Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Mary Queen of Scott's, also known as Mary Stewart,
Speaker 1: was crowned as Queen of Scotland four hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: years ago today. She had inherited the crown on December fourteenth,
Speaker 1: fifteen forty two, after the death of her father, James
Speaker 1: the Fifth, and she was only a few days old
Speaker 1: when her father died than when she was crowned on
Speaker 1: September ninth, fifteen forty three, she was only nine months old.
Speaker 1: So we are pulling one of our episodes on Mary
Speaker 1: out for today's Saturday Classic. This one is more focused
Speaker 1: on her adult life, especially the conspiracy that ultimately led
Speaker 1: to her execution in fifteen eighty seven.
Speaker 2: So enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class,
Speaker 2: a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: Hello, and Welcome to the podcast I'm Tracy V. Wilson Frye.
Speaker 1: Earlier this year, the folks that Focus Features came to
Speaker 1: us about doing a podcast related to Mary, Queen of
Speaker 1: Scott's to coincide with their new film, also called Mary
Speaker 1: Queen of Scott's. Mary Stewart, as she is also known,
Speaker 1: has made several appearances on our show before Previous hosts
Speaker 1: talked about the death of her husband, Lord Darnley, as
Speaker 1: well as her lengthy rivalry with Queen Elizabeth the First.
Speaker 1: But Mary is such a memorable figure and there's so
Speaker 1: many parts of her life that we haven't talked about
Speaker 1: that it was very very easy for us to find
Speaker 1: something that we wanted to cover, and that is the
Speaker 1: Babbington plot, which ultimately led to her execution. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna set the stage with a little bit about her
Speaker 1: youth and a little about that rivalry with Elizabeth, but
Speaker 1: our focus today is really on the plot and the
Speaker 1: trial that followed. And since this is an episode about
Speaker 1: the Stuarts, Mary's beheading is only one of the gruesome
Speaker 1: executions that we're going to discuss.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was definitely a trend in those stories where
Speaker 2: there is a lot of violence, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: killing each other in very grisly ways. Yeah, this is
Speaker 2: one of those times. Any pretty much anytime, but especially
Speaker 2: when we talk about the Stuarts and the Tutors. I
Speaker 2: kind of have that thing of like, who would want
Speaker 2: that job? Because no one's safe, Like it's one thing
Speaker 2: to have a stressful job, and I guess if you
Speaker 2: really want power, there's a draw, but I would be like, no,
Speaker 2: I'm not part of the royal family, thank you. I
Speaker 2: would completely excommunicate myself. But that is neither here nor there,
Speaker 2: so we will get into Mary's story. Mary Stewart was
Speaker 2: born on December eighth, fifteen forty two, in Linlithgow Palace
Speaker 2: in Scotland, and her parents were James the fifth of
Speaker 2: Scotland and Marie of Geese. She was their only surviving child,
Speaker 2: and less than a week after Mary was born, her
Speaker 2: father died. Mary became Queen of Scotland at the age
Speaker 2: of six days old, with her mother acting as regent.
Speaker 2: Mary spent most of her childhood and young adulthood in France,
Speaker 2: not in Scotland. She was sent there to be fostered
Speaker 2: and to escape an unwonted marriage to Henry the Yighth's
Speaker 2: son Edward, and then on April twenty fourth of fifteen
Speaker 2: fifty eight, she married Francis, the Dauphin of France. He
Speaker 2: was the son of Henri the second and Catherine de Medici.
Speaker 2: At the time, she was seventeen and he was fourteen,
Speaker 2: and they do seem to have been genuinely fond of
Speaker 2: each other, but their relationship was also more like siblings
Speaker 2: than spouse's. On November seventeenth of that same year, Elizabeth
Speaker 2: the First ascended to the English throne, and that put
Speaker 2: Mary next in the line of succession after Elizabeth, which
Speaker 2: was the focal point of the rivalry between the two
Speaker 2: of them. There was a lot more than just this
Speaker 2: one issue tangled up in this rivalry, though, including religion, politics,
Speaker 2: family dynamics, ongoing tensions between England and Scotland, and ongoing
Speaker 2: tensions between England and France. Consequently, the next decade of
Speaker 2: Mary's life was increasingly chaotic and turbulent. Onria the Second
Speaker 2: tried to make a claim to the English throne on
Speaker 2: her behalf, but he died not long after that. That
Speaker 2: made Francis the King of France and Mary was the
Speaker 2: Queen Consort. But then Francis died on December fifth of
Speaker 2: fifteen sixty, just a couple of years into their marriage.
Speaker 2: Earlier that same year, Marie of Geese had also died,
Speaker 2: so suddenly Mary was the Queen of Scotland, the dowager
Speaker 2: Queen of France, a widow, and an orphan all at
Speaker 2: the same time. She was eighteen. Maria of Geese's death
Speaker 2: also meant that Scotland no longer had its regent, and
Speaker 2: Mary returned to Scotland to take the throne in fifteen
Speaker 2: sixty one, but she immediately ran into all kinds of problems.
Speaker 2: Her upbringing and manners and education were all very French,
Speaker 2: so some Scots considered her to be an outsider. She
Speaker 2: was also Catholic, but Scotland at that point had become
Speaker 2: a Protestant country, and returning to Scotland had amped up
Speaker 2: the tension between her and Elizabeth even more since it
Speaker 2: meant that Mary and her claim to the end English
Speaker 2: throne were right there on the same island with Elizabeth
Speaker 2: instead of somewhat out of the way in France.
Speaker 1: In fifteen sixty five, things got even more dramatic. Mary
Speaker 1: married her cousin Henry Stewart, the Earl of Darnley. Since
Speaker 1: Darnley was both Catholic and a Stewart, Elizabeth was highly
Speaker 1: suspicious of this match and of the motivations for it.
Speaker 1: It really was just an impulsive marriage that Mary made
Speaker 1: for love, but it did not go well at all.
Speaker 1: Case endpoint, Darnley and his men murdered David Rizzio, who
Speaker 1: was Mary's secretary and favorite, and they did this in
Speaker 1: front of her at dinner while she was about six
Speaker 1: months pregnant.
Speaker 2: Charmers everyone. And then Darnley himself died under very mysterious
Speaker 2: and extremely suspicious circumstances. We have a previous podcast on
Speaker 2: that as well, but the one sentence version is this.
Speaker 2: He was found strangled outside the house he was staying
Speaker 2: in after it exploded. Mary then got married again to
Speaker 2: James Hepburn, the fourth Earl of Bothwell, who had been
Speaker 2: one of the prime suspects in Darnley's death. There were
Speaker 2: also a lot of rumors that Mary and Bothwell had
Speaker 2: been having an affair and had conspired together to kill Darnley.
Speaker 2: Mary's marriage to Bothwell was also strange. It wasn't totally
Speaker 2: clear whether he kidnapped her or whether she willingly eloped
Speaker 2: with him, but regardless, immediately before their marriage, he divorced
Speaker 2: his wife, Jean Gordon, under very shady circumstances. Mary's sudden
Speaker 2: marriage to Bothwell caused her to lose the support of
Speaker 2: a lot of the Scottish nobility. Bothwell and his opponents
Speaker 2: each raised armies, but the French ambassador arranged peace terms.
Speaker 2: Before any of this could actually result in a war,
Speaker 2: Mary surrendered on June fifteenth, fifteen sixty seven. After she surrendered,
Speaker 2: Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her son James,
Speaker 2: making him James the sixth of Scotland. James's father had
Speaker 2: been Lord Darnley, and since James was a little over
Speaker 2: a year old, Mary's half brother, James Stuart, Earl of Moray,
Speaker 2: was named as the regent as for bothwell. He was
Speaker 2: eventually arrested and died after spending five years in solitary confinement.
Speaker 2: Mary spent the next eleven months imprisoned at locke Leaving Castle.
Speaker 2: After one failed escape attempt, she managed to leave the
Speaker 2: island on May second, fifteen sixty eight. Willie and George Douglas,
Speaker 2: ages sixteen and eighteen, were involved in both escape attempts.
Speaker 2: In the second, they had a set of fake keys
Speaker 2: to the castle made and they swapped those for the
Speaker 2: real ones at dinner, taking the real keys right off
Speaker 2: the table concealed in a napkin.
Speaker 1: This castle was on an island, and once she was
Speaker 1: free of it, Mary rallied an army. She denounced her
Speaker 1: half brother, and she announced that she had only abdicated
Speaker 1: under duress, she started planning to take back the throne
Speaker 1: of Scotland by force. She didn't succeed, though she was
Speaker 1: defeated by Morey's forces at the Battle of Langside. At
Speaker 1: this point, Mary was really out of options in Scotland,
Speaker 1: so she fled to England. In spite of the ongoing
Speaker 1: layered tensions between the two queens, Mary hoped that she
Speaker 1: could take refuge with her cousin Elizabeth. This wasn't quite
Speaker 1: as far fetched as the two queen's incredibly contentious history
Speaker 1: might make it seem. Elizabeth really was appalled at what
Speaker 1: had happened in Scotland because Mary was, without question the
Speaker 1: rightful ruler of Scotland. This was not how a monarch
Speaker 1: was supposed to be treated, especially not a monarch who
Speaker 1: was her cousin.
Speaker 2: At the same time, Elizabeth wasn't at all ready to
Speaker 2: commit English troops to helping Mary take back her throne,
Speaker 2: or to give Mary a pass for all of those
Speaker 2: years of animosity between them. Instead, she agreed to allow
Speaker 2: Mary to stay in England while she convened a commission
Speaker 2: that would hold hearings into the matter of Lord Darnley's death.
Speaker 2: If Mary was complicit in Darnley's death, it would have
Speaker 2: been out of the question for Elizabeth to help her
Speaker 2: at all. This commission ultimately determined that England should not
Speaker 2: interfere in what was happening in Scotland, but it also
Speaker 2: found that Mary was not involved in Darley's death. Elizabeth, though,
Speaker 2: was really sure that if she just freed Mary, the
Speaker 2: result was going to be a Catholic uprising against her
Speaker 2: in England. So Elizabeth had Mary imprisoned for the next
Speaker 2: almost nineteen years. More on that after a sponsor break.
Speaker 2: Even though Elizabeth was suspicious of.
Speaker 1: Mary, she didn't really have any legal grounds to imprison her.
Speaker 1: Mary was a monarch of another country. Her son, at
Speaker 1: this point was the King of Scotland. England and Scotland
Speaker 1: were not at war with each other, and for one
Speaker 1: monarch to just imprison another one during peacetime wasn't really
Speaker 1: within the bounds of international law, so Elizabeth's treatment of
Speaker 1: Mary was more like keeping her under house arrest. Mary
Speaker 1: spent her first night in England in Workington Hall, and
Speaker 1: from that point on she was kept under guard at
Speaker 1: a series of manors and castles. At first, many of
Speaker 1: them were owned by George Talbot, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury.
Speaker 1: He was Mary's custodian or jailer for much of her confinement.
Speaker 1: He and his wife, Bess of Hardwicke acted as Mary's
Speaker 1: keepers and Elizabeth's informants for most of those nineteen years.
Speaker 1: During those years of imprisonment, the Reformation and Counter Reformation
Speaker 1: were playing out in Europe, leading to ongoing religiously motivated violence.
Speaker 1: Just as one example, the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in
Speaker 1: which French Catholics murdered thousands of Huguenots, was in fifteen
Speaker 1: seventy two while Mary was captive at Sheffield Castle. Religious
Speaker 1: strife also escalated in England during this time, some of
Speaker 1: it connected directly to Mary and Elizabeth, because many Catholics
Speaker 1: didn't consider Elizabeth to be a legitimate monarch at all.
Speaker 1: She was the daughter of Henry the Eighth and his
Speaker 1: second wife, Anne Boleyn. They had become secretly married in
Speaker 1: fifteen thirty three while Henry was still married to Catherine
Speaker 1: of Aragon. Henry had asked the Pope to annul his
Speaker 1: marriage to Catherine, and when he didn't, Henry declared himself
Speaker 1: head of the English Church and appointed an archbishop who
Speaker 1: would do the annulment for him. Anne was already pregnant
Speaker 1: with Elizabeth when Henry's marriage to Catherine was annulled, and
Speaker 1: an archbishop, not the Pope, had done that annulment. So
Speaker 1: a lot of people, Catholics especially, did not consider Elizabeth
Speaker 1: a legitimate successor to the throne. They thought of her
Speaker 1: as the illegitimate child of a king's concubine. In addition
Speaker 1: to all of that, on April twenty seventh, fifteen seventy,
Speaker 1: Pope Pious the fifth had issued a bull that excommunicated
Speaker 1: Elizabeth and called her a heretic and quote the pretended
Speaker 1: Queen of England and the servant of crime. The bull
Speaker 1: also absolved the nobles, subjects, and people of the said
Speaker 1: Realm of any oaths and duties toward Elizabeth, and made
Speaker 1: obedience to Elizabeth punishable by excommunication. The papal bull combined
Speaker 1: with the existing questions about Elizabeth's legitimacy to spawn a
Speaker 1: whole series of plots to depose or assassinate her and
Speaker 1: replace her with Mary. The Ridolphie plot of fifteen seventy
Speaker 1: one was named for one of the conspirators Italian merchant
Speaker 1: Roberto Ridolphi. This plot was connected to a Catholic uprising
Speaker 1: called the Northern Rising, as well as to King Philip
Speaker 1: Icond of Spain. Then there was the Throckmorton plot of
Speaker 1: fifteen eighty three, named for Francis Throckmorton, who was working
Speaker 1: with agents from France. It's possible that Mary was connected
Speaker 1: to the Throckmorton plot, or at least knew about it.
Speaker 1: Throckmorton was writing a letter to her in code when
Speaker 1: he was arrested. And then there was the Perry plot
Speaker 1: of fifteen eighty five, which was named for Welsh spy
Speaker 1: and doctor William Perry. None of these plots was particularly
Speaker 1: likely to be successful, and it's not clear whether Perry
Speaker 1: really ever plotted.
Speaker 2: To kill the queen at all, but Elizabeth's advisers did
Speaker 2: encourage her to take them seriously. Added to all this
Speaker 2: stress was the assassination of William the Silent or William
Speaker 2: the First Prince of Orange in fifteen eighty four, who
Speaker 2: had led the Netherlands against Spanish rule and was ultimately
Speaker 2: assassinated by a Catholic fanatic. In the face of all
Speaker 2: of this, in fifteen eighty five, Mary was moved to
Speaker 2: Chartley Castle and assigned a new custodian, Sir Amiya Poulet.
Speaker 2: The move and the changing custody are widely reported to
Speaker 2: have been the work of Sir Francis Walsingham, that was
Speaker 2: Elizabeth's Secretary of State and spymaster. The move to Chartley
Speaker 2: let Walsingham keep a closer eye on Mary, it let
Speaker 2: Poulet completely cut her off from communication with the outside world.
Speaker 2: Parliament also passed a new law related to all of this.
Speaker 2: It had started with an informal agreement known as the
Speaker 2: Bond of Association in fifteen eighty four, which was formalized
Speaker 2: as an Act for the Security of the Queen's Royal
Speaker 2: Person and the Continuance of Peace in the Realm, which
Speaker 2: was past the following year.
Speaker 1: Under this Act, if a person conspired in a plot
Speaker 1: against the Queen, or if a plot against the Queen
Speaker 1: was concocted on a person's behalf, that person was prosecuted.
Speaker 1: Whether they knew about the plot or not. It was
Speaker 1: considered treason and it was punishable by execution. The Act
Speaker 1: also specified that anybody participating in such a plot or
Speaker 1: having such a plot carried out on their behalf was
Speaker 1: permanently and irrevocably barred from ever ascending to the throne
Speaker 1: of England.
Speaker 2: The bond of Association and the law that followed were
Speaker 2: clearly crafted because of Mary. They set up a legal
Speaker 2: framework to prosecute her if her supporters plotted to put
Speaker 2: her on the throne, regardless of whether she was involved
Speaker 2: or even knew about any of it.
Speaker 1: Okay, they might as well have just called it the
Speaker 1: law to make it so wea can behead Mary Stuart. Thanks, Yeah,
Speaker 1: because otherwise there's a logic breakdown to it.
Speaker 2: There are several logical breakdowns.
Speaker 1: Yeah. That all brings us finally to the Babington plot.
Speaker 1: Named for Anthony Babington. He was Catholic, very well off,
Speaker 1: and connected to several other people who had been involved
Speaker 1: in previous plots to try to depose or assassinate Elizabeth
Speaker 1: and replace her with Mary. He had also served as
Speaker 1: a page to George Talbot's sixth Earl of Shuebury, who
Speaker 1: had been Mary's custodian, and during that service he had
Speaker 1: become quite fond of her. One of his connections was
Speaker 1: to a Catholic priest named John Ballard, who also wanted
Speaker 1: Elizabeth off the throne and helped put him in touch
Speaker 1: with even more people who had similar goals. Babington and
Speaker 1: several co conspirators started plotting in early fifteen eighty six,
Speaker 1: using an inn as their meeting place, and they were
Speaker 1: not all that discreet about.
Speaker 2: Any of this. They even commissioned portraits of themselves, either
Speaker 2: because they thought that they would live and be famous
Speaker 2: for it, or because they thought they would die but
Speaker 2: be remembered as martyrs. Either way, portraits of themselves were
Speaker 2: going to come in very handy. It's like they were
Speaker 2: writing their own history books before they did the thing
Speaker 2: that was going to become historically significant. Yeah, they are
Speaker 2: often described as being arrogant and full of hubris, as
Speaker 2: sort of a pattern among them all. So meanwhile, Walsingham
Speaker 2: learned about this plot pretty quickly, and he saw it
Speaker 2: as an opportunity. He concluded reasonably that as long as
Speaker 2: Mary was alive, there were going to be ongoing attempts
Speaker 2: to get rid of Elizabeth and put Mary on the throne.
Speaker 2: Just as reasonably, he concluded there was no way Elizabeth
Speaker 2: was going to sign off on Mary's execution without some
Speaker 2: real concrete proof that she was involved in a plot
Speaker 2: to kill the monarch and take the throne for herself.
Speaker 2: So he allowed the Babbington conspirators to continue with their plotting,
Speaker 2: and even took steps to allow them to do it.
Speaker 2: When Gilbert Gifford, an English Catholic who had been in France,
Speaker 2: returned to England, Walsingham arrested him and got him to
Speaker 2: work as a double agent. Now, in some accounts Gifford volunteered,
Speaker 2: and in others this is more of a situation where
Speaker 2: Walsingham convinced him, and we're using the ear quotes around
Speaker 2: Convince threatened maybe yeah.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: Gifford's mission wasn't just to gain the conspirator's trust and
Speaker 2: provide intelligence back to Walsingham. It was also to actively
Speaker 2: encourage and enable this entire plot.
Speaker 1: At Walsingham's instruction, Gifford went to Babington and told him
Speaker 1: he had learned about this plot from another of the conspirators,
Speaker 1: a man named Thomas Morgan. Gifford said he had worked
Speaker 1: out a way to get messages to and from Mary,
Speaker 1: even though all that communication with the outside world had
Speaker 1: been cut off for months. He said he had a
Speaker 1: friend who was a brewer and that they could smuggle
Speaker 1: messages into and out of Chartley Castle in beer barrels
Speaker 1: with false bottoms. At this point, we don't know who
Speaker 1: this brewer might have been. He was always referred to
Speaker 1: only as the honest Man. Babington approved of this plan,
Speaker 1: but he did not entirely trust Gifford with his secret correspondence,
Speaker 1: so he used to cipher to encode all his letters.
Speaker 1: Mary already had the codebook she'd need to decipher the
Speaker 1: letters and encode her reply, apparently thanks to an emissary
Speaker 1: from France. But Gifford didn't take these letters straight to
Speaker 1: his brewer friend. He took them to Walsingham, who was
Speaker 1: working with a forger to replicate the seals that were
Speaker 1: used on all the letters. So Walsingham and his forger
Speaker 1: would open up the letter, make a copy of it,
Speaker 1: reseal the original, and send it on his way, and
Speaker 1: then keep the copy. Walsingham would take that copy to
Speaker 1: his codebreaker, Thomas Phillips, to try to work out the code,
Speaker 1: and at one point he even had Philips housed at
Speaker 1: Chartley Castle to do this work more efficiently, right there
Speaker 1: where Mary also was. Babington's cipher included replacing letters of
Speaker 1: the alphabet with symbols and using other symbols to represent
Speaker 1: specific words and phrases. And he thought this cipher was secure,
Speaker 1: so he wrote a clear account about what he was doing.
Speaker 1: But Philips quickly cracked this code, or more likely, they
Speaker 1: had actually already intercepted the key and Philips was just
Speaker 1: using it to decipher what was in front of him.
Speaker 1: Mary and Babington exchanged a few letters that were mostly
Speaker 1: about Mary getting access to all the mail that had
Speaker 1: been withheld from her, and then Babington sent her a
Speaker 1: letter that referenced, quote a great preparation by the Christian Princes,
Speaker 1: your Majesty's allies for the deliverance of our country from
Speaker 1: the extreme and miserable fate wherein it hath too long remained.
Speaker 1: That letter went on to describe a plan to be
Speaker 1: carried out in the wake of such a deliverance. When
Speaker 1: these other Christian princes invaded, they would dispatch the usurping competitors,
Speaker 1: being Elizabeth, and then quote myself, with ten gentlemen and
Speaker 1: one hundred of our followers, will undertake the delivery of
Speaker 1: your royal person from the hands of your enemies. For
Speaker 1: the dispatch of the usurper from the obedience of whom
Speaker 1: we are by the excommunication of her made free. There
Speaker 1: be six noble gentlemen, all my private friends, who for
Speaker 1: the zeal they bear to the Catholic cause, and your
Speaker 1: Majesty's service will undertake that tragical execution. Mary's response to
Speaker 1: this letter, which was intercepted, is dated July seventeenth, and
Speaker 1: it was also intercepted, and it said, in part quote,
Speaker 1: when all is ready, the six gentlemen must be set
Speaker 1: to work, and you will provide that on their design
Speaker 1: being accomplished, I may be myself rescued from this place
Speaker 1: and be in safe keeping till our friends arrive. It
Speaker 1: will be hard to fix a day for the execution.
Speaker 1: You must have a party therefore in readiness to carry
Speaker 1: me off, and you will keep four men with horses
Speaker 1: saddled to bring word when the deed is done, that
Speaker 1: they may be here before my guardian.
Speaker 2: Here's of it. Mary's response didn't really get into the
Speaker 2: idea of assassinating Elizabeth. It rested on the idea of
Speaker 2: a foreign invasion. If that invasion were successful, she might
Speaker 2: logically become queen, But she really left the question of
Speaker 2: who should be Monarch of England in the hands of
Speaker 2: God and the invasion's outcome. Her letter expressed clear support
Speaker 2: for the conspirators freeing her from her confinement, but not
Speaker 2: for the idea of assassinating the Queen. Yeah, people hang
Speaker 2: on the word execution a lot, but in the context
Speaker 2: of this, she was talking about executing the plan.
Speaker 1: Yes, in the sense of to do a thing right,
Speaker 1: not to assassinate the monarch. So, of course Walsingham intercepted
Speaker 1: this letter and all of these other letters, and even
Speaker 1: though he had Babbington's outline of the plot and Mary's
Speaker 1: support for at least part of it, he didn't have
Speaker 1: the names of all the conspirators or a clear statement
Speaker 1: that Mary hoped for or planned the assassination of Queen Elizabeth.
Speaker 1: So before passing Mary's letter on to Babbington, Walsingham had
Speaker 1: his forger at a PostScript. So in this fake PS,
Speaker 1: Mary asked to know the names of the six men,
Speaker 1: under the grounds that she might have some information about
Speaker 1: one or more of them that could let her give
Speaker 1: him further advice. His hope with adding this fake PS
Speaker 1: was that Babbington would reply and name more names, But before.
Speaker 2: His correspondence with Mary got much further. Babington learned that
Speaker 2: Walsingham had discovered the plot. He fled, but was captured
Speaker 2: on August fourth. In his confession, he implicated all his
Speaker 2: other co conspirators and also said he had gotten a
Speaker 2: letter from Mary saying that she had supported the entire plot.
Speaker 2: Here's the thing about those letters.
Speaker 1: Though the originals don't exist, and this is not a
Speaker 1: recent development, by the time the case came to trial,
Speaker 1: all the originals had been burned or otherwise destroyed, as
Speaker 1: is common practice when you get some secret correspondence from somebody.
Speaker 1: So all that was left of the letters were copies
Speaker 1: copies made by a forger employed by Walsingham while trying
Speaker 1: to ferret out a plot to overthrow the queen. So
Speaker 1: this raises some questions about their authenticity. In fact, Walsingham
Speaker 1: laid such a key role in all of this that
Speaker 1: the Babbington plot has been described as a double conspiracy,
Speaker 1: with Walsingham conspiring against Mary and Babbington and his crew
Speaker 1: conspiring against Elizabeth. Each plot could only exist in conjunction
Speaker 1: with the other. The conspirators had no way to communicate
Speaker 1: with Mary without Walsingham's double agent and that honest man
Speaker 1: with the beer barrels, and Walsingham had no plot to
Speaker 1: use against Mary without Babbington and his crew.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: One of the articles that I read about this was
Speaker 1: basically like, this whole thing is so convoluted that even now,
Speaker 1: hundreds of years later, it's sometimes.
Speaker 2: Hard to tell who is tricking who.
Speaker 1: At which point we will talk about the trials of Babbington,
Speaker 1: his co conspirators, and Mary. After another sponsor break. Based
Speaker 1: on his confession and the copies of all this correspondence,
Speaker 1: Anthony Babington and twelve co consin inspirators were put on
Speaker 1: trial on September thirteenth through fifteenth, fifteen eighty six. Initially,
Speaker 1: the men all pleaded guilty to everything except plotting to
Speaker 1: kill Elizabeth, although they all changed their not guilty please
Speaker 1: on that charge to guilty under pressure from the prosecution.
Speaker 1: Those portraits that they'd commissioned of themselves were also brought
Speaker 1: up as part.
Speaker 2: Of the evidence. The method of execution was gruesome. Babbington
Speaker 2: and the first seven conspirators were executed on September twentieth,
Speaker 2: fifteen eighty six. They were hanged, cut down while still alive,
Speaker 2: and then again while still living, disemboweled and castrated in
Speaker 2: front of throngs of spectators. Queen Elizabeth decided that this
Speaker 2: method of execution was excessively cruel, so when the rest
Speaker 2: of the co conspirators were executed the next day, they
Speaker 2: were hanged until they were dead, and then their bodies
Speaker 2: were disemboweled and castrated. Mary was arrested on August eleventh,
Speaker 2: fifteen eighty six, while she was out riding. She was
Speaker 2: taken to Fotheringay, cast where she was held prisoner until
Speaker 2: her own trial, which took place on October fourteenth and
Speaker 2: fifteenth of fifteen eighty six. It was held before an
Speaker 2: assembly of forty six Commissioners, as had been outlined in
Speaker 2: the law that had been passed the year before.
Speaker 1: The evidence against Mary included the confessions of Anthony Babington
Speaker 1: and John Ballard. Confessions from her secretaries, Gilbert Curle and
Speaker 1: Jacques Now were included as well, but both of the
Speaker 1: secretaries made their confessions under duress.
Speaker 2: They were deceived.
Speaker 1: Into thinking that the prosecution had copies of letters that
Speaker 1: they had written and ciphered, which was not true. The
Speaker 1: letters between Mary and Babington were also part of the evidence,
Speaker 1: but as we noted before, these were the copies, not
Speaker 1: the originals. But Mary consistently and stridently denied all involvement
Speaker 1: in this plot. She said she had never spoken to Babington,
Speaker 1: had never written or dictated those letters. Mary said these
Speaker 1: copied letters used as evidence were forgeries in their entirety.
Speaker 1: She also made the point that it was not possible
Speaker 1: for her, the Queen of Scotland, to be charged with
Speaker 1: treason against England, a nation of which.
Speaker 2: She was not a citizen. She said, quote, it seemeth
Speaker 2: strange to me that the Queen should command me, as
Speaker 2: a subject, to appear personally in judgment. I am an
Speaker 2: absolute queen and will do nothing which may prejudice either
Speaker 2: mine own royalty, or other princes of my place and rank,
Speaker 2: or my son. The laws and statutes of England are
Speaker 2: to me most unknown. I am destitute of counselors, and
Speaker 2: who shall be my peers? I am utterly ignorant. My
Speaker 2: papers and notes are taken from me, and no man
Speaker 2: dareth step forth to be my advocate. I am clear
Speaker 2: from all crime against the Queen. I have excited no
Speaker 2: man against her, and I am not to be charged
Speaker 2: but by mine own word or writing, which cannot be
Speaker 2: produced against me. Yet I cannot deny that I have
Speaker 2: commended myself and my cause to foreign princes. She also
Speaker 2: argues that the power of a monarch came directly from God,
Speaker 2: something that she and Elizabeth both believed. If Elizabeth's power
Speaker 2: was bestowed by God, then so was Mary's, and that
Speaker 2: meant that these proceedings were under God's jurisdiction, not the
Speaker 2: jurisdiction of a bunch of men, who, while prominent and powerful,
Speaker 2: were mere mortals. Although by all accounts, Mary bore herself
Speaker 2: well and argued her own case impeccably, even though she
Speaker 2: was denied her papers and any advisers or representation, and
Speaker 2: then she was found guilty. She was convicted on October
Speaker 2: twenty fifth, fifteen eighty six, without being present, without having
Speaker 2: any further chance to be heard, and without even being
Speaker 2: told that these proceedings were concluding that day after the conviction,
Speaker 2: though it took Elizabeth months to sign Mary's death warrant.
Speaker 2: In spite of the law that England had passed, it
Speaker 2: would set a dangerous precedent for one monarch to execute another,
Speaker 2: especially a relative in this way, but elizabeth' knew Secretary
Speaker 2: of State William Davis did finally get her to sign
Speaker 2: the warrant on February first, fifteen eighty seven, although she
Speaker 2: told her counselors not to carry out the order until
Speaker 2: she gave the final word. Her Privy Council ignored that instruction, though,
Speaker 2: and decided to proceed with the execution without waiting for
Speaker 2: her to finally okay it. Mary got word.
Speaker 1: That she was to be executed on February seventh, fifteen
Speaker 1: eighty seven. She responded, quote, as for the death of
Speaker 1: the Queen, your sovereign, I call to God to witness
Speaker 1: that I never imagined it, never sought it, and never
Speaker 1: consented to it. She asked for some more time to
Speaker 1: put her affairs in order, but that was denied, so
Speaker 1: she spent most of her remaining time that night writing
Speaker 1: letters to loved ones, arranging gifts for her servants, and praying.
Speaker 1: One of her final letters was to Henri, the third
Speaker 1: brother of her late first husband, which said, in part quote,
Speaker 1: tonight after dinner, I have been advised of my sentence.
Speaker 1: I am to be executed like a criminal at eight
Speaker 1: in the morning. I have not had time to give
Speaker 1: you a full account of everything that has happened. But
Speaker 1: if you will listen to my doctor and my other
Speaker 1: unfortunate servants, you will learn the truth. And how thanks
Speaker 1: be to God. I scorn death and vow that I
Speaker 1: meet it innocent of any crime, even if I were
Speaker 1: their subject. In this letter, she also described how her
Speaker 1: chaplain had been taken away from her and she'd been
Speaker 1: refused permission to have him come back and give her
Speaker 1: the last sacrament. She also asked Henri to pay all
Speaker 1: of her servants for any wages that were still owed
Speaker 1: to them, and towards the end of the letter she wrote,
Speaker 1: as for my son, I commend him to you in
Speaker 1: so far as he deserves, for I cannot answer for him.
Speaker 1: She had actually been prevented from keeping in touch with
Speaker 1: him in any way during her imprisonment. Mary was beheaded
Speaker 1: in the Great Hall of Fatheringay Castle on February eighth,
Speaker 1: fifteen eighty seven, in front of an assembly of at
Speaker 1: least three hundred people. She was forty four, As was
Speaker 1: the case with her trial. In the last days of
Speaker 1: her imprisonment, she's consistently described as going to her execution
Speaker 1: with a stoic and graceful perseverance in the account of
Speaker 1: Pierre de Bordailla quote. After kissing her women once more,
Speaker 1: she bade them go with her blessing. As she made
Speaker 1: the sign of the Cross over them. One of them
Speaker 1: was unable to keep from crying, so that the queen
Speaker 1: had to impose silence upon her by saying she had
Speaker 1: promised that nothing of the kind would interfere with the
Speaker 1: business at hand. They were to stand back quietly, pray
Speaker 1: to God for her soul, and bear truthful testimony that
Speaker 1: she had died in the bosom of the Holy Catholic religion.
Speaker 1: One of the women then tied the handkerchief over her eyes.
Speaker 1: The queen quickly and with great courage, knelt down, showing
Speaker 1: no signs of faltering. So great was her bravery that
Speaker 1: all present removed, and there were few among them that
Speaker 1: could refrain from tears and their hearts. They condemned themselves
Speaker 1: for the injustice that was being done. Walsingham had Mary's clothing, crucifix,
Speaker 1: and prayer book from the execution destroyed so they wouldn't
Speaker 1: be made into relics of a religious martyr. Her body
Speaker 1: was placed in a lead coffin and buried in Peterborough Cathedral.
Speaker 1: After this execution, Elizabeth really started to distance herself from it.
Speaker 1: She was outraged that Davison and her counsel had carried
Speaker 1: out this execution without waiting for her order, and she
Speaker 1: actually had Davison sent to the tower. She also expressed
Speaker 1: that the manner of the execution was sacrilegious, and she
Speaker 1: knew that Catholic monarchs of other countries were going to
Speaker 1: see it as a sacrilege as well.
Speaker 2: For a time, Elizabeth's behavior was interpreted in a pretty
Speaker 2: cynical way, as though she were just trying to cover
Speaker 2: herself with a show of anger over an execution that
Speaker 2: she had actually secretly been eager for. But letters unearthed
Speaker 2: in the nineteen sixties suggest that England's nobility was truly
Speaker 2: alarmed at her displeasure, which seemed very genuine and not
Speaker 2: something that she was just performing for the sake of appearances.
Speaker 1: Almost immediately, this whole affair became part of Little Richer
Speaker 1: and art. There are so many paintings of the trial
Speaker 1: and the beheading. There were ballads written about the execution
Speaker 1: in the weeks immediately after it happened, and from there.
Speaker 1: They have been plays and novels and poems and TV
Speaker 1: shows and movies, and many of them approached Mary as
Speaker 1: a very doomed and romantic heroine. There are certainly accounts
Speaker 1: and versions that do not take that perspective, but she's
Speaker 1: very frequently depicted with like a stoic grace and a
Speaker 1: sense of impending destruction that she couldn't really control. And
Speaker 1: of course Mary's son James, became James the sixth of
Speaker 1: Scotland and first of England on March twenty fourth, sixteen
Speaker 1: oh three. After the death of Queen Elizabeth in sixteen twelve,
Speaker 1: he had Mary's body exhumed and placed in Henry the
Speaker 1: Seventh's chapel in Westminster Abbey. He also had a white
Speaker 1: marble tomb constructed that has an effigy of Mary on
Speaker 1: the lid. Her hands are folded in prayer and there
Speaker 1: is a crowned Scottish lion at her feet. And then
Speaker 1: at the opposite end of that chapel there's the tomb
Speaker 1: of her cousin Elizabeth. I thanks so much for joining
Speaker 1: us on this Saturday. Since this episode is out of
Speaker 1: the archive. If you heard an email address or a
Speaker 1: Facebook RL or something similar over the course of the
Speaker 1: show that could be obsolete now. Our current email address
Speaker 1: is History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. You can find
Speaker 1: us all over social media at missed Indistory, and you
Speaker 1: can subscribe to our show on Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts,
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Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
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