Rizzio wanted a country retreat to reflect his important position at court. The Queen tried to persuade Lord Ross to give her secretary the lordship of Melville. Although he did not agree to this request, David Rizzio was able take apartments in the castle outside Edinburgh, and so Melville Castle became known to locals as 'Rizzio's House'. The Queen was a frequent visitor.
On one of Mary's visits Rizzio planted a tree, a sweet chestnut (castanea sativa) in the grounds of the castle, as a token of his affection. The tree has survived 450 years, a magnificent specimen of enduring love. In response, the Queen planted five oak trees along the drive.
Such public displays of affection as the planting of this tree were to lead to David Rizzio's downfall. The Protestant lords, managed to persuade her husband, Lord Darnley, that the Catholic Rizzio was not only the Queen's lover but was responsible for her pregnancy. In 1566 they broke into the Queen's apartments at Holyrood and stabbed him, 57 times. A few years later Darnley was himself murdered, by among others the Queen's new lover, the Earl of Bothwell. Mary was accused of complicity in Darnley's murder and as a consequence was taken capture and forced to abdicate her throne..Although Mary managed to escape, to England, after many years of imprisonment she was executed by her cousin Elizabeth. The venerable sweet chestnut at Melville Castle remains as an enduring symbol of the Queen's and Rizzio's ill-fated mutual affection.
Well, it was a very sweet story up until the author claimed it was Mary and Rizzio's friendship that led to his death. Actually, the traitorous Scottish Lords of the Confederate army were jealous of Rizzio because he was a foreigner, he was Italian and not a Scott. He was also close to Mary and others started using him to get Mary's attention. It was also one of several plots to usurp Mary's throne. Remember, they kept her in confinement after Rizzio's brutal murder which involved Darnley and they made sure Mary knew it involved him. It was the making of a government overthrow.
ReplyDeleteAlso, claiming Mary and Bothell were lovers is pure propaganda. Moray and Maitland approached Bothwell asking him to kill Darnley. In return, he could have Queen Mary, meaning they would not stand in the way of Bothwell pursuing Mary.
ReplyDeleteAfter much convincing from Moray, Bothwell agreed. He was tired of Moray making life miserable for him and he wanted the power.
Obviously, it was part of the plan to get rid of Mary, Darnley, and Bothwell, so Moray could rule Scotland. Darnley even warned Mary that they would get rid of one by getting rid of the other and to watch out for Maitland. Maitland was orchestrating all of this.
By claiming Mary and Bothwell we're lovers, the perpetrators convinced everybody that they both killed Darnley to take the attention off of the real perpetrators. This also gave the perpetrators, the Lords of the Confederation, the excuse to imprison Mary and force her to abdicate and exile Bothwell. And of course all of this was backed by the English crown, they were funding the operation.