Mary Queen Of Scots Research Paper

Mary Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart, was born on December 8th, 1542 to James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. Just six days after Mary’s birth, her father died. She was crowned queen of Scotland within a year. Her regents originally arranged an engagement between her and Henry the VIII of England’s son, but after continuing to send his army north and encouraging the execution of a well-known Scottish patriot, they were determined to avoid marriage. So, in 1548, they sent Mary to France, where her mother was from. Mary was the engaged to the heir of the French throne, Francis of Valois, the son of Henry II of France and Catherine de Medicis. She grew up in the French court as a result of this. When she was 7, her mother came to

The Scots welcomed Mary with great joy. Mary was very much focused on bettering Scotland, and was very popular among commoners, however, not so much with nobility. Although she was a popular queen, she knew she needed to marry and provide heirs. In July of 1565, she married a cousin. His name was Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley. He, like Mary, was a grandchild of Henry VIII of England’s sister Margaret. He was by all accounts a vile man; weak, unstable, and vain. He seemed uncaring of Mary, and wanted more power than she was willing to provide. Within six months of her marriage she was pregnant. In 1566, when Mary was still pregnant, Darnley, along with several nobles, stabbed one of her secretaries to death. They claimed that he had too much influence, but many people, including Mary herself, believed he wanted to cause Mary to have a miscarriage. Killing both her and her heir, so he could take the throne. After her secretary's death, the nobles held Mary prisoner at Holyrood Palace, but she managed to convince Darnley to escape. So the nobles plan failed, and three months after her secretary’s death, James VI of Scotland was born. The nobles who kidnapped Mary felt betrayed by Darnley, and,in 1567, he was found dead, strangled to death in his garden. One noble in particular was believed to have been responsible;James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell. Almost immediately after Darnley’s death, Bothwell met with Mary. Bothwell proposed to Mary,

On October 14, 1586, she was put on trial for plotting to kill Elizabeth and claim the English throne. The trial lasted two days, and she was found guilty, but she wasn’t executed until February 1587, and she wasn’t told when she was going to be executed until the day before her execution. On February 8, 1587, Mary Queen of Scots was executed. Reports state that the first blow to her neck did not go all the way through, so the executioner had to try again to cut off her