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her both at home and from Henry, she soon sent her to France, where she was betrothed to Henry II's son Francis, eventually to become Francis II. These were among the few peaceful and happy years of her life. For when they were just newlyweds, her husband, barely crowned King after his father died in an untimely jousting accident, died of a brain abscess. She was now Queen of Scotland by birth, Queen of France by marriage, and Queen of England by right (assuming the Catholic belief in Elizabeth I's illegitimacy).

But though this sounds like an enviable position, the teen aged Mary was really about to be a pawn in schemes of much more powerful and experienced political players. She was despised and envied by her late husband's mother, Catherine de Medici, whose network of family and allies would prevent any attempt at her successful rule of France. She was denied entry into England by Protestant activists who sharpened the suspicion of Elizabeth. Scotland was to be the only place she could gain a royal foothold, and even there was a waiting viper's nest.

Her illegitimate half brother, James the Earl of Moray, initially invited her home thinking it would be easy to use her as the royal face for his political ambitions. He was raised in the new fervent Protestant sect in Scotland and while outwardly kind, he undermined her every attempt at legitimate control. He most likely incited the fear of the nobles against her using their fear of women and papacy.

She tried marriage as a way to consolidate her power and invite continental protection but Elizabeth forbade her to marry a foreigner. She settled for Henry Lord Darnley, a cousin also descended from Henry VII, giving him also a claim to the English throne. Their heir would have more of the desperately-sought royal Tudor blood than Elizabeth or any of her potential heirs, so she viewed this also as a threat and intensified efforts to undermine Mary's power. The first casualty was Mary's chief minister, David Rizzio. The nobles hated him because he was a foreigner and a papist, and they convinced the insipid Darnley that he may be even a threat to Mary's virtue. With Darnley the nobles entered her quarters and before the pregnant Mary stabbed Rizzio over fifty times.

Most likely one of the aims was also to provoke Mary, now pregnant with Darnley's child, into a miscarriage. Because that did not succeed and because Darnley heard the people rushing out of homes and taverns to defend her, he briefly reconciled until

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