#theyear1587

On This Day In History . 8th February 1587 . Mary Queen of Scots was executed (part 2.) . . ◼ Mary was not beheaded with a single strike. The first blow missed her neck & struck the back of her head. The second blow severed the neck, except for a small bit of sinew, which the executioner cut through using the axe. Afterward, he held her head aloft & declared, "God save the Queen." . ▪ At that moment, the auburn tresses in his hand turned out to be a wig & the head fell to the ground, revealing that Mary had very short, grey hair. . ▪ A small dog owned by the queen, a Skye terrier, is said to have been hiding among her skirts, unseen by the spectators. Following the beheading, it refused to be parted from its owner's body & was covered in her blood, until it was forcibly taken away & washed. . ◼ Items supposedly worn or carried by Mary at her execution are of doubtful provenance; contemporary accounts state that all her clothing, the block, & everything touched by her blood was burnt in the fireplace of the Great Hall to obstruct relic-hunters. . . . #OnThisDayInHistory #ThisDayInHistory #TheYear1587 #MaryQueenofScots #TheQueenofScots #Scotland #QueenofScots #MaryStuart #HouseofStuart #History #ScottishMonarchy #BritishMonarchy #D8Feb (at Fotheringhay Castle) https://www.instagram.com/p/Btn79XiFWxJ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=vohjekc5l7d5

On This Day In History . 8th February 1587 . Mary Queen of Scots was executed (part 1.) . . ◼ Mary, Queen of Scots was executed following a trial having been implicated in the Babington Plot. . ◼ The Babington Plot was a plot in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, a Protestant, & put the rescued Mary, Queen of Scots, her Roman Catholic cousin, on the English throne. It led to the execution of Queen Mary Stuart of Scots as a direct result of a letter sent by Queen Mary who had been imprisoned for 18 years since 1568 in England at the behest of Queen Elizabeth in which Queen Mary consented directly to the assassination of Elizabeth. . ◼ At Fotheringhay, she spent the last hours of her life in prayer, distributing her belongings to her household, & writing her will & a letter to the King of France. . ◼ The scaffold that was erected in the Great Hall was two feet high & draped in black. It was reached by two or three steps & furnished with the block, a cushion for her to kneel on & three stools, for her & the earls of Shrewsbury & Kent, who were there to witness the execution. . ◼ The executioners (one named Bull & his assistant) knelt before her & asked forgiveness. She replied, "I forgive you with all my heart, for now, I hope, you shall make an end of all my troubles." Her servants, Jane Kennedy & Elizabeth Curle, & the executioners helped Mary to remove her outer garments, revealing a velvet petticoat & a pair of sleeves in crimson-brown, the liturgical colour of martyrdom in the Catholic Church, with a black satin bodice & black trimmings. . ◼ As she disrobed she smiled & said that she "never had such grooms before ... nor ever put off her clothes before such a company". She was blindfolded by Kennedy with a white veil embroidered in gold, knelt down on the cushion in front of the block, on which she positioned her head, & stretched out her arms. Her last words were, "In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum" ("Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit") . . . #Onthisdayinhistory #thisdayinhistory #theyear1587 #D8Feb #MaryQueenofScots #QueenofScots #HouseofStuart #History #ScottishMonarchy #Britishmonarchy (at Fotheringhay Castle) https://www.instagram.com/p/Btn7eSolJWw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1vmvfvdxv93ns