Mary Queen of Scots spent more time in an English prison than she did
in any other phase of her life. Most people don t realise that.
When Mary left Scotland she didn t intend to spend 19 years imprisoned in England
so at what point did she realise that the that s where she was?
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In the meantime, let me tell you a story
From time to time I cross the border into English territory to tell you stories about Scots.
I m pretty confident that I m coming back, otherwise I wouldn t go
When Mary Queen of Scots left Scotland she was every bit as confident of a return as I am
and yet I want to take you to some
of the places she found herself as the gradual realisation dawned that her status had changed
from asylum seeker to detainee.
On 15th May 1568 that twenty-five-year-old asylum seeker
landed on a small boat on the English coast about thirty miles in that direction.
Now we re all familiar with asylum seekers, and you know what happens to them.
They get free accommodation and they re treated like royalty,
and people ask why have they claimed asylum in England when they could have done so in France
I suppose nothing s changed. So why on earth did Mary expect help here?
Her half brother James, Earl of Moray had just defeated her in battle
not long after she d escaped from his prison on an island castle on Loch Leven.
Whilst she was in that island prison Elizabeth of England had promised her support.
The sister queens had even exchanged rings as a token of commitment.
Of course Elizabeth would offer aid now. And so, as she arrived up the River Derwent
she was warmly welcomed at Workington Hall where the local gentry were so honoured
that they saw through the bedraggled refugee to the Queen of Scots underneath
That night she wrote a letter to Elizabeth and the next day her excited hosts escorted
her seven miles east to Cockermouth Hall, where everyone turned out in their Sunday
best to greet her and she was introduced
to the governor of Carlisle Castle. He most graciously offered an escort
of 400 horse for Mary s protection to bring her here to Carlisle Castle.
Having arrived as a fugitive two days earlier,
she must have felt honoured to be accorded this level of recognition THEY D so freely given.
What SHE hadn t recognised is that her freedom had just been taken away
and she would never get it back for the rest of her life.
WE know that now, but HER realisation would come later.
The Warden s Tower here, which is now demolished, would gain the name Queen Mary s Tower
as it would be the home of this celebrity royal the next two months.
She held court including meeting the Duke of Norfolk, one of the richest men in England
who would remain part of her story for some time. She wrote home to one of her supporters that
she d been right well received and honourably accompanied and treated.
I expect to be back in Scotland on or about the 15th August with either
an English or French army. Mary expected to be riding home
at the head of an army within three months she had no idea of the disappoints ahead.
Her first disappointment was when she asked to meet with Elizabeth.
She was told that wouldn t be possible until she d cleared her name of her husband s murder.
Fortunately that was a relatively easy hurdle to surmount.
But when Elizabeth s representatives revealed this was to be a much bigger hurdle
and Elizabeth had no intention of meeting her in the short term,
Mary burst into tears and demanded that arrangements be made for her to go to France.
Support to her sister queen was an easy thing for Elizabeth to pledge
when that sister queen was firmly locked up in Loch Leven Castle.
When she was on English soil in Carlisle Castle that promise proved
to have been built on shifting sands. French soil would be more stable.
Rather than make arrangements for Mary to travel to France,
the governor began repair of the fortifications and strengthening of the
defences and accommodation for an extra 100 troops from Berwick.
If Mary didn t realise quite how difficult her situation was
it may be because Elizabeth had given instructions to
treat her honourably, but make sure she doesn t escape
So Mary was allowed to hang her cloth of state in her chambers to indicate her regal position.
She could go riding, with supervision. The stretch of land outside the castle
was known as Lady s walk from the time that Mary would promenade.
Of course, Carlisle was so close to the Scottish border that even as a civil war there raged
between those who supported Mary and those who supported her brother ,
people loyal to Mary would cross to join her retinue
They tell me she set off a game of football here by throwing down a ball down to her retinue that
had been divided into two teams; ten French on one side and
ten Scots on the other side. So, the first ever recorded international football
match, was played between Scotland and France in England here in Carlisle.
If you have a different suggestion, then let me know in the comments section.
Over the next two months they decided to move Mary further from the Scottish border.
She wasn t happy. On 5th July Mary
wrote to Elizabeth saying Permit me, if you please,
to depart hence without delay anywhere so that it is out of this country.
Since I came of mine own free will, I may depart with yours.
Her destination no longer France but anywhere but Elizabeth wasn t letting Mary go
anywhere any time She did leave here on 13th July 1568
along with four carriages, twenty pack horses and twenty three riding horses
Bolton Castle in Yorkshire was described by one of Mary s captors as very strong,
very fair and very stately, with the highest walls ever seen
and just one entrance. So it could be protected by half
the number of soldiers than needed at Carlisle Mary could walk the boundaries of the castle.
She could even go hunting. Better still, on 25th July
Mary got news via a messenger from Elizabeth in London suggesting that Elizabeth WOULD help Mary
regain her Scottish throne. Mary was delighted
and immediately wrote back to Elizabeth telling her that she would stand down
the French and Spanish troops that had been mustering to come to her aid.
Elizabeth s promises were verbal... Mary s were in writing.
Now there is a tale of Mary escaping Bolton Castle here,
by being lowered from a window onto a horse. Then she galloped away into the night.
This place is called Queens Gap or Layburn Shawl.
It s a popular walk that I m told got its name from our Queen of Scots.
It s a lovely peaceful walk for locals, but to me
it seems like a sad place. During her flight Mary dropped her shawl.
It was this allowed her pursuers to track and capture her.
That s the local story, but in his book Mary Queen of Scots, The Captive Queen in England,
which has been a great help in making this video,
David Templeman asks why Mary would have gone to the bother of escaping,
given that things seemed to be going well, she was getting on with her supervisors and was
even learning to speak and read English. She wrote to the Queen of Spain saying
I believe I have gained the hearts of a great many good people of this country since my coming
so that they are ready to hazard all they possess for me and my cause.
In one letter to Elizabeth, she did emphasise the point that,
when she had been in prison at Loch Leven,
Elizabeth herself had promised to support her cause.
Now that she had placed herself entirely in Elizabeth s hands
Elizabeth could surely do no less. so the carrot was dangled for Mary.
Look, let s have a Commission to look into the whole murdering your husband thing.
Did I mention that? Anyway if that commission
proves your innocence, then hey presto! If there was no taint of murder on Mary
s part, then the two queens COULD meet, and Elizabeth COULD support Mary s cause.
But Elizabeth had already told Mary s half-brother and Scottish nemesis, James Earl of Moray,
that she had no intention of restoring Mary to the Scottish throne.
Mary didn t realise that she d already been judged and was facing life in prison.
The conference/trial started on 4th October at York
Mary wasn t allowed to go herself, but she was relatively relaxed
cooped up here at Bolton Castle partly because the guy chairing
the commission was the Duke of Norfolk remember the guy that had met Mary at Carlisle?
Oh and he d also secretly agreed to marry her... although he denied it later.
The point is she didn t get to go, but sent representatives on her behalf
Her accusers? Oh, they got to go along and with them they took a bunch of letters which
had been conveniently found in a casket . and have conveniently been called
The Casket Letters. Is jiggery pokery a Scottish word,
or do folks elsewhere use it? I don t know.
In case you don t know jiggery pokery is well it s jiggery pokery.
Let s say somebody turned up at court with a set of letters and some poems they said had
been found in a casket under a bed . The letters were supposedly written
by a Scottish queen to the guy who she married after he murdered her husband.
Of course, there were inconsistencies and errors in the letters;
names omitted, authors placed in one town when multiple witnesses knew she
was somewhere else at the time. The people who confirmed that it
was the queen s handwriting were the very people who were accusing her.
The defence team weren t allowed to see the evidence and after the letters had been copied
the originals disappeared but trust me, she s a wrongun!
You d think there had been some jiggery pokery. Some of the English folks involved with the
hearing could see there d been jiggery pokery One of Elizabeth s men even said:
I see not how her Majesty can, with honour and safety to herself, detain this Queen
unless she shall be utterly disgraced to the world.
What Elizabeth did next was utterly disgraceful.
Elizabeth s commission was broken up with no decision , but she did decide to give Mary
s accusers another go. This time the commission
would be moved to Westminster It would be much more of a trial and
The Earl of Moray and cohort were told to focus on the idea that Mary had murdered her husband.
The problem was there was a good chance
it had been her very accusers who had done the murder in the first place.
Is this the bit where I say the murder weapon was a purple curly wurly?
No get on with it! The point is that the
Earl of Morton, one of Mary s accusers was later himself executed by James VI for
his part in the murder . No
So, on 7th January 1559 the Westminster trial started
and Elizabeth suggested that Mary resign the Scottish Crown to her son James and live a
private and peaceful life in England. Mary said: I am resolved to rather die
a Queen than live as a private person. I don t blame her. I wouldn t want to live
in England either. Three days later
eight months after Mary had come to England seeking refuge from her pursuers, who had probably
themselves been behind her husband s murder, Elizabeth broke up the conference and it was
decided that no fault could be proved on either side
So Mary s accusers, who were not found to be at fault,
were sent home after a private audience with Elizabeth, a farewell reception and a cash gift,
which in today s terms approaches a million pounds
and Mary, likewise having been found not to be at fault;
who had agreed to the conference in order to GET a private audience with Elizabeth
She was imprisoned for the rest of her life. In fact, Elizabeth had already decided the month
before that Mary would be moved further south to be delivered into the custody of the
Earl of Shrewsbery When Mary found out
That s when she realised she was in an English prison.
Now I m heading south to make a video about the last time she had an opportunity to escape.
Depending on when you re watching this either that video or another about the life of
Mary will be coming up on screen now. In the meantime