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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Casket Letters
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A collection of eight letters and some sonnets, written by *Mary Queen of Scots to *Bothwell and so called because they were found in a silver casket, where they had been placed supposedly by Bothwell. Their importance is that if genuine (and it has been argued that they are wholly or in part forgeries) they implicate Mary in the murder of her husband, *Darnley, in 1567. In an attempt to prove her guilt, the letters were first revealed by her Protestant enemies later in that year. They are now known only from contemporary copies. The whereabouts of the supposed originals was a mystery from the 1580s, complicating the question of whether they were forged.
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