Crossing the border expecting support1
From Lizzie (the one) and her English court,2
Mary to England was glad then to flee,
But help from her queen cous was not to be,
As Cecil believed the lies he received3
From Scottish Lord rebels that they conceived4
'Gainst Mary in letters numbering eight,5
Murray's excuse for usurping the State,6
"Proof" of her guilt for Lord Darnley's murder,7
Modern research has now torn asunder8
Perfidious notes excusing to send
Mary to prison, her freedom to end.
Refused stately meetings by cousin Liz
On Cecil's advice, the policy his.
Confined in Carlisle her movements curtailed,9
Letters inspected before they were mailed,
Money was tight so reduced was her staff,
Within the first year by almost a half,
Faithful four Marys allowed still to stay,
While others still loyal were sent away.
Her sojourn in Carlisle soon was to end,
Then onto Yorkshire a short time to spend,10
Travelling ten days to reach the heartland,11
Thwarting escape from alien England,
Dingy and damp was Tutbury Castle,12
Problems with drains increasing the hassle.
Her jailer although of Cecil no pal,
Depressing black moods he suffered et al,
Of Shrewsb'ry the Earl, George Talbot his name,
Brusque was his style but in time Mary came
To respect his ordeal ordered by Liz,
The cost of her upkeep mostly was his!
He'd taken a wife from Hardwick called Bess,
Proud and ambitious and bossy no less,
Fiesty was "Penny" her Greek heroine,13
George her new husband her fourth in a line!
All now agreed with the Earl and his Bess,
Tutbury sans en suite was just a mess
Cecil and Lizzie did finally yield,
And Mary was moved to Castle Sheffield14
Her motto she changed to that of her Mum,
"In my death is my dawn", obscure to some,15
Fiery her badge, the phoenix of fable,
Rising anew from flames it was able,
Forecasting the future after she'd gone,
When Jamie her son would gain England's throne.
One summer a progress Lizzie did make,
The tour a few miles near Mary would take,
But Liz feared to meet her sisterly Queen,
Whose eclectic mind with arguments keen,
Dialectic debate she'd easily win,
Changing the route Liz avoided her kin.
Embroid'ry's design was a diversion,
From prison life relieving the tension,
Pattern devising brought Mary pleasure,
Bessie and Mary sewed lots together16
The best silks and threads she ordered from France
Her finest creations so to enhance
A red satin skirt she fashioned for Liz17
Who prizing it greatly, thought it the biz!
Mary's cuisine was still fit for a queen,
Lavish her meals as in Scotland they'd been,
Atkins was out! Her weight simply went mad,
Freedom to work-out her jailor forbad.18
Not fit for a queen was this house arrest,
All the while during, her health was not best,
Gastric disorders, neuralgic complaints,
Porphyria ailments, swooning and faints,19
Painful rheumatics, depression and stress
Due to her inactive life-style, some guess.
Forsaken by James who schemed for the throne,20
Sidelined his Mother, her hope now all gone,
His treaty with England, paving the way
For Mary's entrapment, made Cecil's day.
Desp'rate for freedom a faux pas she made,
Trusted the wrong crowd, the ambush was laid,
Her postman, one Gifford, treacherous knave,21
Her cyphers and mail to Walsingham gave,22
Copies were made and Mary arrested23
To no avail although she protested.
Tried and found guilty she faced the abyss,
Cecil victorious, her nemesis.
Liz signed the warrant for Mary to die,24
Her foes only too glad to satisfy
Mary'd been restrained for nineteen long years
Then murdered while Liz shed crocodile tears25
Sixteen years later when Liz passed away,26
Mary had won...her son James now held sway,
The Pheonix her crest had truly risen,
Her bold epitaph written in prison27
Charming, alluring, radiant Mary,
Remembered in rhyme as quite contrary,28
In Holyroodhouse her garden grew swell,
In her own chapel rang many a bell,
A pilgrimage badge was a cockle-shell,
The maids were four Marys who served her well.
Notes
1 16 May, 1568.
2 Elizabeth I, Queen of England.
3 Wm. Cecil, Lord Burghley, Elizabeth's first minister.
4 "Confederate Lords", Morton, Argyll, Atholl & Mar.
5 The Casket Letters.
6 James Stuart, Earl of Murray.
7 Mary's second husband.
8John Guy, My heart is my own, 2004. Guy is a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge
and also lectures in the Faculty of History. He became an Honorary Research Professor
of the University of St Andrews in 2003.
9 In the Tower at Carlisle Castle.
10 At Bolton Castle, July 1568.
11 26 January, 1569.
12 In Staffordshire, 1569.
13 Penelope, independent wife of Greek hero, Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.
14 28 November, 1570.
15 My own translation of "En fin est mon commencement".
16 Bess of Hardwick, wife of Mary's jailer.
17 Elizabeth I.
18 Shrewsbury advised,"I would be very loath that any liberty or exercise should be granted
unto her, or any of hers, out of these gates."
19 Some medical experts claim that Mary suffered from acute intermittent porphyria.
20 Personal rule as King of Scotland, 1578.
21 Gilbert Gifford a defecting Catholic refugee.
22 Sir Francis Walsingham, Cecil's spymaster.
23 The Babington Plot implicated Mary. The originals were passed on to the addressee,
Andrew Babington, a rich gullible young Catholic gentleman who got embroilled in a plot aimed at
a revolt of English Catholics, a Spanish invasion, Elizabeth's assassination and Mary's liberation.
Mary sought only the latter.
24 1 February, 1587. Elizabeth wanted Mary's demise but would have preferred that Mary
had been assassinated rather than history accuse the English Queen of regicide.
25 Mary was executed at Fotheringay Castle, Feb. 8, 1587
26 1603.
27 "En fin est mon commencement"
28 Mary, Mary quite contrary,How does your garden grow?With silver bells and cockle-shellsAnd pretty maids all in a row.
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