Quotes from John Guy

On this the young Mary asserted herself, adamantly refusing to be detached from the main body of the court for very long.

Within a year, the cardinal's estimates were shown to be woefully inadequate, and Parois was up in arms.

For example, more baggage animals were needed because Mary's bed often arrived late at its destination.

She had been forced to borrow beds, which was humiliating.

His grandfather had risen on the battlefield, was promoted to an earldom and given Bothwell Castle in Lanarkshire.

he exchanged it for the Hermitage, a vast and isolated border citadel in the valley of the Hermitage

She especially yearned for her son. She could glean little news of him

She was not allowed to write to him

The exchange turned the Hepburns into powerful border lords.

In England, Maitland continued to Mary, there were "three factions": the Catholics, the Protestants, and the queen.

James's first letter to his mother appears to have been written as late as March 1585, when he was eighteen.

The Hermitage was a key location

Mary was not even English, so how could she be accountable to the queen of England or to English judges?

from which the western and central sectors of the border with England were controlled

Her son, Prince James

Patrick was a Scottish patriot: pro-French and anti-English, but also an opportunist who flirted with England

Mary and Francis had not even been consulted about its terms

The baby, when he finally arrived, was in excellent health. Mary was exhausted but triumphant.

I am settled," she said, "in the ancient Roman Catholic religion, and mind to spend my blood in defense of it.

Gossip said he was a royal bastard.

Madam, change your opinion and repent you of your former wickedness, and settle your faith only in Jesus Christ

although his mother was briefly one of James IV's mistresses.

This was not the way to speak to a queen. Mary, visibly coloring, ordered him to be silent.

Mary always preferred to ride on horseback rather than be carried in a litter or a coach