I could seriously write so much on this moment alone, but as this is just a moment in time, the comic itself is far more character-driven. Which isn’t a bad thing! But now you gotta read! (Oh no….)

So let’s do a quick thang on the Auld Alliance! The Auld Alliance is the Franco-Scottish alliance officially borne in 1295, on February 23rd, though there was trade and cooperation as early as the 9th century. It was an agreement to help the other against England whenever England decided to act up against one of them. They both certainly helped each other, don’t get me wrong! But it seems like Scotland was always far more ready to help France out, no matter what, whereas France was a little more ~floof~ about it. (Shut up, floof is a word.) I’d continue on, but if you don’t already know about it, you may spoil yourself. ;) So I’ll keep quiet on the rest for right now.

You remember the last comic, right? Mary of Guise fell under attack, and told Scotland to, “Get her out.” (If not, you have to go refresh your memory!) So this comic takes place in Dumbarton, and France has come to pick Mary up from Scotland. (Quick recap: England’s waging war to force Scotland to hand Mary over so she can marry his king, and work towards taking control of Scotland.)

It’s very sad, but has its amusing moments!

So now it’s 28 July, 1548. There were a ton of tears – in the actual event! – between Mary, who was quite loved throughout Scotland as far as I can tell, and her mother. By ‘a ton’ I mean a ton. I may be wrong, but I think I read somewhere that Mary of Guise was crying so hard, they had to pull her back from Mary and take her away. (Can you blame her, though? Mary of Guise was losing her only daughter, after the death of all of her children before Mary.) I think the only thing that really comforted her was that Mary was going to France – Mary of Guise’s home country – and would be watched over by her uncles. (Which is a whole other story on its own.)

But more amusingly, you gotta hand it to little Mary. As a queen (five years old though she may have been), she had her own little group of Ladies in Waiting, right? They were all named Mary: Seton, Beaton, Livingstone, and Fleming. Popular name, huh? (Fun fact: The English ‘Mary’ - French version being ‘Marie’ - actually comes from the Icelandic ‘Maer’ which means virgin or maid.) So she and her Ladies board the ship, but don’t even get to take off right away due to storms. Aside from boredom from being on a ship for a week without going anywhere, Mary was unaffected; according to letters from de Brezé to Mary of Guise, Mary was the only one on the ship who wasn’t sea-sick. In fact, she was running around and making fun of everyone else. Oh, Mary.

LINKS:

Letters from de Brezé to Mary of Guise. It takes a bit of reading/scrolling/hunting, but they’re there!
Scotland’s ‘Auld Alliance’ with France, by Elizabeth Bonner. PDF of the whole book. o_o I think. 
Bienvenue, mes amis, à Aubigny-sur-Nère ! THIS PLACE IS SO COOL. I WANNA GO.

I may have mentioned it before, but I also recommend the biography of Mary Stuart by Antonia Fraser!

Aww yissss. WE ARE WHERE I WANTED TO BE IN JUNE, WHEN THIS ALL BEGAN.

Okay. Ahhh, sorry—I’m so excited, I’m just bouncing around everywhere okay composure I have it I swear. The beautiful lady you see up there with Scotland is none other than the amazing Mary of Guise, herself! Widow to King James V, and mother of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. This lady’s pretty cool, but that’s evident. Here’s the info you need:

1. Mary Stuart is born. (Dec. 7 (disputed), 1542)
2. James V dies. (Dec. 14, 1542)
3. Mary Stuart is crowned Queen of Scotland at … 9 months old. (1543)
4. Treaty of Greenwich: Basically, Henry VIII asks that she marry his son Edward when she’s old enough. (1543)
5. Back-and-Forth talks; this dude Arran thinks the proposal is beneficial to Scotland, but the people are like, “LOL FUCK YOU. (╯° ワ°)╯ ┻━┻” (1543)
6. Henry again proves himself to be a crybaby, and thus begins the War of the Rough Wooing to force the Scots to agree to the treaty. It lasts from (December) 1543 to 1550. (You’d think a guy with six wives would be better at this wooing thing.) When Henry dies, his son Edward continues until 1550.

(Side note: It wasn’t initially called the Rough Wooing. Instead, it was ‘coined’ in a way by George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly in Jean de Beaugué’s Histoire de la guerre d’Écosse pendant les campagnes 1548 et 1549 [History of Scottish War in 1548 and 1549], translated by Mr. Patrick Abercromby in 1707: “We lik’d not the manner of Wooing, and we could not stoop to be Bully’d into Love.”)

As the title of the comic gives away, this is based on the Siege of Haddington, in 1548. Before the English took over the area, this is what happened. (Yes, this is English.)

Now, I couldn’t understand all of it, but this is what I got from the middle and following paragraphs:

   ”On Monday, before going on to Edinburgh, the Queen (Mary of Guise) came around from behind the church to see the town. From the town came [firepower/cannon fire] and killed and injured many of those around her, likely 16 men, of one estimation. The queen was greatly upset, crying. Pedro Strozzi was shot through the thigh, his bone shattering.
   ”The Queen went soon after to Dumbarton to see the young Queen off.”

It is this attack, that Mary of Guise experiences first-hand, that confirms what she needs to do to protect her daughter; a mother will do anything to protect her child, and in this case, my friends, that is to get the wee queen Mary Stuart out of Scotland…

…And on her way to France. 

LINKS:

Bit of a different approach on the Rough Wooing. Henry VIII is scary. :(
Hamilton Papers: 1543-1590; page 603 (this is where the passage above is from)
Mary, Queen of Scots, biography, by Antonia Fraser
A picture of the siege. /o/
The quote by Gordon, page 52.