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The Saga of Mary Queen of Scots

© Ellen McDaniel-Weissler

It was the faint, murky sort of dawn which Scotland often inflicts on a hardened populace, cold as the moon, dim as muddy water, pale and thick as chilled honey. Lake Menteith lapped at the edges of the island of Inchmahome, as if trying to grasp at its wary inhabitants, concealed behind priory walls, behind secrecy, behind a conspiracy of silence. In her stony tower room the tiny child slept softly, the untroubled sleep of one who does not know. She was no fool, this little one, only a child with a grown-up's cares and the innocent ability to forget them in sleep. Lovely, with violet eyes of intense clarity, unbound auburn hair and translucent flesh, she was nearly five years old. Soon to be hundreds of miles from her mother, fatherless since birth, already hunted and concealed countless times in her brief years on earth, this wee sprig of life held men's destinies firmly in her fragile hands. She was merry, intelligent, lovable and forlorn - and she was the Queen of Scotland.

The year was 1547. The English had defeated Scotland at the Battle of Pinkie Clough on 10 September, and so many, so many dear to those close to the little Queen had lost their lives. The four young Marys who lived and played with her had lost fathers, brothers, uncles - grief and mourning overhung the island as palpably as the fog which heralded a Scottish dawn. No longer safe at Stirling Castle, the home of her youngest years, the Queen had come here with her mother, the widowed Marie de Guise, to seek refuge from the English troops which sought to take the little monarch, marry her to the boyish King Edward VI and unite the kingdoms of Scotland and England. Long the dream of English kings, such a union would effectively end the constant threat of violent invasion which haunted the nightmares of all northern England. But loyal Scots and the resourceful Queen Mother had other ideas. Mary was half French, her mother a daughter of the powerful French house of Guise, and to Marie France would always be home. It was time young Mary met her French relatives, tasted the culture of a truly civilized court - and fulfilled French wishes by entering her betrothal to the young Dauphin of France. Someday, Mary would be Queen of two nations. But in the meantime, with Mary safe in France, Marie de Guise would hold the country in trust, struggle fiercely against the Protestant forces which wanted to undermine the Pope's authority, and keep the country safe until her daughter's minority was finished.

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