Queen Mary to Chateauneuf, end of July 1586, Chartley:
“In consequence of the small satisfaction which I receive in all that concerns my condition here, I am constrained once for all to represent by you to the Queen of England my very strong complaints in this respect, seeing that the more passively I have endured all this time to give proof to her of the determination which I had in complying in all and by all with her, so much the more they reduce me step by step to the utmost distress, without any regard to my rank and without consideration of the infirm and pitiful condition to which eighteen years of imprisonment have brought me, or recollection of the promises which the said Queen has made to me to the contrary. So that it appears that my enemies, who in expectation of my death being at hand, in my sickness had last summer slightly relaxed their rage against me, wish to retrace their former steps to hasten by evil and unworthy treatment that which they do not wish or are unable to execute otherwise, lest they make themselves openly culpable.
“I have constantly during the space of four years courted the Queen of England by the most advantageous overtures and endeavours and correspondence to come to the point of some good agreement with her, and at last I sent to her my secretary in a manner with carte blanche.
“I made such offers to her that herself and those of her Council wrote to me they could desire nothing more on my part; and in sooth there never was seen nor heard of a Sovereign prince imprisoned, rightfully or wrongfully, who has redeemed his liberty on conditions so unreasonable for himself. Not only has there been nothing further done with regard to my propositions for my liberation as I had been assured of it, but almost nothing of that which had been promised has been performed to me. Instead of the mission of certain of my servants to my son, which had been granted to me in order to make an end with him of the hindrance which they alleged he made to my treaty of liberation, and which they said prevented the Queen from going further into it, I have been shut up entirely out of the way and separated from him, in order the better to reunite him to our common enemies here and to expose or subject him to his rebellious subjects. For my safety in this bondage there is nobody of judgment who does not consider it less at present than in the hands of one of the peers and lords of this kingdom, of reputation, force, and power sufficient to preserve me against the attempts of my enemies whatever may happen; which has always been my principal desire since they have removed me from the custody of Lord Shrewsbury; and in that I do not mean to do wrong to my present keeper, whom in other respects I consider a very honourable gentleman and faithful servant of his mistress.
“With regard to my condition and treatment here, which the said Queen had expressly written to me she wished to do all things very honourably as far as to disclaim that of the past, I must say in a word that I find myself at the present time rather confined in a gaol than in a prince's captivity, much below me or whom they could by right of war or otherwise justly detain. I am interdicted from all private correspondence with my son, to whose welfare and preservation as I feel myself obliged to have regard, so much the more I have of sorrow and torture in being unable to render him this maternal duty in the straits and necessity wherein he very often is.
“As to my private affairs, you are aware of the severity exercised at Chartley when he came to give an account of them, so that his journey to me amounted almost to nothing.
“My servants' despatches are delivered to me with so much delay, and mine to them, that the opportunities usually slip away before I can make use of them, the necessity, nevertheless, for it being such, that I am put as they say to my last shift. The place in which I am is made so detestable by the severity which is exercised to all who approach to it even for the ordinary conveniences necessary for me and my servants, and I am seldom permitted to do good to any poor person in the neighbourhood, the distribution of my alms having been removed from me this year, that it was too apparent how much they endeavour to make me be reputed and held as some savage and complete stranger, and so insult those not only who should have some respect for me, but whoever will have anything to do with me and my servants.
“I have not until now had so much need of having a fixed residence in which I might settle myself with the conveniences requisite for my health, being but as one passing from inn to inn.
“In like manner the expenditure of my household remains, from what I hear, so uncertain that I cannot in any way check it, being always dependent on the goodwill of the person who shall have charge of me for retrenching and disposing of it as he shall think fit. The freedom promised for my exercise with some recreation has not been preserved to me, being now prohibited from going out on festival days, without considering that in consequence of my ailments, and that the time does not always suit, especially winter, I must take it when I can. Other encroachments have been made which I cannot construe, but the restriction and deterioration of my former state, instead of having it amended as they promised me: it serving no purpose to say that the time has not been suitable for it, owing to the disorders which have happened in Christendom, as they have always replied to me, except that they wish more plainly to say that they cannot find the time suitable for doing me a good act. It is unreasonable to make me suffer for that of which I am not the cause, and perchance the treaty between the said Queen and me had by it prevented a part. I had hoped that the evidence of my sincerity destroying in her impressions to the contrary would revive towards me her good disposition, and procure for me the satisfaction of passing the little of life that remains to me in the close friendship which I have always so much desired with her. But alas! I fear that the evil has gone so far as to be irremediable, however I may endeavour to place the good against the evil, my enemies being unable to content themselves with this my long-suffering and imprisonment, or that in it I may never have any peace of mind or body. And to speak still more freely to you, necessity making me thereon, to my great regret, overcome shame. I begin to be very ill attended to in my own person, and with no regard to my infirm state, which deprives me in a manner mostly of all appetite. For which if they had been inclined to allow me to supply it at my own cost I should not have made entreaty. Being more than ever entirely hopeless of better treatment and of securing my condition and rest here for the future, I have resolved to renew more urgently than ever the request I have made to the said Queen all these years past for my liberation, conjuring her in God's name, and in as far as her conscience towards herself and honour before the world are dear to her, to see to it speedily. I entreat you very earnestly to interpose thereto as far as you can the weight and intercession of the King your master, my brother-in-law, as the mediator always proposed by me in that matter. The physicians are of opinion that there are no means left for preserving my life by strengthening my nerves from the weakness of which by want of exercise all my maladies proceed, but by some natural warm baths of Italy, which, being impossible to be had in this country, it seems to me that the said Queen, in the imminent danger in which she knows I am, ought to feel responsible for the evil consequences which may arise from refusing this last and only remedy.