All About - History - Nero - Rome's Deadliest tyrant

Hero or Villain?
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS
Mary stayed in this residence when she
visited Jedburgh, on the Scottish border
Defining
moment
Darnleyisfounddead
An explosion rocks the household where
Mary’s estranged husband, the Earl of
Darnley, has been staying, and he is found
dead in the garden. No burns are present on
the body, leading to suspicions of foul play.
MaryandtheEarlofBothwell,whosheis
rumouredtobehavinganaffairwith,are
the key suspects in his mysterious and
untimely demise.
9February1567
48
HenryIIproposedamarriagebetweenMaryandhis
three-year-old son François. Arran agreed, and fiveyear-oldMarywassenttoliveattheFrenchcourt.
WhileMarywasperfectingherLatinand
needlework, the boy to whom she had previously
been betrothed became ill with tuberculosis and
died.Withnoheir,thenextinlinetothethronewas
his elder half-sister Mary Tudor. Her reign lasted five
years,untilherdeathin1558,whenherProtestant
half-sisterElizabethtookthethrone.Yetinthe
eyes of many Catholics, Elizabeth was illegitimate,
andMaryStuartwastherightfulheirasthesenior
descendentofHenryVIII’ssister.InFrance,sheand
François were declared king and queen of England,
andin1559kingandqueenconsortofFrancewhen
HenryIIdiedfromajoustinginjury.
Buttheirglorydaysweretobeshortlived.In
Scotland,thepoweroftheProtestantLordsofthe
Congregation was rising, and they invited English
troops into the country to help secure Protestantism.
The French support withdrew, and in 1560 they
acceptedElizabeth’srighttorule.Thatsameyear,
François died following an ear infection, which
ledtoanabscessinthebrain.InFrance,Marywas
no longer queen nor was she considered queen
of England, but she was still queen of Scots. She
returnedtoherhomeland,whereasaCatholicshe
“In France, Mary was no longer queen, nor
was she considered queen of England”
wasregardedwithsuspicion,butshetoleratedher
Protestant privy council well – an indicator, perhaps,
ofhercommitmenttopursuingtheEnglishthrone.
ShesentanambassadortotheEnglishcourttoput
hercaseforward,butElizabeth–althoughadmitting
thatsheknewnoonewithabetterclaim–refusedto
acknowledgeMaryastheheirpresumptive.
Instead, Mary turned her attention to finding a
newhusband.Herchoicewouldprovedisastrous.
When her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley,
presentedhimselfattheScottishcourt,Mary
immediately fell for him. He was young, handsome,
andsharedthequeen’spassionforhuntingand
music.LikeMary,hewasalsoagrandchildof
Margaret Tudor, and a union between the two would
help to strengthen their claim to the throne. They
weremarriedon29July1565,muchtothedespair
ofElizabeth,whoknewthatanychildborntothem
would have an even stronger claim. But it wasn’t
long before Darnley grew arrogant. Not content with
justbeingkingconsort,hedemandedtheCrown
Matrimonial, which would make him co-sovereign
of Scotland and give him the right to rule in the case
ofMary’sdeath.Thequeenrefused,andin1566, the
marriage broke down. Darnley, fearing for his life,
fled to his father’s estate, but was struck down with
afever.MaryinsistedthathereturntoEdinburgh to
recover, and she visited him daily, leading to rumours
of reconciliation. But on the night of 9 February 1567,
an explosion destroyed the house where Darnley
wasstaying.Thekingconsortwasfounddeadin
thegarden,with‘notahurtnoramark’onthebody.
Suffocation was the suspected cause of death.
SuspectnumberonewasJamesHepburn,the earl
of Bothwell. He and Mary were close friends, and
theprevioussummer,afterhewaswoundedina
skirmish with border reivers, the queen had ridden to
be with him despite having only just given birth to a
son. A trial was arranged, but with a lack of evidence,
hewasacquitted.Justaweeklater,hemanagedto
convince more than two dozen lords and bishops
tosupporthiminhiswishtomarrythequeen.On
27 April, Mary was abducted by Bothwell – either
willingly or not – and was apparently raped before