WEBVTT - Husbands of the Scottish Queen 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.720 Just a quick note before we begin today's episode. This 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:08.840 story contains murder, sexual assault, and pregnancy loss, so if 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:12.239 any of those are particularly sensitive to you, this might 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:13.720 be a good episode to skip. 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:16.680 And on a. 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:20.440 More personal note unrelated to the episode, before we dive in, 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:23.360 I just wanted to say I have a brand new 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:26.800 book coming out. This one comes out in May twenty 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:31.080 twenty six. It's called The Arcane Arts and it's a sexy, 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:35.520 dark academia book about a professor and a student studying 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.839 illicit magic at Magic Grad School. I'm not really good 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:42.880 at describing it. Hopefully I'll get a little better. It's 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:47.000 by a pseudonym by sd coverly because I co wrote 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.680 it with a friend of mine, Dan Frye. I wrote 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.640 the female points of view, he wrote the male points 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:54.840 of view, and then we sort of blended it together. 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.840 It was an incredibly fun collaboration. I love this book. 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:03.240 It's available for pre order now. If you like dark, twisted, 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.920 sexy stories in this podcast, I think you'll really like 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:07.560 that book. 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:09.600 Now let's get to the story. 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:15.560 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:21.640 and Mild from Aaron Manky listener Discretion advised. In early 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:26.560 February fifteen sixty seven, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, the King 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:31.920 of Scotland, arrived at a spacious two story house in Kirkfield, 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:35.760 an abbey and church college near Edinburgh. It had been 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.760 a tough year for Lord Darnley so far. He had 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.240 been living in Glasgow, away from his wife, Mary, Queen 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:49.320 of Scots, but after Darnley fell dangerously ill, Mary arranged 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:53.120 to bring him to be with her in Edinburgh to convalesse, 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:58.840 perhaps as a gesture of reconciliation after their relationship had 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:05.680 gone downhill in recent months. Kirkfield seemed like the perfect spot. 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:08.520 The air was said to be the healthiest in the 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:14.520 whole town, but still things didn't seem very optimistic. According 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:19.680 to one of Darnelly's advisors, a raven followed their caravan 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:23.520 from Glasgow to Edinburgh and perched on the roof of 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:28.840 the house, an ominous sign. It seemed the raven knew 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:34.840 something mere mortals didn't. February ninth was supposed to be 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:39.960 the last day of Lord Darnley's convalescence. This was the 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:44.720 last Sunday before Lent, and after a day of revelry 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.520 attending a wedding and a dinner with a bishop. Mary 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.720 and her royal entourage spent the evening with Lord Darnley 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:57.200 in his chamber, playing dice, listening to someone play the lute, 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:02.639 and chatting. Mary considered sleeping over with Lord Darnley at Kirkyfield, 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:06.200 but the Earl of Bothwell, the Sheriff of Edinburgh, and 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.799 a member of her entourage reminded Mary that she had 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:14.400 promised to stop by an aristocrat's wedding mask before the 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.720 end of the night. Besides, she had to be up 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:21.280 early the next morning to depart from Holyrood on a 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:25.360 diplomatic excursion. Wouldn't it be easier just to sleep in 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:31.760 her castle instead. Mary agreed and departed from Kirkyfield, promising 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:33.480 to see her husband. 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:35.680 In the morning. At two a m. 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:38.600 By the time the Queen was asleep in her own 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:43.960 bed at Holyrood, an explosion startled the whole town awake, 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:49.960 including the Queen. One townsperson described it as a clap 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.680 of thunder, while the Queen noted that it sounded like 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:58.720 twenty or thirty cannons. Fairly soon after the Queen was 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:04.200 informed what had happened, somebody had carried two trunks of 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:09.320 gunpowder to Lord Darnley's house at Kirkfield earlier that day 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:13.400 and came back that night to light it, causing a 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:19.160 huge blast and demolishing the house. Her husband, Lord Darnley, 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:24.600 had been killed, but strangely, it wasn't the explosion that 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.720 killed him. His body was found in the back garden 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:33.279 with signs of strangulation. He had made it out of 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:39.000 the exploded house and been killed. Anyway, this was a murder, 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:45.200 and the suspicious details would unravel the Scottish aristocracy and 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:49.440 change the course of Mary, Queen of Scott's life forever. 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:57.320 I'm Dana Schwartz and this is noble blood. As news 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:03.160 of Lord Darnelly's murder spread internationally, there was increasing pressure 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:08.159 on Mary to find and convict the culprit. There was 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:13.279 no shortage of suspects. Lord Darnley was, to put it mildly, 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:19.120 a controversial figure in Scotland and beyond. Because both Mary 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:23.680 and Lord Darnley were descendants of Henry the seventh in England, 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.400 their marriage could give them a more legitimate claim on 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:32.240 the English throne than Queen Elizabeth herself, making Darnley a 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:36.360 target of anyone in the Elizabethan court, but even closer 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:41.600 to home, Mary herself and her entourage had even deeper 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:46.640 enmity for Lord Darnley. Despite the fact that Mary had 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:50.559 originally chosen Darnley and married for what seemed to be love. 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:55.520 The bloom was off the rose fairly quickly. Darnley had 0:05:55.600 --> 0:06:01.159 a reputation as a power hungry, paranoid drunk. He had 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:06.000 violently stabbed Mary's secretary in front of her while she 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.960 was pregnant out of an unfounded fear that he and 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:14.400 Mary were having an affair, traumatizing her and alienating him 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:18.600 from the rest of Mary's court. Like I said, Darnelly 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.840 was a guy with plenty of enemies. Within days, a 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:29.400 primary suspect for Darnelly's murder emerged, Lord Bothwell. Bothwell was 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:33.520 a key member of Mary's court, and he wielded political 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:38.040 and military power. He was the Sheriff of Edinburgh, Lord 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:42.200 High Admiral of Scotland and Lieutenant of the border between 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:46.719 England and Scotland. He had access to enough gunpowder to 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.800 set off the explosion, and some of his lackeys had 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.360 been spotted near Kirkfield around the time of the murder. 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:59.520 He also had a motive. Because Lord Darnley had murdered 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:03.680 Mary's secretary, who was one of Bothwell's allies. He could 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:07.760 have been seeking revenge. Bothwell had done this kind of 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:12.640 thing before. In fifteen sixty two, a political enemy, the 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:16.240 Earl of Erin, spread a rumor about Bothwell that he 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:20.320 planned to abduct Mary, Queen of Scots and marry her 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:25.080 to advance his own political career. These rumors were baseless. 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:28.280 They actually came to the Earl of Erin in a dream, 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:34.920 but Bothwell escalated the situation, threatening to retaliate. Mary was 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.640 so afraid of what Bothwell might do to the Earl 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:43.320 of Erin that she sent Bothwell into exile. But even 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:47.920 in exile, Bothwell had his lackey's attempt to abduct the 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:53.760 Earl of Erin's mistress as payback. Just days after Darnley's 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:58.480 murder in March fifteen sixty seven, anonymous placards appeared in 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:04.120 Edinburgh openly accusing Bothwell. The English ambassador Sir William Drury 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:08.320 reported to London that quote, the Earl Bothwell is most 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:12.800 suspected even Mary might have been wary around Bothwell. By 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:16.760 this point, one of Mary's courtiers alleged that one of 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:21.120 Bothwell's allies approached Mary a few months before the murder 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:26.520 asking for written permission to dispatch her husband. Allegedly, Mary 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.120 declined and said she wanted to hear nothing. 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:30.800 More of the matter. 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:37.400 Still, Mary seemed conflicted about bringing Bothwell to court. Mary 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:41.280 and Bothwell met in fifteen sixty and had been growing 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:45.600 steadily closer ever since. Even though Bothwell had converted to 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:50.319 Protestantism while Mary was a staunch Catholic, Bothwell had been 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:56.480 steadfast and loyal. Ambassadors reported that Bothwell commanded her confidence 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:00.719 quote more than any other man. Given the chaos in 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.400 Mary's court, she felt that she couldn't trust anyone, even 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:08.000 her own husband, who was moved to kill her beloved 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:13.840 secretary based on rumor alone. After Darnley's murder, she needed 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:19.360 support more than ever. Mired in grief, Mary was bedridden 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.760 and depressed. Sir William Drury, the Ambassador, reported to the 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:27.320 Secretary of State of England that she was quote for 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:32.840 the most part, either melancholy or sickly. Perhaps this breakdown 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:38.520 was in part fueled by guilt. As historian Antonia Fraser 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:42.520 put it, quote, she had wished Darnley dead and now 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:47.360 he was. Mary's counsel encouraged her to return to matters 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:51.839 of state to distract herself, but that backfired. She tried 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.840 to meet the English ambassador in her sick bed, but 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.720 she was so ill that she may have had one 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:02.320 of her ladies impersonating her. When the Queen moved from 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:06.400 Hollywood House to Setton a week after Darnley's murder, she 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:11.439 left Bothwell to take care of her baby's son. Mary's 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:15.880 hesitation to convict Bothwell made her a suspect as well. 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:21.160 It was widely known that the Mary Darnelly marriage was fraught, 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:28.480 making her closeness with Bothwell seem increasingly suspect. Placards began 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:34.040 appearing in Edinburgh, now accusing both Mary and Bothwell of 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:38.880 Darnelly's death. On one of the placards, Bothwell was depicted 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:43.640 as a hare while Mary was depicted as a mermaid, 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:50.000 a symbol for a prostitute. Worse, after Bothwell visited Mary 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:54.199 in Seton at the end of March, rumors started spreading 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:59.120 that Bothwell intended to marry the Queen. Some suspected that 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:03.199 they may have been having an affair and conspired together 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.440 to have Mary's husband killed. After all, she was the 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:11.160 one who insisted that Darnley meet her in Edinburgh, and 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:14.920 she set him up to convalesce in Kirkyfield. Maybe it 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:19.360 was all part of the murder plan. There's no real 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:24.320 evidence that implicates Mary in her husband's murder. If anything, 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:28.520 it seems she had tried to prevent conspiracies against her 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:32.680 husband throughout their marriage. It was not Mary, but her 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:38.920 courtiers aligned with Bothwell who insisted that Darnley stay at Kirkfield. 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:44.680 Mary had actually raised some concerns that Kirkyfield might be unsafe, 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:50.080 and historically Mary didn't really give Bothwell any special treatment. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.480 She had been willing to arrest Bothwell and send him 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:56.840 to exile without a trial when he had threatened the 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:01.040 Earl of Erin a few years earlier. At the beginning 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:07.160 of April, with public pressure mounting, Bothwell was formally accused 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:11.840 of Darnelly's murder, with a trial planned for April twelve. 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:15.160 In a case like this, it was customary for the 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:20.360 victim's family to initiate the proceedings, manage the prosecution, and 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:25.400 gather evidence, so Mary left the trial to Darnley's father, 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.280 the Earl of Lenox. A few days before the trial, 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:34.640 Lennox attempted to gather three thousand armed retainers, a typical 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.640 show of force for nobles taking the stand, but his 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:44.280 army was outnumbered by Bothwell's, which might have impacted the trial. 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:51.360 Bothwell's stronger army could, for instance, implicitly or explicitly threaten 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:56.320 witnesses away from testifying against him. Lennox also had a 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:58.520 number of other disadvantages. 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:00.880 He had only recently. 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.920 Moved back to Scotland after twenty years, so he didn't 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:07.280 have many allies in the region, and his late son 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:12.320 was so unpopular that it was hard to galvanize support. 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:17.960 Lenox begged Mary to postpone the trial, but she refused. 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:22.800 Queen's did not participate in matters of criminal justice, so 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.520 she was ill equipped to go hunting for legal loopholes 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.360 that could justify the delay. Besides, just a couple of 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:32.840 months ago, Lenox had been pressuring her. 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:36.800 To expedite the trial. The trial went ahead as planned. 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:40.960 In face of the opposition, and perhaps fearing for his 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:45.600 own life, Lennox didn't show up, fleeing the country entirely. 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:50.200 Lenox's absence meant there was no one willing to testify 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:55.119 against Bothwell or introduce any evidence that could convict him. 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:59.600 It was essentially a sham trial in a courtroom filled 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:06.000 with Bothwell's allies. After seven hours of deliberating, Bothwell was acquitted, 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:10.319 an obvious choice given that there was no permissible evidence 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:16.000 against him. Bothwell installed troops throughout Edinburgh that threatened anyone 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:20.920 who undermined the verdict with hand to hand combat. With 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:24.960 that Bothwell technically was off the hook. He could have 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:29.760 returned to his plumb post as Mary's closest adviser without 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:34.240 much fanfare, but he decided to use this chaotic moment 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:40.280 to pursue even greater political power. On April nineteenth, fifteen 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:44.920 sixty seven, just a week after the trial, he convened 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:48.960 a meeting with various bishops, earls and lords of parliament 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:56.120 Edinburgh's upper crust, to Ainsley Tavern to discuss his next moves. There, 0:14:56.360 --> 0:15:01.600 Bothwell revealed his plan. He wanted to mary Mary and 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:05.920 become the king, and he asked everyone present to sign 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:12.080 a document formally supporting the marriage. It's almost hard to 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:17.240 overstate just how crazy this was. It cast the Darnley 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:22.240 murder in an entirely new light. Perhaps Bothwell assassinated Darnley 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:26.520 not only for revenge, but to take his place. This 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:32.360 union with Mary would totally undermine Mary's reputation. If she 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:36.880 married Bothwell, Mary would be replacing her late husband with 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:41.600 the man who, despite his acquittal, remained the only plausible 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:46.280 architect of his murder. Still, as many as twenty four 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:50.440 of the men competing accounts give different numbers in Angeley 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:55.080 Tavern that night signed the document in favor of the marriage. 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:59.040 These men were willing to play along with Bothwell's plan, 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:03.600 but we don't know how they might have really felt. Later, 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.840 many of them revealed that they only agreed to the 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:11.360 document because they thought a Bothwell Mary union would confer 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:17.200 them political advantages. The signers were a group of Protestant nobles, 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:21.720 so ensuring Mary had a Protestant husband would undermine the 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:27.800 Catholic stronghold over Scotland that Mary represented. Some might have 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:32.640 represented Bothwell out of loyalty, others out of fear, since 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:36.520 he had a reputation for being a powerful, loose cannon 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.920 who sought vengeance on those who confronted him and probably 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:42.360 wasn't afraid of violence. 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.320 Others still thought they. 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:49.880 Could sign onto the document and change Bothwell's mind later. 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:55.600 After all, for the record, Bothwell was already married. He 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.880 would have to get a divorce, not an easy feat 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:04.520 in sixteenth century Scotland, before he could pursue Mary. Mary 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:10.359 seemed oblivious to Bothwell's plans. During the Ainsley Tavern meeting, 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:14.120 Mary was in Settin for a short rest, so when 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:18.159 Bothwell set off from Edinburgh the next day, met up 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:23.040 with Mary and formally proposed marriage, she was caught off guard. 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.560 It had only been a couple of months since her 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:31.680 husband was murdered, and to repeat, Bothwell already had a wife, 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:36.080 but here he was not only demanding her hand in marriage, 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:40.520 but carrying a document that suggested that pretty much all 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:45.280 of the noblemen in Edinburgh also supported that union. Still 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.080 Mary turned him down. A letter she wrote to a 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:53.959 bishop the day after confirms that impression. It professed her 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:57.800 loyalty to Pope Pious the fifth and announced her plan 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:02.359 to die a devout Catholic, which would conflict with having 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:07.160 a Protestant wedding with the closest adviser. But Bothwell would 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:11.840 not be deterred so easily. After all, he had already 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:15.600 proven himself willing to go to extreme lengths to get 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:19.199 what he wanted. Nothing would stop him on his quest 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:26.200 for power, not even the Queen. On April twenty fourth, 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:30.200 Mary was finally on the road back to Edinburgh, returning 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.960 from her long trip. Perhaps she was nervous to find 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.960 out what was waiting for her there. The city had 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:41.760 been in chaos since Darnley's murder. Moreover, she had just 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:46.240 turned down Bothwell's marriage proposal, and he was one of 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:51.080 the most powerful men in Scotland. It's a risky position 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:55.879 going against one of your closest allies. Mary wouldn't even 0:18:55.960 --> 0:19:00.360 make it half way to Edinburgh before Bothwell suddenly appeared 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:04.280 on the road with eight hundred men. He warned Mary 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:06.840 that it was too dangerous to return to the city 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:10.640 and that she should instead accompany him to his castle 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:14.639 in Dunbar to hide away. We don't know what was 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.119 going through Mary's mind at the time. She was still 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.960 feeling physically ill. The day before. She had been delayed 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.800 on her journey because she was too weak to continue. 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:31.399 She was probably tired, overwhelmed, confused and conflicted. Maybe she 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:35.240 didn't believe Bothwell and wanted to continue on to Edinburgh. 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:39.159 But she was outnumbered by Bothwell's army and was worried 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:42.879 he might retaliate or force her if she refused. Or 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:47.320 maybe she believed Bothwell or at least assumed that Bothwell 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:51.640 was less dangerous than whatever conspiracy might be afoot in Edinburgh. 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:56.320 Mary was already paranoid that she might be assassinated, just 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.919 like her ex husband. In any case, she said that 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:02.040 she would not like to be the cause of any 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:06.160 more bloodshed and agreed to go with Bothwell to Dunbar. 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:12.720 Historians debate whether or not this constitutes a kidnapping. To some, 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:18.359 like Frasier, Mary clearly consented. She describes Mary as docile 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:22.439 and that the proceedings were so calm and placid that 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:25.800 it is difficult to describe what happened as an abduction, 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:30.600 especially since she didn't even attempt to refuse Bothwell or 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:34.320 seek rescue from the country people as she passed. She 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:38.040 also argues that Mary must have known ahead of time 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:41.879 that Bothwell was on his way. Letters from earlier in 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:44.760 the week between the Earl of Lennox and another noble 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:49.040 discussed the plan, suggesting that it was fairly common knowledge 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:53.800 in Mary's court. Other historians like The French historian Catherine 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:58.240 or Mayville take a more extreme view that Bothwell was 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:02.560 actually doing Mary a favor by intervening that the two 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:08.280 were actually secretly in love, and Bothwell pretended to kidnap 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:12.000 Mary so that they could marry without ruining her reputation 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:19.000 or at least mitigating the damage. These theories have some flaws. 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:23.040 First is that there's no concrete proof that Mary had 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:26.840 been having an affair with Bothwell. While some interpret her 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:33.080 closeness with Bothwell as romantic, Bothwell's overtures only became explicit 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:36.760 after the death of Mary's husband, and Mary had shut 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:40.960 them down. There's also no proof that Mary had heard 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:45.240 of Bothwell's plan to take her before it occurred, other 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:50.080 than Fraser sense that it seems likely her courtiers may 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:53.200 just as well have heard of the plan and decided 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:56.520 not to tell Mary, not wanting to interfere get in 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:00.199 the way. These theories are also more focused on the 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:05.600 explicit consent itself then the larger conditions that influenced it. 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:10.159 Mary was, I remind you, surrounded by eight hundred armed 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:14.320 men and the guy who probably killed her husband. Even 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.400 if she did refuse and Bothwell let her go, back 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:22.320 to Edinburgh. Her political allies there signed a document professing 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:26.879 their loyalty to Bothwell, so Mary may have faced consequences 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:27.680 from them. 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:28.320 Instead. 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:34.719 Bothwell had gathered enough literal and metaphorical ammunition against Mary 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.440 that her choice to go with him to Dunbar may 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:41.840 not have really felt like a choice at all. After 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:45.320 she was taken, Mary sent a member of her entourage 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:49.040 head to Edinburgh to alert the Provost that she had 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:53.840 been kidnapped. The Provost rang the literal alarm bell, and 0:22:53.880 --> 0:22:58.000 the citizens called on the government to engineer a rescue, 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:01.600 but by then it was too late. Mary arrived at 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:06.240 Dunbar at midnight with an army surrounding her. That night, 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:10.679 Bothwell raped her. There are a number of accounts that 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:15.600 confirmed this. One noble, who was at Dunbar while it happened, 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:19.320 wrote that regardless of whether or not she had wanted 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:24.040 to marry Bothwell, she had been quote ravished against her will. 0:23:24.880 --> 0:23:29.960 Mary herself said in a cryptic note that Bothwell's actions 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:34.960 were quote rough, and that given the circumstances, she had 0:23:35.000 --> 0:23:37.360 no choice but quote to make. 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:38.040 The best of it. 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:42.440 The story got back to Edinburgh days later. By then, 0:23:42.720 --> 0:23:47.159 the mood had shifted. While some contemporaries maintained that she 0:23:47.320 --> 0:23:51.560 had been kidnapped, most thought that she had gone willingly 0:23:52.080 --> 0:23:57.199 and harbored secret romantic feelings for Bothwell. That said, no 0:23:57.280 --> 0:24:00.360 one cast any doubt that Bothwell had assault at her. 0:24:00.880 --> 0:24:04.480 Mary was known for being straight laced and pious, and 0:24:04.600 --> 0:24:09.480 Bothwell for being lecherous and scheming. Still, no one thought 0:24:09.520 --> 0:24:13.080 that a rape would exempt Mary from her impending marriage 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:17.040 to Bothwell. If anything, it forced her hand, because the 0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:20.080 only way to lessen the sin of sleeping with a 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:24.040 man out of wedlock would be to marry him. According 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:27.359 to them, Bothwell did a heinous act to break down 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:31.320 Mary's sexual boundaries, but she would have to suffer for it. 0:24:32.000 --> 0:24:36.399 As historian Ruth Warnick put it, quote, Mary reacted like 0:24:36.520 --> 0:24:41.680 many other early modern victims who believed their ravishment polluted them, 0:24:42.200 --> 0:24:45.800 unwilling to dishonor her family by revealing the rape and 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:50.280 eliciting charges that she was immensely immodest or that she 0:24:50.480 --> 0:24:55.560 deserved to be attacked because she had not lived virtuously enough. 0:24:56.840 --> 0:25:01.000 Mary stayed at Dunbar for three weeks, where she seemed 0:25:01.080 --> 0:25:04.520 to give up and accept her fate. By the time 0:25:04.680 --> 0:25:07.720 she received an offer of rescue at the end of April, 0:25:08.040 --> 0:25:12.800 she rejected it, resigned. Now that Bothwell had secured his 0:25:12.920 --> 0:25:16.240 new marriage, he set out to dissolve his old one. 0:25:16.800 --> 0:25:19.800 That turned out to be way easier than anyone could 0:25:19.880 --> 0:25:23.280 have anticipated. His wife was all too happy to get 0:25:23.359 --> 0:25:27.040 rid of him. Bothwell set up two divorce trials in 0:25:27.119 --> 0:25:32.080 both Protestant and Catholic ecclesiastical courts, and within days the 0:25:32.119 --> 0:25:35.560 courts agreed to end his marriage on the grounds that 0:25:35.600 --> 0:25:39.520 he cheated on his wife, not with Mary, incidentally, but 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:44.280 with his wife's sewing maid. His servants also found court 0:25:44.359 --> 0:25:48.320 officials and threatened to cut off their noses and ears 0:25:48.600 --> 0:25:52.880 if the verdict wasn't reached quickly enough. The threats worked. 0:25:53.200 --> 0:25:58.760 By May seventh, Bothwell was officially single. That week, Bothwell 0:25:58.840 --> 0:26:03.879 also finally brought Mary back to Edinburgh. One onlooker reported 0:26:04.000 --> 0:26:06.800 that he was holding the queen by the bridle of 0:26:06.840 --> 0:26:11.200 her horse as if she were a captive. On May twelfth, 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:15.800 Mary declared formally that although she had been abducted, she 0:26:15.840 --> 0:26:20.159 would agree to marry Bothwell. Three days later, Bothwell and 0:26:20.280 --> 0:26:24.359 Mary were wed in a small Protestant ceremony at the 0:26:24.359 --> 0:26:28.240 Great Hall of Holyrood. After the wedding, the Earl of 0:26:28.280 --> 0:26:32.200 Bothwell technically had a new title, the Duke of Orkney, 0:26:32.640 --> 0:26:36.280 but I'll keep referring to him as Bothwell for clarity's sake. 0:26:37.080 --> 0:26:41.600 The atmosphere was hardly festive. The wedding banquet was a 0:26:41.720 --> 0:26:46.439 rush job. Some protesters placed on the palace gates the 0:26:46.480 --> 0:26:51.919 words Wanton's Mary. In the month of May, Mary seemed miserable. 0:26:52.400 --> 0:26:57.080 She had already been depressed before Bothwell's abduction, and now 0:26:57.119 --> 0:26:59.960 she was doing even a worse. One of her advice 0:27:00.359 --> 0:27:03.639 wrote a letter describing a conversation she had had with 0:27:03.720 --> 0:27:08.000 the Queen on her wedding day. Mary apologized for seeming 0:27:08.119 --> 0:27:11.720 too formal with her new husband. It was because she 0:27:11.840 --> 0:27:16.600 felt no joy about the wedding and longed for suicide. 0:27:17.400 --> 0:27:20.879 Mary had no idea that behind the scenes, the political 0:27:20.920 --> 0:27:25.000 elite of Edinburgh were trying to overturn the marriage. Even 0:27:25.000 --> 0:27:28.560 though many of them had signed the letter at Ainsley Tavern. 0:27:28.920 --> 0:27:33.240 They had begun to turn against Bothwell a few months before. 0:27:33.400 --> 0:27:36.800 They had assumed that Bothwell would repay them for their 0:27:36.840 --> 0:27:41.800 support by including them in his plans. Besides, Bothwell probably 0:27:41.880 --> 0:27:44.960 seemed like more reasonable choice of a husband for Mary 0:27:45.000 --> 0:27:50.119 than the paranoid, murderous Lord Darnley. But by May fifteen 0:27:50.359 --> 0:27:55.840 sixty seven, Bothwell seemed much more dangerous than Darnley. He 0:27:55.920 --> 0:28:00.680 had murdered someone, kidnapped and raped the Queen, and pipulated 0:28:00.760 --> 0:28:04.800 the government toward his own ends. Bothwell had shut out 0:28:04.840 --> 0:28:09.159 his former allies, going against their wishes and concentrating his 0:28:09.240 --> 0:28:14.040 own power. Even the more specious claims against Bothwell that 0:28:14.080 --> 0:28:19.840 these nobles had initially dismissed seemed increasingly reasonable. Earlier in 0:28:19.880 --> 0:28:23.960 this episode, we mentioned that in fifteen sixty two, five 0:28:24.040 --> 0:28:27.560 years before any of this happened, Lord Erin spread a 0:28:27.680 --> 0:28:31.080 rumor that Bothwell would kidnap the Queen and marry her 0:28:31.119 --> 0:28:37.240 to advance his own political career. Lord Erin was ruled crazy. 0:28:37.680 --> 0:28:40.400 Lest we forget, the information had come to him in 0:28:40.480 --> 0:28:44.080 a dream. But Lord Erin turned out to be right. 0:28:44.680 --> 0:28:49.280 His dream became a reality. Maybe Lord Erin had even 0:28:49.360 --> 0:28:53.560 given Bothwell the idea. At the beginning of May, while 0:28:53.640 --> 0:28:57.040 Mary was still in captivity at Dunbar, the nobles of 0:28:57.200 --> 0:28:59.960 Edinburgh met up to figure out what to do next. 0:29:00.760 --> 0:29:05.440 These confederates planned to gather an army in secret if 0:29:05.480 --> 0:29:09.040 Mary couldn't escape the marriage herself, they would do it 0:29:09.120 --> 0:29:15.440 for her with whatever force necessary. By June, the anti 0:29:15.560 --> 0:29:21.280 Bothwell nobility, known as the Confederates, had gotten organized. The 0:29:21.320 --> 0:29:24.720