the TUDOR TUTOR
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Mary Queen of … France?
The second half of Mary Queen of Scots’ life is the one most connected with the Tudors: the threat she posed to her cousin Elizabeth I, her imprisonment for nearly 20 years, and her subsequent execution. But this Scottish princess spent the early years of her life training to be a French royal. Her fairytale childhood is just one reason her story is so tragic. Other reasons include her nomadic existence in later years and the fact that the whole ax/neck thing didn’t work for her on the first blow. Eeesh.
Baby Mary, the new queen of Scotland since the death of her father, James V, was originally set to marry Henry VIII’s boy, Eddie. But that pesky religious issue showed up as it tended to do in the 16th century. Catholic France had Scotland’s back and England felt threatened, so that match was ixnayed and the five-year-old girl was off to France to grow up with her new amour, the future king of France.
This is where Mary’s situation gets really sweet. Her intended, the Dauphin Francis, was a little child like she was and eventually had many younger siblings. This gaggle of French royal kiddies and Mary grew up bebopping among those gorgeous chateaux in the Loire Valley, including Blois, Fontainebleau, and Chenonceau. They had regular playdates with dozens of noble children, enjoyed gifts of ponies, bulldogs, falcons, and even bears. These kids enjoyed making candy and feasting on rich foods, and were decked out in only the most sumptuous fabrics.
Mary was basically raised French, spoke French, read French, le whole shebang. At age 17, she was the striking new queen of France –nearly six feet tall, hazel eyes, gold-brown hair. Merveilleux!
And a little more than a year later, her husband and childhood friend, the French king, died of complications from an ear infection. Just like that.
Adieu, France! Back to Scotland went the young widow, to begin a whirlwind of other marriages, political plots, an escape to England, constant imprisonment and change of residence, and finally the chopping block. How did it come to this when the beginning was so idyllic? Just another sad casualty in the drama of Tudor history, really.
Life After Tudors
With Liz I’s death in 1603, the Tudor line ended and the Stuart line began with James I. Well, he was James VI of Scotland, but became James I of England. Follow me, here: Scotland had had a separate monarchy since the 9th century, when it became its own country. There were five King Jameses there before Liz’s future heir became Scotland’s king. He was only 13 months old when his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, was whisked away and imprisoned. She later fled to England where she spent 19 years and then became about a foot shorter.
Little James VI had adults to rule for him, of course, until he reached the age of majority, but he was technically the king of Scotland for 36 years before swinging on down to London as the new top dog. And since England had never had a King James previously, he became James I there.
Why do we sometimes see Life After Tudors spelled “Stewart” rather than ”Stuart”? It was “Stewart” originally, from way back in the 9th century, but James’ mom, Mary Q of S, actually grew up in France. There was no “w” in the French alphabet at the time, and she would have spelled it “Stuart.”
Scotland and France were BFFs during the Tudor period, and occasionally beyond that, so “Stewart” and “Stuart” were used interchangeably to describe that post-Tudor dynasty, depending on whether the Scots and the French were playing nicely. Now it is usually spelled “Stuart.” Either way, it spelled d-r-a-m-a f-r-e-e for the most part, until the Gunpowder Plot a few years later.
Mary Queen of Scots’ Death Mask
There Will Be Blood!
Get ready, because this is a particularly dark week in Tudor history. Today is the anniversary of Mary, Queen of Scots’ execution in 1587. It was a grisly affair, as it took more than one whack to do away with the poor girl.
On Wednesday the 10th, we have the murder anniversary of her husband (also her first cousin), Lord Darnley, in 1567. That same date marks the 1542 imprisonment of pathetic and misunderstood Kitty Howard.
Thursday the 11th marks the day Elizabeth of York died in 1503. The woman who gave birth to our tubby, turkey-leg eating womanizer fell victim to infection after having Henry’s little sister and died on her own birthday.
On Friday 12th we have the 1554 execution anniversary of poor nine-days-queen Lady Jane Grey, and her husband, Lord Guilford Dudley. And we continue the Headless Chronicles on Saturday the 13th, as we remember that day in 1542 when Kitty Howard and Jane Boleyn (Anne’s sister-in-law) were sent to the chopping block.
Whew! It’s getting bloodier than a Martin Scorcese movie. Stick around if you’re not the squeamish type.
Cake and Candles for Mary and Me
I share my 8 December birthday with one of the more fascinating Tudor family members (in my opinion), Mary, Queen of Scots. Perhaps I’m biased by our common birthday?
Mary’s 8 December birth was in 1542, at Linlithgow Palace, west of Edinburgh. Six days later, bam!, her father died and she became queen before she could walk , talk, sleep through the night, or control her own limbs. As she grew, she was known for her beauty, kindness, and intelligence. She was every bit the striking royal, tall with red hair and hazel eyes.
When the 16-year-old Mary married the Dauphin of France, she became queen of France as well. He kicked the bucket two years later, and she eventually came around to marry her first cousin (cue the fiddles), Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. He was wimpy, unstable, and suspicious of her relationship with her secretary, David Rizzio. In fact, he and his comrades dragged Dave into a hallway in Holyrood and stabbed him to death while a terrified Mary stood nearby. This spot was pointed out to me on my tour of the palace; it is a rather eerie experience. Anyway, Henry Stuart got his six years later when those same comrades blew up his house with him in it. Touché!
Mary’s tragedy continued when she was forced to leave Scotland for England, and had a host of other problems there, eventually losing her head, of course. Her life had certainly been a mess, but what a story! Here’s to you, Mary — let’s celebrate with a spot of Champagne, shall we?
Tudor Ghost-du-Jour: Mary, Queen of Scots
Okay, technically Mary was a Stuart (sometimes spelled “Stewart”). She lived way up yonder in Scotland and had become queen of Scots when she was six days old. (And we think we put a lot of pressure on our kids these days!) But how did she end up with her head on the block in England? There was an uprising against her in Scotland when she was 24, so she fled to London for protection from her cousin, the queen of England. Queen Elizabeth said something like, “Nice to see you after all this time; what’s that? You’re Catholic?” and promptly had her locked away for 19 long years.
The threat that Mary presented to Elizabeth’s throne was too great, as English Catholics would have actually considered Mary the rightful queen (see here for more on why Catholic vs. Protestant was such a huge deal, then). After those 19 years, Elizabeth finally got the chops to get rid of Mary once and for all.
Mary, Queen of Scots lay her head down for the last time at Fotheringhay Castle, where it took two whacks to get her out of Elizabeth’s way permanently. The ax first hit the back of her neck, and she mumbled, “Sweet Jesus.” I think I would have used more colorful language than that. The second time the ax came down, it severed all but just a bit of gristle. This did kill her, although her lips moved for 15 minutes afterward.
Fotheringhay Castle is now just a bit of rock, as my husband and I found out the day we decided to drive out that way and check out Mary’s execution spot. That was kind of disappointing. Her son James had ordered it be razed to the ground after the horror that happened there. But the castle’s oak staircase, which Mary is believed to have descended on her way to her execution, was used to build the nearby Talbot Hotel (so were other stones from the castle). Guests at the hotel report a chill on the stairs, moving furniture, and being pressed on by an clammy but invisible weight while in their beds.
But that’s not all! Mary’s restless spirit reportedly shows up in just about every abode she ever set foot in, from Stirling Castle to Bolton Castle to Manor Lodge to Craignethan Castle (the only location where she is actually headless). This royal multitasker fits into our present world quite well, don’t you think?
What Went Through Her Head Just Before She Lost It?
The last letter written by Mary, Queen of Scots before she lost her head on the executioner’s block (on the order of her cousin, Elizabeth I) will be on display at the National Library of Scotland from now until September 21.
Her words seem cool, calm, and collected …ready to face her fate. Unfortunately her end was going to be horrifying and drawn-out, since the executioner didn’t aim well the first time and the ax just hit the back of her head. That’s gotta hurt.
A Grey Area in the Succession, part 1
It’s 1553. Henry VIII’s long-awaited son, who became Edward VI, is only 15 and has been reduced to a nearly-bald, coughing, vomiting, bloated mass of ulcers. (Tuberculosis is not pretty.) Who’ll take over when the sole male heir of the Tudor dynasty kicks the bucket? It gets complicated, so let’s have a look at the family tree, moving up a bit to Henry VII.
Henry VII, who swept in from Wales and won the crown from Richard III back in 1485 (thus starting the famous Tudor dynasty), had four children. From oldest to youngest, they were:
1) Arthur — He’d been married to Catherine of Aragon for a short time and died before they could have any children. She moved on to the next son in line…
2) Henry VIII — He changed England’s history forever by breaking with Rome all to try to have a son … and that kid was now on his deathbed. Looks like those daughters might finally come in handy. Elizabeth, a Protestant, had been declared illegitimate when his marriage to that temptress Anne Boleyn was conveniently wiped off the books so that he could marry wife #3, Jane Seymour (sickly Edward’s mom). Who’s left? Mary, a Catholic. Not ideal, but let’s see what the other choices are …
3) Margaret – She’d been sent up to Scotland to marry James IV. Their granddaughter is Mary, Queen of Scots. She’s a Catholic, and not a direct threat right now since Henry VIII’s Catholic daughter Mary is closer in the line of succession. (But she will be important when (a) Elizabeth becomes queen and has to insure she has no other threats to her crown, and (b) after Elizabeth dies with no heirs. That’s some time away, though.)
4) Mary — She married Charles Brandon and had a daughter, Frances, who married a Mr. Henry Grey. Together they had a little girl named Jane.
That’s where Lady Jane Grey comes in: She’s the only legitimate Protestant in the line of succession, the great-granddaughter of Henry VII.
