Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart

by John Guy

The final clause of the treaty included what might be called a surveillance clause. Despite the humiliating terms of the treaty, Francis and Mary had to promise to ratify and fulfill all of its conditions, failing which England might intervene in Scotland again whenever it thought it necessary to uphold the Protestant religion and to extirpate Catholicism and French influence from the British Isles. The treaty of Edinburgh, and especially this last clause, was a travesty. It cast a long and inky shadow over Mary’s entire career, primarily her relations with Elizabeth and Cecil. It is almost impossible to exaggerate its significance. Mary and Francis had not even been consulted about its terms, nor had Mary even agreed to negotiate with Elizabeth and Cecil as Queen of Scots. A commission, issued in the joint names of Mary and her husband, was admittedly produced in Edinburgh. But this commission was prepared on her behalf by her uncles. It was not Mary’s personal act, nor was her mother a party to the treaty. The commission merely illustrates how far their sovereignty had been usurped.