1542-58 SCOTLAND Mary Hammered Silver Bawbee

Obverse

First period. Crowned thistle with M R split either side. MARIA D G REGINA SCOTORV

Reverse

Plain cross saltier through crown with cinquefoil either side. OPPIDVM EDINBVRGI

Queen Mary

Born in 1516, Mary I was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. When she was a girl, her father separated England from Rome and made himself the head of the Church of England to secure a divorce from Mary’s mother. Mary was stoutly Catholic and suffered under the Protestant reign of her father and, later, her young brother, Edward VI. When she was eventually crowned as queen, she determinedly set about promoting Catholicism in England again and had over 300 dissenters burned at the stake, earning her the nickname of Bloody Mary. She died in 1558 after five years as queen and the throne was then inherited by her half-sister, Elizabeth I.