February 8: On This Day in World History … briefly
At Fotheringhay on the evening of 7 February 7, 1587, Mary was told that she was to be executed the next morning. She spent the last hours of her life in prayer, distributing her belongings to her household and writing her will and a letter to the King of France.
1587: Mary Queen of Scots is beheaded
Mary Queen of Scots is beheaded on the orders of her cousin, England’s Queen Elizabeth 1. She had been found guilty of plotting to assassinate the queen and restore England to Catholicism, believing that Henry VIII’s marriage to Elizabeth’s mother Anne Boleyn was illegal.
Mary inherited the throne of Scotland at the age of six. In her teens she married the French Dauphin and was Queen of France for a year until he died. Later she married Lord Darnley. After Darnley’s murder, in which Mary may have been implicated – the Earl of Bothwell became her third husband. In 1568, defeated in battle in Scotland, Mary fled to England, but the jealous Elizabeth had her jailed for nearly 19 years.
Witnesses at her execution told of Mary’s ‘fortitude in the face of death’. It took the axeman two blows and Mary’s lips reportedly continued to move for 15 minutes afterwards. Her pet dog was found hiding in her skirts.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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