Political Background
On 15 June 1567, the Earl of Moray, Mary's half brother, led a rebellion against Queen Mary. The Queen's husband, Lord Darnley, had recently been killed in mysterious circumstances at the Kirk o'Field in Edinburgh, and she had quickly married the Earl of Bothwell.
Mary surrendered at the Battle of Carberry Hill, was imprisoned and abdicated. Her son was crowned as James VI of Scotland and Moray ruled as the Regent of Scotland. Mary escaped and made her way to England. Her status was uncertain, as she had been accused of crimes and misrule. Elizabeth I of England ordered an inquiry into the question of whether Queen Mary should be tried for the murder of Darnley; the accusers were the Scottish Lords who had deposed Queen Mary the year before.
Read more about this topic: Casket Letters
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or background:
“Politics is, as it were, the gizzard of society, full of grit and gravel, and the two political parties are its two opposite halves,—sometimes split into quarters, it may be, which grind on each other.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)