How should Elizabeth have dealt with Mary, Queen of Scots?

1. How should Elizabeth have dealt with Mary, Queen of Scots? Group assessment – Year 8 By Ashia Bedi, Eve Humpreys, Lauren McLellan, Rebecca Hart, Nicole Hamilton and Isabella Hanson

2. The Characters • Mary Queen of Scots claims to the throne of England were almost as strong as her claims to the Scottish throne. She was Henry VII’s great-granddaughter and she was the next in line to the English throne after Henry VIII’s children. That meant that Elizabeth was inline to the throne before her. • Mary was catholic, so Elizabeth felt that Mary was a threat because she could change England’s religion. • Mary was only five years old when she met her betrothed husband, Dauphin who was four years old, however he died of an ear infection.

3. Mary knew she needed an heir to the throne so married again to Lord Darnley, but he didn’t care for her and she thought that he wanted to kill her. • Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and the grand daughter of Henry VII. • Her brother and sister had ruled before her so she felt pressure to do better than them and live up to the expectations of her father.

4. The Problem The problem was that there was rumours and some small evidence that Mary Queen of Scots was planning to plot against Queen Elizabeth. Normally Elizabeth would have dealt with this type of problem swiftly but the circumstances were complicated for Elizabeth. For example- queen Mary was her cousin, so if she did kill her for treason she would kill one of her family. She would also be killing a queen, which she wouldn't want to do, because they believed that a king or queen is chosen by god. Unfortunately she had to do something so that she could stop Mary if she was plotting against her and to prove that she still had authority and power.

5. The Choices Elizabeth had many options of things she could do with Mary to make sure that she would not or could not commit treason these options were; • Let Mary go back to Scotland , This would mean setting her free and this could cause a problem as Elizabeth would then not know what Mary was doing and who she was contacting this could mean Mary would be able to plot a rebellion. Also Mary was hated by the Scottish people and might get captured by her own people and possibly get killed which would be a good thing as then she would no longer be a threat to the English throne and the blood would not be on Elizabeth's hands

6. 2. Keep Mary imprisoned in a far away English county. Although this would mean less security than the tower of London, Elizabeth would still be able to monitor all that Mary does and says whilst still giving her the chance to live a live outside of a prison cell . 3. Keep Mary locked up in the tower of London. This would mean Mary was out the way and all letters going to and from Mary could be thoroughly checked . Mary could be closely watched although plots may be made to set her free

7. 4. Do nothing about Mary and refuse to believe she is involved in any plots This may look like Elizabeth has no real power and is just letting her cousin Mary walk all over her. If Mary was free and unwatched she could easily plot to overthrow Elizabeth and steal the English crown 5. Sentence Mary to death for treason Although this would mean that Mary was out of the way forever it would always be on Elizabeth mind that she had committed treason by not only killing another queen but she would kill her very own cousin.

8. The Decision We came to our decision because we all picked a option that we all thought best fitted the criteria; a suitable place where she could keep an eye on Mary. Compared to the others we thought this was a better option as it would not have caused problems such as riots and rebellions. In the other options Elizabeth wouldn’t have been able to have her on such a close watch and it would also seem as if she was losing her power.

9. The Solution We think that Queen Elizabeth should have kept Mary imprisoned in a far away English county. This is because we think that Mary wasn’t actually plotting against Elizabeth but her letters and messages to other people were some what altered to make it seem as if she was committing treason and to frame her. We think that Elizabeth liked her cousin and thought it would be unjust to kill her and so tried to make her imprisonment as nice as possible whilst being able to keep a close eye on her and still showing she had power over all.

10. The Consequences There are many consequences to our decision.Firstly if you were to keep Mary in a far away English county it would mean less security than if you were to keep Mary at the tower of London but on the other hand she would you would be able to monitor what she was doing.Sending her far away meant that you could still know everything that Mary was doing so Elizabeth would still have power of her.Our decision would also mean Mary was out of the way.

11. Thank you for watching our presentation We hope you enjoyed it By Ashia Bedi, Eve Humpreys, Lauren McLellan, Rebecca Hart, Nicole Hamilton and Isabella Hanson