April 24, 1558 – Mary I, Queen of Scots, marries Prince François, the Dauphin of France, at Notre Dame de Paris.

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Catherine de Médici, Charles IX of France, Fotheringhay Castle, François II of France, Henry II of France, James V King of Scots, James VI of Scotland, James VI-I of Scotland and England, Mary Queen of Scots, Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris, royal wedding

The Bride

Mary I, Queen of Scotland (December 8, 1542 – February 8, 1587), reigned over Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567.

Mary I, Queen of Scotland

Mary was born on December 8, 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, to King James V of Scotland and his French second wife, Mary of Guise. She was said to have been born prematurely and was the only legitimate child of James to survive him. She was the great-niece of King Henry VIII of England, as her paternal grandmother, Princess Margaret of England, was Henry VIII’s sister. Besides being the queen of Scotland, Mary was a granddaughter of Claude, Duke of Guise, a very influential figure at the court of France.

On December 14, 1542, six days after her birth, she became Queen of Scotland when her father died, following the Battle of Solway Moss after drinking contaminated water while on campaign.

The Groom

François II (January 19, 1544 – December 5, 1560) was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King consort of Scotland as a result of his marriage to Mary I, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560.

François II, King of France, King Consort of Scotland.

Born eleven years after his parents’ wedding, the long delay in producing an heir may have been due to his father’s repudiation of his mother in favour of his mistress Diane de Poitiers, however this repudiation was negated by Diane’s insistence that Henry spend his nights with Catherine. François was at first raised at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He was baptized on February 10, 1544 at the Chapelle des Trinitaires in Fontainebleau. François became governor of Languedoc in 1546, and Dauphin of France in 1547, when his grandfather King François I died.

The Arrangement

King Henri II of France, his father, arranged a remarkable betrothal for his son to Mary, Queen of Scots, in the Châtillon agreement of January 27 1548, when François was only four years old. King Henri II desired to unite France and Scotland through the marriage.

King Henri II of France on the promise of French military help and a French dukedom for himself, the Earl of Arran agreed to the marriage. In February 1548, Mary was moved, for her safety, to Dumbarton Castle. The English, opposed to the union, seized the strategic town of Haddington. In June, the much awaited French help arrived at Leith to besiege and ultimately take Haddington. On July 7, 1548, a Scottish Parliament held at a nunnery near the town agreed to the French marriage treaty.

Once the marriage agreement was formally ratified, The French fleet sent by Henri II, commanded by Nicolas de Villegagnon, sailed with Mary from Dumbarton on August 7, 1548 and arrived a week or more later at Roscoff or Saint-Pol-de-Léon in Brittany.

Mary was accompanied by her own court including two illegitimate half-brothers, and the “four Marys” (four girls her own age, all named Mary), who were the daughters of some of the noblest families in Scotland: Beaton, Seton, Fleming, and Livingston. Janet, Lady Fleming, who was Mary Fleming’s mother and James V’s half-sister, was appointed governess.When Lady Fleming left France in 1551, she was succeeded by a French governess, Françoise de Paroy.

Although Mary was tall for her age and eloquent, François, her betrothed, was unusually short and stuttered. Henri II commented that “from the very first day they met, my son and she got on as well together as if they had known each other for a long time”.

The Wedding

On April 24, 1558, the fourteen-year-old Dauphin married Mary the 15 year old Queen of Scots in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was a union that could have given the future kings of France the throne of Scotland and also a claim to the throne of England through Mary’s great grandfather, King Henry VII of England. As a result of the marriage, François became King Consort in Scotland until his death. The marriage produced no children, possibly due to Francis’ illnesses or his undescended testicles.

King François II and Queen Mary of France and Scotland

A little over a year after his marriage, on July 10, 1559, François became King of France at the age of fifteen upon the death of his father Henri II, who had been killed in a jousting accident. On September 21, 1559, François II was crowned king in Reims by his uncle Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine.

King François II died on December 5, 1560, of a middle ear infection that led to an abscess in his brain. Mary was grief-stricken. His mother, Catherine de’ Medici, became regent for the late king’s ten-year-old brother the new King Charles IX, who inherited the French throne. Mary returned to Scotland nine months later, arriving in Leith on August 19, 1561. Having lived in France since the age of five, Mary had little direct experience of the dangerous and complex political situation in Scotland.

After a tumultuous reign which ended with her abdicating the throne to her one year old son, James VI of Scotland, from her second marriage to Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Mary was in prisoned in England by her cousin and rival Queen Elizabeth I of England. After eighteen and a half years in custody, Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth in 1586, and was beheaded the following year at Fotheringhay Castle.

This date in history, December 14, 1542: Death of King James V of Scotland.

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James IV King of Scots, James V King of Scots, King Henry VIII of England, Madeleine of Valois, Margaret Tudor, Mary I of Scotland

James V (April 10, 1512 – December 14, 1542) was King of Scotland from September 9, 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss. His only surviving legitimate child, Mary I, Queen of Scots, succeeded him when she was just six days old.

James V of Scotland

James was the third son of King James IV of Scotland and his wife Margaret of England a daughter of Henry VII of England and sister of Henry VIII, and was the only legitimate child of James IV to survive infancy. He was born on April 10, 1512 at Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgowshire and baptized the following day, receiving the titles Duke of Rothesay and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. He became king at just seventeen months old when his father was killed at the Battle of Flodden Field on 9 September 9, 1513.

James V renewed the Auld Alliance and fulfilled the 1517 Treaty of Rouen on 1 January 1537 by marrying Madeleine of Valois, the fifth child and third daughter of King François I of France and Claude, Duchess of Brittany (daughter of King Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany). The wedding was a great event and it took place in Notre Dame de Paris. François I made a contract with six painters for the splendid decorations, and there were days of jousting at the Château du Louvre.

Madeleine of Valois

After months of festivities and celebrations, the couple left France for Scotland in May 1537. By this time, Madeleine’s health had deteriorated even further, and she was very sick when the royal pair landed in Scotland. Madeleine wrote to her father from Edinburgh on June 8, 1537 saying that she was better and her symptoms had diminished. However, a month later, on July 7, 1537, (a month before her 17th birthday), Madeleine, the so-called “Summer Queen” of Scots, died in her husband’s arms at Edinburgh, Scotland.

James then proceeded to marry Mary of Guise, daughter of Claude, Duke of Guise, and widow of Louis II d’Orléans, Duke of Longueville, by proxy on June 12, 1538. Mary already had two sons from her first marriage, and the union with James V produced two sons. James, Duke of Rothesay was born May 22 1540, St Andrews, Fife. On April 12, 1541 his brother, Robert, Duke of Albany, was born at Falkland Palace. Sadly, Robert lived only eight days and died April 20, 1541. His brother, James, only eleven months old, died the very next day on April 21, 1541.

James was with his army at Lauder on October 31, 1542. Although he hoped to invade England, his nobles were reluctant. He returned to Edinburgh, on the way writing a letter in French to his wife from Falahill mentioning he had three days of illness. Whatever the cause of his illness, James was on his deathbed at Falkland Palace when his only surviving legitimate child, a girl, Princess Mary, was born December 8, 1542 at Linlithgow Palace. Six days later, December 14, King James V of Scotland died at the age of 30. Scotland once again was ruled by an infant monarch.

On this date in History: April 24, 1558, the marriage of Mary I, Queen of Scots and The Dauphin of France.

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Francis II of France, Henry II of France, House of Stewart, House of Stuart, James V King of Scots, King Henri II of France, King Henry VIII of England, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, Kings of france, Margaret Tudor, Marie de Guise, Mary I of Scots, Mary of Guise, Mary Queen of Scots, The Dauphin

Mary was born on December 8, 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, to King James V of Scots and his French second wife, Marie de Guise. Mary was said to have been born prematurely and was the only legitimate child of James V to survive him She was the great-niece of King Henry VIII of England, as her paternal grandmother, Margaret Tudor, was Henry VIII’s sister. On December 14, 1542 six days after her birth, she became Queen of Scotland when her father died from drinking contaminated water while on campaign following the Battle of Solway Moss.

Mary I, Queen of Scots

Since Mary was an infant when she inherited the throne, Scotland was ruled by regents until she became an adult. From the outset, there were two claims to the regency: one from Catholic Cardinal Beaton, and the other from the Protestant Earl of Arran, who was next in line to the Scottish throne. Beaton’s claim to the regency was based on a version of the King Jame V’s will that his opponents dismissed as a forgery. Arran, with the support of his friends and relations, became the regent until 1554 when Mary’s mother managed to remove and succeed him.

Henry VIII, King of England and King of Ireland.

King Henry VIII of England took the opportunity of the regency to propose marriage between Mary and his own son and heir, Edward (future Edward VI of England) seeking to unite Scotland and England. On July 1, 1543, when Mary was six months old, the Treaty of Greenwichwas signed, which promised that, at the age of ten, Mary would marry Edward and move to England, where Henry could oversee her upbringing. The treaty provided that the two countries would remain legally separate and that if the couple should fail to have children, the temporary union would dissolve. Cardinal Beaton rose to power again and began to push a pro-Catholic pro-French agenda, angering Henry, who wanted to break the Scottish alliance with France.

The French king, Henri II, desired to unite France and Scotland and proposed marrying the young queen to his three-year-old son, the Dauphin Francis. On the promise of French military help, and a French dukedom for himself, the regent Earl of Arran agreed to the marriage. In February 1548, Mary was moved, for her safety, to Dumbarton Castle. The English left a trail of devastation behind once more and seized the strategic town of Haddington. In June, the much awaited French help arrived at Leith to besiege and ultimately take Haddington. On July 7, 1548, a Scottish Parliament held at a nunnery near the town agreed to a French marriage treaty.

Mary I, Queen of Scots

With the promise of her marriage agreement in place, five-year-old Mary was sent to France to spend the next thirteen years at the French court. The French fleet sent by Henri II, commanded by Nicolas de Villegagnon, sailed with Mary from Dumbarton on August 7, 1548 and arrived a week or more later at Roscoff or Saint-Pol-de-Léon in Brittany.

At the French court, she was a favourite with everyone, except Henri II’s wife Catherine de’ Medici. Mary learned to play lute and virginals, was competent in prose, poetry, horsemanship, falconry and needlework, and was taught French, Italian, Latin, Spanish, and Greek, in addition to speaking her native Scots. Her future sister-in-law, Elisabeth of Valois, became a close friend of whom Mary “retained nostalgic memories in later life”.Her maternal grandmother, Antoinette de Bourbon, was another strong influence on her childhood, and acted as one of her principal advisors.

King Francis II and Queen Mary I of France and Scotland

Mary was eloquent and especially tall by sixteenth-century standards (she attained an adult height of 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), while Henri II’s son and heir, Francis, stuttered and was abnormally short. Henri commented that “from the very first day they met, my son and she got on as well together. On April 4, 1558, Mary signed a secret agreement bequeathing Scotland and her claim to England to the French crown if she died without issue. Twenty days later, April 24,1558 she married the Dauphin at Notre Dame de Paris, and he became king consort of Scotland. When Henri II died on July 10, 1559 from injuries sustained in a joust, the fifteen-year-old Dauphin became King Francis II of France and sixteen-year-old Mary I, Queen of Scots became Queen of France.

The Honours of Scotland

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James IV King of Scots, James V King of Scots, James VII King of Scots, kings and queens of Scotland, Oliver Cromwell, Pope Alexander VI, Pope Julius II, Roderic de Borja, The Honours of Scotland

The Honours of Scotland

I wanted to continue my examination of regalia. There are so many more examples of regalia that I like that I will feature more in the coming weeks. This week I wanted to view the Honours of Scotland. Many people know of the crown jewels of England that are sitting in the Jewel House in the Tower of London. However, those are not the only Crown Jewels in the British Isles. Up in the Crown Room of Edinburgh Castle are the regalia of Scotland known as the Honours of Scotland. They consist of the Crown of Scotland, the Scepter, and the Sword of State. These three elements also are depicted on the crest of the Royal coat of arms of Scotland. The red Lion representing the King of Scots wears the Crown while holding both the Sword and the Scepter. The regalia in this collection is older than the ones in London.

The Crown of Scotland.

The Crown of Scotland was made in 1540 for James V, King of Scots (1515-1542) and was made from an existing crown built in 1503. The original crown was damaged and falling apart. The King ordered e royal goldsmith, John Mosman to fashion a new crown. The old crown was dismantled and the gold was melted down and used for the new crown. Made from solid gold, the crown has a base that is set with four alternating fleur-de-lis and four strawberry leaves. Four arches that cap the crown are decorated with gold and red oak leaves. Where the four arches intersect at the top of the crown is a a gold monde that is painted blue with gold stars. On top of the monde is a large cross decorated in gold and black enamel and pearls. The crown is bejeweled with 22 gemstones, ranging from arnets and amethysts and 68 Scottish freshwater pearls. James V had included a purple and ermine bonnet from inside the crown but James VII changed the bonnet from purple to red. I personally would like the purple bonnet which has been changed though the centuries as they have worn out. The present bonnet was made in 1993. The crown weighs 3 lb 10 oz.

This crown was used during the reign of James V (he wore it for the coronation of his second wife Mary of Guise the year the crown was manufactured) and subsequent coronations including Charles II as King of Scots in 1651. While the English regalia was destroyed during the Commonwealth period after the abolition of the monarchy in 1649 some resourceful and smart thinking Scot had the regalia buried until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. In 1707 the Honours of Scotland were packed away in Edinburgh Castle where they were forgotten for over a century. They were found in 1818 by Sir Walter Scott and since 1819 they have been placed on display in the Crown Room of Edinburgh Castle. The crown has been used from time to time on State occasions such as the first opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

The Sword of State

The Sword of Sate was a gift to James IV, King of Scots (1473-1513) from Pope Julius II (1443-1513). The blade of the sword is 4 ½ feet long and carved with the figures of St. Peter and St. Paul along with the name of Pope Julius II. The handle is made of silver is carved with figures of oak leaves and acorns. The sword was broken in half in order to be hidden from Cromwell’s men in 1652 and was repaired afterward.

The Scepter.

The Scepter was also a gift to James IV, King of Scots by Pope Alexander VI (the infamous Roderic de Borja) (1431-1503). The scepter was given as a gift in 1494, and has gone through some renovations and remodeling such as in 1536 when it was lengthened. The scepter is made of silver gilt and contains many Christian symbol, ranging from dolphins which are symbols of the Church, images of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus. Also depicted are St. James the Great and St. Andrew (the patron saint of Scotland) holding a saltire. The head of the rod is topped by a finial with polished rock, experts theorize it is a Cairngorm, and a Scottish pearl.

This simple yet elegant collection of regalia is simply beautiful. If ever Scotland achieves independence and shares a monarch once again with England (or perhaps a monarch of their own) I would love to see the crown once again sit atop the head of a King or Queen of Scots.