Quotes from John Guy

His troops forded the River Esk at low tide. When they returned, it was high tide

he was expelled from the castle by Moray and the laird and forbidden to return.

they were caught between the river and a bog.

believing that whatever else she did, she would be surrounded by treachery and deceit.

Forced to retreat by a smaller but better-disciplined English battalion, the Scots were snared.

The idea that Mary should marry Charles IX was rejected out of hand by Catherine.

her forced abdication and execution, the business on that day was regicide.

After almost eleven months of captivity, Mary was free again.

She had done everything possible to prevent Mary's execution until she felt it could no longer be avoided

She also sent a messenger to Dunbar with orders to fortify the castle in her name.

then to shift the blame for it onto the shoulders of others.

James V felt a deep psychological blow. He had been militarily and personally humiliated

Moray was in Glasgow when he heard the news of her escape.

greater in that he had been ensconced safely at a distance and was not leading his troops.

The Guise family's ascendancy was over.

Within a week, six thousand men rallied to her cause.

Within the space of six months, she had been widowed and orphaned and had lost her standing as queen of France.

Already several of the lords were defecting from Moray and joining her camp.

The result was a crushing defeat for Mary. The battle got off to a disastrous start.

Nine days after Elizabeth first offered the interview, she changed her mind.

and arranged for her to have her own household, they had run a calculated risk.

On the 16th, she embarked on a fishing boat to cross Solway Firth, landing in England

Philip II had entertained Maitland's overtures in the first place solely to counter a possible marriage to Charles IX

But her decision to cross the border was a catastrophic mistake.