After much persuasion from Francis I and James V, who wrote a personal letter pleading for her hand and counsel, Mary eventually relented and agreed to marry the King of Scots.

Mary of Guise replaced Arran as regent in 1554, and her regency was dominated by her determination to protect and advance the dynastic interests of her daughter, maintain the Franco-Scottish alliance, and reassert the power of the Scottish crown.

On 30 October 1535, Mary gave birth to her first son, Francis,[5] but on 9 June 1537, Louis died at Rouen and left her a pregnant widow at the age of 21.

[7] Later, in 1537, Mary became the focus of marriage negotiations with James V of Scotland, who had lost his first wife, Madeleine of Valois, to tuberculosis, and wanted a second French bride to further the interests of the Franco-Scottish alliance against England.

[9] Henry VIII of England, whose third wife Jane Seymour had just died, also asked for Mary's hand in an attempt to frustrate James's plan.

"[11] This is said to have been a reference to the famously macabre jest made by Henry's French-educated second wife, Anne Boleyn, who had joked before her death that the executioner would find killing her easy because she had "a little neck".

[27] It was believed that a visit to the shrine of St Adrian could help a woman become pregnant, and Mary of Guise made a note of her pilgrimages in Scotland.

Preparations for her coronation had begun in October 1539 when the jeweller John Mosman made a new crown from Scottish gold and her silver sceptre was gilded.

Guise tried to get Sadler to intercede with Regent Arran to release her ally Cardinal Beaton from imprisonment, alleging his political expertise could be employed to mutual benefit.

In turn, Sadler relayed to Henry VIII his account of "every man's tale whereby your grace may perceive the perplexed state of affairs in Scotland.

"[41] It soon became clear to Henry VIII that Mary and Edward would not be married, despite Scottish promises and the Treaty of Greenwich, and at the end of 1543 he launched the war now called the Rough Wooing, hoping to turn the situation around.

[42] After a Scottish defeat at the Battle of Pinkie in September 1547, French military aid weakened English resolve and increased the power base of Mary of Guise, who remained in Scotland.

[49] At this time, the dedication of the Scottish book, The Complaynt of Scotland, recalled Mary of Guise's descent from Godfrey de Bouillon and claimed her courage and virtue exceeded those of the ancient heroines Tomyris, Semiramis and Penthesilea.

Mary left Scotland on 6 September 1550 and arrived at Dieppe in time to participate in a festival with the French court at Rouen with her daughter on 1 October 1550.

[58] At Rouen, Mary and the Queen of Scots rode in procession behind soldiers carrying banners depicting Scottish fortresses recently defended and recovered by the French.

She brought with her a large retinue of Scottish gentlemen, including the earls of Huntly, Cassillis, Sutherland, Marischal and Wigtown, plus lords Home and Maxwell, and the bishops of Caithness and Galloway.

At Tours in May, a cynical English observer, John Mason, who scanned the Scottish retinue for signs of dissent, reported, "the Dowager of Scotland maketh all this court weary of her, such an importunate beggar is she for herself.

Six cart loads of breech-loading cannon chambers were brought from the armoury at Leith up to Edinburgh Castle to fire salutes on her return.

In May 1553, the imperial ambassador in London, Jean Scheyfve, heard she had challenged Arran's regency and proposed James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, her illegitimate step-son, as a replacement.

In July 1554, she travelled to Jedburgh to hold a Justice Ayre for a fortnight, hoping to quell the longstanding feud between the Scott and Kerr border clans.

[88][89][90] Scotland's burgh craft incorporations rewarded Guise for this reverse in policy by agreeing to contribute to a tax used for defence, including the fortification of Inchkeith.

Some modern historians such as Pamela E. Ritchie believe that the change to Guise's policy was not dramatic, but both Catholic and Protestant would perceive and react to the tense political situation.

At the same time, plans were being drawn up for a Reformed programme of parish worship and preaching, as local communities sought out Protestant ministers.

[99] In September, the previous regent, the 2nd Earl of Arran, with the safe return of his son, accepted the leadership of the Lords of the Congregation and established a provisional government.

[102] All seemed lost for the Protestant side until an English fleet arrived in the Firth of Forth in January 1560, which caused the French to retreat to Leith,[103] the port of Edinburgh which Mary of Guise had re-fortified.

John Knox was excluded, as his published tract The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, although it aimed at Mary I of England, rendered him unacceptable to the newly crowned Elizabeth I.

[108] She lay in state in the castle for a time, wrapped in cerecloth and covered with a white sheet, on a bed hung with black satin, attended by her ladies-in-waiting.

Although the French commissioners were unwilling to make a treaty with the insurgent Lords of the Congregation, they offered the Scots certain concessions from King Francis and Queen Mary, including the right to summon a parliament according to use and custom.

[117] The treasurer's accounts do not include detail of her wardrobe expenses during her Regency (1554–1560), but in November 1557 she directed the burgh council of Edinburgh to exempt Archibald Dewar from taxes.

[119] In evaluating her life, historian Rosalind K. Marshall says:Sacrificing her own comfort, interests, and ultimately her life, Mary of Guise had fought a long, desperate, and, in the end, hopeless struggle to preserve Scotland as a pro-French, Roman Catholic nation for her daughter....Charming, highly intelligent, and hard-working, with a diplomatic manner and an ability to fight on regardless of hostility, disappointment, and ill health, Mary was never merely a pawn of the French king.