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Code breaking Mary Queen of Scots Letters Detailed Notes (Ep 360)
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The final part of an autograph letter of Queen Mary to Pope Sixtus V. Vatican City, Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Archivum Arcis, Arm. I–XVIII, 4082, fol. 3v–4r. | 23 November 1586 | Public Domain| Source Excerpt from a book published in 1850, including this image of Mary Queen of Scot's letter. Text appearing after the image in the book: 1568.) QUEEN MARYS LETTER TO THE LAIRD OF POLLOCK. | No known copyright restrictions | Source The Last Letter of Mary Queen of Scots | At 2am on Wednesday 8 February 1587, Mary Queen of Scots picked up her pen for the last time. Her execution on the block at Fotheringhay Castle was a mere six hours away when she wrote this letter. It is addressed to Henri III of France, brother of her first husband. | As well as the https://digital.nls.uk/mqs/trans1.html, Mary's last written words are available here in a https://digital.nls.uk/mqs/trans1.html. You can also read the historical background to this letter. The letter is part of the https://digital.nls.uk/mqs/ . (NLS reference: Adv.MS.54.1.1) | National Library of Scotland | No known copyright restrictions | Source 22 May 1567 | MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (1542-1587). Letter signed as queen of Scotland (‘Marie R’) to the Earl of Cassilis, Edinburgh, 22 May 1567.In Scots. Half page, 330 x 225mm, integral address panel, remnant of seal slits (small instances of loss and wear, mostly at folds and not affecting the text). Just a week after her marriage to Bothwell and with political storm-clouds gathering, Mary, Queen of Scots, summons the Earl of Cassilis to her side in Edinburgh. Addressing her 'Traist cousing and counsalour', the queen acknowledges that it is neither possible nor necessary for her lords to remain always with her, unless there be urgent cause; she orders Cassilis to join her in Edinburgh for a forty-day period between 1 June and 16 July, after which time he will be relieved of his 'Dependence' by 'uther nobill men':'As na thing is mair requisit for Us nor mair expedient for the governament of oure realme and ordouring of the co[m]monn effaris thairof, than to haif ane dalie and continewall resident counsale w[i]t[h] us/ Sa on the Uther p[ar]t we think it not possibill that the haill lordis may alwayis remane and abyde w[i]t[h] Us Neyther yit is it neidfull that thai sould sa do w[i]t[h]out heich and urgent causes occurrit/ Bot rather four and four to remane xl Dayis ay attanis in the somer season and als lang in winter w[i]t[h] oure ordinar officiaris as ye will p[er]save be the act at yo[u]r hithercu[m]ing/ The first tyme is appointit to begin the first Day of Juny nixtocum and ye haif fallin than to begin your Dependence...' In the first half of 1567 Mary, Queen of Scots was to suffer a series of political disasters that would culminate in her forced abdication on 24 July: the murder of her first husband, Lord Darnley, in February, which triggered a nervous breakdown from which she took months to recover; her own implication...
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