Mary Queen of Scots by Marjorie Bowen

Author:Marjorie Bowen [Bowen, Marjorie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2015-06-22T03:00:00+00:00

Earl Bothwell does not seem to have resented this plain speaking, or did not dare to show open wrath. He endeavoured to answer the charges; the grim Protestant, however, declared that “he (Bothwell) said nothing to my satisfaction”.

The Lords, gathering strength at Stirling, had now, according to Drury, decided to crown the young Prince if Bothwell should marry the Queen. It must be remembered that many of these same Lords had themselves subscribed the Bond in Ainslie’s Tavern by which they agreed to help Bothwell to that very marriage they now declared they would do all in their power to prevent. The explanation of this conduct must be either that Bothwell forced the signature out of them, or that they, by a piece of elaborate treachery, intended to be rid of both the Queen and Bothwell by luring them on to a marriage which would ruin both and give them, the Lords, a fair excuse for a revolution.

They sent to the Queen, warning her to be careful in her conduct. She replied in that evasive style which she so often employed. Here again was surely a chance for her to have appealed for help, to have denounced Bothwell, and to have stated how grievously she had been wronged in the abduction. Instead of this, she admitted she had been “evil and strangely handled, but treated so well since that she had no cause to complain”; she asked the Lords to quiet themselves.

Far from doing this they sent her another message which, though addressed to her, was obviously meant for Bothwell, that unless she discharged her soldiers and got more reputable members of the nobility about her, they would not obey her in anything she might command.

The Lords then formed themselves into one of the Bands then so popular in Scotland, their objects being, as they declared, first, to seek the Queen’s liberty “who is ravished and detained by Bothwell who has all the strength, munitions, and men-of-war at his command”, second, the preservation of the Prince, and third, to pursue the King’s murderers. They were especially bitter against “that cruel murderer, Bothwell”, who, it should be remembered, had been recently acquitted of the crime with which he was now openly and generally charged.

It should be noted that the title of “Keeper of Dunbar Castle”, given by Mary to Bothwell, was not that of a sinecure. This was the mightiest fortalice in Scotland, and the arsenal for the entire Kingdom, where nearly all the national stock of gunpowder was stored.

The Lords declared that Bothwell wished to poison the Prince and get the entire kingdom into his hands, and that they were looking with what vigilance and prudence they could command, for aid, either from France or England. Du Croc, who had been sent from France to inquire into the confused affairs of Scotland, offered his master’s aid to suppress Bothwell and his faction. Kirkcaldy of Grange wrote to the Earl of Bedford appealing for help from England.

Bothwell had either been from

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