The Children of Adam and Eve

Deposed in 1567, she was beheaded ater nineteen years in prison, on the orders of Elizabeth I for plotting her murder.

Also Mary Stuart. Mary became queen before she was a week old. In 1558
she was married to the Dauphin of France, who succeeded to the French
throne as Francis II in 1559 but died the following year. Mary returned to
Scotland in 1561. Although Roman Catholic, she surrounded herself at first
with Protestant advisers, her chief minister being her half Brother James
Stuart, whom she soon afterWard created earl of Moray.

Mary's marriage in 1565 to her cousin, the Catholic Scottish nobleman
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was performed with Roman Catholic rites. The
marriage aroused Protestant feelings and was the signal for an
insurrection by Moray and a Scottish noble family who hoped to be joined
by the whole Protestant party. Their hope was disappointed, However, and
the queen, taking the Field in person, at once quelled the revolt. Her
triumph was scarcely over when misunderstandings began to arise between
her and Darnley. She had given him the title of king, but he now demanded
that the crown be secured to him for life and that, if the queen died
without Children, it should descend to his heirs.

Before Moray's rebellion Mary's chief minister had been David Rizzio
(circa 1533-66), a court favorite and a Roman Catholic. The king was now
persuaded that Rizzio was the obstacle to his designs upon the crown.
Acting on this belief, he entered into a formal compact with Moray; Lord
Patrick Ruthven (1520?-66); James Douglas, 4th earl of Morton (1525-81);
and other leaders of the Protestant party. The result of this conspiracy
was the murder of Rizzio in 1566. Early in 1567 the house in which Darnley
lay sick was blown up by gunpowder, probably at the instigation of the
Scottish nobleman James Hepburn, 4th earl of Bothwell, who, since Moray's
revolt and still More since Rizzio's murder, had been favored by the
queen. Darnley was discovered strangled close by the scene of the
explosion. It was suspected that Mary herself was not wholly ignorant of
the plot. Evidence substantiating this theory is reflected in
incriminating letters and sonnets, allegedly written by Mary to Bothwell
and found later that year in a silver casket. Bothwell was Brought to a
mock trial and acquitted; soon afterWard he divorced his wife and married
Mary in a Protestant ceremony.

This step at once turned the Scottish nobles against Mary. She was able to
lead an army against them, and although it was equal in number to the
confederate army, it was visibly inferior in discipline. On June 15, 1567,
Mary's forces were defeated at Carberry Hill and she was forced to abandon
Bothwell and surrender herself to the confederate Lords. On July 24, at
Lochleven, she was preVailed upon to sign an act of abdication in favor of
her son, who was crowned as James VI five days afterWard at Stirling.
Escaping from her island-prison at Lochleven on May 2, 1568, she was able
within a few days to assemble an army of 6000 men. On May 12 her army was
defeated by the regent Moray at Langside, near Glasgow. Four days
afterWard, in spite of the entreaties of her best friends, Mary Crossed
Solway Firth and sought refuge at the court of Elizabeth I, queen of
England, only to find herself a prisoner of Elizabeth for life.

Of the ensuing intrigues to effect her deliverance and to place her on the
throne of Elizabeth, the most famous was that of Mary's page, Anthony
Babington, who pLotted to assassinate Elizabeth. The conspiracy was
discovered, and Mary was Brought to trial in October 1586. She was
sentenced to Death on October 25, but not until February 1, 1587, did
Elizabeth sign the warrant of execution, which was carried out a week
later.