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Mary, Queen of Scots

This feature, Mary, Queen of Scots, is new and will grow with the the answers to frequent questions received from readers of The Capital Scot.   are welcome.

New items this week under topics marked

Mary the Woman

The Mary Queen of Scots site provides a biography, portraits, chronology links, and primary sources of information about ... one of the most fascinating and controversial monarchs of 16th century Europe.  At one time, she claimed the crowns of four nations - Scotland, France, England and Ireland.  Her physical beauty and kind heart were acknowledged even by her enemies.  Yet she lacked the political skills to rule successfully in Scotland.

Mary and Intelligence

The Rise of Surveillance [Adobe Acrobat file] (pp. 11-12), by James O. Norman, Lt Col, USAF, published by the Air University has a sort reference to Mary, Queen of Scots and her use of intelligence."From early history we know that the word intelligence was used almost as a synonym for the finding out of an adversary's intentions.  Former Director of Central Intelligence William Colby defined the 'traditional concept of intelligence' as a 'secret service which ferrets out an enemy's secret plan and shares it with a monarch so that he can win a battle.'  Also from history we know that the first spying mechanism was a human whose purpose was to infiltrate an adversary's camp, either covertly or overtly, in order to learn the potential adversary's thoughts.  As technology progressed, physical presence within the range of a person's voice was no longer the only means by which to know what an adversary was planning to do.  The technological achievement of writing opened up a whole new vista available for exploitationÐthe interception of an adversary's communiques, today known as communications intelligence or COMINT.  One of the first documented cases of such an organized intelligence effort to learn the intentions of others was the interception and the deciphering of the coded letters from Mary Queen of Scots.  

"In the 1580's the Catholic Scottish queen was in a struggle for power with her Protestant English cousin, Elizabeth I.  Mary and her conspirators had plans to overthrow Elizabeth in an effort to make England Catholic again. Unfortunately for Mary, Elizabeth's court contained a gentleman named Sir Francis Walsingham who had a great appreciation for spies and code breaking. Perhaps most unfortunate for Mary was the fact that Walsingham had formed an organized intelligence effort and had employed a preeminent code breaker by the name of Thomas Phelippes. Mary and her accomplices made the mistake of believing that their enciphering system was unbreakable even if their letters were somehow intercepted. The English intelligence effort triumph was the breaking of Mary's code and the presentation of her written treasonous intentions to the English court.  This resulted in the beheading of Mary on February 8, 1587 in the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle and the protection of the reigning British monarch.  The value of an organized and technically capable 'I' force was dramatically demonstrated.

General Information about Mary, Queen of Scots

More information may be found at the following locations on this site:
  FAQ
  Prayer of Mary, Queen of Scots
  St. Giles Cathedral

Mary, Queen of Scots - Biography, Portraits, Primary Sources - has a timeline and other facts about her life.

The official Government Web site British Monarchy is written and managed by the Royal Household at Buckingham Palace.  The site aims to provide an authoritative resource of information about the Monarchy and Royal Family, past and present.  There is a page about Mary, Queen of Scots.

The Catholic Encyclopedia's page about Mary, Queen of Scots has history and facts about her life.

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