Mary Stuart. Her life and struggle for crown

Introduction

My favorite subject at school is history, so the history of England is

very interesting for me too. Elizabeth the First and Mary Stuart

are very important persons in the history of England. The struggle of

Queen Elizabeth and the Queen of Scots often is told in literature,

theater, and it is very famous. This moment was very dramatic and made the

future of England.

I have seen a perfromance about Mary Stuart and Elizabeth the First,and it

made me curious in this part of history of England. It seemed to me the

most interesting part in the English history.

I wanted to know more about Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, Queen Elizabeth,

her rival; about those times, in which Mary Stuart lived.

I was interested in: who was Mary Stuart, what was the story of her life,

why wasn’t she the Queen of England, what did she struggle for; why was she

executed.

Working with this materials, I wanted to answer my questions and find new

of interesting facts Mary’s biography.

Mane part

The beginning of Elizabeth’s career

Weary of the barbarities of Bloody Queen Mary’s reign, the people looked

with hope and gladness to the new Sovereign. The nation seemed to wake up

from a horrible dream.

Queen Elizabeth was twenty- five years old when she rode through the

streets of London, from the Tower to Westminster Abbey to be crowned.

She was not beautiful, but she was well enough, and looked all the better

for coming after the gloomy Mary. She was well educated, clever, but

cunning and deceitful, and inherited much of her father’s violent temper.

She began her reign with the grate advantage of having a very vise and

careful minister, Sir. William Cecil.

2. Mary’s appearens and the story of the conflict

The one great trouble of this reign was Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. She

was the daughter of the Queen Regent of Scotland, Mary of Guise. She had

been married, when a mere child to Dauphin, the son and heir of the

King of France. The Pope, who pretended that no one could rightfully wear

the crown of England without his gracious permission, was strongly opposed

to Elizabeth, as the Roman Church had never recognized the marriage of

Henry the Eight’s and Ann Boleyn, Elizabeth’s the First mother. And as Mary

Queen of Scots would have inherited the English crown in right of her

birth, supposing the English Parliament not to have altered the succession,

the Pope and most of his followers maintained that Mary was the rightful

Queen of England, and Elizabeth the wrongful Queen. After her marriage to

Dauphin Mary became closely connected with France, and France was jealous

of England, so there was far greater than it would have been without her

alliance with the great power. And after death of her husband’s father

Dauphin became Francis the Second, King of France, and the matter grew very

serious. The young royal couple wanted to be English King and Queen, and

the Pope was disposed to help them.

1. 3. Political situation in Scotland

Now, the reformed religion, under the guidance of a stern and powerful

preacher, named John Knox, had been making progress in Scotland. It was

still a half-savage country, where there was a great deal of murdering and

rioting continually going on, and the Reformers instead of reforming this

evils as they should have done, went to work in the ferocious old Scottish

spirit, laying churches and chapels waste, pulling down pictures and

altars.

The Scottish reformers secretly represented to Elizabeth that, if the

reformed religion failed in their country , it would be the same in

England. Thus, Elizabeth, though she had a high notion of the rights of

Kings and Queens to do anything they liked, sent an army to Scotland to

support the Reformer, who were in arms against their sovereign. Mary and

her young husband renounced their assumed title of King and Queen of

England. But this treaty they never fulfilled.

4. Struggle alone

Soon, the young French King died, living Mary a young widow. She was then

invited by her old Scottish subjects to return home and reign over them.

She wasn’t happy in France after her husband’s death, so she left for

Scotland. It happened in 1561. Elizabeth had been Queen for three years

when Mary Queen of Scots embarked at Calais for her own country. She was

very fond of France, and set on the deck, looking back and weeping

«Farewell France! Farewell France! Is hall never see you again!»

1. Elizabeth obtained her own way

When Mary came to Scotland and settled at the palace of Holyrood in

Edinburg, she find herself among strangers and wild customs, very different

from the court of France .John Knox himself often lectured her, violently

and angrily, and did much to make her life unhappy. All this reasons con-

firmed her old attachment to the Romish religion.

Thus, from the moment of Mary’s coming to England she began to be the

center of plots and miseries. A rise of the Catholics in the north was the

next of these, and it was only checked by many executions and much

bloodshed. It was followed by a great conspiracy of the Pope and some

Catholics sovereign of Europe to depose Elizabeth, place Mary on the

throne, and restore the unreformed religion. At last, one great plot was

discovered, and it ended the career of Mary. Her letters were found. Queen

Elizabeth had been warned long ago that in holding Mary alive, she held the

«wolf, who would devour her.» The question was: what to do with her? The

Earl of Leicester wrote a little note, recommending to poison her. His

advice was disregarded, and Mary was brought to trial at Fotheringey

Castle in Northamptonshire, before a tribunal of forty, composed of both

religions. The Queen Elizabeth asked to consider some means of saving

Mary’s life. The Parliament answered: «No». They supposed that all the

troubles would be ended by the death of the Queen of Scots.

Elizabeth wished one thing more than Mary’s death, and that was to keep of

blame of it.

Only on the 1 of February, 1587, the Queen signed the warrant for the

execution. So, on the 7 of February, the Earls of Kent and Shrewsbery, with

the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, came with the warrant to Fotheringey, to

tell the Queen of Scots to prepare for death.

Tragic struggle

When the messengers were gone, Mary made a frugal supper, read over her

will, went to bed, slept for some hours, and then passed the reminder of

the night saying prayers.

While the sentence was being read, Mary sat upon a stool, and, when it was

finished, she again denied her guilt, as she had done before.

Some say, her head was struck off in two blows, some say in three. When it

was held up, streaming with blood, the real hair beneath the false hair she

had long worn was seen to be as gray as that of a woman of seventy, though

she was only in her 46 years.

Conclusion

So, the life of Mary Stuart was very tragic and romantic, full of

adventures and evils. Her struggle for crown cost her life. When I was

looking for materials, I read books, saw a performance, and now I know more

about Mary Stuart Queen of Scots and not only about her. I know more about

Queen Elizabeth, her rival in struggle for the crown of England.

Mary had full rights for crown of England, she fought for it, and she

failed in this struggle. This fact is often in literature because it is

the first moment in history when the person of royal blood was executed.

We don’t know what could be, if Mary Stuart stay alive and became the Queen

of England. Of course, the history would develop in other way. But the

reign of Elizabeth was the glorious one, and is made for ever memorable.

Apart from the great voyages, statesmen and scholars, whom it produced, the

names of Francis Bacon, Spencer, Shakespeare, will be always remembered in

the civilized world. It was good reign for commerce, discovery, and for

England in whole.

Contents

Name

Page Introduction

2.

The beginning of Elizabeth’s career

3. Mary’s appearance and the

story of the conflict 3.

Political situation in Scotland

4.

Struggle alone

4.

Elizabeth obtained her own way

5. Tragic struggle

6.

Conclusion

7.