Mary of Guise - the mother of Mary Queen of Scots - is one of Scotland's most overlooked figures. Alan Morrison looks at seven Scottish sites that you can visit to get a taste of her tumultuous life.
Falkland Palace
Mary of Guise first set foot on Scottish soil at Crail in the East Neuk of Fife on June 10, 1538. Some 25 miles away, Falkland Palace had already become a favourite retreat of the Stewart dynasty, and work done to further transform Falkland into a renaissance masterpiece was carried out by French masons recommended by Mary’s mother. Mary herself would have watched matches played on the Real Tennis Court built there in 1539 and worshipped in the beautiful chapel which still holds Sunday services today.
Linlithgow Palace
Mary gave birth to her famous daughter - who would go on to become known for eternity as Mary Queen of Scots - here on December 8, 1542, most likely in a room in the North Front, now lost after the section collapsed in 1607. Although it is now a ruin open to the skies, the scale of this Stewart ‘pleasure palace’ is still evident, from the 100 or so fireplaces in a maze of rooms, to the splendidly restored fountain in the courtyard and the impressive original entrance built by James I on the east side in 1430. This was a place for entertainment, and Mary certainly saw Sir David Lyndsay’s A Satire Of The Three Estates here. She had her daughter baptised in the neighbouring St Michael’s Church.
Stirling Castle
When James V died only six days after the birth of Mary Queen of Scots, Mary of Guise brought her daughter – along with 2500 cavalry, 1000 infantry and a baggage train a mile long – to Stirling for safety. She would receive visitors, depending on status, in her three rooms in the Royal Palace, now splendidly restored to original designs.
St Andrews Castle
Mary was almost certainly present when the French Navy bombarded St Andrews Castle in July 1547 in order to end the siege that had begun when Protestant lairds took refuge there after the murder of Mary’s Catholic ally, Cardinal Beaton. Open to the public, the mine and counter-mine that tunnel beneath the castle are evocative memorials to this turbulent period, as is the notorious ‘bottle dungeon’.
My journey to find the real Mary of Guise
Haddington
As part of Henry VIII’s ‘rough wooing’ – his war-like response to the rejection of a proposed marriage between his son Edward and Mary Queen of Scots – the East Lothian royal burgh of Haddington was taken by English forces. Mary of Guise visited to survey the Scottish siege in 1548, but on July 9 her party came within range of the English guns and she narrowly escaped serious injury when 16 of her entourage were killed.
Dumbarton Castle
Only a few days after events at Haddington, Mary of Guise stayed here with her daughter in late July and early August 1548 before young Mary embarked for France, to the safety of the Royal Court where she would be educated to become Queen of France after marrying the Dauphin Francis. Departure was delayed for a few weeks until winds became favourable, which must only have increased the emotional aspect of this mother/daughter parting.
Edinburgh Castle
Mary died here of dropsy on June 11, 1560 and for a time her body lay in St Margaret’s Chapel before it could be smuggled to France for burial. The Chapel’s windows, featuring the likes of St Andrew and St Columba, were added in Victorian times, but it’s still one of the most evocative sites in the entire city. Mary’s husband, James V, refurbished the Scottish Honours in the 1530s and in this new form the crown, sword and sceptre would first have been used at the coronation of the infant Mary Queen of Scots. It’s unlikely that Mary of Guise, as regent, would have worn the crown but the honours may have been in her direct presence to imply status at key political meetings.
www.historic-scotland.gov.uk
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