The Birth of Mary, Queen of Scots - 08 December 1542
- thedudleywomen
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By early December 1542, Scotland was already in the midst of a harsh winter, with heavy snowfalls and cold temperatures. At Linlithgow Palace, a Scottish royal residence built in the style of a French château approximately fifteen miles west of Edinburgh, Scottish Queen Marie de Guise, had entered her confinement, in preparation for the birth of her highly-anticipated and yearned for child (Fraser, 2010; Clegg, 2016). Marie had married the Scottish king, James V, in 1538; this was a second marriage for both bride and groom, both spouses having died the previous year. Within three years of their marriage, Marie had provided her husband with a son and heir, James, Duke of Rothesay, and was pregnant once again by early 1541. Tragedy struck in April 1541, however, when the couple's second son Robert, Duke of Albany, died only two days after his birth at Falkland Palace, Fife, with his older brother dying a few days later (Fraser, 2010).
Only two weeks before Mary's birth, on 24 November 1542, her father James, had been defeated by the English army at the Battle of Solway Moss, on the Scottish border. This humiliating defeat, coming as a response to James's refusal to break away from the Roman Catholic Church as his uncle, English king Henry VIII had done, leading to further conflict between the two ever-warring countries. James, who was not present at the battlefield, immediately withdrew; he initially visited Marie at Linlithgow, who was preparing to enter confinement, the period of isolation weeks prior to birth, before heading to Falkland Palace, where he took to his sick bed (Guy, 2019).
It has been suggested that in addition to poor physical health, James was suffering with an acute mental health episode, in response to the failure and humilation of Solway Moss. On his attending Marie at Linlithgow, she found her normally handsome and well-kempt husband to be a shell of his former self. He presented as unshaven, dishevelled, and exhausted. Emotionally, he appeared "raddled with misery" and "anguish", and with a flavour of paranoia, engaged in a tirade about his perceived enemies and those who had betrayed him. After leaving Linlithgow, James initially made his way to Edinburgh, where he made an inventory of all his treasure and jewels, before heading to Falkland Palace (Fraser, 2010; Clegg, 2016)
On 08 December 1543, Marie de Guise gave birth to her child: a daughter, whom she eponymously named Mary. Marie had made the decision to enter her confinement at Linlithgow, the same palace that her husband had been born in thirty years previously. The room in which Mary was born, was in the north-west corner of the palace, overlooking the loch which surrounded it (Fraser, 2010).
There appears to have been confusion over the years as to Mary's exact date of birth. Contemporary reports, including those by Scottish Reformer John Knox, gives the different dates of 07 and 08 December. Mary herself, in 1584, headed a letter as "December 8th the forty second anniversary of my birth". However, it may be that Mary was born on the earlier date, and that her birthdate was changed to the latter to coincide with the 'Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary', which also allegedly influenced her name (Fraser, 2010).
Fraser (2010) also believes that Mary was likely born premature, her mother likely going into early labour due to anxieties related to her husband's health. There were also descriptions of Mary being a 'very weak child', with rumours spreading into England shortly after her birth, questioning whether she would survive the first days of her life. John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, who was stationed in Alnwick, Northumberland, as Warden of the Scottish Marshes, wrote privately to Henry VIII, on 12 December, advising he had been informed that the child had not survived. However, in a further letter sent a week later, on 19 December, Dudley informed Henry that "the princess lately born is alive and good-looking".
In the days after her birth, as soon as she was able to tolerate the bitter winter air, Mary, wrapped in a robe of white Genoan-taffeta, made specifically for the occasion, was taken from the palace by her nurse, Janet Sinclair, to the nearby church of St Michael's, Linlithgow, where she was baptised in a Roman Catholic service (Guy, 2019).
An official announcement of Mary's birth was sent to her father, who remained in his sick bed at Falkland Palace. However, news that his child was not male reportedly caused the Scottish king great distress, responding "the devil go with it! It will end as it began. It came from a woman, and it will end in a woman" (Guy, 2019).
James V died at Falkland Palace around midnight on 12 December 1542; it has been suggested that despite his poor mental health, which may have contributed to his deterioration, his likely cause of death was dysentery or cholera; he was described as suffering from symptoms, a ‘marvellous vomit’ and ‘a great lax’ in the days prior to his death. However, James's physical health appears to have been poor in the last few years of his life; he appears to have suffered from a variety of sexually transmitted diseases, including 'pox' and 'fevers', likely as a result of having multiple sexual partners (Clegg, 2016; Guy, 2019).
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