When we read history books we are effectively reading about something that is over. At school that never really interested me (although it does now). What did interest me much later in life was a little letter in a modest frame in a quiet corridor in an English country house. The letter was in French, the writer simply talking about how she was spending her days, but, at one point (and I paraphrase) she mentioned that she didn’t know how the situation would end. I froze because I knew how it would end.
The letter was written by Mary Queen of Scots, now under
house arrest having been convicted of treason against Elizabeth I. The latter
was hesitant to authorise the execution since Mary was her cousin and a fellow
queen, and Elizabeth may also have feared the political consequences.
Nevertheless, Elizabeth I did eventually sign the death warrant, and Mary was
executed on February 8th, 1587, the headsman brutally inflicting two strokes of
the axe before she was finally decapitated.
As I read Mary’s letter, the history was “over” for me –
because I knew the outcome – but it wasn’t over for her, because she didn’t.
On the morning of her execution, Mary supposedly wrote
the following poem; the first line does exist in other religious works, but the
rest of the poem is only ascribed to Mary herself.
Ō Domine Deus! spērāvī in tē. │ Lord
God ! I have hoped in Thee.
Ō cāre mī Jēsū! nunc līberā
mē. │ My dear Jesus, now set me free.
In dūrā catēnā, in miserā poenā dēsīderō tē: │ In unyielding
chain, in wretched torment I long for Thee:
Languendō, gemendō, et genū flectendō,
│ In fainting, moaning, and bending at
the knee
Adōrō, implōrō, ut līberēs mē.
│ I adore, and implore that you might free me.
[i] Ō Domine Deus!; Ō cāre mī Jēsū!
Vocative case: addressing God and Jesus directly
Dominus > Domine; Iesus > Iesū; meus
> mi; cārus > cāre
[ii] languendum, gemendum, flectendum:
all examples of gerunds which describe the act of doing something
languendō, gemendō, et ¦ genū ¦ flectendō │ in (the
act of) fainting, moaning, and bending ¦ at the knee
[iii] implōrō, ¦ ut līberēs mē:
this is a subjunctive, used when you ask somebody to do something, the literal
translation being “I implore / pray ¦ that you might free
me
Image #1: Mary’s poem with a less literal translation than I’ve given above.
Image #2: copy of Mary’s death warrant, signed by Elizabeth I
Image #3: (left) Mary’s tomb at Westminster Abbey; (right) the
tomb of Elizabeth I, also at Westminster Abbey
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