Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1587 Part 14

"_NO HEARTS TO FIGHT IN THAT QUARREL_"

1567.--June 15. Carberry Hill.

_Melville's Memoirs_, p. 181.

All Scotland cried out upon the foul murther of the King.... Whereupon the lords that had the enterprise in their heads were hasted forward to take arms.... The Earl of Bothwell again, having the Queen in his company, convened a greater number out of the Merse and Lothians, and out of all parts where he had means of friends.h.i.+p, at over her Majesty's proclamation, which was not well obeyed for the time; and so many as came had no hearts to fight in that quarrel. Yet the Earl Bothwell marched forward out of Dunbar {which was threatened by the lords}, taking the Queen with him, towards Edinburgh. The lords again, with their companies, pa.s.sed out of Edinburgh upon foot, with a great energy and fierceness to fight; both the armies not far from Carberry. The Earl Bothwell's men camped upon the hill head, in a strength very advantageous; the lords camped at the foot of the hill.

Albeit her Majesty was there, I cannot name it to be her army, for many of them that were with her had opinion that she had intelligence with the lords; chiefly such as understood of the Earl Bothwell's mishandling of her, and many indignities that he had both said and done unto her, since their marriage was made. He was so beastly and suspicious, that he suffered her not to pa.s.s over a day in patience, not making her cause to shed abundance of salt tears. So part of his own company detested him; other part believed that her Majesty would fain have been quit of him, but thought shame to be the doer thereof directly herself.

_BOTHWELL'S COWARDICE_

In the meantime the laird of Grange rode about the brae.... When the Queen understood that the laird of Grange was chief of that company of hors.e.m.e.n, she sent the laird of Ormiston to desire him to come and speak with her under surety, which he did, after he had sent and obtained leave of the lords. As he was speaking with her Majesty, the Earl Bothwell had appointed a soldier to shoot him, until the Queen gave a cry, and said that he should not do her that shame, who had promised that he should come and return safely. For he was declaring unto the Queen how that all they would honour and serve her so that she would abandon the Earl Bothwell, who was the murderer of her own husband....

_MARY'S LAST DAY IN EDINBURGH_

The Earl Bothwell hearkened, and heard part of this language, and offered the singular combat to any man that would maintain that he had done it. The laird of Grange promised to send him an answer shortly thereanent.... He offered himself first.... The Earl Bothwell answered that he was neither lord nor earl, but a baron, and so could not be his peer. The like answer he made to Tullibardine. Then my Lord Lindsay offered to fight him, which he could not plainly refuse, but his heart cooled aye the longer the more. Then the Queen sent again for the laird of Grange, and said to him, that if the lords would do as he had spoken to her, she should put away the Earl Bothwell and come unto them.

Whereupon he asked at them, if he might promise it to her Majesty in their name; which they willed him to do.... Her Majesty was that night conveyed to Edinburgh, and lodged in the middle of the town, in the provost's lodging. As she came through the town, the common people cried out against her Majesty at the windows and stairs, which it was a pity to hear. Her Majesty again cried out, to all gentlemen and others that pa.s.sed up and down the causeway, declaring how that she was their native princess, and doubted not but all honest subjects would respect her as they ought to do, and not suffer her to be mishandled. Others again showed their malice, in setting up a banner or ensign, whereupon the King was painted lying dead under a tree, and the young prince sitting upon his knees, praying, "Judge, and revenge my cause, O Lord!"[19]

That same night it was alleged that her Majesty wrote a letter unto the Earl Bothwell.... Upon the which letter the lords took occasion to send her to Lochleven to be kept, against promise as she alleged.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ [19] Ps. xliii. 1.

1567.--July 12. Lochleven Castle.

_Guzman de Silva to the King. Spanish State Papers._

[Mary was a prisoner in Lochleven from 17th June 1567 to 2nd May 1568. The chief events of her captivity were her compulsory abdication on 24th July, the coronation of her infant son on the 29th of the same month, and the proclamation of the Earl of Murray as Regent on August 22nd. Her escape was preceded by at least one unsuccessful attempt. Murray visited Mary in Lochleven, and was by her asked to undertake the Regency, according to a letter from Throgmorton to Elizabeth, 20th August 1567 (in "Foreign Calendar,"

and in Keith's "History," vol. ii. p. 737).]

Ill.u.s.tration: LOCHLEVEN CASTLE.

... Croc, who was French Amba.s.sador in Scotland, has pa.s.sed here on his way to France, and there is n.o.body now representing his King.

_THE CASKET LETTERS_

The Amba.s.sador here a.s.sures me that the King (of France) has in his favour both those who have a.s.sembled to detain the Queen (of Scots) and those who are against them, and has their signatures promising to keep up the friends.h.i.+p and alliance that the country has had with his predecessors. For this reason the King had proceeded in such a way as not to lose the support of the one side by taking up the cause of the other, but he could not avoid giving his aid to the Queen, whose adversaries a.s.sert positively that she knew she had been concerned in the murder of her husband, which was proved by letters under her own hand, copies of which were in his possession.

[This is the earliest known reference to the Casket Letters.]

_Guzman de Silva to the King, from London_, July 26.

_Spanish State Papers._

Four days ago the preacher and confessor of the Queen of Scotland arrived here. He is a Dominican Friar, a Frenchman named Roche Mameret, and was at the Council of Trent.... He is much grieved at events in Scotland, and the imprisonment of the Queen, but more than all at the marriage with Bothwell, since he already has a wife.... He a.s.sured me that those who had risen against the Queen had not been moved by zeal to punish the King's murder, as they had been enemies rather than friends of his; nor in consequence of the marriage, as they had been all in favour of it, and had signed their names to that effect without exception, either lay or clerical, apart from the Earl of Murray, but their sole object had been a religious one, as they thought the Queen, being a Catholic, might settle religion in a way not to their liking.

_ELIZABETH'S INTERVENTION_

_Queen Elizabeth to Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, in Scotland_, July 27, 1567. _Keith's History_, p. 702.

You shall plainly declare unto them {the lords}, that if they shall determine anything to the deprivation of the Queen their sovereign lady of her royal estate, we are well a.s.sured of our own determination, and we have some just and probable cause to think the like of other Princes of Christendom, that we will make ourselves a plain party against them, for example to all posterity.

[This intervention by Elizabeth on Mary's behalf was the result of reports which reached London that Mary's life was in danger. Her death was demanded by certain of the Protestant clergy, and the more ardent of their following.]

_OPINION OF MARY'S CONFESSOR_

_Guzman de Silva to the King, from London_, August 2.

_Spanish State Papers._

The Earl of Murray went to Scotland on the last day of July.... I visited him.... He repeated how displeased he was at the action of the lords in taking the Queen.... I said that her confessor had told me that as regarded the King's murder she had no knowledge whatever of it, and had been greatly grieved thereat.... He opened out somewhat, saying that my good will towards him prompted him to tell me something that he had not even told this Queen {Elizabeth}, although she had given him many remote hints upon the subject. This was that he considered it very difficult to arrange matters, as it was certain that the Queen had been cognisant of the murder of her husband, and he, Murray, was greatly grieved thereat. This had been proved beyond doubt by a letter which the Queen had written to Bothwell, containing three sheets of paper, written with her own hand, and signed by her, in which she says in substance that he is not to delay putting into execution that which he had arranged, because her husband used such fair words to deceive her and bring her round that she might be moved by them if the other thing were not done quickly. She said that she herself would go and fetch him, and would stop at a house on the road, where she would try to give him a draught, but if this could not be done, she would put him in the house where the explosion was arranged for the night upon which one of her servants was to be married. He, Bothwell, was to try to get rid of his wife either by putting her away or by poisoning her, since he knew that she, the Queen, had risked all for him, her honour, her kingdom, her wealth, and her G.o.d, contenting herself with his person alone. Besides this she had done an extraordinary and unexampled thing on the night of the murder in giving her husband a ring, petting and fondling him after plotting his murder, and this had been the worst thing in connection with it. Murray said he had heard about the letter from a man who had read it, and the rest was notorious.... He says he will do his best for her. I am more inclined to believe that he will do it for himself if he finds a chance, as he is a Scotchman, and a heretic....

_END OF MARY'S FIRST IMPRISONMENT_

The Escape from Lochleven.

_Giovanni Correr, Venetian Amba.s.sador in France to the Signory, from Paris_, May 26, 1568. _Venetian Calendar._

"_A LOYAL HOST A ROYAL BANNER BORE_"

Guard was continually kept at the castle day and night, except during supper, at which time the gate was locked with a key, every one going to supper, and the key was always placed on the table where the Governor took his meals, and before him. The Governor is the uterine brother of the Earl of Murray, Regent of Scotland, the Queen's illegitimate brother, and her mortal enemy. The Queen, having attempted to descend from a window unsuccessfully, contrived that a page of the Governor's, whom she had persuaded to this effect, when carrying a dish, in the evening of the second of May, to the table of his master with a napkin before him, should place the napkin on the key, and in removing the napkin take up the key with it and carry it away unperceived by any one.

Having done so, the page then went directly to the Queen and told her all was ready; and she, having in the meanwhile been attired by the elder of the two maids who waited upon her, took with her by the hand the younger maid, a girl ten years old, and with the page went quietly to the door, and he having opened it, the Queen went out with him and the younger girl and locked the gate outside with the same key, without which it could not be opened from within. They then got into a little boat which was kept for the service of the castle, and displaying a white veil of the Queen's with a red ta.s.sel, she made the concerted signal to those who awaited her that she was approaching.... The hors.e.m.e.n ... came immediately to the lake and received the Queen with infinite joy, and having placed her on horseback, with the page and the girl, they conveyed her to the sea coast, at a distance of five miles from thence, because to proceed by land to the place which had been designated appeared manifestly too dangerous. All having embarked, the Queen was conducted to Niddry, a place belonging to Lord Seton, and from thence to Hamilton, a castle of the Duke of Chatelherault, where his brother, the Archbishop of St. Andrews, with other princ.i.p.al personages of those parts, acknowledged her as Queen....

All Scotland is in motion, some declaring for the Queen, and some against her and for the Earl of Murray.... With regard to her flight, it is judged here, by those who know the site, and how strictly she was guarded, that her escape was most miraculous, most especially having been contrived by two lads under ten years of age, who could not be presupposed to have the requisite judgment and secrecy.

To the greater satisfaction with the result may be added that the inmates of Lochleven Castle perceived the flight; but being shut up within it, and thus made prisoners, they had to take patience, and to witness the Queen's escape, while they remained at the windows of the castle.

_THE DISASTER AT LANGSIDE_

But now, if the current report be true, the Queen of Scotland, following the course of her fickle fortune, gives news of her troops having been routed near Glasgow, all her chief adherents being killed or made prisoners.

_Ibid._ June 6.

The news of the defeat of the troops of the Queen of Scotland was true.

She had a.s.sembled about eight thousand men, who had flocked to her from divers parts, and for greater security she wished to shut herself up in Dumbarton, which is a very strong castle, but she could not get there without crossing the Clyde, over which there is but one bridge near Glasgow, and that was already occupied by the enemy. It was therefore determined to cross the river where it flows into the sea, a number of boats being sent to the spot for that purpose. The Regent, aware of this, went in pursuit with four thousand men; whereupon the Queen appointed as her Lieutenant-General the Earl of Argyle, who had just joined her, and who is her brother-in-law through his wife, Queen Mary's natural sister, and he with six thousand men gave Murray battle.

_MARY SEEKS ENGLISH PROTECTION_

The contest lasted for three-quarters of an hour, when the Queen's troops were worsted, but only one hundred and fifty of her followers were killed, for the Regent exerted himself extremely to prevent his troops shedding blood. The prisoners exceeded three hundred, including many n.o.blemen, amongst whom, moreover, is that Lord Seton who was the chief instrument and leader in effecting the Queen's escape. Finding herself defeated, the Queen set out for England, accompanied by a son of the Duke of Chatelherault, by Lord Fleming, by the Earl of Maxwell, and some twenty-five other attendants, and she travelled a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles without any rest. She stopped at a place called Workington, which is four miles within the English border. She did not discover herself, but was recognised by a Scotsman, who informed the warden of the castle, and the latter went immediately to receive her, with great marks of respect, and posted guards on all sides to prevent pursuit by the enemy.

SECTION VI

THE CONFERENCES AT YORK AND WESTMINSTER

_CONTENTS_