The wearing of lavish jewellery and sumptuous clothing was indispensable for the Renaissance monarch. Mary had one of the most envied collections of jewels in Europe. She annotated this inventory of her jewellery with her bequests which were to be followed, should both she and her child die in childbirth.
Following the example of the French Kings, she established a concept of inalienable crown jewels extending beyond the regalia (crown, sceptre and sword). Shown here is her bequest of some large diamonds (“Groz Diamans”) to future Queens of Scotland:
For the ornament of all the Queens, who can never change their setting nor give them away but only receive them from the hand of he who looks after the said jewels with the Crown, and on their death [the Queens] will return them there to remain with the Crown for all future Queens.
For six years the Catholic queen managed to rule a country in the throes of Reformation. However, the assassination of her second husband Lord Darnley and her hasty marriage to the Earl of Bothwell caused simmering discontent to boil over into armed rebellion.
Mary was imprisoned by Scottish peers and forced to abdicate in favour of her son, the infant James VI. She escaped, but when her army was defeated she fled to England to seek help from Elizabeth I. She spent the next 19 years in captivity. Mary’s claim to the English throne made her a constant threat to the English Queen and the focus of Catholic dissent. In 1587 Mary was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow Elizabeth I. 16 year later, Mary’s son succeeded Elizabeth as James 1 of England.
This is the fourth post in a series looking at some of the most striking and interesting items in the collections of National Records of Scotland. The others on Open Book are about a 17th Century Gaelic eulogy, a plan of the Forth Bridge and a map of the Battle of Culloden.
The text of this post is taken from Treasures of National Records of Scotland, 2025. This book is available to purchase at the Scotland’s People online shop.
