Dominique Bourgoing (died 1589) was a French physician in the household of Mary, Queen of Scots. He is notable as the author of an influential account of Mary's captivity and execution.John Guy, Mary, Queen of Scots, My Heart is My Own (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 484: Alexander Wilkinson, Mary Queen of Scots and French Public Opinion (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 134.Samuel Cowan, The last days of Mary Stuart and the journal of Bourgoyne her physician (London, 1907), p. 159
Doctor in the household
Bourgoing trained in Paris. He defended theses on subjects including pulmonary health and poisoning.Gazette médicale de Paris, 58:12 (19 March 1887), p. 136. He qualified in 1577 and was listed as a physician member of the royal household of Henry III of France in 1580.Le Paulmier, Ambroise Paré (Paris, 1885), p. 305.
Mary wanted a new physician in her household in September 1578, as the post was held by an old man, Marguerin, known as the Sieur du Castil.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 4 (London, 1907), p. 304 no. 364.Andrew Lang, 'Household of Mary Queen of Scots', Scottish Historical Review, 2 (Glasgow, 1905), p. 358 The French diplomat Nicolas d'Angennes, sieur de Rambouillet, in London to discuss the Anjou Courtship, passed her request to Queen Elizabeth.Arthur Butler, Calendar State Papers Freign Elizabeth, 13 (London, 1903), no. 228. Mary asked the resident French ambassador Michel de Castelnau (Mauvissière) to obtain a passport for the doctor's nephew to come to Sheffield and escort the veteran home. She was still looking for another physician in June 1579.Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres of Marie Stuart, 5, pp. 70, 83: Agnes Strickland, Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots, 1 (London, 1842), p. 273 Castelnau obtained a passport from Elizabeth I for the new physician in February 1580.George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, "Deciphering Mary Stuart's lost letters from 1578-1584", Cryptologia, 47:2 (8 February 2023), p. 144. However, Mary was not allowed to have her choice of physician for several months, as Elizabeth and her ministers were suspicious of her servants as potential message carriers.George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, "Deciphering Mary Stuart's lost letters from 1578-1584", Cryptologia, 47:2 (8 February 2023), p. 185.
Mary found two English doctors sent to her in May 1582 to be unsuitable, and criticised Dr Smythe as a follower of Paracelsus.George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, "Deciphering Mary Stuart's lost letters from 1578-1584", Cryptologia, 47:2 (February 2023), pp. 151–152. : John Daniel Leader, Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity (Sheffield, 1880), p. 504. Bourgoing was recorded in several letters and administrative documents as a member of Mary's household in England from 1582, as a replacement for Jacques de Lugerie or Luserie, who was also a member of the French royal household, and for Marquerin du Castel,Francisque Michel, Les Ecossais en France, les Français en Ecosse, vol. 2 (Paris, 1862), p. 100: Teulet, 'Maison de Marie-Stuart', Relations Politiques, vol. 2 (Paris, 1862), p. 272. a physician serving in Mary's household in 1571 and 1573,Andrew Lang, 'Household of Mary Queen of Scots', Scottish Historical Review, 2 (Glasgow, 1905), p. 352Joseph Hunter, Hallamshire (Sheffield, 1819), p. 66. and was at Sheffield in 1574.Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart (London, 1844), p. 217
Once in post, Bourgoing sent updates on Mary's health to Michel de Castelnau, the French ambassador in London.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1574-1581, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 404-5 no. 482. Mary also had surgeons and apothecaries including Arnauld Colommiers,Labanoff, Letters de Marie Stuart, 4 (London: Dolman, 1844), pp. 110, 151. Jacques Gervais and Pierre Gorion.Elizabeth Goldring, Faith Eales, Elizabeth Clarke, Jayne Elisabeth Archer, John Nichols's The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 3 (Oxford, 2014), p. 369.A. Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, vol. 7 (London, 1844), p. 250
Mary could be critical of her medical staff, and complained in January 1580 about an apothecary whose remedies seem to worsen her illnesses. The unfortunate apothecary had been recommended to her by Adam Blackwood.George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, "Deciphering Mary Stuart's lost letters from 1578-1584", Cryptologia, 47:2 (8 February 2023), p. 140.
Bourgoing's bed, and a bed for Gervais the surgeon were mentioned in an inventory of Sheffield Manor Lodge made in 1583.Louisa Stuart Costello, Memoirs of Eminent Englishwomen, vol. 1 (London, 1844), 155. In March 1580, Mary wrote about her son's indigestion, saying she had discussed the illness with Bourgoing, and when she was a child about the same age, Lusgerie had treated her for the same. She advised that James VI eat confected nuts and nutmeg, and ivory worn on the stomach.William Barclay Turnbull, Letters of Mary Stuart (London, 1845), p. 290. Bourgoing noted that Suzanne Kirkcaldy (a daughter of William Kirkcaldy of Grange) acted as his servant or chamberer.Régis de Chantelauze, Le Journal Inédit De Bourgoing Son Mèdecin La Correspondance D'Amyas Paulet (Paris: Plon, 1876), p. 483 Bourgoing also had an English servant named Ralph.John Morris, The Letter-Books of Amias Poulet (London, 1874), p. 298.
Mary was arrested on 11 August 1586 while out riding and hunting with a crossbow near Chartley Castle with her secretaries Gilbert Curle and Claude Nau, Bastian Pagez, Bourgoing and others. They were surprised by armed soldiers who took them to Tixall.John Guy, Queen of Scots: The True Story (2005), pp. 469-480: Régis de Chantelauze, Marie Stuart, son procès et son exécution: d'après le journal inédit de Bourgoing, son médecin, la correspondance d'Amyas Paulet, son geôlier et autres documents nouveaux (Paris: Plon, 1876), p. 466. Bourgoing's Journal describes subsequent events.David Templeman, Mary, Queen of Scots: The Captive Queen in England (Exeter: 2016), pp. 223–224.
According to some accounts of Mary's death, Bourgoing persuaded Mary to drink some wine and eat a bit of bread before her execution.Agnes Strickland, Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots, vol. 3 (London, 1843), p. 236 fn. citing Bois Guilbert. Mary wrote her last letter to Henry III of France on 8 February 1587 before her execution. She hoped Bourgoing would be able to tell her story. She asked Henry III to pay her servants and she sent him two precious stones that served as talismans against illness.The Last Letter of Mary Queen of Scots (Edinburgh: HMSO, National Library of Scotland, 1975).The last letter of Mary, Queen of Scots: National Library of Scotland
In March 1587, Bourgoing and Andrew Melville wrote to Amias Paulet the keeper of the late queen's household at Fotheringhay about the return of money and conditions offered for their return to France.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 9 (Glasgow, 1915), pp. 344–345 no. 326.
Medical materials After Mary's execution, an inventory was made of her possessions. Bourgoing had several medical items in his keeping, including a little gold bottle containing a stone (a bezoar stone) used as a medicine for colic, and a silver bottle with a stone used a remedy for poison. A ring with a sapphire and an enamel ring were also counted as jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots. Precious objects for medicinal purposes were usually kept in Mary's cabinet room, including the bezoar stone, an oval charm against melancholy, and sachets or boxes of powdered coral, pearl, mummia, and terre sigillée (a medicinal clay used as an antidote to poison).Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, vol. 7 (London, 1844), pp. 246-7, 255Nicole LaBouff, 'Embroidery and Information Management: The Needlework of Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick Reconsidered', Huntington Library Quarterly, 81:3 (2018), p. 327: Retha M. Warnicke, Mary Queen of Scots (Routledge, 2006), p. 207. The clay and a piece of supposed unicorn horn, an antidote against poison,Diana Scarisbrick, Ancestral Jewels (André Deutsch, 1989), p. 21. were sent from France by Mary's ally, the Archbishop of Glasgow.John Guy, The Life of Mary Queen of Scots (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 447: Agnes Strickland, Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots, vol. 1 (London, 1842), p. 192.Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade (Yale, 2024), p. 202.
Mary had a recurring rheumatic pain in her right side and arm, which sometimes left her unable to write.William Barclay Turnbull, Letters of Mary Stuart (London, 1845), p. 330. John Lesley, Bishop of Ross, sent cinnamon water, and the French diplomat Bertrand de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon sent confected nutmegs, mithridate, and an ointment which the queen used on her side.William Barclay Turnbull, Letters of Mary Stuart (London, 1845), p. xxix. In November 1574, James Good, a physician in London,James Good, 1527–1581: Royal College of Physicians had sent Mary cinnamon water and "aqua mattioli" (an alcoholic preparation named after the contemporary Italian herbalist Pietro Andrea Mattioli), with an ointment for her spleen and another for her stomach, with a tin of mithradate. Good wrote to Mary that Lady Cobham was sending mithradate to her. He was subsequently questioned about his involvement with conspirators including Thomas Morgan.Nadine Akkerman & Pete Langman, Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade (Yale, 2024), pp. 203, 205: William K. Boyd, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 144-145 nos. 150, 153.
Writing about Mary Bourgoing's journal of Mary's last days commences on 11 August 1586.Régis de Chantelauze, Le Journal Inédit De Bourgoing Son Mèdecin La Correspondance D'Amyas Paulet (Paris: Plon, 1876), p. 465 A manuscript was published by Régis Chantelauze (1821-1888) in 1876.Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott, The Tragedy of Fotheringay: Founded on the Journal of D. Bourgoing (London, 1895), pp. 2-3: Régis de Chantelauze, Le Journal Inédit De Bourgoing Son Mèdecin La Correspondance D'Amyas Paulet (Paris: Plon, 1876).
Regis Chantelauze, Marie Stuart : son proces et son execution, d'apres le journal inedit de Bourgoing son medecin (Paris, 1876), pp. 466-578
The manuscript includes copies of two letters written by Mary, her well-known "last letter" to Henri II, and a letter to Elizabeth written at Fotheringhay in January 1587.Régis de Chantelauze, Marie Stuart, son procès et son exécution: d'après le journal inédit de Bourgoing, son médecin, la correspondance d'Amyas Paulet, son geôlier et autres documents nouveaux (Paris: Plon, 1876), p. xvi fn., 579–582.
English versions of the journal were published by Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott and Samuel Cowan.Samuel Cowan, The last days of Mary Stuart and the journal of Bourgoyne her physician London, 1907
Mary was taken from Chartley to Fotheringhay. According to an inscription formerly on a window at Hill Hall in Abbots Bromley, she rested there on 21 September 1586.David Templeman, Mary, Queen of Scots: The Captive Queen in England (Exeter, 2016), p. 228: "Maria Regina Scotiae quondam transibat istam villam 21 Septembris 1585 usque Burton": Antonia Fraser, Mary, Queen of Scots (World Books, 1971), p. 545. Bourgoing's journal includes some names and placenames in connection with Mary's itinerary not recorded elsewhere. It reveals that she stayed at an inn in Leicester called the Angel, and at Roger Smith's house at Withcote, and passed by Collyweston Palace.Régis de Chantelauze, Le Journal Inédit De Bourgoing Son Mèdecin La Correspondance D'Amyas Paulet (Paris: Plon, 1876), pp. 142, 492–493: Royal Progresses and Visits to Leicester (Leicester, 1884), pp. 310-314.Pub History Project, Leicester Angel EastgatesSamuel Cowan, The last days of Mary Stuart and the journal of Bourgoyne her physician (London, 1907), p. 188