England and Scotland in the reign of Elizabeth

Mary, Queen of Scots & Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley

The Protestant rebellion

	At Elizabeth's accession, Scotland was a thistle in England's side. Controlled by the hostile French, its Queen - the young Mary Stuart - was the prime Catholic candidate for the throne of England.
	But French rule , with its rigid Catholicism was not popular in Scotland. Protestantism had spread amongst key members of the nobility and the Lowland populace.

	Into this explosive situation (May 1559), Elizabeth I introduced the fiery Protestant preacher, John Knox. Anti-Catholic and anti-French disorder soon erupted.
	In February 1560, Elizabeth made the Treaty of Berwick with the Scottish nobles opposed to French government, and in March sent troops. For the first time in history, Englishmen and Scotsmen fought side by side rather than against one another.
	The French regent, Mary of Guise died 11 June 1560, and soon after the Treaty of Edinburgh (July 1560) led to the withdrawal of French troops.

Knox and the Protestant rebels announced that they were the "Great Council" of Scotland, and promptly set about a thorough reformation of the Scottish Church. A "parliament" (neither legally summoned nor duly elected) ended papal jurisdiction and abolished the Mass.

The rule of Mary

Mary, Queen of Scots' husband, Francis I, King of France died 5 December 1560 and Mary returned to Scotland in August 1561.

Mary had agreed to accept the Protestant coup in exchange for being recognized as ruler and allowed the private exercise of her faith. Her eyes were set on a better crown - that of England, and her marriage in July 1565 to Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley was aimed at strengthening her claim to succeed (or supplant) Elizabeth.	Mary, Queen of Scots, aged sixteen
"Uniquely ... Mary put marriage before monarchy. She had a very high sense of what was due to her as a queen. What was apparently lacking was the recognition that there was something fundamental due from her." (Wormald, Mary Queen of Scots)

Henry and Mary's union was soon blessed with a son - James - but in every other respect, it was cursed. The vain and drunken Henry, soon drove Mary into the late-night company of her secretary, David Rizzio. The resentful Darnley conspired with the Protestant lords to murder the Catholic Rizzio (March 1566).

James Hepburn,
4th Earl of Bothwell.

	Mary retaliated by conspiring to dispose of Darnley (February 1567), and then recklessly rushing into the arms of the chief conspirator, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.
	A group of Scottish nobles - known as the "Confederate Lords" decided to free Mary from Bothwell. Since Mary did not want to be freed, the lords raised an army. At Carberry (June 1567), Mary's feeble force dissolved and she was captured. She abdicated the crown in favor of her infant son, James, on 24 July 1567.

Mary in England

Mary did not accept captivity - She escaped in May 1568. However, the army she rallied was soon defeated, and Mary fled in panic. She crossed into England on 15 May 1568.

Mary's arrival posed a horrible political problem for Elizabeth. She was naturally averse to supporting rebels against their sovereign ruler, and to take direct action against Mary (even if a proven murderess and adulteress) risked provoking retaliation by the Catholic powers of Europe. On the other hand, England's interests lay in seeing Scotland ruled by a weak, Protestant, pro-English regency, rather than an unreliable, pro-French, Catholic monarch with pretensions to Elizabeth's own throne.

Castle Bolton, Wensleydale
where Mary was held from July 1568 to January 1569

Elizabeth temporized. She put no pressure on the Scots to restore Mary, but she kept Mary securely confined.

But Mary's presence in England was inherently dangerous, as she became the focal point of Catholic hopes of overturning Elizabeth's Protestant regime. This would probably have been true whatever Mary did, but she fanned the flames of such schemes.

"The poor fool will never cease [from plotting] until she lose her head. In faith they will put her to death. I see it is her own fault and folly."

(Charles IX of France on Mary, Queen of Scots. 1572.)

The first plot against Elizabeth was tied to the Rebellion of the Northern Earls. The conspirators planned to marry Mary to Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk - England premier Catholic nobleman.

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

Howard was briefly imprisoned after the failure of the Rebellion, but this did not prevent him from dabbling in the Ridolfi Plot (1570). After the assassination of Elizabeth, Mary was to marry Howard, take the crown and restore Catholicism.

The plot was discovered, and Howard was arrested (September 1571) and executed for treason (June 1572).

	For ten years, Mary lived comparatively quietly at Sheffield Castle, spending much of her time with Bess of Hardwick. However, Mary kept up secret contacts with her supporters and in 1572 became involved in another plot.
	The English authorities knew about the Babington Plot almost from day one, and of Mary's enthusiastic embrace of this plan to assassinate Elizabeth and put Mary on the throne.

Elizabeth was a great deal more reluctant to order Mary's death, than Mary was to condone Elizabeth's assassination. Finally, Elizabeth did bow the pressure to execute Mary that the political nation had long exerted.
Elizabeth signed Mary's death warrant on 1 February 1587, and Mary was (messily) beheaded one week later (8 February).

James VI of Scotland

	James was crowned King of Scotland on 29 July 1567. His tender age (thirteen months) necessitated a regency, and the place was taken by James Stuart, Ist Earl of Moray.
	Moray, the illegitimate son of James V, was a determined character and a convinced Protestant. But his firm rule ended when he was assassinated in January 1570.

	Civil war broke out in Scotland, and Elizabeth sent English troops to support the James VI's grandfather - Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox.
	Lennox was soon killed, and control was eventually taken by James Douglas, 4th earl of Morton.
	Morton imposed a certain degree of stability for the rest of James VI's minority.

James' minority ended theoretically in 1578, but in fact the country remained at the mercy of factional and religious conflict for at least another decade.

James VI really began to assert personal control from the 1590s. Even then, he remained dependent on the major Scottish nobles, whose feuds and plots made Scottish politics a bloody affair.

Medal of James VI from 1590.
It shows the Scottish thistle and reads Nemo me impune lacesset - nobody messes with me.

James carefully maintained a good relationship with Elizabeth, and England and Scotland were effectively close allies from the 1580s onwards.

James had the best claim to the English throne on hereditary principles, but many other candidates had plausible pretensions. James formed a secret association with Robert Cecil - Elizabeth's principal minister. When Elizabeth died, Robert Cecil and other members of the Privy Council ensured that his succession was not disputed.