A few years later Mary married Lord Darnley. He became jealous of
Rizzio, her private secretary, and, with the aid of accomplices,
seized him in her presence, dragged him into an antechamber, and there
stabbed him. The next year Darnley was murdered. It was believed
that Mary and the Earl of Bothwell, whom she soon married, were guilty
of the crime. The people rose and cast her into prison, and forced
her to abdicate in favor of her infant son, James VI, who eventually
became King of England and Scotland (1603).
396. Mary escapes to England (1568); plots against Elizabeth and
Protestantism.
Mary escaped and fled to England. Elizabeth, fearing she might pass
over to France and stir up war, confined her in Bolton Castle,
Yorkshire. During her imprisonment in another stronghold, to which
she had been transferred, she was accused of being implicated in a
plot for assassinating the English Queen and seizing the reins of
government in behalf of herself and the Jesuits (S378).
It was, in fact, a time when the Protestant faith seemed everywhere
marked for destruction. In France evil counselors had induced the
King to order a massacre of the Reformers, and on St. Batholomew's Day
thousands were slain. The Pope, misinformed in the matter, ordered a
solemn thanksgiving for the slaughter, and struck a gold medal to
commemorate it. Philip II of Spain, whose cold, impassive face
scarcely ever relaxed into a smile, now laughed outright. Still more
recently, William the Silent, who had driven out the Catholics from a
part of the Netherlands, had been assassinated by a Jesuit fanatic.
Meanwhile the Pope had excommunicated Queen Elizabeth (1570) and had
released her subjects from allegiance to her. A fanatic nailed this
bull of excommunication to the door of the Bishop of London's palace.
This bold act, for which the offender suffered death, brought matters
to a crisis.
Englishmen felt that they could no longer remain halting between two
opinions. They realized that now they must resolve to take their
stand by the Queen or else by the Pope. Parliament at once retaliated
against the Pope by passing two stringent measures which declared it
high treason for any one to deny the Queen's right to the crown, to
name her successor, to denounce her as a heretic, or to say or do
anything which should "alienate the hearts and minds of her Majesty's
subjects from their dutiful obedience" to her. Later, the
"Association," a vigilance committee, was formed by a large number of
the principal people of the realm to protect Elizabeth against
assassination. Not only prominent Protestants but many Catholic
noblemen joined the organization to defend the Queen at all hazards.