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Mary

Stuart.

queen,

of Arrar

Lyndsay, his old tutor, and Buchanan, the tutor of one of ❘ of the Scottish annals, except the War of Independence. 1534-1545. his bastards, exposed its abuses. In 1537 he went to In 1537 he went to It was the epoch of the Reformation, and it became a France to see his bride, but, falling in love with Madeleine, question of European as well as national importance which daughter of Francis I., obtained her hand instead. After side Scotland would take. Closely connected with the an absence of nine months he returned; but the young religious question was the political, affecting the union of queen died within a few weeks after landing. The following Scotland and England. The life of Mary, who united the year he married Mary, dowager duchess of Longueville, personal charm of her race and its evil fortune, adds tragic daughter of Claude of Lorraine, duke of Guise. Next year interest to the national history. It falls into three parts,— (1539) Henry made another attempt to gain James through from her birth to her return from France as the young his envoy Sir Ralph Sadler, but, though the succession to widow of Francis II. in 1561; from her arrival in Scotland the English crown in the event of Prince Edward's death till her flight in. 1568; and from her arrival in England was held out as a bait, James remained unmoved. In 1540 till her execution in 1587; but only the second of these the king made a voyage round Scotland, the first circum-enters into the direct current of Scottish history. During navigation of his dominions by a Scottish sovereign. The the first Scotland was under the regency, first of Arran, then Irish are said to have offered him their crown, and the of Mary of Guise. It was rumoured that Cardinal Beaton barons of the north of England, whose sympathies were forced James V. on his deathbed to sign a will naming him Catholic, were inclined to favour him. The position was regent, or had forged such a document; but the principal perilous for Henry, many of whose subjects still remained nobles proclaimed the earl of Arran heir-presumptive to Regency Catholics at heart. He made a last attempt to induce the crown, governor of the realm, and tutor to the James to meet him at York, but the Scottish king would and this was confirmed by parliament in the following not go so far across the border. Henry now ordered the spring. Beaton was thrown into prison, but soon released. marches to be put in a state of war, and Sir James Bowes, The death of James suggested to Henry a new scheme for accompanied by Angus and Sir George Douglas, crossed the annexation of Scotland by the marriage of the infant the border, but was defeated in Teviotdale by Huntly and heiress to his son Edward, and he released the nobles taken Home. The duke of Norfolk advanced with a large force, at Solway Moss on easy terms under an assurance that they and, efforts to avert war having failed, James assembled would aid him. Angus and his brother George Douglas the whole Scottish army and marched to Fala on the also returned to Scotland from their long exile on the same Lammermuirs, where he was reluctantly obliged to disband promise. Sir Ralph Sadler, one of the ablest English resihis force through the refusal of the nobles to go farther; dents at the Scottish court-half envoys, half spies-was they even thought of repeating the tragedy of Lauder, but sent to conduct the negotiations. Arran was tempted to could not agree as to the victims. James raised a smaller favour the marriage by the offer of the princess Elizabeth force and gave the command of it to Oliver Sinclair, whose for his son and the government north of the Forth. But promotion was ill received by the barons. Their discord the queen dowager, though she pretended not to be averse allowed an easy victory to Dacre, who routed them as they to it, and Beaton did all they could to counteract Henry's were passing over Solway Moss (25th November 1542), project. One part of it, the immediate delivery of Mary taking Sinclair and several of the leaders prisoners. The and the principal castles to the English king, was specially news, brought to James at Caerlaverock, together with objected to. A mutual alliance between the two kingdoms the disaffection of the. nobles, broke his heart. A few was agreed to on 1st July 1543, and Mary was to be sent weeks later at Falkland, he heard of the birth of Mary to England when ten years old. Soon after a party of the Stuart, but the news brought him no comfort. His saying, nobles opposed to the match got possession of the young "The crown came with a lass and will go with a lass," has queen and removed her to Stirling. The English treaty passed into history, although the prophecy was not fulfilled. was ratified by parliament; but Beaton and his partisans Outwardly his reign had been, with the exception of the did not attend, and a few days later the regent, as Sadler closing scene, successful. He had restored order along the expresses it, revolted to the cardinal. It was evident that borders, and put down all attempts of the nobles against the assured lords, though in English pay, were not to be his person. He had maintained the church, supporting the relied on, and Henry resolved on war. His first act-War with bishops by severe laws against heresy. He had secured by the seizure of Scottish merchantmen in English ports-Henry nis marriage the alliance of France and was on good terms roused the patriotic feeling of Scotland: Before the close with other Continental states. His powerful neighbour had of the year the Scottish estates declared the treaty with not succeeded in wresting any land from Scotland. He was, England null and renewed the old league with France. like his father, a popular king, mingling with the people in Lord Lisle was sent with a fleet to the Firth of Forth, their sports, and respected because of his strict administra- along with Hertford (afterwards the protector Somerset) tion of justice. But his foreboding was not without cause. as commander of the army, and Leith was sacked and The power of the nobles had only been restrained, not de- Edinburgh burnt, though the castle held out. Lisle on stroyed. The aristocracy had too many heads to be cut off his voyage home ravaged the ports of the Forth, while by one or several blows. The principles of the Reformation Hertford destroyed the towns and villages of the Lothians, were gradually spreading in spite of the attempts to stifle aided by the English wardens, who made a raid across the them, and the infant to whom he left the crown had to border. Hertford returned the following year and deencounter rebellion at home and the hostility of England, stroyed the abbeys of Kelso, Jedburgh, Melrose, Dryburgh, not the less dangerous that she was heir to the English Roxburgh, and Coldingham, besides many castles, marketcrown and its rulers veiled their hatred of her by professions towns, and villages. Such barbarous warfare renewed the of friendship. Knox describes James as a blinded and memory of the War of Independence and the intense hatred most vicious king." Buchanan, who knew him better, is of England, which had greatly abated. Lennox and Glenmore fair, ascribing his faults to his time and bad education cairn alone of the nobles sided with the. English, and the and doing justice to the qualities which made him loved by Reformers saw with regret the nation driven to a French the people. alliance as at least preferable to English conquest.

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Mary Stuart was deemed queen of Scotland from 14th December 1542 till 29th July 1567, when her son James VI. was crowned in her stead. This period of a quarter of a century is more crowded with events than any other part

VIII.

of Wish

Beaton at this time really governed, imposing his will Death on the vacillating regent and sternly repressing heresy. of wish George Wishart, the chief preacher of the Reformers, was' Beaton. seized, found guilty of eighteen articles of heresy, mostly

1545-1558. taken from Calvin, and burnt at St Andrews. The war of religion, now openly declared, could not be carried on without bloodshed on both sides. Beaton was assassinated less than three months after Wishart's death in his own castle by Norman Leslie and other young men, some with private grievances, all desiring to avenge Wishart. The effect was adverse to the Reformers. Leslie and his associates, joined by a few others, of whom Knox was one, being shut in the castle, held it for a short time against the regent, but were forced to surrender to Strozzi, the French admiral.

Somer

set's raids.

Regency

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The death of Henry VIII. (1547) did not put a stop to the war with England. The protector Somerset proved to be an implacable enemy, and, partly to strengthen his position as regent, determined to strike a more signal blow. Invading Scotland simultaneously with a large fleet and army, he defeated the Scottish regent at Pinkie (18th September 1547), took Edinburgh, and placed garrisons in several castles. Scotland had suffered no such reverse since Flodden. The progress of the capital was thrown back at least a century; scarcely a building remains prior to the date of his savage raids. Somerset was not in a position to follow up his advantage, for he had to return home to counteract intrigues. The young queen was sent from Dumbarton in the following summer (August 1548) to the court of France, where she was brought up with the children of Henry II. by Catherine de' Medici. Before she went a French force had been sent to Scotland, and in the camp at Haddington the estates had, by a majority led by the regent and queen dowager, agreed to Mary's betrothal to the dauphin. The regent was promised the dukedom of Chastelherault in return for his part in the treaty. For two years a fierce intermittent war continued between England and Scotland; but the former country was too much engaged in home affairs and the French war to send a large force, and the Scots recovered the places they had lost except Lauder. The issue of the French war was also adverse to the English, who were forced to agree to the treaty of Boulogne (24th March 1550), in which Scotland was included. In September the queen dowager went to France and obtained the transfer of the regency from Arran to herself. On her return, Arran not being prepared to relinquish his office, she proved herself a skilful diplomatist, gaining over the nobles by promises and the people by abstaining from persecution of the Reformers. A single execution-that of Adam Wallace, "a simple but very zealous man for the new doctrines"-took place in 1550 under the sanction of Archbishop Hamilton, natural brother of Arran, who had succeeded Beaton; but that prelate, whose natural disposition was towards compromise, authorized a Catechism in 1552 which minimized the distinctions in doctrine between the church and the Reformers, and was conspicuous for omitting all reference to the supremacy of the pope. At this time a large section of the clergy and people were still wavering, and the necessity of retaining them by moderation and reform was evident. The death of Edward VI. and the accession of Mary in 1553 had an important influence on the progress of the Scottish Reformation. The Scottish Reformers who had taken refuge in England had to escape persecution by returning home or going abroad, and the powerful preaching of Harlaw, Willock, and Knox, who came to Scotland towards the end of 1555, promoted the new doctrines.

In the spring of 1554 the queen dowager at last sucof Mary ceeded in obtaining from the reluctant Arran a surrender of Guise. of the regency. Mary had now attained her twelfth year and a nomination by her of her mother as tutor gave the form of law to what was really the act of the queen dowager, the French king, and the nobility. The people acquiesced,

for all classes were tired of a governor whose chief object was money. His actual 'investiture in the French dukedom removed any scruples in relinquishing a dangerous dignity. For the next six years the queen dowager was regent and conducted the government with such prudence that her real aims were only seen through by the most penetrating. Knox has been accused of a harsh opinion of her; but the upshot of her policy if successful would have been to subject Scotland to France and to that party in France so soon to be the relentless persecutors of the Reformers. She knew well how to bide her time, to yield when resistance was impolitic, to hide her real object, but this she pursued with great tenacity of purpose. A variety of circumstances favoured her, the condition of England under Mary Tudor, the ill-will Arran had incurred, the absence of any leading noble who could attempt to seize the supreme power, the safety at the French court of her daughter, in whose name she governed, and the knowledge of her adopted country acquired by long residence. Yet her first step was a mistake so serious as to have wellnigh provoked revolution. In appointments to offices she showed such preference for her own countrymen as created intense jealousy on the part of the Scottish nobility, and would probably have led to open action but for the fact that many Scotsmen got offices and pensions from the French king. The new regent applied herself at once to the perennial work of every Scottish Government, the repression of disorder in the Highlands, and first Huntly, afterwards Argyll and Athole, were sent to Argyll and the Isles; but the presence of royalty was, as had before been found, the best remedy, and she made next year a circuit in person with more success than any of her lieutenants. Under the advice of her French counsellors she now garrisoned Dunbar with French soldiers and built a fort at! Eyemouth (1556). She even ventured to propose to levy a tax for the maintenance of a standing army; but the remonstrance of 300 barons, headed by Sir. John Sandilands, forced her to abandon a project so fatal in that age to liberty. Next year, at the instigation of the French king, she endeavoured to force the country into an English war. No time could have been worse chosen, for commissioners from England and Scotland had actually met at Carlisle to adjust differences between the two countries. The Scottish barons refused to fight, and from that date, Bishop Lesley notes, the queen regent could never agree with the nobility, and sundry of them sought, by all means to raise sedition against her and the French.

to the

In the parliament at the close of the year commis- Mary's sioners were appointed to go to France for the marriage marriage between Mary and the dauphin. Their instructions were dauphin. to obtain a promise from both to observe the liberties and privileges of Scotland and its laws, and a ratification of the Act passed in 1548, when it was first proposed to send the young queen to France. The contract of marriage provided that their eldest son was to be king of France and Scotland and the eldest daughter (should there be no son) queen of Scotland, to be given in marriage by the joint consent of the king of France and the Scottish estates. In the event of her husband's death Mary was to be free to stay in France or return to Scotland. The marriage was solemnized at Notre Dame-on 24th July 1558. But prior to the public contract a secret arrangement had been made, by which Mary, in three several deeds, made over the kingdom of Scotland to the king of France and his heirs if she died childless, assigned to him possession of the kingdom until he was reimbursed in a million pieces of gold for her entertainment in France, and declared that, whatever documents she might afterwards sign by decree of parliament, this arrangement expressed her genuine intention. After the return of the commissioners the crown,

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