Tudor Minute February 3, 1587: Mary Queen of Scots’ death warrant

Today in 1587 Elizabeth I’s privy council met at William Cecil’s rooms in Greenwich and decided to send Mary Queen of Scots’ death warrant, signed by Elizabeth, to Fotheringhay.

The Earls of Shrewsbury and Kent agreed to oversee the execution, and everyone decided to keep it a secret from Elizabeth until it was done. On February 1 Elizabeth had signed the death warrant and given it to her secretary, William Davison. She claimed that she had told him to keep the warrant until she had given her permission for him to share it. But he said that Elizabeth specifically said that she wanted the execution to take place as soon as possible because he was worried about plots to rescue her. The Privy Council decided to act before Elizabeth could change her mind.

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.

Want more Tudor in your life? Join the Tudor Learning Circle - the only social network devoted solely to Tudor History. Sign up free at TudorLearningCircle.com! And why not Tudorfy your YouTube algorithm by getting exclusive videos and content on Heather's YouTube channel! 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.

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