The Tragedy of Fotheringay: Founded on the journal of D. Bourgoing, physician to Mary Queen of Scots, and on unpublished ms.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The Tragedy of Fotheringay: Founded on the journal of D. Bourgoing, physician to Mary Queen of Scots, and on unpublished ms.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
Then said the Earl of Kent, "Madam, settle Christ Jesus in your heart
and leave those trumperies." Then she, little regarding or nothing at
all his honor's good counsel, went forward with her prayers; desiring
that God would avert His wrath from this Island, and that He would
give her grace and forgiveness of her sins. These with other prayers
she made in English, saying she forgave her enemies with all her
heart that had long sought her blood, and desired God to convert them
to the truth; and in the end of prayer she desired all Saints to make
intercession for her to Jesus Christ, and so kissed the crucifix,
and crossing of herself, said these words, "Even as Thy arms, O
Jesus, were spread here upon the cross, so receive me into Thy arms
of mercy and forgive me all my sins."
Her prayer ended, the executioners kneeling desired her grace to
forgive them her death. Who answered, "I forgive you with all my
heart, for now I hope you shall make an end of all my troubles." Then
they with her two women helping of her up, began to disrobe her of
her apparell. Then she laying her Crucifix upon the stool, one of the
executioners took from her neck the Agnus Dei, which she laying hands
of it gave it to one of her women and told the executioners that
they should be answered in money for it. Then she suffered them with
her two women to disrobe her of her apparell, of her chain, of her
pomander beads, and all other her apparell most willingly; and with
joy rather than with sorrow helped to make unready herself, putting
on a pair of sleeves with her own hands which they had pulled off,
and that with some haste, as if she had longed to be gone.
All this while they were pulling off her apparell she never changed
her countenance, but with smiling chere she uttered these words that
she had never such grooms to make her unready, and she never put off
her clothes before such a company.
Then she being stripped of all her apparell saving her petticoat
and kertell, her two women beholding her made great lamentation and
crying and crossed themselves prayed in Latin. Then she turning
herself to them embracing them, said these words in French, "Ne criez
vous, j'ay promis pour vous;" and so crossing and kissing them, bade
them pray for her, and rejoice and not mourn, for that now they
should see an end of all their mistress's troubles.
Then she with a smiling countenance, turning to her men-servants,
as Melvin and the rest standing upon a bench nigh the scaffold, who
sometimes weeping, sometimes crying out, and loudly and continually
crossing themselves, prayed in Latin, crossing them with her hand,
bade them farewell, and wishing them to pray for her even until the
last hour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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