Mary, Queen of Scots (85 page)

CSP Scottish

For a fuller discussion of 16th-century gunpowder, see Mahon:
Tragedy of Kirk
o’Field.

Book of Articles

CSP Scottish

Melville

CSP Scottish
. Hepburn says that Bothwell had 14 counterfeit keys; Ormiston mentions only 13. The lockable doors were as follows:

Front door from quadrangle

Side door in alley leading to cellar/kitchen

Downstairs door to stairs

Door to Queen’s garderobe

Door to Queen’s bedchamber (2 keys)

Door to downstairs passage to garden

Door to passage leading to Prebendaries’ Chamber

Door to Prebendaries’ Chamber

Upstairs door to stairs (used as cover for Darnley’s bath)

Door to King’s garderobe

Door to King’s bedchamber

Door to postern gate in Flodden Wall

N.B. There was no lock on the back door, which was bolted on the inside. Allegations that the conspirators had two keys to this door are spurious.

There were therefore 13 keys to the house.

In one deposition Paris says this incident took place on Friday, in the other, on Saturday. The latter is more likely to be correct. Paris made his deposition more than two years later, so an allowance must be made for a lapse in memory.

This close no longer exists; it led off the Grassmarket, which lies to the south of Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile.

Mahon:
Tragedy of Kirk o’Field

The
Book of Articles
states incorrectly that Hob Ormiston was Black Ormiston’s father.

Hay claimed that Bothwell was walking up and down the Canongate while the powder was being transported, which took place between 8 p.m. and 10:15 p.m., but Powrie claimed that he did not begin shifting the powder until 10 p.m.

Mahon:
Tragedy of Kirk o’Field

Gore-Browne

Nau; Lennox says nothing about Paris giving a signal.

Nau

The accounts by Hay, Hepburn, Powrie and Dalgleish of Bothwell’s return journey to Kirk o’Field are almost identical.

Mahon:
Tragedy of Kirk o’Field; CSP Scottish

CSP Scottish

CSP Spanish

CSP Venetian

CSP Scottish

It was later alleged that Bothwell himself had lit the fuse, but there is no evidence that he went into the house.

Calendar of Letters and State Papers . . . in Rome.
This story was told by Hepburn just before his execution, to another prisoner, Cuthbert Ramsay, who repeated it in 1576 in Paris as evidence in support of Mary’s plea for an annulment of her marriage to Bothwell.

Buchanan

18. “THE CONTRIVERS OF THE PLOT”

Papal Negotiations

CSP Scottish

Ibid.

CSP Venetian

Sloane MSS.

Cited by Mahon:
Tragedy of Kirk o’Field

CSP Scottish; Diurnal of Occurrents

CSP Scottish
; Melville

Spottiswoode

Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland

Teulet

State Papers in the Public Record Office;
CSP Scottish; CSP Foreign

Cabala

Notably Mahon:
Tragedy of Kirk o’Field
, and Gore-Browne.

CSP Foreign

CSP Scottish

Keith

CSP Spanish

CSP Scottish

State Papers in the Public Record Office; Tytler

Papal Negotiations

Bothwell

Papal Negotiations

CSP Spanish

Morton’s confession, in Pitcairn

CSP Spanish
; Teulet

CSP Foreign

Papal Negotiations

Gore-Browne

Sloane MSS.

CSP Spanish

CSP Venetian

Report of Sir William Drury, in
CSP Scottish

CSP Venetian

Ibid.

Papal Negotiations

Diurnal of Occurrents

Pepys MSS.

19. “GREAT SUSPICIONS AND NO PROOF”

Buchanan

CSP Foreign

Buchanan; Camden

Melville

Inventaires

Keith

CSP Scottish; The Book of Articles
is in the Hopetoun MSS. in the Register House, Edinburgh

Buchanan

Ibid.

Book of Articles

Lennox Narrative

Drury to Cecil, 19 February 1567, in
CSP Scottish
; Moray’s Journal, in Cotton MSS. Caligula. Mary’s surviving letters from this correspondence with Lennox are all in Scots, which suggests that they were not written by Mary herself but by her Council on her behalf.

Keith

Labanoff

Buchanan

CSP Spanish

Inventaires

Papal Negotiations

CSP Spanish

Ibid.

Drury to Cecil,
CSP Scottish;
Drury does not mention Hay.

Diurnal of Occurrents
; Clernault, in
Papal Negotiations
. Knox claimed incorrectly that Darnley was buried in Holyrood Abbey.

Under Charles II the chapel royal was demolished and the royal remains removed to a new vault in Holyrood Abbey, which was now designated the new chapel royal. During the Glorious Revolution of 1688, a mob vandalised the abbey and forced open the royal vault but did not disturb the bodies. When the abbey roof collapsed in 1768, the vault was opened again and Darnley’s skull was removed along with that of Madeleine of France, first wife of James V.

Darnley’s skull was examined in 1798 and found to bear the marks of syphilis. After three changes of ownership, it was presented to the Royal College of Surgeons in 1869. See Bingham:
Darnley.

By the 19th century, the royal vault was in a ruinous condition, and several of Darnley’s bones were removed; one was advertised for sale in a Harrogate newspaper. The vault has since been restored.

Papal Negotiations

Leslie

Diurnal of Occurrents

Ibid.

Mahon:
Tragedy of Kirk o’Field

State Papers in the Public Record Office

Buchanan;
Book of Articles

Report of the King of Scots’ Death, in
CSP Scottish

Keith

CSP Scottish

Antonia Fraser

CSP Scottish.
Drury recorded that he passed through Berwick on 19 February.

Mahon:
Tragedy of Kirk o’Field

Labanoff

Diurnal of Occurrents

Cecil to Sir Henry Norris, 20 February 1567, in the
Cecil Papers

CSP Spanish

CSP Foreign

Ibid., report of 22 February 1567

Papal Negotiations

Anderson:
Collections
; Keith

CSP Spanish

CSP Venetian

Labanoff

Robert Melville to Cecil, 26 February 1567,
CSP Scottish

Anderson:
Collections
; Keith; Labanoff

CSP Spanish

Ibid.

State Papers in the Public Record Office;
CSP Scottish
. There are several translations of this letter from the original French, which accounts for the various versions in different books. I have largely followed Froude’s translation

CSP Scottish
. The
Diurnal of Occurrents
claims that it was also proclaimed on 27 February.

Letter of 28 February 1567, in
CSP Foreign

Leslie

CSP Scottish

Keith; Sir Henry Killigrew to Cecil, 8 March 1567,
CSP Scottish

Tytler

Drury to Cecil, 27 February 1567,
CSP Foreign

Nau

Drury to Cecil, 28 February 1567,
CSP Foreign

CSP Foreign

Papal Negotiations

Drury to Cecil, 28 February 1567,
CSP Foreign

Bothwell

CSP Scottish
; for the placard campaign, see also
CSP Foreign
; Birrel; Anderson:
Collections

CSP Scottish

CSP Spanish

Killigrew to Cecil, 8 March 1567,
CSP Scottish

Buchanan

Bothwell

Pitcairn; Anderson:
Collections
; Goodall

Register of the Privy Seal

Labanoff

Killigrew to Cecil, 8 March 1567,
CSP Scottish

Bingham:
Darnley; CSP Scottish
. The two mermaid placards are now in the Public Record Office.

CSP Spanish

Register of the Privy Council

Ibid.

Papal Negotiations

Teulet

Diurnal of Occurrents

Killigrew to Cecil, 8 March 1567,
CSP Scottish

Ibid. Anthony Standen had returned to England by 15 March, when Mary, or her Council, wrote to Robert Melville in London, asking him to seek the favour of the English government on Standen’s behalf (Labanoff).

CSP Spanish

CSP Scottish

Ibid.

Papal Negotiations

Selections from Unpublished Manuscripts

Ibid.; Keith

20. “LAYING SNARES FOR HER MAJESTY”

Papal Negotiations

Ibid.

For Moray’s letter and communication with Killigrew, see
CSP Scottish

CSP Foreign

State Papers in the Public Record Office;
CSP Scottish

CSP Scottish

Register of the Privy Council
; Anderson:
Collections

Drury to Cecil, 20 March 1567,
CSP Foreign

Drury to Cecil, 29 March 1567, ibid.

Teulet

Drury to Cecil, 30 March 1567,
CSP Foreign

Papal Negotiations

Ibid.

Ibid.

CSP Venetian

Keith

Bothwell

Acts of the Parliament of Scotland; Diurnal of Occurrents

Drury incorrectly states that Janet Beaton, the Lady of Buccleuch, was cited as co-respondent (
CSP Foreign
).

CSP Venetian; CSP Foreign

CSP Scottish

Register of the Privy Council

Birrel

Drury to Cecil, 29 March 1567,
CSP Foreign

The word “prevent” did not acquire its present meaning until the 17th century.

Labanoff

CSP Spanish

Ibid.

CSP Foreign

Ibid.

Drury to Cecil, 29 March 1567,
CSP Foreign

Ibid.;
Inventaires

Register of the Privy Council
; Keith; Anderson:
Collections

Hosack (see
Book of Articles
)

Labanoff

CSP Foreign.
Cecil was aware of the divorce suit by 3 April.

CSP Scottish

Teulet

CSP Spanish

CSP Foreign

De Silva to Philip II, 21 April 1567,
CSP Spanish

Ibid.

Teulet

Keith

Cotton MSS. Caligula

Mitchell

Book of Articles

Ibid.

CSP Foreign

Ibid.; de Silva to Philip II, 21 April 1567,
CSP Spanish

Papal Negotiations

CSP Foreign

William Robertson:
History of Scotland

Gore-Browne

21. “THE CLEANSING OF BOTHWELL”

Knox did not take part in this campaign; after Darnley’s murder, he had retired from Edinburgh to work on his
History of the Reformation.

Letter to Cecil, 15 April 1567,
CSP Foreign

Goodall; Keith;
CSP Scottish

Drury to Cecil, 15 April 1567, in Tytler:
Scotland

Ibid. James Anthony Froude, the eminent but biased 19th-century historian, had no time for Mary and was not above inventing evidence against her. He alleges that she was seen to give Bothwell a friendly nod from her window as he rode off to the Tolbooth, and also asserts that Bothwell was riding Darnley’s horse. These details do not appear in contemporary sources but have been frequently repeated by other writers.

CSP Scottish

CSP Foreign

Anderson:
Collections

Keith

Buchanan

Keith

CSP Scottish

10 May 1567,
CSP Scottish

CSP Foreign

Diurnal of Occurrents

CSP Foreign

Bothwell

CSP Scottish

CSP Spanish

CSP Scottish
. Drury sent a copy of one of these answers to Cecil on 19 April (
CSP
Foreign
).

Keith

Ibid.; Gore-Browne

Leslie and Nau also claimed that Bothwell’s acquittal was ratified by Parliament.

De Silva to Philip II, 21 April 1567,
CSP Spanish

Acts of the Parliament of Scotland

CSP Scottish

The word “pit” meant “prison” in Scots.

CSP Foreign

For copies of the Ainslie’s Tavern Bond, see Cotton MSS. Caligula; Keith; Anderson:
Collections; CSP Scottish

Buchanan says the Bishops added their signatures the following day.

Cotton MSS. Caligula

CSP Spanish

Both lists are in Keith.

Keith

CSP Scottish

Ibid.

Nau

Ibid.

Labanoff. This gives the lie to Throckmorton’s claim, made on 30 April in a letter to Leicester, that Mary and Bothwell had been married at Seton before she went to Stirling (
CSP Foreign
).

Forster to Cecil, 24 April 1567,
CSP Scottish

Bothwell

Nau

State Papers in the Public Record Office;
CSP Scottish

CSP Scottish

22. “WE FOUND HIS DOINGS RUDE”