David Rizzio
David Rizzio or Riccio was an Italian courtier and the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, is said to have been jealous of their friendship because of rumours that Rizzio had impregnated Mary, and he joined in a conspiracy of Protestant nobles to murder him, led by Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven. Mary was having dinner with Rizzio and a few ladies-in-waiting when Darnley joined them, accused his wife of adultery and then had a group murder Rizzio, who was hiding behind Mary. Mary was held at gunpoint and Rizzio was stabbed numerous times. His body took 57 dagger wounds. The murder was the catalyst of the downfall of Darnley, and had serious consequences for Mary's subsequent reign.
Career
Rizzio was born in Pancalieri close to Turin, a descendant of an ancient and noble family still living in Piedmont, the Riccio Counts of San Paolo e Solbrito.Rizzio went first from Turin to the Court of the Duke of Savoy, then at Nice. However, finding no opportunities for advancement there, he found means in 1561 to get himself admitted into the train of Carlo Ubertino Solaro, Count of Moretta, who was about to lead an embassy to Scotland. thanks to his connections with Gerolamo della Rovere and Jean Morel— the latter being the recipient of the only extant letter written by him. The Count in Scotland had no employment for Rizzio, and dismissed him. Rizzio however, had made friends with the Queen's musicians, who had come with her from France. James Melville, a friend of Rizzio, said that "Her Majesty had three valets in her chamber, who sung three parts, and wanted a bass to sing the fourth part".
Rizzio and Mary's musicians were employed as valets of her chamber and the royal accounts also call Rizzio her "chamber child". Other valets who were musicians include Adrian Lefeau, John Adesoun, and James Lauder. Mary bought matching clothes for three lute players in February 1562. One of the "sangstaris" was called Missall.
Secretary
Rizzio was considered a good musician and excellent singer, which brought him to the attention of the cosmopolitan young queen. Towards the end of 1564, having grown wealthy under her patronage, Rizzio became the queen's secretary for relations with France, replacing Augustine Raullet. John Lesley wrote that Rizzio was "a very able man of business" employed to write the Queen's "private letters in French, Italian, and Latin". Rizzio was ambitious, controlling access to the queen and seeing himself as almost a Secretary of State. Other courtiers felt that as a Catholic and a foreigner he was too close to the queen.Relationship with Darnley and with Mary
Rizzio became an ally of Lord Darnley, and helped with plans for his marriage to Mary. George Buchanan described Rizzio gaining Darnley's favour. As their familiarity grew, Rizzio was admitted to Darnley's chamber, bed, and secret confidence. David Calderwood later wrote that Rizzio had "insinuated himself in the favours of Lord Darnley so far, that they would lie some times in one bed together".George Buchanan wrote about events and plots in June 1565 before the royal wedding. He claims that Mary summoned her brother, the Earl of Moray, to meet her at Perth. There, a quarrel between Moray and Darnley would escalate, Rizzio would strike the first blow, and others would ensure Moray was killed. Thomas Randolph described this plan differently, and his version does not involve Rizzio. Moray however did not come to Perth, but stayed at Lochleven Castle. Rumours followed that Moray and the Earl of Argyll planned to kidnap Mary and Darnley as they passed by Kinross.
Before the wedding of Mary and Darnley, Rizzio was with the couple when they walked in disguise or masque costume on Edinburgh's High Street. After the marriage in July 1565, rumours became rife that Mary was having an adulterous affair with Rizzio. It was said that Mary and Darnley's love decayed after they returned from the campaign against Moray's rebellion, known as the Chaseabout Raid, when Mary was "using the said David more like a lover than a servant, forsaking her husband's bed". According to the report of a French diplomat, Paul de Foix, Darnley discovered Rizzio in the closet of Mary's bedchamber at Holyrood house in the middle of the night dressed only in a fur gown over his shirt. George Buchanan included a similar story in his History, that Darnley had a key to a secondary door to Mary's bedchamber, but found it locked or barred against him. Thereafter, he resolved to be revenged on Rizzio.
Following Darnley's murder, Lord Ruthven, in the account known as Ruthven's Relation, revealed that Darnley had described the circumstances of his jealousy to Mary. This account also focusses on Rizzio's presence in Mary's bedchamber:
Since yon fellow Davie fell in credit and familiarity with your Majesty, you regarded me not, neither treated me nor entertained me after your wonted fashion; for every day before dinner, you would come to my chamber and pass time with me, and thus long time ye have not done done so; and when I come to your Majesty's chamber, you bear me little company, except Davie had been the third "marrow" : and after supper your Majesty hath a use to sit at cards with the said Davie till one or two of the clock after midnight; and this is the entertainment that I have had of you this long time.
The chronicle account, the Historie of James the Sext, tells the story in a different way, asserting that Mary's secretary, William Maitland of Lethington, was jealous of Rizzio's increasing power. Maitland made Darnley jealous of Rizzio, hoping that the naive king-consort would destroy his rival.
Wealth, possessions and costume
His annual salary for the post of valet was 150 Francs or £75 Scots. The sum was paid from the "Thirds of Benefices" as were some other household expenses, and not through the treasurer's accounts. In 1565, Rizzio received £80 in four installments paid by George Wishart of Drymme.Mary gave him gifts of rich fabric from her wardrobe, including black velvet figured with gold, and five pieces of gold cloth figured with scales. It was said that Rizzio took bribes. William Douglas of Lochleven wrote that he offered Rizzio £5,000 to prevent the forfeit of the Earl of Moray, but Rizzio refused saying he would not act for £20,000. Rizzio's involvement with pardons for the Chaseabout rebels sparked Darnley's envy.
According to a letter of Thomas Randolph, Rizzio took part in a costumed masque in February 1566, celebrating the arrival of Nicolas d'Angennes, seigneur de Rambouillet, who brought the Order of Saint Michael for Darnley.
Mary had given Rizzio £200 in January 1566 to refurbish his chamber at Holyrood Palace. After his murder, it was noted that Rizzio had been living in wealthy circumstances. He was said to have £2,000 Sterling in gold coins, good clothing including 18 pairs of velvet hose, and his chamber at Holyroodhouse was well-furnished with a variety of hand-guns described as daggs, pistolets, and arquebuses, and 22 swords. He was said to be wearing a very rich jewel at his neck when he was killed, and was wearing a satin doublet and a furred damask night gown, perhaps the garment mentioned in the earlier French report.
Murder
Jealousy precipitated Rizzio's murder in the Queen's supper chamber in the Palace of Holyroodhouse at 8 o'clock on Saturday, 9 March 1566. Mary, Rizzio, Jean Stewart, Countess of Argyll, Robert Beaton of Creich and Arthur Erskine were seated at the supper table. Darnley, according to James Melville of Halhill, was leaning on Mary's chair. The supper room, which still exists as part of the bedchamber, and was then "a cabinet about XII foot square, in the same a little low reposinge bedde, and a table" according to an account of the murder written by Francis, Earl of Bedford, and Thomas Randolph. The room had been decorated by Mary's servant Servais de Condé.On the night of the murder the royal guards were overpowered and the palace was turned over to the control of the rebels. According to James Melville, the Earls of Bothwell and Huntly escaped from the palace by jumping from the window into the "little garden where the lions are lodged". The Queen was six months pregnant at the time, and some accused Rizzio of having impregnated her. The rebels burst into the supper room, led by Lord Ruthven and George Douglas, and demanded that Rizzio be handed over. The Queen refused. Rizzio then hid behind Mary, or held her about the waist, but was nevertheless seized.
Mary would allege that one of the intruders, Patrick Bellenden, pointed his gun at her pregnant belly, while Andrew Ker of Faldonside threatened to stab her. Lord Ruthven denied this. Anthony Standen later wrote that Bellenden drew his dagger at the Queen's left side and Standen disarmed him, while another man had a snaphance pistol which failed to fire.
After this violent struggle, Rizzio was dragged through the bed-chamber into the adjacent audience chamber or outer hall. He was stabbed an alleged 57 times. His body was thrown down the main staircase nearby and stripped of his jewels and fine clothes. The location of Rizzio's murder is marked with a small plaque in the Audience Chamber, underneath which is a red mark on the floorboards, which reportedly was left when Rizzio was stabbed to death.
Rizzio was first buried in the cemetery of Holyrood Abbey. Buchanan states that shortly afterwards his body was removed by the Queen's orders and deposited in the tomb of the kings of Scotland in Holyrood Abbey. This strengthened the previous rumours of her familiarity with him. Rumours circulated about the motive for the murder: that Darnley was jealous, or that powerful lords sought to manipulate Darnley and remove an irritating presence at court.
Aftermath
Immediately after the murder Mary was able to speak to Lord Darnley, and may have convinced him they were both in danger and captives in the palace. The guard around her was relaxed and at midnight the next day they escaped and she rode behind Arthur Erskine of Blackgrange, master of her stable, to Seton Palace and then to safety at Dunbar Castle. An English servant of Lord Darnley, Anthony Standen, later claimed to have accompanied the queen with John Stewart of Traquair and his brother William Stewart. Mary returned to Edinburgh with her supporters, and took up lodgings on the Royal Mile rather than return to the palace. On 21 March she had Darnley declared innocent of the murder.Robert Melville arrived in Edinburgh from London and reported back to Elizabeth and Cecil on the aftermath of the murder. He noted that Morton, Lord Ruthven, Lord Lindsay, William Maitland of Lethington, the Clerk Register James Balfour, the Lord Justice Clerk John Bellenden, and some gentlemen of Lothian, who were all suspected of having knowledge of the plan had fled. Mary wrote to Elizabeth I asking that Ruthven, Morton, and their accomplices should be returned to Scotland from Newcastle. Elizabeth asked Sir John Forster to tell them to find refuge outside England.
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and a French diplomat, Paul de Foix discussed the news. De Foix seems at first to have been misled about the events, thinking that Darnley had killed Rizzio because he found such a lowly servant having an adulterous relationship with Mary, an idea not present in the reports of the murder.
Rizzio's brother, Joseph, arrived in Scotland with Michel de Castelnau and was appointed secretary in David's place by 25 April 1566. Joseph and an Italian colleague, Joseph Lutyni, had some trouble over coins taken from the queen's purse, and in April 1567 he was accused and acquitted with Bothwell of Darnley's murder. Castelnau brought letters for Darnley, and he wrote to Catherine de' Medici to thank her, taking the opportunity to insist he was innocent of the "horrible crime".