Mary Queen of Scots' Secretary Murdered: 56 Stab Wounds in the Palace

They stabbed him fifty-six times while Mary—six months pregnant—watched helplessly. David Rizzio, the Italian musician who'd charmed his way from court entertainer to Mary Queen of Scots' closest confidant, was dragged from her supper table by her own husband and a gang of Scottish lords. Lord Darnley held Mary back at gunpoint while they butchered Rizzio in the adjoining chamber, leaving his body at the top of the stairs. The conspirators thought they were eliminating a Catholic foreigner who wielded too much influence. Instead, they created a martyr whose bloodstains Mary refused to clean—keeping them visible as a reminder of betrayal. Within a year, Darnley himself was dead under mysterious circumstances, and many historians believe Mary never forgave him for that March night when friendship meant nothing against Scottish paranoia.