Natalya Pavlishcheva Mary Stuart. Queen of Doom
With these cats that climb the throne when they only belong on the knees of men, the conversation should be short ...
B. Show. The swarthy lady of the sonnets
Instead of a preface
Fate favored this woman too much.
Even when she ended her earthly journey on the chopping block by the verdict of the English Parliament and her great-aunt, the English Queen Elizabeth.
Even after death, because Elizabeth was accused of executing Mary, turning into an evil fury, and for the fifth hundred years they have been trying to present her as an innocent victim of envy.
In numerous dramatic works, Mary Stuart is a passionate woman who languished in the casemates of English castles for almost twenty years at the behest of her envious relative, who usurped the crown. A beautiful woman who died because of the envy of a less beautiful...
But is it really so?
The Scottish crown went to her a few days old after the sudden death of her father. The French - young Mary was brought by marriage with the equally young Dauphin Francis after the death of his father, King Henry II. On the English - she decided to apply on the advice of her uncles de Guise, without even thinking about whether she had the right to do so, despite the fact that England had a legitimate Queen Elizabeth (albeit a Protestant, unlike the Catholic European monarchs). However, she could get English if her mother fulfilled the agreement signed with the English king Henry VIII in Greenwich, according to which Mary Stuart was to marry the heir to the English throne, Edward (who later became king) at the age of ten. But the mother chose to send her daughter to France.
All the men whose fates were in contact with the fate of Mary Stuart perished. Her three husbands, father-in-law, half-brother, lovers, those who tried to help her escape... This woman was not happy herself and did not bring happiness to anyone.
And how severe were the casemates in which Elizabeth kept her, if they were large castles, where Mary had her own court, he was supplied at the expense of England with the best products, the best fabrics for clothes, everything necessary, only correspondence and freedom of movement were limited. But how else to deal with the one that, even being expelled from her own kingdom and living on the neck of the English queen, managed to intrigue against her? Gratitude was not among the virtues of Mary Stuart!
Perhaps, Elizabeth of England made only one mistake in relation to her crowned cousin - it was necessary to give her to the outraged Scots, and they would have cut off Mary's head on their own sentence twenty years earlier. By the way, by the time she was imprisoned, she was NOT the Queen of Scotland, because she herself renounced the crown in favor of her son!
Thanks to numerous works of art, Mary Stuart is an innocent victim of the machinations of her great-aunt Elizabeth (who for some reason is called a cousin, although she was a cousin of Mary's father King James V), who usurped power in England!
I assure you, this is not at all the case, it is enough just to get acquainted with the documents and understand what was happening. Each of the queens has its own merits and demerits, the merits of Mary Stuart naturally attracted men to her, and the flaws just as naturally destroyed them, bringing her to the scaffold herself. Elizabeth's fault is only in the terrible indecision that dragged out the natural end for two decades.
The tragic fate of Mary Stuart has long attracted the most brilliant authors, Zweig and Schiller, Dumas, Walter Scott, Birkin wrote about her ... Joseph Brodsky wrote sonnets ... magnificent plays were created and staged. Most of the works are about her tragic death, about experiences precisely in captivity and before death.
This work rather presents events before, an attempt to understand how an outstanding, intelligent, beautiful woman, to whom fate was given everything except discretion, managed to drive herself into a dead end, from which death was the only way out?
queen in diapers
Henry VIII was very pleased with the news, his laughter carried throughout the palace. The king of England did not know how to do anything half-heartedly at all; large, loud-voiced, he was unthinkably noisy, the presence of the king always betrayed his voice, and even laughter could tell where he was, in general, to the whole district.
What amuses you so much, Your Majesty? the queen asked.
The sixth wife of the English king (out of the previous five, he divorced two, executed two and brought one to the grave), Katharina Parr did everything somehow especially affectionately. After the wedding, very little time passed, less than six months, Heinrich was still fascinated by his wife, almost in love, and therefore communicated with her very kindly.
- The French filly of Jacob Stuart gave birth to a girl!
Wincing a little at His Majesty's rude speech - the king was by no means distinguished by restraint in expressions, as well as in everything else - Katharina asked again:
- Why does it make you so happy?
– Ha! It always makes me happy if my opponent has no heirs!
“But Mary of Guise is young, she and King James will still have children ...
She said and broke off, because Heinrich's good mood instantly disappeared, the reminder of his own non-surviving sons was too painful. The queen realized that she had stepped on a sore spot, and fell silent, thinking how to get out of the situation now.
King Henry VIII had six wives and three children, and the eldest daughter Mary from the first wife of Catherine of Aragon could well be suitable as a mother to the youngest son Edward. And between them was Anne Boleyn's daughter Elizabeth, Bess, who is known to the whole world as Elizabeth I of England. It was she who, many years later, executed Mary Stuart, the news of whose birth caused the king first joy, and then irritation.
It would seem that the king of England should worry about the birth of children from the king of Scotland? Small in comparison with England, Scotland, moreover, much poorer, was nevertheless a bone in the throat of the English kings. The Scottish kings preferred to be friends with the enemies of England - France and Spain, which made it possible to feel at least a little safer next to such a strong neighbor on the island. The French and Spaniards willingly fed the Scottish kings in order to have a constant threat to the English throne.
And now this threat seemed serious! Henry VIII did not have an heir for a long time, his wives gave birth to either unviable boys or girls. In Scotland, Henry's nephew, the son of his sister Margaret James V, who had boys, ruled. Bastards do not count, but in a legal marriage with the Frenchwoman Maria de Guise, two boys were born, however, they also did not live even a year. Henry himself has the only son, Edward, with not very good health. Before the birth of Edward, Henry did not find a place for himself at all, because if he did not have an heir, instead of the Tudors, the Stuarts could be on the throne of England!
But Jacob had a girl! And suddenly a very amusing thought flashed through Heinrich, he yelled at the top of his voice:
– Katarina! Katarina, come here!
The queen hurried from the next room to the call of her husband:
- What happened?
- I figured it out! We're marrying Edward to this girl!
The queen just shook her head: the boy is still small, and the girl has just been born.
A minute later, the king was distracted from his searchlights, then he went hunting, then he did something else, and then he forgot a little about his idea.
But less than a week later, I had to return to her, and now the reason was serious: King James V Stuart, having barely heard the news about the birth of his daughter, died! And the tiny six-day-old princess became a queen! The regent with her, of course, is her mother - Mary de Guise.
The biography of the Scottish queen of the sixteenth century, Mary Stuart, is so replete with tragic events that it served as an inspiration to writers and poets of the world. Therefore, people who are far from studying world history have heard at least superficially about the life and drama of the queen.
The fate of little Mary decreed in such a way that almost from birth she was destined to become Queen of Scots. The father, who ruled the country during the birth of the future ruler, died suddenly when the baby was not even a week old. The monarch did not survive the defeat of the army in the confrontation with England and the death of both sons, who remained the last heirs in the male line.
After the death of the current king, a struggle began for the regency over the baby. This struggle reflected the political situation in the country, to which the life of the little queen unwittingly became a hostage. James Hamilton became regent, the closest relative of the Stuarts, who supported the influence of England, despite the war between the two states. The girl's mother, Mary de Guise, on the contrary, supported the commonwealth of Scotland with France.
The strategic task of the parties close to the court was the future possible marriage of Mary Stuart with the heir of one of the opposing states. At the age of five, the young queen was sent to France, to the court of Henry II, the king and future father-in-law of the girl.
In France, Mary spent wonderful years, receiving a brilliant education, truly royal treatment and honor. At the age of sixteen, Mary was married to her first husband, the heir of France, Francis.
Fight for the throne
Francis was ill and in poor health. Two years after the wedding, the young man's life was cut short. She came to power in France, and the time came for the Queen of Scots to return to her homeland, where the unpopular mother of Mary reigned, and the Protestant revolution raged.
The court, divided, like Scotland, into two camps - Protestant and Catholic, tried to persuade the queen to one side. Despite the lack of experience, Mary Stuart chose a competent and cautious policy of compromise. She did not begin to cancel Protestantism, approved by that time as the official state religion, but at the same time she did not stop communicating with Catholic Rome. Catholic services continued at court.
Having gained power and strengthened herself on the Scottish throne, the queen achieved relative calm and stability in the country, although mutual hostility with the owner of the English throne persisted. Elizabeth was considered an illegitimate heiress, and Mary Stuart, according to supporters, had more rights to the throne. Only Scotland did not dare to enter into open confrontation.
Personal life
Young, beautiful, charming and well-educated, Queen Mary was popular with men. The woman charmed and turned the heads of heirs and kings. But the life of the monarch is subordinated to the interests of the state and is inextricably linked with the history of the country. A wedding for love is not always possible and justified for the queen.
Marriage was considered a bargain and the beginning of an alliance and state support. After the death of Francis, the question of the marriage of Mary Stuart sharply arose. Elizabeth, as a contender for the hand and heart of a Scot, offered her favorite, Robert Dudley. Such a party aroused Mary's indignation. The queen could not choose the lover of her eternal rival as her husband.
In 1565, the queen's cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, arrives in Scotland. Outwardly charming, stately and tall young man attracted the attention of Mary and instantly struck her heart. In the same year, the young people got married, which caused discontent of the English queen and Scottish Protestants. The radical leaders of the royal court plotted and tried to raise a protest, which Mary managed to suppress with considerable effort.
The newly-made husband quickly disappointed the queen, turning out to be a weak-willed man, not ready for trials by the throne. The ruler lost interest in her husband, despite the dissatisfaction of part of the court and the imminent birth of an heir. With the support of those close to Darnley, he organized a conspiracy, and in front of the pregnant Mary Stuart, her close friend and personal secretary David Riccio was brutally murdered.
Using a ruse, the queen publicly reconciled with her husband and his supporters, splitting the secret protest coalition. When the opponent's forces were exhausted, Maria dealt with objectionable aristocrats.
The queen's heart is given to another man - James Hepburn, and her husband only interferes. Under mysterious circumstances in 1567, Darnley is killed in the suburbs of Edinburgh. The residence where the monarch stayed was blown up. Mary's involvement in the events has not been proven. Historians are still confused about the direct involvement in the murder of an unfaithful wife.
Not at all embarrassed, in the same 1567, guided solely by the dictates of her heart, Mary marries a favorite. This act completely deprives her of the support of the court.
Vigilant, aggressive Protestants organize a rebellion as soon as possible and force the queen to abdicate in favor of her son Jacob, under whom one of the instigators of the protest is appointed regent. It is worth noting that Mary organizes Hepburn's flight from the country, worrying about the life of her lover.
The deposed queen was imprisoned at Lochleven Castle, where she was rumored to have secretly given birth to twins. It is not known whether the children survived or were stillborn, but their names were not mentioned in the history of Scotland. Having seduced the warden, Mary escaped from prison and went to England, hoping for the support of Elizabeth.
Death
For the Queen of England, Mary Stuart has always been an unwanted rival and contender for the kingdom. The naive Scot did not understand what was stopping Elizabeth, and did not realize what extreme measures the Englishwoman, who had neither heirs nor personal life, would go to. Trying to play for time, Elizabeth entered into correspondence with her cousin, categorically refusing to meet in person.
On Mary lay the seal of a criminal and a murderer, so the fate of the woman was to be decided by a commission of English peers. The charm of the fugitive played a role here too, the chairman of that very commission fell in love with her without memory and was ready to marry the alleged criminal.
Eventually, Elizabeth's patience came to an end. Maria became the victim of an insidious conspiracy. By deceit, the woman was given a document, according to which the Scot ordered to kill Elizabeth. The Queen of England signed the order for the execution of Mary Stuart.
The proud Scottish woman asked for a public death. On the day of the ascent to the scaffold, she put on a scarlet dress and, with her head held high, went to the executioner. The determination and courage of the woman were noted by all those present, even the executioner himself. Maria publicly declared that she forgives everyone, and laid her head on the chopping block.
The deposed and defamed queen wished to be buried in France. The last covenant of Mary was not fulfilled by burying the remains in England. Mary's son James, having become the reigning monarch and king of England in 1603, ordered that his mother's ashes be transferred to Westminster Abbey.
Memory
Such a bright and dramatic fate, full of tragedy, deceit and love, could not but interest writers and poets. The life story of the queen was described, the cycle of poems “Twenty Sonnets to Mary Stuart” dedicated to the tragedy of the life of a Scot.
The image of the queen is reflected in performances and films. The popular series "Kingdom" tells about the biography of the young queen and her accession to the throne. in the movie The Corona Plot (2004)
No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher.
© Book Club "Family Leisure Club", translation and artwork, 2018
© Book Club "Family Leisure Club", edition in Russian, 2018
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Introduction
The clear and obvious explains itself, but the mystery can awaken creativity. That is why historical events and personalities, shrouded in a haze of obscurity, constantly require rethinking and ask to be written on the pages of books. In fact, the tragedy of the life of Mary Stuart can serve as a classic example of such an inexhaustible attraction of the mystery of a historical problem. It is unlikely that there will be another woman in world history to whom so many literary works would be devoted: dramas, novels, biographies and discussions. For more than three hundred years, she again and again attracted poets, excited the minds of researchers - her image again and again, with inexhaustible power, demanded more and more new images. For such is the nature of everything confusing: to strive for clarity, just as darkness strives for light.
But no matter how often and contradictory they try to present and interpret the life mystery of Mary Stuart, there is truly no woman who would be portrayed in such a different way: she was either a murderer, or a martyr, or a stupid intriguer, or a wondrous saint. It is surprising, however, that the diversity of her images is due not to a lack of materials that have come down to us, but to their amazing excess. The number of surviving documents, protocols, acts, letters and reports totals thousands of thousands: over the past three hundred years, the process of proving her guilt or innocence has begun anew countless times. But the more carefully you study the sources, the more painfully you realize with their help the controversy of all historical evidence (and hence images). For even if their prescription and archival authenticity are confirmed, this does not mean at all that the document is reliable and humanly truthful. The case of Mary Stuart clearly demonstrates to us how much the description of the same hour, the same event by contemporaries can vary. And now the documented “yes” is opposed to the documented “no”, there is an excuse for any accusation. And the false is so confused with the truth, and the invented with the real, that truly any point of view can be presented with sufficient persuasiveness: if you want to prove that she was also guilty of the murder of her husband, you can cite dozens of testimonies, as well as in that case , whenever you want to present her as innocent; for anyone who wants to paint her character, all colors have been mixed for a long time. When political interest or national patriotism is added to this confusion of available messages, the image will be distorted even more. And without that, it is inherent in human nature that, if we are already talking about a dispute about the existence and non-existence of two people, two ideas, two worldviews, it is very difficult to avoid the temptation to take one of the sides, to recognize its rightness and the wrongness of the other, to call one guilty and the other is innocent. If, as in the case we are describing, the portrayers themselves belong to one of the belligerents, religions or worldviews, their one-sidedness is actually predetermined from the very beginning; as a rule, all Protestant authors tirelessly put all the blame on Mary Stuart, and Catholics on Elizabeth. English writers, with rare exceptions, expose her as a murderer, and the Scots as an innocent victim of vile slander. As for the most controversial object of discussion, the “letters from the casket,” some swear as unshakably about their authenticity as others refute it. And so every little thing is saturated with political predilections. Perhaps that is why a non-English or non-Scotch who does not have this prejudice and dependence in his blood is able to be more objective and impartial. Perhaps he will sooner be able to approach this tragedy, on the one hand, with ardent, and on the other, unbiased interest.
Indeed, it would also be impudent of him to say that he knows the truth, the exclusive truth of knowing all the circumstances of the life of Mary Stuart. He can put forward only the most probable assumptions, and even taking into account what he, to the best of his knowledge and beliefs, takes as objectivity, he still remains subjective. For since the sources are not pure, in this troubled water he will have to try to achieve clarity. Since contemporary reports contradict each other, he, faced with every little thing, will have to choose between the evidence of accusers and acquitters. And no matter how carefully he approaches the selection process, sometimes it will be best if he puts a question mark on his opinion and admits to himself that the veracity of this or that fact of the life of Mary Stuart has remained unconfirmed and probably will remain so forever.
Therefore, in the attempt presented to your court, I strictly adhere to the principle that I do not allow me to evaluate all the evidence that was torn out under torture, dictated by fear or coercion: a true seeker of the truth should never fully trust forced confessions. Exactly with the same extreme caution one should treat the reports of spies and ambassadors (at that time they were practically the same), initially doubting any document; despite the fact that it is believed here that the sonnets and, for the most part, the "letters from the casket" should be considered true, it can be argued that the author came to this conclusion after the strictest checks and taking into account reasons convincing to him personally. Whenever contradictory statements intersect in archival documents, I carefully checked both options for origin and the presence of a political motive, if it was necessary to make a choice between one and the other, and the last measure was the psychological comparability of one or another action with the character of the character.
For in itself the character of Mary Stuart is by no means mysterious: it is contradictory only in its external manifestations, but inside it is straightforward and unambiguous from beginning to end. Mary Stuart belongs to one of those rare and exciting types of women whose ability to experience is limited to a very short period of time, who bloom briefly but brightly, who do not manifest themselves throughout life, but only in the narrow and ardent confines of a single passion. Up to the age of twenty-three, her feeling only smoldered, and even after the age of twenty-five it never flared up even once, but in two short years she experienced a surge, like the elements of a hurricane, which suddenly turned a mediocre fate into a tragedy of ancient proportions, as great and powerful as "Oresteia ". Only in these two years does Mary Stuart turn into a truly tragic character, only under their pressure and overwhelmed by them does she grow above herself, destroying and at the same time saving her life for eternity. And only thanks to this passion alone, which destroyed her as a person, her name still continues to live, undergoing poetic interpretations.
And this particular form of inner biography, compressed into a single moment of explosion, from the very beginning predetermines the form and rhythm of any depiction of Mary Stuart; the only thing that any of the authors who model it should strive for is to present the curve of life that has skyrocketed and just as quickly collapsed in all its dizzying uniqueness. Therefore, one should not be surprised if the long spans of her first twenty-three years of life and, again, almost twenty years of her imprisonment, described in this book, take no more time than two years of passionate tragedy. For in the sphere of one lived destiny, external and internal time coincide only at first glance; in fact, only the fullness of events can serve as a measure of the soul: it measures the hours from the inside in a completely different way than an indifferent calendar. Intoxicated with feelings, joyful and relaxed, fertilized by fate, infinite fullness can open to her in a short time, and when the soul renounces passion, many years will appear before her as an endless emptiness, slippery shadows, deaf Nothing. Therefore, in any life story, only tense, decisive moments are important, therefore only in them and by them it is told that it truly appears before us. And only when a person puts all his strength on the line, he truly comes to life for himself and for others; only when the soul burns and blazes from within can an external image be formed.
Characters
First setting: Scotland 1542–1548
Second locale: France 1548–1561
Third locale: Scotland 1561–1568
Fourth location: England 1568–1587
Scotland
James V (1512–1542), father of Mary Stuart
Mary of Guise of Lorraine (1515–1560), his wife, mother of Mary Stuart
MARY STUART (1542-1587)
JAMES STEWART, EARL OF MURRAY (1533–1570), illegitimate son of James V by Margaret Douglas, daughter of Lord Erskine, half-brother of Mary Stuart, regent of Scotland before and after the reign of Mary Stuart
HENRY DARNLEY (STEWART) (1546–1567), great-grandson of Henry VII by mother Lady Lennox, niece of Henry VIII. Second husband of Mary Stuart, in this capacity - co-ruler of Scotland
JAMES VI (1566–1625), son of Mary Stuart and Henry Darnley. After the death of Mary Stuart (1587) - the full king of Scotland, after the death of Elizabeth (1603) - the king of England, under the name of James I
JAMES HEPBURN, EARL OF BOSWELL (1536–1578), later Duke of Orkney and third husband of Mary Stuart
WILLIAM MAITLAND OF LETHYNGTON, Secretary of State during the reign of Mary Stuart
JAMES MELVILLE, diplomat and confidant of Mary Stuart
JAMES DOUGLAS, EARL OF MORTON, regent of Scotland after Murray's assassination, executed 1581
MATTHEW STEWART, EARL OF LENNOX, father of Henry Darnley, chief accuser of Mary Stuart after his assassination
The lords, who became now supporters of Mary Stuart, now her opponents, constantly made alliances with each other and plotted against each other, almost without exception ended their lives on the scaffold:
MORTON DOUGLAS
KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE
Four Marys, peers and friends of Mary Stuart:
MARY BEATON
MARY FLEMING
MARY LIVINGSTON
MARY SETON
JOHN KNOX (1502–1572), Reformed Church preacher, chief opponent of Mary Stuart
DAVID RICCIO, musician and secretary at the court of Mary Stuart, murdered in 1566.
PIERRE DE CHATELARD, French poet at the court of Mary Stuart, executed in 1563.
GEORGE BUCHANAN, humanist and teacher of James VI, compiler of the most vicious libels against Mary Stuart
France
Henry II (1518–1559), from 1547 King of France
CATHERINE MEDICHI (1519–1589), his wife
FRANCIS II (1544–1560), their eldest son, first husband of Mary Stuart
Charles IX (1550-1574), younger brother of Francis II, after the death of the latter - king of France
Four representatives of the House of Guise:
CARDINAL OF LORRAINE
Claude de Guise
Francois de Guise
HENRI DE GUISE
Poets who glorified Mary Stuart in their writings:
England
HENRY VII (1457–1509), King of England from 1485. Grandfather and great-grandfather of Mary Stuart and Darnley
HENRY VIII (1491–1547), his son, king from 1509
ANNE BOLAIN (1507–1536), second wife of Henry VIII, accused of adultery and executed
MARY I (1516–1536), daughter of Henry VIII by marriage to Catherine of Aragon, after the death of Edward VI (1553) – Queen of England
ELIZABETH (1533-1603), daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, declared illegitimate during her father's lifetime, but after the death of her half-sister Mary (1558) - Queen of England
EDWARD VI (1537–1553), son of Henry VIII from his third marriage to Joanna Seymour, was betrothed to Mary Stuart as a child, king from 1547
JAMES I, son of Mary Stuart, successor of Elizabeth
WILLIAM CECIL, LORD BURLEY (1520–1598), Elizabeth's all-powerful trusted secretary of state
SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM Secretary of State and Minister of Police
WILLIAM DEVISON, Second Secretary
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (1532–1588), favorite and confidant of Elizabeth, proposed by her for the role of spouse of Mary Stuart
THOMAS HOWARD, DUKE OF NORFOLK, first aristocrat of the empire, pretender to the hand of Mary Stuart
Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, was Mary Stuart's keeper for fifteen years on behalf of Elizabeth.
AMIAS PAULET, Mary Stuart's last jailer
LONDON EXECUTION
Chapter first
Queen from the cradle
1542–1548
Mary Stuart was six days old when she became Queen of Scots: from the very beginning, the law of her life earned: to receive everything from fate too early, as a gift, without experiencing the joy of awareness. On a gloomy December day in 1542 - she was born in Linlithgau Castle - in one of the neighboring castles her father lay on his deathbed, he was only thirty-one years old, but life had already broken him, tired the crown, tired of the battles. He was a brave knight, once even cheerful, passionately loved art and women, did not shun the people; often, having changed clothes, he went out to the village for a holiday, danced and joked with the peasants, and some of the songs and ballads he wrote lived in the memory of the people for a long time. But this unfortunate heir of an unfortunate family was born in troubled times in an inhospitable country, and from the very beginning a tragic fate was destined for him. His strong spirit and quarrelsome neighbor Henry VIII insisted on the introduction of the Reformation, but James V remained faithful to Catholicism; the Scottish nobility, who were always not averse to creating difficulties for their ruler, immediately took advantage of the discord that reigned and plunged the cheerful and peaceful husband into a state of constant anxiety and war. Four years ago, when James V wooed Mary of Guise, he accurately described the vicissitudes and hardships of the royal burden in this stubborn and greedy clan.
“Madame,” he wrote in this amazingly sincere letter, “I am only twenty-seven years old, and life already weighs me down just like my crown ... Left an orphan since childhood, I became a prisoner of vain aristocrats; the powerful house of Douglas kept me in subjection for a long time, and I hate that name and every memory of it. Archibald, the Earl of Angus, George, his brother, and all their exiled relatives, are constantly turning the King of England against us, there is not a nobleman in my realm whom he would not seduce with promises or bribe with gold. My person is not safe, no one can guarantee that it will be, in my opinion, that the laws will be just. All this frightens me, madam, and I expect strength and advice from you. I am trying to decorate castles, keep fortresses defensible, and build ships - without money, limited only by the support that I receive from France, and thanks to small donations from my rich clergy. But my barons consider a king who truly wants to be king an intolerable rival. Despite my friendship with the King of France and the support of his troops, despite the love of my people, I still fear that I will not be able to win a decisive victory over the barons. In an attempt to clear the path to justice and peace for this people, I could have overcome all obstacles, and perhaps I would have been able to achieve this goal if no one supported the aristocracy of my country. But the King of England constantly sows discord between us, and those destructive heresies that he planted in my state seep even into church circles themselves and into the people. But the strength of my and my ancestors was based solely on the townspeople and the church, and here I am forced to ask myself: how much time has been allotted to this strength?
All the troubles predicted by the king in this prophetic letter have come true, and even more. Both sons, whom Mary de Guise gave him, died in the cradle, and King James V, a man in the prime of life, could not wait for the heir to the crown, which every year pressed on him more and more painfully. In the end, the Scottish barons pushed him against his will to go to war with England, which was much superior in strength, so that later, at the decisive hour, they would treacherously abandon him alone. At the battle of Solway Moss, Scotland not only lost the battle, she lost her honor: without really fighting, the leaderless troops, left by the heads of the clans, fled in the most miserable way; however, the king himself, this everlasting knight, at that decisive hour was no longer fighting with other people's enemies, but with his own death. Consumed by heat and fatigue, he lay in bed at Falkland Castle, weary of meaningless battles and a painful life.
Then, on that gloomy winter day of December 9, 1542, when the windows were covered with fog, a messenger knocked on the door and informed the patient, tired of dying, that he had a daughter, an heiress. But the tormented soul of James V had no strength left to hope or rejoice. Why not a son, not an heir? Doomed to death sees only misfortune, tragedy and decline in everything, and therefore disappointedly answered:
“The woman gave us the crown, the woman will take it,” and this gloomy prophecy was his last words.
Sighing, he turned back to the wall and stopped answering questions. He was buried a few days later, and Mary Stuart, barely having time to see the world, became the heiress of the kingdom.
This legacy is doubly difficult: to be a Stuart and Queen of Scots, because none of the Stuarts on this throne has so far been lucky and none of them have lingered on it for a long time. Two kings, James I and James III, were killed, two more, James II and James IV, fell on the battlefield, and two of their descendants, this innocent child and grandson by blood, Charles I, fate prepared an even more cruel fate: the scaffold . None of this kind of Atreev was granted to enjoy the fullness of life, the stars of good luck did not shine on anyone. The Stuarts always had to fight with external enemies, enemies within the state and with themselves, they were always surrounded by anxiety, and anxiety was inside. And just as restless as they themselves is their country, and the most treacherous in it are those who should have been among the most devoted: lords and barons, this gloomy and unbridled, this greedy and warlike, this stubborn and adamant knightly family - "un pays barbare et une gent brutelle," as Ronsard, a poet who has drifted into this foggy country, complains with displeasure. Feeling like little kings in their country estates and castles, lords and barons arbitrarily drive, like slaughtered cattle, plowmen and shepherds subject to them into their endless skirmishes and raids, for these boundless rulers of clans know no other joy of being than war. Discord is their passion, jealousy drives them, and they think all their lives only about power. “Money and profit,” writes the French envoy, “these are the only sirens to which the Scottish lords heed. And if you talk to them about duty in relation to their princes, honor, justice, virtue and noble deeds, then this will only cause them an attack of uncontrollable laughter. In their immoral quarreling and thieving they are like the Italian condottieri, but not so cultured and unrestrained in their indulgence of instincts, and they constantly fight for the right of superiority, all these ancient and powerful clans of Gordons, Hamiltons, Arans, Maitlands, Crawfords, Lindseys, Lennoxes and Argailov. Either they peacefully graze side by side on their ancient fiefs, or, having concluded a solemn alliance, they assure each other of short-lived loyalty in order to unite against a third, constantly forming cliques and gangs, but in the depths of their souls they are all strangers to each other, and everyone, despite to all family or personal ties, uncontrollably jealous and at enmity with others. Something pagan and barbaric continues to live in these wild souls, and no matter what they call themselves, whether Catholics or Protestants - as profit dictates to them - but in fact they are all the grandchildren of Macbeth and Macduff, bloody secrets, beautifully described Shakespeare.
And only in one single case, all this indomitable and jealous gang unites immediately: whenever it is necessary to not give free rein to their common ruler, their own king, for all of them are equally unbearable obedience and unknown loyalty. If this “parcel of rascals”, as the proto-Scottish Burns branded them, agrees to endure some kind of illusory royal power over their castles and possessions, then this happens solely from a feeling of jealousy and rivalry between clans. The Gordons allowed the Stuarts to wear the crown only to prevent the Hamiltons from getting it, and the Hamiltons out of rivalry with the Gordons. But woe to the king of Scotland if, like a true ruler, he tries to force the country into submission and bring it to order, if he, in his youthful enthusiasm, dares to oppose the arrogance and greed of the lords! Then this unfriendly gang will immediately unite in order to deprive their ruler of power, and if it is not possible to do this with the help of a sword, then the killer's dagger is always at the service.
It is a tragic, passion-torn country, dark and romantic, like a ballad, this tiny island kingdom washed by the sea in the far north of Europe, and besides, it is poor. For all the forces are being drunk by the eternal war waged here. A handful of cities, which are difficult to call cities, because they are just houses of the poor who have huddled under the protection of the fortress walls, have not been able to get rich or at least give birth to a prosperous philistinism. And noble castles, again, the gloomy and massive ruins of which still rise above the hills to this day, cannot be called real castles, with their luxury and courtly abundance; they are designed for war, conceived as impenetrable fortresses, and not at all to the gentle art of hospitality. Between the few large cliques and their henchmen, the nourishing, power-forming power of the creative middle class is practically absent. The only densely populated area between the Tweed and the bay into which the river flows is located too close to the English border, and it is constantly destroyed and devastated by raids. But in the north, you can wander for hours along abandoned lakes, deserted pastures or gloomy northern forests without meeting a single village, castle or city. Here, as in the overcrowded European lands, there are no towns huddled side by side with each other; to bring back gold or spices from distant oceans; as in ancient patriarchal times, people barely survive by sheep breeding, fishing and hunting: according to the laws and customs, wealth and culture, then Scotland lags behind England and Europe by a hundred years. While in all coastal cities banks and exchanges already flourished with the beginning of the New Age, here, as in biblical times, all wealth is measured by lands and sheep; ten thousand of them belong to James V, the father of Mary Stuart, and they are his only property. He has no crown jewels, no army, no life guards to secure his own power, for he could not pay it, and Parliament, where all decisions are made by the lords, will never agree to give its king the true means of power. Everything that this king has, except the bare necessities, has been lent or given to him by wealthy allies, France and the Pope; all the carpets, all the tapestries, all the chandeliers in his chambers were bought with humiliation. And this eternal poverty is the abscess that drains the political forces of this beautiful, noble country. For because of the poverty and greed of her kings, her soldiers and lords, she constantly remains a blood ball in the play of other forces. Those who fight against the king for Protestantism receive a salary in London, those for Catholicism and the Stuarts in Paris, Madrid and Rome: all these foreign powers gladly and willingly pay for Scottish blood. And the two great nations, England and France, still cannot resolve their dispute, so England's closest neighbor is an indispensable partner in the game for France. Whenever the armies of the English break through into Normandy, France immediately plunges this dagger into the back of England; and the always war-ready Scots break the "Border" and pounce on their "auld enimies", even in times of peace posing a serious threat. The military support of Scotland is the eternal headache of French politics, and this is natural, because England, in turn, is always eager to break her, aggravating the lords and warming up the constant uprisings. So this unfortunate country becomes a bloody battlefield of a hundred years of war, and only the fate of this still unsuspecting child will finally decide everything.
Incredibly dramatic symbolism is that this battle begins at the cradle of Mary Stuart. So far, this baby still cannot speak, cannot think, cannot feel, is barely able to move its tiny hands in a child's envelope - and politics has already grabbed hold of its undeveloped body, its unclouded soul. For such is the bitter fate of Mary Stuart - forever to be a pawn in this prudent game. She will never be able to calmly weave her Self, her self, she will forever be entangled in politics, be an object of diplomacy, a toy of other people's desires, always only a queen, a contender for the crown, an ally or an enemy. As soon as the envoy delivered to London both messages - about the death of James V and that his newborn daughter became the heiress and queen of Scotland - when Henry VIII, King of England, immediately decided to marry his minor son and heir Edward to this a very valuable bride; still unformed body, still sleeping soul immediately began to trade as a commodity. After all, politics never takes into account feelings, only crowns, lands and inheritance rights are important to it. Individual people simply do not exist for her, they are not important against the backdrop of the obvious and material values of the global game. In this special case, however, Henry VIII's idea of having the heiress of Scotland betrothed to the heir of England was sound and even humane. For this incessant war between fraternal peoples has long lost its meaning. Living on the same island in the World Ocean, separated and washed by the same seas, relatives by race, having similar living conditions, the peoples of England and Scotland, undoubtedly, had one task: to unite, and nature clearly let them feel its will. However, the jealousy between the two dynasties - the Tudors and the Stuarts - still stands in the way of this last goal; if now, by marriage, the dissension between the two ruling houses could be turned into an alliance, then the common descendants of the Stuarts and Tudors could be kings of England, Scotland and Ireland at the same time, and a united Great Britain could enter into a more important battle: for the supremacy of the world.
What bad luck: whenever a clear and logical idea suddenly comes to someone in politics, stupid execution can ruin everything. At first, everything went just great. The lords, in whose pockets money quickly fell, joyfully agreed to the marriage contract. That's just cunning Henry VIII little ordinary parchment. Too often he had encountered the hypocrisy and greed of these "men of honor" not to know that these unreliable allies would never be bound by a treaty, and that if they were offered more, they would readily sell the child-queen to the heir to the French throne. Therefore, as a first condition, he demanded from the intermediaries on the part of Scotland the immediate transfer of the minor child to England. But if the Tudors do not trust the Stuarts, then the Stuarts have no less reason to behave in the same way towards the Tudors, and Mary Stuart's mother opposes this treaty most of all. Brought up in a strict Catholic faith, nee de Guise, she does not want to give her child to heresiarchs, and otherwise she easily found dangerous traps in the contract. For in a secret paragraph, the bribed intermediaries on the part of Scotland signed an undertaking that, if the child should die prematurely, to help ensure that, in spite of this, "all the power and possessions of the kingdom" passed to Henry VIII: and this one point and made her think. For from a man who has already sent two of his wives to the scaffold, it can be expected that he, in order to quickly get an important inheritance, can somewhat hasten the death of this child in an unnatural way; therefore, the queen, being a caring mother, refused to transfer her daughter to London. And so it happened that the matchmaking almost turned into a war. Henry VIII sent troops to seize the precious pledge by force, and in the spirit of the undisguised rudeness of the time, his order to his own army is an example of the greatest cruelty: “It is the will of His Majesty that everything be given over to fire and sword. Burn Edinburgh to the ground, raze it to the ground when you have taken everything you can out of it, and plunder it completely ... Devastate Holyrood and as many towns and villages as you can, plunder, burn and subjugate Lyth and all other cities, mercilessly massacre men, women and children who will resist.” The armed gangs of Henry VIII break through the borders like a horde of Huns, but at the last moment the mother and child managed to be transported to the fortified castle of Stirling, and Henry VIII had to be content with an agreement in which Scotland undertakes to transfer Mary Stuart (she is always traded and sold like an object) to the day she turns ten.
Once again, things seemed to work out for the best. But politics has always been a science of contradictions. She is disgusted by simple, natural and reasonable solutions; there is no greater pleasure for her than difficulties, and discord is her element. Soon the Catholics began to secretly gossip about whether it would be better to sell the child - who for now can only coo and smile - to the son of the king of France, not England, and after the death of Henry VIII, no one has much desire to fulfill the contract. Only now, instead of the minor King Edward, the regent of England, Somerset, demands the transfer of the child-bride to London, and when Scotland opposed, he unleashed the army so that the lords would hear the only language they can honor: strength. On September 10, 1547, at the battle - or rather massacre - at Pinky, the Scottish troops were defeated, leaving more than ten thousand dead on the battlefield. Mary Stuart is not yet five years old, and rivers of blood are already pouring for her.
Stefan Zweig
Mary Stuart
Mary SetonJohn Knox (1505–1572), Reformed church preacher, chief opponent of Mary Stuart
David Riccio (c. 1533–1566), musician, Mary Stuart's secretary, murdered 1566
Pierre de Chatelard (1540–1563), French poet in the court of Mary Stuart, executed 1563
George Buchanan (1506–1582), humanist, educator of James VI, author of the most malicious lampoons on Mary Stuart.
Henry II (1518–1559), French king from 1547
Catherine de' Medici (1519–1589), his wife.
Francis II (1544–1560), his eldest son, first husband of Mary Stuart
Charles IX (1550–1574), younger brother of Francis II, King of France after his death.
From the House of Guise:
Cardinal of Lorraine
Claude de Guise
Francois de Guise
Du Bellay
Henry VII (1457–1509), King of England from 1485, grandfather of Elizabeth, great-grandfather of Mary Stuart and Darnley.
Henry VIII (1491–1547), his son, reigned from 1509
Anne Boleyn (1507–1536), second wife of Henry VIII; accused of adultery, was executed.
Mary I (1516-1558), daughter of Henry VIII by marriage to Catherine of Aragon, after the death of Edward VI (1553) - Queen of England.
Elizabeth (1533–1603), daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, considered illegitimate during her father's lifetime; after the death of her half-sister Mary (1558), she ascended the English throne.
Edward VI (1537–1553), son of Henry VIII from his third marriage to Joanna Seymour, betrothed to Mary Stuart as a child, king since 1547.
James I (1566–1625), son of Mary Stuart, successor to Elizabeth.
William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1520–1598), Elizabeth's all-powerful state chancellor.
Sir Francis Walsingham (1532–1590), Secretary of State and Minister of Police.
William Davison, Second Secretary.
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (1532–1588), favorite of Elizabeth, proposed by her as wife Mary Stuart.
Thomas Howard (1473–1554), Duke of Norfolk, first nobleman of the realm, claimed the hand of Mary Stuart.
Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury (1528–1590), on behalf of Elizabeth, was Mary Stuart's keeper for fifteen years.
Amyas Paulet, Mary Stuart's last jailer.
Executioner of the city of London.
queen child
Mary Stuart was less than a week old when she became Queen of Scotland; so from the very first days the original law of her life declares itself - too early, still not knowing how to rejoice, she accepts the generous gifts of fortune. On a gloomy day in December 1542, having seen her birth at Linlithgau Castle, her father, James V, lies on his deathbed in neighboring Falkland. The king is thirty-one years old, and he is already broken by life, tired of power and struggle. A true brave man and knight, a lover of life by nature, he passionately revered art and women and was loved by the people. Often, dressed as a commoner, he attended village holidays, danced and joked with the peasants, and the fatherland kept in memory the songs and ballads he composed for a long time. But the unfortunate heir of an unfortunate family, he lived in troubled times in a recalcitrant country, and this decided his fate. The imperious, arrogant neighbor Henry VIII encourages him to plant the reformation, but James V remains faithful to Catholicism, and the Scottish nobility take advantage of this discord, always involving the cheerful, peace-loving king in wars and unrest. Four years before his death, when he was looking for the hand of Mary of Guise, James V already understood well what it means to be a king in defiance of obstinate and predatory clans. “Madame,” he wrote to her with touching sincerity, “I am only twenty-seven years old, and life already burdens me, as well as my crown ... Orphaned in early childhood, I was a prisoner of an ambitious nobility; I was held captive by the mighty Douglas family, and I hate the name and the very memory of it. Archibald, Count of Engas, George, his brother, and all their exiled relatives are constantly setting the English king against us, and there is not a nobleman in my country whom he would not corrupt with dishonorable promises and bribe with gold. I can never be sure of my safety, as well as that my will and just laws are being carried out. All this frightens me, Madame, and I look forward to your support and advice. Without any means, surviving only with the help of the French king and the ungenerous donations of my rich clergy, I try to decorate my castles, renovate fortresses and build ships. But my barons see a hated rival in a king who really wants to be king. I am afraid that, despite the friendship of the French king and the support of his troops, despite the loyalty of the people, I will not be able to defeat the barons. I would not back down from anything to pave the way for my country to justice and peace, and I think I would succeed if my nobles did not have a powerful ally. The English king tirelessly stirs up enmity between us, and the heresies planted by him in my state affect all classes, including the clergy and the common people. The only power that I and my ancestors could rely on from time immemorial were the townspeople and the church, and I ask myself: how long will they be our support?
Truly, this is Cassandra's letter - all his ominous predictions come true, and many other, even more serious disasters fall on the king. Both sons, given to him by Mary of Guise, die in the cradle, and James V in his best time still does not have an heir to the crown, which year by year weighs more and more on him. In the end, the recalcitrant barons involve him in a war with mighty England, in order to leave him treacherously at a critical moment. At Solvay Bay, Scotland learned not only the bitterness, but also the shame of defeat. The army, abandoned by the leaders of the clans, fled cowardly, offering almost no resistance, and the king, a courageous knight, in this difficult hour is fighting not with an alien enemy, but with his own death. In Falkland he lies, tormented by a fever, weary of a hateful life and senseless struggle.
On that gloomy winter day on December 9, 1542, when there was an impenetrable fog outside the windows, a messenger knocked at the gates of Falkland Castle. He brought the tormented, fading king the news that he had a daughter, an heiress. But in the devastated soul of James V there is no place for joy and hope. Why not a son, not an heir? .. Doomed to death, he sees everywhere only misfortune, ruin and hopeless evil. “The woman brought us the crown, with the woman we will lose it,” he says resignedly. This gloomy prophecy was his last word. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the wall and did not respond to anything else. A few days later he was interred, and Mary Stuart, not yet able to see the world, became queen.
However, to be from the Stuart family and, moreover, the Scottish Queen meant to bear a double curse, for not one of the Stuarts fell on this throne to reign happily and for a long time. Two kings - James I and James III - were killed, two - James II and James IV - fell on the battlefield, and two of their descendants - this still unintelligent baby and her blood grandson Charles I - fate prepared an even more terrible fate - the scaffold. None of this kind of Atreev was given the opportunity to reach advanced years, fate and the stars did not favor anyone. They are forever at war with external enemies, internal enemies and with themselves, forever surrounded by turmoil and carry turmoil in themselves. Their country does not know the world just as they do not know it themselves. Least of all can they rely on those of their subjects who should be the support of the throne - on lords and barons, on all this gloomy and severe, wild and unbridled, greedy and warlike, stubborn and wayward tribe of knights - "un pays barbare et une gent brutelle,” as lamented by Ronsard, a poet thrown into this land of mist. Feeling like little kings in their estates and castles, lords and barons drive, like slaughter cattle, plowmen and shepherds subject to them into their endless fights and robbery raids; unlimited rulers of clans, they know no other joy than war. Their element is discord, their motivation is envy, all their thoughts are about power. “Gold and greed are the only sirens whose songs are heard by the Scottish lords,” writes the French ambassador. “To teach them what duty to the sovereign, honor, justice, noble deeds is, means only to arouse ridicule in them.” Pugnacious and predatory like the Italian condottieri, but even more unbridled and uncouth in the manifestation of their passions, all these ancient powerful clans - Gordons, Hamiltons, Arans, Maitlands, Crawfords, Lindseys, Lenoxes and Argylls - are always squabbling among themselves over primacy. Either they take up arms against each other in endless strife, then they solemnly seal their short-lived alliances in solemn "bonds", conspiring against someone else, they always stray into gangs and cliques, but are not connected with each other in any way and, being all relatives and in-laws, actually envious and implacable enemies. In their hearts, they are all the same pagans and barbarians, no matter how they call themselves Protestants or Catholics, depending on what is more profitable for them, all the same great-grandchildren of Macbeth and Macduff, bloody theans, so brilliantly depicted by Shakespeare.
Only in one indomitable envious pack is united - in the struggle against their sovereign, the king, for all of them are equally intolerable to obedience and unfamiliar with loyalty. And if this "bunch of scoundrels" - "parcel of rascals", as Burns branded them from the Scots - and endures some semblance of power over their castles and other property, it is only out of jealousy of one clan to another. The Gordons leave the crown to the Stewarts because they are afraid that the Hamiltons will get it, and the Hamiltons only out of jealousy of the Gordons. But woe to the king of Scotland, should he, in his ardent, youthful arrogance, become a king in deed, impose order and good morals in the country and resist the greed of the lords! All this rabble that is at war with each other will immediately rally in a brotherly manner in order to overthrow their sovereign; and if they do not succeed with the sword, then the reliable dagger of the killer is at their service.
Tragic, torn apart by violent passions, gloomy and romantic, like a ballad, this small, isolated, sea-washed country on the northern outskirts of Europe is also impoverished, because it is depleted by endless wars. Several towns—however, what kind of towns they are—just huts huddled under the protection of a fortress! – cannot get rich or even achieve prosperity. They are constantly robbed and burned. The castles of the aristocrats, whose gloomy and majestic ruins rise to this day, do not in any way resemble real castles, boasting of their splendor and court splendor; these impregnable fortresses were intended for war - not for peaceful hospitality. Between the few branched aristocratic families and their lackeys, the beneficial power of the active middle class, so necessary for the state, was absent. The only densely populated region between the rivers Tweed and Firth lies too close to the English border, and raids now and then ravage and devastate it. In the north, you can wander for hours around lonely lakes, through deserted pastures or dense forests, not meeting a village, a castle, or a city. The villages here do not cling to each other, as in the overpopulated parts of Europe: there are no wide roads carrying trade and business revival to the country, nor raids full of pennants, as in Holland, Spain and England, from where ships sail, rushing to distant oceans for gold and spices; the population barely feeds itself, subsisting on sheep breeding, fishing and hunting, as in ancient times; in its customs and laws, in prosperity and culture, Scotland of that time was no less than a century behind England and Europe. While banks and exchanges spring up everywhere in port cities, here, as in biblical days, wealth is measured by the amount of land and sheep. The entire property of James V, the father of Mary Stuart, is ten thousand sheep. He has neither the treasures of the crown, nor an army, nor the life guards to assert his power, for he cannot support them, and Parliament, where everything is decided by the lords, will never give the king real means of power. Everything that the king has, in addition to meager food, is given to him by rich allies - France and the pope; every carpet, every tapestry, every candlestick in his palace chambers and castles went to him at the cost of humiliation.
Inescapable poverty, like a festering ulcer, exhausts the political forces of Scotland, a beautiful, noble country. The want and greed of her kings, soldiers and lords make her a plaything in the hands of foreign rulers. Whoever fights against the king and for Protestantism, London pays him; whoever fights for Catholicism and the Stuarts is paid by Paris, Madrid and Rome; foreign powers willingly buy Scottish blood. The dispute between the two great nations over the championship is still not resolved, so Scotland - the closest neighbor of England - is France's indispensable partner in the game. Every time English troops invade Normandy, France aims this dagger at England's back, and the warlike Scots immediately cross the border, threatening their auld enimies. But even in peacetime, the Scots are the eternal threat to England. Therefore, strengthening the military forces of Scotland is the first concern of French politicians; England, by playing off the lords and inciting rebellions in the country, seeks to undermine these forces. Thus, the unfortunate country becomes the bloody field of the Hundred Years' War, and only the tragic fate of the still foolish baby will finally decide this dispute.
What a magnificent dramatic symbol: the struggle begins at the very cradle of Mary Stuart! The baby still does not speak, does not think, does not feel, he barely moves his little hands in his envelope, and politics is already tenaciously grabbing his unbloomed body, his innocent soul. Such is the evil fate of Mary Stuart, she is always drawn into this gambling. She will never be able to carelessly surrender to the inclinations of her nature, she is constantly embroiled in political intrigues, made the object of diplomatic tricks, a toy of foreign interests, she is always only a queen or pretender to the throne, ally or enemy. No sooner had the messenger delivered to London both the news that James V had died and that he had a daughter, the Crown Princess and Queen of Scots, as Henry VIII of England decides to secure this precious bride for his infant son Edward; a body that has not yet formed, a still dormant soul, is disposed of like a commodity. But politics does not take into account feelings, it takes into account only crowns, states and inheritance rights. An individual person does not exist for her, he means nothing in comparison with the imaginary and real goals of the world game. True, in this particular case, the intention of Henry VIII to betroth the heir to the throne of Scotland with the heir to the throne of England is reasonable and even humane. The continuous war between the two fraternal countries has long lost all meaning. The peoples of England and Scotland, living on the same island, under the protection and threat of the same sea, related in origin and living conditions, undoubtedly have one task: to unite. Nature this time unambiguously revealed its will. And only the rivalry between the two dynasties of the Tudors and the Stuarts prevents the task. If this marriage succeeded in turning the dispute into an alliance, the common descendants of the Stuarts and Tudors would simultaneously rule England, Scotland and Ireland, and a united Great Britain could give its strength to a more difficult struggle - for world superiority.
But such is the irony of fate: as soon as a clear, reasonable idea flashes in politics as an exception, it is distorted by stupid execution. At first, everything goes like clockwork: the accommodating lords, who are generously paid, willingly vote for the marriage contract. However, the wiser Henry VIII is not satisfied with a piece of parchment. He knows all too well the hypocrisy and greed of these noble gentlemen, and he understands that they cannot be relied upon and that for a large sum they will immediately resell the little queen to the French Dauphin. Therefore, Henry VIII demands from the Scottish intermediaries, as a first condition, the immediate extradition of the child. But if the Tudors do not believe the Stuarts, then the Stuarts pay them in kind; the queen mother is especially opposed to the treaty. A devout Catholic, the daughter of Guise does not want to give her child to apostates and heretics, and besides, it does not take much insight to discover a dangerous trap in the contract. In a special, secret clause, the mediators undertook, in the event of the premature death of a child, to help ensure that "all power and control of the kingdom" passed to Henry VIII. There is something to think about here! From a man who has already sent two wives to the scaffold, everything can be expected: in his impatience to take possession of the desired inheritance, he will probably still try to make the child die as soon as possible - and not by his own death; therefore, the caring mother rejects the demand for the extradition of the baby to London. Matchmaking almost leads to war. Henry VIII sends troops to seize the precious pledge, and the order given to the army speaks eloquently of the frank inhumanity of the century: “His Majesty commands everything to be put to fire and sword. Burn Edinburgh to the ground and raze it to the ground as soon as you have carried it out and plunder everything you can... Plunder Holyrood and as many towns and villages around Edinburgh as you meet on the way; give Leith and other cities to the flood and plunder, and where you stumble upon resistance, exterminate men, women and children without pity.
Like the Huns, the armed hordes of Henry VIII invaded Scotland. But mother and child took refuge in the fortified castle of Stirling in time, and Henry VIII had to be content with an agreement under which Scotland undertook to extradite Mary Stuart to England (she is always sold and bought like a commodity!) On the day she turns ten years old.
It would seem that everything was settled to the general pleasure. But politics has always been a science of paradoxes. Simple, reasonable and natural solutions are alien to her: creating difficulties is her passion, sowing enmity is her calling. Soon, the Catholic party embarks on intrigues, surreptitiously figuring out whether it is more profitable to sell the child - it still only babbles and smiles - to the French dauphin, and after the death of Henry VIII, no one even thinks about fulfilling the contract. But now, on behalf of the infant king Edward, the English regent Somerset demands the extradition of the baby bride, and, since Scotland resists, he again sends troops, for one can only speak one language with the lords - the language of power. On September 10, 1547, in the battle - or rather, the massacre - at Pinky, the Scottish army was utterly defeated, more than ten thousand corpses littered the battlefield. Mary Stuart was not even five years old, and because of her, blood is already flowing like a river.
Before the English lies defenseless Scotland. But in a plundered country there is nothing to take; The Tudors are interested in the only treasure - the child, personifying the crown and succession to the throne. However, to the great chagrin of the English spies, Mary Stuart suddenly and without a trace disappeared from Stirling Castle; even the closest people do not know where the queen mother hid her. A new safe hiding place is excellently chosen: at night, devoted servants, under the strictest confidence, take the child to the Inchmehom Monastery, hiding on a small island in Lake Menthit - "dans les pays des sauvages", according to the French ambassador. Not a single path leads to reserved places; the precious cargo is delivered in a boat to the island and there it is entrusted to the care of pious monks who never leave the monastery. Here, in a safe haven, far from the restless, troubled world, lives an innocent child, knowing nothing, while diplomacy, spreading its nets over seas and countries, diligently attends to its fate. For France enters the arena threateningly to prevent England from completely subjugating Scotland. Henry II, son of Francis I, sends a strong squadron to Scotland, and the lieutenant general of the French auxiliary corps asks on his behalf for the hand of Mary Stuart for the young Dauphin Francis. The political wind that blew sharply and impetuously from across the strait abruptly turned the fate of the child: instead of becoming the Queen of England, the little daughter of the Stuarts was suddenly destined for the Queen of France. As soon as a new and more profitable agreement is concluded, on August 7, the precious object of the transaction, the girl Mary Stuart, five years old, eight months old, is put on a ship and taken to France, having been sold to another equally unfamiliar spouse. Once again - and not for the last time - someone else's will determines and changes her fate.
Mary Stuart (1542-1587), Queen of Scotland (1542-1567).
In 1548, Mary Stuart was sent to France, where she was brought up at the French court and in 1558 was married to the Dauphin Francis (since 1559 King Francis II).
After the death of Mary I Tudor (1558), Mary Stuart, as the great-granddaughter of Henry VII, claimed the English throne.
After being widowed (1560), she returned to Scotland (1561), where the influence of the Calvinists was strong. At first, the Catholic Mary Stuart coexisted peacefully with the Protestants and with England. However, later she began to actively contact with Rome and the Catholic powers, as well as with the Irish rebels. This aroused the displeasure of the Scottish lords, incited by England.
In July 1565, Mary Stuart married the Catholic Henry Darnley, but the marriage was unsuccessful. On February 10, 1567, a group of noblemen, led by Mary's favorite, the Earl of Boswell, strangled Darnley and blew up his house.
He was unpopular among the people, the marriage was also disapproved of by the nobility; in the summer of 1567, the Calvinists raised an armed uprising.
Mary Stuart was forced to abdicate in favor of her son (Scottish king James VI, from 1603 English king James G) from 1568 fled to England, where, by order of Queen Elizabeth I, she was imprisoned and accused of killing Darnley. At the same time, in the event of the death of Elizabeth, the captive remained a contender for the throne, and the Catholic nobles, with her help, tried to restore the dominance of the Catholic Church in England.
After the discovery of a series of conspiracies against Elizabeth, in which Mary Stuart was involved, she was put on trial and sentenced to death. Mary Stuart was executed on February 8, 1587 at Fotheringay Castle. Subsequently, her son Jacob, who inherited the English throne, ordered that his mother's body be buried in Westminster Abbey.
