Monthly Archives: September 2017

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, King Consort of Scots

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Credit – Wikipedia

The eldest surviving child of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and Lady Margaret Douglas, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, was born on December 7, 1545, at Temple Newsam in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Temple Newsam, a Tudor country house, was built between 1500 and 1520. In 1537 Thomas, Lord Darcy was executed for the part he played in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and the property was confiscated by the Crown. In 1544, King Henry VIII gave it to his niece Lady Margaret Douglas and her husband Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox.

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley is generally known as Lord Darnley (or Darnley), his courtesy title as the heir apparent to the Earldom of Lennox. Darnley had one brother who died in infancy and one surviving brother:

Darnley’s mother Lady Margaret Douglas was the only child of Margaret Tudor (daughter of King Henry VII of England and the older sister of King Henry VIII of England) and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus.  Margaret Tudor was first married to James IV, King of Scots and they were the parents of James V, King of Scots, and the grandparents of Mary, Queen of Scots. Margaret Tudor’s third marriage to Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven was childless.

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley was brought up in England. His mother had left Scotland in 1528 and had been brought up at the English court with her first cousin, the future Queen Mary I of England, who remained her lifelong friend. Darnley’s father lived in exile in England. He had been declared guilty of treason in Scotland for his part in the war of the Rough Wooing, siding with the English. Darnley had claims to both the Scottish and English thrones as he was descended from both James II of Scotland and Henry VII of England. Darnley’s family was Catholic and represented an alternative succession to the English throne. He had been well-educated and was very conscious of his status and heritage.

Darnley in 1555; Credit – Wikipedia

14-year-old Darnley was sent to the French court to complete his education. This coincided with the short reign of François II, King of France, the first husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, Darnley’s first cousin. Upon the death of François II in 1560, Darnley was at once proposed as a suitable husband for the 18-year-old widowed Queen of Scots. Mary, Queen of Scots had lived in France since she was five years old. During Mary’s thirteen-year absence, the Protestant Reformation had swept through Scotland, led by John Knox who is considered the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Therefore, Catholic Mary returned to a Scotland which was very different from the one she had left as a child.

Mary needed an heir, so a second marriage became necessary. After considering Carlos, Prince of Asturias, known as Don Carlos, eldest son and heir of King Philip II of Spain and Queen Elizabeth I’s candidate Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, Mary became infatuated with her first cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Both Mary and Darnley were grandchildren of Margaret Tudor. The couple married at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland on July 29, 1565.

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Mary, Queen of Scots; Credit – Wikipedia

The marriage angered Queen Elizabeth I who felt that Darnley, as her cousin and an English subject, needed her permission to marry. James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, the illegitimate son of James V, King of Scots and Mary’s half-brother, was also angered by his sister’s marriage to a prominent Catholic and joined other Protestant lords in a rebellion. Mary soon became disillusioned by Darnley’s uncouth behavior and his insistence upon receiving the Crown Matrimonial which would have made him co-sovereign of Scotland. Mary refused and their relationship became strained.

At the end of 1565, Mary became pregnant. Darnley, who was jealous of Mary’s friendship with her private secretary David Riccio, rumored to be the father of her child. Darnley formed a conspiracy to do away with Riccio. On March 9, 1566, Riccio was at supper with Mary and her ladies at Holyrood Palace. The conspirators, led by Darnley, burst into the room, dragged Riccio away, and killed him in an adjoining room. Mary was roughly pushed and shoved and although the conspirators hoped she would miscarry, she did not. All the conspirators were banished except for Darnley who was forgiven. On June 19, 1566, at Edinburgh Castle, Mary gave birth to a son, christened Charles James after his godfather King Charles IX of France, later succeeding his mother as King James VI of Scotland.  In 1603, Mary and Darnley’s son succeeded the childless Queen Elizabeth I of England as King James I of England.

James VI, King of Scots, circa 1574; Credit – Wikipedia

Mary’s marriage was all but over and she began to be drawn to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. Bothwell entered into a conspiracy with Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll and George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly to rid Mary of her husband. On February 10, 1567, Kirk o’ Field, the house where Darnley was staying, was blown up. Darnley and his servant were found dead near the house in an orchard outside the city walls. Since Darnley was dressed only in his nightshirt and had no injuries, it was assumed that he was strangled after the explosion. Suspicions that Mary colluded with the conspirators in Darnley’s death or that she took no action to prevent his death were key factors that led to her loss of the Scottish crown that same year. Darnley was buried at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Matthew Stewart, his wife Margaret, their son Charles and grandson James VI of Scotland mourning Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. and Lock, J. (2012). The mammoth book of British kings & queens. London: Constable & Robinson.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Stuart,_Lord_Darnley [Accessed 20 Jul. 2017].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Margaret Douglas. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Douglas [Accessed 20 Jul. 2017].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Stewart,_4th_Earl_of_Lennox [Accessed 20 Jul. 2017].
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2017). Mary, Queen of Scots. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/mary-queen-of-scots/ [Accessed 20 Jul. 2017].
  • Williamson, D. (1996). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

François II, King of France, King Consort of Scots

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Credit – Wikipedia

François II, King of France, the first husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, was born on January 19, 1544, at the Château de Fontainebleau in France. He was the eldest of the ten children of Henri II, King of France and Catherine de’ Medici, daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino and Madeleine de La Tour d’Auvergne.  François was baptized on February 10, 1544, at the Chapelle des Trinitaires in Fontainebleau. His godparents were his paternal grandfather François I, King of France, Pope Paul III, and his great-aunt Marguerite de Navarre.  François became heir to the French throne and Dauphin of France in 1547 upon the death of his grandfather François I, King of France. As a child, François suffered from ill health and was considered to be less intelligent and easily distracted. Despite this, François received an education as befitted a prince of that time.

François had nine siblings:

Across the English Channel in England and France, events were happening that would result in a marriage for François. James V, King of Scots had died in 1542 leaving his six-day-old daughter Mary as Queen of Scots. Mary’s great uncle King Henry VIII of England tried to force an agreement of marriage between Mary and his six-year-old son the future King Edward VI of England to create a new alliance between England and Scotland. Scotland had an alliance with France called the Auld Alliance. When Scotland resisted, Henry VIII declared war resulting in an eight-year war known as the Rough Wooing (1543 – 1551). Because of the English hostilities, Scotland abandoned the possibility of an English marriage. Fearing for Mary’s safety, the Scots appealed to France for help. Henri II, King of France proposed to unite France and Scotland by marrying the young Queen of Scots to his three-year-old son and heir to the French throne François. In July 1548, the Scottish Parliament approved Mary’s marriage to François, Dauphin of France. On August 7, 1548, five-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots set sail for France where she would be raised with her future husband. She would not return to Scotland for thirteen years.

Mary, Queen of Scots, at the age of 12 or 13 by François Clouet, circa 1555–1559; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 24, 1558, 15-year-old Mary married 14-year-old François, Dauphin of France outside Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. It was a marriage that could have given the future kings of France the throne of Scotland and also a claim to the throne of England through Mary’s great-grandfather, King Henry VII of England. A little more than a year after the wedding, a great tragedy occurred in France. On June 30, 1559, a great celebration and tournament was held in Paris at the Hôtel des Tournelles (now the site of the Place des Vosges) in honor of the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis with France’s longtime enemies, the Habsburgs.

King Henri II, at age 40, still liked to participate in tournaments even though he had been advised not to participate because of dizziness he was suffering after physical exertion. Henri and Gabriel de Lorges, Comte de Montgomery, captain of the Scotch Guard jousted and Henri had been almost unseated from his horse. He insisted upon a rematch despite the urgings of his wife, the Duke of Savoy, and other friends to stop. The Comte de Montgomery reluctantly agreed to participate. de Montgomery’s lance struck the king’s helmet, splintered, and went through the visor going through the king’s right eye and through his temple into the brain.

The king, bleeding profusely and nearly unconscious, was carried into the Hôtel des Tournelles. Henri survived for more than a week. On July 9, he was given the last rites and he died on July 10, 1559, at the age of 40, probably from a subdural hematoma and sepsis. Henri II’s eldest son succeeded his father as King François II of France. François was crowned at Notre-Dame de Reims in Reims, France in September 1559. However, Mary did not participate in the coronation as she was already an anointed and crowned queen.

King François II of France and his wife Mary, Queen of France and Queen of Scots; circa 1558; Credit – Wikipedia

After only a 17-month reign, François II, King of France, aged 16, died in great pain on December 5, 1560, possibly from mastoiditis, meningitis, or otitis which turned into an abscess, at the Hotel Groslot d’Orleans in Orléans, France.  François II died childlessly, so his ten-year-old younger brother Charles succeeded him and his mother Catherine de Médici was named Regent of France. Left a childless widow, Mary decided to return to Scotland, where she married two more times, lost her throne, and was eventually beheaded after being held captive in England for 18 years.

On December 23, 1560, François’ remains were buried at the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris, the traditional burial place of French kings. The effigies of many of the kings and queens are still on their tombs, but their bodies were removed during the French Revolution. The remains of the French royalty were removed, dumped into three trenches, and covered with lime to destroy them. In 1817,  the restored Bourbons ordered the mass graves to be opened, but only portions of three bodies remained intact. The remaining bones from 158 bodies were collected into an ossuary in the crypt of the church, behind marble plates bearing their names.

Entrance to the crypt where the remains of the French royals were reinterred in 1817, Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

France Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Francis II of France. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_II_of_France [Accessed 20 Jul. 2017].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Henry II of France. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_France [Accessed 20 Jul. 2017].
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2017). James V, King of Scots. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/james-v-king-of-scots/ [Accessed 19 Jul. 2017].
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2017). King Henri II of France is mortally wounded in a jousting match. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/june-30-daily-featured-royal-date/ [Accessed 20 Jul. 2017].
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2017). Mary, Queen of Scots. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/mary-queen-of-scots/ [Accessed 20 Jul. 2017].

Marie of Guise, Queen of Scots

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Credit – Wikipedia

Marie of Guise, the second wife of James V, King of Scots and the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, was born November 22, 1515, in Bar-le-Duc, Duchy of Lorraine (now in France). She was the eldest of the twelve children of Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Guise, head of the House of Guise, and Antoinette de Bourbon, daughter of François de Bourbon, Count of Vendome.

Marie had eleven siblings:

Marie grew up with her large family at the family home, Château de Joinville. To complete her education, she was sent to the Poor Clares convent at Pont-à-Mousson, France where her paternal grandmother Philippa of Guelders, Duchess of Lorraine had become a nun. At the age of fourteen, Marie was a tall, beautiful, red-haired young woman. She so impressed her uncle and aunt Antoine, Duke of Lorraine and Renée of Bourbon, that they took her to their court to prepare her for life at the French court. In March 1531, Marie accompanied family members to the Basilica of St. Denis to attend the coronation of Eleanor of Austria, the second wife of King François I of France.  Marie spent the next three years at the French court where she became close to Madeleine and Margaret, daughters of King François I of France. Ironically, Marie would succeed Madeleine as Queen of Scots after Madeleine died a month short of her seventeenth birthday, only six months after her marriage to James V, King of Scots.

On August 4, 1534, 18-year-old Marie married Louis II d’Orléans, Duke of Longueville at the Louvre Palace in Paris. The marriage was a happy one, but sadly, a short one. Louis died June 9, 1537, leaving Marie a 21-year-old pregnant widow. The couple had two children, but neither survived to adulthood:

On New Year’s Day in 1537, Marie and her husband had attended the wedding of Princess Madeleine to James V, King of Scots at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. There Marie met for the first time the man who would become her second husband, James V, King of Scots. Marie’s husband died on June 9, 1537, and Madeleine died on July 7, 1537.  It was Madeleine’s father, King François I of France, who suggested Marie should marry his widowed son-in-law.  However, Marie had another suitor, King Henry VIII of England, then the widower of Jane Seymour. When the French ambassador to England asked Henry VIII why he was eager to marry Marie, he said it was because she was big and he had a need for a big wife. When this was reported to Marie, she responded, “I may be big, but my neck is too small,” an obvious reference to the beheading of Henry’s second wife Anne Boleyn. Because of Henry VIII, the negotiations for Marie’s marriage to James V (who was Henry VIII’s nephew, the son of Henry’s sister Margaret) were hastened and James applied to the Pope for a dispensation since he and Marie were third cousins, both great-great-grandchildren of Arnold, Duke of Guelders. A proxy marriage took place in France on May 9, 1538, with Robert Maxwell, 5th Lord Maxwell, one of the ambassadors sent to the French court to negotiate the marriage, standing in for James V.

Engraving of the Proxy Marriage of Marie of Guise; Credit – Wikipedia

Marie sailed from Le Havre, France on June 10, 1538. She was forced to leave her three-year-old son François in France in the care of her mother Antoinette de Bourbon as he had succeeded his father as Duke of Longueville. On June 18, 1538, Marie and James V were married in person at St. Andrews Cathedral in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Marie was crowned Queen of Scots at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland on February 22, 1540.

James V and Marie of Guise; Credit – Wikipedia

Marie and James V had two sons and a daughter, but both sons died in early childhood:

When his mother Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots died in 1541, James V saw no reason to keep the peace with England. When war broke out between England and France in 1542, it was inevitable that Scotland would go to war against England because of their treaty with France. When Henry VIII of England broke from the Roman Catholic Church, he asked James V of Scotland, his nephew, to do the same. James ignored his uncle’s request and further insulted him by refusing to meet with Henry VIII at York. Furious, Henry VIII sent troops against Scotland. In retaliation for the English raid into Scotland, James responded by assigning Robert Maxwell, Lord Maxwell, the Scottish Warden of West March, the task of raising an army. On November 24, 1542, the Battle of Solway Moss in Cumberland, England resulted in a decisive English victory.

After the Battle of Solway Moss, James V fled to Falkland Palace where he became ill and took to his bed. Overcome with grief and shame about the Battle of Solway Moss, James V lost the will to live. The news that Marie of Guise had given birth to a daughter on December 8, 1542, did nothing to raise his spirits. James V, King of Scots died at Falkland Palace in Fife, Scotland on December 14, 1542, at the age of 30. He was buried at Holyrood Abbey alongside his first wife Madeleine and his two sons by Marie of Guise.  James’ tomb was desecrated in 1544 during the War of the Rough Wooing and his remains were reburied in the Royal Vault at Holyrood Abbey during the reign of Queen Victoria. James V was succeeded by his only surviving, legitimate child, six-day-old Mary, Queen of Scots.

Mary, Queen of Scots, about 12-years-old; Credit – Wikipedia

James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, a great-grandson of James II, King of Scots and the heir to the Scots throne, became Regent.  The widowed Marie and her infant daughter stayed at Linlithgow Castle until July 1543 when they moved to Stirling Castle.  On September 9, 1543, Mary was crowned at Stirling Castle.  After Mary’s coronation, Marie was appointed as the principal member of the Council of Regency. She was to assist and advise the Earl of Arran, whose power was greatly reduced.

Mary, Queen of Scot’s great-uncle King Henry VIII of England tried to force an agreement of marriage between Mary and his six-year-old son the future King Edward VI of England to create a new alliance between England and Scotland. Scotland had an alliance with France called the Auld Alliance. When Scotland resisted, Henry VIII declared war resulting in an eight-year war known as the Rough Wooing (1543 – 1581).  Because of the English hostilities, Scotland abandoned the possibility of an English marriage. In July 1548, the Scottish Parliament approved Mary’s marriage to François, Dauphin of France, the son and heir of King Henri II of France.

François, Dauphin of France; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 7, 1548, five-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots set sail for France where she would be raised with her future husband. She would not return to Scotland for thirteen years. Mary’s mother Marie remained in Scotland as the principal member of the Council of Regency. Marie set out for a visit to France in September 1550. She spent a happy year in France reunited with her son François and her daughter Mary. Sadly, in 1551, François died shortly before Marie returned to Scotland.

Marie returned to Scotland via England where she was entertained by King Edward VI of England at Hampton Court Palace and the Palace of Westminster. Upon her return to Edinburgh, Scotland, Marie spent the next two years attempting to become the sole regent of Scotland. The Earl of Arran, a great-grandson of James II of Scotland, agreed to give up his position as regent on the condition that he would be next in line to the throne of Scotland after Mary, Queen of Scots if she died childless. However, the Scottish succession had been secretly promised to France. On April 12, 1554, the Earl resigned as regent at Marie was invested as Queen Regent.

Marie, as regent, was extremely capable and set out to bring justice, peace, and prosperity to her adopted country. However, she did have to contend with the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. In 1559, John Knox, leader of the Scottish Reformation and the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, started his fiery sermons, encouraging people to destroy images and desecrate churches. Soon, the entire country was on the verge of a civil war and the former regent, the Earl of Arran, sided with the Protestants. The Protestants were receiving help from the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England who had succeeded to the English throne in 1558. The Catholic French gave aid to Marie so she could fortify Leith which was threatened to be besieged by the English.

When the English invaded Scotland in March 1560, Marie and her entourage moved to Edinburgh Castle which could be better fortified. While continuing to fortify Edinburgh Castle, Marie became seriously ill. Her mind began to wander and there were some days she could not even speak. She met with her last council on June 7, 1560. On June 11, 1560, 44-year-old Marie died of dropsy (edema).

St. Margaret’s Chapel, Edinburgh Castle; Photo Credit – By Jonathan Oldenbuck – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5383510

Marie’s body was embalmed and placed in a lead coffin. It lay in St. Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh Castle until March 18, 1561. On that day, the coffin was secretly carried from the castle at midnight and taken to Leith where the coffin was placed on board a ship bound for France. Mary, Queen of Scots attended her mother’s funeral at Fécamp in July 1561. Marie of Guise was buried at the church in the Convent of Saint-Pierre in Reims where her sister Renée was abbess. A marble tomb was erected with a bronze statue of Marie in royal robes, holding a scepter and the rod of justice. The tomb was destroyed during the French Revolution.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited:

  • Ashley, M. and Lock, J. (2012). The mammoth book of British kings & queens. London: Constable & Robinson.
  • De.wikipedia.org. (2017). Marie de Guise. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_de_Guise [Accessed 19 Jul. 2017].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Mary of Guise. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Guise [Accessed 19 Jul. 2017].
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2017). James V, King of Scots. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/james-v-king-of-scots/ [Accessed 19 Jul. 2017].
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2017). Mary, Queen of Scots. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/mary-queen-of-scots/ [Accessed 19 Jul. 2017].
  • Williamson, D. (1996). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.