Murder of Lord Darnley

Marian civil war (1568 – 1573) The murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, took place on 10 February 1567 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Darnley's lodgings were destroyed by gunpowder; his body and that of his servant were found nearby, apparently having been strangled rather than killed in the explosion.

The lands at Kirk o' Field were later granted to the city by charters from King James VI in 1582, specifically for the foundation of a new university, the Tounis College.

[4] On his return to Edinburgh with Queen Mary early in 1567, Darnley took residence in the Old Provost's lodging, a two-storey house within the church quadrangle.

His chamber servant Thomas Nelson mentioned how the queen and Margaret Beaton, Lady Reres would play and sing in the garden at night time.

[6]: 501  On the night that Darnley was killed, Mary attended the wedding banquet and masque for her servant Bastian Pagez and Christily Hog at Holyrood, and then visited the Kirk o' Field lodging.

The partially clothed bodies of Darnley and his servant were found in a nearby orchard, apparently either smothered or strangled but unharmed by the explosion.

The blast was so powerful, it was said, that:"The house quhair umquhill the Kingis Grace wes ludgeit, was in ane instant blawin up in the air with sic a force and vehemencie, that of the haill ludgeing, walles and uthir, their is na thing left unruinated and doung in drosse to the verie ground stane"The house where the late King's Grace was lodged, was in an instant blown up in the air, with such a force and vehemency, that of the whole lodgings, walls and other, there is nothing left which is not ruined and struck down in fragments to the very foundation stone[11]Three witnesses made sworn statements on the following day.

John Petcarne, a surgeon who lived in the same street heard nothing, but was summoned to attend Francisco de Busso, an Italian servant of Queen Mary.

[12]: 307–8 [13] Later, James Melville of Halhill wrote in his Memoirs that a page said Darnley was taken out of the house before the explosion and was choked to death in a stable with a serviette in his mouth, then left under a tree.

Melville went to Holyroodhouse the next day and spoke to the Earl of Bothwell, who told him that thunder or a flash had come out of the sky, saying "souder came out of the luft", and burnt the house and there was "not a hurt nor a mark" on the body.

[15] On 12 February the Privy Council issued a proclamation that the first to reveal the names of the conspirators and participants in the murder would be pardoned, if they were involved, and have a reward of £2,000.

[21] He swore he was innocent before an assize made of Lennox men, tenants of Darnley's father, and was hanged, drawn and quartered.

He included the detail that as they were carrying the empty chests back up Blackfriar's Wynd, they saw the Queen and her party, "going before thame with lit torches.

"[6]: 493  Thomas Nelson, a servant in Darnley's bedchamber noted that it was first thought they would go to stay at Craigmillar Castle, then the Duke's Lodging at Kirk o' Field.

When they arrived at the Provost's Lodging, Mary made her servant Servais de Condé provide hangings for the chamber and a new black velvet bed.

[6]: 501–2  George Buchanan argued in the "Book of Articles" and his History of Scotland published in 1582, that this substitution for the new bed proved Mary's involvement in the murder.

Herries, after considering the arguments of previous writers, believed that Mary herself was innocent of involvement, and the two Earls arranged her marriage to Bothwell.

A contemporary drawing of the murder scene at Kirk o' Field includes at the top left the infant James VI sitting up in his cot praying, "Judge and avenge my cause, O Lord".

This same motto and a similar image of father and son was used on the banner of the rebel Confederate Lords, first displayed at Edinburgh castle,[27] then at the battle of Carberry Hill.

It is unclear how the artist drawing the scene the following day knew to include the image of these night riders, if such they are, not known to be present until a week later.

1567 drawing of the murder scene, made for William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley shortly after the murder.
Lord Darnley in his late teens, by an unknown artist. [ 5 ] National Galleries of Scotland .
Accused of the murder, the Earl of Bothwell escaped to Norway, but was imprisoned for the rest of his life at Dragsholm in Denmark and buried at Fårevejle Church, shown above.
Old College, University of Edinburgh , replaced the medieval Kirk o' Field buildings, the Flodden Wall formed its south boundary. South Bridge street goes north over the College Gardens which had replaced the church quadrangle, in modern terms the house where the murder occurred was located at the junction between South College Street and South Bridge.