Historical figure · Pearson Edexcel International GCSE revision on Incandio
Mary, Queen of Scots
Queen of Scots · Dowager of France · Prisoner of England · Queen of Scotland · 1542–1587
Queen of Scots from six days old, Queen of France at sixteen, deposed in 1567, and Elizabeth I's prisoner for nineteen years — the Catholic heir around whom every plot of the reign gathered, executed at Fotheringhay in 1587.
Why Mary is on Incandio
Incandio is a free revision platform for the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE. Its historical figures are the people a student learns from, questions and — where a specification topic is theirs — defends an idea against. Mary, Queen of Scots can be questioned here in a dramatised, historically grounded portrayal, and the five-chapter life below is written to be read alongside the course.
Who was Mary?
Mary was born at Linlithgow on 8 December 1542 and became queen six days later. Raised at the French court, she married the Dauphin Francis in 1558 and was Queen of France until his death in December 1560. She returned to Scotland in 1561 as a Catholic queen in a Protestant country. She married Lord Darnley in 1565; her secretary David Rizzio was murdered in front of her in 1566; her son James was born that June. In February 1567 Darnley was killed at Kirk o' Field, and in May she married the Earl of Bothwell, the man widely accused of the murder. The Scottish lords rose against her; she was imprisoned at Lochleven and forced to abdicate. She escaped, was defeated at Langside and fled to England in May 1568. Elizabeth held her for nearly nineteen years. The Northern Rising, the Ridolfi Plot, the Throckmorton Plot and the Babington Plot all turned on her claim. Her letters to Babington were intercepted by Walsingham's agents; she was tried at Fotheringhay in October 1586 and beheaded there on 8 February 1587.
Major achievements
- Ruled Scotland from 1561 to 1567 with a policy of religious toleration
- Held a strong claim to the English succession through her grandmother Margaret Tudor
- Kept up a vast correspondence and a court in captivity for nineteen years
- Her son James VI became King of England in succession to Elizabeth
Life in brief
- 1542 — Born at Linlithgow: Queen of Scots six days later.
- 1548 — Sent to France: Raised at the court of Henri II.
- 1558 — Marries the Dauphin Francis: Queen of France from July 1559 to December 1560.
- 1561 — Returns to Scotland: A Catholic queen in a Protestant kingdom.
- 1565 — Marries Lord Darnley: Rizzio is murdered in March 1566; James is born in June.
- 1567 — Kirk o' Field and abdication: Darnley killed in February; she marries Bothwell, is imprisoned and abdicates.
- 1568 — Flight to England: Defeated at Langside; crosses the Solway on 16 May.
- 1586 — The Babington letters and the trial: Tried at Fotheringhay in October.
Explore the life of Mary — five chapters
- A Queen at Six Days — A Scottish crown and a French upbringing
- Holyrood — A Catholic queen in a Protestant kingdom
- Kirk o' Field — A murder, a marriage and a lost kingdom
- Nineteen Years — A guest who became a prisoner
- Fotheringhay — A trial she refused to recognise
Read the five-chapter life of Mary, Queen of Scots →
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