[MR] Wikipedia: Murder of David Rizzio

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots,

On this date in 1566, David Rizzio, Mary Queen of Scots private secretary
for France, was murdered by a group of rebellious nobles while at supper
with the Queen.

There is no doubt that Rizzio was a social climber. He unsuccessfully tried
to gain positions at various lesser Italian courts. In 1561 Rizzio somehow
got himself attached to the train of an ambassador to Scotland, the Count
of Moretta. Being a talented singer and a competent violinist, he was able
to join the Queen's musicians where he rose in royal favor. Eventually the
Queen appointed Rizzio private secretary for French relations. He was soon
controlling access to Mary, making many enemies at court, and was whispered
to be the real father of the pregnant Queen's child (later King James VI).
As a Catholic in the newly minted Protestant Scotland, Rizzio's power and
influence were both hated and feared.

Chief among Rizzio's enemies was the Queen's husband, Henry Stuart,
generally known to history as Lord Darnley. Mary had taken a dislike to
Darnley, who had turned out to be a vain and power-hungry drunkard. She
denied him the Crown Matrimonial and minimized his influence at court.

On the night of 9 March 1566, Darnley led a group of his disgruntled
supporters into Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh where they overpowered the
guards. The rebels then forced their way into the Queen's quarters where
she and Rizzio were dining. As Darnley restrained Queen Mary, Rizzio was
dragged into an adjacent room and daggered in the true Scottish style 56 or
57 times (accounts vary, but Rizzio was by then well past counting).

Rizzio's murder caused a major fracas in the government, as several of the
rebels held important postions. Most fled to England. Darnley definitely
remained in Scotland. Bad move, Henry! On the night of 9 February 1567 a
gunpowder explosion ripped through his house at Kirk o' Field. The next
morning, Darnley and his valet were found nearby. They had been strangled,
not blown up with the house.

Suspicion fell upon James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who had become the
Queen's favorite, and would soon be her next husband (and
another turkey--he was already married). Charges against Bothwell were
never proven, nor was the Queen's complicity in Darnley's murder. Darnley's
death, and  Mary's hasty marriage to Bothwell were the last straw for the
Scots. She was later arrested and deposed in favor of her infant son James.

A short biography on David Rizzio is at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rizzio .

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆