1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. Earlier this year, 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: the folks that Focus Features came to us about doing 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 1: a podcast related to Mary, Queen of Scott's to coincide 6 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: with their new film, also called Mary Queen of Scott's. 7 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: Mary Stewart, as she is also known, has made several 8 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: appearances on our show before previous host talked about the 9 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: death of her husband, Lord Darnley, as well as her 10 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: lengthy rivalry with Queen Elizabeth the First But Mary is 11 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: such a memorable figure and there's so many parts of 12 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:45,519 Speaker 1: her life that we haven't talked about. But it was 13 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:47,879 Speaker 1: very very easy for us to find something that we 14 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,280 Speaker 1: wanted to cover, and that is the Babington plot, which 15 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: ultimately led to her execution. So we're gonna set the 16 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: stage with a little bit about her youth and a 17 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 1: little about that rivalry with Elizabeth, but our focus today 18 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: is really on the plot and the trial that followed. 19 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: And since this is an episode about the Stewart's, Mary's 20 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: beheading is only one of the gruesome executions that were 21 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:17,040 Speaker 1: going to discuss. Yeah, there was definitely a trend uh 22 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: in those stories where there is a lot of violence, 23 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: there's a lot of killing each other in very grisly ways. Yeah, 24 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: this is one of those times any pretty much any time, 25 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 1: but especially when we talk about the Stewarts and the Tutors. Uh. 26 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 1: I kind of have that thing of like, who would 27 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: want that job because no one saves, Like it's one 28 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:38,320 Speaker 1: thing to have a stressful job, and I guess if 29 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: you really want power, there's a draw. But I would 30 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 1: be like, no, I'm I'm not part of the royal family, 31 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 1: thank you. I would completely excommunicate myself. But that is 32 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: neither here nor there, So we will get into Mary's story. 33 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: Mary Stewart was born on December eight, forty two in 34 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: Lennlithgow Palace in Scotland, and her parents were James the 35 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: fifth of Scotland and Marie of Gys. She was their 36 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: only surviving child, and less than a week after Mary 37 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: was born, her father died. Mary became Queen of Scotland 38 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: at the age of six days old, with her mother 39 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: acting as regent. Mary spent most of her childhood and 40 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:17,679 Speaker 1: young adulthood in France, not in Scotland. She was sent 41 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 1: there to be fostered and to escape an unwanted marriage 42 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: to Henry the eighth son Edward, and then on April 43 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: fifty eight she married Francis, the Dauphin of France. He 44 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: was the son of Alri the second and Catherine de Medici. 45 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:35,679 Speaker 1: At the time, she was seventeen and he was fourteen, 46 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: and they do seem to have been genuinely fond of 47 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,679 Speaker 1: each other, but their relationship was also more like siblings 48 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: than spouses. A November seventeenth of that same year, Elizabeth 49 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: the First ascended to the English throne, and that put 50 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: Mary next in the line of succession after Elizabeth, which 51 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: was the focal point of the rivalry between the two 52 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: of them. There was a lot more than just this 53 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: one issue tangled up in this rival though, including religion, politics, 54 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,639 Speaker 1: family dynamics, ongoing tensions between England and Scotland, and ongoing 55 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: tensions between England and France. Consequently, the next decade of 56 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: Mary's life was increasingly chaotic and turbulent. Aria the second 57 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: tried to make a claim to the English throne on 58 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: her behalf, but he died not long after that. That 59 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: made Francis the King of France, and Mary was the 60 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: Queen consort. But then Francis died on December five of 61 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: fifteen sixty, just a couple of years into their marriage. 62 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: Earlier that same year, Marie of Gys had also died, 63 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: so suddenly Mary was the Queen of Scotland, the dowager 64 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: Queen of France, a widow, and an orphan, all at 65 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: the same time. She was eighteen. Maria of guss death 66 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: also meant that Scotland no longer had its regent, and 67 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: Mary returned to Scotland to take the throne in fifteen 68 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:55,440 Speaker 1: sixty one, but she immediately ran into all kinds of problems. 69 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: Her upbringing and manners and education were all very French, 70 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: so some Scots considered her to be an outsider. She 71 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: was also Catholic, but Scotland at that point had become 72 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: a Protestant country, and returning to Scotland had amped up 73 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: the tension between her and Elizabeth even more, since it 74 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,279 Speaker 1: meant that Mary and her claim to the English throne 75 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: were right there on the same island with Elizabeth, instead 76 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,839 Speaker 1: of somewhat out of the way in France. In fifteen 77 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: sixty five, things got even more dramatic, Mary married her 78 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: cousin Henry Stewart, the Earl of Darnley. Since Darnley was 79 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: both Catholic and a Stewart, Elizabeth was highly suspicious of 80 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: this match and of the motivations for it. It really 81 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,119 Speaker 1: was just an impulsive marriage that Mary made for love, 82 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:45,239 Speaker 1: but it did not go well at all. Case in point, 83 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:49,839 Speaker 1: Darnley and his men murdered David Rizzio, who was Mary's 84 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: secretary and favorite, and they did this in front of 85 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: her at dinner while she was about six months pregnant. 86 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: Charmers everyone, uh, and then Darnley himself died it under 87 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: very mysterious and extremely suspicious circumstances. We have a previous 88 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: podcast on that as well, but the one sentence version, 89 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: UH is this. He was found strangled outside the house 90 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 1: he was staying in after it exploded. Mary then got 91 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: married again to James Hepburn, the fourth Earl of Bothwell, 92 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,159 Speaker 1: who had been one of the prime suspects and Darnley's death. 93 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:26,040 Speaker 1: There were also a lot of rumors that Mary and 94 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,799 Speaker 1: Bothwell had been having an affair and had conspired together 95 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: to kill Darnley. Mary's marriage to Bothwell was also strange. 96 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: It wasn't totally clear whether he kidnapped her or whether 97 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: she willingly eloped with him, but regardless, immediately before their marriage, 98 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: he had divorced his wife, Jean Gordon, under very shady circumstances. 99 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: Mary's sudden marriage to Bothwell caused her to lose the 100 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: support of a lot of the Scottish nobility. Bothwell and 101 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:58,280 Speaker 1: his opponents each raised armies, but the French ambassador arranged 102 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: peace terms before any of this could actually result in 103 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 1: a war, Mary surrendered on June fifteenth, fifteen sixty seven. 104 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: After she surrendered, Mary was forced to abdicate in favor 105 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,839 Speaker 1: of her son James, making him James the sixth of Scotland. 106 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,600 Speaker 1: James's father had been Lord Darnley, and since James was 107 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,359 Speaker 1: a little over a year old, Mary's half brother, James Stewart, 108 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: Earl of Moray, was named as the regent. As for Bothwell, 109 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,400 Speaker 1: he was eventually arrested and died after spending five years 110 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: in solitary confinement. Mary spent the next eleven months imprisoned 111 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 1: at Locke Leaving Castle. After one failed escape attempt, She 112 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: managed to leave the island on May second, fifteen sixty 113 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:44,400 Speaker 1: eight Willie and George Douglas, ages sixteen and eighteen, were 114 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,200 Speaker 1: involved in both escape attempts. In the second, they had 115 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: a set of fake keys to the castle made and 116 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: they swapped those for the real ones at dinner, taking 117 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,160 Speaker 1: the real keys right off the table, concealed in a napkin. 118 00:06:57,720 --> 00:06:59,920 Speaker 1: This castle was on an island, and once she was 119 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,040 Speaker 1: free of it, Mary rallied an army, She denounced her 120 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: half brother, and she announced that she had only abdicated 121 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: under Durest. She started planning to take back the throne 122 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: of Scotland by force. She didn't succeed, though, she was 123 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: defeated by Moray's forces at the Battle of Langside. At 124 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: this point, Mary was really out of options in Scotland, 125 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 1: so she fled to England. In spite of the ongoing 126 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 1: layered tensions between the two queens, Mary hoped that she 127 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: could take refuge with her cousin Elizabeth. This wasn't quite 128 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: as far fetched as the two queens incredibly contentious history 129 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: might make it seem. Elizabeth really was appalled at what 130 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: had happened in Scotland because Mary was, without question the 131 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: rightful ruler of Scotland. This was not how a monarch 132 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: was supposed to be treated, especially not a monarch who 133 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 1: was her cousin. At the same time, Elizabeth wasn't at 134 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:55,200 Speaker 1: already to commit English troops to helping Mary take back 135 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: her throne, or to give Mary a pass for all 136 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: of those years of animosity between them. Instead, she agreed 137 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: to allow Mary to stay in England while she convened 138 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: a commission that would hold hearings into the matter of 139 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: Lord Darnley's death. If Mary was complicit in Darnley's death, 140 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: it would have been out of the question for Elizabeth 141 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,680 Speaker 1: to help her at all. This commission ultimately determined that 142 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: England should not interfere in what was happening in Scotland, 143 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: but it also found that Mary was not involved in 144 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: Darnley's death. Elizabeth, though, was really sure that if she 145 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: just freed Mary, the result was going to be a 146 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: Catholic uprising against her in England. So Elizabeth had Mary 147 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: imprisoned for the next almost nineteen years. More on that 148 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: after a sponsor break. Even though Elizabeth was suspicious of Mary, 149 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: she didn't really have any legal grounds to imprison her. 150 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 1: Mary was a monarch of another country. Her son at 151 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: this point was the King of Scotland. England and Scotland 152 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: were not at war with each other, and for one 153 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: monarch to just imprisoned another one during peacetime wasn't really 154 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 1: within the bounds of international law, so Elizabeth's treatment of 155 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:14,559 Speaker 1: Mary was more like keeping her under house arrest. Mary 156 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,760 Speaker 1: spent her first night in England in Workington Hall, and 157 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: from that point on she was kept under guard at 158 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 1: a series of manners and castles. At first, many of 159 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:27,199 Speaker 1: them were owned by George Talbot, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury. 160 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: He was Mary's custodian or jailer for much of her confinement. 161 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: He and his wife, Bess of Hardwick acted as Mary's 162 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: keepers and Elizabeth's informants for most of those nineteen years. 163 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:43,319 Speaker 1: During those years of imprisonment, the Reformation and counter Reformation 164 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:48,440 Speaker 1: we're playing out in Europe leading to ongoing religiously motivated violence. 165 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: Just as one example, the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, in 166 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: which French Catholics murdered thousands of Huguenos, was in fifteen 167 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: seventy two while Mary was captive at Sheffield Castle. Religious 168 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 1: strife also escalated in England during this time, some of 169 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: it connected directly to Mary and Elizabeth, because many Catholics 170 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: didn't consider Elizabeth to be a legitimate monarch at all. 171 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: She was the daughter of Henry the eighth and his 172 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: second wife, Anne Boleyn. They had become secretly married in 173 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,200 Speaker 1: fifteen thirty three while Henry was still married to Catherine 174 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: of Aragon. Henry had asked the Pope to annul his 175 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: marriage to Catherine, and when he didn't, Henry declared himself 176 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:30,839 Speaker 1: head of the English Church and appointed an archbishop who 177 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: would do the annulment for him. Anne was already pregnant 178 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: with Elizabeth when Henry's marriage to Catherine was annulled, and 179 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: an archbishop, not the Pope, had done that annulment. So 180 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 1: a lot of people, Catholics especially, did not consider Elizabeth 181 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:48,839 Speaker 1: a legitimate successor to the throne. They thought of her 182 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:52,680 Speaker 1: as the illegitimate child of a king's concubine. In addition 183 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:56,760 Speaker 1: to all of that, on April fifteen seventy, Pope Pious 184 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: the fifth had issued a bull that excommunicated Elizabe and 185 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: called her a heretic and quote the pretended Queen of 186 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 1: England and the servant of crime. The bull also absolved 187 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,240 Speaker 1: the nobles, subjects and people of the said realm of 188 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:14,840 Speaker 1: any oaths and duties towards Elizabeth, and made obedience to 189 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:20,000 Speaker 1: Elizabeth punishable by excommunication. The Papal bull combined with the 190 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: existing questions about Elizabeth's legitimacy to spawn a whole series 191 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:27,920 Speaker 1: of plots to depose or assassinate her and replace her 192 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:31,480 Speaker 1: with Mary. The Ridolphi plot of fifteen seventy one was 193 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:35,160 Speaker 1: named for one of the conspirators, Italian merchant Roberto Ridolfi. 194 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: This plot was connected to a Catholic uprising called the 195 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:41,080 Speaker 1: Northern Rising, as well as to King Philip the Second 196 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:44,320 Speaker 1: of Spain. Then there was the throck Morton plot of 197 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: fifteen eighty three, named for Francis throck Morton, who was 198 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:51,200 Speaker 1: working with agents from France. It's possible that Mary was 199 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:53,839 Speaker 1: connected to the throck Morton plot, or at least knew 200 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: about it. Throck Morton was writing a letter to her 201 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:00,280 Speaker 1: in code when he was arrested. And then there was 202 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,200 Speaker 1: the Perry plot of fifteen eighty five, which was named 203 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: for Welsh spy and Dr William Perry. None of these 204 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:10,480 Speaker 1: plots was particularly likely to be successful, and it's not 205 00:12:10,559 --> 00:12:13,480 Speaker 1: clear whether Perry really ever plotted to kill the Queen 206 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:17,680 Speaker 1: at all, but Elizabeth's advisers did encourage her to take 207 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:22,000 Speaker 1: them seriously. Added to all this stress was the assassination 208 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 1: of William the Silent or William the First Prince of 209 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: Orange in fifteen eighty four, who had led the Netherlands 210 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 1: against Spanish rule and was ultimately assassinated by a Catholic fanatic. 211 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:35,160 Speaker 1: In the face of all of this, in fifteen eighty five, 212 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: Mary was moved to Charlie Castle and assigned a new custodian, 213 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: Sir Am. The move and the changing custody are widely 214 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:47,320 Speaker 1: reported to have been the work of Sir Francis Walsingham, 215 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 1: that was Elizabeth's secretary of State and spymaster. The move 216 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:55,400 Speaker 1: to Charlie let Walsingham keep a closer eye on Mary. 217 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:58,719 Speaker 1: It let Polly completely cut her off from communication with 218 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,320 Speaker 1: the outside world. Arliament also passed a new law related 219 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: to all of this. It had started with an informal 220 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: agreement known as the Bond of Association in four which 221 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: was formalized as an Act for the Security of the 222 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:15,320 Speaker 1: Queen's Royal person and the continuance of Peace in the Realm, 223 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:19,000 Speaker 1: which was passed the following year. Under this Act, if 224 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: a person conspired and a plot against the Queen, or 225 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 1: if a plot against the Queen was concocted on a 226 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: person's behalf, that person was prosecuted. Whether they knew about 227 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,680 Speaker 1: the plot or not. It was considered treason and it 228 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: was punishable by execution. The Act also specified that anybody 229 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,080 Speaker 1: participating in such a plot, or having such a plot 230 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:44,679 Speaker 1: carried out on their behalf, was permanently and irrevocably barred 231 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:48,200 Speaker 1: from ever ascending to the throne of England. The Bond 232 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: of Association and the law that followed were clearly crafted 233 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 1: because of Mary. They set up a legal framework to 234 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:58,000 Speaker 1: prosecute her if her supporters plotted to put her on 235 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: the throne, regardless of whether she was involved or even 236 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:03,560 Speaker 1: knew about any of it. Okay, they might as well 237 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: have just called it the law to make it so 238 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: weaken behead Mary Stewart, because otherwise there's a logic breakdown 239 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:14,760 Speaker 1: to it. There are several logical breakdowns. Yeah. That all 240 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:17,960 Speaker 1: brings us finally to the Babington plot. Named for Anthony Babington. 241 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: He was Catholic, very well off and connected to several 242 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 1: other people who had been involved in previous plots to 243 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: try to depose or assassinate Elizabeth and replace her with Mary. 244 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:31,760 Speaker 1: He had also served as a page to George Talbot, 245 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 1: sixth Earl of Shubury, who had been Mary's custodian, and 246 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:37,040 Speaker 1: during that service he had become quite fond of her. 247 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,640 Speaker 1: One of his connections was to a Catholic priest named 248 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,520 Speaker 1: John Ballard, who also wanted Elizabeth off the throne and 249 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:46,880 Speaker 1: helped put him in touch with even more people who 250 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 1: had similar goals. Babington and several co conspirators started plotting 251 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: in early fifteen eighty six, using an inn as their 252 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: meeting place, and they were not all that discreet about 253 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 1: any of this. They even come assianed portraits of themselves, 254 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: either because they thought that they would live and be 255 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:06,960 Speaker 1: famous for it, or because they thought they would die 256 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: but be remembered as murders. Either way, portraits of themselves 257 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,040 Speaker 1: were going to come in very handy. It's like they 258 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,400 Speaker 1: were writing their own history books before they did the 259 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 1: thing that was going to become historically significant. Yeah, they 260 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:24,080 Speaker 1: are often described as being arrogant and full of hubrists, 261 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,000 Speaker 1: as sort of a pattern among them all. So meanwhile, 262 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: Walsingham learned about this plot pretty quickly, and he saw 263 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 1: it as an opportunity. He concluded reasonably, but as long 264 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: as Mary was alive, they were going to be ongoing 265 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: attempts to get rid of Elizabeth and put Mary on 266 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: the throne. Just as reasonably, he concluded, there was no 267 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:47,400 Speaker 1: way Elizabeth was going to sign off on Mary's execution 268 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,840 Speaker 1: without some real concrete proof that she was involved in 269 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,120 Speaker 1: a plot to kill the monarch and take the throne 270 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: for herself. So he allowed the Babington conspirators to continue 271 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:00,200 Speaker 1: with their plotting, and even took steps to a allow 272 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: them to do it. When Gilbert Gifford, an English Catholic 273 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: who had been in France, returned to England, Walsingham arrested 274 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: him and got him to work as a double agent. Now, 275 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: in some accounts Gifford volunteered, and in others this is 276 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 1: more of a situation where Walsingham convinced him, and we're 277 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:21,920 Speaker 1: using the air quotes around Convince threatened. Maybe Gifford's mission 278 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: wasn't just to gain the conspirators trust and provide intelligence 279 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 1: back to Walsingham. It was also to actively encourage and 280 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: enable this entire plot. At Walsingham's instruction. Gifford went to 281 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:37,080 Speaker 1: Babington and told him he had learned about this plot 282 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:40,320 Speaker 1: from another of the conspirators, a man named Thomas Morrigan. 283 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 1: Gifford said he had worked out a way to get 284 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: messages to and from Mary, even though all that communication 285 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: with outside world had been cut off for months. He 286 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: said he had a friend who was a brewer, and 287 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: that they could smuggle messages into and out of Charlie 288 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: Castle in beer barrels with false bottoms. At this point, 289 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: we don't know who this brewer might have been. He 290 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:05,320 Speaker 1: was always referred to only as the honest man. Babbington 291 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,560 Speaker 1: approved of this plan, but he did not entirely trust 292 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:12,360 Speaker 1: Gifford with his secret correspondence, so he used a cipher 293 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 1: to encode all his letters. Mary already had the code 294 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 1: book she'd need to decipher the letters and encode her reply, 295 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:23,639 Speaker 1: apparently thanks to an emissary from France. But Gifford didn't 296 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 1: take these letters straight to his brewer friend. He took 297 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 1: them to Walsingham, who was working with a forger to 298 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,720 Speaker 1: replicate the seals that were used on all the letters, 299 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:35,240 Speaker 1: so Walsingham and his forger would open up the letter, 300 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:38,640 Speaker 1: make a copy of it, reseal the original, and send 301 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: it on his way, and then keep the copy. Walsingham 302 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 1: would take that copy to his codebreaker, Thomas Phillips, to 303 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: try to work out the code, and at one point 304 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,919 Speaker 1: he even had Phillips housed at Charlie Castle to do 305 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: this work more efficiently, right there where Mary also was. 306 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:59,640 Speaker 1: Babington's cipher included replacing letters of the alphabet with symbols 307 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,159 Speaker 1: and use other symbols to represent specific words and phrases, 308 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:06,920 Speaker 1: and he thought this cipher was secure, so he wrote 309 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:10,399 Speaker 1: a clear account about what he was doing. But Phillips 310 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:14,040 Speaker 1: quickly cracked this code, or more likely, they had actually 311 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:17,320 Speaker 1: already intercepted the key and Phillips was just using it 312 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: to decipher what was in front of him. Mary and 313 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:23,400 Speaker 1: Babington exchanged a few letters that were mostly about Mary 314 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: getting access to all the mail that had been withheld 315 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: from her, and then Babington sent her a letter that 316 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:33,400 Speaker 1: referenced quote a great preparation by the Christian Princes, your 317 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:37,239 Speaker 1: Majesty's allies for the deliverance of our country from the 318 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:41,800 Speaker 1: extreme and miserable fate, wherein it hath too long remained 319 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 1: that letter went on to describe a plan to be 320 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,400 Speaker 1: carried out in the wake of such a deliverance. When 321 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:53,639 Speaker 1: these other Christian princes invaded, they would dispatch the usurping competitors, 322 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:58,439 Speaker 1: being Elizabeth, and then quote, myself, with ten gentlemen and 323 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:01,439 Speaker 1: a hundred of our followers, will undertake the delivery of 324 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,639 Speaker 1: your royal person from the hands of your enemies. For 325 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 1: the dispatch of the usurper from the obedience of whom 326 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: we are by the excommunication of her made free. There 327 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,879 Speaker 1: be six noble gentlemen, all my private friends, who, for 328 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,199 Speaker 1: the zeal they bear to the Catholic cause, and your 329 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:22,199 Speaker 1: Majesty's service, will undertake that tragical execution. Mary's response to 330 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:26,639 Speaker 1: this letter, which was intercepted, is dated July sevent and 331 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:30,600 Speaker 1: it was also intercepted, and it's said, in part quote, 332 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 1: when all is ready, the six gentlemen must be set 333 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: to work, and you will provide that on their design 334 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: being accomplished, I may be myself rescued from this place 335 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 1: and being safe keeping till our friends arrive. That will 336 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:46,480 Speaker 1: be hard to fix the day for the execution. You 337 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:49,639 Speaker 1: must have a party therefore in readiness to carry me 338 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: off and you will keep four men with horses saddled 339 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 1: to bring word when the deed is done, that they 340 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,960 Speaker 1: may be here before my guardian hears of it. Mary 341 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:04,160 Speaker 1: response didn't really get into the idea of assassinating Elizabeth. 342 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,800 Speaker 1: It rested on the idea of a foreign invasion. If 343 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: that invasion were successful, she might logically become queen. But 344 00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:14,359 Speaker 1: she really left the question of who should be monarch 345 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,680 Speaker 1: of England in the hands of God and the invasion's outcome. 346 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: Her letter expressed clear support for the conspirators freeing her 347 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:25,440 Speaker 1: from her confinement, but not for the idea of assassinating 348 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:29,879 Speaker 1: the Queen. Yeah, people hang on the word execution a lot, 349 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:32,680 Speaker 1: but in the context of this, she was talking about 350 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,639 Speaker 1: executing the plan in the sense of to do a 351 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:39,760 Speaker 1: thing right, not to assassinate the monarch. So, of course 352 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,479 Speaker 1: Wassingham intercepted this letter and all of these other letters, 353 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: and even though he had Babington's outline of the plot 354 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,359 Speaker 1: and Mary's support for at least part of it, he 355 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,199 Speaker 1: didn't have the names of all the conspirators or a 356 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:56,560 Speaker 1: clear statement that Mary hoped for or planned the assassination 357 00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:00,919 Speaker 1: of Queen Elizabeth. So before passing Mary's letter onto Babbington's. 358 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: Walsingham had his forger at a PostScript. So in this 359 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 1: fake PS, Mary asked to know the names of the 360 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:10,879 Speaker 1: six men, under the grounds that she might have some 361 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,800 Speaker 1: information about one or more of them that could let 362 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: her give him further advice. His hope with adding this 363 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: fake PS was that Babbington would reply and name more names. 364 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:25,960 Speaker 1: But before his correspondence with Mary got much further, Babington 365 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 1: learned that Walsingham had discovered the plot. He fled, but 366 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,360 Speaker 1: was captured on August four. In his confession, he implicated 367 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,760 Speaker 1: all his other co conspirators and also said he had 368 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,919 Speaker 1: gotten a letter from Mary saying that she had supported 369 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:44,520 Speaker 1: the entire plot. Here's the thing about those letters, though 370 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:49,320 Speaker 1: the originals don't exist, and this is not a recent development, 371 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:51,959 Speaker 1: by the time the case came to trial, all the 372 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:56,359 Speaker 1: originals had been burned or otherwise destroyed, as his common 373 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:59,840 Speaker 1: practice when you get some secret correspondence from somebody. So 374 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,720 Speaker 1: all that was left of the letters were copies, copies 375 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:06,119 Speaker 1: made by a forger employed by Walsingham while trying to 376 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:09,119 Speaker 1: ferret out a plot to overthrow the queen. So this 377 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 1: raises some questions about their authenticity. In fact, Walsingham played 378 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:16,159 Speaker 1: such a key role in all of this that the 379 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,840 Speaker 1: Babington plot has been described as a double conspiracy, with 380 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 1: Walsingham conspiring against Mary and Babbington and his crew conspiring 381 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:28,239 Speaker 1: against Elizabeth. Each plot could only exist in conjunction with 382 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:31,960 Speaker 1: the other. The conspirators had no way to communicate with 383 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 1: Mary without Walsingham's double agent and that honest man with 384 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 1: the beer barrels, and Walsingham had no plot to use 385 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: against Mary without Babbington and his crew. Okay, One of 386 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,080 Speaker 1: the articles that I read about this was basically like, 387 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,360 Speaker 1: this whole thing is so convoluted that even now, hundreds 388 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,159 Speaker 1: of years later, it's sometimes hard to tell who is 389 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:55,280 Speaker 1: tricking who. At which point we will talk about the 390 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,760 Speaker 1: trials of Babington, his co conspirators, and Mary. After another 391 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:09,320 Speaker 1: sponsor break based on his confession and the copies of 392 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: all this correspondence, Anthony Babington and twelve co conspirators were 393 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 1: put on trial on September six. Initially, the men all 394 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:23,359 Speaker 1: pleaded guilty to everything except plotting to kill Elizabeth, although 395 00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:26,359 Speaker 1: they all changed they're not guilty please on that charge 396 00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:30,720 Speaker 1: to guilty under pressure from the prosecution. There's portraits that 397 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,399 Speaker 1: they had commissioned of themselves were also brought up as 398 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:37,680 Speaker 1: part of the evidence. The method of execution was gruesome. 399 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:43,920 Speaker 1: Babington and the first seven conspirators were executed on September six. 400 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: They were hanged, cut down while still alive, and then 401 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:52,119 Speaker 1: again while still living, disemboweled and castrated in front of 402 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: throngs of spectators. Queen Elizabeth decided that this method of 403 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,119 Speaker 1: execution was excessively cruel, so when the rest of the 404 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:02,240 Speaker 1: co conspirators were executed the next day, they were hanged 405 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 1: until they were dead, and then their bodies were disembalid 406 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 1: and castrated. Mary was arrested on August eleventh, fifty six 407 00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:11,719 Speaker 1: while she was out riding. She was taken to fathering 408 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,879 Speaker 1: Gay Castle, where she was held prisoner until her own trial, 409 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 1: which took place on October fourteenth and fifty six. It 410 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,760 Speaker 1: was held before an assembly of forty six Commissioners, as 411 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 1: had been outlined in the law that had been passed 412 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:29,119 Speaker 1: the year before. The evidence against Mary included the confessions 413 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:33,800 Speaker 1: of Anthony Babington and John Ballard, confessions from her secretaries 414 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:38,159 Speaker 1: Gilbert curl and Jacques now were included as well, but 415 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 1: both of the secretaries made their confessions under duress. They 416 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:45,679 Speaker 1: were deceived into thinking that the prosecution had copies of 417 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:48,520 Speaker 1: letters that they had written and ciphered, which was not true. 418 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,960 Speaker 1: The letters between Mary and Babington were also part of 419 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,960 Speaker 1: the evidence, but as we noted before, these were the copies, 420 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,680 Speaker 1: not the originals. But Mary consistently and stridently denied all 421 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:02,920 Speaker 1: in involvement in this plot. She said she had never 422 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 1: spoken to Babington's had never written or dictated those letters. 423 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:11,080 Speaker 1: Mary said these copied letters used as evidence were forgeries 424 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: in their entirety. She also made the point that it 425 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:17,199 Speaker 1: was not possible for her, the Queen of Scotland, to 426 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: be charged with treason against England, a nation of which 427 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,400 Speaker 1: she was not a citizen. She said, quote, it seemeth 428 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:27,440 Speaker 1: strange to me that the Queen should command me, as 429 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 1: a subject to appear personally in judgment. I am an 430 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 1: absolute queen and will do nothing which may prejudice either 431 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 1: mine own royalty, or other princes of my place and rank, 432 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,920 Speaker 1: or my son. The laws and statutes of England are 433 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:44,679 Speaker 1: to me most unknown. I am destitute of counselors and 434 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: who shall be my peers. I am utterly ignorant. My 435 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,800 Speaker 1: papers and notes are taken from me, and no man 436 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,520 Speaker 1: deareth stepped forth to be my advocate. I am clear 437 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: from all crime against the Queen. I have excited no 438 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:01,560 Speaker 1: man against her, and I am not to be charged 439 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: but by mine own word or writing, which cannot be 440 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 1: produced against me. Yet I cannot deny that I have 441 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: commended myself and my cause to foreign princes. She also 442 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,879 Speaker 1: argued that the power of a monarch came directly from God, 443 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:19,240 Speaker 1: something that she and Elizabeth both believed. If Elizabeth's power 444 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:22,360 Speaker 1: was bestowed by God, then so was Mary's, and that 445 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:26,000 Speaker 1: meant that these proceedings were under God's jurisdiction, not the 446 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 1: jurisdiction of a bunch of men, who, while prominent and powerful, 447 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: were mere mortals. Although by all accounts, Mary bore herself 448 00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: well and argued her own case impeccably, even though she 449 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,600 Speaker 1: was denied her papers and any advisers or representation, and 450 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:44,920 Speaker 1: then she was found guilty. She was convicted on October 451 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,720 Speaker 1: without being present, without having any further chance to be heard, 452 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:54,200 Speaker 1: and without even being told that these proceedings were concluding 453 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 1: that day, after the conviction, though it took Elizabeth months 454 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: to sign Mary's death warrant in spite of the law 455 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,000 Speaker 1: that England had passed. It would set a dangerous precedent 456 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 1: for one monarch to execute another, especially a relative, in 457 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:12,480 Speaker 1: this way, but Elizabeth knew. Secretary of State William Davison 458 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:17,359 Speaker 1: did finally get her to sign the warrant on February one, seven, 459 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:20,359 Speaker 1: although she told her counselors not to carry out the 460 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: order until she gave the final word. Her Privy Council 461 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: ignored that instruction, though, and decided to proceed with the 462 00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:31,480 Speaker 1: execution without waiting for her to finally okay it. Mary 463 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: got word that she was to be executed on February 464 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 1: seven seven. She responded, quote, as for the death of 465 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 1: the Queen, your Sovereign, I called to God to witness 466 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,600 Speaker 1: that I never imagined it, never sought it, and never 467 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:47,560 Speaker 1: consented to it. She asked for some more time to 468 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,400 Speaker 1: put her affairs in order, but that was denied, so 469 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,000 Speaker 1: she spent most of her remaining time that night writing 470 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:57,120 Speaker 1: letters to loved ones, arranging gifts for her servants, and praying. 471 00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: One of her final letters was to honor the third 472 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,479 Speaker 1: brother of her late first husband, which said, in part quote, 473 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: tonight after dinner, I have been advised with my sentence, 474 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 1: I am to be executed like a criminal at eight 475 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: in the morning. I have not had time to give 476 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: you a full account of everything that has happened, but 477 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:17,440 Speaker 1: if you will listen to my doctor and my other 478 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:21,119 Speaker 1: unfortunate servants, you will learn the truth and how thanks 479 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,879 Speaker 1: be to God. I scorned death and vow that I 480 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:27,359 Speaker 1: meet it innocent of any crime, even if I were 481 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:31,360 Speaker 1: their subject. In this letter, she also described how her 482 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 1: chaplain had been taken away from her and she had 483 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 1: been refused permission to have him come back and give 484 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:40,840 Speaker 1: her the last sacrament. She also asked on read to 485 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:42,960 Speaker 1: pay all of her servants for any wages that were 486 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: still owed to them, and towards the end of the 487 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: letter she wrote, as for my son, I commend him 488 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 1: to you in so far as he deserves, for I 489 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,480 Speaker 1: cannot answer for him. She had actually been prevented from 490 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,120 Speaker 1: keeping in touch with him in any way during her imprisonment. 491 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,520 Speaker 1: Mary was beheaded in the Great Hall of buthering Gay 492 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: Castle on February seven, in front of an assembly of 493 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:09,320 Speaker 1: at least three hundred people. She was forty four. As 494 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:11,480 Speaker 1: was the case with her trial and the last days 495 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 1: of her imprisonment, she's consistently described as going to her 496 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:19,520 Speaker 1: execution with a stoic and graceful perseverance, and the account 497 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 1: of Pierre de Boorde quote After kissing her women once more, 498 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:25,960 Speaker 1: she bade them go with her blessing. As she made 499 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,560 Speaker 1: the sign of the Cross over them. One of them 500 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,040 Speaker 1: was unable to keep from crying, so that the queen 501 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,160 Speaker 1: had to impose silence upon her by saying she had 502 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,880 Speaker 1: promised that nothing of the kind would interfere with the 503 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 1: business at hand. They were to stand back quietly, pray 504 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,600 Speaker 1: to God for her soul, and bear truthful testimony that 505 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: she had died in the bosom of the Holy Catholic religion. 506 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:50,720 Speaker 1: One of the women then tied the handkerchief over her eyes. 507 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,719 Speaker 1: The queen quickly and with great courage, knelt down, showing 508 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:58,000 Speaker 1: no signs of faltering. So great was her bravery that 509 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,800 Speaker 1: all present were moved, and they were a few among 510 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,840 Speaker 1: them that could refrain from tears and their hearts. They 511 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: condemned themselves for the injustice that was being done. Walsingham 512 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 1: had Mary's clothing, crucifix and prayer book from the execution 513 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,800 Speaker 1: destroyed so they wouldn't be made into relics of a 514 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,560 Speaker 1: religious martyr. Her body was placed in a lead coffin 515 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:23,160 Speaker 1: and buried in Peterborough Cathedral. After this execution, Elizabeth really 516 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,720 Speaker 1: started to distance herself from it. She was outraged that 517 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:29,960 Speaker 1: Davison and her counsel had carried out this execution without 518 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: waiting for her order, and she actually had Davison sent 519 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 1: to the tower. She also expressed that the manner of 520 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:40,120 Speaker 1: the execution was sacrilegious, and she knew that Catholic monarchs 521 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:41,920 Speaker 1: of other countries were going to see it as a 522 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:46,480 Speaker 1: sacrilege as well. For a time, Elizabeth's behavior was interpreted 523 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,400 Speaker 1: in a pretty cynical way, as though she were just 524 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,040 Speaker 1: trying to cover herself with a show of anger over 525 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,240 Speaker 1: an execution that she had actually secretly been eager for. 526 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: But letters unearthed in the nineteen sixties suggests that England's 527 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:03,400 Speaker 1: nobility he was truly alarmed at her displeasure, which seemed 528 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,520 Speaker 1: very genuine and not something that she was just performing 529 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 1: for the sake of appearances. Almost immediately this whole affair 530 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,560 Speaker 1: became part of literature and art. There are so many 531 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: paintings of the trial and the beheading. There were ballads 532 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 1: written about the execution in the weeks immediately after it happened, 533 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:23,520 Speaker 1: and from there they have been plays and novels and 534 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:27,160 Speaker 1: poems and TV shows and movies, and many of them 535 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:31,680 Speaker 1: approached Mary as a very doomed and romantic heroine. There 536 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: are certainly accounts and versions that do not take that perspective, 537 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,240 Speaker 1: but she was very frequently depicted with like a stoic 538 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:44,760 Speaker 1: grace and a sense of impending destruction that she couldn't 539 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:48,240 Speaker 1: really control. And of course Mary's son, James, became James 540 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:52,400 Speaker 1: the sixth of Scotland and first of England on March three. 541 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:56,080 Speaker 1: After the death of Queen Elizabeth in sixteen twelve, he 542 00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 1: had Mary's body exhumed and placed in Henry the Seventh 543 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,400 Speaker 1: Chapel in West mr Abbey. He also had a white 544 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 1: marble tomb constructed that has an effigy of Mary on 545 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:08,640 Speaker 1: the lid. Her hands are folded in prayer and there 546 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:11,760 Speaker 1: is a crowned Scottish lion at her feet. And then 547 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,080 Speaker 1: at the opposite end of that chapel there's the tomb 548 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:17,600 Speaker 1: of her cousin, Elizabeth, the first do you have listener mail, 549 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 1: hopefully with a little less beheading. I do have listener mail. 550 00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:22,840 Speaker 1: It does not have any beheading in it, but it 551 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:25,280 Speaker 1: it does still have a little bit of tragedy in it. 552 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:29,280 Speaker 1: I don't think I've read this one before. It becomes 553 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 1: difficult sometimes to keep up with what we have and 554 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,360 Speaker 1: haven't read when we're doing episodes kind of out in advance. 555 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:36,960 Speaker 1: So this is an email about the sinking of the 556 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,400 Speaker 1: S S Princess Sefia. It is a thing that we 557 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:41,480 Speaker 1: got several emails about, so I picked one of them, 558 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 1: and it is from Chris. Chris says, good morning. My 559 00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:46,000 Speaker 1: name is Chris, and I live in Germany working for 560 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,280 Speaker 1: the US government. I love listening to Stuffy miss in 561 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:50,880 Speaker 1: history class during my daily runs to and from work. 562 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 1: This morning, I was playing your most recent podcast about 563 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:56,080 Speaker 1: the S S Princess Sofia. I'm not sure if you 564 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 1: looked at the following news article, but it appears that 565 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:01,440 Speaker 1: companies are still using the teen fifty one maritime law 566 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 1: to dispute liability. And then he includes an article that 567 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,960 Speaker 1: came out shortly after that episode did that was about 568 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:13,720 Speaker 1: a tragic duck boat sinking that happened in the United 569 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 1: States this past July. It was a kind of horrifying 570 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:22,200 Speaker 1: incident where one of those duck boats that are popular 571 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 1: in tourist places for amphibious tours, it sank and seventeen 572 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:31,680 Speaker 1: people died, and the companies that are being sued for it, 573 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:34,840 Speaker 1: we're all drawing on that same eighteen fifty one maritime 574 00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: law that we talked about capping uh, the amount of 575 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:42,440 Speaker 1: um of settlement that the families could receive in the 576 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:45,800 Speaker 1: sinking of the s S Princess Sofia. So yeah, that 577 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,360 Speaker 1: is a case or a law that still exists that 578 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:51,480 Speaker 1: still being brought up even now in the cases of 579 00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:54,160 Speaker 1: maritime disasters. So thank you to Chris and the other 580 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 1: folks who have written to us about that. If you 581 00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 1: would like to write to us about this or any 582 00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,120 Speaker 1: other podcast where History pod casts at how Stuff Works 583 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,240 Speaker 1: dot com or also all over social media at missed 584 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:08,480 Speaker 1: in History. That's where you will find our Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, 585 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,919 Speaker 1: and Twitter. And you can come to our website, which 586 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 1: is missing history dot com to find show notes for 587 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:16,160 Speaker 1: all the episodes that Holly and I have ever talked about, 588 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,359 Speaker 1: including this one, and the show notes to this one 589 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,160 Speaker 1: includes a link to all kinds of primary sources, where 590 00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:26,640 Speaker 1: you can read all various correspondents and what not related 591 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:29,480 Speaker 1: to this. You can also find a searchable archive of 592 00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:33,200 Speaker 1: every episode ever, and you can subscribe to our show 593 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:36,640 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart Radio app, and wherever 594 00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:44,640 Speaker 1: else you get podcasts. 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