In Scotland, political opponents of Mary, Queen of Scots produced letters and sonnets allegedly found in a silver casket. They claimed the documents proved Mary's involvement with the Earl of Bothwell and the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley. Their authenticity remains disputed, but they helped justify her deposition and imprisonment.

Because the evidence included purported love sonnets, poetry itself became part of a major political prosecution. The disputed papers helped shape later portrayals of Mary by writers including Friedrich Schiller and Algernon Charles Swinburne, sustaining her image as both passionate poet and betrayed queen.