By the time Marie Stuart was born (Mary Stewart to the English) there had been an continuance over centuries of brutal combat between the English and the Scots. Constant killing. A terrible picture. Marie Stuart was only one of many such victims.
Princess Kaimi asked a long time ago how the "Stuarts" became kings of Scotland. The first High Steward of Scotland was Walter Fitzallen in the 12th century. He came to Scotland at the invitation of King David I, to continue the feudalization and Normanization of Scotland (see "Normans in Scotland" by Graeme Ritchie). He brought with him from Shropshire a group of knights whom he settled on lands in Renfrewshire, two of whom were my ancestors Robert Croc and Robert de Pollock. This band of knights had lost the "Battle of the Standard", the final battle over whether Queen Matilda or King Stephen should rule England. Walter Fitzallen and some of these knights had lived in the Shropshire area of England for one or two generations, along with other relatives. Walter's ancestors had come originally from Brittany. They had served William the Conqueror of Normandy, who took over Britain in 1066. Their ancestors in Brittany had been "Stewards" to the kings of Dol, in Brittany, so being "stewards" was nothing new to them.
Walter Fitzallen, thus at least partly of Breton ancestry, nevertheless had a Norman outlook and spoke French. He married Eschyna de Molle, an heiress from Roxburghshire in Scotland, who used her mother's name because she was her mother's heiress of vast lands, but her father's name, for the record, was de Londonis. Eschyna married at least two times, perhaps three: first to my ancestor Robert Croc, and then, after his death, she married Walter Fitzallen, and began the dynasty of men who served the king as High Steward. The name Steward was at first a title, then became a surname. After six generation of High Stewards, one of them was elected king, not without controversy, and thus began the Royal Stewarts. The spelling Stuart was used by those who associated themselves with their French background, and the spelling Stewart became more common in Scotland.
At the beginning of the Stewart royal dynasty, the kings were still elected, although usually chosen from those descended from various earlier kings of various ethnic backgrounds--Gaels, Normans, Bretons, Flemish, even Saxon. Heavy politics was played in the selection of some of these kings, politics which depended on English influence as well as the influence of the old Gaelic (and Celtic and Breton and Flemish and Saxon) families. Violence was frequent, and it continued into the days of Mary Queen of Scots. A bloody history.
The Scots should not ask for Mary's body back, as they were not helpful to her. They should send her body to where she wanted it buried, to France. Why not honor HER wishes? But taking it out of its tomb would be somewhat shocking and difficult, so why not leave it where it is, for her soul is not there; it is with God.
