Progresses of Mary, Queen of Scots: Difference between revisions

 

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[[File:Ardstinchar_Castle_ruins.jpg|thumb|right|Mary came to [[Ardstinchar Castle]] on 8 August 1563]]

[[File:Ardstinchar_Castle_ruins.jpg|thumb|right|Mary came to [[Ardstinchar Castle]] on 8 August 1563]]

[[File:Couthalley Castle.jpg|thumb|right|Hospitality at [[Cowthally Castle]] was legendary]]

[[File:Couthalley Castle.jpg|thumb|right|Hospitality at [[Cowthally Castle]] was legendary]]

Mary went to Glasgow and [[Dumbarton Castle]] in July 1563. Unlike other royal progresses, Mary did not set out to hold justice courts or “ayres” in the region. [[John Knox]] and [[John Lesley]] wrote that she spent the summer hunting. She and her companions wore “[[wardrobe of Mary, Queen of Scots|Hieland apparell]]”, some items obtained from [[Agnes Campbell]] of [[Dunyvaig|Dunyvaig]].<ref>John M. Gilbert, ”Elite Hunting Culture and Mary, Queen of Scots” (Boydell, 2024), pp. 112–115: Joseph Bain, ”Calendar State Papers Scotland”, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 13 no. 13.</ref>

Mary went to Glasgow and [[Dumbarton Castle]] in July 1563. Unlike other royal progresses, Mary did not set out to hold justice courts or “ayres” in the region. [[John Knox]] and [[John Lesley]] wrote that she spent the summer hunting. She and her companions wore “[[wardrobe of Mary, Queen of Scots|Hieland apparell]]”, some items obtained from [[Agnes Campbell]] of [[Dunyvaig|Dunyvaig]].<ref>John M. Gilbert, ”Elite Hunting Culture and Mary, Queen of Scots” (Boydell, 2024), pp. 112–115: Joseph Bain, ”Calendar State Papers Scotland”, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 13 no. 13.</ref>

At [[Loch Lomond Golf Club|Rossdhu Castle]] on 17 July 1563, Mary and her household ate a fish supper including salmon, ling, and trout cooked in butter.<ref>Thomas Small, “Queen Mary in the Counties of Dumbarton and Argyll”, ”Scottish Historical Review”, 25:97 (October 1927), pp. 13-19.</ref> Mary visited [[Inveraray Castle]] and [[Dunoon Castle]], the home of [[Lady Jean Stewart]], and [[Castle Toward|Toward Castle]] on 29 July. She crossed the [[River Clyde]] to Southannan near [[Fairlie, North Ayrshire]].<ref>Ian B. Cowan, “The Progresses of Mary, Queen of Scots” (Scottish Medievalists, 1975), p. 86.</ref><ref>Edward Furgol, “Scottish Itinerary of Mary Queen of Scots, 1542-8 and 1561-8″, ”PSAS”, 117 (1987), p. 225.</ref>

At [[Loch Lomond Golf Club|Rossdhu Castle]] on 17 July 1563, Mary and her household ate a fish supper including salmon, ling, and trout cooked in butter.<ref>Thomas Small, “Queen Mary in the Counties of Dumbarton and Argyll”, ”Scottish Historical Review”, 25:97 (October 1927), pp. 13-19.</ref> Mary visited [[Inveraray Castle]] and [[Dunoon Castle]], the home of [[Lady Jean Stewart]], and [[Castle Toward|Toward Castle]] on 29 July. She crossed the [[River Clyde]] to Southannan near [[Fairlie, North Ayrshire]].<ref>Ian B. Cowan, “The Progresses of Mary, Queen of Scots” (Scottish Medievalists, 1975), p. 86.</ref><ref>Edward Furgol, “Scottish Itinerary of Mary Queen of Scots, 1542-8 and 1561-8″, ”PSAS”, 117 (1987), p. 225.</ref>

Mary, Queen of Scots, made three significant progresses in Scotland after her return from France in 1561 and before her marriage to Lord Darnley in 1565. Sources for her movements include letters, financial records, and the account of household expenses held by the National Records of Scotland known as the Despences de la Maison Royale.^[1][2]

In 1562, Mary, Queen of Scots, visited the north of Scotland. She had previously hoped to travel to England for an “interview” with her cousin Elizabeth I. On her journey north, Mary visited Edzell Castle,^[3] hosted by Katherine Campbell, Countess of Crawford,^[4] and Glamis, on the way to Old Aberdeen. Refused entry to Inverness Castle, she took action against George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly. Mary visited Balquhain Castle on 1 September and Gartly Castle before the siege of Inverness Castle. She was at Rothiemay on 2 September.^[5][6][7]

After two days at Balvenie Castle, Mary, Queen of Scots, crossed the River Spey by ferry boat at Boharm on 6 September as she travelled to Elgin. The boat cost 40 shillings and her almoner Pierre Rorie gave money to poor folk in Boharm and other places along the route.^[8] On 15 September 1562, she was at Kilravock Castle then at Darnaway Castle.^[9] The English ambassador Thomas Randolph, whose letters include a commentary on this progress, wrote that Mary was intoxicated by excitement, that he “never saw her merrier”, and she wished she was a man to lie all night in the fields, and wear armour and carry a sword on the high road.^[10] At Inverness, she bought gunpowder and 15 tartan plaids for her lackeys and members of her household.^[11]

She was welcomed at Aberdeen with “spectacles, plays, and interludes” and given a silver gilt cup filled with 500 gold crowns, and wine, coal, and wax (candles) for use during her stay.^[12] The burgh council organised a tax on residents to pay for this and a volley of cannon shot at Mary’s “first entry” to Aberdeen.^[13] The Gordon family was defeated at the Battle of Corrichie on 28 October, and Mary was said to have witnessed the execution of John Gordon at Aberdeen.^[14] Making her way south, she visited Dunnottar Castle.^[15][16]

There are difficulties in explaining Mary’s action against the Gordons of Huntly. The Earl of Huntly had recently opposed Mary over plans for the English “interview” and resented the gifts of the Earldoms of Mar and Moray to Mary’s brother James Stewart.^[17][18] John Guy describes the progress taking a “sinister turn” against the Earl of Huntly when Mary arrived at Aberdeen.^[19] Jenny Wormald points to the family’s record of loyalty and service to the Scottish crown, and argues that in “a messy and curious episode” Mary punished a Catholic ally in order to reward her brother as part of a policy focussed on hopes of her succession to the English crown.^[20]

Mary went to Glasgow and Dumbarton Castle in July 1563. Unlike other royal progresses, Mary did not set out to hold justice courts or “ayres” in the region. John Knox and John Lesley wrote that she spent the summer hunting. She and her companions wore “Hieland apparell“, some items obtained from Agnes Campbell of Dunyvaig.^[21] Government was not wholly abandoned, as Mary took the privy seal with her and issued official letters and grants at various locations in July and August, notably confirming arrangements for a bursary for five students at the University of Glasgow.^[22]

At Rossdhu Castle on 17 July 1563, Mary and her household ate a fish supper including salmon, ling, and trout cooked in butter.^[23] Mary visited Inveraray Castle and Dunoon Castle, the home of Lady Jean Stewart, and Toward Castle on 29 July. She crossed the River Clyde to Southannan near Fairlie, North Ayrshire.^[24][25]

On 1 August she was at a house or castle of the Earl of Eglinton. Continuing her progress in August, she went to St John’s Tower in Ayr, then visited Dunure Castle (belonging to Gilbert Kennedy, 4th Earl of Cassilis), Ardmillan Castle, and Ardstinchar Castle. After staying at Glenluce Abbey on 10 August, she may have visited Whithorn Priory, noted as “Coustorne” by the French clerk. At Clary, her host was Alexander Stewart of Garlies. On 13 August she was at Kenmure Castle.^[26]

Mary was hosted by Robert Richardson at St Mary’s Isle Priory. At Dumfries her host was the Master of Maxwell, John Maxwell, later Lord Herries. At Drumlanrig Castle the host was James Douglas, and at Crawfordjohn, she may have been received by John Carmichael, as Captain of Crawfordjohn.^[27]

The party visited Cowthally Castle on 25 August, then returning toward Edinburgh, Peebles, Skirling (home of James Cockburn of Skirling),^[28] Borthwick Castle, Dalhousie Castle and Roslin Castle. Mary’s party had 18 hackney riding horses, with three or more other hackneys, rising to 31 horses at Peebles, and 6 mules, and their hay, oats, and pasturage was recorded. The clerk wrote of horses eating hay in the stalls or on the grass, tant a la paille, qu’a l’herbe.^[29]

Mary started her northern progress in August 1564 with a three day hunting trip in Glen Tilt hosted by the Earl of Atholl,^[30] then went to Badenoch, Inverness, the Chanonry of Ross, and Dingwall. She was at Gartly on 24 August and wrote to Elizabeth I for a safe conduct for a young courtier James Murray of Tullibardine.^[31] The progress was noted by the English historian Raphael Holinshed.^[32] Mary’s day to day movements in this journey are less well documented.^[33]

As Mary planned her return from Inverness a messenger boy was sent “to my lord Forbes, the lairds of Boquhane and Drum, erle Merschell, and the comptas of Craufurde to mak provisioun for the queinis majesties cumming fra Innerness”. The record suggests another visit to Balquhain (Boquhane), and a visit to Drum Castle, the Earl Marischal’s Dunnotar, and another visit to Edzell, before arriving at Dundee on 9 September.^[34] According to tradition, she first visited Banchory near Aberdeen and held a music competition, giving a harp to a local girl Beatrix Gardyn of Banchory.^[35]

When Mary returned to Edinburgh, she sent James Melville of Halhill as her envoy to Elizabeth I, instructing him to say that she had not received any letters during “our progress towards the northernmost parts of our realm these two months”.^[36]

Mrs Hubert Barclay wrote The Queen’s Cause in 1938, a fictional narrative of Mary’s reign based around the Clan Barclay of Gartly Castle. She describes Mary’s arrival and stay at “Gartley” in August 1564 with her ladies and James Ogilvie of Cardell, the territorial rival of the executed John Gordon. The historical incident of Mary drafting a letter for James Murray is included.^[37]