Mary Queen of Scots and David Riccio
Mary Queen of Scots and David Riccio
Bothwell’s was not the only marriage in trouble by this time. Just prior to his ejection from Scotland, Randolph wrote to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester:
‘I know now for certain that this Queen repenteth her marriage, that she hateth [Darnley] and all his kin.’
Mary had good reason to be displeased with Darnley. Upon becoming her husband, he had expected to be given the Crown Matrimonial. This would have entitled him to reign on the event of Mary’s death, and for any of his subsequent children to inherit the throne. Mary refused to grant him this, as she soon saw that Darnley’s behaviour made him unfit to reign - he took no part in affairs of state, preferring to hawk and hunt. He was subject to fits of anger, and enjoyed carousing. There was even a rumour of a love-child by one of the Queen’s women. Not that this put an end to Darnley’s hopes. Randolph continues:
‘ I know that there are practices in hand contrived between the father and the son to come by the crown against her will. I know that if that take effect which is intended, David, with the consent of the King, shall have his throat cut within these ten days. Many things grievouser and worse than these are brought to my ears, yea of things intended against her own person.’
Darnley blamed David Riccio, Mary’s French Secretary, for her refusal to grant him the Crown Matrimonial. Mary had increasingly turned to the Italian, who took on the role of advisor. He also became a handy scapegoat - Moray attributed his own disgrace to his dislike of Riccio, whom he insinuated enjoyed a more than sovereign/servant relationship with the Queen.
Moray and the other rebel Lords now needed to act quickly to save themselves. Mary had pardoned the Hamiltons within two months of the Chaseabout Raid, but she called a parliament for the 12th March 1566 with the intention of denouncing the remaining exiles and declaring their life, land and goods forfeit. Riccio became a means to achieve their ends.
John Knox was persuaded that Riccio was a Catholic agent working to get Mary to join a European Catholic League. Maitland, out of favour since his refusal to deliver Mary’s angry letter to Elizabeth, was happy to be rid of the man who had taken his place as Mary’s confidante, though he played no part in the conspiracy. The King was easily roused to jealousy of the Italian, and his Douglas relative, the Earl of Morton, persuaded him that Elizabeth would help him if he would pardon the rebels and restore their estates.
Darnley therefore signed a bond with the exiled Lords. He promised to pardon them and uphold the Protestant religion, in return for their support in obtaining the crown matrimonial. Morton, George Douglas, Ruthven and Lindsay also obtained a ready-signed proclamation in which the King assumed full responsibility for the forthcoming murder.
It seems that everyone but Mary, Riccio himself, and the loyal lords knew about the proposed murder of Riccio: or if they did hear any rumours, they believe the conspirators to be all talk and no action.
At eight o’clock on the evening of Saturday 9th March 1566, Darnley entered the Queen’s chamber, where she was having supper with Lord Robert Stewart, her half-sister Jean, countess of Argyll, Arthur Erskine (her equerry), Anthony Standen (her page) and Riccio. A few minutes later Lord Ruthven appeared, dressed in armour. Ruthven was known to be ill, and those present initially thought that he was delirious. He demanded that Riccio be handed over. Mary turned to her husband, realising the purpose of his unusual visit. Ruthven attempted to grab Riccio, and when those present tried to restrain him he cried out and was immediately joined by a band of followers who rushed up the stair - Andrew Ker of Fawdonside, Patrick Bellenden, George Douglas, Thomas Scott and Henry Yair. George Douglas stabbed Riccio over the pregnant Queen’s shoulder, and Kerr held a pistol to her abdomen. Bellenden also had a pistol, the others daggers. Riccio was dragged from within the Queen’s skirts, and stabbed between fifty three and sixty times before his bloody corpse was thrown down the main staircase, Darnley's dagger clearly visible.
The murder of Lords Bothwell, Huntly, Livingston and Fleming, and James Balfour, had also been planned. Bothwell was dining with Huntly and Atholl elsewhere in Holyrood. Their meal was disturbed by cries of 'A Douglas, A Douglas'. The Earls called for their servants and the cooks to follow and headed for the Queen's apartments. Their way was blocked by Morton's men, who had secured the door to the gallery. Caithness, Sutherland and others came to their aid, and they were all reported to be fighting with the Douglases in the close outside the royal apartments. Ruthven found that they had failed to breach the gallery doors, and retired to bed. Bothwell and Huntly escaped by a back window and through the lion pit, riding for Dunbar to plan the rescue of the Queen.
The disturbance had alerted the people of Edinburgh, and the alarm bell had sounded. Darnley re-assured the townsfolk from the window - Mary was unable to cry out as the Lindsay threatened to ‘cut her in collops’ if she did. She was kept overnight in the company of the dowager Lady Huntly.
Lady Huntly was ordered to leave the next day, but she was able to smuggle out a letter to Huntly and Bothwell. Bothwell's plan had been to rescue Mary by lowering her on a chair from a window in the clock tower, but Mary realised that the only realistic way to avoid a lifetime of imprisonment was to win over Darnley. She had no doubt that her life, and the life of her unborn child, had been in danger, and that Darnley had intended them to be victims too.
On Sunday Darnley dissolved Parliament, charging its members to leave Edinburgh within three hours on pain of death. Somehow, during the course of that day and the next, Mary convinced him that the conspirators meant to harm him too. Darnley and his father were not happy with the way the newly-returned Moray acted on Monday, and so he gladly turned to the Queen. By this time the rebels had decided to remove Mary to closer imprisonment in Stirling, and Moray doubtless had Lochleven in mind as a suitable permanent prison.
During that day Mary feigned labour pains. At midnight she and Darnley escaped via the back stairs and servant’s quarters to be met outside the Abbey by Erskine, Traquair, Standen and their supporters with horses. Mary mounted behind Erskine, and the party galloped for Dunbar. Darnley was so fearful of capture that he urged them to increase the pace. When Mary reminded him of her pregnancy, he cried, ‘if this one dies we can have more’. At Seton they met Bothwell and Huntly and they reached Dunbar five hours after leaving the Palace. There they were joined by Atholl, Fleming and Seton, and within three days there were 4000 men at Mary’s command, most of them raised by Bothwell from the Borders.
Mary was so determined to punish Riccio’s murderers that she was willing to forgive the Chaseabout Raid rebels who had not been involved in his demise. Glencairn, Rothes, Argyll and Boyd took advantage of this and offered their submission. Maitland and Knox both felt it prudent to flee, the former to the Highlands, the latter to Ayrshire.
On 18th March Mary entered Edinburgh at the head of an army of 8000, Darnley riding beside her, Bothwell heading the Borderers. Darnley's fellow plotters had fled the day before - except for Moray, who was able to profess innocence since he had returned after the murder. He claimed he had broken all ties with the murderers - but this did not stop him from writing to England to request assistance for the guilty men heading for Newcastle.
Those rebels who had not participated in Riccio's murder were pardoned and banished from court. Morton, Ruthven, Lindsay and the Douglases were outlawed. Thomas Scott and Henry Yair were executed; Bothwell's intervention saved the lives of two others and prevented three lairds of Lothian, including his old adversary John Cockburn, from being outlawed.
Darnley had a proclaimation posted at the Market Cross protesting his innocence of the conspiracy. This may have fooled the people, but Mary herself knew the truth - the conspirators has wasted no time in sending her a copy of the bond Darnley had signed.
Once again Bothwell’s actions had proved his loyalty and ability, and from this time forward Mary openly relied upon him.