The confessions are frequently cited for the details of the
Kirk o' Field lodging and the last days of
Lord Darnley. Historians are inclined to doubt some points, particularly material in the second confession. There are two copies, one in the
British Library Cotton manuscripts, attested by
Alexander Hay, and another in the
National Archives, which states the confession was made in the presence of George Buchanan,
Mr John Wood, and Robert Ramsay. The National Archives copy has an "NH" monogram on each folio for Nicolas Hubert, who was asked to certify the original text. Among the details of the confession, Hubert set up a bed for Mary at the Kirk o'Field. He discussed the keeping of the keys of the lodging with Bothwell during a visit, and showed him the sanitary arrangements. Hubert explained to Bothwell that he was a valet of the chamber and the ushers of the chamber (like Archibald Beaton) were the key holders. Bothwell remarked that he had placed Hubert as a servant in the Queen's chamber, but now he was no help to him. On the night of the murder Hubert went to lodging to fetch a fur coverlet for
Margaret Carwood and spoke to
Sandy Durham about the keys. On the Monday morning after the murder,
Madame de Briant (Lady Seton) made eggs for breakfast in Queen's bed chamber at
Holyrood Palace, and Mary talked privately to Bothwell behind a curtain. Hubert said that Mary asked him to deliver a
coffer of her jewels to Bothwell's ally
James Cockburn of
Skirling at
Edinburgh Castle and a cupboard of silverware to Bothwell on the day he was made
Duke of Orkney. Before
Bothwell abducted and married Mary, Hubert and James Ormiston of Ormiston (near
Hawick) rode from
Linlithgow Palace to
Hatton House near
Wilkieston with a letter from Mary for Bothwell. This detail appears to have been included to show collusion in Mary's abduction by Bothwell, said to have taken place at "Foul Briggis", possibly a location close to Hatton and
Kirkliston with bridges over the
Almond and
Gogar Burn. Another source, known as "Murray's diary", says that Mary came to
Linlithgow on 23 April and Bothwell was at "Haltoun, hard by". Nicolas Hubert was mentioned in allegations made against Mary in England by
James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray and
George Buchanan at the York and Westminster Conferences in 1568. He features in one of the
casket letters, found in the keeping of George Dalgleish, who was Bothwell's "chalmerchild". The letter mentions that Paris was sent by Mary to fetch something to "amend me", presumably some kind of remedy. According to the confessions of John Hepburn of
Bowton or Bolton and John Hay of
Talla or Tallo, and the "
Book of Articles", a summary of allegations made against Mary, Hubert was involved in bringing gunpowder to Darnley's lodging by opening the doors to the "nether house":Bot the keyis of the dur betuix the kingis chalmer and the hous under it quhair the quene lay and quhair the pulder wes put in wer deliverit to Archibald Betoun and Parice Frenscheman the quenis awin cubicularis.[modernised] But the keys of the door between the King's chamber and the house (room) under it where the powder was put in were delivered to Archibald Beaton and Paris, Frenchman, the queen's own bedchamber servants. Thomas Nelson explained that Paris and Archibald Beaton held keys to the queen's bed chamber, as she was in the habit of singing in the garden at night with
Lady Rires. John Hay of Talla said he was walking at the foot of an "alley in the yard", a garden path, with Paris when the house blew up on 10 February 1567. ==References==