Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

After almost nineteen years in English custody, Mary, Queen of Scots was convicted of involvement in the Babington Plot against Elizabeth I. The government treated the conspiracy as proof that Mary remained a focus for schemes to replace the Protestant queen.

Mary was executed at Fotheringhay Castle on 8 February 1587. Her death removed a dynastic rival but intensified international and confessional hostility during the worsening confrontation between England and Catholic powers.

Steven Veerapen’s Queen’s Jewel is set in London after Mary’s execution and uses the political anxiety surrounding Catholic plots and succession claims as the background to Christopher Marlowe’s fictional intelligence work.