Today in 1566 Mary Queen of Scots’ secretary, David Rizzio, was assassinated in her presence while she was pregnant with the future James VI.
At about 8pm on the night of the 9th, about 80 men, including Mary’s husband Lord Darnley, went through the palace of Holyroodhouse to the Queen’s rooms where she was having dinner with Rizzio. First Darnley came in, and went to Mary, telling her everything would be okay. Then another Lord in full armor came in, told Mary that Rizzio had offended her honor, and Mary asked him to leave. Darnley held on to Mary, who also had a pistol pointed at her, and dragged Rizzio from the room. Mary said that he had been stabbed 56 times. When she asked Darnley why he had done it, he said that he suspected she had an affair with Rizzio.
Of course, things wouldn’t end well for anyone who was part of this entire event, except possibly James, who was, of course, in her belly at the time.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th-century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com where there is an episode on Mary Queen of Scots.
Suggested links:
Mary Queen of Scots’ Cipher, and the art of hiding messages
Episode 085: Tudor Times on Mary Queen of Scots
Episode 49: Tudor Times talks about James I of England
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop. She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.