The Tragedy of Fotheringay: Founded on the journal of D. Bourgoing, physician to Mary Queen of Scots, and on unpublished ms. documentsMaxwell-Scott, Mary Monica
General
The Tragedy of Fotheringay: Founded on the journal of D. Bourgoing, physician to Mary Queen of Scots, and on unpublished ms. documents
Maxwell-Scott, Mary Monica
Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542-1587 -- Death and burial
"From now they commenced to prepare the luggage and everything for
the departure which was fixed for the Tuesday following, the 20th of
the said month, but was deferred till the next day on account of the
change in the appointed lodging, which was supposed to be Worcester
or else Chazfort (?); but both were changed and Fotheringay was
chosen, a castle of the (English) Queen's in Northamptonshire.... Of
all these things we were only told secretly, and Her Majesty never
knew for certain where they were taking her, not even on the day
she reached her new dwelling, but used to think sometimes they were
taking her one way, sometimes another. Before starting in the morning
they would tell her whether she had a long or a short journey to
make, sometimes the number of miles, but they would never tell her
the place where she was to sleep that night."
On the Monday before the party left Chartley, Sir Thomas Gorges and
Stallenge (Usher of Parliament) arrived "with their pistols in their
belts." This arrival caused anxiety among Mary's followers, who
were only reassured when they observed that Gorges and Stallenge
addressed her more courteously than they expected.
"The following Wednesday, which was St. Matthew's Day (21st
September), Her Majesty being ready to start, the doors of all the
rooms were locked where her servants were, who were to remain behind,
and the windows were guarded for fear that they should speak to
her, or even see her." Mary was carried to her coach, as she was
still unable to walk. As the Queen started, Sir Thomas Gorges, who,
together with Stallenge, accompanied the party, accosted her, and
informed her that he had something to say to her from his mistress.
"I pray God," replied Mary, "that the message is better and more
agreeable than the one you recently brought me." To which Gorges
answered, "I am but a servant." "With this Her Majesty was content,
telling him that she could not consider him to blame."[14] It was not
till the next day that the message was delivered.
[Footnote 14: Chantelauze, p. 490.]
The Queen and her escort spent the first night at Burton,[15] and the
next morning before starting, Mary, who had been in great anxiety to
know what he had to say, sent for Sir Thomas. The message, in part
similar to the previous one, was to the effect that Elizabeth was
utterly surprised that Mary should have planned such enterprises,
and even to have hands laid on her who was an anointed Queen. Gorges
swore that his mistress had never been so astonished or distressed by
anything that had ever happened. "My mistress knows well," he said,
"that if your Majesty were sent to Scotland, you would not be in
safety; your subjects there would do you an ill turn; and she would
have been esteemed a fool had she sent you to France without any
reason."
[Footnote 15: Miss Strickland says that the Queen's passage through
Burton is recorded by a Latin inscription engraved on a window at
Hill Hall Castle.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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