THE SENTENCE OF DEATH.
On November the 30th, 1586, Lord Buckhurst, as envoy of Queen Elizabeth,
waited upon the lonely captive, and announced to her that sentence of
death had been passed upon her. "The person of the Queen," added
Buckhurst, "the state and religion are no longer safe; it is impossible
for you both to live, and therefore one must die. For this end then, in
order that you should not be taken by surprise, Mr. Beale and I have
been sent to warn you to prepare for death, and we will send you the
Bishop of Peterborough or the Dean of ---- for your consolation."
The news was, in some respects a relief to Mary; it relaxed her
consuming mental tension. Now she knew the worst, and her conduct
needed no longer to be disturbed by alternating hopes and fears. She
had striven hard, during the weary years of her captivity, to resign
herself with Christian cheerfulness to the inevitable. But the love of
liberty, and perhaps too a subtle desire of revenge, had at times
ruffled the serenity of her spirit, and had dulled the pure flame of her
religious zeal. Human aid now seemed no longer available, human
prospects of glory and power no longer captivated her imagination, and
the time and energy which she had hitherto expended on profitless plans
and visionary deeds, she could now devote, with rich and enduring
profit, to the preparation for a better life. When she heard Lord
Buckhurst's message, her face, as Camden relates, "became illumined with
an extraordinary joy at the thought that she was about to die for the
cause of religion," and with perfect composure, she made answer:--"I
expected nothing else. This is the manner in which you generally proceed
with regard to persons of my quality, and who are nearly related to the
crown, so that none may live who aspire to it. For long I have known
that you would bring me to this in the end. I have loved the queen and
the country, and have done all that I could for the preservation of
both. The offers which I have made are the proof of this, as Beale can
bear me witness. I do not fear death, and shall suffer it with a good
heart. I have never been the author of any conspiracy to injure the
queen. I have several times been offered my freedom, and have been
blamed for refusing my consent. My partizans have abandoned me and
troubled themselves no more with my affairs. To prevent this I have
attempted to obtain my deliverance by gentle means, to my great
disadvantage, till at last, being repulsed on the one side and pressed
on the other, I placed myself in the hands of my friends, and have taken
part with Christian and Catholic princes, not, as I have before
declared, and as the English themselves can bear witness by the papers
which they have in their possession, through ambition nor the desire of
a greater position, but I have done it for the honour of God and His
Church, and for my deliverance from the state of captivity and misery in
which I am placed. I am a Catholic,--of a different religion from
yourselves; and for this reason you will take care not to let me live.
I am grieved that my death cannot be of as much benefit to the kingdom
as I fear it will do it harm; and this I say not from any ill-feeling or
from any desire to live. For my part, I am weary of being in this
world, nor do I, or any one else, profit by my being here. But I look
forward to a better life, and I thank God for giving me this grace of
dying in his quarrel. No greater good can come to me in this world; it
is what I have most begged of God and most wished for, as being the
thing most honourable for myself and most profitable for the salvation
of my soul. I have never had the intention of changing my religion for
any earthly kingdom, or grandeur, or good whatever, nor of denying Jesus
Christ or His name, nor will I now. You may feel well assured that I
shall die in this entire faith and with my good will, and as happy in
doing so as I was ever for anything that has come to me in my life. I
pray God to have mercy on the poor Catholics of this kingdom, who are
persecuted and oppressed for their religion. The only thing I regret
is, that it has not pleased God to give me before I die the grace to see
them, able to live in full liberty of conscience in the faith of their
parents, in the Catholic Church, and serving God as they desire to do. I
am not ignorant that for long certain persons have been plotting against
me; and to speak plainly, I know well it has been done at the instance
of one who professes to be my enemy. But I have spoken sufficiently of
this before the Commissioners."
After this trying ordeal, Mary's first thought was to send letters of
final greeting to her dearest friends. She wrote to the Archbishop of
Glasgow, then in Paris; to Pope Sixtus V., to Barnard De Mendoca,
Spanish Ambassador at Paris; and to the Duke of Guise. In the course of
her letter to the Archbishop, referring to the proposal that she should
accept the services of the Anglican divines, she writes:--
"As to their bishops, I praise God that without their aid I know well
enough my offences against God and His Church, and that I do not approve
their errors, nor wish to communicate with them in any way. But if it
pleased them to permit me to have a Catholic priest, I said I would
accept that very willingly, and even demanded it in the name of Jesus
Christ, in order to dispose my conscience, and to participate in the
Holy Sacraments, on leaving this world. They answered me that, do what
I would, I should not be either saint or martyr, as I was to die for the
murder of their queen and for wishing to dispossess her. I replied that
I was not so presumptuous as to aspire to these two honours; but that
although they had power over my body by divine permission, not by
justice, as I am a sovereign queen, as I have always protested, still
they had not power over my soul, nor could they prevent me from hoping
that, through the mercy of God, who died for me, he will accept from me
my blood and my life which I offer to Him for the maintenance of His
Church outside of which I should never desire to rule any worldly
kingdom."
Her letter to the Pope is lengthy, but as no one interested in her
history would be satisfied with an abbreviated form of so interesting a
document, I shall give it in full.
"Jesus Maria,
"Holy Father,--As it has pleased God by His divine providence so to
ordain, that in His Church, under His Son, Jesus Christ crucified, all
those who should believe in Him and be baptized in the name of the Holy
Trinity, should recognize one universal and Catholic Church as Mother,
whose commandments together with the ten of the law we should keep under
pain of damnation, it is requisite that each one who aspires to eternal
life should fix his eyes upon her. I, therefore, who am born of kings
and relatives all baptized in her, as I myself also was, and what is
more, from my infancy, unworthy as I am, have been called to the royal
dignity, anointed and consecrated by the authority and by the ministers
of the Church, under whose wing and in whose bosom I have been nourished
and brought up, and by her instructed in the obedience due by all
Christians to him whom she, guided by the Holy Spirit, has elected
according to the ancient order and decrees of the primitive Church, to
the holy Apostolic See as our head upon earth, to whom Jesus Christ in
His last will has given power (speaking to St. Peter of her foundation
on a living rock) of binding and loosing poor sinners from the chains of
Satan, absolving us by himself or by his ministers for this purpose
appointed, of all crimes or sins committed or perpetrated by us, we
being repentant, as far as in us lies, making satisfaction for them
after having confessed them according to the ordinance of the Church. I
call my Saviour Jesus Christ to be my witness, the Blessed Trinity, the
glorious Virgin Mary, all the Angels and Archangels, St. Peter, the
pastor, my special intercessor and advocate, St. Paul, Apostle of the
Gentiles, St. Andrew and all the holy apostles, St. George and in
general all the Saints of Paradise,--that I have always lived in this
faith, which is that of the universal Catholic Church, Apostolic and
Roman, in which being regenerated, I have always had the intention of
doing my duty to the holy Apostolic See. Of this, to my great regret, I
have not been able to render due testimony to your Holiness, on account
both of my detention in this captivity and of my long illness; but now
that it has pleased God, my Holy Father, to permit for my sins and those
of this unfortunate island, that I (the only one remaining of the blood
of England and Scotland who makes profession of this faith) should,
after twenty years of captivity, shut up in a narrow prison and at last
condemned to die by the heretical States and Assembly of this country,
as it has been to-day signified to me by the mouth of Lord Buckhurst,
Amias Paulet my keeper, one Drew Drury, knight, and a secretary named
Beale, in the name of their Queen, commanding me to prepare to receive
death, offering me one of their bishops and a dean for my consolation (a
priest that I had, having been taken from me long before by them, and
held by them I know not where); I have thought it to be my first duty to
turn me to God, and then to relate the whole to your Holiness in
writing, to the end that, although I cannot let you hear it before my
death, at least afterwards, the cause of it should be made manifest to
you, which is, all things well considered and examined, their dread of
subversion of their religion in this island, which they say I plan, and
which is attempted for my sake, as well by those of their own subjects
who obey your laws and are declared enemies (and who cause me to be
prayed for as their Sovereign in their churches whose priests profess
duty and subjection to me), as by strangers, and specially by the
Catholic princes and my relations, and who (so they say) maintain my
right to the crown of England. I leave it to your Holiness to consider
the consequence of such a sentence, imploring you to have prayers made
for my poor soul, and for all those who have died, or will die, in the
same cause and the like sentence, and even in honour of God. I beg you
to give your alms and incite the kings to do likewise to those who shall
survive this shipwreck. And my intention being, according to the
constitution of the Church, to confess, do penance as far as in me lies,
and receive my Viaticum, if I can obtain my chaplain, or some other
legitimate minister, to administer to me the said Sacraments; in default
of this, with contrite and repentant heart, I prostrate myself at your
Holiness' feet, confessing myself to God and to His Saints, and to the
same your Paternity, as a very unworthy sinner and one meriting eternal
damnation, unless it pleases the good God who died for sinners, to
receive me in His infinite mercy among the number of poor penitent
sinners trusting in his mercy--imploring you to take this my general
confession in testimony of my intention to accomplish the remainder in
the form ordained and commanded in the Church, if it is permitted me,
and to give me your general absolution according as you know and think
to be requisite for the glory of God, the honour of His Church, and the
salvation of my poor soul, between which and the justice of God, I
interpose the blood of Jesus Christ, crucified for me and all sinners,
one of the most execrable among whom I confess myself to be, seeing the
infinite grace I have received through Him, and which I have so little
recognized and employed; the which would render me unworthy of
forgiveness if His promise made to all those who, burdened with sin and
spiritual woes coming to Him to be assisted by Him, and His mercy, did
not encourage me, following His commandment to come to Him, bearing my
burden in order to be relieved by Him of it like the prodigal son, and,
what is more, offering my blood willingly at the foot of His cross, for
the unwearied and faithful zeal which I bear to His Church, without the
restoration of which I desire never to live in this unhappy world.
"And further, Holy Father, having left myself no goods in this world, I
supplicate your Holiness to obtain from the very Christian king that my
dowry should be charged with the payment of my debts, and the wages of
my poor desolate servants, and with an annual obit for my soul and those
of all our brethren departed in this just quarrel, having had no other
private intention, as my poor servants, present at this, my affliction,
will testify to you; as likewise how I have willingly offered my life in
their heretical Assembly to maintain my Catholic, Apostolic and Roman
religion, and to bring back those of this island who have ignorantly
gone astray (to wit, themselves); protesting that in this case I would
willingly deprive myself of all the title and dignity of a Queen, and do
all honour and service to theirs, if she would cease to persecute the
Catholics; as I protest that that is the end at which I have aimed since
I have been in this country, and I have no ambition or desire to reign,
nor to dispossess any other for my personal advantage, as by illness and
by long afflictions I am so weakened that I have no longer any desire to
trouble myself in this world except with the service of His Church, and
to gain the souls of this island to God; in testimony of which, at my
end, I do not wish to falter in preferring the public salvation to my
personal interests of flesh and blood, which cause me to pray you,--with
a mortal regret for the perdition of my poor child, after having tried
by all means to regain him,--to be a true father to him, as St. John the
Evangelist was to the youth whom he withdrew from the company of
robbers; to take, in short, all the authority over him that I can give
you to constrain him, and if it pleases you to call upon the Catholic
king, to assist you in what touches temporal matters, and especially
that you two may together try to ally him in marriage. And if God, for
my sins, permit that he should remain obstinate, I knowing no Christian
prince in these times who works so much for the faith, or who has so
many means to aid him in the bringing back of this island, as the
Catholic king, to whom I am much indebted and obliged, being the only
one who aided me with his money and advice in my needs, I, subject to
your good pleasure, leave him all that I can have of power or interest
in the government of this kingdom if my son obstinately remains outside
the Church. But if he finds he can bring him back, I desire he shall be
aided, supported and advised by him (the king of Spain) and my relations
of Guise, enjoining him by my last will to hold them, after you, as his
fathers, and to ally himself by their advice and consent, or in one of
their two houses. And if it pleased God, I would he were worthy to be a
son of the Catholic king. This is the secret of my heart and the end of
my desires in this world, tending as I mean them, to the good of His
Church and to the discharge of my conscience, which I present at the
feet of your Holiness, which I humbly kiss.
"You shall have the true account of the manner of my last taking, and
all the proceedings against me, and by me, to the end that, hearing the
truth, the calumnies which the enemies of the Church wish to lay upon me
may be refuted by you and the truth known, and to this effect I have
sent to you this bearer, requesting your holy blessing for the end, and
saying to you for the last time _a Dieu_. Whom I pray in His grace to
preserve your person for long, for the good of His Church and your
sorrowful flock, especially that of this island, which I leave very much
astray, without the mercy of God and without your paternal care.
"Fotheringay, 23rd November, 1586."
She adds a postscript and signs herself,
"Of your Holiness the very humble and devoted daughter
MARIE, Queen of Scotland,
Dowager of France."
Her letter to Mendoca is written in a freer and clearer style, and is, I
think, a truer picture of her thoughts, as they spontaneously form in
her mind, than that to the Pope.
LETTER TO DON BERNARD DE MENDOCA.
"My very dear Friend,--As I have always known you to be zealous in God's
cause, and interested in my welfare and deliverance from captivity, I
have likewise also always made you a sharer in all my intentions for the
same cause, begging you to signify them to the king, Monsieur my good
brother, for which at present, according to the little leisure I have, I
have wished to send you this last adieu, being resolved to receive the
death-stroke which was announced to me last Saturday.
"I know not when or in what manner, but at least you can feel assured
and praise God for me that, by His grace, I had the courage to receive
this very unjust sentence of the heretics with contentment for the
honour which I esteem it to be to me to shed my blood at the demand of
the enemies of His Church; whilst they honour me so much as to say that
theirs cannot exist if I live; and the other point they affirm to be
that their Queen cannot reign in security, for the same reason. In both
these 'conditions' I, without contradicting them, accepted the honour
they were so anxious to confer upon me, as very zealous in the Catholic
religion, for which I had publicly offered my life; and as to the other
matter, although I had made no attempt or taken any action to remove her
who was in the place, still as they reproached me with what is my right,
and is so considered by all Catholics, as they say, I did not wish to
contradict them, leaving it to them to judge. But they, becoming angry
in consequence of this, told me that, do what I would, I should not die
for religion, but for having wished to have their Queen murdered, which
I denied to them as being very false, as I never attempted anything of
the kind, but left it to God and the Church to settle everything for
this island regarding religion and what depends upon it.
"This bearer has promised me to relate to you how rigorously I have been
treated by this people, and ill served by others, who I could wish had
not so much shown their fear of death in so just a quarrel, or their
inordinate passions. Whereas from me they only obtained the avowal that
I was a free queen, Catholic, obedient to the Church, and that for my
deliverance I was obliged--having tried for it by good means without
being able to obtain it--to procure it by the means which were offered
to me, without approving (all the means employed).
"Nau has confessed all, Curle following his example, and all is thrown
on me. They threaten me if I do not ask for pardon, but I say that, as
they have already destined me to death, they may proceed in their
injustice, hoping that God will recompense me in the other world. And
through spite because I will not thus confess, they came the day before
yesterday, Monday, to remove my dais, saying that I was no longer
anything but a dead woman without any dignity.
"They are working in my hall; I think they are making a scaffold to make
me play the last scene of the tragedy. I die in a good quarrel, and
happy at having given up my rights to the king, your Master. I have said
that if my son does not return to the bosom of the Church, I confess I
know no princes more worthy or more suitable, for the protection of the
island. I have written as much to His Holiness, and I beg you to certify
to him that I die in this same wish, that I have written to you, and to
him (you) know who is his near relative and old friend, and to a fourth
who, above all others, I leave under the protection of the king, and
require him, in the name of God, not to abandon them; and I beg them to
serve him in my place. I cannot write to them. Salute them for me, and
all of you pray God for my soul.
"I have asked for a priest, but do not know if I shall have one; they
offered me one of their bishops. I utterly refused him. Believe what
this bearer tells you, and these two poor women[#] who have been the
nearest to me. They will tell you the truth. I beg of you to publish
it, as I fear others will make it sound quite differently. Give orders
that payment be made where you know of, for the discharge of my
conscience; and may the churches of Spain keep me in remembrance in
their prayers. Keep this bearer's secret; he has been a faithful valet
to me.
[#] Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle.
"May God give you a happy life. You will receive a token from me, of a
diamond, which I valued as being that with which the late Duke of
Norfolk[#] pledged me his faith, and which I have nearly always worn.
Keep it for love of me.
[#] Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk and Premier Peer of England, had been
chairman of the Conference to which Mary's dispute with the rebels had
been submitted in 1568. At that time, encouraged by many prominent
members of the English nobility, he formed the design of marrying the
Queen of Scots. He was betrayed to Elizabeth by the Regent Moray, to
whom he had confided his plans. After a term of nine months in the
Tower, he was set at liberty. Resuming negotiations with Mary and her
friends, he was again betrayed--this time by his secretary--and being
convicted of treasonable practices, was put to death.
"I do not know if I shall be allowed to make a will. I have asked for
leave, but they have all my money. God be with you. Forgive me if I
write with pain and trouble, having not even one solitary person to aid
me or make my rough copies and to write from my dictation. If you
cannot read my handwriting this bearer will read it to you, or my
Ambassador, who is familiar with it. Among other accusations, Criton's
is one about which I know nothing. I fear much that Nau and Pasquier
have much hastened my death, for they kept some papers, and also they
are people who wish to live in both worlds, if they can have their
commodities. I would to God that Fontenay had been here; he is a young
man of strong resolution and knowledge. Adieu.
"Once more I recommend to you my poor destitute servants, and beg you to
pray for my soul.
"From Fotheringay, this Wednesday, the 23rd of November. I recommend to
you the poor Bishop of Ross, who will be quite destitute.
"Your much obliged and perfect friend.
MARIE R."
The Duke of Guise being nearly related to her, would be expected to
regard the treatment which she received as something personally touching
himself and his family. Wishing, therefore, to inspire him with the
thoughts that sustained her own spirits when, as she was convinced, the
gates of martyrdom were opening to receive her into a better world, she
penned him the following spirited letter:--
"From Fotheringay, the 24th of November,
"My Good Cousin:--You whom I hold as dearest to me in the world, being
ready through unjust judgment, to be put to a death such as no one of
our race, thanks be to God, has ever suffered, still less one of my
quality; but my good cousin, praise God for it, as I was useless in the
world, for the cause of God and His Church in the state I was, and I
hope my death will testify to my constancy in the faith, and my
readiness to die for the upholding and restoration of the Church in this
unhappy island. And, although no executioner has ever before dipped his
hand in our blood, be not ashamed of it my dear friend, for the
condemnation of heretics and enemies of the Church (and who have no
jurisdiction over me, a free queen) is profitable before God for the
children of His Church. If I would belong to them I should not receive
this blow. All those of our house have been persecuted by this sect;
for example, your good father, with whom I hope to be received by the
mercy of the just Judge. I recommend to you, then, my poor servants,
the discharge of my debts, and I beg you to have some annual obit
founded for my soul, not at your expense, but please make the necessary
solicitations and give the orders which shall be required. And you
shall understand my intention by these, my poor desolate servants,
eye-witnesses of my last tragedy.
"May God prosper you, your wife, children, brothers and cousins, and
above all our chief, my good brother and cousin, and all his. May the
blessing of God and that which I would give to children of my own, be on
yours, whom I recommend no less to God than my own unfortunate and
ill-advised child.
"You will receive some token from me, to remind you to pray for the soul
of your poor cousin, destitute of all aid and advice but that of God,
which gives me strength and courage to resist alone so many wolves
howling after me. To God be the glory.
"Believe, in particular, all that shall be said to you by a person who
will give you a ruby ring from me, for I take it upon my conscience that
the truth shall be told you of what I have charged her with, especially
of what touches my poor servants, and regarding one of them in
particular. I recommend you this person on account of her
straightforward sincerity and goodness, and so that she may be placed in
some good situation. I have chosen her as being most impartial and the
one who will the most simply convey my orders. I beg of you not to make
it known that she has said anything to you in private, as envy might
harm her.
"I have suffered much for two years or more, and could not let you know
it for important reasons, God be praised for all, and may He give you
the grace to persevere in the service of His Church as long as you live,
and may this honour never leave our race; so that we, men as well as
women, may be ready to shed our blood to maintain the quarrel of the
faith, putting aside all worldly interests. And as for me, I esteem
myself born, both on the paternal and maternal side, to offer my blood
for it, and I have no intention of degenerating. May Jesus, for us
crucified, and may all the holy martyrs by their intercession, render us
worthy of willingly offering our bodies to His Glory.
"Thinking to degrade me, they had my dais taken down, and afterwards my
guardian came to offer to write to their Queen, saying he had not done
this by her order, but by the advice of some of the council. I showed
them the cross of my Saviour in the place where my arms had been on the
said dais. You shall hear of our conversation. They have been more
gentle since.
"Your affectionate cousin and perfect friend,
MARIE, Queen of Scotland,
Dowager of France."