What happened at Kirk o'Field?

Answer 1

Kirk o'Field, located in Edinburgh, Scotland, was the place where Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, titular King of Scotland who was married to Mary, Queen of Scots, was murdered in the early morning hours of 10 Feb, 1567. At about 2 o'clock, an explosion at the Old Provost's Lodging shook the town. The bodies of Darnley and a servant were discovered in an orchard not far away. Both had been strangled, indicating that he was meant to die in the explosion, but something went awry -- perhaps Darnley was alerted somehow and was attempting to flee. Blame for the murder often falls on Mary herself and her alleged lover James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, but there is good reason to believe that the primary movers in Darnley's murder were several of the most powerful Scottish lords, including Mary's half-brother James Stewart, Earl of Moray and Sir William Maitland; Bothwell was certainly involved in the plot as well, and Mary may have known there was a plot against him, but was not instrumental in its planning nor probably even privy to the details. Elizabeth had political reasons for seeing that Mary was accused of the crime. Mary was a Catholic and was the closest living heir to Elizabeth, and as such was a potential focus for rebellion, especially in the heavily-Catholic north of England. Mary did not help matters when she later plotted against Elizabeth while in captivity, and was executed -- not for the murder of Darnley, but for her involvement in these plots -- on 8 Feb, 1587. Perhaps the best recent book available on the murder and the events surrounding it is Alison Weir's Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley.