Claiming Calais
The last English strongholds in France, Calais and Guisnes, had fallen to
the French in Mary's reign, but a lot of Englishmen (and Elizabeth was one
of them!) looked back with nostalgia to when their great-grandfathers had
owned half of France and thought, wouldn't it be nice to get some land back?
England, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Cateau-Cambr�sis on 2 April
1559 after months of negotiations that had started under Mary, bringing an
end to the long conflict between Spain and France. In the treaty both Henri II
of France and Philip II of Spain recognised Elizabeth as queen of England.
They agreed that Calais would stay French for eight years, but in 1567 it was
to go back to England or the French would have to pay a whacking fee for the
land (nobody thought they'd have the money). If this all sounds familiar, it's
because Francis I and Henry VIII struck a similar deal (see Chapter 3).
Feeling uneasy
The new friendship between France and Spain was worrying to Elizabeth
and the Council. Henry VIII's and Edward VI's advisers had kept the Valois�
Habsburg feud going because it kept France and Spain at each other's throats
and England could cash in on that. The prospect of two Catholic powers
cosying up led to the myth of a great Catholic conspiracy, which had knock-
on effects on various plots against Elizabeth (see Chapter 14).
Getting involved in a French squabble
The accidental death of Henri II in a tournament in July 1559 (ironically,
to celebrate Cateau-Cambr�sis) led to chaos in France. The new king
(Francis II) was only 15 and his meddling mother was Catherine de Medici,
who was so unpopular in France that it gave a green light to other families
who believed they had a right to the throne. The gloves were off and three
rival families jostled each other for power � the Guises, the Bourbons and the
Montmorencys. The struggle was heightened by the fact that the Bourbons
were Protestants and the Guises arch-Catholics, determined to stamp out
heresy. The complicated ins and outs of years of French in-fighting didn't
really concern the queen, but with only 21 miles of sea between France and
England, Elizabeth couldn't sit on the sidelines for ever.
The leading light of the Bourbon family was the Prince of Cond� and he was
looking for Protestant allies to help his cause and that of the Huguenots
(Protestants) in France. In 1562 he got help from Robert Dudley, the queen's
favourite you meet in Chapter 12, and the queen sent Henry Sidney (her man
in Ireland; he gets around, doesn't he?) to France to negotiate with Cond�.
Cecil didn't like Elizabeth's decision, but most of the Council did because
here was a chance to get Calais back now. Cond� got �45,000 cash aid plus
4,000 troops under Ambrose Dudley, earl of Warwick, who took over the town
of Le Havre in pledge until Calais could be recovered.
In the fighting that followed the Protestants were beaten all over the place
and the English garrison at Le Havre found itself cut off. When both French
sides came to a peace settlement (with the Guise Catholics getting the better
of the deal), everybody seemed to have forgotten about Le Havre. But by May
1562 Catholic and Protestant Frenchmen united against the English garrison,
and to cap it all, plague broke out in the town. The earl of Warwick had to
surrender Le Havre.
The final upshot � humiliating but inevitable � was that Elizabeth signed the
Treaty of Troyes in April 1564, giving up Calais forever and bringing the cur-
tain down on 300 years of history.
Stirring Things Up with the Stuarts
Mary Stuart Queen of Scots was Elizabeth's nearest relative and her nearest
rival for the throne of England. In 1560 she'd face a double blow, losing both
her husband, Francis II of France, and her mother, Mary of Guise (regent in
Scotland), and would returned home to sit on the throne of Scotland. But the
succession was far from straightforward.
Securing Scotland
Scotland didn't join France (her usual ally) in the war against Spain between
1557 and 1559 because Philip kept the Scots out of the loop and Mary of
Guise, regent in Scotland, couldn't get support from the Scots nobility.
A group of Scottish Protestant lords called the Lords of Congregation of Jesus
Christ rebelled against Mary of Guise and asked Elizabeth for help. That put
the queen in a cleft stick. She was torn between using the request as her
excuse to sort Scotland out and the fact that supporting rebels who were
against their lawful government was a bad idea � it could be her turn next to
face rebellion. 224 Part IV: Ending with Elizabeth
By February 1560 Elizabeth felt she had no choice but to interfere and she
sent a fleet to prevent any more French troops landing in Scotland and sent
Thomas Howard, the duke of Norfolk, across the border with a small army.
Signing a treaty with the Lords of Congregation was a clever move. Elizabeth
claimed to be protector of the liberties of Scotland against the French and this
agreement would only come to an end with the deaths of Francis II, Mary or
Elizabeth. The queen wouldn't repeat the mistake of Henry VIII's reign (see
Chapter 3) of having to fight Scotland as well as France.
After some inconclusive skirmishing in the Scottish Lowlands and an attempt
to capture the town of Leith (which didn't work), Mary of Guise died and rep-
resentatives from both sides signed the Treaty of Edinburgh.
Under the Treaty of Edinburgh:
Mary (then queen of France) was recognised as queen of Scotland in her
absence.
Scotland was now governed by the Lords of Congregation.
The English and French agreed to leave Scotland.
Francis II and Mary stopped using the arms of England in their heraldry.
Mary never actually agreed to this treaty, but the important point was that
Scotland seemed sorted out. The death of Francis, however, meant that Mary
came back to Scotland to step up as the Catholic queen of an increasingly
Protestant country, and that led to problems.
Landing right in the thick of trouble
When Mary arrived in Leith near Edinburgh on 19 August 1561 she came with
princes, courtiers, musicians and a pretty large chunk of the French crown
jewels. Thick fog made her crossing difficult, but it might have saved her life
because her malevolent half-brother, James Stuart, earl of Moray, was waiting
for her in English ships. Moray was determined to run Scotland his way and if
that meant kidnapping Mary, so be it.
The previous year, Scotland had gone through a religious revolution of
its own:
The Scottish Parliament banned the Latin mass and broke with Rome.
The new faith, along the lines of John Calvin in Geneva, was spear-
headed by John Knox, who'd been exiled under Mary Tudor but came
back to Scotland under Elizabeth to lead the Protestant rebels. Chapter 13: Choosing the Middle Way between Protestants and Catholics 225
Despite what looked like a clean sweep on paper, the Protestants were in the
minority, centred around Ayreshire, Fife and Perth in the Lowlands. In the
Highlands, the lawless clans, like the Irish in the Wild Lands, did their own
thing � and that meant remaining Catholic. And in Mary, of course, the country
still had a Catholic monarch.
The 18-year-old Mary had intelligence, wisdom and charm � and she'd need
all that in the years ahead, especially because John Knox was making loud
noises about the unfitness of women to rule (today, he'd probably have
ended up in an institution of some kind).
In Mary Queen of Scots, a far-too-tall Vanessa Redgrave tramps up the beach
in the company of half-brother James, played by a Machiavellian Patrick
McGoohan, while John Knox, flat-capped and wild-bearded, screams at her
from the dunes. In fact, they met indoors in Edinburgh a few days later in
rather more civilised surroundings.
Mary's arrival concerned Elizabeth deeply and it kick-started 25 years of
intrigue against the queen of England.
Wearing the crown, and losing the crown
In Scotland Mary kept her nose clean for four years. She saw herself as the
eventual rightful queen of England despite the Treaty of Edinburgh (see
`Securing Scotland'), which said she wasn't. The Lords of the Scottish Council
(Congregation) asked her opinion on some things but Mary's input was slight.
To hard-bitten Scots politicians, the queen was a lightweight. She'd been
brought up with French manners and attitudes, and many politicians probably
agreed with Knox that she shouldn't have been on the throne in the first place.
Everything would be fine as long as Mary confined her Catholicism to her own
Chapel Royal and didn't interfere with the Kirk, the (now Protestant) Church
of Scotland.
Loving a loser
Subjects expect queens to marry; it's one of their duties. What were Mary's
options?
Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester: Elizabeth put Dudley forward (very
generous of her, considering they were involved; see Chapter 12) and
she may well have given him the Leicester title to make him more
acceptable. Elizabeth's thinking is clear � she wanted the king of
Scotland to be somebody she knew and could control. But Mary didn't
want one of Elizabeth's cast-offs and said no. 226 Part IV: Ending with Elizabeth
Archduke Charles of Austria: He was the Pope's choice.
Don Carlos, son of Philip II: He was weak, vicious and cruel. He'd later
be sentenced to death for plotting to kill his father's courtiers.
If you think you've heard some of these names before, that's because you
have in Chapter 12. Charles and Carlos were in line to hook up with Elizabeth
too � there weren't too many eligible European princes knocking about in
those days!
In the end, everything went pear-shaped because Mary fell in love with Henry
Darnley, son of the earl of Lennox. He had the right credentials, descended as
he was from Henry VIII's sister, Mary, but he was vain, handsome, ambitious
and empty-headed.
In Mary Queen of Scots Darnley is Timothy Dalton (later James Bond) in a very
silly blond wig. He came across as petulant, egotistical and bisexual.
The marriage was made in hell. Mary quickly became pregnant but the couple
had private and public rows over almost everything and eventually Darnley
left her. In a moment of reconciliation, Mary made him the duke of Albany,
but when she refused to give him the crown matrimonial he stormed off again
and even took part in a coup that saw the queen imprisoned (see the nearby
sidebar `Save me, lady, save me!').
`Save me, lady, save me!'
In a particularly low period in Mary and Rizzio, as an Italian and a Catholic, had got too
Darnley's relationship, Darnley was involved close to Mary for the liking of the Protestant
in the murder of Mary's Italian secretary lords, including James Stuart, earl of Moray.
David Rizzio. On 9 March 1566 Mary was His corpse had 60 stab wounds.
having supper with Rizzio in Holyrood Palace
Mary was held prisoner after the coup, but in a
in Edinburgh (the headquarters of the Scottish
scene straight out of a Hollywood epic she got
Parliament today � check it out when you're
Darnley on side again � presumably by using her
north of the border). The queen was six months
womanly wiles � promised everybody involved
pregnant and decidedly alarmed when armed
a pardon and was smuggled out of the palace
men burst in, led by Darnley himself, and
via the crypt with the help of James Hepburn,
plunged their daggers into the Italian as he
earl of Bothwell. The pair rode through the night
clung to her skirts, begging her to save him.
to Dunbar, then Mary sent out a call to arms and
the Rizzio plotters ran to England. Chapter 13: Choosing the Middle Way between Protestants and Catholics 227
Giving birth to the future king
On 16 June 1566 Mary gave birth to a boy, James, in Edinburgh Castle. There
were the by-now familiar rumours of a substitute child replacing the actual
baby born to Mary and of `the coffin in the wall' that was supposed to contain
a baby's skeleton wrapped in a shroud with a royal monogram. But check out
the later portraits of James and Lord Darnley and you'll be in no doubt that
James was the true son.
The importance here, of course, is that baby James was heir to the throne of
Scotland, and as long as Elizabeth had no children, England too. When she
heard the news of Mary's new baby Elizabeth was furious, saying, `The queen
of Scots is lighter by a son and I am of but barren stock.'
Getting rid of Darnley
Darnley was a political liability, with enemies in Scotland from coast to coast.
In the early hours of 10 February 1567 his house at Kirk o'Fields in Edinburgh
was blown up and his and his servant's bodies were found strangled with a
rope in the garden. Darnley was still wearing his nightshirt.
Who did it?
The earl of Bothwell was chief suspect. He married Mary three months
later and some accounts say he raped her and that she lost the twins
she was carrying. Love letters were found later, however, which make
both the rape and the forced marriage seem unlikely.
Mary herself may have been in on the murder � Elizabeth certainly
believed this (but then, she would, wouldn't she?).
Ousting Mary
The Lords of the Council had had enough of their Catholic queen with her
renegade politics and they forced her to abdicate, imprisoning her in the
grim Lochleven Castle. Reluctantly, Mary passed the crown to little James
(just over 1 year old) and agreed that Moray would act as regent for him.
Mary tried to raise an army to get her throne back, but ended up as a refugee
in England (her new husband Bothwell high-tailed it to Denmark for his own
safety). For the next 19 years Mary of Scotland was the prisoner of Elizabeth
of England.
A mutinous Edinburgh mob marched round the streets, chanting, `Hang the
whore!' John Knox, who could have been content with an `I told you it would
all end in tears' went on to compare Mary from his pulpit with those sneaky
ladies of the Old Testament, Jezebel and Delilah. 228 Part IV: Ending with Elizabeth
When Mary arrived in England in August 1568 she didn't get the reception
she'd hoped for. Elizabeth refused to see her � the meeting between them in
Mary Queen of Scots, where Glenda Jackson (Elizabeth) meets Vanessa
Redgrave (Mary) in a wood and Glenda ends up bashing Vanessa with her
riding crop, never happened. Elizabeth rather spitefully sent the refugee
queen some tatty old clothes with darns and mends all over them.
Marrying off Mary
Ignoring the Bothwell marriage, the Council thought it would be a good idea
to marry Mary off as soon as possible to someone they could trust and con-
trol (the good old Tudor policy). Who was in the running?
The Austrians: Part of the Habsburg power fixation.
The Swedes: Gaining reputation in this period as a European power.
Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk: Powerful, popular and a former
Catholic.
With Mary now in England, the Spanish and French ambassadors were
involved and were busy feeding back information to their governments.
Elizabeth was furious once she knew about the proposed Norfolk marriage
and she gave the man a dressing down for his arrogance in September 1569.
The Spanish ambassador backed off, Howard went to sulk on his Norfolk
estates and, as usual, when the queen was in one of her temper tantrums