Tuesday, February 10, 2026

It is the 10th of February 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It’s Tuesday- your Seahawks and Sam Darnold are champions… alright. Shout out to the fans like Micah, Tom, and others writing in…

It’s the 10th of February, and this lets me tell you the story of a Royal murder mystery in Reformation-era Scotland and its role in the production of the most famous Bible translation into English. 

So- let’s go to what we call today the UK- focusing on the relationship between England and Scotland. 

These are two countries with two different ruling families- in England, we have the Tudors- this is most famously Henry VIII, whose dynastic ambitions led him to break from Rome and form the church of England. 

In Scotland, the ruling house is that of the Stuarts, and a long list of Jameses that takes us all the way back to the late 1300s. Let’s go to 1542- Henry VIII is king of England, and James V is king of Scotland. James V dies- he has only one child with the French Catholic Mary of Guise- she will be Mary Stuart, or Mary, Queen of Scots, as she will rule when she comes of age. Being a woman, a Catholic, a Stuart… there were many who were eyeing the throne. 

She would marry the young Francis II of France- but then he died. 

There was another claimant to the Scottish throne- the son of a descendant of Henry VII of England. He was called Henry too (because there were like 4 names to pick from), but history remembers him as Lord Darnley. Darnley’s mother had the grand idea to have him married to Mary Queen of Scots, who was his cousin. 

All kinds of stuff happen- Henry VIII gives way to Edward and then to Elizabeth I in England. Meanwhile, in Scotland, Darnley and Mary have a ROUGH marriage. She gets a little flirty with her secretary, David Rizzio, and Darnley has him murdered. So, it’s an unhappy marriage, but it produced a son- James, the future hope of Scotland and England. 

But Darnley not only had a murder charge but was increasingly unpopular. Mary and a group of conspirators, led by the Earl of Bothwell, hatched a plan. Mary invited Darnley back home to their royal home in Edinburgh- Kirk O’ Field. On the night of the 9th of February, Darnley was ill, and so Mary planned to go to an arrangement by herself, leaving Darnley alone. 

That night, on this, the 10th of February in 1567, an explosion rocked the residence at Kirk O’ Field. The body of Darnley was found, dead, but outside the home, strangled. He seems to have been spooked by something, left the house before the explosion, and was caught and strangled. The murderers tried to cover the body with soot to make it look like he died from the explosion. 

The royal murder and conspiracy was THE story, as was the seeming lack of mourning from the queen. IN fact, within months of Darnley’s murder, Mary Queen of Scots would marry the Earl of Bothwell. This would be the end of the Scottish queen- she would be imprisoned by her cousin, Elizabeth I of England, and her young son, James VI, would not only become King of Scotland, but with Elizabeth’s death, he would become James I of England. The 6th of Scotland but the first of England it would be ironically, on this day- the day of his father’s murder in 1604 that he would authorize the project for which he would be forever known- an authorized English translation of the Bible- called, of course, the King James Bible. It is also known as the “Authorized Version”- you might see “AV” next to it. 

And then, get this- it was on the 10th of February, the day of Darnley’s Murder and his son authorizing the new translation in 1604, and ALSO, in 1881, the Church of England first authorized its first “Revised” version in over 250 years. So, February 10th- a big day in church and Scottish history with both a Catholic queen of Scots and a murder and her Protestant son and his Bible… 



The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and 2 Corinthians 4:

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.


This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 10th of February 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows that in America today, marriage by first cousins is permissible in 19 states. He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man surprised to find it’s legal in his own state… that was some rabbit hole… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.