Mary Queen of Scots, final letter~National Library Of Scotland

 

 MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS LAST LETTER 

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 “Sire, my brother-in-law.
Having by God’s will, for my sins I think,
thrown myself into the power of the Queen my
cousin, at whose hands I have suffered much for
almost 20 years.
I have finally been condemned to death by her and
her Estates.

I have asked for my papers, which they have taken
away, in order that I might make my will.
But I have been unable to recover anything of use
to me, or even get leave either to make my will
freely or to have my body conveyed after my
death, as I would wish, to your kingdom where I
had the honour to be queen, your sister and old
ally...

I am to be executed like a criminal at eight in the
morning.”

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 Written by a woman facing her imminent death, it’s a poignantly insightful document.
The message within the letter is extremely potent.

On top of everything else, of course, it wasn’t just any lady’s final thoughts.

It happened to be written by one of the most famous figures, in British history.

 On a cold February night in 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots was in her jail cell awaiting her fate.

Within a matter of hours, Mary would be dead, and she knew it.
Who can imagine the thoughts of a person in this position?

Well, we don’t have to speculate, because Mary recorded her thoughts in a letter......

 This note was written for King Henry III of France, who was the brother of Mary’s first husband, Francis..

And, hauntingly, it was jotted down on the very eve she was set to be killed.

She must surely have been feeling the most horrendous levels of fear and dread at the time, yet she still managed to seal her letter in this incredible way.

 The note itself is dotted with stains, possibly caused by the queen’s own tears dripping onto the page.

Given the circumstances, that seems like a pretty fair presumption.

Mary wrote bitterly of Queen Elizabeth I.

 Mary was wary of the possibility that someone might tamper and alter the letters contents, before it reached its intended recipient.

So, before she sent it away, she sealed it up in the most remarkable manner.

And the particular sealing method that she employed, meant that if anyone tried to mess with her note, the recipient would know all about it.

 The specific way Mary sealed her letter would’ve required a tremendous amount of skill and effort.

The point was to craft the seal in a way, that would force the person opening it to break it beyond repair.

In order to seal her letter, the imprisoned Mary “letterlocked” it by using a so-called “spiral locking” method.

Letterlocking was a process used to secure letters, that involved folding them up in a special way to keep their contents hidden from view.

 That makes it very difficult for researchers in the present day, to study letters sealed in this way, without destroying them.

But recently a team of experts have at last cracked the method.

And that’s allowed them to finally wrap their heads around Mary’s last letter.

 In their study of letter locking, the group of academics acknowledge this letter’s historic importance.

They write,

“The letter is a powerful and moving document
written on the eve of Mary’s eXecution, not only a
letter but also a last will and testament of sorts.

But our big discovery is that after she wrote the
letter she used one of the most elaborate, intricate
and secure letterlocking methods to seal it.

Not only that, she uses a variation of the technique
of a single large slit rather than a run of small ones,
which may testify to the limited tools she had
available in her final hours".

 Mary was just 44 years old when her dramatic, eventful life was brought to an untimely end.

Her existence had been utterly chaotic, right from the beginning.
Her short life was defined by twists and turns, and foolish choices - while her untimely death was as dramatic as her tumultuous life.

The Tudor Intruders (and more)

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 Sources - theguardian/mary-queen-of-scots-final-letter

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 Mary Queen of Scots, final letter~National Library Of Scotland