Mary Queen of Scots DATES

Mary Queen of Scots is born, the only child of James V of Scotland; James dies when she is a week old, leaving the country at war with England

1542

Mary is taken to France to be educated by her mother, Mary of Guise, at court and is brought up as a Catholic

1548

Mary marries the heir to the French throne

1558

Francis II dies and Mary is left a widow at age eighteen

1560

Mary returns to Scotland to assume the role of Queen there

1561

Mary marries Lord Darnley (a great grandson of Henry VII), prompting speculation that she intended to claim the English throne

1565

Mary had taken another lover, the Earl of Bothwell. At 2 a.m. the house at Kirk-o-field where Darnley and his valet were sleeping was rocked by an explosion. The evidence suggests that Darnley had actually been murdered by being strangled before the explosion. Bothwell was suspected of being implicated and Mary may well have known of the plot. Suspicions became stronger when Mary and Bothwell ran away together and were married.

February 1567

Mary is forced to abdicate in favour of her son, James

1567

Mary flees to England

1568

Mary’s case regarding the plot against Darnley is examined

1568-69

The rebellion of the northern earls takes place

1569

The Ridolfi Plot takes place

1571

The Throckmorton Plot takes place

1583-84

The Babington Plot takes place

1586

A papal pronouncement states that anyone who assassinated Elizabeth with the ‘pious intention of doing God’s service, not only does not sin, but gains merit’

1580

Mary Queen of Scots is executed

February 1587

The conspirators of the Babington Plot are arrested and executed

September 1586

A special commission finds Mary guilty

October 1586