"Mary, Queen of Scots; The Captive Queen 1568 - 1584"
June 2008 Meeting Report
Speaker - David Templeman
The Keyworth & District Local History Society held their June meeting in The Village Hall, Keyworth on Friday the 7th June 2008. The guest speaker for the evening was David Templeman and his subject for the evening was “Mary, Queen of Scots: The Captive Queen – 1568 to 1584”. There was a minor hiccup to the evenings proceedings when, by 7.30pm, the guest speaker hadn’t arrived. However, all was well when at 7.35pm David arrived, his late showing due to his being diverted off the A46 because the police had closed the road. David found himself in unfamiliar territory and, unfortunately, lost his bearings. David began by stating that Mary, Queen of Scots, is one of the most enigmatic and romantic characters in English history. Over the years countless books, poems, plays, films, biographies, and even operas have been written about her. However, However there was comparatively little written about her period in English captivity and David set about rectifying this. Thus, about three years ago David rose to the challenge to fill in this gap in the historical record and, such was his success, that he became the historical advisor to the Mary Queen of Scots Historical Society for this particular period. It would seem that there is more than a little confusion as to Mary’s whereabouts once she had fallen into the hands of her English ‘protectors’.
David then set about explaining the why, when and where questions relating to Mary’s imprisonment. Mary’s problems began shortly after she had lost the battle of Langside which was fought on 13th May 1568. After the battle, which was fought to establish Mary as the ruler of Scotland, she was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle. However, Mary managed to escape the Protestant lords who were holding her prisoner. Three choices lay open to her with regard to where best to flee to. France, Spain and England all held various attractions. Mary elected to travel to England, where her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth had already promised to help her to claim the Scottish throne. That promise, however, was made when Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle, not when she was residing on English soil. Circumstances most definitely alter cases and this Mary was destined to discover to her very great cost.
From Loch Leven castle Mary found her way into England arriving on English soil on May 16th 1568. Her arrival took the English completely by surprise, no one had the faintest idea that she was coming until she arrived having travelled over ninety miles on horseback to escape her Protestant jailers. After brief stays at Workington and Cockermouth Mary found herself a guest at Carlisle Castle. Elizabeth now had to decide how best to handle a situation that was very delicate and fraught with danger for the English throne. Mary’s husband, Lord Darnley had been murdered on 10th February 1567. It was strongly rumoured that the Earl of Bothwell was responsible but considerable doubt existed as to the role that Mary had played in the murder. Elizabeth decided that an inquiry, to be held at York, was the most suitable solution to the problem. Mary’s accusers could offer their evidence in support of their claims and Mary could defend herself. This inquiry took a considerable time to complete. Proceedings took months and months and were transferred from York to Hampton Court and then Richmond Palace. Ultimately no definitive verdict was reached, an outcome which suited Elizabeth very much.
In theory Mary was under the protection of the English Crown, in reality Mary was a prisoner in all but name although officially she was a ‘house guest’ wherever she stayed. Once in her clutches Elizabeth had no intention of letting Mary go free, she was considered to be too much of a loose cannon, particularly with her strong Catholic beliefs. However, having a reigning queen, virtually in Elizabeth’s custody, was an unprecedented situation for the English Crown. As an anointed queen Mary had certain, very important, privileges. Elizabeth was very mindful of this and promised to keep Mary, even though her prisoner, in “the manner of a queen”. So Mary was allowed to have her own servants and retinue. Elizabeth was very conscious that the eyes of France and Spain were keeping a very close watch on affairs. England at that time had no standing army whilst Spain was the European super-power. Elizabeth needed to be very careful not to antagonize the Spanish whilst, at the same time, strengthening English defences should war develop.
An immediate problem was where Mary could be safely ensconced. The ‘honour’ of looking after Mary fell upon George Talbot, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, the illustrious Bess of Hardwick. Previously Mary had enjoyed sojourns at Carlisle Castle and Castle Bolton where she was allowed to roam throughout the grounds, walking and riding, though always under the watchful eyes of her ‘protectors’. The Earl of Shrewsbury was, at that time, one of the richest men in England and had a string of great houses to choose from when it came to deciding where best to keep Mary. Doubtless, with the connivance of Queen Elizabeth the Earl decided that Tutbury Castle would be the most suitable. So it was that, on 4th February 1569, Mary found herself domiciled there. It must have come as something of a very great shock to her when she did arrive at Tutbury, the place had been in a ruinous state for nearly two hundred years. It was cold, damp, drafty and inhospitable place set in the bleak Derbyshire countryside. Conditions were so grim that Mary’s health began to suffer. It also began to dawn on her what her actual situation really was. From henceforth Mary’s life would be surrounded by intrigue, plot and escape attempts whilst she herself was plagued by ill-health brought on by the stress of her situation and the actual conditions that she was exposed to.
It wasn’t long before Mary was moved from Tutbury and on 20th April 1569 she was transferred with her retinue of over two hundred people to Wingfield Manor. Conditions there were little better and it was only a matter of three weeks after her arrival that Mary fell seriously ill. In fact Mary was so seriously ill that she was administered the last rites and news of her ‘death’ was broadcast in London. However, Mary recovered and it was then that the first attempt to effect an escape for Mary from Wingfield was made. Mary though would have nothing to do with the plot and refuses to have any part in it. It was at this time that Mary was befriended by the Duke of Norfolk. The Duke was a leading light in the English aristocracy; more importantly for Mary he was a Catholic. Also at this time, the Earl of Shrewsbury fell ill, possibly suffering a severe stroke. A roll call of who was staying at Wingfield Manor revealed that there were 240 persons residing there, mainly Mary’s entourage and royal hangers-on. Virtually the entire cost of looking after all of these people fell on the Earl of Shrewsbury. Elizabeth granted a small allowance from the Privy Purse, though even this was gradually reduced as time went by. Queen Elizabeth had something of a reputation if not as a miser then certainly someone who was very parsimonious with her purse. Elizabeth’s attitude being that it was a great honour to oblige the Crown in this manner. Ultimately however, given the length of Mary’s captivity and the size of her retinue this cost all but bankrupted the Earl. Mary’s stay at Wingfield ended on 20th September 1569 when she was transferred back to Tutbury Castle. In May of 1569 it had been proposed that Mary be moved to Sheffield Castle but the move was vetoed, due possibly to concerns over security there.
Mary arrived at Tutbury on 21st September 1569, two months before the Northern Earls Plot. Catholicism had a greater hold in the North of England than it did in the South. Nationally the split between Protestant and Catholic was roughly 50 – 50. However this split was disproportionate in the country. There were far more Catholics in the North whilst in the south Protestants were in the majority. Two of the principal northern Earls, who were staunch Catholics, were the Earls of Westmoreland and Northumberland. These two aristocrats raised and army in an attempt to secure the release of Mary and re-establish her in her rightful place, namely on the Scottish throne. The hoped-for popular uprising in support of the two Earls cause never materialized, the bulk of the population were inclined to support Elizabeth as their rightful monarch rather than to judge the issue along religious lines. With the uprising fizzling out the Earls retreated to Scotland, hoping to regroup and raise fresh adherents to their cause. The Earl of Northumberland was handed back to Elizabeth (for an alleged payment of £5,000). He stood trial for treason, was found guilty and hung, drawn and quartered in London. The Earl of Westmoreland though had the foresight to leave Scotland and made his way to Spain hoping that the monarchy there would take care of him. His hopes were ill founded, the Spanish King granted him a miserly pension and lodgings to match. He eventually died a virtual beggar.
On 26th November 1569 Mary was moved to Coventry in an attempt to distance her from the troubles that were occurring in the North. In Coventry she effectively became ex-communicado, no one was allowed access to her. It is probable that the phrase “Sent to Coventry” originated with this move, (the phrase meaning that no-one will speak to or acknowledge a person’s presence.) Mary’s stay there didn’t last long however and by the beginning of January 1570 Mary was back at Tutbury. Her stay at Tutbury only lasted until May of 1570 when she was transferred to Chatsworth House (the house then was not the fine house of modern times but a much more modest affair). That stay likewise was only of a short duration, on 27th November 1570 Mary was transferred to Sheffield Castle and it was there that she was to spend the majority of her remaining 14 years in captivity. Sheffield Castle was at that time one of the principal castles in England, moated and fortified it made a very secure place to keep Mary.
It was at this time that Mary was introduced to William Cecil, the first Lord Burghley. Cecil was Queen Elizabeth’s principal adviser and he would ultimately prove to be the nemesis of Queen Mary. Whilst at Sheffield Castle a succession of plots were hatched, primarily to secure Mary’s escape from captivity and to re-establish her on the Scottish or even the English throne. Cecil decided that Mary needed to be kept under very close watch and he appointed Francis Walsingham to establish a network of spies and informers to do this. In many respects Francis Walsingham may be said to be the originator of the first English secret service. Walsingham was a staunch protestant, possessed of a puritanical zeal who entertained no love whatsoever for Mary, seeing her only as a very potent threat to the nascent protestant religion in England. Elizabeth, for her part was keen to ensure that the protestant faith succeeded but her primary concern was to ensure the future of the English Crown. Elizabeth’s view was that God chose kings and queens and that it was God’s will that they ruled. Any act against a monarch was an act against God and as such was blasphemy.
Secret agents, both English Catholics and also foreign spies were constantly involved in plots and intrigues with Mary at their centre. Burghley, through Sir Francis Walsingham, was kept very reliably informed about these goings on. Walsingham created a network of agents and double agents in his pay who provided him with a constant stream of information relating to Mary to such an extent that it was virtually impossible for her to communicate with anyone in the outside world without Burghley being acquainted with the contents of any correspondence. Secret codes were used but they provided no security for Mary. This lack of secrecy would ultimately lead to Mary’s downfall.
Mary left Sheffield Castle in 1584 at the aged 42 years old. By this time the years of captivity had taken their toll and Mary was effectively an old woman. She had lost most of her hair and was almost a cripple. In 1580 she had had a serious fall from a horse and this affected her spine for the rest of her life. From Sheffield Mary was sent to Wingfield and Tutbury. Walsingham, a devious character, was instrumental in organizing plots to try and entice Mary to incriminate herself with acts of treason against Elizabeth. In 1583 he engineered the Throckmorton Plot but this was unsuccessful. Mary denied that she had any knowledge of the plot and it was proved impossible to prove otherwise. In order to stop this defence working again Parliament passed a law stating that Mary would be held responsible for any future plot whether she was aware of it or not.
Thus it was with the Babington Plot in 1586 that Walsingham finally secured his goal, being able to prove that Mary was instrumental in plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. Mary had been sending letters to the outside world inside a barrel. This was with the connivance of a local brewer whom Mary thought was an ally but who, in fact, was an agent of Walsingham. These letters were all sent to Walsingham who acted on them accordingly. The culmination of Walsingham’s plot involved a young Catholic nobleman named Sir Anthony Babington. Babington was an idealist who saw not only as a prisoner of Elizabeth but also a martyr to the Catholic cause. In the correspondence between themselves Babington was foolish enough to loosely suggest that Mary should replace Elizabeth on the English throne. The young Sir Anthony hatched a plot to effect Mary’s escape from imprisonment and, hopefully install her on the English throne. Mary was foolish enough to acquiesce to his plans in a letter in her own hand. It was all that Walsingham needed, Mary had effectively signed her own death warrant. Both Mary and Babington were arrested. Babington was executed and Mary was sent to Fotheringay Castle where she arrived on 15th October 1586. Her trial began shortly afterwards. Mary conducted her own defence and pleaded her innocence. It was to no avail and on 25th October 1586 was found guilty as charged and sentenced to death. Elizabeth had fought for years not to have to sign Mary’s death warrant but ultimately she had no choice. Burghley and Walsingham had succeeded in the entrapment of Mary. Her death would remove what was perceived to be a considerable threat to the cause of Protestantism. On 1st February 1587 Elizabeth finally signed the death warrant. So it was that on the morning of 8th February 1587 in the Great Hall at Fotheringay Mary was executed by beheading.
Some view Mary’s death as a victory over Elizabeth inasmuch as it was Mary’s son James who succeeded Elizabeth on the English throne ensuring that it was Mary’s bloodline that followed with the Stuarts. In reality Burghley and Walsingham were the real winners, who ruled England was largely immaterial to them as long as they were Protestants and this has been the case right up to the present day. They had their eye on the long game and history has vindicated their actions. All in all David gave a very interesting and informative talk on a subject which had a considerable local interest.