The illustration below was drawn in 1567 and depicts the events following an explosion in the early hours of the morning of the 10th February that year.
In the top right-hand corner, you can see the half-naked bodies of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and his servant, there's a dagger nearby. Also depicted is the ruins of the house that Darnley is said to have stayed in that night. At the bottom, the burial of the Darnley's body can be seen taking place.
A 16th-century murder mystery it certainly is.
Lord Darnley and his servant had been found in an orchard outside a house that formed part of Collegiate Church of St Mary in the Fields or as it is commonly known Kirk o’ Field. The house as you can see was completely destroyed but Darnley's body, it was said, showed no effects of the blast.
Darnley, you will know was the second husband of Mary Queen of Scot's, he was by all accounts a disreputable young man that history describes as a heavy drinker, vain, arrogant, self-centred, egotistical and violent he was also disliked by many of his peers. Despite this Mary married him in 1565, a year later he was implicated in the murder of the queen's private secretary David Rizzio.
His involvement in the death of Rizzio is not clear and the truth about his own strange death has never discovered and still remains a mystery. However, Mary and James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell were suspected of being involved - Bothwell was tried but was cleared.
Mary and Bothwell didn't help their cause, they would marry two months later, they did not wait for the traditional period of mourning to end.
Like Mary and Bothwell, Henry Stuart did not do himself any favours, but was he guilty of all the things history tells us he was or was he a scapegoat used by those who wished to see Mary off the throne of Scotland?
A 16th-century murder mystery it certainly is.
Lord Darnley and his servant had been found in an orchard outside a house that formed part of Collegiate Church of St Mary in the Fields or as it is commonly known Kirk o’ Field. The house as you can see was completely destroyed but Darnley's body, it was said, showed no effects of the blast.
Darnley, you will know was the second husband of Mary Queen of Scot's, he was by all accounts a disreputable young man that history describes as a heavy drinker, vain, arrogant, self-centred, egotistical and violent he was also disliked by many of his peers. Despite this Mary married him in 1565, a year later he was implicated in the murder of the queen's private secretary David Rizzio.
His involvement in the death of Rizzio is not clear and the truth about his own strange death has never discovered and still remains a mystery. However, Mary and James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell were suspected of being involved - Bothwell was tried but was cleared.
Mary and Bothwell didn't help their cause, they would marry two months later, they did not wait for the traditional period of mourning to end.
Like Mary and Bothwell, Henry Stuart did not do himself any favours, but was he guilty of all the things history tells us he was or was he a scapegoat used by those who wished to see Mary off the throne of Scotland?
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