![MARY OF GUISE (1515-1560), Queen of James V, Regent for Mary Queen of Scots. Letter signed ('V[o]stre bonne cousinne Marie R') to [George Keith, 5th] Earl Marischal, Edinburgh Castle, 17 May 1560.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16019_0040_001(mary_of_guise_queen_of_james_v_regent_for_mary_queen_of_scots_letter_s054226).jpg?w=1)
![MARY OF GUISE (1515-1560), Queen of James V, Regent for Mary Queen of Scots. Letter signed ('V[o]stre bonne cousinne Marie R') to [George Keith, 5th] Earl Marischal, Edinburgh Castle, 17 May 1560.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16019_0040_000(mary_of_guise_queen_of_james_v_regent_for_mary_queen_of_scots_letter_s071323).jpg?w=1)
Details
MARY OF GUISE (1515-1560), Queen of James V, Regent for Mary Queen of Scots. Letter signed ('V[o]stre bonne cousinne Marie R') to [George Keith, 5th] Earl Marischal, Edinburgh Castle, 17 May 1560.
In Scots, one page, 150 x 205 mm, integral address panel, 2 contemporary endorsements on verso, traces of seal (signature slightly faded). Provenance: sale at Sotheby's, 22 June 1976, lot 18; sale at Sotheby's New York, 13 December 1983, lot 962 – Spiro Family Collection – sale at Christie's, 3 December 2003, lot 49.
A desperate message from Edinburgh Castle, in the last weeks of her life. Mary informs her correspondent that the bearer will inform him fully of her situation: 'we have th[ough]t gude to direct this berare unto yow to schaw at quhat poynt and estait we and oure freyndis ar p[rese]ntlie And to declare yow oure parte of all besynes [business] that hes laitlie occurrit'.
In the last months of her life, Mary's position had become dire: she was in open conflict against the Protestant lords, struggling with a chronic heart condition, short of money, without reinforcements from France, and Leith was under siege by an English army. The present letter must have been one of the last she wrote: her health collapsed on 27 May, and 11 June she was dead.
In Scots, one page, 150 x 205 mm, integral address panel, 2 contemporary endorsements on verso, traces of seal (signature slightly faded). Provenance: sale at Sotheby's, 22 June 1976, lot 18; sale at Sotheby's New York, 13 December 1983, lot 962 – Spiro Family Collection – sale at Christie's, 3 December 2003, lot 49.
A desperate message from Edinburgh Castle, in the last weeks of her life. Mary informs her correspondent that the bearer will inform him fully of her situation: 'we have th[ough]t gude to direct this berare unto yow to schaw at quhat poynt and estait we and oure freyndis ar p[rese]ntlie And to declare yow oure parte of all besynes [business] that hes laitlie occurrit'.
In the last months of her life, Mary's position had become dire: she was in open conflict against the Protestant lords, struggling with a chronic heart condition, short of money, without reinforcements from France, and Leith was under siege by an English army. The present letter must have been one of the last she wrote: her health collapsed on 27 May, and 11 June she was dead.
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