Tea at Trianon: The Sordid Plot to Overthrow Mary Queen of Scots

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, March 18, 2019

The Sordid Plot to Overthrow Mary Queen of Scots

The Murder of David Rizzio

In spite of the gossip about Rizzio, Darnley was the father of James I, as anyone can see by comparing portraits of James I with Darnley's father, the Earl of Lennox. Also James' eldest son Henry, Prince of Wales, looked exactly like Darnley. The gist of the matter is that the Lords used Darnley's conflicted and jealous feelings about Rizzio to persuade him to join their plot to kill the Italian secretary. The main reason they wanted Rizzio dead was that he was a Catholic with possible connections to the Vatican. From Vintage News:

The two became bitter foes, and his suspicion towards Rizzio grew, as the young courtier became more and more close to the Queen. Add to the mixture that Mary Stuart was carrying a child at the time, and that many of the courtiers pointed their fingers at David Rizzio to be the father, although no evidence for such claims existed. Darnley was furious. Together with his father, Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox, and a number of other influential figures of the court, he devised a plot which would end in using David Rizzio as a scapegoat for his own coup against Mary.

On the night of 9th of March 1566, the conspirators decided to act. A group of 80 men barged into the Queen’s dining room, where she was having dinner with Rizzio and other confidants. Rudely interrupted, Mary Stuart quickly became aware of the gravity of the situation. One of the main conspirators, Lord Ruthven, initiated the previously orchestrated brawl while wearing battle armor. He accused Rizzio of having an affair with the Queen, emphasizing their assault as a matter of honor which needed to be settled. (Read more.)