Person Page 392

Mary ("Queen Dowager"), of Guise, was born on 22 November 1515 in Bar-le-Duc, Lorraine.

Mary ("Queen Dowager"), of Guise, held the title of was raised to the office of Regent of Scotland during the minority of her daughter on 12 April 1554. Henri Cleutin is said to have placed the crown on her head, although the nature of any ceremony is uncertain.[81] The eleven-year-old Queen Mary sent her congratulations to "la Royne, ma mere" ("the Queen, my mother") from the Château de Meudon at Easter, where she was staying with her grandmother and her uncle, the Cardinal of Lorraine.[82]
In many affairs, Mary of Guise consulted her brothers in France—the Cardinal of Lorraine, and Francis, Duke of Guise, both of whom held government positions in France—so that Scotland and France worked as allies in dealing with other nations.[83] Henry II's representative in Scotland from 1546 to 1560 was an ambassador resident, Henri Cleutin, who had been effectively in charge of Scotland during her trip to France.[84] During her regency (1554–60), Frenchmen were put in charge of the treasury and the Great Seal, while the French ambassador sometimes attended the Privy Council. Yves de Rubay was Master of Requests and Keeper of the Seals[85] and Bartholomew de Villemore was Comptroller and Receiver-General of Revenue. Although Cleutin seems to have been universally popular, the resentment of the Scottish nobility at these appointments fuelled the coming crisis.¹

Mary ("Queen Dowager"), of Guise, died dropsy on 11 June 1560 at age 44 in Edinburgh Castle. After an English assault on Leith was repulsed with heavy losses, some of the leaders of the Lords of the Congregation came to Edinburgh Castle on 12 May 1560 and had dinner with Mary and the keeper of the castle, Lord Erskine. They discussed a plan that had been previously discussed, in which Mary would have travelled to France and met Elizabeth in England, and her brother would have been made viceroy in Scotland. The Lords again complained about Frenchmen being appointed to Scottish government posts. Negotiations to end the siege of Leith and demolish new fortifications at Dunbar Castle continued. The talks ended when permission was refused for the French commanders in Leith to come to the castle to discuss the proposals with Mary.[106]
While continuing to fortify Edinburgh Castle,[107] Mary became seriously ill, and over the course of the next eight days her mind began to wander; on some days she could not even speak. On 8 June she made her will. She died of dropsy on 11 June 1560.[108]
On 18 March 1561, it was secretly carried from the castle at midnight and shipped to France. Mary, Queen of Scots attended her funeral at Fécamp in July 1561. Mary of Guise was interred at the church of Saint-Pierre-les-Dames, Reims, where Mary's sister Renée was abbess. A marble tomb was erected with a bronze statue of Mary, in royal robes, holding a sceptre and the rod of justice in one hand.[110] The tomb was destroyed during the French revolution.[112] Of Mary's five children, only her daughter Mary survived her.^3,1 She was buried in July 1561 in Fecamp, Normandy.