Scottish Coin Pack - Mary Queen of Scots

Product History

Mary Queen of Scots (1542 - 87). SilverTestoon (5 Scots Shillings) of Francis and Mary dated 1560. Obverse: displays the united royal arms of France and Scotland. Reverse: depicts FM monogram with the French Iis and Scottish thistle.

Born in Linlithgow Palace in December 1542. Mary became queen before she was a week old. Raised in France, in 1558 she was married to the Dauphin, who succeeded to the French throne as Francis II in 1559 but died the next year. Mary returned to Scotland in 1561 and in 1565 she married her cousin, Lord Darnley. In 1566 Mary bore him a son, James. Early in 1567 the house in which Lord Darnley lay sick was blown up by gunpowder and Darnley was discovered strangled close to the scene of the explosion. Mary and the Earl of Bothwell were accused of planning Darnley's death. Their marriage in 1567 turned the Scottish nobles against Mary. She led an army against them but on the 15th June 1567 was defeated at Carberry Hill near Edinburgh. Mary was imprisoned at Lochleven Castle, near Kinross, she managed to escape, and after spending her last night on Scottish soil at Dundrennan Abbey went to England. Here she was imprisoned for 19 years. She plotted unsuccessfully with Catholic noblemen to kill Queen Elizabeth I of England. This led to her trial in October 1586 and her execution at Fotheringay, Northamptonshire in 1587. She was buried at Westminster Abbey.

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