This tragic silver casket spelled the end of an independent Scotland

The Herald Scotland

26-04-2025

Nor is it alone in its effect on those who come to see it. Our museums and galleries are filled with objects that electrify the past, whether it's weaponry and helmets left when the Romans decamped, or unique discoveries such as the Galloway Hoard, a priceless trove of Viking-era artefacts found near Kirkcudbright by a metal detectorist. Every such item brings us closer to those who lived here before, illuminating our heritage like arc lamps.
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Yet there is one object that, to my mind, outshines them all, both for beauty and importance. This is the silver gilt casket believed to have belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots, which played a crucial role in her downfall.
Arguably the most beguiling piece owned by the National Museum of Scotland, this intricately tooled casket is currently on a mini-tour, bringing it within reach of those who might never have the opportunity to visit Edinburgh. For the past six months it has been in Kirkcudbright Galleries in Dumfries and Galloway; from Wednesday until the end of August it will go on display in Stirling at the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum.
You'll rarely see anything like it. Thought to have been made in Paris between 1480 and 1506, it is of the highest quality and distinction. No ordinary aristocrat could have aspired to own something as sumptuous and costly. Sold in 2022 by the family of the Dukes of Hamilton, it is more than simply an exquisite piece of work. It is believed to be the box discovered under the bed of Lord Bothwell's tailor in Edinburgh, containing scandalous letters between the Earl and Mary. These, according to Mary's enemies, proved the couple's adultery before the murder of Lord Darnley, and strongly implicated the queen in her husband's death.
Precisely what the box contained when first seized we will never know. Among its contents were 12 sonnets (obvious forgeries, according to literary experts) and two marriage contracts, whose historical importance is negligible. Far more interesting are eight letters, their tone by turns amorous, conspiratorial and anxious. None of them is signed or dated, and anomalies in line spacing hint at tampering.
Mary, Queen of Scots (Image: free) Of these, two in particular have caused headaches for supporters of Mary. Known as the Long Glasgow Letter and the Short Glasgow Letter, they relate to the weeks when Darnley was ill with syphilis at his family's Glasgow home. During this time Mary visited, persuading him to return to Edinburgh where, not long after, he was murdered. There seems little doubt that some passages of these letters are genuine. What remains unclear is to what extent they were doctored. Taken at face value they are damning, but to this day, more than 450 years after they were found, opinion is divided as to their credibility.
The original documents, written in French, have long since disappeared, and only translated copies survive. Some assume the letters were destroyed by Mary's son James VI, which suggests either that he wanted to get rid of evidence that would incriminate his mother, or that they were such obvious fakes their discovery would make it clear she had been wrongly imprisoned, and ought to have occupied the throne he now held.
Few relics from the past are so tantalising. This bijou box would be interesting enough for its provenance, and for its exceptional medieval craftsmanship. It's hard to think of a more attractive or revealing remnant from the late middle ages, illustrating as it does the queen's wealth, status and glamour.
Yet the casket's importance goes far deeper than it appearance and association with Mary. For me it is of particular interest, since the story of the Casket Letters is at the heart of my forthcoming book, Exile: The Captive Years of Mary, Queen of Scots, which recounts the time Mary spent as a prisoner of Elizabeth I. Even though she was largely confined indoors, this period was even more dramatic than her time on the Scottish throne.
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Shortly after Mary disastrously fled Scotland in 1568 to seek help from her cousin Elizabeth I, she not only found herself a prisoner but was subjected to a tribunal to determine her innocence or guilt in Darnley's murder and whether the ruling party in Scotland, under the Earl of Moray, had illegally deposed her. During this examination the Casket Letters were produced as evidence.
Although the tribunal found neither for or against either side, Moray was allowed to return to Scotland but Mary was held captive for the rest of her life. Her death 18 years later at the hands of an inept executioner in Fotheringhay Castle, can be traced directly to the silver casket and the doubt its contents cast on her reputation.
As such, the fate of Scotland, as well as Mary's, was shaped by the contents of this elegant little box. Had she been set free from England; had she raised enough support to reclaim her throne; had her son been raised at her court rather than by fanatical Protestants who taught him to believe his mother was a heretic and a whore, who can say what direction Scotland would have taken?
Might her return have triggered a counter-reformation, returning the country to Catholic faith, with all the bloody infighting and chaos that would have created? On the day when all eyes are on Rome for Pope Francis's funeral, it is worth speculating where Scotland would stand if the silver casket had never been found.
Rosemary Goring is a Herald columnist and author. Her most recent book is Homecoming: The Scottish Years of Mary, Queen of Scots. Its sequel, Exile: The Captive Years of Mary, Queen of Scots, is published in July.