Elizabethi.org
Queen Elizabeth I Quote
Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots
Wiki Commons



MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS

BIOGRAPHY
(Continued)


It was not until the Babington plot of 1586 that Elizabeth finally relented, and only then because there was proof of Mary's complicity. Elizabeth was hurt and angry that Mary had personally endorsed her murder when, for almost twenty years, she had protected Mary's life. She wrote a letter to Mary to this effect. It was the plan of Sir Anthony Babington and his co-conspirators to free Mary from Chartely, where she was being kept, and to make her Queen once Elizabeth was killed.



Sir Anthony Babington

Anthony Babington

Wiki Commons



The plans failed, however, as Sir Francis Walsingham, one of Elizabeth's most influential ministers, had created a very effective spy-network that monitored the actions of English Catholics by using double agents and spies. Anthony Babington and his supporters were tortured and put to death, and Mary was put on trial. She was found guilty of treason, and condemned to death. But despite this judgement by Elizabeth's judges, Elizabeth could not bring herself to sign her cousin's death warrant. The very thought of executing a crowned sovereign terrified her, and the whole matter effected her health profoundly. In the end she reluctantly signed the warrant. Her ministers secretly rushed through the execution, and Elizabeth was not told until it was over. Mary was executed at Fotheringay Castle in the February of 1587.



Execution of Queen of Scots

Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

Wiki Commons



Elizabeth's fury was tremendous. She had her Private secretary, William Davidson, arrested, and turned against those of her Council who had taken part in the execution, even her old trusted servant, William Cecil. She threatened to have Davidson hanged, saying that she never intended the execution to take place, only to use the warrant as a threat to stop Mary from taking part in such activities again. No one really believed her, and few have believed her since. Frightening as it was, her anger receded, and in time she was reunited with Cecil. Davidson was released from imprisonment, but was never returned to his post as secretary.

Mary was buried in Peterborough Cathedral, but was moved to Westminster Abbey in 1612. In life, Mary and Elizabeth never met, but in death, they lie only feet away from each other in perhaps the greatest of English Abbeys.



Grave of Queen of Scots

Grave of Mary, Queen of Scots

Wiki Commons





FURTHER READING
Fraser, Antonia, Mary, Queen of Scots
Bowen, Marjorie, Mary, Queen of Scots
Rosalind K Marshall, Queen of Scots
Bell, Robin, "Bittersweet Within My Heart" The Collected Poems of Mary, Queen of Scots
Swain, Margaret, The Needlework of Mary Queen of Scots
Plowden, Alison, Two Queens in One Isle
Lewis, Jayne Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots, Romance and Nation


ON THE WEB
Mary, Queen of Scots: A website by The Marie Stuart Society of Scotland
For Portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots, see: The Mary, Queen of Scots Gallery at The National Portrait Gallery
For links on Mary, Queen of Scots, see my links section.



PREVIOUS PAGE




Logo
CONTENTS




Site Sponsors


invisible

Links

Tudors & Stuarts

Books

Site Sponsors


invisible

Links

Shop
Buckingham Covers

Quick Links