ASSASSINATIONS AND CONSPIRACIES (True Crime) by Rodney Castleden
Authors: Rodney Castleden
Ads: Link
to occupy the sensitive role of a prince escort, a king in name only. He was admittedly tall, superficially charming and fond of courtly amusements, but he never showed any affection for her and from the beginning asked for more power than she was willing to give him.
Less than a year after the wedding, Darnley became overwhelmed with jealousy because Mary was spending much of her time with a musician called David Rizzio. Rizzio had come to Scotland from Italy some years previously on a diplomatic mission but remained at the Scottish court as a lute player and subsequently as Queen Mary’s secretary. The more outraged Mary became over her husband’s stupid, childish and licentious behaviour, the more she looked to Rizzio for consolation and support. But this was happening at a time when many Scottish Protestant lords were discontent with Mary’s rule, and some of these nobles claimed that Rizzio had usurped their proper places beside the Queen – even that he was a secret agent of the Pope. They easily persuaded the gullible Darnley into believing that Mary and Rizzio were sexual partners, an accusation that seems to have no foundation, not least because Mary was six months pregnant with Darnley’s child. They nevertheless inflamed his jealousy and persuaded him to take part in a plot to murder the Italian, and to do it right in front of the heavily pregnant queen. In fact, it may be that the conspirators intended to distress Mary so much by making her watch the brutal murder that she would miscarry. Given that this was the sixteenth century, a miscarriage would probably have resulted in her own death. Mary herself believed that Darnley was so angry because she had denied him the crown matrimonial that he wanted to kill her and the child. Making her witness a brutal murder would bring about her death and allow Darnley to succeed as king of Scots.
On the night of Saturday, 9 March, 1566, Lord Ruthven and a group of accomplices burst into Mary’s chamber in Holyrood House. Rizzio was seated at her supper table and the assassins dragged him screaming from her side, stabbing him repeatedly, both in front of her and once they had succeeded in dragging him out onto the staircase. It is unclear whether Darnley himself did any of the stabbing, but he was certainly incriminatingly present in the chamber, as the queen’s own vivid account of the murder makes very clear.
We were in our chamber at our supper. The King (Darnley) came into our chamber and stood beside us. Lord Ruthven, dressed in a warlike manner, forced his way into our chamber with his accomplices. We asked our husband if he knew anything of the enterprise. He denied it. Ruthven and his accomplices overturned our table, put violent hands on Rizzio and struck him over our shoulder with daggers. One of them even stood in front of our face with a loaded pistol. They most cruelly took him out of our chamber and gave him fifty-six blows with daggers and swords.
After Rizzio’s death, the nobles kept Mary prisoner at Holyrood Palace. She was desperate to escape. Somehow she won Darnley over and they escaped together. But Darnley’s decision to help Mary escape infuriated the nobles who had conspired with him to assassinate Rizzio; now they wanted Darnley out of the way too. Mary pretended to forgive Darnley and cleverly managed to separate him from the group of treacherous nobles who had organized the Rizzio assassination, but she must have realized that she could no longer trust him. With Rizzio still fresh in the minds of the court, another threat to Darnley’s fragile self-esteem soon took centre stage.
James Hepburn, earl of Bothwell, rushed to Mary’s aid in putting down a rebellion of Protestant conspirators, even though he was a Protestant himself. Bothwell was Lord Admiral of Scotland, and although he possessed a reputation for bravery, he was also known
Less than a year after the wedding, Darnley became overwhelmed with jealousy because Mary was spending much of her time with a musician called David Rizzio. Rizzio had come to Scotland from Italy some years previously on a diplomatic mission but remained at the Scottish court as a lute player and subsequently as Queen Mary’s secretary. The more outraged Mary became over her husband’s stupid, childish and licentious behaviour, the more she looked to Rizzio for consolation and support. But this was happening at a time when many Scottish Protestant lords were discontent with Mary’s rule, and some of these nobles claimed that Rizzio had usurped their proper places beside the Queen – even that he was a secret agent of the Pope. They easily persuaded the gullible Darnley into believing that Mary and Rizzio were sexual partners, an accusation that seems to have no foundation, not least because Mary was six months pregnant with Darnley’s child. They nevertheless inflamed his jealousy and persuaded him to take part in a plot to murder the Italian, and to do it right in front of the heavily pregnant queen. In fact, it may be that the conspirators intended to distress Mary so much by making her watch the brutal murder that she would miscarry. Given that this was the sixteenth century, a miscarriage would probably have resulted in her own death. Mary herself believed that Darnley was so angry because she had denied him the crown matrimonial that he wanted to kill her and the child. Making her witness a brutal murder would bring about her death and allow Darnley to succeed as king of Scots.
On the night of Saturday, 9 March, 1566, Lord Ruthven and a group of accomplices burst into Mary’s chamber in Holyrood House. Rizzio was seated at her supper table and the assassins dragged him screaming from her side, stabbing him repeatedly, both in front of her and once they had succeeded in dragging him out onto the staircase. It is unclear whether Darnley himself did any of the stabbing, but he was certainly incriminatingly present in the chamber, as the queen’s own vivid account of the murder makes very clear.
We were in our chamber at our supper. The King (Darnley) came into our chamber and stood beside us. Lord Ruthven, dressed in a warlike manner, forced his way into our chamber with his accomplices. We asked our husband if he knew anything of the enterprise. He denied it. Ruthven and his accomplices overturned our table, put violent hands on Rizzio and struck him over our shoulder with daggers. One of them even stood in front of our face with a loaded pistol. They most cruelly took him out of our chamber and gave him fifty-six blows with daggers and swords.
After Rizzio’s death, the nobles kept Mary prisoner at Holyrood Palace. She was desperate to escape. Somehow she won Darnley over and they escaped together. But Darnley’s decision to help Mary escape infuriated the nobles who had conspired with him to assassinate Rizzio; now they wanted Darnley out of the way too. Mary pretended to forgive Darnley and cleverly managed to separate him from the group of treacherous nobles who had organized the Rizzio assassination, but she must have realized that she could no longer trust him. With Rizzio still fresh in the minds of the court, another threat to Darnley’s fragile self-esteem soon took centre stage.
James Hepburn, earl of Bothwell, rushed to Mary’s aid in putting down a rebellion of Protestant conspirators, even though he was a Protestant himself. Bothwell was Lord Admiral of Scotland, and although he possessed a reputation for bravery, he was also known
Similar Books
