Pic: Women’s History @ About.com

The last heart rending letter sent by Mary Queen of Scots, was written at 2am on Wednesday 8th February 1587 at Fortheringay Castle, Northamptonshire England. Eight hours later Mary would suffer a horrific beheading at the hands of her Cousin Queen Elizabeth 1st of England. The letter was written to her Brother in law,  Henri III, King Of  France, who was the youngest brother of her first husband (Francois II of France). It wasn’t until 1587 that Mary’s Physician was able to return to France and pass the letter to Henri III.  The letter revealed that, just hours from death, Mary asked Henri to ensure her servants’ wages were paid.

 It was, however, left to Philip II of Spain to authorise, through his ambassador Bernardino Mendoza, the payment of wages and pensions to Mary’s servants.

Throughout the 18 years of her imprisonment, Mary symbolised the aspirations of the English Catholics hoping for the restoration of their country to Catholicism. In addition, the rival Catholic Kings of France and Spain each hoped to bring England within his own sphere of political and diplomatic influence by placing Mary on the English throne.

Although Mary had been found guilty and sentenced to death, Elizabeth hesitated to actually order her execution. She was fearful of the consequences, especially if, in revenge, Mary’s son James of Scotland formed an alliance with the Catholic powers, France and Spain, and invaded England.

She did eventually sign the death warrant and entrusted it to William Davison, a privy councillor. Later, the privy council, having been summoned by Lord Burghley without Elizabeth’s knowledge, decided to carry out the sentence at once before she could change her mind.

When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth she was extremely indignant, and her wrath was chiefly directed against Davison, who, she asserted, had disobeyed her instructions not to part with the warrant. The secretary was arrested and thrown into the  Tower of London. He was later released, after paying a heavy fine, but his career was ruined.

The English government insisted that the death of Mary was purely a political matter. However, as she conveys in her last letter, Mary herself believed she was dying a religious martyr.

But what concerned her equally when she wrote to the King of France, with whom she had corresponded regularly while in captivity, was the well-being of her household servants after her execution. In effect, few of these servants returned to their native lands of France and Scotland.

At Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, on 7 February 1587, Mary was told that she was to be executed the next day. She spent the last hours of her life in prayer and also writing letters and her will. She expressed a request that her servants should be released. She also requested that she should be buried in France.

The scaffold that was erected in the great hall was three feet tall and draped in black. It was reached by five steps and the only things on it were a disrobing stool, the block, a cushion for her to kneel on, and a bloody butcher’s axe that had been previously used on animals. At her execution the executioners (one of whom was named Bull) knelt before her and asked forgiveness. According to a contemporary account by Robert Wynkfield, she replied

"I forgive you with all my heart"

The executioners and her two servants helped remove a black outer gown, two petticoats, and her corset to reveal a deep red chemise—the liturgical colour of martyrdom in the Catholic Church. As she disrobed she smiled faintly to the executioner and said,

"Never have I had such assistants to disrobe me, and never have I put off my clothes before such a company."

She was then blindfolded and knelt down on the cushion in front of the block. She positioned her head on the block and stretched her arms out behind her.

In Lady Antonia Fraser’s biography, Mary Queen of Scots, the author writes that it took two strikes to decapitate Mary:

The first blow missed her neck and struck the back of her head, at which point the Queen’s lips moved. (Her servants reported they thought she had whispered the words "Sweet Jesus.") The second blow severed the neck, except for a small bit of sinew that the executioner severed by using the axe as a saw. Robert Wynkfield recorded a detailed account of the moments leading up to Mary’s execution, also describing that it took two strikes to behead the Queen. Afterward, the executioner held her head aloft and declared,

"God save the Queen."

At that moment, the auburn tresses in his hand came apart and the head fell to the ground, revealing that Mary had had very short, grey hair.  The chemise that Mary wore at her execution is displayed at Coughton Court near Alcester in Warwickshire, which was a Catholic household at that time.

It has been suggested that it took three strikes to decapitate Mary instead of two. . It has been postulated that said number was part of a ritual devised to protract the suffering of the victim.

There are several (possibly apocryphal) stories told about the execution. One already mentioned and thought to be true is that, when the executioner picked up the severed head to show it to those present, it was discovered that Mary was wearing a wig. The headsman was left holding the wig, while the late queen’s head rolled on the floor.  It was thought that she had tried to disguise the greying of her hair by wearing an auburn wig, the natural colour of her hair before her years of imprisonment began. She was 24 when first imprisoned by Protestants in Scotland, and she was only 44 years of age at the time of her execution.

Another well-known execution story related in Robert Wynkfield’s first-hand account concerns a small dog owned by the queen, which is said to have been hiding among her skirts, unseen by the spectators. Her dress and layers of clothing were so immensely regal, it would have been easy for the tiny pet to have hidden there as she slowly made her way to the scaffold. Following the beheading, the dog refused to be parted from its owner and was covered in blood. It was finally taken away by her ladies-in-waiting and washed.

Mary’s final letter is part of the National Library of Scotland’s manuscript collections and can be read online translated into several languages at  http://www.nls.uk/mqs/index.htm

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