The relationship between Mary Queen of Scots and the Tudor English monarch Elizabeth I
has been studied and considered for centuries.
What cannot be disputed though is that during Elizabeth;s reign, she faced a large number
of plots and threats to her throne, and many Catholics wanted her dead and replaced with
Mary Queen of Scots.
The Protestant English monarch was a target for many people, including the Spanish and
she employed a network of Spies led by Francis Walsingham to find out intelligence and information
of potential plots.
Earlier in her reign she faced the Rudolf Plot, a European plan to get rid of her, and
she also faced the Throckmorton Plot but both of these had the same goal, to replace her
with Mary Queen of Scots and to also bring Catholicism back as England’s religion.
But there was one plot that was discovered that brought about the death and execution
of Mary Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I was forced to sign the death warrant of another
anointed Queen.
But what was the story behind the plot that resulted in Mary Queen of Scots’ execution
at Fortheringhay Castle?
Many across England considered Mary Queen of Scots the rightful and legitimate heir
to the English throne.
These were mostly Catholics, and in 1570 the Pope even issued an order encouraging Catholics
to rebel against Elizabeth and even cause problems inside of England.
The Pope encouraged people to kill Elizabeth, and he was enabling people to try to take
her off the throne.
Mary in this became the main replacement for Elizabeth, but after she had fled Scotland
for her safety she was held in many different prisons around England.
Many of these were luxurious castles, and Mary lived in peace but was still under house
arrest.
In 1584, The Privy Council agreed a bond of association which stated that those inside
the line of succession would be barred from the succession and executed if they were involved
in treasonous plans to oust the current monarch.
Mary agreed to sign this, and at act of Parliament also said that anyone who benefitted from
Elizabeth I’s death would also be executed if a scheme was discovered.
Mary had previously been suspected and implicated in plots, and she virtually signed a document
stating that if Elizabeth I was killed then she too would be executed.
Elizabeth’s spymaster Francis Walsingham was worried about Mary and was her supporters
could do and he wrote to Elizabeth I’s closest friend Robert Dudley that, ‘‘So long as
that devilish woman lives, neither her majesty must make an account to continue in quiet
possession of her crown, nor her faithful servants assure themselves of the safety of
their lives.’
But it would be the Babington Plot that would signal the end for Mary Queen of Scots.
The plot was named after Antony Babington, who was born into a wealthy catholic family,
and his job as a child was as a page boy to the Earl of Shrewsbury’s household.
Shrewsbury was close to Mary Queen of Scots and was her jailor whilst the Scottish monarch
was imprisoned, and with this Babington attended on her, and he became devoted to her and attached
to her.
He was a supporter of Mary, and it would later be his plan that tried to get Mary on the
English throne.
Around 1580 he travelled to Europe and met with other Catholic conspirators who also
wanted to get Mary onto the throne.
Babington was asked to then smuggle letters to her inside her prison, and he also then
was involved in sheltering Catholic priests.
This itself could have resulted in his execution, but he was becoming a prominent member of
the Catholic underground.
In 1586, Mary was then moved to Tutbury and here the conditions of her imprisonment were
tough and hard, and Babington here lost his job as the Scottish Queen’s messenger.
This made it harder for him to get access to Mary and smuggling letters was difficult.
He was given letters from France to give to her, but he could not pass many of these on.
He considered heading to Europe to leave England behind, but he then met a man named Robert
Poley and he gained Poley’s trust.
Poley in reality was a secret agent who managed to infiltrate Babington’s network, and he
was actually working for Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I’s spymaster.
Walsingham had many men conduct spy missions to find out information and plots, and during
one of these, Gilbert Gifford was interrogated and he agreed to become a double agent.
Gifford then had made contact with the French and arranged letters to be smuggled to Mary,
and the plan to do this was to use beer barrels.
Inside the wooden barrels letters would be hidden.
But in March 1586 inside the Plough an inn close to Temple Bar, Babington met with 6
of his friends and debated freeing Mary Queen of Scots from prison, and then they considered
killing Elizabeth I and starting a Catholic uprising.
Babington hoped this would be backed up by a foreign invasion, but Gifford found out
about this, and he then offered to help Babington make secret ciphered messages, and the pair
did this.
One of the initial messages was very cryptic, and they used 23 different symbols which were
swapped for letters and a number of symbols stood for common words.
A number of false symbols were also used, and Mary was sent a cipher to help her decode
the messages once she got them.
These letters were written by Babington, but were then intercepted by Walsingham.
He had counterfeiters make a copy of the letter, and then deliver it to Mary sealed and stamped.
The letter eventually was cracked, and it suggested that they were planning to kill
Elizabeth I.
This was the evidence Walsingham needed to sanction Mary Queen of Scots’ arrest, but
he decided to let the plan play out slightly without detection.
It was believed that if Mary agreed to the plot, this would be incriminating evidence
of treason, and then the whole threat to Elizabeth I could be ended for good.
When the code was cracked, any future letter sent between Mary and Babington could easily
be understood.
Mary did reply agreeing to be involved int he plot and she said, ‘When all is ready,
the six gentlemen must be set to work, and you will provide that on their design being
accomplished, I may be myself rescued from this place.’
Walsingham had the Queen of Scotland where he wanted, but he needed conspirators.
Mary’s note was forged again, and was sent with Babington and he would implicate the
others, falling for the forgery.
The first co-conspirator arrested was John Ballard, and he was tortured and then named
a number of other men involved.
Antony Babington was transported to the Tower of London for his involvement and was tortured
further.
He was sentenced to death along with the other conspirators, and on the 20th September 1586
they were hanged, drawn and quartered.
All of them were tied to hurdles and were dragged behind horses through London where
the crowds jeered at them.
They were then executed in front of thousands of people, but justice wasn’t entirely served
with this for Walsingham.
He wanted Mary Queen of Scots also dead, and following the plot he had her formally arrested
and sent to Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire in October 1586.
She was tried, and was refused legal council, and was not allowed to review any of the evidence
against her.
It was clear she was involved in the treasonous plot to kill Elizabeth and overthrow the English
Queen, and with this she was sentenced to death.
Many consider though that she was relieved to be condemned, as she had been held a prisoner
for almost 2 decades and must have been desperate to escape and retain some of her freedom.
But the Babington Plot was ultimately the conspiracy that resulted in Elizabeth I signing
Mary’s death warrant.
She didn’t necessarily want to execute her Scottish cousin, but the Privy Council pressured
her into doing this.
On the 8th February 1587 in front of 300 people at Fortheringhay Castle in the Great Hall,
an executioner took Mary’s head off.
This even shocked many around England, and many across Europe were angry.
But it was a killing that the Privy Council deemed just as the threat to Elizabeth was
too real with Mary alive.
Mary went to her execution with the belief in death that she would be released from the
imprisonment she had suffered, and that god would look after her.
With this, it’s clear to see towards the end of her imprisonment, she would have done
almost anything to secure her freedom.
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