In your opinion what are the five most key events of Mary Queen of Scots life?

Question

Summer homework. I'm not cheating. I've read a few online biographies about her and i've read my summer reading books on her, I promise. I need to make a mosaic depicting 5 key events of her life in different sizes etc. I am having trouble narrowing down what events were the most key.

For example:

Mary marries Francis

Francis dies

Which is more important on one hand she gains a throne in France on the other she loses it and is forced to go back to Scotland.

Her son James being born, yes a birth is important but how key was it in her life.

I'm second guessing myself too much, trying to make a good impression on the teacher so I can get bumped up to AP history next year. Any help would be appriciated.

Answer 1

I think these are some of the critical moments of her life.

1542

8 December; Mary Stuart is born at Linlithgow Palace

14 December; James V, King of Scots, Mary's father, dies at 31

http://www.marie-stuart.co.uk/

1543

Mary crowned Queen of Scots

1547

January; King Henry VIII of England dies

March; King Francis I of France dies

10 September; battle of Pinkie; Scots defeated by English forces led by duke of Somerset; new French king, Henry II, sends troops and money to Scotland; Mary is betrothed to Henry II's heir Francis, dauphin of France

1565  Mary marries her 19-year-old cousin Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley; aged 22

1568  Mary escapes from Lochleven Castle; Battle of Langside, Glasgow; Mary flees to England; aged 25

1568-87  Mary is held captive in various English prisons; aged 25-44

1586  Mary is tried for conspiring to kill Elizabeth; aged 43

1587  on 8 February, Mary is executed in the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire

Answer 2

Mary Scot originally desired to be a professional gardener at age 10, although was severely punished by her Father for "wishful thinking". He put her up at the top room [you know the pointy tiptop part of the castle] and was given sour milk and hot mush for a week.

Eventually she learned her lesson and started studying like a proper young lady.

The next event was around age 13. Mary had the preocupation of becoming a cook when she grew up. Often times you'd find lil' Mary chatting up a storm w/the cooks of the castle "sneaking" to get helpful tips on making a great dish.

Well the day finally came to pass when her MOTHER discovered her royal daughter doing work that was considered "beneath her".

She took the herbed baked fowl and whirled it across the kitchen and smashed poor Mary's homemade crumpets against the chapels windows. However Mary only laughed. She wasn't about to let her parents keep trying to mold her and much later in life, became the towns most wanted brothel girl at age 19.

Tune into chapter 2, tomorrow.

Answer 3

I am going to propose something a little different. Rather than pick five dates of marriage, widowhood, birth, coronation and execution, I am going to pick events of extreme personal meaning to Mary. Dates that defined her as a person or set the direction of her life.

================

(1) 14-Dec-1542 (Death of her Father) The king dies when she was six days old, making her the Queen of Scotland. It is overwhelming signifigant because she would never know a day in her life when she wasn't important, wasn't being manipulated by someone, and someone didn't want her dead.

(2)  11-Jun-1560 (Death of her Mother) At the age of 17 she is already Queen of Scotland, and the Queen Consort of France. A long standing rumour is that her mother was poisoned by Elizabeth who was crowned only a little more than one year earlier. This foreshadows her own execution by Elizabeth. In any event the loss of her mother was probably personally devastating.  The Treaty of Edinburgh, is signed by Mary's representatives on July 6 and France undertook to withdraw troops from Scotland and recognise Elizabeth's right to rule England. The 17-year-old Mary refused to ratify the treaty. Little did she know that she would become a widow just three days before her 18th birthday.

-------------

If you see the movie "Elizabeth" they acknowledge the rumour by having Elizabeth give a nod of her head as if she condones the plot.

(3) 9-Mar-1566 (Murder of David Rizzo) At the age of 23 she is married for her second time to the insanely jealous Lord Darnley and several months pregnant. Her husband has tried to cause her miscarriage, and accuses her of having an affair with her friend and private secretary David Rizzo. Mary finds the charges ludicrous especially since David is clearly a homosexual and she is several months pregnant. Nevertheless her husband murders David right in front of her in a shocking act of extreme cruelty. It certainly justifies the fact that she may have been involved in her own husband's murder less than a year later. If she had miscarried because of the stress of having a murderous husband who knows how English history might have turned out. The still unborn James was the only descendent of Henry 7th to survive.

(4) 16-May-1568 (Sets Sail for England) She has been seperated from her 3rd husband and deposed as Queen of Scotland in favor of her infant son. At the age of 25 she sails for England in a desperate attempt  to beseech her cousin for her assistance. This happy ending is not to be. She is tried and put into prison for the rest of her life, never to see her child or husband or homeland again.

(5) 27-Apr-1570 (Pope excommunicates Elizabeth) At the age of 27 Mary immediately becomes the most serious threat to the crown as long as she lives. Mary becomes the rightful Catholic heir to the throne of England. The excommunication means that people will try to assasinate Elizabeth thinking that they are doing God's work. Mary is the great hope of Catholics. Although she is not actually beheaded for another 17 years, from this point the possibility of freedom never truly exists. Although Elizabeth would probably have preferred to keep in her in captivity the rest of her life, but Mary is the center (unwittingly) of too many plots againster Elizbeth's life. The Duke of Norfolk, Francis Throckmorton, William Parry, and Babington are all executed for their part in plots to overthrow Elizabeth. Finally, Mary is executed so that the Catholics no longer have the hope of a Catholic queen. What follows is the Spanish Armada and the colonization of Northern America.