Before I start with this shot, I want to refer back to yesterdays shot of the resting place of Katharine of Aragon. After I posted the shot I looked into her life a bit further and it turns out that this Thursday is the anniversary of her funeral, and Peterborough Cathedral have a weekend of events planned to commemorate it.
I also mentioned how the Church of England has developed since her death and that it has recently voted to allow women bishops. Imagine my surprise when I turned the news on last night, to learn that the first woman bishop was ordained at York Minster yesterday. I am not qualified to debate the ecclesiastical reasons why this is a good or bad thing, but I can say that it has to be right that any organisation or society affords everybody the same rights regardless of creed, colour, gender or any other orientation.
OK, onto today's shot. Peterborough Cathedral is also the former resting place of Mary Queen of Scots.
Mary was executed at Fotheringay Castle in Northamptonshire on the 8th of February 1587, she was 44. Her life had been tumultuous and highly politicised. Ultimately, it seems that she fell victim to the insecurities of Queen Elizabeth I after being convicted of plotting to overthrow her as part of the Babington Plot of 1586. Mary was denied a fair trial as she was unable to see any papers for the case against her and was not allowed a legal counsel. She also maintained a defence that she could not be tried for treason as she was the sovereign of a foreign country (Scotland) and therefore not an English subject, which was ignored. After Mary's trial, Elizabeth entrusted the death warrant to William Davison, a Privy Councillor on February 1st 1587. The remainder of the Privy Council (which included at least nobleman who had been a member of the court that convicted Mary), then decided to carry out the execution swiftly without informing Elizabeth, giving her the defence of plausible deniability. Davison was imprisoned in the Tower of London for his part in this, Elizabeth saying that though she had signed the death warrant, she hadn't instructed him to execute it.
After Mary was executed, her burial took place at Peterborough Cathedral, until her son, King James I of England (King James VI of Scotland) ordered her exhumation and reburial at Westminster Abbey in 1612.
Four hundred years later, politics between Scotland and England remain divisive, full of insecurities and a source of frustration and resentment for many on both sides of the border.
I agree with @gailmmeek and @annied both -- the history lesson is well told in your storytelling style, and that image moves nicely from the lighter curly lines to the firm lettering down to the solid ground.
Great capture love the b/w and the history lesson, as I am a visual person I really enjoyed this. Maybe I would have been a better student if they used more visual aids. i.e pictures.
i'd rather have a world with no borders, i could go on and on and politics has been such a huge part of my life for the last couple of years. the indyref became massive and still is. bizarrely i'm an anarchist at heart - not chaos but to be ruled without government. an idealist maybe... sorry did i say i could go on and on ??? ha ha i'll stop there . fantastic shot Sean :D
