Scotland. Henry Stewart, Earl of Darnley and husband of Mary Queen of Scots, is murdered. He was surly and brutal and at one point murdered David Riccio, Mary’s secretary, in front of her. Henry Stewart’s house is set on fire on 9 February 1567, and when he tries to escape, he is strangled and killed. Mary then marries James Hepburn, Fourth Earl of Bothwell, without any better luck: Scottish Protestant nobles manage to imprison Mary who has to abdicate in favor of her son James VI who is only 16 months old. Mary then has to flee to England where she is imprisoned by Elizabeth (who was not recognized as Queen of England by Catholics, since Elizabeth was the daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII after his divorce from her previous marriage). In 1586, after 18 years in prison, she authorizes the plot to kill Elizabeth and exchanges information through ciphers. But the agent working for Mary, Gifford, is actually a double agent, and is also in the pay of Walsingham, who obtains copies of each letter which are then resealed after being copied. The letters are then deciphered by Phelippes using the frequency of each letter and suggestions for attempts. Mary’s trial begins on 15 October. She maintains a composed and dignified demeanor throughout the trial and denies everything. But she is sentenced to death, a sentence signed by Elizabeth, and is beheaded on 8 February 1587 in front of a crowd of three hundred people in the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle.
