Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus
Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus was a Scottish nobleman active during the reigns of James V and Mary, Queen of Scots. He was the son of George, Master of Angus, killed at the Battle of Flodden, succeeded as Earl of Angus on the death of his grandfather, Archibald. In 1509, Douglas married daughter of the Earl of Bothwell. After her death, that of his father, in 1513, on 6 August 1514 the new Earl of Angus married the dowager queen and regent, Margaret Tudor, widow of James IV, mother of two-year-old James V, elder sister of Henry VIII of England; the marriage stirred up the jealousy of the nobles and the opposition of the faction supporting French influence in Scotland. Civil war broke out, Margaret lost the regency to John Stewart, Duke of Albany. Angus withdrew to his estates in Forfarshire, while Albany besieged the queen at Stirling and got possession of the royal children, he met her once more at Berwick in June 1517, when Margaret returned to Scotland on Albany's departure in vain hopes of regaining the regency.
Meanwhile, during Margaret's absence, Angus had become involved with a daughter of the Laird of Traquair. Angus had a daughter named Lady Janet Douglas with Lady Jane of Traquair and seized some property belonging to his wife, Margaret Tudor, an estate at Newark and proceeded to live in it with his wife and illegitimate child. Margaret, was more annoyed with Douglas over his seizure and usage of her dower income as dowager queen of Scotland more so than the birth of his illegitimate daughter. Margaret avenged his neglect by refusing to support his claims for power and by secretly trying through Albany to get a divorce. In Edinburgh, Angus held his own against the attempts of the Earl of Arran, but the return of Albany in 1521, with whom Margaret now sided against her husband, deprived him of power. The regent took the government into his own hands, Angus was charged with high treason in December and in March 1522 was sent a prisoner to France, whence he succeeded in escaping to London in 1524.
He returned to Scotland in November with promises of support from Henry VIII, with whom he made a close alliance. Margaret, refused to have anything to do with her husband. On the 23rd, Angus forced his way into Edinburgh, but was fired upon by Margaret and retreated to Tantallon Castle, he now organized a large party of nobles against Margaret with the support of Henry VIII, in February 1525 they entered Edinburgh and called a parliament. Angus was made a Lord of the Articles, was included in the Council of regency, bore the king's crown on the opening of the session, with Archbishop Beaton held the chief power. Angus was appointed Lord Warden of the Marches in 1526, suppressed the disorder and anarchy on the border, he had contracted a treaty for three years of peace with England on 10 October 1525 at Berwick upon Tweed, but was unable to return to Berwick to exchange papers as arranged on 13 January 1526 because he had to deal with his political opponents at Linlithgow. Instead, he sent a delegation of commissioners including Adam Otterburn to Berwick to conclude the treaty.
The terms of the treaty included abstinence from war, safe-conducts for legitimate travellers, redress for cross-border robbery and rendition of criminals. Trade by sea was assured according to the previous treaty made by Edward IV and James III in 1464. Among the provisions was the traditional clause, that neither side should dismantle or rebuild the fishgarth, where the River Esk meets the Solway. A new clause addressed, it was hoped that during the three years Scottish commissioners would come to London to negotiate a new treaty of Perpetual Peace. Henry VIII signed on 17 August. In July 1526 the guardianship of the King James V was entrusted to him for a fixed period till 1 November, but he refused at its close to retire, advancing to Linlithgow put to flight Margaret and his opponents, he now with his followers engrossed all the power, succeeded in gaining over some of his antagonists, including Arran and the Hamiltons, filled the public offices with Douglases, he himself becoming Chancellor.
"None that time durst strive against a Douglas nor Douglas's man". The young king James V, now fourteen, was far from content under the tutelage of Angus, but he was guarded, several attempts to free him were foiled. Angus defeated John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox, who had advanced towards Edinburgh with 10,000 men in August at the Battle of Linlithgow Bridge, he subsequently took Stirling. After his military successes, he reconciled with Beaton, in 1527 and 1528 was busy in restoring order through the country. On 11 March 1528, Margaret succeeded in obtaining her divorce from Angus, about the end of the month she and her lover, Henry Stewart, were besieged at Stirling. A few weeks however, James escaped from Angus's custody, took refuge with Margaret and Arran at Stirling, proscribed Angus and all the Douglases, forbidding them to come within seven miles of his person; this did not include his half-sister, Margaret, allowed to be with them. Angus, having fortified himself in Tantallon, was attainted and his lands confiscated.
Repeated attempts by James to subdue the fortress by siege failed, on one occasion Angus's men captured the royal artillery. At length, Tantallon was given up as a condition of a truce between England and Scotland, in May 1529 Angus sought refuge with Henry VIII in England, he obtained a pension and took an oath of allegiance, with Henry'
Van de Passe family
Crispijn van de Passe the Elder, or de Passe was a Dutch publisher and engraver and founder of a dynasty of engravers comparable to the Wierix family and the Sadelers, though at a more mundane commercial level. Most of their engravings were portraits, book title-pages, the like, with few grander narrative subjects; as with the other dynasties, their style is similar, hard to tell apart in the absence of a signature or date, or evidence of location. Many of the family could produce their own designs, have left drawings. Crispijn van de Passe I was born in Arnemuiden in Zeeland, trained and worked in Antwerp the centre of the printmaking world, with hugely productive workshops producing work for publishers with excellent distribution arrangements throughout Europe. By 1585 he was a member of the artists' Guild of Saint Luke, doing work for Christopher Plantin. Much of this was work engraving the paintings of Maerten de Vos, whose wife's niece Magdalena de Bock Crispijn married; the disruptions of the Dutch Revolt scattered these artists across Northern Europe.
He first moved to Aachen, until Protestants were expelled from there. He started his own engraving and publishing business in Cologne in 1589, but again was forced to leave in 1611, he set up in business in Utrecht, by about 1612, where he created engravings for the English and other markets, where he died in 1637. His works include a famous rendition of the English Gunpowder Plotters, although it is not known what basis he had for the likenesses; the family's prints are not rare and are well represented in most print rooms, the National Portrait Gallery in London. Four of Crispijn I's children were notable engravers for the family business, as was his grandson Crispijn III, his eldest son, Simon de Passe worked in England from about 1616 before moving to Copenhagen as royal engraver and designer of medals in 1624, where he remained until his death. He is best remembered for his early London print of Pocahontas. Crispijn II worked in Paris, at least from 1617 to 1627, in Utrecht, from until his death in Amsterdam.
Willem de Passe, the least productive of the siblings, took over from his brother in England after working in France, died in London of plague. He joined the Huguenot church in Threadneedle Street in 1624, his wife Elizabeth may have been the daughter of the English publisher Thomas Jenner. Magdalena van de Passe was, like her siblings, died in Utrecht, she specialized in landscapes until her marriage to the minor artist Frederick van Bevervoorden in 1634, after which she stopped engraving though her husband died in 1636. The business involved shipping drawings, engraved printing plates, printed copies around Europe between the various cities involved. After the three deaths in the period 1637–38 only Crispijn II in the Netherlands and Simon in Denmark remained, Crispijn II's years were unsuccessful. Crispijn III was a more minor figure who died in 1678. Hortus Floridus by Crispijn II. Heroologia Anglica, 1620. Sixty-five portraits of English notables, by various members of the family Hind Arthur M..
1923, reprinted Dover Publications, 1963 ISBN 0-486-20954-7 Getty Foundation, Union List of Artists' Names online Mayor, Hyatt A. Prints and People, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton, 1971, ISBN 0-691-00326-2 Media related to Van de Passe family at Wikimedia Commons British Library online database has 1838 items by or after the family Spamula feature Another biography
Charles I of England
Charles I was the monarch over the three kingdoms of England and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1603, he moved to England, where he spent much of the rest of his life, he became heir apparent to the thrones of England and Ireland on the death of his elder brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1612. An unsuccessful and unpopular attempt to marry him to the Spanish Habsburg princess Maria Anna culminated in an eight-month visit to Spain in 1623 that demonstrated the futility of the marriage negotiations. Two years he married the Bourbon princess Henrietta Maria of France instead. After his succession, Charles quarrelled with the Parliament of England, which sought to curb his royal prerogative. Charles believed in the divine right of kings, was determined to govern according to his own conscience. Many of his subjects opposed his policies, in particular the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent, perceived his actions as those of a tyrannical absolute monarch.
His religious policies, coupled with his marriage to a Roman Catholic, generated the antipathy and mistrust of Reformed groups such as the English Puritans and Scottish Covenanters, who thought his views were too Catholic. He supported high church Anglican ecclesiastics, such as Richard Montagu and William Laud, failed to aid Protestant forces during the Thirty Years' War, his attempts to force the Church of Scotland to adopt high Anglican practices led to the Bishops' Wars, strengthened the position of the English and Scottish parliaments, helped precipitate his own downfall. From 1642, Charles fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War. After his defeat in 1645, he surrendered to a Scottish force that handed him over to the English Parliament. Charles refused to accept his captors' demands for a constitutional monarchy, temporarily escaped captivity in November 1647. Re-imprisoned on the Isle of Wight, Charles forged an alliance with Scotland, but by the end of 1648 Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army had consolidated its control over England.
Charles was tried and executed for high treason in January 1649. The monarchy was abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England was declared; the monarchy would be restored to Charles's son, Charles II, in 1660. The second son of King James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark, Charles was born in Dunfermline Palace, Fife, on 19 November 1600. At a Protestant ceremony in the Chapel Royal of Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh on 23 December 1600, he was baptised by David Lindsay, Bishop of Ross, created Duke of Albany, the traditional title of the second son of the King of Scotland, with the subsidiary titles of Marquess of Ormond, Earl of Ross and Lord Ardmannoch. James VI was the first cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth I of England, when she died childless in March 1603, he became King of England as James I. Charles was a weak and sickly infant, while his parents and older siblings left for England in April and early June that year, due to his fragile health, he remained in Scotland with his father's friend Lord Fyvie, appointed as his guardian.
By 1604, when Charles was three-and-a-half, he was able to walk the length of the great hall at Dunfermline Palace without assistance, it was decided that he was strong enough to make the journey to England to be reunited with his family. In mid-July 1604, Charles left Dunfermline for England where he was to spend most of the rest of his life. In England, Charles was placed under the charge of Elizabeth, Lady Carey, the wife of courtier Sir Robert Carey, who put him in boots made of Spanish leather and brass to help strengthen his weak ankles, his speech development was slow, he retained a stammer, or hesitant speech, for the rest of his life. In January 1605, Charles was created Duke of York, as is customary in the case of the English sovereign's second son, made a Knight of the Bath. Thomas Murray, a presbyterian Scot, was appointed as a tutor. Charles learnt the usual subjects of classics, languages and religion. In 1611, he was made a Knight of the Garter. Charles conquered his physical infirmity, which might have been caused by rickets.
He became an adept horseman and marksman, took up fencing. So, his public profile remained low in contrast to that of his physically stronger and taller elder brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, whom Charles adored and attempted to emulate. However, in early November 1612, Henry died at the age of 18 of what is suspected to have been typhoid. Charles, who turned 12 two weeks became heir apparent; as the eldest surviving son of the sovereign, Charles automatically gained several titles. Four years in November 1616, he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. In 1613, his sister Elizabeth married Frederick V, Elector Palatine, moved to Heidelberg. In 1617, the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, a Catholic, was elected king of Bohemia; the following year, the Bohemians rebelled. In August 1619, the Bohemian diet chose as their monarch Frederick V, leader of the Protestant Union, while Ferdinand was elected Holy Roman Emperor in the imperial election. Frederick's acceptance of the Bohemian crown in defiance of the emperor marked the beginning of the turmoil that would develop into the Thirty Years' War.
The conflict confined to Bohemia, spiralled into a wider European war, which the English Parliament and public grew to see
Margaret Tudor
Margaret Tudor was Queen of Scots from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to James IV of Scotland and after her husband died fighting the English, she became regent for their son James V of Scotland from 1513 until 1515. She was born at Westminster Palace as the eldest daughter of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, granddaughter of Margaret Beaufort, Edward IV of England and Queen Elizabeth Woodville. Margaret Tudor had several pregnancies; as queen dowager she married Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. Through her first and second marriages Margaret was the grandmother of both Mary, Queen of Scots, Mary's second husband, Lord Darnley. Margaret's marriage in 1503 to James IV linked the royal houses of England and Scotland, which a century resulted in the Union of the Crowns. Upon his ascent to the English throne, Margaret's great-grandson, James VI and I, was the first person to be monarch of both Scotland and England. Margaret was baptised in Westminster, she was named after Countess of Richmond and Derby, her paternal grandmother.
Daughters were important political assets in a world where diplomacy and marriage were linked. Before Margaret's sixth birthday, Henry VII thought about a marriage between Margaret and James IV as a way of ending the Scottish king's support for Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the throne of England, it is highly that Henry may have believed that such a marriage alliance would be a step towards uniting the English and Scottish thrones, something that his son, the future Henry VIII would attempt during his reign. On 30 September 1497, James IV's commissioner, the Spaniard Pedro de Ayala concluded a lengthy truce with England, now the marriage was again a serious possibility. James was in his late twenties and still unmarried; the Italian historian Polydore Vergil said that some of the English royal council objected to the match, saying that it would bring the Stewarts directly into the line of English succession, to which the wily and astute Henry replied:What then? Should anything of the kind happen, I foresee that our realm would suffer no harm, since England would not be absorbed by Scotland, but rather Scotland by England, being the noblest head of the entire island, since there is always less glory and honour in being joined to that, far the greater, just as Normandy once came under the rule and power of our ancestors the English.
On 24 January 1502, Scotland and England concluded the Treaty of Perpetual Peace, the first peace agreement between the two realms in over 170 years. The marriage treaty was viewed as a guarantee of the new peace; the marriage was completed by proxy on 25 January 1503 at Richmond Palace. Patrick, Earl of Bothwell, was proxy for the Scottish King and wore a gown of cloth-of-gold at the ceremony in the Queen's great chamber, he was accompanied by the Archbishop of Postulate of Moray. The herald, John Young, reported. Prizes were awarded the next morning and the tournament continued another day. Margaret was now regarded as Queen of Scots; the new queen was provided with a large wardrobe of clothes, her crimson state bed curtains made of Italian sarcenet were embroidered with red Lancastrian roses. Clothes were made for her companion, Lady Catherine Gordon, the widow of Perkin Warbeck. In May 1503, James IV confirmed her possession of lands and houses in Scotland, including Methven Castle, Stirling Castle, Doune Castle, Linlithgow Palace and Newark Castle in Ettrick Forest, with the incomes from the corresponding Earldom and Lordship lands.
In 1503, Margaret came to Scotland. She left Richmond Palace on 27 June with Henry VII and they travelled first to Collyweston. At York a plaque commemorates the exact spot. After crossing the border at Berwick upon Tweed on 1 August 1503, Margaret was met by the Scottish court at Lamberton. At Dalkeith Palace, James came to kiss her goodnight, he came again to console her on 4 August after a stable fire had killed some of her favourite horses. Her riding gear, including a new sumpter cloth or pallion of cloth-of-gold worth £127 was destroyed in the fire. On the 7 August 1503, Margaret was carried from Dalkeith to Edinburgh on a litter. At a meadow a mile from Edinburgh, there was a pavilion where Sir Patrick Hamilton and Patrick Sinclair played and fought in the guise of knights defending their ladies. On 8 August 1503, the marriage was celebrated in person in Holyrood Abbey; the rites were performed by the Archbishop of York. Two days on St Lawrence's day, Margaret went to mass at St Giles', the town's Kirk, as her first public appointment.
The details of the proxy marriage, progress and reception in Edinburgh were recorded by the Somerset Herald, John Young. The Queen's arrival was celebrated by the poet William Dunbar in poems including The Thrissil and the Rois, thoue Queyne of Scottis Regioun, the song Now Fayre, Fayrest of Every Fayre. Another poem's welcome to Aberdeen. Dunbar had been in London during the treaty negotiations. In Dunbar's Thistle and the Rose, forest birds serenade the conjoined York and Lancastrian roses, a symbol of Margaret's parentage.
Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox
Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, was the fourth Earl of Lennox, a leader of the Catholic nobility in Scotland. He was the son of John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox and Lady Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl, his grandson was I of England. Matthew Stewart succeeded as Earl of Lennox upon the death of his father on 4 September 1526, he spent most of his youth in England, in exile, but returned to Scotland to assert his claims to the line of succession, when King James V of Scotland died in 1542. At the time of the King's death, Lennox possessed a strong claim to the throne of Scotland, should the King's daughter and heir, the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, pass away childless. Lennox was King James V's second cousin once removed, being a great-grandson of Princess Mary Stewart, the eldest daughter of King James II of Scotland, through her daughter, Lady Elizabeth Hamilton, his paternal grandmother. However, James Hamilton, the Earl of Arran, was the grandson of Princess Mary Stewart, thus held the stronger claim.
As a result, Lennox was, at best, third in the line of succession, behind Arran's sons. Arran was subsequently made Regent of Scotland. In 1543, Lennox's supporters challenged Arran's claim and legitimacy, by suggesting that his father's divorce and second marriage to his mother were invalid. In March 1543, Lennox arrived at his stronghold, with two ships, he came to Edinburgh, but refused to ratify Arran's position as second in line to the throne and as Regent. Arran was pushing towards an alliance with England, made the Treaty of Greenwich on 1 July 1543, agreeing to a marriage between Mary, Queen of Scots and Prince Edward Tudor, the son and heir of King Henry VIII of England. Regent Arran began to fortify Linlithgow Palace, where Queen Mary was held with her mother, Mary of Guise, the Dowager Queen of Scotland; the supporters of Lennox and Cardinal Beaton, camped outside the palace, but lacked artillery for an assault. Their representatives parleyed with Arran's men at Kirkliston, near Edinburgh, a settlement was reached.
Henceforth, Arran would rule with the advice of a council, the infant Queen would be moved to Stirling Castle. Lennox escorted Queen Mary to Stirling on 26 July 1543. Although Lennox had come to Scotland lured by the prospect of marriage to the widow Mary of Guise, by September, Lennox had been offered the chance to marry Lady Margaret Douglas, daughter of the Dowager Queen Margaret Tudor, half-sister of the deceased King James V. After Lennox had seized the French money and artillery, sent to Mary of Guise, she offered the hand of her daughter Queen Mary in marriage; when the Parliament of Scotland rejected the Greenwich treaty, Lennox changed sides, supported King Henry VIII's military efforts to secure a marriage between Queen Mary and his son Prince Edward, in the War of the Rough Wooing. In the summer of 1544, the Earl of Lennox plundered the Isle of Arran, made himself master of the Isle of Bute and Rothesay Castle, with the support of eighteen ships and 800 men supplied by King Henry VIII.
At the Battle of Glasgow Muir, his force of men managed to drive the first rank of the more numerous forces of Arran back into the second rank, captured their cannon. However, the battle ended more favourably for the Regent Arran. There were about 300 slain on both sides, Lennox himself withdrew to Dumbarton Castle. After a consultation with his English officers, Lennox attacked Dunoon Castle, as well as burning the nearby village and church, he subsequently laid waste a large part of Kintyre, but as he had not succeeded in regaining possession of Dumbarton Castle, after it had been seized, Lennox retreated to his ships and sailed for England around 28 May 1544. When the English army approached Edinburgh, before the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, far to the west, a diversionary invasion of 5000 men was led by Thomas Wharton and Lennox on 8 September 1547, they took burnt Annan, after a bitter struggle to capture its fortified church. In 1544, Matthew Stewart married Lady Margaret Douglas, daughter of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus and the Dowager Queen Margaret Tudor, who had a claim to the English throne.
Their children were: Henry Stuart Henry Stuart, born at Temple Newsam, who married Mary, Queen of Scots, daughter of King James V Philip Stuart Charles Stuart, who married Elizabeth Cavendish in 1574. Elizabeth was the daughter of Sir William Cavendish and Bess of Hardwick. Lennox's grandchildren were: by Henry Stuart, King James VI of Scotland and I of England, by Charles Stewart, Lady Arbella Stuart. For a time and his family resided at Whorlton Castle in North Yorkshire, granted, with the estate, to him by King Henry VIII. At some point in the late 16th century, a house was built there by the Lennox family adjoining the northwest end of the castle's gatehouse. In August 1548, Lennox made four promises to Mary of Guise in order for her assent to her daughter Queen Mary's marriage to Francis II of France; these were: that his friends and retainers would preserve the Catholic faith in Scotland. Lennox returned to Scotland upon the urging of Queen Elizabeth I of England, during the marriage negotiations of Queen Mary of Scots in 1564.
He took up his position as the most powerful lord in the Glasgow area and was instrumental in the marriage of his elder son, Lord Darnley, to Queen Mary. Whether Queen Elizabeth I had intended this (in order to elimin
Pound Scots
The pound Scots was the unit of currency in the Kingdom of Scotland before the kingdom unified with the Kingdom of England in 1707. It was introduced by David I, in the 12th century, on the model of English and French money, divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence; the Scottish currency was debased relative to sterling and, by the time of James III, the pound sterling was valued at four pounds Scots. In addition to the pound Scots, silver coins were issued denominated in merk, worth 13 shillings 4 pence; when James VI became King James I of England in 1603, the coinage was reformed to match that of England, with 12 pounds Scots equal to the pound sterling. No gold coinage was issued from 1638 to 1700, but new silver coinage was issued from 1664 to 1707. In 1707, the pound Scots was replaced by the pound sterling at a rate of 12 to 1, although the pound Scots continued to be used in Scotland as a unit of account for most of the 18th century. Today there is no distinct Pound Scots; these notes may be accepted as payment throughout the United Kingdom, but are much more seen in Scotland.
In 2015 the New Economics Foundation think tank, in association with Common Weal, published a sixty four page report recommending the introduction of a digital Pound Scots, following inspiration from other digital currencies like Bitcoin and local currencies like the Brixton pound. The suggestion was supported by a number of SNPs, MSPs and MPs including George Kerevan, MP for East Lothian; the report recommended the digital "ScotPound" be implemented via an "arms length public" bank, that use of the ScotPound could be encouraged via a small payment to every Scottish household. Despite enthusiasm from members of the Scottish government such a project has yet to be launched. A private enterprise however has started a project similar to the proposed ScotPound called "ScotCoin". Pistole – Gold, 12 pounds Scots Dollar – Replacement for the ryal, 60 Scots shillings Ryal – Gold, 1565 Crown or Lion – Gold Half-crown, Demi-Lion or Demys – Gold Ducat or "bonnet" – 40 shillings, 1539 Mark or merk – Gold Noble – Gold, worth half a mark, 1357 Unicorn – Gold, 18 shillings Scots, 1484–85 Half-unicorn – Gold, 9 shillings Scots Testoun – silver, 1553.
Was produced in France with the new process of mill and screw, being the first milled coinage of Scotland. Bawbee – Billon, six pence from 1537 Shilling Groat – Silver, equivalent to four pence, from 1357 Half-groat – Silver, equivalent to two pence, from 1357 Turner – Billon, two pence copper. Bodle – Copper, two pence Hardhead – called Lion, billon coin circulated in the reigns of Mary and James VI Penny – Billon, one of the earliest coins, dating from David I. Made of copper, giving rise to the term pennyland. Halfpennies – Initially half of a penny, these became minted coins in their own right in c.1280. Made of copper. Farthing or quarter-penny – These were quarters of pennies, but as with Halfpennies, became coins in their own right in c.1280. Made of copper. Plack – value of four Scots pennies or by 1707 one-third of an English penny. Scottish coinage Penny Scots Merk Banknotes of the pound sterling Cutty-sark
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, reigned over Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567. Mary, the only surviving legitimate child of King James V, was six days old when her father died and she acceded to the throne, she spent most of her childhood in France while Scotland was ruled by regents, in 1558, she married the Dauphin of France, Francis. He ascended the French throne as King Francis II in 1559, Mary became queen consort of France, until his death in December 1560. Widowed, Mary returned to Scotland, arriving in Leith on 19 August 1561. Four years she married her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and in June 1566 they had a son, James. In February 1567, Darnley's residence was destroyed by an explosion, he was found murdered in the garden. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, was believed to have orchestrated Darnley's death, but he was acquitted of the charge in April 1567, the following month he married Mary. Following an uprising against the couple, Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle.
On 24 July 1567 she was forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, she fled southwards seeking the protection of her first cousin once removed, Queen Elizabeth I of England. Mary had once claimed Elizabeth's throne as her own, was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics, including participants in a rebellion known as the Rising of the North. Perceiving her as a threat, Elizabeth had her confined in various castles and manor houses in the interior of England. After eighteen and a half years in custody, Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth in 1586, she was beheaded the following year at Fotheringhay Castle. Mary was born on 8 December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, to King James V and his French second wife, Mary of Guise, she was said to have been born prematurely and was the only legitimate child of James to survive him. She was the great-niece of King Henry VIII of England, as her paternal grandmother, Margaret Tudor, was Henry VIII's sister.
On 14 December, six days after her birth, she became Queen of Scotland when her father died from the effects of a nervous collapse following the Battle of Solway Moss, or from drinking contaminated water while on campaign. A popular tale, first recorded by John Knox, states that James, hearing on his deathbed that his wife had given birth to a daughter, ruefully exclaimed, "It cam wi' a lass and it will gang wi' a lass!" His House of Stuart had gained the throne of Scotland by the marriage of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert the Bruce, to Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland. The crown had come to his family through a woman, would be lost from his family through a woman; this legendary statement came true much later—not through Mary, but through her descendant Queen Anne. Mary was baptised at the nearby Church of St Michael. Rumours spread that she was weak and frail, but an English diplomat, Ralph Sadler, saw the infant at Linlithgow Palace in March 1543, unwrapped by her nurse, wrote, "it is as goodly a child as I have seen of her age, as like to live."As Mary was an infant when she inherited the throne, Scotland was ruled by regents until she became an adult.
From the outset, there were two claims to the regency: one from Catholic Cardinal Beaton, the other from the Protestant Earl of Arran, next in line to the throne. Beaton's claim was based on a version of the king's will. Arran, with the support of his friends and relations, became the regent until 1554 when Mary's mother managed to remove and succeed him. King Henry VIII of England took the opportunity of the regency to propose marriage between Mary and his own son and heir, hoping for a union of Scotland and England. On 1 July 1543, when Mary was six months old, the Treaty of Greenwich was signed, which promised that, at the age of ten, Mary would marry Edward and move to England, where Henry could oversee her upbringing; the treaty provided that the two countries would remain separate and that if the couple should fail to have children, the temporary union would dissolve. Cardinal Beaton rose to power again and began to push a pro-Catholic pro-French agenda, angering Henry, who wanted to break the Scottish alliance with France.
Beaton wanted to move Mary away from the coast to the safety of Stirling Castle. Regent Arran resisted the move, but backed down when Beaton's armed supporters gathered at Linlithgow; the Earl of Lennox escorted her mother to Stirling on 27 July 1543 with 3,500 armed men. Mary was crowned in the castle chapel on 9 September 1543, with "such solemnity as they do use in this country, not costly" according to the report of Ralph Sadler and Henry Ray. Shortly before Mary's coronation, Scottish merchants headed for France were arrested by Henry, their goods impounded; the arrests caused anger in Scotland, Arran joined Beaton and became a Catholic. The Treaty of Greenwich was rejected by the Parliament of Scotland in December; the rejection of the marriage treaty and the renewal of the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland prompted Henry's "Rough Wooing", a military campaign designed to impose the marriage of Mary to his son. English forces mounted a series of raids on French territory. In May 1544, the English Earl of Hertford raided Edinburgh, the Scots took Mary to Dunkeld for safety.
In May 1546, Beaton was murdered by Protestant lairds, on 10 September 1547, nine months after the death of Henry VIII, the Scots suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh. Mary's guardians, fearful for her safety, sent her t
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