From the service of the
Constable Montmorency, Chastelard, then a page, passed to the household of
Marshal Damville, whom he accompanied in his journey to
Scotland in escort of Mary (1561). He returned to
Paris in the marshal's train, but left for Scotland again shortly afterwards, bearing letters of recommendation to Mary from his old protector, Montmorency, and the Regrets addressed to the Queen Dowager of
France by
Pierre de Ronsard, his master in the art of song. He attempted to deliver to the poet the service of plate with which Mary rewarded him. By now, he had developed an obsessive love for the queen. The young man was welcomed in her cabinet room. One day he hid himself under her bed at
Holyrood Palace, where he was discovered by her maids of honour, or two male grooms of the chamber. Mary pardoned the offence, but Chastelard was foolish enough to violate her privacy again. He was discovered a second time under her bed at
Burntisland, seized, sentenced and beheaded at
St Andrews on 22 February 1563. He met his fate valiantly and consistently, reading, on his way to the scaffold, his master's noble ''
, and turning at the instant of doom towards the palace of Holyrood, to address to his unseen mistress the famous farewell "" ("farewell to you, so beautiful and so cruel, who kill me and whom I cannot cease to love"). This at least is the version of the Memoirs of Brantôme'', who is, however, a notoriously untrustworthy source. A "Madame de Curosot" was said to be a Huguenot sponsor of the poet. It has been suggested that she was
Charlotte de Laval, the wife of
Gaspard II de Coligny. The name "Curosot" may have a cipher name substituted for "Châtillon" in original correspondence. ==Randolph's account==