Mary Stuart - the forgotten martyr.

There is no peson in history who has been more subject to lies than Mary Stuart, the former Queen of Scotland. At the Reformation when religious tolerance was absent from most of Europe she, having witnessed the cruelty of her uncle the Bishop of Lorraine and his followers towards the Protestants of France, their slaughter and murder, decided that she would never persecute or attack the faith of anyone. On his death bed her husband Francis,the Dauphin, yet only 18, asked openly for forgiveness for the `crimes that had been committed in his name`. On returning to Scotland she refused an army from the Earl of Huntley to restore the Catholic Faith there. She believed that everyone held sincere beliefs. Unfortunately the Lords of the Congreagation of Scotland were not Protestant from conviction but because they were greedy, avaricious, and intolerant men who saw the Reformation as a means to steal Church land and Property. Her half brother the Earl of Moray was the worst of them and yet Mary was so trusting of him. She was the type of person who only saw good in people. When she married Darnley, a very pompous and disliked young man, it was Moray who with Bothwell arranged for his murder. What happened on that night at Kirk O`Fields is to be found in documents in France a place few historians bothered to search in their investigations. A Frenchman called Nicholas Hubert for example tells us exactly what happened at Kirk O`Fields since he was valet to Bothwell and tried to persuade him not to do the killing. He pointed out to Bothwell that he could not trust the other Lords who were a part of what he was doing" But the bloody deed took place. Bothwell later captured the Queen and forced her into a marriage showing her a document called the Ainslie Bond which tht nobles had signed and was proof that they wanted him as King. Mary was forced into a marriage. She wrote this letter to her envoy in France which he was to show to the Pope. "Tell to his holiness the grief we suffered when we were made prisoner by one of our subjects, the Earl of Bothwell, and led us prisoner with the Earl of Huntley, the chancellor, and our secretary, together, to the Castle of Dunbar, and afterwards to the Castle of Edinburgh where we were detained against our will in the hands of the said Earl of Bothwell until such time as he had procured a pretended divorce between himself and the sister of the said Lord of Huntley, his wife and our near relative; and we were constrained to yield our consent, yet against our will, to him. Therefore your Holines is suppicated to take order on this, that we are made quit of the said indignity, by means of a process of Rome, and commission sent to Scotland, to the bishops and other catholic judges,as to your holiness seemeth best as will be more particularly understood at length by the memorial which will be given in by the Bishop of Ross". Nicholas Hubert had given Bothwell good advice for his band of rogues turned on him eager to escape any responsiblity for the deed. Two armies faced each other ar Carberry Hill, but Mary preferred surrender to the nobles than staying with Bothwell. These vile creatures had promised to treat her as a Queen again but when she was in their power they mocked and sneered at her and made her their prisoner. She was forced to walk through the streets of Edinburgh through a hostile crowd which had swallowed the lie that she had murdered her husband Darnley. A great shadow towered over all of this, the shadow of Queen Elizabeth, who had been informed of all that had happened, and indeed she also wanted Darnley to be removed. Yet when Mary was in her power she had her tried for the murder she knew Mary had not committed. A few months ago I visited that Museum of Dead Bodies, Westminster Cathedral, and saw the coffin of Mary beside that of Elizabeth. It came to me that Mary was still a prisoner. It infuriated me. Meanwhile there was a call from a Scottish MP that the body of Mary should be returned to Scotland. I beleive she should she put in the Chapel of St Andrew in Westminser Cathedral. Had Mary changed her faith she would never have been a `problem` to Elizabeth. The thought of a Catholic inheriting the throne after he haunted Elizabeth. Mary was put to death in case Elizabeth was the first to die for then Mary would succeed to the English throne. She died a martyr for the Catholic Faith.