Chapter I: Preface

In compiling this book, my original intention was to deal with the material afforded by Bourgoing's Journal, supplemented by the Letters of Sir Amyas Paulet. Both narrate the events of the last few months of Queen Mary's prison life, the details of which have been hitherto little known. As time went on, however, and further new and valuable matter was offered to me by the kindness of friends, the scope of the work gradually expanded. Many details regarding the Queen's execution and burial have been added, and I feel that some apology is due for possible repetitions and other errors of style which almost necessarily follow such a change of plan. Many of the illustrative notes regarding Queen Mary's last moments are culled from original contemporary accounts of the execution, for the use of which I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Joseph Stevenson, S.J., LL.D. Some of these narratives are printed in the Appendix in their entirety. The valuable collection of the Calthorpe MSS. has furnished many interesting details, and I am especially indebted to the courtesy of the present Lord Calthorpe for permission to publish the two curious contemporary drawings of the trial and execution. The value of these drawings is materially increased by the annotations in Beale's handwriting. To him we owe several of the most interesting notes regarding the execution, etc., and the knowledge that these MSS. have come down to us under the direct guardianship of Beale's descendants lends additional value to their testimony.

Robert Beale, whose name occurs so frequently in my narrative, had long been employed in a subordinate position by Elizabeth's Government, and in 1576 was sent by the Privy Council on an embassy to the Prince of Orange. He was later appointed Clerk of Council to the Queen, the office in which he comes before us at the time of Queen Mary's trial and death, and his daughter Margaret married Sir Henry Yelverton, Attorney-General, the ancestor of the Calthorpe family, who thus became the possessors of the documents I have referred to.

The frontispiece, taken from what is known as the Blairs portrait of Queen Mary, has its own pedigree of unusual interest, although it cannot claim to be an original portrait. The following description of this picture is taken from the pen of the Right Rev. Bishop Kyle, Vicar Apostolic of the Northern district of Scotland:--

This large picture of Queen Mary belonged once to Mrs.
Elizabeth Curle, wife and widow of Gilbert Curle, one
of the Queen's secretaries during the last years of her
life and at her death. Mrs. Curle herself was one of the
attendants at her execution. When, and by whom it was
painted, I have never learned. The attire and attitude
of the principal figure being the same in which it is
said Mary appeared on the scaffold, seem to testify
decisively that the picture is not what can be called an
original--that is traced from the living subject under
the painter's eye. The adjuncts were evidently added by
another and an inferior artist, but when, I have no means
of knowing. Mrs. Curle survived her mistress long, at
least thirty years. She had two sons, who both became
Jesuits. Of one, John, there is little known. He died in
Spain. The other, Hyppolytus, was long Superior, and a
great benefactor of the Scotch College of Douai. To that
College he bequeathed the property, not inconsiderable,
which he derived from his mother, and among the rest the
very picture now at Blairs. The picture remained in that
College (Douai) till the French Revolution. At the wreck of
the College it was taken from its frame, and being rolled
up was concealed in a chimney, the fireplace of which was
built up, and was so preserved. After the peace of 1815
it was taken from its place of concealment and conveyed
first to Paris, but ultimately to Scotland, through the
late Bishop Paterson and the Reverend John Farquharson,
who being the latter Principal, the former Prefect of
Studies in the Douai College at the time of the Revolution,
identified it as the picture that had been kept there
according to the tradition mentioned above.[1]--(From
_Annals of Lower Deeside_, John A. Henderson.)

[Footnote 1: The late Rev. Charles Gordon (well known in Aberdeen as Priest Gordon, having been in charge of the Roman Catholic Congregation for sixty years), then a student in the College, assisted in concealing the picture.]

In the background of this picture the execution of the Queen at Fotheringay is represented, along with the portraits of Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle, the two maids of honour who were present on the sad occasion. The royal arms of Scotland are painted on the right-hand corner of the picture, and there are three inscriptions in Latin, the translations of which are as follow:--

1. Mary Queen of Scotland, Dowager Queen of France, truly
legitimate Sovereign of the Kingdoms of England and
Ireland, mother of James, King of Great Britain, oppressed
by her own Subjects in the year 1568, with the Hope and
Expectation of Aid promised by her Cousin Elizabeth,
reigning in England, went thither, and there, contrary
to the Law of Nations and the Faith of a Promise, being
retained Captive after 19 years of Imprisonment on Account
of Religion by the Perfidy of the same Elizabeth and the
Cruelty of the English Parliament, the horrible Sentence
of Decapitation being passed upon her, is delivered up to
Death, and on the 12th of the Kalends of March--such an
Example being unheard of--she is beheaded by a vile and
abject Executioner in the 45th year of her Age and Reign.

2. In the Presence of the Commissioners and Ministers of
Queen Elizabeth, the Executioner strikes with his Axe
the most serene Queen, the Daughter, Wife, and Mother of
Kings, and after a first and second Blow, by which she was
barbarously wounded, at the third cuts off her Head.

3. While she lived the chief Parent and Foundress of the
Scotch College, thus the once most flourishing Queen
of France and Scotland ascends the fatal Scaffold with
unconquered but pious mind, upbraids Tyranny and Perfidy,
professes the Catholic Faith, and publicly and plainly
professes that she always was and is a Daughter of the
Roman Church.

The reliquary containing a portrait of Queen Mary, of which Lady Milford kindly allows me to publish the photograph for the first time, is very interesting, and the date can be fixed as being _not later_ than 1622, but unfortunately the history of the medallion is little known.[2] It was originally in the possession of the Darrell family, and as a Darrell was appointed to be Queen Mary's steward during her captivity, and a Marmaduke Darrell (presumably the same person) attended the funeral at Peterborough, I would fain see a connection between him and the miniature, but so far I have found no proof of this.

[Footnote 2: For list of relics contained in the reliquary see Appendix, p. 272.]

The two contemporary drawings of Queen Mary's trial and execution from the Calthorpe MSS. are now also published for the first time. The lists of spectators written by Beale are of particular interest, and it is curious to compare the drawings of the trial with Bourgoing's description of the scene (see p. xiii.) and with that given in Appendix, p. 270.

In conclusion, I earnestly desire to express my grateful thanks for the constant and valuable help and encouragement given to me by the Rev. Joseph Stevenson, S.J., LL.D., to whose kindness I owe so much; to Mr. Leonard Lindsay, F.S.A., and to other kind friends.

M.M. MAXWELL SCOTT.

_8th February 1895._[3]

[Footnote 3: Soon after these words were written my valued friend Father Stevenson was taken from us. He died on the evening of 8th February, the same day on which Queen Mary, whose honour he had done so much to maintain, suffered death, and I by a further coincidence finished the writing of this book.]

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. CHARTLEY 1

II. FOTHERINGAY 16

III. THE TRIAL--FIRST DAY 44

IV. THE TRIAL--SECOND DAY 69

V. SUSPENSE 83

VI. AFTER THE SENTENCE 107

VII. WAITING FOR DEATH 125

VIII. FURTHER INDIGNITIES 145

IX. THE DEATH WARRANT 163

X. THE LAST DAY ON EARTH 179

XI. THE END 200

XII. PETERBOROUGH 225

XIII. WESTMINSTER 244