Stirling. Mary is crowned Queen of Scots. Her father, King James V, had died shortly after the Battle of Solway Moss after a mental and physical collapse. Her daughter, Mary, was only a week old when her father died and was crowned queen at nine months old. Mary then became Queen of France when she married Francis, King of France, who died only a year after their marriage. She then returned to Scotland to marry her cousin, Henry Stewart, Earl of Darnley. Henry was surly and brutal and at one point murdered David Riccio, Mary’s secretary, in front of her. One day, Henry Stewart’s house was set on fire, and when he tried to escape, he was strangled and killed. Mary then married James Hepburn, Fourth Earl of Bothwell, without any better luck: Scottish Protestant nobles managed to imprison Mary, who was forced to abdicate in favor of her son, James VI, who was only 16 months old. Mary was then forced to flee to England, where she was imprisoned by Elizabeth (who was not recognized as Queen of England by Catholics, as Elizabeth was the daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII following her divorce from her previous marriage). In 1586, after 18 years in prison, she authorized the plot to kill Elizabeth and exchanged information using encrypted codes. However, Mary’s agent, Gifford, was actually a double agent and was also in the pay of Walsingham, who obtained copies of each letter, which were then resealed after being copied. The letters were then deciphered by Phelippes using the frequency of each letter and suggested attempts. Mary’s trial began on October 15th. She maintained a composed and dignified demeanor throughout the trial and denied everything. However, she was sentenced to death, a sentence signed by Elizabeth, and was beheaded on February 8, 1587, in front of a crowd of three hundred people in the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stirling. Mary is crowned Queen of Scots. Her father, King James V, had died shortly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-618406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vg-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n