Mary Queen of Scots by Retha Warnicke Read Free Book Online Page A

mother, the Treaty of Haddington, which agreed to a permanent French military presence in the realm, moved Henry II far beyond a short-term level of commitment. On 19 June even before parliament confirmed the treaty, a French armada reached the Firth of Forth and several days later a joint Franco-Scottish army began besieging Haddington.
    Nicholas Durand, sieur de Villegaignon, and Artus de Maillé, sieur de Brézé, took four galleys from the fleet northward around the realm to Dumbarton to transport the queen to France. On 29 July Mary and her train, including four maids named Mary, representing the Fleming, Livingston, Beaton, and Seton families, boarded the galleys. Some accounts have greatly exaggerated the importance of the queen’s having four attendants named Mary, but they surely gained selection because of their royal connections and their nearness in age to her and not because of their names. Seton and Beaton were daughters of two of Mary of Guise’s French attendants; Fleming’s mother, Janet, the widow of Malcolm, third Lord Fleming, and an illegitimate daughter of James IV, was Mary’s governess; Livingston’s father was one of her guardians.
    Although Mary was a generic name for Scottish maids of honor, these four girls were all christened Mary and were surely goddaughters of the queen mother. Godparents, especially royal ones, regularly named their godchildren after themselves. In England during Jane Seymour’s brief queenship, four noblewomen gave birth to girls christened Jane, almost certainly because the queen was one of their two godmothers. Had Jane’s young Edward been female, four Janes might well have attended him.
    Besides the Maries, the queen’s escort of some 200 individuals included three of her illegitimate half brothers, Lords James, Robert, and John, the commendators of St Andrew’s, Holyrood, and Coldingham, respectively. On board also were Erskine and Livingston, her two guardians, nurse Sinclair, governess Fleming, her spiritual advisers, and other attendants. For several days the fleet remained in the harbor, waiting for the adverse winds to change.

3: FRENCH UPBRINGING, 1548–61
    When they boarded the galleys, de Brézé promised to keep Mary of Guise informed about how her daughter fared during the voyage. On 3 August 1548 he assured her that the winds tossing them about in the harbor had not made her child sick, and three days later reported that the fleet had sailed but storms had forced its return to port. Despite this and other misadventures, such as a broken rudder, they left Dumbarton on 7 August and disembarked at St Pol de Léon near the port of Roscoff in Brittany on 15 August. 1 He reported on the 18th that Mary had been less ill than everyone else and that Henry had sent his valet de chambre , Antoine Cabassoles du Réal, to welcome her to France. 2
    Following a two-day rest at Morlaix’s Dominican convent, Mary’s party reached Nantes, where she made her entry on the 22nd. Surely following the prompting of her guardians or governess, she explained to her greeters at Nantes that she believed they were honoring her as Henry II’s daughter. When informed about the five-year-old queen’s statement, the gratified king repeated it several times, affirming he held her as his true daughter.
    From Nantes Mary and her escort traveled by barge up the Loire River, rested at Ancenis, were welcomed at Angers on 21 September, and continued on to Tours, where the joyous duchess of Guise greeted her granddaughter. On 1 October she predicted to her son, Charles, archbishop of Rheims, future cardinal of Lorraine, that Mary would become a beauty, for she was pretty, intelligent, and graceful. A brunette, she had white skin, a fine and clear complexion, small deep-set eyes, and a long face. 3 After lingering at Maille, they passed by Amboise and Blois and disembarked at Orléans to complete the journey overland.
    On 14 October they reached the nursery, which was located at the