Chapter 49
Putting aside personal matters, the Queen of Scots can be said to have gained a great deal from this trip to Ireland.
Mary successfully undermined Irish colonial rule, creating a pro-Scottish resistance army and forging an alliance to join forces with the Scottish army at the opportune moment to fight against Elizabeth I.
After ending her secret trip and returning to Scotland by ship in the same clandestine manner as she had come, Maitland, who had been acting as regent for the Queen for the past six months, was so excited that she almost cried.
Unlike his initial half-hearted loyalty, which could have been betrayed at any time, he has now married a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Scots and, after reforms and a coup, is now bound to the Queen of Scots's ship.
As the Queen of Scots continues her triumphant march, her status and power will rise accordingly. However, if the Queen of Scots were to die unexpectedly, she would lose her protection and be instantly torn apart by those people, along with her entire family.
“Your Majesty, I sincerely beg you not to do such dangerous things again. With your noble status, you really shouldn’t be taking such risks,” Maitland said earnestly.
Mary was checking his work, and incidentally seeing if he had been embezzling or abusing his power for personal gain recently. After finding nothing wrong, she gave Maitland a few words of encouragement, but she didn't take her advice to stop traveling to heart at all.
“Well done, Maitland. You are indeed my most trustworthy subject. If nothing major happens, I will be making a trip to France at the end of this year, and will also secretly visit the Duchy of Lorraine and the Vatican. You can start preparing now.” Mary put down the letter in her hand and looked up to say.
Upon hearing the Queen's words, Maitland felt a wave of dizziness.
...
According to the previous plan, Mary needed to select a spokesperson in Ireland to act as a liaison between her and the rebels.
This person needs to be intelligent, perceptive, eloquent, able to handle the English probing, gain renown among the Irish, influence and control the rebels' actions, and be utterly loyal to her.
Ideally, this person would be a Celt who wouldn't offend Ireland.
This candidate was really hard to find. Mary picked and chose several people in her little palace, but they were all rejected because of various shortcomings.
The clever ones were unwilling to go, those who were willing to go lacked knowledge, and those who were knowledgeable were too cowardly—that's pretty much it… Mary couldn't very well send her right-hand men, like Foreign Minister Melville or Maitland, because it would be too conspicuous, and besides, she was also short of capable people on her side.
It's worth noting that 90% of the staff at Holyrood Palace were illiterate.
In more advanced Britain, only one in four men can write their own name, and the figure is even lower for women—only one in ten. In Scotland, the proportion is even lower.
In this day and age, the power of knowledge and literacy is still mainly held by nobles and the Papacy.
Scotland has never had much cultural heritage to begin with. After she carried out a major purge, many nobles were killed or wounded. Some of the survivors fled abroad, while others hid in their own territories. They were unwilling to serve in the Scottish court anymore, so she could only appoint some young people promoted from universities as low-level government officials.
Scotland now has three universities: the University of St Andrews (founded in 1413), the University of Glasgow (founded in 1451), and the University of Aberdeen (founded in 1495), all of which are ancient institutions with decades or even centuries of history. As for the University of Edinburgh, which has gained considerable fame in later generations, it was founded in 1583. The Bishop Robert Reed, who donated his estate to establish educational institutions, is now a monk in the desolate Orkney Islands and is far from his death.
These three schools, like other church schools, primarily taught theological subjects, with the Bible as the main focus. They also taught grammar, arithmetic, logic, astronomy, geometry, rhetoric, and music. These seven subjects were elegantly referred to as the seven liberal arts, and were essential knowledge for a cultured gentleman in that era.
From the first year after returning to the United States, Mary reformed the curriculum of the three schools, ordering them to enroll a large number of students, including some farmers' children. She then paid for their tuition herself and removed all the unnecessary subjects, such as logic, astronomy, rhetoric, and music. The Bible was no longer required to be studied; students could simply listen to the pastor's sermons at Mass every weekend.
Instead, these courses consisted of English, Scots, and arithmetic, not intended to cultivate artists or gentlemen, but rather to quickly produce a group of petty officials capable of managing land taxes and handling official business.
As for those who wish to receive higher education, they can visit professors privately for private study or hire tutors at home.
When the Queen issued her order, the presidents and professors of the three universities looked at each other, feeling insulted. More than half of them resigned in anger, forcing Mary to appease them with kind words and promise rewards. She then established a college district dedicated to academic research, which is how these rare intellectuals in Scotland were retained.
It was precisely because of this group of crash-trained students that Mary was able to avoid causing chaos when reclaiming the noble lands one by one.
Three years is still too short a time; she still doesn't have enough manpower.
...
To get back to the main point, just as the Queen of Scots was grappling with this problem, Emma Wilson volunteered to kneel before her and offered to go to Ireland.
“Your Majesty,” Emma Wilson said fluently, “I am a native Scotsman, with boundless enthusiasm for you, and I share the same Celtic blood as the Irish, so I will not incur their displeasure. I am also a lady-in-waiting from a merchant family, unremarkable in this court, and even if I leave Scotland, London will not notice my movements. If I am fortunate enough to serve you in Dublin, I will certainly spread the fame of the Queen of Scots among the rebels, and I will certainly not disappoint your expectations.”
She recited in one breath the words she had been rehearsing in her mind over the past few days, maintaining a respectful expression, her heart filled with both excitement and fear.
Mary, who was sitting on the edge of the bed and about to go to sleep, looked at Emma's bright blonde head with some surprise.
Based on Mary's experience across two souls and two lifetimes, Emma Wilson's intelligence and ambition were among the best of all, ranking high among the people she knew; even four Marys combined couldn't compare to her.
Mary initially brought old Glenn's children into the court simply to feed and care for them as hostages. However, Emma was not content with such a position and instead found a way to become her maid. She also helped Mary with her daily tasks, handling everything efficiently and beautifully, which made Mary rely on her even more.
Over the years, although she was nominally a lady-in-waiting, Emma's current role was similar to David Lidjoo's; she was now a confidential secretary who could enter the study and help her draft documents.
"Why did you do that?" Mary asked curiously.
“To persuade Ireland to accept Scottish rule… I want to claim the credit for that glory, to shine in the Scottish court as a woman, simply for myself, not as someone’s daughter, someone’s wife, or Your Majesty’s lady-in-waiting, and to exert some influence indirectly through feelings… I apologize for offending you, but this is my truest thought,” Emma said.
Although she was kneeling at Mary's feet, her body was ramrod straight.
People always demand that women be willing to sacrifice and possess all kinds of virtues such as gentleness, kindness, humility, and frugality, believing that only those who are like this are good women. But they forget that women are also human beings, possessing all kinds of joys, sorrows, and ambitions that they should have. Mary admired her straightforward ambition, but reminded her, "...but you are a lady."
Emma lifted her beautiful face, her bright blue eyes shining.
“Although I am a woman, my wisdom and knowledge are no less than any man’s. I may be reprimanded and laughed at if I said this outside, but Your Majesty, you are an unprecedented queen, and I believe you can understand me,” Emma said with a smile.
Mary nodded and said calmly, "I agree with that view. In terms of intelligence alone, women are never inferior to men."
“What I mean is, everyone cares except me. If I send you as an envoy to Ireland and face the complexities there, the resistance you will encounter will be many times greater than that of a man. Not only will the British look down on you, but even your allies will naturally distrust and despise you.”
"What you will face then is not the elegant intrigues and schemes of the court, but outright murder. The war in Ireland will not end for the next few years."
After a brief hesitation, Emma, kneeling on the ground, reaffirmed her resolve once more.
“Your Majesty, I beg you to give me a chance,” Emma said.
Where Emma couldn't see, Mary smiled slightly—a smile of approval.
“The material aid I sent to Ireland was carried out in the name of the White Salt Guild, which is controlled by the Wilson family. In that case, it is perfectly reasonable for someone from the Wilson family to go there to take charge of the overall situation,” Mary said.
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