history
| Mary, Queen of Scots
THE CHASEABOUT RAID The remarkable story of how the Earl of Moray rebelled against his half-sister, Mary, Queen of Scots, to whom he had once been a close ally Words by JAMES GRACIE
ABOVE: Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-87) RIGHT: Mary, Queen of Scots, married her second husband, Lord Darnley, at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh
M
ary, Queen of Scots is one of the most famous names in Scottish and British history. She had three husbands, walked a fine line between Catholicism and Protestantism, and nearly united Scotland and France under the one crown, creating, in effect, a United Kingdom. Mary’s first husband was Francis, the French Dauphin, who later became King Francis II of France. However, he died in 1560, and nine months later, Mary returned to Scotland. She was 18 years old, a Roman Catholic and
The Earl of Moray was deemed to have consorted with Elizabeth I of England against Mary, so Mary assembled a troop of soldiers to harry him 42 Scotland
unprepared for the political and religious upheaval after the Scottish Reformation of 1560. Mary’s supporters were dismayed at her tolerance of Protestantism, while at the same time her Protestant lords feared a creeping Catholicism. She was therefore looked on with suspicion by both factions, and rumours of supposed plots and intrigues involving her abounded. James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, was her half-brother, and an ardent Protestant. Nevertheless, he became one of her most trusted advisers. For all of that, he was later to be involved in what became known as the Chaseabout Raid, a rebellion that sought to overthrow the queen. The Earl of Moray was deemed to have consorted with Elizabeth I, Queen of England, against Mary, so Mary assembled a troop of soldiers to harry him and his supporters throughout southwest Scotland and bring him to justice. It
