tion of the CHAP. V. "Congrega- gation of the Lord," in contradistinction to the estabLord." lished church, which they denominated" The Congregation of Satan." This new bond was entered into at Edinburgh (December 3rd, 1557), and at the head of the subscribers were the Earl of Argyle, his son the Lord of Lorn, and others. When the purport of this covenant became known, the opposite party considered it as a declaration of war. The persecuting laws were revived; and the Congregation lords and preachers, refusing to attend the Queen's council at Stirling when summoned, were declared rebels and traitors. This excited a civil war (1559). 7. Elizabeth's first transactions with the Covenanters. Inflamed by Knox, who had just returned from Geneva, the reformers demolished the churches, and burnt everything which had been used in the established worship. Perth, Stirling, Linlithgow, Scone, the cathedral of St. Andrews, and several other places, were thus " 'purged," as it was said, from the pollutions of Popery; even Edinburgh was for a time in their hands, and Holyrood Palace was ransacked. The Queen, supported by the Earl of Arran, who had assumed the French title of Duke of Chastelherault, and a small body of French troops, vainly endeavoured to restrain their excesses; but at this critical moment the young Queen of Scots became Queen of France by the death of her father-in-law, Henry II. (July 10th, 1559), and large reinforcements were immediately despatched to Scotland, with which the Queen Regent took possession of the town of Leith, and the adjacent island of Inchkeith; and so secured her communications with France. In this emergency, the reformers were driven by imperious necessity to seek the assistance of England, their hopes of which had been secretly kept alive by Cecil, who aided them with money and advice; and the Earl of Arran, the eldest son of, Chastelherault, who was a reformer, had a private interview with Elizabeth, and several conferences with Cecil. He and his father now openly joined the Congregation; English troops entered Scotland; an army of observation was stationed on the borders, and a fleet, to intercept the communication between Leith and France, was sent to the Forth. These transactions were followed by the conTreaty of Berwick. clusion of a treaty between Elizabeth and the Congregation lords, at Berwick (February 27th, 1560), in which the Queen solemnly promised never to lay down her arms till the French should be entirely driven out of Scotland. This treaty was negotiated, on the part of the Scots, by William Maitland, of Lethington, one of the ablest statesmen of that age, who had 1560 recently deserted his post of secretary to the regent, and gone over to the Congregation lords. A large English army was now sent into Scotland, and Leith was closely blockaded both by sea and land. In the mean time, the Queen Regent had returned to Edinburgh Castle, where she died (June 10th, 1560). Her death hastened the conclusion of a peace, which the French government was anxious to bring about, that it might withdraw its troops from Scotland, and concentrate all its forces for the fierce civil war which was threatening to break out between the Huguenots and the Catholics. The new treaty was con- Treaty of cluded at Edinburgh (July 6th, 1560), and it stipulated Edinburgh. that Scotland should be evacuated by the military forces of both parties; that Francis II. and Mary should desist from assuming the title, or bearing the arms of England; and that they should ratify the concessions which they had already made to their Scottish subjects at Elizabeth's request, as soon as the people should fulfil the terms to which they, on their part, had agreed.* By this master-stroke of policy, Elizabeth bound the Scottish reformers to her, and taught them to feel that she was their sole protector.+ 8. Mary, Queen of Scots, arrives in Scotland. In pursuance of the terms of this treaty, the states of Scotland assembled in Edinburgh (August, 1560). The reformers possessed an overwhelming majority. An act was passed to abolish the Papal authority in Scotland; the administration of baptism after the Catholic rite, and the celebration of mass, were prohibited under the heaviest penalties; a confession of faith, framed by Knox and his associates after the Genevan model, and a book of discipline on the worship and government of the church, according to the republican equality of the same standard, were approved of and established; and every member of the convention who refused to subscribe to the new creed was instantly expelled. And lastly, they offered the hand of the Earl of Arran, the presumptive heir to the crown, in marriage to Elizabeth; and agreed to settle the Scottish crown upon them and their heirs, in failure of Queen Mary and her posterity.‡ When these acts were laid before Mary, she refused to ratify them or the late treaty; and, under the advice of her uncles, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, she pertinaciously rejected Elizabeth's demands, even after the death of her husband, Francis II., had dissolved the connection between France and Scotland, and placed supreme power in the hands of Catherine de Medicis, the determined enemy of the house of Guise. The consequence was, that the war still continued, because it was a rejection, on Mary's part, to give up those pretensions to the + Mackintosh, III., 43. Mackintosh, III., 45-46; Lingard, VII,, 294. * Lingard, VII., 298; Hume V., 36; Robertson. CHAP. V. English crown which had all along formed the chief cause of the difference between her and Elizabeth. When the Scottish Queen, therefore, requested permission to pass through England on her way to Scotland, Elizabeth indignantly refused. However, Mary safely arrived in Scotland, and landed at Leith (August 19th, 1560). Factions 9. Elizabeth's transactions with the Huguenots. At the same time that Elizabeth concluded her first treaty with the Scottish lords, she was in communication with the Huguenots, or French Calvinists, who, like the reformers in every other part of Europe, had been bitterly persecuted. At this time there existed, in France. besides the Protestants, three political parties in France -the first, led by the Constable de Montmorency; the second, called the Guises, led by Francis, Duke of Guise, and his brother Charles, Archbishop of Rheims and Cardinal of Lorraine; and the third, led by the Queen of Henry II,, Catherine de Medicis, the daughter of Lorenzo de Medicis. During the reign of Francis II., the Guises, being the uncles of the young Queen of Scots, held the reins of power; Catherine found it prudent to join them, and Montmorency's party was weakened by his nephews, the Chatillons, better known as the Admiral Coligny and D'Andelot, going over to the Huguenots. The latter were further strengthened by the accession of Antoine, King of Navarre, and Louis, Prince of Condé, his brother; and the conThe spiracy of Amboise was planned for the purpose of seizing of Amboise. the royal family, and depriving the Guises of power. Elizabeth countenanced this conspiracy, but it was discovered, and the two Bourbon princes were imprisoned. When Charles IX. succeeded, and his mother, Catherine, became regent, they were released, and the Huguenots taken into favour to strengthen the government against the Guises, who had lost their authority by the death of Francis. But the reformers had been too much exasperated by persecution and massacre to listen to Catherine's overtures; and although the government suspended the penal laws against them, and granted them freedom of worship outside the towns (1562), they felt that their only security lay in resistance. It happened that the Duke of Guise, at the head of his armed followers, surprised a Huguenot congregation while at worship, in the little town of Vassy. A conflict immediately ensued; the unarmed reformers were massacred; at Sens, Tours, and other places, similar outrages followed; and the result was, that the Huguenots appealed to arms, and a civil war was begun. Condé and Coligny took the command of the reformers, Conspiracy The Massacre of Vassy. The first war. CHAP. V, and claimed the aid of Elizabeth; Guise and Montmorency sought the assistance of Spain; and while Navarre fortified Paris for them, his brother, Condé, secured Orleans for the Huguenots. Elizabeth sent over 6,000 men, on condition that one-half of them should garrison Havre till Calais should be restored. The war was short. Navarre was slain at the siege of Rouen; Montmorency and Condé were taken prisoners at the battle of Dreux, on the Dure; and the Duke of Guise was assassinated in the following year (1563), at the siege of Orleans. The latter event brought about the treaty Amboise; the English were expelled from Havre, and Elizabeth was compelled to accept the humiliating treaty of Troyes, by which she lost that place, and therefore Calais (1564).* 10. Mary's career in Scotland: her marriage with Darnley. When Mary, Queen of Scots, took possession of her paternal throne, she knew that France could give her no support. She, therefore, sought to conciliate the Congregation lords, by entrusting the government to her half-brother, the Earl of Murray, and to Maitland, of Lethington, her secretary. Both these ministers, however, were in the pay of Cecil, who still continued to encourage the reformers as the natural and necessary allies of England. Mary's proposal to marry was the first cause which disturbed the peace which had existed since her accession. The archduke Charles offered to marry her, but Elizabeth opposed this match, and suggested that Mary should marry some British nobleman. The suggestion was accepted, and Mary chose Darnley, the eldest son of the Countess of Lennox; by marrying whom, she would centre in her issue the rights of both branches of the family of Margaret, Henry VII.'s daughter. Darnley, being an English subject, Mary's choice was not resisted; but when he betrayed, too suddenly, partialities for the Catholic party, the English council was alarmed, and the Scotch reformers were advised to resist the marriage, if Darnley would not agree to adhere to the reformed religion, which he had openly professed in England. While these negotiations went on, Murray withdrew from the court, that he might organise a formidable opposition to the marriage. He was assured of Elizabeth's aid by Throgmorton, the English ambassador; the enemies of the Lennoxes joined him; and to obtain the co-operation of the kirkmen, whom he had displeased by conniving at Mary's masses and idolatries, as they said, he was solemnly reconciled to them. Mary was now required * Browning's Huguenots, ch. 6-16. |