Mary Queen of Scots was executed on the 8th of February 1587, for high treason against the Queen. Her cousin, and Queen of England, Elizabeth I was reluctant to order the execution of Mary, as she was concerned that there would be dire consequences. The consequences were dire, but not nearly as bad as Elizabeth imagined they would be. The results of the execution impacted on the lives of the English people in many ways.
Mary Stuart, or Mary I of Scotland, fled her home country of Scotland in 1568, in search of the help of her cousin, Elizabeth I of England. However, she was not met with help, but hostility, as her cousin put Mary in house arrest, where she remained for the next nineteen years. This was because Mary was a threat to Elizabeth’s reign, because of Mary’s Catholicism, and her strong claim to the English throne. Mary grew up in the French court. She married the king of France in 1558, and was queen of France, a Catholic nation, for a year in 1559, this is a contributing factor in why Mary was such a devout Catholic, and therefore …show more content…
However, Elizabeth was reluctant to execute a fellow monarch. Elizabeth’s own mother, Anne Boleyn, had been executed by her father, and she felt that if she executed Mary, a fellow monarch, it would undermine and endanger her position as Queen. She was concerned that Mary would die a martyr, a become the figurehead for a much greater Catholic Threat, particularly Mary’s son, James VI forming an alliance with Catholic powers against Elizabeth.
On the 7th of February 1587, Mary Stuart was told she was to be executed the next day. She was executed at Fotheringhay Castle in Northampton shire, at the age of forty-four. She wore a red petti-coat, the colour of a Catholic martyr. Mary was purportedly saying the Rosary whilst she was executed, and her lips were allegedly moving for ten minutes after her head had been separated from her
Mary Stuart, or Mary I of Scotland, fled her home country of Scotland in 1568, in search of the help of her cousin, Elizabeth I of England. However, she was not met with help, but hostility, as her cousin put Mary in house arrest, where she remained for the next nineteen years. This was because Mary was a threat to Elizabeth’s reign, because of Mary’s Catholicism, and her strong claim to the English throne. Mary grew up in the French court. She married the king of France in 1558, and was queen of France, a Catholic nation, for a year in 1559, this is a contributing factor in why Mary was such a devout Catholic, and therefore …show more content…
However, Elizabeth was reluctant to execute a fellow monarch. Elizabeth’s own mother, Anne Boleyn, had been executed by her father, and she felt that if she executed Mary, a fellow monarch, it would undermine and endanger her position as Queen. She was concerned that Mary would die a martyr, a become the figurehead for a much greater Catholic Threat, particularly Mary’s son, James VI forming an alliance with Catholic powers against Elizabeth.
On the 7th of February 1587, Mary Stuart was told she was to be executed the next day. She was executed at Fotheringhay Castle in Northampton shire, at the age of forty-four. She wore a red petti-coat, the colour of a Catholic martyr. Mary was purportedly saying the Rosary whilst she was executed, and her lips were allegedly moving for ten minutes after her head had been separated from her