Mary, Queen of Scots Imprisoned at Lochleven Castle

On June 17, 1567, Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, following her surrender at Carberry Hill. It is thought that she bore a child while interred, but the fate of that child is unknown. Mary signed papers abdicating the throne in favor of her son James while at Lochleven, prior to her escape the following spring.  Scott writes of Mary's travails in "The Abbot"...

However weary Roland Graeme might be of the Castle of Lochleven--however much he might wish that the plan for Mary's escape had been perfected, I question if he ever awoke with more pleasing feelings than on the morning after George Douglas's plan for accomplishing her deliverance had been frustrated. In the first place, he had the clearest conviction that he had misunderstood the innuendo of the Abbot, and that the affections of Douglas were fixed, not on Catherine Seyton, but on the Queen; and in the second place, from the sort of explanation which had taken place betwixt the steward and him, he felt himself at liberty, without any breach of honour towards the family of Lochleven, to contribute his best aid to any scheme which should in future be formed for the Queen's escape; and, independently of the good-will which he himself had to the enterprise, he knew he could find no surer road to the favour of Catherine Seyton. He now sought but an opportunity to inform her that he had dedicated himself to this task, and fortune was propitious in affording him one which was unusually favourable…

Mary, Queen of Scots and Jame Hepburn, Earl Bothwell Wed

On May 15, 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Earl of Bothwell, James Hepburn married.  Their time together was to prove short, and they were on the run for most of that time, as there were powerful interests opposed to their marriage.  Only a month later (June 15, 1567), Bothwell left Mary at the Battle of Carberry Hill, where their forces, consisting largely of Hamilton men, were defeated by a larger, well-trained force under Earls Morton, Hume, Mar, Glencairn, and Atholl.

The two sides met, with the Lords offering terms to Bothwell and Mary's.  The options to avoid all out battle were for Bothwell to meet one of the Lords in a one-on-one duel, or for Mary to leave Bothwell for the Lords, who promised their loyal support. 

Bothwell chose the duel, and Lord Patrick Lindsay was selected to oppose him.  In the meantime, the Lords' forces were maneuvering for position to gain advantage.  As told in "Life of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell" by Frederik Schiern, before the duel began, Mary mounted her steed, and summoned the Laird of Grange, who had offered terms saying "Laird of Grange, I render myself unto you, upon the conditions you ' rehearsed unto me, in the name of the Lords."  Mary thus surrendered to the Lords, while Bothwell left the field of battle.

Just prior to their marriage (May 12, 1567), Mary had conferred on Bothwell the title Duke of Orkney.  Orkney, until 1472, had been under the rulership of the Sinclair's from which family Hepburn's mother Agnes Sinclair derived.  It was to Orkney that Bothwell fled, after Carberry Hill.  Mary, as Bothwell had forseen, was betrayed, and was ultimately imprisoned at Lochleven Castle.

Walter Scott's "The Abbot" focuses on Mary, beginning at the time of her incarceration at Lochleven.