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| | | From: ForeverAmber (Original Message) | Sent: 8/14/2002 6:42 AM |
After the Dauphin died, the speculation on who would be Mary, Queen of Scots' next husband was equally as intense as the interest in the suitors of her cousin Elizabeth, Queen of England. Elizabeth went so far as to offer her "Bonny Sweet Robin" as a candidate for Mary's hand. Do you think it was meant as a deliberate insult (seeing as the leading cause of death in the Dudley family tree was execution for treason), or that Elizabeth was really sincere in wanting Robert Dudley as Mary's consort? |
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It is difficult to know what Elizabeth had in mind when she offered Dudley as a candidate for Mary's consort. Certainly, the problem of Elizabeth's succession was at the bottom of the offer, for Mary refused to ratify the Treaty of Edinburgh unless Elizabeth named her as her successor. There might well have also been a bit of game-playing as well, with Elizabeth deliberately wanting to insult Dudley, and then pull her back into her circle as her favorite. It is clear that Mary found Elizabeth's offer deeply insulting. She had fallen in love with Darnley, and she married him. Dudley was probably relieved when he heard about the wedding, for I believe he had higher ambitions--to marry the Queen of England and eventually become king. I also believe that if Mary had not met Darnley and had accepted Elizabeth's offer, Elizabeth would have devised a clever way to withdraw it. She wanted to keep her "sweet Robin" in England--close at all times, but not close enough to marry and share her throne. |
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I think Elizabeth believed that a marriage between them would guarantee the peace of both realms. She believed that Dudley would never conspire against her because of his affection for her, that he would fulfill his ambitions, and Mary would have a husband, and eventually with Elizabeth’s blessing, be recognised as the heir to her throne. Mary, of course, perceived it as one more insult from her cousin. Dudley wrote Mary and denied any interest in her hand in marriage, probably alarmed at the entire prospect. He must have has genuine feeling for Elizabeth to refuse to go along with this proposal, as if elevation to prince consort were the true pinnacle of his ambition as has been said, one crown and queen would surely have been as good as another, and he would have gained Elizabeth's in the event she predeceased him. |
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I am currently reading Antonia Fraser's Mary Queen of Scots, which is riveting and reads almost like a novel. After the Dudley offer, Elizabeth allowed Darnley and his father, Lennox, to go to Scotland under the assumption that Darnley was a suitor for Mary's hand of which Elizabeth approved. When Mary became infatuated with Darnley, however, Elizabeth protested that she was not going to have Mary wed someone of Tudor descent who was too close to Elizabeth's own throne for comfort. So what was Elizabeth's purpose in dangling Darnley under Mary's nose like that if she did not want them to marry? |
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Probably just Elizabeth's usual bad case of the lady doth protest too much, methinks! She constantly second-guessed her own decisions & made many disclaimers of her intent (such as how she never "meant" for Mary's death warrant to be carried out). I think she DID want Mary & Darnley to marry & breed up heirs for her, as they were both of Tudor descent & could carry on the bloodline. She did appear to give tacit approval to the idea. When the plan came to fruition, though, she probably panicked at the notion of retaining her throne, imagining their double claim was the stronger & would be a focal point for rebellion. After all, the sticking point on ratifying the Treaty of Edinburgh had been recognizing Mary as her heir, & in Mary's previous marriage she had styled herself Queen of Scotland, France, England, & Ireland. Pity one of the queens hadn't been born a boy.....they could have married each other & solved the whole problem nicely!  |
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The way I see it, she offered Dudley (knowing full well he would be unacceptable to Mary) with the outward gesture of "here is my prized posession I offer you." (big smile - batts eyes). At the same time (in a stage whisper Ethel Murman would have been proud of) she says, "oh that Darnley boy, couldn't be a contender for Mary's hand when I have already approved of the most perfect husband, my sweet Robin!". Now, as the nursery ryhme says..."Mary, Mary, quite contrary...". I think Mary was nieve enough to think that she was doing the exact opposite of what Elizabeth wanted her to do. All the while doing EXACTLY what Elizabeth had "set her up" to do! |
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Gotta wonder, though, if Darnley wasn't already showing his true colors at the English court. I think Elizabeth, or at least Lord Cecil, knew what a degenerate Darnley was, even though he looked good. Mary was ripe to fall head over heels in love for the first time in her life, and he seemed good on paper, too, dash of royal Scots and Tudor blood, a nominal Catholic.....but the cooler heads at Windsor must have seen how much Darnley would irritate the Lords of the Congregation, and John Knox. Sending him up there would cause Mary no end of trouble. Elizabeth's game playing allowed Mary to think that she was the clever one, marrying who she wanted instead of what Elizabeth told her. Also, could it have been a test for Robert Dudley, to see if, as Greensleeves said, Robert wanted a crown, or Elizabeth. Lastly, I think almost every political act of E's was a many-layered thing. This whole thing of dangling Dudley in front of Mary, with the teaser (of course, unspoken), that if Mary married as Elizabeth wanted, she would name Mary as her heir, is a prime example. It could have been all these things for Elizabeth. |
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RIGHT ON TARGET, Terrilee! (If you are this good at hitting the target, you should try the new catapulting cow game!) |
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Mary must have really wanted to be named Elizabeth's heir, because after Darnley's death she was supposedly terrified of selecting another husband of whom Elizabeth disapproved. It was only after being presented with a virtual petition from the Scots nobility outlining Bothwell's suitability as a potential spouse, urging her to marry him, that she consented. I guess she thought that since no one had wanted her to wed Darnley, perhaps Elizabeth would look more kindly on marrying Bothwell since it had Mary's council's seal of approval. It is an enigma why Mary was so smart in some ways and so foolish in others. She never granted either of her Scots husbands the crown matriomonial as she had Francis, so deep down she must have known she was making a huge mistake! |
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Even Dudley or Darnley had to be preferable to the Catholic candidate, Charles of Spain (Mad Joanna's grandson), who had unfortunately inherited the gene for mental instability. I think she was supposed to grant the crown matrimonial to him if their marriage took place. Those rebellious Scots barons would have had a field day with a king who was not only not of the kirk, but insane to boot. |
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Mary was so "Frenchified" (and we all know how the French felt about the Spanish and vice versa) that I cannot imagine that it was ever a serious consideration for her to marry Charles. |
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