The Secret Codes of Mary, Queen of Scots

The volume of literature devoted to Mary Stuart is indeed prodigious. Few royal lives had been held up to such detailed scrutiny, as Mary's. Every document, fragment, table-talk, letter, code, or scrap of gossip has been picked over and over again, and analyzed for the fresh angles or made to fit the old prejudices. More than four centuries later, Mary continued to exert her fascination over many generations and literary mediums, from the polemics of Bishop Leslie to the historical romances of Jean Plaidy and Reay Tannahill, and the animation pictures casting Hal Wallis or Meryl Streep. Reflecting the much more objective approach to Scottish history in recent years, as the sectarian propaganda and political polemics have given way to a more systematic, scientific examination of the facts, a clearer picture of Mary is beginning to emerge. A queen from her age of only one week old, she was the subject of a misfortune to be a pawn in the game of international politics throughout her turbulent life. Queen Mary of Scots and Queen Elizabeth of England had never met in person. Yet their names and lives were inextricably woven together. This particular effort aims: (1) to retest the truth or falsehood of many legends surrounding the name of Mary of Scots, (2) to determine the type of codes in Mary's secret correspondence with Anthony Babington, and (3) to set Mary Stuart anew in the context of the epoch she lived in, beyond the mystery of Kirk O'Field's murder, or the Casket Letters.