Man thought to be David Rizzio
On this day in history, 9th March 1566, David Rizzio (Riccio), the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, was stabbed to death in front of a heavily pregnant Queen Mary.
But who was David Rizzio and what led to his murder?
John Guy, historian and author of the excellent My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots, describes David Rizzio as a "young Piedmontese valet and musician, who had arrived in the suite of the ambassador of the Duke of Savoy and stayed on as a bass in Mary's choir".1 Mary obviously took a liking to Rizzio because in late 1564 she chose him to replace her confidential secretary and decipherer, Augustine Raulet, who was a Guise retainer and the only person who Mary had trusted with a key to the box containing her personal papers. Raulet, for some reason, had lost her trust.
Rizzio was born around 1533 near Turin, Italy, and is first recorded as David Riccio di Pancalieri in Piemonte. He is known as David Rizzio, David Riccio or David Rizzo.
A Doomed Marriage
At the time that Mary employed Rizzio, she was in love (or perhaps 'in lust') with Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, a man John Guy describes as "a narcissist and a natural conspirator", a man who liked his drink and who was promiscuous.2 It is said that Darnley was even intimate with Rizzio3 Mary married Darnley on Sunday 29th July 1565 at her private chapel at Holyrood. The next day, heralds proclaimed Darnley's new title of King of Scotland.
Mary and Lord Darnley c.1565, from Hardwick Hall
Married bliss did not last long. John Guy writes of how Darnley "was cynically exploiting religion for his own political purposes"4 and that although Mary was prepared to govern Scotland with her husband as equals, Darnley "expected her to cede all her power as a reigning Queen to him" and believed that she was "his subordinate"5. This didn't go down well with Mary and by Christmas 1565 the couple were estranged, even though Mary was pregnant with Darnley's baby. A series of rows led to Mary 'demoting' Darnley and changing the legend on coinage to read "Marie and Henry, by the Grace of God, Queen and King of Scotland" instead of "Henry and Marie... King and Queen...", and also denying him of the right to bear the royal arms.
The Plotting Husband
Immediately after their marriage Darnley had started plotting to change Scotland's religion, with David Rizzio acting as one of his confidantes, and "his actions put in jeopardy the religious compromise that Mary had worked so shrewdly over the past four years to establish"7. That, combined with his behaviour in the bedroom, wrecked the marriage. Ambassador Thomas Randolph reported to Robert Dudley: "I know for certain that this Queen repenteth her marriage: that she hateth him and all his kin."8
In early 1566, Darnley began plotting against Mary. Randolph reported that there were "practices in hand to come to the crown against her will"9. Darnley was plotting with his father, Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox, and William Maitland, who had turned against Mary when she had marginalized him by appointing David Rizzio as her secretary. Lennox also managed to get James Stuart, Earl of Moray, involved in the plot. The plan was complex:
"He was to contact Moray and the exiled Lords in England, and if they would agree to grant Darnley the 'crown matrimonial' in the next Parliament, and so make him lawfully King of Scots, then Darnley would switch sides, recall the exiles home, pardon them, and forbid the confiscation of their estates. Finally, he would perform the ultimate U-turn and re-establish the religious status quo as it had existed at the time of Mary's return from France... Darnley would become King with full parliamentary sanction, Moray and his allies would be re-instated as if they had never rebelled, and the Protestant Reformation settlement would be restored."10
The success of the plot rested on there being a scapegoat, "someone to blame for misleading Darnley and orchestrating the recent swing towards Catholicism"11 and who better than David Rizzio, personal secretary to the Queen and the man who Darnley had been led to believe, by Maitland, was sleeping with his wife. Darnley felt betrayed by his former lover, who was also said to be a papal agent, so it wasn't a tough choice. As John Guy says, "almost overnight, and by a masterful propaganda exercise, the unfortunate Rizzio was transformed into the Queen's illicit lover". Maitland informed Elizabeth I's chief adviser, William Cecil, of the proposed plot and Randolph informed Dudley, neither did anything to prevent it.
The Assassination
The Murder of David Rizzio by John Opie
At 8pm on the night of Saturday 9th March 1566, Lord Darnley and a large group of conspirators (around 80 men) made their way through the Palace of Holyroodhouse to the Queen's supper chamber where she was enjoying a meal with Rizzio and some other friends. Darnley entered first, to reassure his heavily pregnant wife, and then Lord Ruthven, in full armour, entered the room informing Mary that Rizzio had offended her honour. Mary asked him to leave, saying that any offence committed by Rizzio would be dealt with by the Lords of Parliament, but she was ignored and Ruthven ordered Darnley to hold her. Mary got up angrily and the terrified Rizzio hid behind her as Mary's friends tried to grab Ruthven, who drew his dagger. Ruthven and another man then proceeded to stab Rizzio who was then hauled out of the room. Mary could not do anything to help him, she had a pistol pointed at her.
Rizzio was then stabbed multiple times, with the final blow being delivered by Lord Darnley's dagger, although he was not the one brandishing it. Mary reported that her secretary was stabbed 56 times before the gang of assassins fled. When she confronted Darnley, wanting to know why he had been a part of such "a wicked deed", he replied that she had cuckolded him with Rizzio and that Rizzio was to blame for the problems in their marriage. After this argument between the King and Queen, Rizzio's lifeless body was thrown down the stairs and Mary was kept guarded, a sentry put at her door. However, the wily Queen wasted no time planning her escape. She managed to see Darnley by himself, offering to make love to him, and then "beguiled him with soothing words"12. Mary was able to persuade her husband to escape with her, which they did, escaping to the home of the sister of the Earl of Bothwell. On the 18th March, Mary entered Edinburgh with her troops which numbered 3-5000 and, after a few days, moved into the castle to prepare for the birth of her baby. Her enemies fled to England. She had won.
Darnley himself came to a sticky end when he was murdered on the 10th February 1567. The Earl of Bothwell was implicated in his murder and he later took Mary hostage, allegedly raping her so that she would marry him. Mary, Queen of Scots married the Earl of Bothwell on the 15th May 1567.
Further reading:
- 10 February 1567 - The Murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
- 14 October 1586 - The Trial of Mary, Queen of Scots
Notes and Sources
Based on an original article from The Elizabeth Files blog by Claire Ridgway and an excerpt from On This Day in Tudor History also by Claire Ridgway.
- Guy, John (2004) My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots, Harper Perennial, p204
- Ibid., p211
- Ibid., p236; Stedall, Robert (2012) The Challenge to the Crown: Volume I: The Struggle for Influence in the Reign of Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1567, Book Guild Publishing, p. 191: "He was admitted to Darnley's 'table, his chamber and his most secret thoughts'. The would even 'lie in one bed together'."
- Guy, p. 236.
- Ibid., p237
- Ibid.
- Ibid., p242
- Ibid., p244
- Ibid., p245
- Ibid.
- Ibid., p256
The Ruthvens are my family. In America they are Ruffin. He was beheaded for this action.
Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven is celebrated as the principal perpetrator of the murder of David Rizzio, the Italian secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots. Patrick fled to England and died in 1566 after masterminding the murder of the queens secretary.
William Ruthven was beheaded for attempting to kidnap James VI in 1584
How do you KNOW this!!!
I did not know that Rizzio was sleeping with Darnley, although it is said they “shared a bed.” This implies Darnley was not only a pervert, but a homosexual. Do we have any evidence of this besides his “feminine appearance?
What terribly offensive phrasing. Our choice of words are important, Jan Abraham, in not only revealing our own prejudices but in reaching a shared truth. The sad thing is in the potential our words have in causing good or harm – ask yourself what potential good comes from such a phrasing? What harm could I be inflicting – even unintentionally?
What’s wrong with the phrasing?
“A pervert and a homosexual” is pretty nasty phrasing. You are essentially equating the two.
That’s because both are the same thing,calm yourself snowflake,we aren’t all brainwashed
Darnley got syphilis from the stable boys.
In those years, 2 men could share a bed without it being taken as homosexual behavior. Darnley could have been bisexual, but I had not heard anything about Rizzio being a homosexual.
Rizzio did not ‘sleep’ with Darnley. That phrase implies they were motivated by the same desires and not sexually. Please read the Calendar of State Papers, Domestic series for 1566-1568. The index with allow you to review all correspondence from the era for each individual allowing the reader to be informed instead of depending on embellished misinformation. The Calendar of papers is available through Hathitrust. Please, read the proper sources.
Darley was an obnoxious and arrogant s**t, wasn’t he?
will what can we do..
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Henry Stuart, Lord Darnly his mother was Douglas, obviously Stuart had close ties to the Douglas’s. James Douglas was ultimately beheaded for participating in the assassination of Rizzo. What part did James Douglas play in that assassination or was it juust revenge against the Stuart’s and the Douglas’s
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