Alle origini del mito letterario di Maria Stuarda in Italia

coinvolgimento nei complotti sarebbero state divulgate all’estero con la
volontà di lenire gli effetti di una risoluzione così violenta, che sarebbe stata
infine agevolata dalla perdita di potere da parte del Tesoriere d’Inghilterra,
protettore della Stuarda, a favore di Lord Leicester e Lord Walsingham, suoi
acerrimi nemici, i quali vollero in tal modo appagare il volere del popolo.
Inoltre l’esecuzione sarebbe avvenuta nella stanza della regina alla presenza di
poche persone. I portavoce Bellièvre e Bruslart avrebbero commentato questo
gesto inumano e impietoso prevedendo che il re e tutta la Francia sarebbero
stati in tal modo obbligati a manifestare il loro dispiacere alla notizia, sia
perché Maria era stata già regina di Francia, sia perché la sua morte avrebbe
distrutto tutte le speranze cattoliche.
142
Una manifestazione di vicinanza che avrebbe dovuto chiarire la posizione
dei Francesi nei confronti della Scozzese. Mendoza, però, nella missiva del 6
seguente, lamentando la chiusura delle porte in Inghilterra, e quindi la mancata
libera circolazione delle notizie, dichiara di aver appreso dal vescovo di
Nazareth (il nunzio papale Fabio Mirto Frangipani) che il Re Enrico non
sarebbe stato affatto dispiaciuto per l’accaduto alla regina di Scozia, a causa
CSP, Venice, cit., Dolfin 2 marzo 1587: «Yesterday a courier arrived. He was sent by the
Queen of England to her Ambassador and to Mr. Wade, with instructions to inform his Majesty
as soon as possible that for the safety of her own life she had at last been forced to cut off the
head of the Queen of Scotland. Although the Ambassador and that gentleman have pressed for
an audience, his Majesty has always refused to listen to them; not because he knew anything of
this business, but in order to use the same method as that adopted by the Queen herself, who
will not receive the Ambassador L'Aubespine. Accordingly the above-named gentlemen spread
a report that the Queen of Scotland, disguised as a sailor, had fled from her palace, which was
twenty leagues from London, and had reached Anton (?) port, in the hope of being able to cross
over into Brittany, but while waiting her opportunity she was captured and made a prisoner.
Three great English Lords who had aided her to fly were also imprisoned. The probability that
she would be put to death grew greater every day, for new proofs of her conspiracy came to
light. This rumour has been spread abroad with a view to lessening the effect of so violent a
resolve. When the English Ambassador and Mr. Wade found that they could not obtain an
audience of the King they went to Mons. de Bellievre and to the Secretary Bruslart to explain
the whole matter, and to beg them to inform his Most Christian Majesty, for they had received
express orders to explain to the King vivâ voce, the true reasons which had rendered this step
necessary. Bellievre and Bruslart replied that the deed was an impious one and inhuman; and
the King and all France will be obliged to show their displeasure. All the Court deplores this
miserable event, both because she was a Queen of France, and also because all the Catholic
hopes in England are dashed. The Queen was beheaded in her own rooms without being
granted an hour's grace. They say that one of the chief reasons for her death, which took place
in the forty-fifth year of her age and the nineteenth of her imprisonment, was that the Treasurer
of England, a person of the highest authority, who had always favoured her cause, has now
fallen from the Queen's favour; while the Earl of Leicester and the Councillor Walsingham, her
chief councillors, enemies of the Queen of Scotland, have urged their mistress to grant to her
subjects that satisfaction which they had so often demanded, and at the same time to secure
herself against those treacheries which were every day spread about her own person. Paris, 2nd
March 1587».