It’s been a week of Mary, Queen of Scots, and that’s set to continue today, as it’s her birthday. She was born in 1542, the daughter of James V of Scotland, and his wife Marie of Guise, from France. She became Queen when she was only 8 days old, when her father died, and was crowned Queen when she wasn’t even a year old. At first it seemed like a marriage into England would be good for both countries, as Henry VIII’s son Edward was a likely match.
But Marie of Guise wanted a French alliance, and wound up pulling back from an alliance with England. Thus began the Rough Wooing where England thought they could force Mary to marry Edward. When she was five, Mary was sent to France to be educated with the family of her future husband, Francis. When Francis died in 1560, Mary went back to Scotland, a land she hadn’t seen in over a decade. Things went disastrously for her, and she wound up abdicating to her young son James, and fleeing to England. Of course, that didn’t work out either, and she was implicated in several attempts to overthrow Elizabeth, and was eventually beheaded in 1587. Â
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th-century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com where there are several episodes on Mary Queen of Scots.
Suggested links:
Episode 085: Tudor Times on Mary Queen of Scots
Throwback Episode 29: Mary Queen of Scots
Throwback Episode 26: Catholics in Elizabethan England
Music from the world of the Queen of Scots
From the shop:
Mary Queen of Scots Collection
Featuring the “Nemo me impune lacessit” mug
Note: All products are made on-demand and can take a few weeks to ship.
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.