The Association was the name given to plans in the 1580s for Mary, Queen of Scots, to return to Scotland and rule jointly with her son, King James VI.Antonia Fraser, Mary Queen of Scots (London: Phoenix Press, 2002), p. 569. The plans came to nothing, despite diplomatic efforts.Susan Doran and Paulina Kewes, Doubtful and dangerous: The question of the succession in late Elizabethan England (Manchester, 2014), pp. 32-36: Susan Doran and Paulina Kewes, "Joint Iconography for Joint Sovereigns: Mary Queen of Scots, James VI of Scotland, and the Campaign for Association", in Yasmin Arshad and Chris Laoutaris, Women and Cultures of Portraiture in the British Literary Renaissance (London: Bloomsbury, 2025), pp. 49–68.
Background Mary was captured by a confederacy of her nobles at the battle of Carberry. She was taken to Lochleven Castle where she abdicated and her son James VI was crowned at the Church of the Holy Rude at Stirling on 28 July 1567.Margaret H. B. Sanderson, Mary Stewart's People (James Thin, 1987), p. 58.
Mary escaped from Lochleven and joined her Scottish supporters, but was defeated at the battle of Langside near Glasgow. She rode south and took a boat to England.Alexander Malcolm Scott, The Battle of Langside (Glasgow, 1885), p. 88. Elizabeth I decided to keep Mary, who was potentially a claimant to the English throne, a prisoner in England. Scotland was ruled on James's behalf by a series of Regents.Jenny Wormald, Mary, Queen of Scots: Politics, Passion and a Kingdam Lost (Tauris Parke, 2001), pp. 177–180.
Mary had supporters in Scotland and in France. The French kings did not accept that James VI was the rightful king of Scotland. Mary had hopes that her envoys and diplomatic pressure would influence and persuade the advisors of her son that their best course was to call for her return to Scotland as a joint ruler, the "Association".Steven Veerapen, The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I (Birlinn, 2023), p. 59. Efforts were made to secure this outcome after James VI was declared an adult ruler, and having reached his majority in 1579, no longer had a regent appointed to rule for him.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), pp. 178-183: Susan Doran, Elizabeth I and Her Circle (Oxford, 2015), pp. 83-85: John Guy, Mary, Queen of Scots: My Heart is My Own (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 472: Patricia Basing, 'Robert Beale and the Queen of Scots', The British Library Journal, 20:1 (Spring 1994), p. 66. In the background, there was a possibility that the Duke of Guise or Spain might intervene, invading both England and Scotland, the Guise plan was known as "L'Impresa",Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 194. and the Spanish scheme became known as the "Enterprise".Retha M. Warnicke, Mary Queen of Scots (Routledge, 2006), p. 215: Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1584-1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 315 no. 295: John Hosack, Mary Queen of Scots and Her Accusers, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1874), p. 238.
Negotiations for an associated rule
The first plans for the "association" can be linked to John Lesley, Bishop of Ross who wrote of the nature of Scottish monarchy in 1579, in his De jure regni apud Scotos, an answer to historical theories of monarchy proposed by George Buchanan which were intended to justify the ending of Mary's rule.Susan Doran and Paulina Kewes, Doubtful and dangerous: The question of the succession in late Elizabethan England (Manchester, 2014), p. 33. The Scottish academic Andrew Melville declared on 27 June 1582 that plans to demit the King's authority to his mother had been brewing for seven or eight years, and he spoke of the "pourtrature of a queene, and of a young childe twelve yeere old" depicted in Lesley's History.Thomas Thomson, History of the Kirk by David Calderwood, 4, p. 622.
According to the historians David Calderwood and David Hume of Godscroft, surviving veterans of the Queen's side from the Marian civil war secretly worked to forward the Association. They named the Laird of Pittadro and Robert Melville, and others.Thomas Thomson, History of the Kirk of Scotland by David Calderwood, 3 (Edinburgh: Wodrow Society, 1843), p. 457: David Reid, David Hume of Godscroft's History of the House of Angus, vol. 1 (Edinburgh: STS, 2005), pp. 249–251.
Mary made the Duke of Guise her agent and lieutenant in negotiations for the "association à la corone d'Escosse".Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 179. She drew up details and conditions for joint rule with her ally, James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, in October 1581.George Lasry et al (2023), p. 146. According to Mary, her abdication had already been annulled, and revoked, by the bond made by her supporters at Hamilton before the battle of Langside. Her son James would need a second coronation with the proper ancient ceremonies to complete the association. She would then be able to recognise him as a king and encourage her allies to do likewise. They would share resources (even if Mary remained in England), jointly appoint a new Privy Council, and issue coinage with both their portraits. She suggested using an emblem of a Scottish thistle with a ship's stern on the coins, a motif used by Roman emperors,William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 65. and she adopted a motto for the association Securitas publica, for the safety of the realm.Alexandra Plane, "May They Associate: Decoding an Illuminated Book Designed for King James VI in Paris by Agents of Mary, Queen of Scots", British Art Studies, 29 (December 2025).
Mary discussed issuing pardons for her enemies, rebels, and the acts of the former regents. She wanted the restitution of her jewels, many of which had been taken during the civil war in 1573 at the capture of Edinburgh Castle.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 182. Ballads and poster propaganda left from the civil war should be destroyed. There should be religious toleration for Protestants and Catholics. Mary envisaged that Archbishop Hamilton would be able to conclude negotiations in France, and the Dukes of Lorraine and Guise would send an envoy to Scotland to obtain letters of support.William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), pp. xix, 63-72 no. 74, 116-119 nos. 108, 109, 110
Mary identified the nomination of Titus as caesar and heir of the Roman emperor Vespasian as a precedent for harmonious joint rule in Scotland.William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 268 no. 292 Traditionally, a Roman building in Scotland, Arthur's O'on, was said to commemorate Vespasian's capture of the jewelled crown and regalia of the Pictish kings.Raphael Holinshed, The Scottish chronicle, vol. 1 (Arbroath, 1806), p. 77.Hector Boece and John Bellenden, The History and Chronicles of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1831), pp. 103-104. John Bellenden had written in the Scots language of "ane croun of gold sett aboute with precious stanis of vareant colouris" and a sword with a heft of gold and a purple scabbard.R. W. Chambers & E. C. Batho, The Chronicles of Scotland, Compiled by Hector Boece and translated by John Bellenden, 1 (Edinburgh: STS, 1938), pp. 122–123
In Scotland, it was said, the Duke of Lennox and the Earl of Arran discussed the idea that James's rule was not properly legitimate, and he should make a "resignment" to Mary, who would then grant him power.William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 122 no. 113. Lennox was keen for James to get Mary's endorsement as ruler, but seems not to have been enthusiastic for their joint rule.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), pp. 179-180. Mary's plans and her measures to get reparation from her enemies and their associates would have been unlikely to get much support in Scotland.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 182.
Mary proposed her scheme for the association to an English negotiator, Robert Beale in 1582.Patricia Basing, 'Robert Beale and the Queen of Scots', The British Library Journal, 20:1 (Spring 1994). She saw an opportunity to further her plans at the time of Elizabeth's negotiations for her marriage to the Duke of Anjou, brother of Henry III of France.Alexander Courtney, James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566–1603 (Routledge, 2024), p. 54. Hopes for the Anjou marriage faded, but Mary remained optimistic.George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, 'Deciphering Mary Stuart's lost letters from 1578-1584', Cryptologia, 47:2 (8 February 2023), pp. 146–48. . On 28 February 1582, Mary wrote in cipher to the French ambassador Michel de Castelnau summarising her hopes for a "union of wills" a settlement would serve:to pacify all differences between my good sister and cousin [Elizabeth I] and my son [James VI], to restore to good intelligence and friendship between these two kingdoms and, as much as shall be in my power, to assure her of my said son while assuring him and myself reciprocally of the protection that she has always promised ... so that the union of our wills shall bring about the union of these two kingdoms.Alexander Courtney, James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566–1603 (Routledge, 2024), p. 55.
English considerations of the association and other treaties with Mary included two diplomatic details. A ratification of the 1560 Treaty of Edinburgh ought not to appear as a demand from Elizabeth which would signal to other countries that Elizabeth was beholden to Mary. Mary's release or recognition as a ruler might also create the impression that Elizabeth thought she was not culpable of the murder of Lord Darnley.William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), pp. 629-631 no. 666. The main English policy concern was that the Association was likely to result in an alliance between Spain and Scotland, perhaps facilitating the use of Scottish harbours as a base for a hostile Spanish fleet.Robert S. Rait & Annie I. Cameron, King James's Secret (London: Nisbet, 1927), p. 8.
The association and the Ruthven Regime
James VI wrote to Mary on 28 May 1582.David M. Bergeron, Royal Family, Royal Lovers (University of Missouri, 1991), p. 39. He had received letters from her via the Duke of Lennox and George Douglas. He seems to have interested in hearing more about her proposals for their union and association. He wrote that the leading courtiers the Earl of Arran and the Duke of Lennox would both work to accomplish the association. A palace coup in Scotland interrupted this phase of the negotiations.G. P. V. Akrigg, Letters of King James VI and I (University of California, 1984), pp. 46–48.
A new regime took control of Scotland in August 1582 by capturing James VI at Huntingtower Castle. The Ruthven Regime was Protestant in character and aligned more with England than France and the Auld Alliance, or any kind of reconciliation with Mary, although negotiations continued.John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), p. 517. When George Douglas (a brother of the Laird of Lochleven who had helped Mary escape in 1568) came to see James VI at Stirling Castle in September with plans for the association he was imprisoned as a conspirator.Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland by David Moysie (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 39.