Mary, Queen of Scots (25 page)

On 6 October, Bothwell, as Lieutenant of the Borders, left Edinburgh with 300 horse for Liddesdale, one of the most lawless regions in the Borders, to begin rounding up the worst troublemakers, who were to receive judgement at the Queen’s justice eyre. Buchanan alleges that the Earl “conducted himself neither according to the place which he held, nor the dignity of his family,” yet, as a result of his efforts, members of the violent Armstrong and Johnstone clans were imprisoned in Hermitage Castle. However, the notorious Elliotts, a family of Border reivers, remained at large, so Bothwell now turned his attention to tracking them down.

On 7 October,
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Mary, accompanied by Moray, Huntly, Atholl, Livingston, Seton, Caithness, Rothes, Maitland, Bishop Leslie and other Lords, as well as a host of household officers, judges, lawyers, clerks, waiting women, servants and men-at-arms, left Edinburgh for Borthwick Castle, the first stop on her progress. As the cavalcade wended its slow way south, Bothwell was engaging in an affray with the Elliotts, in the course of which he was severely wounded by one of them, the vicious outlaw, Jock Elliott of the Park.
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Having received stab wounds to the forehead, thigh and left hand, “Bothwell was carried to his castle of Hermitage in a condition such as to make his recovery uncertain.”
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But, in his absence, the fortress had been taken over by the thieves and malefactors whom he had imprisoned there, and they would not surrender it until they had been granted their freedom. Bothwell’s officers had no choice: “if he had not gotten in at that time, all his company had been slain.”
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So the Earl was carried in, unconscious and bleeding, and “everyone thought he would die.” When he regained consciousness, “he thought so himself.”
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The news spread fast, but became garbled in the telling. On the following day, Henry, Lord Scrope, informed Cecil, from Carlisle, that Bothwell had been slain in the attack.
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Soon afterwards, it was being reported in Europe that the Queen of Scots had “lost a man she could trust, of whom she had but few.”
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Surprisingly, Mary had not yet heard of the attack on Bothwell. She left Borthwick on 8 April and travelled via Peebles and Selkirk to Melrose, where she was met by her assembled lieges. On the following day, she arrived in Jedburgh and took up residence in what is now the Spread Eagle Hotel, and it was here that she learned that Bothwell was lying seriously wounded at Hermitage.
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She did not “fly like a madwoman” immediately to visit him, being unable to restrain her “inordinate affection” and “shameless lust,” as Buchanan later alleged, but set up her court in the Tolbooth and, for the next six days, dispensed justice. However, thanks to the escape of the Armstrongs and Johnstones from Hermitage, there were very few cases to be heard, and Moray complained that Mary was far too merciful to those who did come before her, none of whom was sentenced to death as he felt they deserved, but merely fined.
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Melville claims that Bothwell and Huntly had planned to murder Moray at Jedburgh, but that Lord Home arrived there with a force of men “and prevented that enterprise.” It is more likely, however, that this plot was foiled by Bothwell’s incapacity.

On 9 October, Mary summoned one Stephen Wilson, whom she had chosen to act as her messenger to the Papal Nuncio, and instructed him to tell Mondovi that the nobility had agreed to his coming. It is less likely that they had changed their minds than that Mary was playing for time, which was to be granted her, for Wilson, due to unforeseen and near-tragic circumstances, was not to depart for a month.

Du Croc had formed the opinion that Darnley wanted to be and command all, and suffered mainly from wounded pride. Wishing to inform Mary’s friends abroad of the truth, the ambassador wrote letters to Archbishop Beaton on 13 October,
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and to Catherine de’ Medici on 16/17 October,
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recounting the events of late September. Referring to Darnley’s threats to go abroad, he wrote, “He has not embarked, but we receive advertisements from day to day that he still holds on to his resolution and keeps a ship in readiness. It is in vain to imagine that he should be able to raise any disturbance, for there is not one person in all the kingdom, from the highest to the lowest, that regards him any further than is agreeable to the Queen. And I never saw Her Majesty so much beloved, esteemed and honoured.”

Du Croc also described preparations for the coming baptism, saying that both Protestants and Catholics were enthusiastic about it, but that the fuss being made probably accounted for Darnley’s bad behaviour; apparently, he was bitterly jealous of Mary’s good relations with the Protestant Lords, and fearful that his reduced status would be apparent to all the foreign dignitaries who attended the christening, which would be intolerable for one of his “lofty and vainglorious” temperament.
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In Paris, on 15 October, Mondovi, concerned that Mary had not responded to his letter, sent by John Beaton over a month before, and correctly concluding that she was stalling, met with the Cardinal of Lorraine, but had “great difficulty in persuading him that there ought not to be further delay in doing something signal for the service of God in Scotland.” At length, the Cardinal reluctantly agreed to send a gentleman to persuade Mary to admit the Nuncio and “decide on restoring Holy Religion in her kingdom.” A week later, Mondovi had a second meeting with the Cardinal, to tell him that the Pope had recalled him to his See; the Cardinal begged him to await the return of his gentleman from Mary’s court.
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There is, however, no trace of any such gentleman being sent to Scotland at this time; circumstances will reveal, however, that the Cardinal probably dispatched someone in late October.
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The assizes were completed by 15 October. According to Nau, because it was thought that Bothwell was dying, Mary “was both solicited and advised to pay him a visit at his house, in order that she might learn from him the state of affairs in these districts of which the said Lord was hereditary governor.” This is corroborated by a contemporary French narrative,
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which states that Mary was advised to consult with Bothwell on the state of the Borders.

This made good political sense, because Bothwell bore heavy responsibilities in the Borders and had a unique knowledge of the region, and while he was out of action, others might have to deputise for him. Of course, the Queen could have sent someone else to liaise with Bothwell, but she clearly felt that the unrest in the Borders needed to be quelled urgently, and must have been very concerned that so few had been brought to justice. Furthermore, Bothwell had been dangerously wounded in her service, and she doubtless wished to express personally to him her debt of gratitude. No one at the time suggested that her visit was made for amorous reasons.

Early in the morning of 15 October,
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the Queen left Jedburgh for Hermitage Castle. There was no suitable accommodation for her and her entourage at this massive, spartan fortress, and in any case her host was very ill, so she made the sixty-mile round trip in a day, despite wet weather, rough roads and reports of robbers in the region. Buchanan, who was eager to prove that Mary’s visit was made only in consequence of her lust for Bothwell, and who falsely claims that she flew off to Hermitage as soon as she heard he was wounded, alleges that she took with her “such an escort as no one slightly more honourable would have dared to trust with life and fortune.” In fact, it included Moray, Buchanan’s patron, Huntly, Maitland and a strong force of soldiers. Moreover, Lennox, who also accused Mary of impropriety with Bothwell, does not refer to any scandal attaching to her trip to Hermitage; had there been, he would certainly have done so.

Hermitage Castle, which lies on remote moorland five miles north of Newcastleton, had been built in 1242; its stout keep dated from the fourteenth century. The castle took its name from a nearby hermit’s dwelling on Hermitage Water in Nithsdale, but had a grim history of violence and feuds. The Hepburns had bought this forbidding edifice in 1492, essentially as a military base for controlling the Borders.
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According to Lord Scrope, Mary sat by Bothwell’s bed for about two hours, with Moray and the others in attendance;
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Scrope told Cecil that they discussed Border affairs and the justice eyre, and that it was decided that Bothwell would bring other offenders to justice when he had recovered. Mary also conferred an official post on Bothwell’s kinsman, George Sinclair. Then the royal party returned to Jedburgh through Liddesdale. Between Hermitage and Priesthaugh, according to tradition, Mary’s horse slipped in a bog that is today known as the Queen’s Mire, and she was thrown to the muddy ground. She also lost her watch. The party were forced to stop at a farmhouse near Hawick so that her clothes could be repaired and dried.
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Mary’s servants marvelled at her stamina on the long ride, but she told them she “could find it in her heart to do anything that a man dare do, if her strength would serve her.”
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Scrope informed Cecil that, on the day after her return, Mary sent “a mass of writing” to Bothwell from Jedburgh.
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This would appear to confirm that the object of their meeting had been to discuss business. But the arduous journey took its toll on Mary and, on 17 October,
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she fell seriously ill, suffering initially from the old pain in her side, “which confined her to bed”;
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she then developed a transient fever, which was rapidly followed, on the first day alone, by more than sixty episodes of violent, prolonged vomiting of blood,
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which intermittently reduced her to unconsciousness.

It is difficult now to determine the nature of Mary’s illness, which has been diagnosed by some as a nervous or psychosomatic collapse as a reaction to the stress of the past months. The Venetian ambassador in Paris reported that “the illness was caused by her dissatisfaction at a decision made by the King to go to a place 25 or 30 miles distant without assigning any cause for it; which departure so afflicted this unfortunate Princess, not so much for the love she bears him, as from the consequences of his absence, reducing her to this extremity.”
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Other possible diagnoses are a haemorrhage from a stomach ulcer, haematemesis (i.e., the vomiting of blood as a result of changes in the stomach wall due to an ulcer or acute dyspepsia), or to porphyria, which can give rise to such symptoms. Buchanan maliciously and ludicrously attributes Mary’s illness to her “having gratified her unlawful passions” with Bothwell. Whatever it was, its effects were so alarming that Maitland and many others believed the Queen’s life to be in danger.

Inevitably, there was talk of poison. A Venetian envoy voiced this suspicion to the Doge in November, adding, “By whom, and with what design this great wickedness has been perpetrated, Your Serenity, who remembers past affairs, may form your own judgement.”
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Nau, perhaps reiterating Mary’s own suspicions, states that, “from the frequency and the violence of the vomiting within the period of a single day, it was suspected that she had been poisoned, particularly as among the matter ejected from the stomach was found a lump of green substance, very thick and hard.”

As Mary lay sick, “news came that the Prince was so ill that his life was despaired of, but, after having been made to vomit, he recovered.”
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Not so his mother, for on the third day she lost both her sight and her power of speech “and had a very severe fit of convulsions.”
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Around 21 October, four days after Mary had fallen ill, Bothwell had himself carried to Jedburgh on a horse litter.
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On the 26th, de Silva reported from London that the Earl was “still in danger from his wounds,”
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but however ill Bothwell felt, every day that he was absent gave Moray a chance to usurp his influence; moreover, should the Queen die, Bothwell meant to ensure that he was there to hear her final wishes. Buchanan states that Mary had Bothwell brought to Jedburgh and lodged in a chamber below hers. “When he arrived, their meetings and behaviour were beyond all propriety.” But Buchanan incorrectly places Bothwell’s arrival before Mary’s illness, which he attributes to “her exertions by day and night.”
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At Jedburgh, Bothwell improved steadily, and on 25 October Leslie was able to write that he “convalesces well of his wounds”; by that date, he was able to attend a meeting of the Privy Council.
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However, he would be scarred on the forehead for life, and his wounds would continue to trouble him for some time.

Du Croc was with the court at Jedburgh, and on 23 October he sent a messenger, Alexander Bog, to inform Catherine de’ Medici that Mary’s life was in danger. Bog also carried a letter for Archbishop Beaton from the Council, instructing him to tell the King and Queen Mother of France that, the previous night, Mary had had “some fits of swooning, which put men in some fear; nevertheless, we see no tokens of death.” On 24 October, Mary “got some relief,”
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and du Croc wrote to Beaton: “We begin to have more hope of the Queen, and for the present the doctors have no fears. I assure you Her Majesty is well looked after. God knows how all the Lords who are here occupy themselves. You may imagine the trouble they are in and the distress of this poor kingdom. The King is at Glasgow, and has never come here. If he has been informed by someone and has had time enough to come if he wished, it is a fault which I cannot excuse.”
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Maitland informed Beaton that Bog’s message was more desperate than it should have been, as, although she had been “sorely handled, and looked herself for nothing but death,” Mary was “well relieved of the extremity of her sickness” and now, “praised be God, we think her out of all danger.” He added that the occasion of the Queen’s sickness, so far as I understand, is thought and displeasure, and I trow, by what I could wring further of her own declaration to me, the root of it is the King. For she has done him so great honour, contrary to the advice of her subjects, and he, on the other part, has recompensed her with such ingratitude and misuses himself so far towards her that it is a heartbreak for her to think he should be her husband, and how to be free of him she sees no outgait. I see betwixt them no agreement, nor no appearance that they shall well agree thereafter. I am assured that it has been her mind this good while.
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