Following Elder’s visit, the Sieur d’Aubigny came over to Scotland to be given a post in the household of Mary of Lorraine. Involved in raiding across the Border, he was unlucky enough to be captured for the second time. Held captive in an English prison, he once more asked his brother for money to pay a ransom to set him free. Matthew sent a Scotsman named Halbert with bank bills as requested, but he then tried to get some recompense by sending word to Queen Mary that his brother could tell her much of what was going on in Scotland at the court of Mary of Lorraine. Margaret then sent Arthur Lallard, one of her son’s tutors, to her brother-in-law, but by the time he reached the prison, d’Aubigny had somehow escaped, no doubt by bribing his jailers with his brother’s money, and returned to France. Lallard retrieved his possessions, which included a Roman Catholic prayer book which had belonged to Matthew when he was a young man in France.
Queen Mary, told of this, despatched the Bishop of Durham to Matthew’s bedside for the good of his soul. It proved to be one of her last actions before she herself died on 17 November 1558.
Margaret was chief mourner, heading Mary’s other ladies-in-waiting as the chariot bearing the queen’s coffin, with her wooden painted effigy lying on top, to Westminster Abbey to be buried in a vault in the chapel of Henry VII. As the coffin was lowered, Margaret was the first of her household offices to break her white staff of office and throw it into the grave. She had lost the cousin who, despite their recent difference, had once been her greatest friend.
Notes
1 Haynes’ Burghley Papers, p.381
2 Unpublished Pieces and Documents relating to the History of Scotland, printed for the Bannatyne Committee, p.278
3 Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses, p.322
27
FROM ENGLAND’S
COURT TO FRANCE
The Lennoxes, on Elizabeth’s succession, hastened at once to her court where, as she wrote to William Cecil, they were ‘most graciously received’.
Queen Elizabeth went so far as to enquire after Matthew’s health, and having listened to the symptoms of his illness, she advised Margaret never to leave his side. Whether this was a way of getting rid of her is debateable. On parting she apparently assured her that if in any trouble she should apply directly to William Cecil who, if at all possible, would comply with all she asked.
William Cecil, son of minor Welsh nobleman, who, after proving himself a clever lawyer to both Henry VIII and Edward VI, was now, as Queen Elizabeth’s secretary, the most powerful man in the land. Amongst Cecil’s confederates was George Earl of Morton, described as ‘the brother of his soul’. It would appear that shortly after the Queen Elizabeth’s accession, Cecil used his influence in the Star Chamber of Inquisition in Westminster Palace to cross-question one of the Lennox’s servants. Presumably the man was apprehended while the Lennoxes were in London for some reason unknown. Probably under torture, the man or woman revealed how Margaret’s priest Dicconson had taken her father’s letter, deposing his estates and titles to his nephew, to the Justice Clerk Bellenden in Edinburgh and thereby had succeeded in getting his will revoked.
Ignoring the underhand dealings of Lord Morton, or the more legal claims of the grandson and heir of Sir George Douglas (her hated uncle) named by her father as his heir, Margaret continued to add the title of Angus to her name. She was bold in her assertion that this title, at least, was her birthright. Her defiance was fired by hatred of the English Parliament, which, in the name of the people of England, had declared King Henry’s younger daughter to be their rightful queen.
Margaret had lived with the hope that, because of their shared religion, Mary would name her as her successor rather than the Protestant half-sister with whom she had long disagreed. While waiting on Elizabeth in London, subservient to her every wish, she inwardly raged at the knowledge that had only justice been done, their positions would have been reversed. The red-haired, straight-backed young woman at whose feet she had been forced to kneel, for no reason other than that of the new established creed, had robbed her of her right to the English throne.
Returning sadly to Yorkshire, Margaret did have one consolation in that despite her insistence of the English prayer book being used in churches throughout the land, the Mass could be celebrated in private, as happened at Settrington House. On the evidence of the spies within her household (perhaps the one who had told of the revoking of her father’s will) she is known to have had the curtains of her own bed, as well as those of her son, hung with holy relics, to which she showed great reverence. Likewise she told the beads of her rosary, and with the enforced attendance of both her son and her husband, celebrated Mass every day.
The Lennoxes are known to have been at Settrington when they heard that the French King Henri II, jousting with the Count de Montgomery, Captain of the Garde Ecossaise, had been killed. This meant that Mary Queen of Scots, married as she was to Francois, the former dauphin and now the king, was the Queen of France.
Immediately it was decided that, whatever the risks involved, Henry Darnley would go to France to congratulate Francois and Mary on their accession. The journey had to be made in secret. To apply to Queen Elizabeth for a passport would be a waste of time. Therefore, heavily cloaked, and probably calling themselves merchants, Henry and his tutor, John Elder, set off from Bridlington in a trading ship in which they safely made the crossing to Dieppe.
Arriving at the court at Chambord, they were greatly assisted by Henry’s uncle, John Stuart d’Aubigny. An exceptionally handsome and charming man, d’Aubigny had now succeeded the unfortunate Compte de Montgomery, a splinter from whose lance had entered the French king’s eye, as Captain of the Garde Écossaise. It was d’Aubigny who arranged a secret meeting between Henry and his cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, and her husband, the 15-year-old King of France. Both were in mourning for the late king, Mary wearing the deuil blanc, the white mourning of a diaphanous white veil falling from a white hood, which, with strands of her auburn hair showing beneath it, suited her so well.
The first meeting of Henry and Mary was uneventful. Little could either of them guess what lay in store. Mary was charmed by the polished manners of the tall, fair-haired boy who bowed before her as he presented a letter from his father, requesting the restoration of his Scottish estates. This, without evidence to prove the authenticity of what he asked, she had to refuse, but forthwith invited both her visitors to her husband’s coronation and gave Henry a present of a 1,000 crowns.
At the coronation, which took place at Rheims on 18 September 1559, Mary Queen of Scots, as a reigning sovereign, was not crowned as a consort. Casting off her mourning for one day, she appeared beautifully dressed, her hair a shining halo, even brighter than her many jewels. The eyes of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, Queen Elizabeth’s ambassador in France, like those of most of the congregation, were quickly drawn to her. But also, in the throng, he recognised the austere figure of John Elder, whom he had met before.
He did not realise the identity of the tall young man who stood beside Elder, but he did report ‘how a young gentleman, an Englishman or a Scottishman, who had no beard, was received with great distinction by the King and Queen of France and Scotland, Francis II, and Mary Stuart, at Chambord, where they were keeping their Christmas festival. The interviews of the young stranger were long and private, both with the King and with the Duke de Guise.’1
Throckmorton, for some unknown reason, then seized the chance to make trouble between Queen Elizabeth and Margaret Lennox. John Elder, he claimed, had taken details of the persecutions of the Protestants by Bonner, Bishop of London, in Queen Mary’s time. Naming Cardinal Pole, Lady Salisbury’s son, as the source of this information, he claimed him to be ‘as dangerous for the matters of England as any I know; wherefore it were done that good regard were had to such as he is acquainted with in England.’ – a clear indication of the Lennoxes.
Great was the rejoicing at Settrington when Henry and his tutor returned from Fra
nce unscathed. Matthew Lennox, still largely an invalid, was disappointed to hear that his plea for the return of his estates in Scotland was rejected. Nonetheless he was at that time receiving overtures, both from Mary of Lorraine and her opponents, the members of the Congregation, to whom Arran (the Duc de Châtelhérault) was now allied.
Note
1 Forbes Papers, Letter of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton to Queen Elizabeth
28
‘THE GREAT REVENGE THAT YE MIGHT HAVE OF YOUR ENEMIES’
In the summer of 1559, Matthew was roused from his lethargy by a visit from a Captain Borthwick, a one-time companion-in-arms on the Borders when fighting for the English cause. His old companion-in-arms arrived with the suggestion that Matthew might find it expedient to come to the aid of the ill and harassed Queen Regent, at whose behest he had come. Margaret, overhearing the conversation, sternly forbade him to have anything to do with a man whom she suspected to be an enemy agent. Borthwick, furious at her interference, was only slightly mollified by being introduced to Henry Darnley, whom he found both charming and courteous.
Borthwick rode on to London, where, in secret, he met the French ambassador, the Comte de Noailles. Complaining bitterly to him that Lennox was ruled by his wife, he extolled the virtues of young Henry, calling him ‘the nearest person in the royal succession to both realms, by right of his father in Scotland, if Mary Stuart, Queen of France and Scotland has no issue; likewise he is next heir to the throne of England through his mother, Margaret, Countess of Lennox.’ De Noailles, however, despite these glowing affirmations of the suitability of the Lennoxes’ son to be ruler of both British kingdoms, thoroughly distrusted Borthwick, knowing him, as did Margaret Lennox, to be a most ardent advocate of the reformed religion.
Hardly had Borthwick departed before Matthew received a more definite plea that he should return to Scotland from James Stewart of Cardonald, one of his own former vassals in the Lennox, who lived close to Darnley Castle between Glasgow and Paisley.
James Stewart of Cardonald to the Earl of Lennox.
My Lord
After my most hearty commendams of servaunce, plesit your Lordship to be remembered the last time that your Lordship’s servant, Master Naskit [Nisbit] was in the country, I advertised your Lordship and my Lady’s Grace your best remedy that I could find touching your Lordship’s affairs in this country, of the which I had no response again, which made belief, as it show indeed, that your Lordship would not proceed no farther at that time; and now the occasion presents that your Lordship may with great honour come to your own.
The great revenge that ye might have of your enemies, which time presently if your Lordship contents not ye sall never come to it again, considering the great occasion it offers of itself. And if your Lordship think it expedient to have the matter dressed, let me knawe your mind either by write or by some special servant whom your Lordship gives credence to, and I trust in God to bring the matter to sic past that your Lordship sall be contented therewith. Referring the rest to your wisdom and discretion, for, as to my part, as sall be evermore ready to do your Lordship the best service I can that your Lordship can require of me. This, after my most humble commendations to my Lady Grace, my Lord Darnely, I pray God have your Lordship and them both in his keeping.1
It remains uncertain as to which side the Laird of Cardonald was representing. Mary of Lorraine, as reported by de Noailles to Matthew’s servant and French agent, Laurence Nisbet, was offering favourable terms. But Sir Walter Scott believed it to have been a feeler from the Congregation Lords.
Matthew and Margaret, suspicious of both parties, refusing to commit themselves, instead played a waiting game. Nesbit is claimed to have approached de Noailles, the one person they believed they could trust, who advised him to write to Francis and Mary asking for the return of their Scottish estates. The veracity of this seems uncertain as Nisbet reputedly offered their sons, Henry and the little Charles, as hostages, an arrangement which, in the light of their known adoration, particularly of their eldest son, seems unlikely in the extreme.
Whatever the truth of these proceedings, the knowledge that the Lennoxes, through Nisbet, were claiming their eldest son to be heir presumptive to the throne of England, somehow reached Queen Elizabeth, presumably through her secretary William Cecil. Matthew was on the point of writing to Cecil, asking him to put forward his request to the Queen for a passport for himself and her cousin, his wife, to go to Scotland. Once there, he assured Cecil, ‘no one could or would do her Majesty better service than they.’
In confirmation of their intentions, Matthew enclosed a letter from Mary of Lorraine, the Queen Regent, then besieged in Edinburgh Castle by the Lords of the Congregation, enforced by an English army. Desperate for assistance, she tried to bribe them to return to Scotland. To Matthew she offered the rank and estates of Châtelhérault, now denounced as a rebel, and to Margaret the lands and titles of her late father Angus.2
On presenting Matthew’s letter containing the enclosure to Cecil, Laurence Nisbet was promptly put into the Tower.
On word of this reaching Settrington, Matthew immediately wrote again to Cecil, apologising for his servant and exonerating himself from any complicity in Nisbet’s dealing with de Noailles. Nisbet, although interrogated, did not reveal anything of importance. Eventually released, he was certainly with Matthew on a night that neither would forget.
Notes
1 Dadler’s State Papers, Vol.I, pp.655–6
2 Privy Council to the Duke of Norfolk, January 1559–60
29
OF SOOTHSAYERS AND SPIES
Margaret got news of the court from a friend, who, careful not to put anything in writing, sent messages through Hugh Allan, a servant who went to and fro London on business connected with the family. At the same time Queen Elizabeth was kept informed of the goings on at Settrington by a man called Forbes, who, while in some way employed in her household, was also a spy for Robert Dudley, the Queen’s current favourite, rumoured to be her lover.
Forbes told Dudley that Margaret kept a fool in her house who railed against both Elizabeth and himself. Then he reported Margaret as saying that ‘either Queen Mary or the Queen’s Majesty Elizabeth behoved to be a bastard’ and that all the world knew that Queen Mary had been legitimate. Later, when told that Dudley’s wife had been found dead at the bottom of the stairs, Margaret had retorted, ‘It was perfectly obvious that he had murdered her.’
In the midst of all this gossip going back and forth from Yorkshire to London, came Margaret’s extraordinary prediction that Elizabeth would have a very short life. It turned out that this was misconstrued by Arthur Lallart, one of Henry’s tutors, who had tried to fathom the mysteries of the book of prognostications by Nostradamus, first published in Lyons in 1555. Lallart’s translation was in fact entirely wrong. The destruction forecast was of ‘Powlis steeple’ the steeple of St Pauls Cathedral in London, which was mysteriously consumed by fire. Years later an aged mason was to confess, on his deathbed, that he had left a pan of coals burning when he went home from his work. But in the meantime, on the same day, no less than six of Robert Dudley’s men, together with some of the Queen’s Guard, were killed in St James’s Park by what must have been a stroke of lightning.
To help pay the household expenses, Margaret was now boarding young ladies. Thanks to Henry’s closing of the nunneries, there was nowhere for young women of aristocratic families in need of accommodation to go other than to private houses. This arrangement was made through the auspices of Francis Yaxley, secretary of Robert Dudley. Yaxley had sent Henry Darnley a turquoise as a gift of friendship, but nonetheless was at loggerheads with Forbes, who continued to report all that went on at Settrington to Queen Elizabeth.
One item of news that he reported was that Lord Gaston, a friend of the Lennoxes, had arrived from France to tell them that King Francois was on the verge of death. Francois in fact died at Orleans in December 1560. Forbes then hastily passed on the word that young Darnley hi
mself had gone there to convey his parent’s letters of condolence.
What was Margaret’s reaction to the news of Francois’ death? Is it fair to imagine that the news made her breath catch in her throat? Certain it is that not long afterwards the idea formulated in her mind that the achievement of her most passionate wish had changed from a dream to reality. Henry, now approaching manhood, handsome as an Adonis, with the royal blood of Stuart and Tudor in his veins, was, as she had known from the moment of his birth, worthy to become a king.
It has even been suggested that, either then or shortly afterwards, the marriage of Mary Stuart to Henry Darnley was arranged between herself and his mother.1 This assertion cannot be verified, but Henry, on this occasion, certainly left a good impression, of which his uncle d’Aubigny continued to remind the widowed queen.
Queen Elizabeth, when this was related to her, apparently flew into one of the rages for which she was famously renowned. Her temper was not improved when she heard from Forbes that he himself had gone to Scotland, with Lord Gaston, ‘about Whitsunday last [1561] and he told me all should be well for my Lord Darnley with the queen’. To this he added that Lord Seton had told him to tell Lady Lennox that ‘he would not only spend his living in setting forth my Lord Darnley, but also would spend his blood’.2
Margaret Douglas Page 13
