Please bear with me and try to keep up this is a long and confusing history.

It's 1485 and Henry Tudor had just defeated King Richard II in the battle of Bosworth. But the new Henry VII claim on the throne of England is weak so he marrys Elizabeth of York, daughter of King Edward IV whose claim is legitimate and much stronger. Together they have four children: Arthur, Margaret, Henry, and Mary.

Arthur married Catherine of Aragon but died six months later.

Margaret went to Scotland to marry James IV of Scotland and has James V.

Upon Arthur's Death Henry becomes the heir to the throne of England. (I'll come back to him later).

Mary married King Louis XII of France and upon his death the Duke of Suffolk.

It's 1509 and Henry VII has died. His wife died in 1503 and he never remarried. Now his only son inherits the throne of England, Henry VII. For his bride Henry chooses the long widowed and sad Princess, Catherine of Aragon-his former sister-in-law.

In 1513 Henry appointed Catherine regent when he went to France on a military campaign. When the Scots invaded, England defeated them at the Battle of Flodden Field, with Catherine addressing the army, and riding north with some of the troops. She sent a letter to Henry along with the bloodied coat of King James IV of Scotland who died. James IV was Henry's sister, Margaret's husband, leaving her a widow and her son James V king of Scotland. Catherine and Henry are married almost twenty years but have no children exspect a frail sickly girl named Mary. Henry is humilated and ashamed, he has no line of strong boys to succeed him so the Tudor line will end with him unless he does something.

He falls in love with the well educated and charming Anne Boleyn. It takes Henry almost six years to devorce his wife but even then the devorce is not recognized with the Pope nor any Catholic king in Europe so all the Catholics find Catherine of Aragon his true wife and Mary as legitimate, while all reformist favor the marriage of Anne Boleyn and her children. Catherine of Aragon dies in 1536, while Henry and Anne Boleyn have been married almost three years and have a daughter, Elizabeth. Anne Boleyn is executed on false charges and Henry takes another wife. Since Catherine is dead and Catholics never saw Anne Boleyn as Henry's true wife they see him as a widower who can take another wife. Ten days after Anne's death Henry marries Jane Seymour and has the boy he's always wanted. He marries another three times before his death in 1547 but has no more children. His sister Mary died in 1533 and Margaret in 1541.

Henry's frail son Edward VI rules as king for six years. Margaret's son James V rules until he was defeated at the Battle of Solway Moss and died an early death supposedly of grief(was not killed in battle he was just really depressed). His only child by his wife Mary of Guise became Queen Mary I of Scotland at just six days old. In July 1543, when Mary was six months old, a treaty was arraged with England that promised Mary to be married to Edward, son of King Henry VIII in 1552, and for their children to inherit the Kingdoms of Scotland and England. Mary's mother was strongly opposed to this, and hid with Mary two months later. At the age of nine months Mary was crowned Queen of Scots in the Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle on 9 September 1543. The treaty fell through and Mary of Guise proved a very protective mother hiding her daughter in a secret chamber when English agents came to kidnap her.

For Mary's safety she was sent to France at the age of five where she was betrothed to the heir to the throne of France, Francis. She had a fairly happy childhood in France where her future father-in-law King Henri II of France and his wife raised her, taught her, and cared for her. She had four Ladies with her from Scotland, known as her four Mary's(Mary Beaton, Mary Livingston, Mary Seton, and Mary Fleming all her own age.) She was very beautiful, clever, and religious. She learned French, Latin, Spanish, Italian, and Scotish. She was also very tall at the full height of 5' 11". AT the age of sixteen Mary married the Dauphin Francis. Francis assuming the title King consort of Scots. When Henri II died in 1559, Mary, Queen of Scots, became Queen consort of France; her husband becoming Francis II of France.

By this time Catherine of Aragon's daughter had died(Novemeber 17, 1558 nine months after Francis and Mary got married). Mary I of England had been a strict Roman Catholic, like Mary of Scotland, burning an estimated 300 people including women and children. Now Elizabeth, a protestant, became Queen Elizabeth I of England. But Catholic's didn't recognize Elizabeth I as Queen so to them the crown went to Queen Mary of Scotland and France. Most Catholics even called her Queen Mary II of England and she put the coat of arms of England on her shield in addition to those of France and Scotland. Francis died on December 5, 1560, of an ear infection which led to an abscess in his brain. Mary's mother-in-law became regent for Francis's younger brother, who inherited the French throne. Under the terms of the Treaty of Edinburgh, signed by Mary's representatives in July 1560 following the death of Mary's mother, France undertook to withdraw troops from Scotland and recognised Elizabeth's right to rule England. The 17-year-old Mary, still in France, refused to ratify the treaty.

Mary's education did not prepare her for what she found in Scotland. The nation was divided between Catholics and Protestants. As a Catholic Mary was regarded with supspition and hate by Protestants and was not very well liked by Catholics for her tolerance by not killing the Protestants. Mary was also having second thoughts about the wisdom of having crossed Elizabeth, and attempted to make up the breach by inviting Elizabeth to visit Scotland (however, still she would not ratify the Treaty of Edinburgh). In December 1561 arrangements were made for the two queens to meet, this time in England but the plan fell through. In 1563, Elizabeth made another attempt to neutralize Mary as a threat by suggesting she marry Lord Robert Dudley, Elizabeth's favorite courtier, who Elizabeth trusted. Dudley, being as well an Englishman as a Protestant, would have solved a double problem for Elizabeth. She sent an ambassador to tell Mary that, if she would marry of Elizabeth's choosing they could be friends and Mary would be heir to the English throne. This too fell through.

Mary had fallen head over heels in love with Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and married him on July 29, 1565. On the other hand, Elizabeth felt threatened by the prospect of such a marriage, because both Mary and Darnley were claimants to the English throne, being direct descendants of Margaret Tudor, the elder sister of Henry VIII. Their children would inherit both parents' claims, and thus, be next in line for the English throne. The union infuriated Elizabeth, who felt she should have been asked permission, as Darnley was an English subject. Mary's half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray joined with other Protestant Lords in open rebellion. Mary set out for Stirling on August 26, 1565 to confront them, and then returned to Edinburgh the following month to raise more troops. Moray and the rebellious lords were routed and fled into exile.

Darnley became arrogant and demanded power equal to Mary's not just the courtesy title of "King". Darnley was jealous of Mary's friendship with her private secretary, David Rizzio and, in March 1566 Darnley entered into a secret conspiracy with the nobles who had rebelled against Mary. In March a group of the lords, accompanied by Darnley, murdered Rizzio in front of the pregnant Mary by stabbing him over sixty times. Darnley changed sides again and betrayed the lords, but the murder had made the breakdown of their marriage inevitable. Their son, James, was born on June 19, 1566. Months later Mary prompted her husband to come back to Edinburgh. He was recuperating in a house within the city wall of Edinburgh, where Mary visited him frequently, so that it appeared a reconciliation was in prospect. One night in February 1567, after Mary had left to go to the wedding of one of her maids of honour, an explosion occurred in the house, and Darnley was found dead in the garden, apparently of strangulation.

It turned out that James Hepburn, Earl of Brothwell had supplied the gunpowder for the explosion, and he was generally believed to be guilty of Darnley's assassination. Mary arranged for a mock trial before parliament, and Bothwell was duly acquitted. Furthermore, some land titles were restored officially to Bothwell as a result of Darnley's death.He also managed to get some of the Lords to sign a bond, in which they agreed to support his claims to marry the queen. All these proceedings did little to dissipate suspicions against Mary.

On 24 April 1567, Mary visited her baby son for the last time. On her way back to Edinburgh Mary was abducted, willingly or not, by Bothwell and his men and taken to Dunbar Castle, where she was allegedly raped by Bothwell. On 6 May Mary and Bothwell returned to Edinburgh and on May 15 they were married according to Protestant rites, which sugests that Mary did this unwillingly because she was still a devoted Catholic. Bothwell had divorced his first wifetwelve days previous. The Scottish Lords turned against Mary and Bothwell and raised an army against them. Mary and Bothwell confronted the Lords on June 15, but there was no battle as Mary agreed to follow the Lords on condition that they let Bothwell go. However, the Lords broke their promise, and took Mary to Edinburgh and imprisoned her in Loch Veven Castle, situated on an island in the middle of Loch Leven. In July 1567, Mary miscarried twins. On July 24, 1567, she was also forced to abdicate the Scottish throne in favour of her one-year-old son James. On 2 May 1568, Mary escaped from Loch Leven and once again managed to raise a small army. After her army's defeat, she fled by boat across the Solway Firth to England. Mary landed in England and stayed at Workington Hall. She was swiftly imprisoned by Elizabeth's officers in Carlisle Castle.

After her flight into England, Mary Stuart expected Elizabeth I to help her regain her throne. Elizabeth was cautious, and ordered an inquiry into the question of whether Mary should be tried for the murder of Darnley first. A conference was held where the accusers were the Scottish Lords who had deposed Mary. For overriding political reasons, Elizabeth did neither wish to convict Mary of murder nor acquit her of the same. So the conference was intended as a political exercise. Mary refused to acknowledge the power of any court to try her since she was an anointed Queen, and the man ultimately in charge of the prosecution, her half-brother James Stewart, was ruling Scotland as regent for Mary's son King James VI. His chief motive was to prevent a restoration of Mary to the Scottish throne. Mary refused to offer a written defence unless Elizabeth would guarantee a verdict of not guilty, which Elizabeth would not do. As evidence, Mary's Scottish accusers presented the "Casket Letters"-eight letters reportedly from Mary to Bothwell, reportedly found in Edinburgh in a silver box engraved with an F (supposedly for Francis II), along with a number of other documents, including the Mary/Bothwell marriage certificate. The outcome of the conference was that the Casket Letters were accepted by the conference as genuine after a study of the handwriting. Yet, as Elizabeth had wished, the inquiry reached the conclusion that nothing was proven.

In 1570, Elizabeth was persuaded by representatives of Charles IX of France to promise to help Mary regain her throne. As a pre-condition, she demanded the ratification of the Treaty of Edinburgh, something Mary would even now not agree to.The Ridolfi Plot, which was a plan to depose Elizabeth with the help of foreign troops, and to place Mary on the English throne, caused Elizabeth to reconsider. With the queen's encouragement, Parliament introduced a bill in 1572 barring Mary from the throne. Elizabeth unexpectedly refused to give it the royal assent. In 1584, when she introduced a document aimed at preventing any would-be successor from profiting from her murder. It was not legally binding, but was signed by thousands, including Mary.

Elizabeth considered Mary a threat because to all Catholics Mary was Queen of England and the Pope had even gone so far as to Excommunicate Elizabeth so eighteen years of confinement followed. Bothwell was imprisoned in Denmark, became insane, and died in 1578, still in prison.

Mary eventually became a liability that Elizabeth could no longer tolerate. Mary was put on trial for treason by a court of about 40 noblemen, including Catholics, after being implicated in the Babinton Plot by her own letters. From these letters it was clear that Mary had sanctioned the attempted assassination of Elizabeth(which even i would have probably done after beening held prisoner in England for eighteen years plus the year of inprisonment in Scotland which cost her the throne, her son, and her twin babies. Her son James V was being raised a protestant and taught by his mother's enemies). Mary denied this and was spirited in her defence. She drew attention to the fact that she was denied the opportunity to review the evidence or her papers that had been removed from her, that she had been denied access to legal counsel, and that she had never been an English subject and thus could not be convicted of treason. Mary was ultimately convicted of treason, and was sentenced to beheading. Although Mary had been found guilty and sentenced to death, Elizabeth hesitated to actually order her execution. She was fearful of the consequences, especially if, in revenge, Mary's son James of Scotland formed an alliance with the Catholic powers, France and Spain, and invaded England. She was also concerned about how this would affect the Divine Right of Kings, plus Elizabeth's own mother had been executed by her father leading to further pain. Elizabeth did ask Mary's final custodian if he would contrive some accident to remove Mary. He refused. She did eventually sign the death warrant and entrusted it to William Davison, a privy councilor.Later, the privy council, having been summoned by Lord Burghley without Elizabeth's knowledge, decided to carry out the sentence at once before she could change her mind. At Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, on February 7 1587, Mary was told that she was to be executed the next day. She spent the last hours of her life in prayer and also writing letters and her will. She expressed a request that her servants should be released. She also requested that she should be buried in France.

The executioners and her two servants helped remove a black outer gown, two petticoats, and her corset to reveal a deep red chemise-the liturgical colour of martyrdom in the Catholic Church. She was blindfolded and knelt down on the cushion in front of the block. She positioned her head on the block and stretched her arms out behind her. it took two strikes to decapitate Mary: The first blow missed her neck and struck the back of her head, at which point the Queen's lips moved. (Her servants reported they thought she had whispered the words "Sweet Jesus.") The second blow severed the neck, except for a small bit that the executioner severed by using the axe as a saw. Afterward, the executioner held her head and declared, "God save the Queen." At that moment, the auburn tresses in his hand came apart and the head fell to the ground, revealing that Mary had very short, grey hair. It has been suggested that it took three strikes to decapitate Mary instead of two. There are several (possibly apocryphal) stories told about the execution. Another well-known execution story concerns a small dog owned by the queen, which is said to have been hiding among her skirts, unseen by the spectators. Because her dress and layers of clothing were so immensely regal, it would have been easy for the tiny pet to have hidden there as she slowly made her way to the scaffold. Following the beheading, the dog refused to be parted from its owner and was covered in blood. It was finally taken away by her ladies-in-waiting and washed.

When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth she was extremely indignant, and her wrath was chiefly directed against Davison, who, she asserted, had disobeyed her instructions not to part with the warrant. The secretary was arrested and thrown into the Tower of London. He was later released, after paying a heavy fine, but his career was ruined. Not long after Mary's death, the Spanish Armada sailed to England to depose Elizabeth, but it sailed into a North Sea storm, it retreated sailing around England and Ireland. (The traditional view that Mary's execution was the trigger for Spain sending the Armada is now disputed.) She was initially buried at Peterborough Cathedral in 1588, but her body was exhumed in 1612 when her son, King James I of England, ordered she be reinterred in Westminster Abbey. It remains there, along with at least 40 other descendants, in a chapel on the other side of the Abbey from the grave of her father's cousin Elizabeth I. In the 1700s her tomb and that of Elizabeth were opened to try to ascertain where James I was buried.

Elizabeth and Mary were actually had alot in common. They were both strong women who had to fight for what they believed in and endured many trials. Unfortunately their differences(religion, politics, rivalry) were so great it prevented the two from ever meeting. As much as i respect Elizabeth i cannot help but feel pity for Mary. Her life is really like a soap opera or a tragety. She was 24 when first imprisoned by Protestants in Scotland, and she was only 44 years of age at the time of her execution. She spent almsot half her life held against her will.

Though Elizabeth I and her half-sister Mary I were very different people they too could have been friends. But like Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth Queen of England factors they couldn't control got in their way(Mary and Elizabeth's mothers were enemy, religion, compeeting for their father's attention, ect.). But Elizabeth and Mary the two sisters, the two enemys are buried together. The Latin inscription on a marble plaque on their tomb (affixed there by James VI of Scotland when he succeeded Elizabeth to the throne of England as James I) translates to "Consorts in realm and in tomb, here we sleep, Elizabeth and Mary, sisters, in hope of resurrection".

The stories of Queen Elizabeth I of England, Queen Mary I of England, and Queen Mary of Scotland and France are really trageties.

I didn't talk about Mary I of England much but her happy childhood was ruined when her father started devorcing her mother. Catherine of Aragon faught for her rights and that of her daughter and never gave up but it cost them both time together as mother and daughter. Mary didn't see her mother for four years, then Catherine died and Mary became a servant to her baby half-sister Elizabeth as ordered by her father. Mary was forced to sign a paper declaring herself a bastard and illigitamate, that her mother and father had never been legally married, and on top of all that twenty year old Mary was forced to give up the religion her mother and father had taught her that she beleived firmly in. She had to denounce the othority of the pope. After Anne Boleyn's execution and her submition things became a little better her father favored her, she could come to court, and she liked his new wife Jane Seymour.

In Henry VIII's will he left the crown to his son Edward followed by Mary then Elizabeth but both girl were still bastards. When Mary, who had remained faithful to Roman Catholicism, asked her brother Edward VI to be allowed to worship in private she was refused. It was only after Mary appealed to her cousin King Charles V that she was allowed to worship privately. Religious differences continued to be a problem between Mary and Edward, however. When Mary was in her thirties, she attended a reunion with Edward and Elizabeth for Christmas, where Edward embarrassed Mary and reduced her to tears in front of the court for "daring to ignore" his laws regarding worship. When Edward VI died he prevented Catholic Mary from taking the crown insed he left it to sixteen year old Jane Grey(who didn't want it).

So Mary had to fight for her crown. Jane was eventually executed by Mary so that Mary could marry King Philip II of Spain. Her mother was spanish so Mary favor that match and married Philip. But he proved unfaithful to her just as Henry VIII was unfaithful to her mother. On top of that Philip flirted with Elizabeth, just like Elizabeth's mother did with her father. Her husband was flirting with the daughter of the women that Mary hated above all others. In Elizabeth's defence, Elizabeth had been inprisoned by Mary for over a year in a crumbling Castle and in the tower of London and the attention from Philip meant she had an ally at court and she wouldn't be sent back.Philip left Mary to return to Spain then came back(bringing his mistress with him)only to ask for money for war. Mary had two false pregnancies, wanting a boy(like her mother)so that the child of Anne Boleyn wouldn't inherit her throne. Mary had alway loved children(taking care of Elizabeth and Edward when they were little despite their differences) and wanted one of her own. Mary lay dying, all her courtiers had gone to plege their alliagance to her sister, she was alone. Her husband, who she loved very much, had abondoned her, even asking for Elizabeth's hand in marriage before Mary(his wife) was even dead. She died at the age of 42 on November 17, 1558. Unfortunately she did burn an estimated 300 people at the stake, including women, children, and priests, earning her the name "Bloody Mary".

To learn more about these remarkable women go to TudorHistory.org.

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