The Tragedy of Fotheringay / Founded on the journal of D. Bourgoing, physician to Mary Queen of Scots, and on unpublished ms. documents

PREFACE

In compiling this book, my original intention was to deal with the material afforded by Bourgoing's Journal, supplemented by the Letters of Sir Amyas Paulet. Both narrate the events of the last few months of Queen Mary's prison life, the details of which have been hitherto little known. As time went on, however, and further new and valuable matter was offered to me by the kindness of friends, the scope of the work gradually expanded. Many details regarding the Queen's execution and burial have been added, and I feel that some apology is due for possible repetitions and other errors of style which almost necessarily follow such a change of plan. Many of the illustrative notes regarding Queen Mary's last moments are culled from original contemporary accounts of the execution, for the use of which I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Joseph Stevenson, S.J., LL.D. Some of these narratives are printed in the Appendix in their entirety. The valuable collection of the Calthorpe MSS. has furnished many interesting details, and I am especially indebted to the courtesy of the present Lord Calthorpe for permission to publish the two curious contemporary drawings of the trial and execution. The value of these drawings is materially increased by the annotations in Beale's handwriting. To him we owe several of the most interesting notes regarding the execution, etc., and the knowledge that these MSS. have come down to us under the direct guardianship of Beale's descendants lends additional value to their testimony.

Robert Beale, whose name occurs so frequently in my narrative, had long been employed in a subordinate position by Elizabeth's Government, and in 1576 was sent by the Privy Council on an embassy to the Prince of Orange. He was later appointed Clerk of Council to the Queen, the office in which he comes before us at the time of Queen Mary's trial and death, and his daughter Margaret married Sir Henry Yelverton, Attorney-General, the ancestor of the Calthorpe family, who thus became the possessors of the documents I have referred to.

The frontispiece, taken from what is known as the Blairs portrait of Queen Mary, has its own pedigree of unusual interest, although it cannot claim to be an original portrait. The following description of this picture is taken from the pen of the Right Rev. Bishop Kyle, Vicar Apostolic of the Northern district of Scotland:—

This large picture of Queen Mary belonged once to Mrs. Elizabeth Curle, wife and widow of Gilbert Curle, one of the Queen's secretaries during the last years of her life and at her death. Mrs. Curle herself was one of the attendants at her execution. When, and by whom it was painted, I have never learned. The attire and attitude of the principal figure being the same in which it is said Mary appeared on the scaffold, seem to testify decisively that the picture is not what can be called an original—that is traced from the living subject under the painter's eye. The adjuncts were evidently added by another and an inferior artist, but when, I have no means of knowing. Mrs. Curle survived her mistress long, at least thirty years. She had two sons, who both became Jesuits. Of one, John, there is little known. He died in Spain. The other, Hyppolytus, was long Superior, and a great benefactor of the Scotch College of Douai. To that College he bequeathed the property, not inconsiderable, which he derived from his mother, and among the rest the very picture now at Blairs. The picture remained in that College (Douai) till the French Revolution. At the wreck of the College it was taken from its frame, and being rolled up was concealed in a chimney, the fireplace of which was built up, and was so preserved. After the peace of 1815 it was taken from its place of concealment and conveyed first to Paris, but ultimately to Scotland, through the late Bishop Paterson and the Reverend John Farquharson, who being the latter Principal, the former Prefect of Studies in the Douai College at the time of the Revolution, identified it as the picture that had been kept there according to the tradition mentioned above.[1]—(From Annals of Lower Deeside, John A. Henderson.)

In the background of this picture the execution of the Queen at Fotheringay is represented, along with the portraits of Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle, the two maids of honour who were present on the sad occasion. The royal arms of Scotland are painted on the right-hand corner of the picture, and there are three inscriptions in Latin, the translations of which are as follow:—

1. Mary Queen of Scotland, Dowager Queen of France, truly legitimate Sovereign of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland, mother of James, King of Great Britain, oppressed by her own Subjects in the year 1568, with the Hope and Expectation of Aid promised by her Cousin Elizabeth, reigning in England, went thither, and there, contrary to the Law of Nations and the Faith of a Promise, being retained Captive after 19 years of Imprisonment on Account of Religion by the Perfidy of the same Elizabeth and the Cruelty of the English Parliament, the horrible Sentence of Decapitation being passed upon her, is delivered up to Death, and on the 12th of the Kalends of March—such an Example being unheard of—she is beheaded by a vile and abject Executioner in the 45th year of her Age and Reign.

2. In the Presence of the Commissioners and Ministers of Queen Elizabeth, the Executioner strikes with his Axe the most serene Queen, the Daughter, Wife, and Mother of Kings, and after a first and second Blow, by which she was barbarously wounded, at the third cuts off her Head.

3. While she lived the chief Parent and Foundress of the Scotch College, thus the once most flourishing Queen of France and Scotland ascends the fatal Scaffold with unconquered but pious mind, upbraids Tyranny and Perfidy, professes the Catholic Faith, and publicly and plainly professes that she always was and is a Daughter of the Roman Church.

The reliquary containing a portrait of Queen Mary, of which Lady Milford kindly allows me to publish the photograph for the first time, is very interesting, and the date can be fixed as being not later than 1622, but unfortunately the history of the medallion is little known.[2] It was originally in the possession of the Darrell family, and as a Darrell was appointed to be Queen Mary's steward during her captivity, and a Marmaduke Darrell (presumably the same person) attended the funeral at Peterborough, I would fain see a connection between him and the miniature, but so far I have found no proof of this.

The two contemporary drawings of Queen Mary's trial and execution from the Calthorpe MSS. are now also published for the first time. The lists of spectators written by Beale are of particular interest, and it is curious to compare the drawings of the trial with Bourgoing's description of the scene (see p. xiii.) and with that given in Appendix, p. 270.

In conclusion, I earnestly desire to express my grateful thanks for the constant and valuable help and encouragement given to me by the Rev. Joseph Stevenson, S.J., LL.D., to whose kindness I owe so much; to Mr. Leonard Lindsay, F.S.A., and to other kind friends.

M.M. MAXWELL SCOTT.

8th February 1895.[3]

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