When Elizabeth was proclaimed Queen of England in 1558 the only other legitimate claim to the throne at the time was Mary Queen of Scots. Mary was Elizabeth’s cousin, the grand-daughter of Henry’s sister Margaret, who married James IV of Scotland. This presented a problem for the Protestant Elizabeth as Mary was a strong believer in Catholicism and so provided a perfect opportunity for the Catholics to regain power in England. In 1567, Mary was forced to abdicate the Scottish throne in favor of her son James VI by Scottish nobles. After a failed attempt to regain her throne she fled to England where she was imprisoned my Elizabeth. However, her presence in England further intensified her threat to the throne. The only hope Elizabeth had of securing her throne was in the execution of Mary, this was a significant decision to make and she was not executed until 8th February 1587.

With Mary in England there was much fear throughout the Protestants of a Catholic uprising. They believed that Mary would be the center of any catholic plots to remove Elizabeth from the throne and feared a return to the protestant burnings and persecution of Elizabeth’s sister Queen Mary’s time. Many saw the execution of Mary as the only option to solve this problem and fully supported this idea. It did not take long for their predictions to come true, in 1569 Mary was involved in a plot to marry Thomas Howard the Duke of Norfolk and a northern Catholic uprising. This plot was unsuccessful, however it further strengthened the belief that Mary must be executed. Sir Christopher Hatton argues, “Her Majesty in not executing justice upon the Scottish Queen shall foster and nourish that only hope which the Catholics have to re-establish their religion within this realm.” Elizabeth however had to take into consideration the reactions of both France and Scotland to the execution of Mary. England did not have considerable military power at the time and so Elizabeth did not wish to risk an all-out war.

A number of Catholic plots followed the Northern Rising of 1659 but it wasn’t until this Babington Plot in 1586 that Elizabeth began to seriously consider the execution of Mary. Sir Francis Walsingham who was in charge of obtaining intelligence from abroad set his intricate spy network to work in gaining evidence of Mary’s involvement in the plot. Walsingham was strongly Protestant and so believed that Mary must be executed. By screening Mary’s correspondence with the plotters he was able to read her responses to Babington’s plot for killing Elizabeth and replacing her with Mary. He gained sufficient evidence of Mary’s involvement and presented this to Elizabeth. Elizabeth decided to appoint a commission to try Mary, however the outcome was inevitable, Mary was found guilty and sentenced to death. The historian S.T. Bindoff wrote “Surely she deserved the death which she had done so much to contrive for another. So thought everyone of Elizabeth’s parliaments, so thought all her ministers and councilors.” Elizabeth signed the death warrant on 1 February 1587 and Mary was executed seven days later.

Elizabeth did not share in the happiness of Mary’s execution; she grieved the death of her cousin. In Scotland there was mush anger toward Elizabeth, those on the borders raided northern England and for a time communications were interrupted between the two countries. This did not last long however as James VI quickly realized that with the death of his mother and Elizabeth with no heir he was next in line for the English throne. France also erupted in anger. In Paris the English ambassadors were afraid to be seen in the streets and were stopped from entering the French court. Military retaliation once again though did not eventuate as France was torn by internal convulsions and there was ever the imminent threat of the Spanish. Spain however was not thinking of France, the execution of Mary coupled with the English attack on the Spanish fleet in Cadiz made King Philip II decide to send an armada of ships to attack and invade England. This attack failed and England once again remained a Protestant stronghold.

In conclusion we can see that Elizabeth’s decision to execute Mary Queen of Scots was extremely significant. The consequences could have been much worse for England had France, Spain and Scotland all acted in declaring war on the island nation. For Elizabeth it was the only choice in securing her throne and preventing a Catholic uprising. This was the belief of many however it is understandable that Elizabeth was reluctant in taking such a drastic action against her cousin. Unfortunately for Elizabeth the execution of Mary did not end all plots against her, though it did crush almost all hope the Catholics had of regaining power in England.