Guzman de Silva to the King. Spanish State Papers.

[Mary was a prisoner in Lochleven from 17th June 1567 to 2nd May 1568. The chief events of her captivity were her compulsory abdication on 24th July, the coronation of her infant son on the 29th of the same month, and the proclamation of the Earl of Murray as Regent on August 22nd. Her escape was preceded by at least one unsuccessful attempt. Murray visited Mary in Lochleven, and was by her asked to undertake the Regency, according to a letter from Throgmorton to Elizabeth, 20th August 1567 (in "Foreign Calendar," and in Keith's "History," vol. ii. p. 737).]

... Croc, who was French Ambassador in Scotland, has passed here on his way to France, and there is nobody now representing his King.

The Ambassador here assures me that the King (of France) has in his favour both those who have assembled to detain the Queen (of Scots) and those who are against them, and has their signatures promising to keep up the friendship and alliance that the country has had with his predecessors. For this reason the King had proceeded in such a way as not to lose the support of the one side by taking up the cause of the other, but he could not avoid giving his aid to the Queen, whose adversaries assert positively that she knew she had been concerned in the murder of her husband, which was proved by letters under her own hand, copies of which were in his possession.

[This is the earliest known reference to the Casket Letters.]

Guzman de Silva to the King, from London, July 26. Spanish State Papers.

Four days ago the preacher and confessor of the Queen of Scotland arrived here. He is a Dominican Friar, a Frenchman named Roche Mameret, and was at the Council of Trent.... He is much grieved at events in Scotland, and the imprisonment of the Queen, but more than all at the marriage with Bothwell, since he already has a wife.... He assured me that those who had risen against the Queen had not been moved by zeal to punish the King's murder, as they had been enemies rather than friends of his; nor in consequence of the marriage, as they had been all in favour of it, and had signed their names to that effect without exception, either lay or clerical, apart from the Earl of Murray, but their sole object had been a religious one, as they thought the Queen, being a Catholic, might settle religion in a way not to their liking.

Queen Elizabeth to Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, in Scotland, July 27, 1567. Keith's History, p. 702.

You shall plainly declare unto them {the lords}, that if they shall determine anything to the deprivation of the Queen their sovereign lady of her royal estate, we are well assured of our own determination, and we have some just and probable cause to think the like of other Princes of Christendom, that we will make ourselves a plain party against them, for example to all posterity.

[This intervention by Elizabeth on Mary's behalf was the result of reports which reached London that Mary's life was in danger. Her death was demanded by certain of the Protestant clergy, and the more ardent of their following.]

Guzman de Silva to the King, from London, August 2. Spanish State Papers.

The Earl of Murray went to Scotland on the last day of July.... I visited him.... He repeated how displeased he was at the action of the lords in taking the Queen.... I said that her confessor had told me that as regarded the King's murder she had no knowledge whatever of it, and had been greatly grieved thereat.... He opened out somewhat, saying that my good will towards him prompted him to tell me something that he had not even told this Queen {Elizabeth}, although she had given him many remote hints upon the subject. This was that he considered it very difficult to arrange matters, as it was certain that the Queen had been cognisant of the murder of her husband, and he, Murray, was greatly grieved thereat. This had been proved beyond doubt by a letter which the Queen had written to Bothwell, containing three sheets of paper, written with her own hand, and signed by her, in which she says in substance that he is not to delay putting into execution that which he had arranged, because her husband used such fair words to deceive her and bring her round that she might be moved by them if the other thing were not done quickly. She said that she herself would go and fetch him, and would stop at a house on the road, where she would try to give him a draught, but if this could not be done, she would put him in the house where the explosion was arranged for the night upon which one of her servants was to be married. He, Bothwell, was to try to get rid of his wife either by putting her away or by poisoning her, since he knew that she, the Queen, had risked all for him, her honour, her kingdom, her wealth, and her God, contenting herself with his person alone. Besides this she had done an extraordinary and unexampled thing on the night of the murder in giving her husband a ring, petting and fondling him after plotting his murder, and this had been the worst thing in connection with it. Murray said he had heard about the letter from a man who had read it, and the rest was notorious.... He says he will do his best for her. I am more inclined to believe that he will do it for himself if he finds a chance, as he is a Scotchman, and a heretic....