Mary Stuart: Victim of Evil Political Conspiracies

Mary I was the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. She was claimed illegitimate by her father and was forced to sign papers saying that he had never married her mother (Catherine of Aragon). Mary wasn’t allowed to see her mother and was sent away by Henry VIII. She followed the Catholic ways of her mother and became quite religious. Mary was angered that her father was turning Britain into Protestants. When her father finally died, at the age of 55, Mary tried to convince her 10-year-old brother- Edward- to

In July 1559, Mary and Francis assumed the royal titles of King and Queen of France since Henry II had died. Her happiness was short, after she learned the death of her mother in June 1560. Six months later, her husband King Francis II was also dead. Mary was devastated and extremely depressed. In spite of these personal tragedies, Mary chose to return to Scotland although it was a different country from the one she had left 13 years ago. In Mary’s absence the Protestant party had gained power in Scotland by abolishing the authority of the pope and forbidding the celebration of the Mass.

Even though the Northern Earls did not want to overthrow Queen Elizabeth and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots, her arrival in England was

There was a struggle for power between the Catholics and Protestants, and it was only with Elizabeth’s intervention that the Lords of the Congregation managed to retain their power, but even this was a close call. This can be seen as a failure for Elizabeth as she was wholly against rebellion against the rightful monarch, thus her intervention against Mary’s seat of power in Scotland went against Elizabeth’s own beliefs. Further failure can be seen in 1579 – 80 when Esme Stuart became a favourite of James VI in the Scottish court. Likely an agent of the Guise, Esme manipulated James VI and overthrew Morton in an attempt to revive the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France, planning an invasion of England with the English Catholics. This shows how, in Scotland, Elizabethan foreign policy was successful in all but a few

The only child of James V of Scotland and his French-born wife Mary of Guise, I was born in December 1542 in the Linlithgow Palace as Mary Stuart. My Father died a six days after my birth, and then I became Mary, Queen of Scots, with my mother acting as a regent in my stead (Source 1). At just five years of age, I was betrothed to Henry VIII’s son, Edward, but my Catholic guardians were opposed to the match, and took me too Stirling Castle, breaking the agreement(Source 1). The Scots betrothed me to the son of Henry II, Francis, the four year old heir to the French crown, and sent me to be raised at his courts (Source 1). I loved him with a strong sisterly affection (Source 4) and he loved me as a brother would love a sister.

When Mary was 5 years old her mother sent her off to live in France so Mary could marry Francis when she grew up (mother used her)

Mary was born in Scotland at Linlithgow Palace on December 8, 1542. Her father was the king of Scotland, and her mother was from a very well known French family known as the Guise. During the time that Mary was born her father was engaged in a war away from Scotland with the king of England, who had invaded Scotland at the time. In the fights, Mary’s father was defeated, and he felt that the nobles and generals who led his army, allowed the English to win in order to betray him. The thought of this betrayal was too much for Mary’s father, and as a result his frustration and suffering started to overwhelm him. Under the severity of his suffering he slowly started to decline, and finally, right after the news of Mary’s birth reached him, he passed away. Mary never got the chance to meet her father, and her father never got the chance to meet her, and since her father only produced one child before his death, Mary automatically became queen of Scotland at just six days old. Seeing as she was too

Mary’s uncle, Henry VIII, didn’t accept Mary having power at her age and he wanted the power. Of course, Mary’s mother didn’t allow that. Eventually Mary was engaged to her uncle’s son, Prince Edward of England. This idea was later rejected by the Scottish Catholics and this led to problems between England and Scotland, and Mary was sent away. Mary’s mom was French. Being that the French and the Scots had a long-lasting alliance, Mary was sent to and raised in France. At the age of five Mary was engaged to Francis, A four-year-old French heir, and this led to many other important changes in Mary’s life.

Mary was born on the 8th of December 1542, daughter to King James V of Scotland and his wife Mary of Guise, a French noblewoman. 6 days later King James V of Scotland died, making Mary an infant queen, but due to her age Mary’s mother acted as a regent (A person appointed to administer because the ruler is an infant or absent). Mary of Guise put Scotland undergo heavy French influence as many Frenchmen were in positions of power.

Then on February 18, 1516, Henry VIII and his wife Catherine had their first child . They named their little girl Mary, who later became known as “Bloody Mary”. Princess Mary of England was their first child to survive infancy, and she was Catherine’s only child. Later in Mary’s life she became the Queen of England and the Queen of Ireland .

And yet, counties weren’t always the ones who had faced much fallout in the Middle Ages. Families of all types suffered their own kind of fallout, even royalty. And one of the main pawns whom suffered in the ordeal would be Mary Stuart, also known as the Queen of Scots. What makes her unique is the fact that she became Queen of Scots when she was just 6 days old due to her father’s death in 1542. And if that wasn’t bad enough, marriage became a big problem with her, as she was told to marry off Prince Edward of England, but eventually she did not. Instead, she went off to France and stay there at the age of 5. And by the time she returned, she was a complete outsider due to her faith and Scotland’s faith, but she eventually got everything got

On 19th August 1561, Mary landed at Leith and immediately took the advice of the moderates James Stuart (her half-brother, later earl of Moray) and William Maitland of Lethington. She recognised the Reformed (Presbyterian) church and allowed it a modest endowment but not full establishment. The Protestant reformers, including John Knox, were horrified because she had Mass in her own chapel, and the Roman Catholics were worried about her lack of zeal for their cause. For the next few years Mary tried to placate the Protestants and befriend Elizabeth while at the same time negotiating a Catholic marriage with Don Carlos, the son of Philip II of Spain. When refusals came on both the English succession and the Spanish marriage Mary accepted a marriage of love rather than a purely political match. She

As things continued to heated-up between parliament and Mary’s father James II, she married the Dutch Protestant prince, William of Orange. William desperately feared an alliance between James II and the Catholic French King. William and Mary were prepared to lead armed forces into England and take over the throne. When James’ II second wife gave birth to a son who would be raised Catholic and be the heir to the throne, Parliament got worried. Seven members of parliament signed a letter asking Mary and William to bring an army and drive out James II.

Eventually, she reconciled with Elizabeth and she became the next heir to England after Mary’s death. Mary suffered many terrible misfortunes over her lifetime from her parent’s divorce to her belief she was pregnant twice. One of the

Scotland. Mary’s father, James V died days after her birth and since James’ previous sons had died Mary was up next for the throne as an infant. “As a result a treaty was signed with France in July 1548 whereby Mary was betrothed to the dauphin Francis, heir to the throne.” (Loa 398).