How should Elizabeth have dealt with Mary, Queen of Scots?

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How should Elizabeth have dealt with Mary, Queen
of Scots?

• Group assessment Year 8
• By Ashia Bedi, Eve Humpreys, Lauren McLellan,
  Rebecca Hart, Nicole Hamilton and Isabella Hanson

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The Characters

• Mary Queen of Scots claims to the throne of
  England were almost as strong as her claims to
  the Scottish throne. She was Henry VIIs
  great-granddaughter and she was the next in line
  to the English throne after Henry VIIIs
  children. That meant that Elizabeth was inline to
  the throne before her.
• Mary was catholic, so Elizabeth felt that Mary
  was a threat because she could change Englands
  religion.
• Mary was only five years old when she met her
  betrothed husband, Dauphin who was four years
  old, however he died of an ear infection.

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• Mary knew she needed an heir to the throne so
  married again to Lord Darnley, but he didnt care
  for her and she thought that he wanted to kill
  her.

• Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and the
  grand daughter of Henry VII.
• Her brother and sister had ruled before her so
  she felt pressure to do better than them and live
  up to the expectations of her father.

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The Problem

• The problem was that there was rumours and
  some small evidence that Mary Queen of Scots was
  planning to plot against Queen Elizabeth.
  Normally Elizabeth would have dealt with this
  type of problem swiftly but the circumstances
  were complicated for Elizabeth. For example-
  queen Mary was her cousin, so if she did kill her
  for treason she would kill one of her family. She
  would also be killing a queen, which she wouldn't
  want to do, because they believed that a king or
  queen is chosen by god. Unfortunately she had to
  do something so that she could stop Mary if she
  was plotting against her and to prove that she
  still had authority and power.

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The Choices

• Elizabeth had many options of things she could do
  with Mary to make sure that she would not or
  could not commit treason these options were
• Let Mary go back to Scotland ,
• This would mean setting her free and this
  could cause a problem as Elizabeth would then not
  know what Mary was doing and who she was
  contacting this could mean Mary would be able to
  plot a rebellion.
• Also Mary was hated by the Scottish
  people and might get captured by her own people
  and possibly get killed which would be a good
  thing as then she would no longer be a threat to
  the English throne and the blood would not be on
  Elizabeth's hands

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• 2. Keep Mary imprisoned in a far away English
  county. Although this would mean less security
  than the tower of London, Elizabeth would still
  be able to monitor all that Mary does and says
  whilst still giving her the chance to live a live
  outside of a prison cell .
• 3. Keep Mary locked up in the tower of London.
• This would mean Mary was out the way and all
  letters going to and from Mary could be
  thoroughly checked . Mary could be closely
  watched although plots may be made to set her
  free

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• 4. Do nothing about Mary and refuse to believe
  she is involved in any plots
• This may look like Elizabeth has no real
  power and is just letting her cousin Mary walk
  all over her. If Mary was free and unwatched she
  could easily plot to overthrow Elizabeth and
  steal the English crown
• 5. Sentence Mary to death for treason
• Although this would mean that Mary was out of
  the way forever it would always be on Elizabeth
  mind that she had committed treason by not only
  killing another queen but she would kill her
  very own cousin.

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The Decision

• We came to our decision because we all picked
  a option that we all thought best fitted the
  criteria a suitable place where she could keep
  an eye on Mary.
• Compared to the others we thought this was a
  better option as it would not have caused
  problems such as riots and rebellions. In the
  other options Elizabeth wouldnt have been able
  to have her on such a close watch and it would
  also seem as if she was losing her power.

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The Solution

• We think that Queen Elizabeth should have kept
  Mary imprisoned in a far away English county.
  This is because we think that Mary wasnt
  actually plotting against Elizabeth but her
  letters and messages to other people were some
  what altered to make it seem as if she was
  committing treason and to frame her. We think
  that Elizabeth liked her cousin and thought it
  would be unjust to kill her and so tried to make
  her imprisonment as nice as possible whilst being
  able to keep a close eye on her and still showing
  she had power over all.

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The Consequences

• There are many consequences to our
  decision.Firstly if you were to keep Mary in a
  far away English county it would mean less
  security than if you were to keep Mary at the
  tower of London but on the other hand she would
  you would be able to monitor what she was
  doing.Sending her far away meant that you could
  still know everything that Mary was doing so
  Elizabeth would still have power of her.Our
  decision would also mean Mary was out of the way.

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• Thank you for watching our presentation

We hope you enjoyed it
By Ashia Bedi, Eve Humpreys, Lauren McLellan,
Rebecca Hart, Nicole Hamilton and Isabella Hanson