The body collapsed on the platform and the dark fabric remained stuck to the soaked wood, while something small stirred under the folds. The dog came out from under the skirts with a stained back, slipped in the thick blood and looked for a space next to the severed neck. He lay between his separated head and shoulders, pressed his muzzle against the flesh, and did not respond to hands or voices. The scene remained fixed on that gesture, with the animal motionless and the body open, without anyone managing to move it away.
The animal was left attached to the remains without caring for anyone
An eyewitness left in writing that a dog remained next to the decapitated body of Mary Stuart after his execution in 1587. The story does not come from a later chronicle or a late legend, but from a letter written that same year by a man who was there and who described the moment in physical detail. That document made the animal an inseparable part of the episode and established its behavior as an observed fact.
Robert Wingfieldan English official present at the execution, narrated what happened in a letter dated 1587. In that text he explained how, upon removing the clothes from the body, the hidden dog and difficulty to get him out of there. Wingfield wrote: “They could not get him out except by force.” In the same letter he added another precise image about what happened next: “The dog did not want to move away from the corpse and lay down between the head and shoulders.”
The presence of the animal It was not detected until the executioners manipulated the clothes after the beheading. He had remained hidden under his cloaks and petticoats throughout the entire process, motionless as the ax came down again and again. When it was revealed, He came out covered in blood and returned to the body immediatelyas if he were looking for the same place he had occupied before the final blow. The men tried to chase him away without success for a while.
The execution was clumsy and prolonged, according to the same testimony. The first blow did not cut completely, the second was not enough either and a third ended up separating the head, which was held together by a remnant of cartilage. During those moments, the dog did not react with flight or sudden movements. It remained there when the executioner raised his head and when the ground was waterlogged, and remained attached to the body when the act was over.
Stories about their fate after the cleanup change
Later versions disagree about the type of dog. Some sources speak of a small white animal, others describe it as dark, and both a Maltese and a terrier have been mentioned. There is no agreement because the Wingfield did not specify color or race.. The only thing common in all the stories is the small size and the constant proximity to its ownera pattern that fits with the queen’s known penchant for keeping dogs during her captivity.
After removing it from the body, the animal was removed and cleaned, as were the stained objects. Wingfield recorded this last step by pointing out that He was washed along with everything that had blood. From there, the stories branch off. Some maintain that he stopped eating and died shortly after, others claim that he was handed over to French hands and lived there. Neither version alters the essence of the episode, the moment when the dog refused to abandon the body it had followed until the end.
