The Murder of David Rizzio by Jean Lulves
The sixteenth century was most certainly filled with scandal, intrigue, and astonishing achievements in the history of mankind. From the tragic, unexpected death of Prince Arthur Tudor leading to the ‘spare to the heir’ Prince Henry Tudor becoming King Henry VIII to him becoming the most married monarch in British history through his famous ill-fated six marriages, there are a multitude of groundbreaking moments in British history. And the death of David Rizzio, or Riccio as he is also known, is just one of the many that left a scandalous mark on a reigning monarch.
On this day, 9th March 1566 at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, David Rizzio who was the secretary and rumoured lover of Mary, Queen of Scots was brutally murdered in the queen’s chamber right in front of the Scottish Queen. David’s murder is one that has left many questions as to the precise nature of his relationship with Queen Mary Stuart and whether his death was one purely motivated by jealousy or political strategy.
Before we explore the details following the assassination of David Rizzio, let us take a glimpse into who David Rizzio was and why his death has importance not only in British history but within the life and reign of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Who was David Rizzio?
David Rizzio (or Riccio) was born circa.1533 in Pancalieri near Turin, the capital city of Piedmont in northern Italy. He was the son of a musician and was a descendant of an ancient and noble family that still lives in Piedmont; the Riccio Counts di San Paolo e Solbrito. He is first recorded as David Riccio Pancalieri in Piemonte although he is known as David Rizzio, David Riccio or David Rizzo throughout history.
David Rizzio was considered quite a talented musician and excellent singer which allowed his skills to be retained (or employed) by the Archbishop of Turin. He then travelled to the court of Emmanuel Philibert, the Duke of Savoy, however, David Rizzio found no opportunities for advancement there and soon found himself travelling with the Duke of Savoy’s ambassador, Carlo Ubertino Solaro, Count of Moretta, on the road for Scotland as a member of a diplomatic mission from Savoy in 1561. And this journey would prove to be both a successful yet a tragic one for David as it would allow him to experience success yet lead him closer to his inevitable end.
Upon arriving in Scotland, David ingratiated himself amongst Queen Mary Stuart’s (or Mary, Queen of Scots as she is most often referred by) musicians, all of whom she had brought with her from her time in France. Sir James Melville, a Scottish diplomat and close friend of David, is recorded for saying to David that “Her Majesty had three valets in her chamber, who sung three parts, and wanted a bass to sing the fourth part.” [1].
Having encouraged David to perform for the Queen, he did exactly that as John Guy, in his biography of Queen Mary, My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots, describes David Rizzio was a “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.” [2].
Through the Queen’s patronage of his musical skills, it is clear that Mary, Queen of Scots grew to like and befriend David Rizzio as she would soon appoint him a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, and this would have been a great honour for David who was beginning to rise to elevated ranks of society. His employment in the Queen’s household meant that he was swiftly becoming quite a wealthy man and for a man of little standing to become a wealthy and arguably important man to the Queen would obviously cause other members of the court to become jealous and angry at his success.
Mary’s friendship and trust in David only appeared to deepen as in December 1564, Queen Mary officially appointed him as her confidential secretary responsible for dealing with relations with France as well as her decipherer. This position not only secured him as one of the Queen’s most highly trusted members of her court but it also meant the replacement of Augustine Raulet who was the only person trusted with a key to the box containing her personal papers, showing a clear loss of trust in Mary’s side. Despite David’s lack of knowledge in the French language, it was clear that he was chosen more for his trustworthiness than anything else. However, this would prove to anger many within the Queen’s court as David was described as ambitious, controlling in regards to access to the Queen and, as Mary’s country was mostly Protestant at this time, his Catholic faith and Italian roots made him a threat due to his closeness to the Queen. Many Protestant courtiers were already turning against Mary who was also Catholic, like Rizzio. Some courtiers even accused David of being a papal spy, meaning a Catholic spy in employment by the Pope in Rome who sought to find out information about the Protestants to either imprison or execute them.
His relationships with Mary, Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley
David’s friendship and close position to the Queen meant that he also enjoyed a close relationship with Mary’s second husband; Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Upon the tragic death of Mary’s first husband, Francis II of France, Mary returned to Scotland for the first time since infancy in September 1561. Shortly afterwards, upon the pressures of her privy council, she begun the search for a second husband as a male heir would strengthen her claim to the throne and perhaps protect her from her enemies, especially her Protestant subjects.
Out of all the suitors vying for Queen Mary’s hand, including Carlos, Prince of Asturias, also known as Don Carlos (the Prince of Spain) and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (the rumoured lover of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I), it was Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and a distant cousin to the Queen who stole her heart, or at least tempted the Queen romantically.
Although he had romanced the Queen into considering his hand, Lord Darnley has not been described as a good or honourable man. John Guy described him as “a narcissist and a natural conspirator” and although he was a Protestant (which satisfied the Queen’s Protestant subjects to know that the future King would be Protestant), this difference in religion would not work out well in Mary’s favour.
At some point during Lord Darnley’s courtship of Mary, Queen of Scots, David Rizzio became a close ally, and perhaps friend, to Mary’s intended, even offering his assistance in arranging Lord Darnley’s marriage to Mary. Considering David was a Catholic like the Queen and Lord Darnley was Protestant, it makes one wonder how close these three were to forgo religion in terms of forming close relationships and alliances. Naturally, David’s familiarity with Lord Darnley and his assistance in helping Lord Darnley become King of Scotland through his marriage permitted him access to Lord Darnley’s private chambers and secret confidence. It has even been suggested that, as Lord Darnley was fond of drinking and being promiscuous, the two men had been intimate prior to his marriage to the Queen. Historian David Calderwood stated that David Rizzio had “insinuated himself in the favours of Lord Darnley so far, that they would lie some times in one bed together”, suggesting that the two had sexual relations [3].
Whether this is true or not, some have suggested that this could have added to Lord Darnley’s later jealousy and hatred of David Rizzio’s closeness with his wife, Queen Mary, either jealousy of sharing his wife or his lover, one might wonder.
Following the wedding of Queen Mary and Lord Darnley on Sunday 29th July 1565, an immediate change in the relationship can be seen mere moments after the couple were declared man and wife as Lord Darely refused to accompany his wife to mass after the ceremony. The following day, heralds proclaimed Lord Darnley as King of Scotland, which gave him equality and precedence over his wife, which he fully intended to utilise.
Whilst Queen Mary might have been pleased well by her new husband’s sexual performance, with James Melville commenting that “Her Majesty took well with him, and said that he was the lustiest and best proportioned long man that she had seen”, marital bliss did not last long between the couple [4]. Now King of Scotland, Lord Darnley had begun to conspire against his wife and even see her removed from power as he “expected her to cede all her power as a reigning Queen to him” and believed that she was “his subordinate” [5]. The power had clearly gotten to Lord Darnley and by 1568, it was reported that the love between the couple had decayed to the point where they were estranged and the Queen was “using the said David more like a lover than a servant, forsaking her husband’s bed” [6].
It was most likely at this point that Protestant courtiers begun to exploit Lord Darnley’s jealousy of David Rizzio and begun to talk of removing him in the lead up to the deposition of Queen Mary. It did not help that Queen Mary was with child at this point and that, according to a report from French diplomat Paul de Foix, Lord Darnley found Rizzio dressed only in a shirt covered by a fur gown in the closet of the Queen’s bedchamber in the middle of the night with no explanation. If the suspicion of his wife and David Rizzio having an affair was not already present in his mind by this point, it certainly would have been after discovering Rizzio in his wife’s bedchambers if this report is to believed. Lord Darnley’s jealousy would soon lead to suspicions over the true parentage of his wife’s unborn child and he would soon make clear his belief that his wife carried David Rizzio’s child rather than his own.
The Murder of David Rizzio – The Plotting
Jealousy overwhelmed Lord Darnley to the point where he could no longer stand the sight of David Rizzio, a man he firmly believed had slept with his wife, and in the months leading up to David Rizzio’s death, Lord Darnley had begun plotting both to kill Rizzio and remove his wife from power. His obsession with having been cuckolded by David Rizzio and constant undermining of his wife only made the Queen began to sour more towards her husband as ambassador Thomas Randolph reported to Robert Dudley, a favourite of Elizabeth I (Mary’s cousin), that “I know for certain that this Queen repenteth her marriage: that she hateth him and all his kin” [7].
Soon afterwards, the ambassador also revealed there were “practices in hand to come to the crown against her will” referring to Lord Darnley’s plotting with his father, Matthew Stuart, the 4th Earl of Lennox, along with William Maitland who turned against Mary when she chose David Rizzio as her secretary instead of him. Lord Darnley’s father also encouraged James Stuart, the Earl of Moray to join the plot—Mary, Queen of Scot’s illegitimate half-brother had even turned against her!
Lord Darnley’s plot was simple:
“He [Lord Darnley] was to contact Moray and the exiled Lords [from Mary’s court] 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” [8].
As you can see, Lord Darnley was not only wanting to murder David Rizzio but he wanted to remove his wife from power (whether he would remain married to her afterwards is another question) so that he may reinstate Protestant nobles (including Mary’s half-brother who she had banished after he rebelled against her) and make Scotland a Protestant country. Lord Darnley’s written terms were that in return for murdering David Rizzio (where Lord Darnley himself would not partake i.e. actually stabbing the victim) and being crowned King rather than King consort, he would pardon the outlaws and exiles whilst greatly diminishing Mary, Queen of Scot’s power. Rendering her effectively powerless against anything Lord Darnley wished, including divorce since Protestantism allowed divorce whilst Catholicism did not. This key detail will be important for later as some believe that Lord Darnley’s murder not long after was Queen Mary’s way of escaping him without defying her religions disapproval of divorce.
It is important to note that both William Maitland and ambassador Thomas Randolph informed Elizabeth I’s chief adviser, William Cecil, and Robert Dudley, who was a close friend, adviser, and rumoured lover to the King—all of which did nothing to intervene or prevent David Rizzio’s death. Whether Queen Elizabeth I herself was aware of the plot beforehand is unknown but I suspect that, had she known her pregnant cousin had been threatened, she might have intervened, seeing as Mary had made no effort to show any interest in going after Elizabeth’s throne, as she feared.
The Murder of David Rizzio – A Queen in Distress
With all the details ironed out, the time came to carry out the plot. And so, it was on the night of Saturday 9th March of 1566 at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh where David Rizzio would tragically lose his life.
On this night, David Rizzio was enjoying dinner with Mary, Queen of Scots, who was six months pregnant at the time, and some of the Queen’s close friends in the Queen’s supper room. Whilst the unsuspecting group dined, Lord Darnley accompanied by a group of Protestant lords which included Patrick Ruthven, the 3rd Lord Ruthven, and James Douglas, the 4th Earl of Morton, approached the Queen’s chambers, ready to carry out their attack.
According to historian Claire Ridgway, the attack occurred as so:
“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” [9].
As horrific as this might sound, the gruesome finer details of David Rizzio’s murder are almost too upsetting to bear. During the attack, David Rizzio was stabbed a number of fifty-six or fifty-seven times in front of a clearly traumatised and heavily pregnant Queen Mary who would have been devastated to witness the death of a dear friend and secretary—and what is worse is Lord Darnley’s careless discarding of his victim’s body with one of the murder weapons, his own dagger, lingering in the body even as it was thrown down the stairs, as if he were a peasant so easily discarded. It is believed that Mary was even held at gunpoint as the murder took place to prevent her from intervening although Lord Ruthven adamantly denied this occurred.
Whilst Lord Darnley might have succeeded with his plan of removing David Rizzio as an obstacle entirely, he failed in having his wife submit to him as he so wished. In fact, Claire Ridgway commented that after her husband had her placed under guard, “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” [10].” [9].
Whether the distressed Queen really attempted to persuade her husband to help her escape by being intimate (something I doubt Mary, who was a heavily pregnant Catholic who believed a woman was in a sacred condition once pregnant and forbade herself any carnal relations for fear it may harm the baby), it certainly worked as Lord Darnley accompanied Mary on their escape to Dunbar Castle. Not wanting to waste any further time, the couple met with James Hepburn, the 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was a supporter of the Queen who provided her with an army of roughly three and a half to four thousand men in which she used to hunt down those involved in the coup and bring them to justice. The men involved, however, soon fled to England although they were now banished from Scotland. Though this was in no way any justice for David Rizzio, it would have given Mary some form of relief to know that the men responsible for her dear friend’s death could never return to their homeland as long as she was Queen of Scotland.
The Queen also used the army provided by the Earl of Bothwell to enter Edinburgh and move into Edinburgh Castle on the 18th of March to prepare for the birth of her unborn child. And three months later on 19th June 1566, the Queen would happily welcome her only child and male heir; James VI of Scotland and James I of England. Whilst Mary would have been relieved to have given birth to a son who, in his first moments of life, had secured his mother’s place on the throne for the time being at least, her husband would not be lucky enough to spend much time with his son as Lord Darnley was assassinated on 10th February 1567, just months later. The Earl of Bothwell was not only implicated in the King consort’s death but he allegedly was the one who carried it out in order to replace Lord Darnley as the Queen’s husband and as King consort. Additionally, Mary was also implicated in her second husband’s murder and flee to England out of fear in the hopes that her cousin would protect her. Sadly, we all know what really happened after Mary arrived in England. Poor Mary never had a chance of happiness after this point.
The Earl of Bothwell subsequently took the Queen as hostage and it was alleged that he raped the defenceless Queen to encourage her to marry him as she might possibly have been carrying his child or simply to damage the Queen’s reputation enough to enforce the marriage. Whether this allegation is truth or not, the Earl of Bothwell would soon become Mary, Queen of Scot’s third and final husband on 15th May 1567 with the marriage lasting until his death on 14th April 1578.
Sadly, David Rizzio was never given justice for his tragic, unnecessary murder and would be first buried in the cemetery of Holyrood Abbey but upon the Queen’s orders, he was later buried at Canongate Kirk, close to Holyroodhouse Palace where he tragically lost his life.
Whether David Rizzio was guilty of cuckolding Lord Darnley or not, it still did not warrant the cruel and horrific assassination inflicted upon him on this very day over 450 years ago. Unfortunately, his death was not the first nor the last of unwarranted, gruesome deaths to take place by jealous, power-hungry nobles desperate to be rid of any obstacles in their way, even if those ‘obstacles’ were not really obstacles.
Let us hope he now lies in peace alongside the Queen he served so loyally in life up until his death.
Until next time!
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
References:
Hawkins, Sir John (1778). History and Character of Scots Music, including Anecdotes of the Celebrated David Rizzio. Universal Magazine, October 1778.
Guy, John (2004). My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots. Harper Perennial, p.204.
David Calderwood, History of the Kirk of Scotland, 2 (Edinburgh, 1844), p. 286.
Melville, James (1973). Gordon Donaldson (ed.). Memoirs of his own life. New York: AMS Press.
Guy, John (2004). My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots. Harper Perennial, p.237.
Thomas Finlayson Henderson, Mary, Queen of Scots: Her Environment and Tragedy, 2 (New York, 1905), p. 654.
Guy, John (2004). My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots. Harper Perennial, p.242.
Guy, John (2004). My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots. Harper Perennial, p.245.
https://www.tudorsociety.com/9-march-1566-murder-david-rizzio/
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/r/davidrizzio.html