LOTS of places in Scotland claim a link to our most famous monarch, but it was in Glasgow that Mary Queen of Scots suffered her final, and most devastating, defeat.
The Battle of Langside lasted less than an hour, and the queen’s army suffered heavy losses before she fled over the countryside to England.
There, she was imprisoned by her cousin Elizabeth I until her execution in February 1587.
The 58ft-high memorial, designed by Alexander Skirving, on the corner of Langside Avenue and Battlefield Road, commemorates Mary’s most famous association with Glasgow, but the city has also recently mounted a new exhibition which examines our enduring fascination with the famous queen who was born 480 years ago this week on December 8, 1542.
The Afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots is currently running at the Hunterian Art Gallery at the University of Glasgow.
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It is a fascinating look at why Mary has had such an important and enduring presence in Scottish collective memory and popular culture.
Drawing on the vast array of objects related to the Scottish queen in the university’s collections, it covers themes such as Princess, Queen and Captive; From Power to Romance; and Iconic Mary.
Married three times and widowed twice before she was 25, Mary had a traumatic life. Her third husband was believed to have killed her second and forced her to marry him, and she was betrayed and imprisoned by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, for 19 years before her execution.
The exhibition begins with objects dating from Mary’s own time, then turns to the countless conflicting, emotionally charged and sometimes enigmatic depictions of her across the centuries, before considering what she means to Scots today.
The objects, including coins, medals, books and artworks, tell their own tales and reveal a great deal about the way Mary's story has been used to approach broader issues such as gender, sexuality, power, monarchy and diversity.
Some of the must-see items on display include a unique silver snuff box from 1887, made in the tercentenary of Mary’s execution, and the pioneering painting The Abdication of Mary Queen of Scots by Gavin Hamilton (1723-1798), one of the most significant Mary pieces in The Hunterian collection. This pioneering painting presents Mary as a classical heroine and was intended to influence the debate around her true nature.
The exhibition also includes the Blackhouse Charter, a rare document dating to 1563 which bears Mary’s privy seal and records her grant of former monastic lands in the city to the University of Glasgow to provide bursaries for five poor students; and a digital print by Glasgow based artist and printmaker Rachel Maclean called The Queen, which presents a vision of mythological Scottish history. It is part of a series of works commissioned and published by Edinburgh Printmakers in the lead-up to the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence.
The Afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots is the result of a University of Glasgow-led research project mapping the presence of Mary Queen of Scots items in Scottish heritage collections, aimed at understanding how Mary’s legend has impacted on Scottish society and culture. The research project was funded by a Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Network Grant.
The Afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots is at the Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow until February 5, 2023 and admission is free.
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