Mariastuart she was born in Scotland and became queen at a few days old on account of her father's death. She married Francis II, King of France, but returned to her native country because her husband passed away and thus effectively took over her kingdom. In Scotland she found a country divided over religious reasons and was deposed from the throne in 1567, after marrying the man suspected of having killed her second husband.
With the deposition, she took shelter in England, ruled by Elizabeth I. As Mary Stuart had ambitions for the English throne, Elizabeth made her her prisoner, keeping her isolated for 19 years. Her involvement in a conspiracy led to her being executed in 1587. Her son James managed to be crowned King of Scotland and England.
Accessalso: War of the Roses, the dynastic conflict that divided England for 30 years
Birth
Maria Stuart was born in Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, on December 8, 1542. she was the daughter of James V
, king of Scotland, and of Marie de Guise, his second wife. Maria Stuart was the only legitimate daughter of James V to survive childhood and was great-niece of Henry VIII, the king of England, since she was the granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, sister of the English king.six days old, Maria Stuart was crowned queen of scotland because her father contracted an illness while leading a military campaign and passed away. This campaign prevented James V from witnessing the birth of his daughter, and he learned of his wife's delivery when he was already bedridden.
With the coronation of Mary Stuart, Scotland was ruled by regents who would remain in office until the queen reached adulthood. In that premature moment she not only became queen, she had already been betrothed in marriage to Edward, son of Henry VIII. This marriage was the way proposed by the English king to end the war between English and Scots and unite the two crowns.
The marriage agreement was signed through the Greenwich Treaty, but was rejected by the Scottish nobility. This aggravated the war between England and Scotland and made the Scots look to France for help. French support in this conflict yielded an agreement to Marriage between Maria Stuart and Francisco, son of Henry II, the king of France.
life in france
![During her lifetime, Mary Stuart was Queen Consort of France, Queen of Scotland, and claimed the English throne. She was killed for conspiring against Elizabeth I. [1]](/f/2e0eca14535f13892980321d5f33d26a.jpg)
This agreement between Scotland and France became known as Haddington Treaty. In it it was determined that Maria Stuart would be sent to the French court, where she would be educated until her marriage to Francis was performed. With her going to France, Scotland would be ruled by Marie de Guise, her mother, who would assume the role of regent.
The wedding was officially performed in 1558, when Maria was just 15 years old. That same year, Elizabeth Tudor was crowned Elizabeth I, and this event was the subject of much controversy in England because the Catholics considered her an illegitimate daughter, as they did not accept the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn per religious issues.
Mary Stuart, drawing on her support from English Catholics, claimed her right to the English throne when Elizabeth became Queen. A rivalry between the two was born out of this, mainly due to the UK context: Scotland and England were divided between Protestants and Catholics. This division was led to succession to the throne, as Mary was Catholic and Elizabeth was Protestant.
O Marriage Stuart's marriage to Francisco it took place in Paris in April 1558, and in July 1559 the two became King and Queen of France, she being only Queen Consort. Francis II's reign, however, lasted a few months, and in December 1560 he died of an ear inflammation. Months later, Maria Stuart returned to Scotland.
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Reign of Mary Stuart
When Mary Stuart arrived in Scotland in 1561, she found the country divided by a dispute between Protestants and Catholics. She was regarded with suspicion in England by Elizabeth's supporters and in Scotland she was distrusted by Protestants. your reign in the home country lasted only six years, and ended with his deposition.
Maria Stuart's return to Scotland is closely related to this conflict and the fact that her mother, Marie de Guise, had died in 1560. In 1561 she was 18 years old, old enough to rule fully without the need for a regent. When she assumed the throne, she took no action against the Protestants., letting them live in freedom.
Maria Stuart's private council, in fact, was made up mostly of Protestants, and some historians suggest that these actions may be a indicative that Mary was more concerned with obtaining the English throne than necessarily taking a side in the dispute between Catholics and Protestants in the Scotland.
readmore: Why was England a pioneer in industrial development in the 18th century?
Maria Stuart's Weddings
In 1565, Maria Stuart decided marry Lord Darnley, an English nobleman who was her cousin, and as such was a subject of Elizabeth. He also belonged to a family of the traditional Scottish nobility and Catholic lineage that involved the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. So he was also one of the heirs to the English throne.
Her marriage to Lord Darnley, called Henry Stuart, was not very popular, but it happened anyway, and the The ceremony was held on July 29, 1565, when Maria Stuart was 22 years old, and Henry Stuart, 19 years old. he became Kingconsort, granting the royal title, but lacking the powers of government that Mary Stuart as queen possessed.
Quickly, Maria Stuart became pregnant with a child with Lord Darnley, but her marriage fell into crisis. The King Consort wanted to be entitled to what is known in Scotland as crownmatrimonial (marriage crown, literally and freely translated), which means that he wanted to rule Scotland with the same powers as Mary Stuart.
The Scottish Queen rejected her husband's request, and he, who was a Catholic, joined the Protestants and became conspireagainst your wife. With this, he and a group of Protestants murdered Maria Stuart's private secretary, Italian David Rizzio, on March 9, 1566. Lord Darnley was jealous of their proximity. The murder took place in front of Maria Stuart, during dinner, and after that she convinced her husband to abandon the conspiracy, and they both fled the conspirators, taking refuge in Dunbar Castle.
Lord Darnley tried to deny his involvement in the conspiracy, but he was part of it from the beginning. The conspirators' plan was to imprison Mary Stuart and place the lord on the Scottish throne. Maria Stuart, however, forgave the conspirators, and, at first, she did nothing to her husband. Her son, JamesStuart,was born shortly after addition, on June 19, 1566.
Months after James was born, rumors that Maria Stuart was in love with Earl Bothwell began to circulate in the Scottish Court. Your relationship with Henry Stuart remained cold, it is a fire in the residence where he was staying, recovering from an illness, took her life, in February 1567. Apparently, the cause of death was suffocation by smoke, but the Scottish Queen and Earl Bothwell quickly became suspects in the murder.
deposition from the throne
Less than three months after the death of Henry Stuart, the Scottish Queen decided to marry Earl Bothwell, called James Hepburn. The marriage took place following a Protestant ritual, and Earl Bothwell had divorced his wife just 12 days before marrying the Queen. Maria Stuart's marriage to the man suspected of having killed her ex-husband left the nobility outraged.
Catholic and Protestant noblemen turned against her, and a new conspiracy arose. In July 1567, she was forced to resign to the Scottish throne for the benefit of his son, James, who, after the coronation, became James VI of Scotland. She tried to regain the throne in 1568, but failed and fled the country.
She requested shelter for Elizabeth I, thinking mainly that the English Queen could help her regain the Scottish throne. Elizabeth I agreed to house it, but in practice, turned her into a prisoner. For 19 years, Maria Stuart lived that way, with noble luxuries, but completely isolated.
Elizabeth I's actions were carried out in part following the views expressed by her advisers, who saw in the presence of Mary Stuart a risk to Elizabeth I's position on the English throne. Throughout the period of Mary's imprisonment, two advisers to Elizabeth I monitored the actions of the former Queen of Scots.
Accessalso: Puritan Revolution - responsible for overthrowing the Stuarts from the English throne
Death
![Elizabeth I, Queen of England, held Mary Stuart as her prisoner for nearly two decades.[1]](/f/76fd62cab1431468b3b70261d6f819e8.jpg)
In 1586, Maria Stuart was accused of being involved in a conspiracy against the Queen of England. This was the babington conspiracy, which involved the murder of Elizabeth I. The Scottish woman was brought to trial and sentenced to death.
Her execution was carried out on February 8, 1587, and she was dead by decapitation. Maria Stuart's death was considered brutal and violent, and reports of her execution are strong, due to two mistakes made by the executioner.
Mary Stuart's great lifelong wish (to unify the Scottish and English thrones) came years later when her son James VI of Scotland was crowned James I, King of England, in 1603.
Image credits
[1] Sergey Goryachev and Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves
History teacher
