivery of a fair son. This prayer
being granted, I was the first that was advertised by the Lady Boyne
{Mary Beaton, just married to Ogilvie of Boyne}, in her Majesty's name
to part with diligence, the 19th day of June in the year 1566, between
ten and eleven hours before noon. It struck twelve hours when I took my
horse, and was at Berwick that same night. The fourth day after, I was
at London, and met first with my brother, who sent and advertised the
Secretary Cecil that same night of my coming and of the birth of the
Prince, willing him to keep it up, until my being at Court to show it
myself unto her Majesty, who was for the time at Greenwich, where her
Majesty was in great merriness and dancing after supper; but so soon as
the Secretary Cecil rounded the news in her ear of the Prince's birth
all merriness was laid aside for that night, every one that were present
marvelling what might move so sudden a changement; for the Queen sat
down with her hand upon her haffet {cheek}, and bursting out to some of
her ladies, how that the Queen of Scotland was lighter of a fair son,
and that she was but a barren stock.... The next morning was appointed
unto me to get audience ... she ... said, that the joyful news of the
Queen her sister's delivery of a fair son, which I had sent unto her by
Master Cecil, had recovered her out of a heavy sickness which has held
her fifteen days. Therefore she welcomed me with a merry volt
{countenance}, and thanked me for the diligence I had used. All this she
said before I had delivered unto her my letter of credence. After that
she had read it, I declared how that the Queen had hasted me towards her
Majesty, whom she knew of all other her friends would be gladdest of the
good news of her birth, albeit dear bought with the peril of her life;
for I said that she was so sore handled in the meantime that she wished
never to have been married. This I said to give her a little scare to
marry, by the way; for so my brother had informed me, because she
boasted sometimes to marry the Archduke Charles of Austria, when any man
pressed her to declare a second person {heir}. Then I requested her
Majesty to be a gossip unto the Queen, for our cummer are called gossips
in England; which she granted gladly to be.
_MARY AND DARNLEY_
_Herries's Memoirs_, p. 79. (_Abbotsford Club._)
About two o'clock in the afternoon the King came to visit the Queen, and
was desirous to see the child. "My Lord," says the Queen, "God has given
you and me a son, begotten by none but you!" At which words the King
blushed, and kissed the child. Then she took the child in her arms, and
discovering his face, said, "My Lord, here I protest to God, and as I
shall answer to Him at the great day of judgment, this is your son, and
no other man's son! And I am desirous that all here, with ladies and
others, bear witness; for he is so much your own son, that I fear it
will be the worse for him hereafter!" Then she spoke to Sir William
Stanley. "This," says she, "is the son whom (I hope) shall first unite
the two kingdoms of Scotland and England!" Sir William answered, "Why,
Madam? Shall he succeed before your Majesty and his father?" "Because,"
says she, "his father has broken to me." The King was by and heard all.
Says he, "Sweet Madam, is this your promise that you made to forgive and
forget all?" The Queen answered, "I have forgiven all, but will never
forget. What if Faudonside's pistol had shot, what would have become of
him and me both? or what estate would you have been in? God only knows;
but we may suspect." "Madam," answered the King, "these things are all
past." "Then," says the Queen, "let them go."
Rejoicings in Edinburgh.
_Claude Nau's Memorials_, p. 27.
Immediately upon the birth of the Prince, all the artillery of the
castle was discharged, and the lords, the nobles, and the people
gathered in St. Giles' Church to thank God for the honour of having an
heir to their kingdom. After the birth, certain gentlemen were
despatched to the King of France, the Queen of England, and the Duke of
Savoy, to ask them to be godfathers and godmothers to the Prince, to
which they very gladly consented.
_ELIZABETH AGAIN QUESTIONED_
Elizabeth and the Rebels.
_Mary to Elizabeth_, July 1566. _Keith's History_, vol. ii. p. 442.
Right excellent, right high and mighty Princess, our dearest sister and
cousin, in our most hearty manner we commend us unto you: We have
understood by your declaration made ... to our dearest brother the King
of France, ... that neither ye had aided nor were minded to aid and
support our rebels against us, which we have always taken to be
undoubtedly true, ... yet we have certain knowledge that our said rebels
were supported with the sum of three thousand crowns, sent to the Lady
Murray by Master Randolph about the middle of August by-past, as the man
who carried the money has confessed in his own presence; which his
proceeding as we have just occasion to think most strange ... we ...
have taken occasion to send him home to you, where his behaviour in this
case may be tried, and he ordered accordingly at your discretion.
_QUEEN MARY'S WISE CONDUCT_
Mary's Treatment of Darnley.
_M. le Croc, French Ambassador in Scotland, to the Archbishop of
Glasgow, Scottish Ambassador in France, from Jedburgh_, October 15,
1566. _Keith's History_, vol. ii. p. 448.
The Queen is now returned from Stirling to Edinburgh.... The King,
however, abode at Stirling, and he told me there that he had a mind to
go beyond sea, in a sort of desperation.... Since that time the Earl of
Lennox his father came to visit him; and he has written a letter to the
Queen signifying that it is not in his power to divert his son from his
intended voyage, and prays her Majesty to use her influence therein.
This letter from the Earl of Lennox the Queen received on Michaelmas Day
in the morning; and that same evening the King arrived here about ten of
the clock.... Early next morning the Queen sent for me, and for all the
Lords and other counsellors. As we were all met in their Majesties'
presence, the Bishop of Ross by the Queen's commandment declared to the
Council the King's intention to go beyond sea; for which purpose he had
a ship lying ready to sail; ... and thereafter the Queen prayed the King
to declare in presence of the Lords and before me the reason of his
projected departure.... She likewise took him by the hand, and besought
him for God's sake to declare if she had given him any cause for this
resolution; and entreated he might deal plainly, and not spare her.
Moreover, all the Lords likewise said to him, that if there was any
fault on their part, upon his declaring it they were ready to perform
it. And I likewise took the freedom to tell him, that his departure must
certainly affect either his own or the Queen's honour--that if the Queen
had afforded any ground for it, his declaring the same would affect her
Majesty; as, on the other hand, if he should go away without giving any
cause for it, this thing could not at all redound to his praise.... The
King at last declared that he had no ground at all given him for such a
deliberation; and thereupon he went out of the chamber of presence,
saying to the Queen, "Adieu, Madam, you shall not see my face for a long
space." ... I never saw her Majesty so much beloved, esteemed, and
honoured; nor so great a harmony amongst all her subjects, as at present
is by her wise conduct, for I cannot perceive the smallest difference or
division.
_SUBSEQUENT ACCUSATIONS_
_Buchanan's Detection._
Not long after her deliverance, on a day very early, accompanied with
very few that were privy of her counsel, she went down to the
water-side, at the place called the New Haven; and while all marvelled
whither she went in such haste, she suddenly entered into a ship there
provided for her; which ship was provided by ... Bothwell's servants,
and famous robbers and pirates. With this train of thieves, all honest
men wondering at it, she betook herself to sea, taking not any other
with her, no not of her gentlemen, nor necessary attendants for common
honesty. In Alloa castle, where the ship arrived, how she behaved
herself, I had rather every man should with himself imagine it, than
hear me declare it. This one thing I dare affirm, that in all her words
and doings, she never kept any regard, I will not say of Queen-like
Majesty, but not of matron-like modesty.... In the meantime, the King
being commanded out of sight, and with injuries and miseries banished
from her, kept himself close, with a few of his friends, at Stirling....
Yet his heart, obstinately fixed in loving her, could not be restrained,
but he must needs come back to Edinburgh, on purpose, with all kind of
serviceable humbleness, to get some entry into her former favour, and to
recover the kind society of marriage. Who once again being with most
dishonourable disdain excluded, returned from whence he came, there to
bewail his woeful miseries, as in a solitary desert.
_Nau's Memorials_, p. 29.
About the beginning of August the Queen crossed the sea and went to
Alloa, a house belonging to the Earl of Mar, where she remained for some
days in the company of the ladies of her court and the said earl.
_THE QUEEN AND A POOR WOMAN_
Mary and the Poor.
_The Lennox_, vol. ii. p. 429.
Trusty Friend,--Forasmuch as it is heavily bemoaned and piteously
complained to us by this poor woman, that ye have violently ejected her
with a company of poor bairns forth of her kindly room, after {although}
willing to pay your duty thankfully: therefore (in respect that if ye be
so extreme as to depauperate the poor woman and her bairns) we will
desire you to show some favour and accept them in their steading
{habitation} as ye have done in times bygone; the which we doubt not but
ye will do for this our request, and as ye shall report our thanks and
pleasure for the same. At Alloa, the penult of July 1566.
MARIE R.
To our trusty friend, Robert Murray of Abercairney, this be delivered.
The Ride to Hermitage.
_Diurnal of Occurrents._
Upon the 7th day of October 1566 years, our sovereign lady, accompanied
with the nobility of this realm, departed of Edinburgh towards Jedburgh,
to hold a justice eyre there, which was proclaimed to be held upon the
eighth day of the same month.
Upon the same day, James, Earl Bothwell ... being sent by our sovereigns
to bring in certain thieves and malefactors of Liddesdale to the justice
eyre ... chanced upon a thief called John Elliot of the Park.... The
said earl shot him with a dagg {pistol} in the body.... The said John
perceiving himself shot and the Earl fallen, he went to him where he
lay, and gave him three wounds, one in the body, one in the head, and
one in the hand; and my lord gave him two strokes with a hanger, ... and
the said thief departed, and my lord lay in swoon, while his servants
came and carried him to the Hermitage....
_FROM JEDBURGH TO HERMITAGE_
Upon the fifteenth day of the said month of October, our sovereign lady
rode from Jedburgh to the Hermitage {about 30 miles}, wherein my Lord
Bothwell was lying in mending of his wound, and spake with the same
earl, and returned again the same night to Jedburgh.
_Nau's Memorials_, p. 30.
The Earl of Bothwell was so dangerously wounded in the hand that every
one thought he would die. He thought so himself. Such being the case,
her Majesty was both solicited and advised to pay him a visit at his
house, called the Hermitage, in order that she might learn from him the
state of affairs in these districts, of which the said lord was
hereditary governor. With this object in view, she went very speedily,
in the company of the Earl of Moray and some other lords, in whose
presence she conversed with Bothwell for some hours, and on the same day
returned to Jedburgh.
_BUCHANAN'S VERSION_
Buchanan on the Ride to Hermitage.
_Detection._
When the Queen had resolved to set out for Jedburgh to hold the Assizes,
about the beginning of October, Bothwell made an expedition into
Liddesdale. While he was conducting himself there in a manner worthy
neither of the place to which he had been raised nor of his family and
of what might have been expected of him, he was wounded by a dying
robber. He was carried to the castle of Hermitage in a condition such as
to make his recovery uncertain. When this news is carried to the Queen
at Borthwick, although it was a severe winter, she flies off like a mad
woman, with enormous journeys first to Melrose and then to Jedburgh.
Although reliable reports about his life had reached that place, her
eager mind was unable to retain self-control and to prevent her from
displaying her shameless lust. At an unfavourable season, in spite of
the danger of the roads and of robbers, she threw herself into the
expedition with such an escort as no one slightly more honourable would
have dared to entrust with life and fortune. Furthermore, when she
returned to Jedburgh she arranged, with extraordinary zeal and care, for
Bothwell's being carried thither. After he was brought there, their life
and conversation was little in accordance with the dignity of either of
them.
[The distance from Borthwick Castle to Jedburgh is about sixty
miles.]
_A SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PHYSICIAN_
The Queen's Illness at Jedburgh.
_John Lesley, Bishop of Ross, to the Archbishop of Glasgow._
October 27, 1566. _Keith's History_, vol. iii. p. 286.
My Lord,--After most hearty commendations, I write upon haste to your
Lordship with Saunders Bog, who was sent by M. de Croc this last
Wednesday to advertise of the Queen's Majesty's sickness, which at that
time was wondrous great; for assuredly her Majesty was so handled with
great vehemency, that all that were with her were desperate of her
convalescence. Nevertheless, soon after the departing of Saunders Bog,
her Majesty got some relief, which lasted till Thursday at ten hours at
even, at which time her Majesty swooned again, and failed in her sight;
her feet and her hands were cold, which were handled by extreme rubbing,
drawing, and other cures, by the space of four hours, that no creature
could endure greater pain; and through the vehemency of this cure her
Majesty got some relief, till about six hours in the morning on Friday,
that her Majesty became dead, and all her members cold, eyes closed,
mouth fast, and feet and arms stiff and cold. Nevertheless, Master Nau,
who is a perfect man of his craft, would not give the matter over in
that manner, but of new began to draw her knees, legs, arms, feet, and
the rest, with such vehement torments, which lasted the space of three
hours, till her Majesty recovered again her sight and speech, and got a
great sweating, which was held the relief of the sickness, because it
was on the ninth day, which commonly is called the crisis of the
sickness, and so here thought the cooling of the fever. And since then
continually, thanks to God, her Majesty convalesces better and
better.... Always, I assure your Lordship, in all this sickness, her
Majesty used herself marvellous godly and Catholic, and continually
desired to hear speak of God and godly prayers....
_THE QUEEN'S RECOVERY_
[Mr. Small, in his "Queen Mary at Jedburgh" (p. 18), gives the
following as the opinion of "a distinguished physician" on the
illness:--"An attack of haematemesis, or effusion of blood into the
stomach, subsequently discharged by vomiting; presenting also,
possibly, hysterical complications, the whole induced by
over-exertion and vexation."]
_Marc Antonio Barbaro, Venetian Ambassador in France to the
Signory, from Paris_, Nov. 6, 1566. _Venetian Calendar._
The Ambassador from Scotland came to me to-day with the good news that
his Queen ... is so much better that it is hoped and almost believed
that she is certain to live.
The illness was caused by her dissatisfaction at a decision made by the
King, her husband, to go to a place twenty-five or thirty miles distant
without assigning any cause for it; which departure so afflicted this
unfortunate Princess, not so much for the love she bears him as from the
consequences of his absence, which reduced her to the extremity heard of
by your Serenity.
_BUCHANAN ON CRAIGMILLAR CONFERENCE_
1566.--The Craigmillar Conference.
_Buchanan's Detection._
About the 5th November she returned from Jedburgh to a village called
Kelso, and there she received letters from the King. When she had read
these in the presence of the Regent, the Earl of Huntly, and the
Secretary, with a sad countenance, she said that unless by some means
she were freed from the King her life would not be worth living; and
that if it could be done in no other way, rather than live in such
misery, she would take her life with her own hand.... When, about the
end of November, she came to Craigmillar, a castle about two miles from
Edinburgh, she commenced a similar conversation in the presence of the
Earl of Moray (afterwards Regent, and now himself dead), the Earl of
Argyle, and the Secretary. She mentioned what seemed to her a
satisfactory plan. She projected a suit of divorce against the King, and
doubted not but that it could easily be done, since they were in that
degree of consanguinity which is forbidden by Canon Law for the
contraction of matrimony, although they had been by letters easily
exempted from that law. At this point some one raised an objection,
that, if it were so managed, their son would be illegitimate, being born
out of matrimony, and the more so that neither of the parents was
ignorant of the causes that rendered the marriage null. She considered
that reply for a little, and recognised its truth. Not daring to enter
upon a scheme which would thus affect her son, she abandoned her project
of a divorce, nor did she ever afterwards let slip any opportunity of
getting rid of the King, as may be readily gathered from what remains to
tell.
_The Protestation of the Earls of Huntly and Argyll, 1568, Goodall's
Examination_, vol. ii. pp. 316-321, from Cott. Lib. Calig.,
vol. i. p. 282.
[The following "Protestation" was drawn up by Queen Mary's advisers
during the Westminster Conference (_infra_, pp. 143 _et seq._), and
was despatched to Huntly for his own and Argyll's signature. It
was, however, seized and sent to Cecil, without its having reached
its destination. It is placed here for the sake of comparison with
Buchanan's account of the Conference. It may be noted here that in
another document (Instructions and Articles to be advised on and
agreed, so far as the Queen's Majesty, our Sovereign, shall think
expedient, at the meeting of the Lords in England, committed in
credit by ... her Grace's true faithful subjects--_Goodall_, vol.
ii. p. 354), signed by Lords Huntly, Argyll, Crawford, Eglinton,
Cassilis, Errol, Ogilvie, Fleming, and many others of Mary's
supporters, the following sentence refers to this
Conference:--"They caused make offers to our said Sovereign Lady,
if her Grace would give remission to them that were banished at
that time, to find causes of divorce, either for consanguinity, in
respect they alleged the dispensation was not published, or else
for adultery; or then {else} to get him convict of treason, because
he consented to her Grace's retention in ward; or what other ways
to despatch him; which altogether her Grace refused, as is
manifestly known." The "Dispensation" is the Papal Dispensation for
the Darnley marriage, Mary and Darnley being within the forbidden
degrees.]
_A CONFERENCE OF THE EARLS_
In the year of God 1566 years, in the month of December, or thereby,
after her Highness's great and extreme sickness, and return from
Jedburgh, her Grace being in the castle of Craigmillar, accompanied by
us above written {_i.e._ Huntly and Argyll}, and by the Earls of
Bothwell, Murray, and Secretary Lethington; the said Earl of Murray and
Lethington came into the chamber of us the Earl of Argyll in the
morning, we being in our bed; who, lamenting the banishment of the Earl
of Morton, Lords Lindsay and Ruthven, with the rest of their faction,
said, that the occasion of the murder of David, slain by them in
presence of the Queen's Majesty, was to trouble and impesche {prevent}
the parliament; wherein the Earl of Murray and others were to have been
forfeited and declared rebels. And seeing that the same was chiefly for
the welfare of the Earl of Murray, it should be esteemed ingratitude if
he and his friends in reciprocal manner, did not strive all that in them
lay for relief of the said banished ones; wherefor they thought that we,
of our part, should have been as desirous thereto as they were.
And we agreeing to the same, to do all that was in us for their relief,
providing that the Queen's Majesty should not be offended thereat; on
this Lethington proposed and said, "That the nearest and best way to
obtain the said Earl of Morton's pardon, was, to promise to the Queen's
Majesty to find a means to make divorcement between her Grace and the
King her husband, who had offended her Highness so highly in many ways."
And then they send to my Lord of Huntly, praying him to come to our
chamber.... And thereon we four, viz., Earls of Huntly, Argyll, Murray,
and Secretary Lethington, passed all to the Earl of Bothwell's chamber,
to understand his advice on the proposals; wherein he gainsaid no more
than we.
_THEIR PROPOSITION MADE TO THE QUEEN_
So thereafter we passed altogether to the Queen's Grace; where
Lethington, after he had remembered her Majesty of a great number of
grievous and intolerable offences, that the King, as he said, ungrateful
for the honour he had received from her Highness, had done to her Grace,
and continued every day from bad to worse; proposed, "That if it pleased
her Majesty to pardon the Earl of Morton, Lords Ruthven and Lindsay,
with their company, they should find the means with the rest of the
nobility, to make divorcement between her Highness and the King her
husband, which should not need her Grace to meddle therewith. To the
which, it was necessary that her Majesty take heed to come to a decision
therein, as well for her own relief as for the good of the realm; for he
troubled her Grace and us all; and remaining with her Majesty, would not
cease till he did her some other evil turn."
After these persuasions and divers others, which the said Lethington
used, besides those which every one of us showed particularly to her
Majesty to bring her to the said purpose, her Grace answered: That under
two conditions she might agree to the same; the one, that the
divorcement were made lawfully; the other, that it were not prejudicial
to her son; otherwise her Highness would rather endure all torments, and
abide the perils that might befall her in her Grace's lifetime. The Earl
of Bothwell answered, "That he doubted not but the divorcement might be
made without prejudice of my Lord Prince in any way," alleging the
example of himself, that he failed not to succeed to his father's
heritage without any difficulty, albeit there was a divorce between him
and his mother.
_THE QUEEN'S ANSWER_
It was also proposed that, after their divorcement, the King should be
alone in one part of the country, and the Queen's Majesty in another, or
else that he should retire to another realm; and herein her Majesty
said, "That peradventure he would change his course, and that it were
better that she herself passed into France for a time, waiting till he
acknowledged his fault." Then Lethington, taking the speech, said,
"Madam, think you not we are here, of the principal members of your
Grace's nobility and council, and that we shall find the means that your
Majesty shall be quit of him without prejudice of your son. And albeit
that my Lord of Murray here present be little less scrupulous for a
Protestant, than your Grace is for a Papist, I am assured he will look
through his fingers thereto, and will behold our doings, saying nothing
to the same." The Queen's Majesty answered, "I will that ye do nothing
through which any spot may be laid upon my honour or conscience, and
therefore I pray you, rather let the matter be in the condition that it
is, abiding till God of His goodness put remedy thereto; lest you
believing that you are doing me a service, may possibly turn to my hurt
and displeasure." "Madam," said Lethington, "let us guide the matter
among us, and your Grace shall see nothing but good, and approved by
Parliament."
So since the murder of the said Henry Stewart followed this, we judge in
our consciences, and hold for certain and truth, that the said Earl of
Murray and Secretary Lethington were authors, inventors, devisers,
counsellors, and sources of the said murder, in whatever manner, or by
whatsoever persons, the same was executed.
_THE QUEEN AND DARNLEY_
Events immediately before the Murder of Darnley.
_M. le Croc to the Archbishop of Glasgow, from Edinburgh._
December 2, 1566. _Keith's History_, vol. i. p. 96.
The Queen is for the present at Craigmillar, about a league distant from
this city. She is in the hands of the physicians, and I do assure you is
not at all well; and do believe the principal part of her disease to
consist in a deep grief and sorrow. Nor does it seem possible to make
her forget the same. Still she repeats these words: _I could wish to be
dead_. You know very well that the injury she has received is
exceedingly great, and her Majesty will never forget it. The King, her
husband, came to visit her at Jedburgh the very day after Captain Hay
went away. He remained there but one single night; and yet in that short
time I had a great deal of conversation with him.... I think he intends
to go away tomorrow; but in any event I'm much assured, as I always have
been, that he won't be present at the baptism. To speak my mind freely
to you ... I do not expect, upon several accounts, any good
understanding between them, unless God effectually put to His hand. The
first is, the King will never humble himself as he ought; the other is,
the Queen can't perceive any one nobleman speaking with the King, but
presently she suspects some contrivance among them.
_DARNLEY AND THE BAPTISM_
_M. le Croc to the Archbishop of Glasgow, from Glasgow._
December 26, 1566. _Keith's History_, vol. i. p. 97.
The baptism of the Prince was performed Tuesday last, when he got the
name of Charles James. It was the Queen's pleasure that he should bear
the name James, together with that of Charles (the King of France's
name). Everything at this solemnity was done according to the form of
the Holy Roman Catholic Church. The King (Lord Darnley) had still given
out that he would depart two days before the baptism, but when the time
came on he made no sign of removing at all, only he still kept close
within his own apartment. The very day of the baptism he sent three
several times desiring me either to come and see him, or to appoint him
an hour that he might come to me in my lodgings, so that I found myself
obliged at last to signify to him that seeing he was in no good
correspondence with the Queen, I had it in charge from the most
Christian King to have no conference with him.... His bad deportment is
incurable, nor can there ever be any good expected from him.... I can't
pretend to foretell how all may turn; but I will say that matters can't
subsist long as they are without being accompanied with sundry bad
consequences.... The Queen behaved herself admirably well all the time
of the baptism, and showed so much earnestness to entertain all the
goodly company in the best manner, that this made her forget in a good
measure her former ailments. But I am of the mind, however, that she
will give us some trouble as yet; nor can I be brought to think
otherwise so long as she continues to be so pensive and melancholy.
_AN INSULT TO THE ENGLISH_
An Incident of the Baptism.
_Melville's Memoirs_, p. 171.
At the principal banquet there fell out a great flaw and grudge among
the Englishmen, for a Frenchman called Bastien devised a number of men
formed like satyrs, with long tails and whips in their hands, running
before the meat, which was brought through the great hall upon a trim
engine, marching, as it appeared, alone, with musicians clothed like
maidens, playing upon all sorts of instruments and singing of music. But
the satyrs were not content only to clear round, but put their hands
behind them to their tails, which they wagged with their hands, in such
sort as the Englishmen supposed it had been devised and done in derision
of them, daftly {foolishly} apprehending that which they should not seem
to have understood.... So soon as they saw the satyrs wagging their
tails[17] ... they all sat down upon the bare floor behind the back of
the board, that they should not see themselves scorned, as they thought.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[17] It was a mediaeval superstition, especially in France, that the
English possessed tails, which had been affixed to their persons as
a punishment for their ill-treatment of a saint; the names of St.
Augustine and St. Thomas of Canterbury were used indifferently in
this connection. _Cf._ Mr. George Neilson's "Caudatus Anglicus: A
Mediaeval Slander."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1566.--December 23. Restoration of the Consistorial Jurisdiction of the
Archbishop of St. Andrews.
_Laing_, II., 77. _from Privy Seal Record_, bk. 35, fol. 99.
A letter made restoring and reproving our sovereign's well beloved and
trusty councillor, John, Archbishop of St. Andrews, primate and legate
of Scotland, to all and sundry his jurisdictions as well upon the south
as north sides of the Forth within the diocese of St. Andrews, which
pertained to the Archbishopric of the same, to be used by him and his
commissaries in all time coming in the same manner and form of justice
as it is now used.... At Stirling, this xxiii day of December, the year
of God, 1566 years.
[The jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts had been abolished
in 1560. It was the Archbishop who pronounced the sentence of
divorce between Bothwell and his wife, either in virtue of this
general warrant, or by means of a special commission to try the
case. On the one side, this restoration of the Consistorial Court
is regarded as pointing to Mary's collusion with Bothwell, while
controversialists, on the other side, would connect it with the
proposal, made at Craigmillar, of a divorce between Mary and
Darnley.]
_DARNLEY FALLS ILL_
Darnley's Illness.
_Buchanan's Detection._
Before he had passed a mile from Stirling all the parts of his body were
taken with such a sore ache, as it might easily appear that the same
proceeded not of the force of any sickness, but by plain treachery. The
token of which treachery, certain black pimples, so soon as he was come
to Glasgow broke out over all his whole body, with so great ache and
such pain throughout all his limbs, that he lingered out his life with
very small hope of escape: and yet all this while, the Queen would not
suffer so much as a physician once to come at him.
_BUCHANAN v. BEDFORD_
_The Earl of Bedford to Cecil, from Berwick_,
January 9, 1566. _Foreign Calendar._
The King is now at Glasgow with his father, and there lies full of the
small-pox, to whom the Queen has sent her physician.
_Mary to the Archbishop of Glasgow, from Edinburgh_,
January 20, 1567._ Keith's History_, vol. i. p. 101.
For the King our husband, God knows always our part towards him; and his
behaviour and thankfulness to us is semblablement well known to God and
the world; specially our own indifferent subjects see it, and in their
hearts, we doubt not, condemn the same. Always we perceive him occupied
and busy enough to have inquisition of our doings, which, God willing,
shall aye be such as none shall have occasion to be offended with them,
or to report of us any way but honourably; howsoever he, his father, and
their fautors speak, which we know want no good will to make us have
ado, if their power were equivalent to their minds.
_A WARNING TO THE QUEEN_
_The Archbishop of Glasgow to Queen Mary, from Paris_, January 17, 1567.
_Keith's History_, vol. i. p. 103.
I have heard some murmuring ... that there be some surprise to be
trafficked in your country, but he {the Spanish ambassador} would never
let me know of any particular, only assured me he had written to his
master to know if by that way he can try any further, and that he was
advertised and counselled to cause me haste toward you herewith....
Finally, I would beseech your Majesty right humbly to cause the captains
of your guard be diligent in their office; for notwithstanding that I
have no particular occasion wherein I desire it, yet can I not be out of
fear till I hear of your news.... And so I pray the eternal Lord to
preserve your Majesty from all dangers, with long life and good health.
The Visit to Glasgow and the Murder.
_Buchanan's Detection_ (First Scots translation, in
_Anderson's Collections_, vol. ii. pp. 17-24).
[Buchanan's account of Queen Mary's visit to Glasgow should be
supplemented by a comparison with Crawford's "Deposition" (pp.
208-213), with the Glasgow Letter (pp. 167-182), and with the
passage from Nau's "Memorials" on p. 111.]
Herself goes to Glasgow; she pretends the cause of her journey to be to
see the King alive, whose death she had continually gaped for the month
before. But what was indeed the true cause of that journey, every man
may plainly perceive by her letters to Bothwell. Being now out of care
of her son, whom she had in her own ward, bending herself to the
slaughter of her husband, to Glasgow she goes, accompanied with the
Hamiltons, and other the King's natural enemies.
_KIRK-OF-FIELD_
Bothwell, as it was between them before accorded, provides all things
ready that were needful to accomplish the heinous act; First of all, a
house, not commodious for a sick man, nor comely for a King, for it was
both riven and ruinous, and had stood empty without any dweller for
divers years before, in a place of small resort, between old falling
walls of two kirks, near a few almshouses for poor beggars. And that no
commodious means for committing that mischief might be wanting, there is
a postern door in the Town Wall, hard by the house, whereby they might
easily pass away into the fields. In choosing of the place, she would
needs have it thought that they had respect to the wholesomeness. And to
avoid suspicion that this was a feigned pretence, herself the two nights
before the day of the murder, lay there in a lower room, under the
King's chamber. And as she did curiously put off the shows of suspicion
from herself, so the execution of the slaughter she was content to have
committed to another.
_THE QUEEN GOES TO HOLYROOD_
About three days before the King was slain, she practised to set her
brother, Lord Robert, and him at deadly feud, making reckoning that it
should be gain to her, whichsoever of them had perished. For matter to
ground their dissension, she made rehearsal of the speech that the King
had had with her concerning her brother; and when they both so grew in
talk, as the one seemed to charge the other with the lie, at last they
were in a manner come from words to blows. But while they were both
laying their hands on their weapons, the Queen feigning as though she
had been perilously afraid of that which she earnestly desired, called
the Earl of Murray, her other brother, to the parting, to this intent,
that she might either presently bring him in danger to be slain himself,
or in time to come to bear the blame of such mischief as then might have
happened....
_THE MURDER_
When all things were ready prepared for performing this cruel fact ...
the Queen, for manners' sake, after supper, goes up to the King's
lodging. There being determined to show him all the tokens of reconciled
good will, she spent certain hours in his company, with countenance and
talk much more familiar than she had used in six or seven months before.
At the coming in of Paris, she broke off her talk and prepared to
depart. This Paris was a young man born in France, and had lived certain
years in the houses of Bothwell and Seton, and afterwards with the
Queen. Whereas the other keys of that lodging were in custody of the
King's servants, Paris, by feigning certain fond and slender causes, had
in keeping the keys which Bothwell kept back, of the back gate and the
postern. He was in special trust with Bothwell and the Queen, touching
their secret affairs. His coming (as it was before agreed among them)
was a watchword that all was ready for the matter. As soon as the Queen
saw him, she rose up immediately, and feigning another cause to depart,
she said, "Alas! I have much offended toward Sebastian this day, that I
came not in a mask to his marriage." This Sebastian was an Avernois
{Auvergnois}, a man in great favour with the Queen, for his cunning in
music, and his merry jesting, and was married the same day. The King
thus left, in manner, alone, in a desolate place, the Queen departs,
accompanied with the Earls of Argyle, Huntly, and Cassilis, that
attended upon her. After that she was come into her chamber, after
midnight, she was in long talk with Bothwell, none being present but the
captain of her guard. And when he also withdrew himself, Bothwell was
there left alone, without other company, and shortly after retired into
his own chamber. He changed his apparel, because he would be unknown of
such as met him, and put on a loose cloak, such as the Swartrytters[18]
wear, and so went forward through the watch to execute his intended
traitorous fact. The whole order of the doing thereof may be easily
understood by their confessions who were put to death for it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[18] German. Black Riders, or heavy cavalry.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bothwell, after the deed was ended that he went for, returned, and as if
he had been ignorant of all that was done, he gat him to bed. The Queen,
in the meantime, in great expectation of the success, how finely she
played her part (as she thought) it is marvell to tell; for she not once
stirred at the noise of the fall of the house, which shook the whole
town, nor at the fearful outcries that followed, and confused cries of
the people (for I think there happened her not any new thing unlooked
for) till Bothwell, feigning himself afraid, rose again out of his bed,
and came to her with the Earls of Argyle, Huntly, and Athole, and with
the wives of the Earls of Mar and Athole, and with the Secretary. There,
while the monstrous chance was in telling, while every one wondered at
the thing, that the King's lodging was even from the very foundation
blown up in the air, and the King himself slain; in this amazedness and
confused fear of all sorts of persons, only that same heroical heart of
the Queen maintained itself, so far from casting herself down into base
lamentations and tears, unbeseeming the royal name, blood, and estate,
that she matched, or rather far surmounted all credit of the constancy
of any in former times. This also proceeded of the same nobility of
courage, that she sent out the most part of them that were then about
her, to inquire out the manner of the doing, and commanded the soldiers
that watched to follow, and she herself settled her to rest, with a
countenance so quiet, and mind so untroubled, that she sweetly slept
till the next day at noon. But lest she should appear void of all
naturalness at the death of her husband, by little and little, at length
she kept her close, and proclaimed a mourning not long to endure.
_MARY ON THE MURDER_
Mary's Description of the Murder.
_Queen Mary to the Archbishop of Glasgow_, February 11 [10?], 1567.
_Keith's History_, vol. i. p. 101.
_A PLOT AGAINST BOTH KING AND QUEEN_
We have received this morning your letters of the 27th January by your
servant Robert Dury, containing in one part such advertisement as we
find by effect over true. Albeit the success has not altogether been
such as the authors of that mischievous fact had preconceived in their
mind, and had put it in execution, if God in His mercy had not preserved
us and reserved us, as we trust, to the end that we may take a rigorous
vengeance of that mischievous deed, which as it should remain
unpunished, we had rather lose life and all. The matter is horrible and
so strange as we believe the like was never heard of in any country.
This night past, being the 9th February, a little after two hours after
midnight, the house wherein the King was lodged was in an instant blown
in the air, he lying sleeping in his bed, with such a vehemency, that of
the whole lodging, walls, and other, there is nothing remained, no, not
a stone above another, but all carried far away or dashed in dross to
the very ground-stone. It must be done by force of powder, and appears
to have been a mine. By whom it has been done, or in what manner, it
appears not as yet. We doubt not but according to the diligence our
Council has begun already to use, the certainty of all shall be used
shortly; and the same being discovered, which we wot God will never
suffer to lie hid, we hope to punish the same with such rigour as shall
serve for example of this cruelty to all ages to come. Always whoever
have taken this wicked enterprise in hand, we assure ourselves it was
dressed as well for us as for the King; for we lay the most part of all
the last week in that same lodging, and were then accompanied with the
most part of the Lords that are in this town that same night at
midnight, and of every chance tarried not all night, by reason of some
mask in the Abbey: but we believe it was not chance, but God that put it
in our head. We despatched the bearer upon the sudden, and therefore
write to you the more shortly....
_NAU'S ACCOUNT OF THE MURDER_
_Nau's Memorials_, p. 33.
He {the King} went to Glasgow, where he was seized with the small-pox.
He sent several times for the Queen, who was very ill, having been
injured by a fall from her horse at Seton. At last she went, stayed with
him, and attended him on his return to Edinburgh.... On his return to
Edinburgh, the King lodged in a small house outside the town, which he
had chosen in the report of James Balfour and some others. This was
against the Queen's wishes, who was anxious to take him to Craigmillar,
for he could not stay in Holyrood Palace lest he should give infection
to the Prince. On his own account, too, he did not wish any one to see
him in his present condition.... While he was in this house, the King
was often visited by the Queen, with whom he was now perfectly
reconciled. He promised to give her much information of the utmost
importance to the life and quiet of both of them.... He warned her more
particularly to be on her guard against Lethington, who, he said, was
planning the ruin of the one by the means of the other.... That very
night, as her Majesty was about to leave the King, she met Paris, Lord
Bothwell's _valet-de-chambre_, and noticing that his face was all
blackened with gunpowder, she exclaimed in the hearing of many of the
lords, just as she was mounting her horse, "Jesu, Paris, how begrimed
you are!" At this he turned very red.
On the 10th of February 1567, about three or four o'clock in the
morning, a match was put to the train of gunpowder, which had been
placed under the King's house. It was afterwards made public that this
had been done by the command and device of the Earls of Bothwell and
Morton, James Balfour, and some others, who always afterwards pretended
to be most diligent in searching out the murder which they themselves
had committed. Morton had secretly returned from England, to which he
had been banished.
_THE ORIGIN OF THE CRIME_
This crime was the result of a bond into which they had entered. It was
written by Alexander Hay, at that time one of the clerks of the Council,
and signed by the Earls of Moray, Huntly, Bothwell, and Morton, by
Lethington, James Balfour, and others, who had combined for this
purpose. They protested that they were acting for the public good of the
realm, pretending that they were freeing the Queen from the bondage and
misery into which she had been reduced by the King's behaviour.... He
was but deceiving the Queen, whom they often blamed for so faithfully
having come to a good understanding with her husband; and they told her
that he was putting a knife not only to their throats but to her own.
The King's body was blown into the garden by the violence of the
explosion, and a poor English valet of his, who slept in his room, was
there killed.... Earl Bothwell was much suspected of this villainous and
detestable murder.... If we may judge by the plots, deeds, and
contrivances of his associates, it would seem that after having used him
to rid themselves of the King, they designed to make Bothwell their
instrument to ruin the Queen, their true and lawful sovereign.
Their plan was this, to persuade her to marry the Earl of Bothwell, so
that they might charge her with being in the plot against her late
husband, and a consenting party to his death. This they did shortly
after, appealing to the fact that she had married the murderer.
_ANOTHER ACCOUNT BY BUCHANAN_
Buchanan (_Translated from History_, xx. 35).
The Archbishop of St. Andrews, who lived nearest, willingly undertook
the task of killing the King, when it was offered to him, both on
account of old enmities, and in the hope of bringing the succession
nearer his own family. He chose, accordingly, six or eight of the most
abandoned of his retainers, and entrusted the matter to them, giving
them the keys of the King's lodging. They entered very quietly into his
chamber, strangled him as he lay sleeping, and carried his body through
the postern into a garden beside the walls. Then, at a given signal,
fire was applied to the house.
[The question as to the manner of Darnley's death has given rise to
considerable discussion. The depositions of Hay, Hepburn, and Paris
(vide pp. 144, 215-218) agree in representing that the King was
killed by the explosion. On the other hand, Drury, who wrote to
Cecil on 24th April {Foreign Calendar}, and Count Moretta, the
agent of the Duke of Savoy, who was in Edinburgh {Labanoff, vii.
108}, state that he was strangled. The facts that the bodies of
Darnley and his servant, Taylor, were found together, in the
garden, at some little distance from the house, without violent
injury; that Darnley's pelisse and slippers were found beside him;
and that the other bodies were found among the ruins, must be taken
into account in forming a judgment on the question.]