During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, there was one shocking execution that changed the
face of history.
An anointed Queen was sent to her death on the scaffold inside of the great hall of Fotheringhay
Castle, and Mary Queen of Scots in many people’s opinion should have been the rightful Queen
of England.
She had a rather tough final few decades, and had been held as a prisoner of Elizabeth
I for a number of years.
But on the 8th February 1587 she was summoned from her room inside of Fotheringhay, and
was then met inside the Great Hall by an executioner armed with his axe, with a low block on the
floor.
An executioner named Bull fell to his knees and asked for the Scottish Queen’s forgiveness,
and her execution was performed poorly and not in one swift blow.
Her servant Lady Jane Kennedy had blindfolded her and she knelt down and then the axe fell.
But following her death, Mary Queen of Scots remains were subjected to a strange ordeal,
and some parts of her were buried in a hidden location at the site of her execution, which
today is simply just a hill in a farmer’s field.
But she was entombed later, after her son James I then ordered her burial inside of
Westminster Abbey.
It took two brutal swings of the axe to take Mary Queen of Scots head from her body.
The first swing from the executioner missed her neck, and embedded in the back of her
head which was incredibly painful, and the Queen would have been awake during this part,
but may have been knocked unconscious.
Then the second swing was more accurate, but there was a tiny part of sinew left keeping
her head attached, and this was then sawn through by the executioner with his weapon.
As the crowd had gathered to watch the bloody proceeding, the executioner held her head
up to the onlookers, and her head then slipped from the wig that was onto of her head.
It hit the floor, and and someone said that, ‘her lips stirred up and down for a quarter
of an hour after her head was cut off.’
A small dog then emerged from her skirt, and remained by her body after the execution.
However, Mary Queen of Scots was seen as a traitor by many across England and had been
linked to many plots against Elizabeth I.
But to Catholics she meant so much more, they believed that she had been sent to god to
rule over Scotland, and many wanted her as the Queen of England as Catholics believed
that she was the rightful queen.
But to catholics, they would have collected relics for Mary Queen of Scots, and the authorities
following her execution ordered that all of the property belonging to Mary should have
been burned inside of the fire in the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle.
They were worried that these relics would be venerated and prayed upon for centuries
to come, but the question then came as to what to do with the body of Mary Queen of
Scots.
It isn’t exactly clear what happened with her body, but it’s believed that after her
execution and the crowds cleared from the hall, that her remains were collected and
where then taken to a more private room inside of the castle, and inside here her remains
would be prepared.
There was little instruction given for her burial after her execution, and Elizabeth
I never made plans for this, but her body was taken to be it’s believed embalmed.
Prominent people were embalmed to prevent decay occurring quicker, and her body was
prepared to make sure that it did not purify, and her entrails and innards were removed.
However what is strange is what may have happened to these insides.
At times, Queens had them buried in specific places close to them, for example Jane Seymour
the 3rd wife of Henry VIII had her heart buried inside the Chapel of Hampton Court Palace,
and it’s believed that this was placed under the altar.
Other Queens for example Catherine of Valois it’s thought that on route to her funeral,
her innards were buried at stops where the funeral procession rested.
But Mary Queen of Scot’s entrails and remains, including her heart it’s believed were in
fact buried inside of Fotheringhay Castle in a very secret location close to the place
where the executioner swung his axe.
For this, it’s believed that it would have been within the inner or outer Bailey, or
close by the River that passes by the site today.
This means that today under the field where the castle once stood, it’s likely that
Mary Queen of Scots’ heart is still there as it has never been accounted for, and these
would probably have been buried inside of a box or a chamber.
They may still be there today, and still may be under the ground.
But what is also shocking is what happened to her body inside of the castle.
After her innards were buried, she had been embalmed and it was hoped that she would remain
without decay for a while, but her remains were then left for around 6 months locked
inside the walls of a room at Fotheringhay.
They had been encased in a lead lined coffin which helped to keep out the decay and rot,
but Elizabeth as mentioned regretted her execution and also she did not really know what to do
with her funeral.
With this, Mary’s remains just stayed there at Fotheringhay, and they caught dust there
and it’s believed that Elizabeth’s ill feeling towards ordering the execution may
have caused her to stall on what to do next.
Mary has asked that following her death she would be buried with her first husband Francis
II of France, but Elizabeth did not allow this, and instead she was to be buried at
Peterborough Cathedral.
What must have been concerning at the time was that Peterborough Cathedral could have
become a place of pilgrimage for Catholics, as Catherine of Aragon the first wife of Henry
VIII is buried there, and also her half sister Mary I, or Bloody Mary had requested to be
buried in the same place as her mother.
All these women had one thing in common and that was that they were all Catholic Queens,
and their place of burial especially Mary Queen of Scots could have been visited for
centuries to come.
She was given a funeral inside of Peterborough, but in one final act of disgrace to the former
Scottish Monarch, she was given a Protestant funeral which was completely against her beliefs.
A chariot adorned with black velvet decorated with insignia and symbols linked to the Scottish
monarch carried the coffin, and it travelled from Fotheringhay to Peterborough, and the
journey was not too far.
But Mary Queen of Scots would not remain at Peterborough Cathedral for long, as after
the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, her son James then became James I of England.
This meant that if Mary had outlived Elizabeth there was a good chance she could have even
been her successor, but when James came onto the throne he was disgusted by the treatment
of his mother in death.
He ordered her exhumation from Peterborough, and then designed a huge tomb for her as well
as Elizabeth and these would be at Westminster Abbey with the two rivals being entombed close
to each other near to Henry VII’s lady chapel.
The final act of disgrace for Elizabeth I was that Mary’s tomb was larger than the
English Queens, and the second burial of Mary Queen of Scots occurred in 1612.
But what is disturbing is that still today part of Mary Queen of Scots may lie under
the earth at Fotheringhay Castle, left under the soil for almost over 400 years.
It’s known that her heart and entrails were buried there, and although the castle does
not stand today there may be a darker side of Fotheringhay which has not been unearthed.
Mary’s treatment after her execution was shocking, and her remains were also just left
to rot unburied.
But Elizabeth I should have done the decent thing and buried a woman that she did have
great respect for in a decent manner, and in a place and service which was befitting
her beliefs and wishes.
But Mary Queen of Scots did not get that until her son came onto the English throne.
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