CHAP. I. Its Early History to AD. 1560. 1542. This monarch was accomplished, but indolent and exceedingly lavish in display. He was no friend to the nobles, but was beloved by the bulk of his people, by whom he was spoken of as "the King of the Commons." Arran was regent during the first eleven years of the Minority minority of the beautiful and unfortunate Mary, Queen of of Mary. Scots. In 1543 a treaty of alliance was entered into with England, and a treaty for the marriage of Prince Edward to the infant Queen, a union which was set aside by other events. But consent had been wrung from a packed House of Parliament, and great opposition arose in Scotland to the proposals of Henry VIII. The Estates met in December, 1543, and repudiated the treaties on the ground of their having been broken by King Henry by the seizure of Scots vessels and other acts of hostility. At the same time the Estates ratified and renewed the compacts with France, receiving from the French ambassadors promise of "aid and supply to our sovereign lady the Queen's grace and nobles of this realm for the defence of the same, and liberty thereof, against the King of England." Then ensued Henry's "burning and slaying expedition," with the defeat of the English at Ancrum Moor. Estates Mary married the Dauphin of France in April, 1558, The and at her request the marriage commissioners requested and the Parliament to confer the crown matrimonial on her hus- Queen's band. Fearing that this proposition would be somewhat marriage. unpalatable, the commissioners were careful to state that it was to be "by way of gratification during the marriage, without any manner of prejudice to her Highness's self, the succession of her body, or lawful succession of her blood whatsomever." The Estates authorised the act with this limitation, and a declaration that the distinction of king was to last "during the marriage allenarly."1 Before the Reformation had made much progress in Purifying Scotland, the provincial councils endeavoured to deal the with abuses in the Church. Injunctions had been issued 1 Only. Church. Its Early History to A.D. 1860. 1 CHAP. I. by the provincial ecclesiastical council of Scotland in 1549 against the profligacy, extravagance, and idleness of the clergy; and a council held in the spring of 1559 had before it "articles proponit to the queen-regent of Scotland by some temporal lords and barons, which had been forwarded by her Grace "to the haill prelates and principals of the clergy convened in their provincial council in Edinburgh." Although the members of the council were no sympathisers with the new doctrines, they recommended various reforms, especially as affecting internal discipline among the clergy. The Reformation now began to work its way rapidly, and its principles had not such great difficulties to contend with as in other countries. As early as 1542 Parliament had passed an act authorising the common reading of the Scriptures, "baith the New Testament and the Auld, in the vulgar tongue, in Inglis or Scottis, of ane good and true translation." The Edinburgh Council of 1559 adjourned till the following year, but it never met again, for John Knox had boldly entered upon his aggressive work against the Church of Rome, and the Reformation zeal was permeating the masses. The Reformation established. In the midst of great religious excitement, the Scots Parliament of 1560 assembled. Its sittings were very eventful, for the Estates established the Reformation in Scotland. On August 17th the Geneva Confession of Faith was approved of as "hailsom and sound doctrine, grounded upon the infallible truth of God's word." Eight days later all acts authorising any other form of belief or worship were repealed, and the authority of the Bishop of Rome was abjured. The administering of the Mass, or presence thereat, was declared to be punishable on the first offence by forfeiture of goods and corporal infliction at the discretion of the magistrates, on the second by banishment from the realm, and on the third by "justifying to the death." So far as the Estates were concerned, the Romish hierarchy, which on the morning 1 Statuta Ecclesia Scoticanæ. of August 25th was supreme, was deposed by the evening of the same day, and Calvinistic Protestantism established in its place. There were still troublous days in store, however, before the work of the Reformers was complete. Thomas Randolph, English ambassador to Queen Mary, wrote an entertaining account of the early proceedings of the Parliament of 1560 to Cecil. After premising that he "never heard matters of such great importance sooner despatched, nor with better will agreed unto," he proceeds to say, "The matters concluded and past by common consent upon Saturday last (August 17th) are, first, that the barons (according to an old act made in A.D. 1427) should have free voice in Parliament. This act passed without contradiction, as well of the bishops Papists as all others present. The next was the ratification of the Confession of Faith, which the Bishop of St. Andrews said was a matter he had not been accustomed with, and he had had no sufficient time to examine or confer with his friends; howbeit, as he would not utterly condemn it, so was he loath to give his consent thereunto. To that effect also spake the Bishops of Dunkeld and Dumblane. Of the lords temporal, the Earls of Cassilis and Caithness said, No. The rest of the lords with common consent and glad will allowed the same; divers, with protestation of their conscience and faith, desired rather presently to end their lives than ever to think contrary to it; many offered to shed their blood in defence of the same. The old Lord Lindsay, as grave and goodly a man as ever he saw, said, 'I have lived many years; I am the oldest in this company of my sort; now that it has pleased God to let me see this day where so many nobles and others have allowed so worthy a work, I will say, with Simeon, Nunc dimittis.' The Lord Marshall said, though he were otherwise assured it were true, yet might he be the bolder to pronounce it for that he saw there present the pillars of By an unaccountable error, Burton (vol. iii.) attributes this report to Sir Nicolas Throckmorton, who was then the English ambassador to France. CHAP. I. Its Early A.D. 1560. History to Interesting scene in Par liament. History to CHAP. I. the Pope's Church, and not one of them would speak Its Early against it. Many other spoke to like effect, as the Laird A.D. 1860. of Erskine, the Laird of Newbottle, the Sub-Prior of St. Andrews, concluding all in one, that that was the faith in which they ought all to live and die." 1 The Queen and the Re statutes. Although the Reformation statutes were not confirmed by the Crown, Mary being then in France, the people formation were well satisfied with their effects, which involved the separation of the Church of Scotland from that of Rome. The Queen herself, on her return in 1561, did not attempt to restore the Romish religion, although she demanded toleration for herself and her attendants, and re-established the Mass in her private chapel. The press The Scheme fails. The Estates were at this time most anxious to please Queen Elizabeth. Maitland of Lethington promised that if she would specify what she disliked in the Scottish policy, he would see it "further altered or modified." Parliament seconded Maitland, and was ready to yield anything if she would only consent to the proposal for her marriage with the Earl of Arran. The Estates resolved upon a special embassy to London, but Elizabeth temporised. The Estates, interpreting her silence as a favourable omen, proceeded to draw up a formal address to the English Council, pressing the marriage as the only means to make the alliance between the two countries permanent. "Other devices may seem probable for a time," said the Estates in this important document, " but, we fear, not for long. We wish the best, but many incidents which may fall out make us to fear the worst; but if this may take place, then are all doubts removed for ever. You need not fear that by marriage of a king of Scotland unto a queen of England the pre-eminence of England might be defaced, for that should always remain still for the worthiness thereof, neither need you fear any alteration of the laws, seeing the laws of Scotland were taken out 1 Calendar of State Papers of the Reign of Elizabeth (1560—1561, Foreign Series). of England, and therefore both these realms are ruled by one fashion. By these means Ireland might be reformed, and thus the Queen of England become the strongest princess upon the seas, and establish a certain monarchy by itself in the ocean, divided from the rest of the world."1 The allusion to the ocean supremacy of England proved to be prophetic. In regard to the main burden of their address, the Estates were not successful. The husband of Mary Stuart having died, Elizabeth would not seem to conspire against a widowed queen, so she took the opportunity to dismiss the Scots commissioners with a virtual refusal of their offer, and the union between the English and Scottish crowns was thereby delayed. CHAP. I. Its Early History to A.D. 1560. More ments on Mary's The Estates met in January, 1561, to receive in form Elizabeth's refusal of the Earl of Arran. Bothwell and others had returned from Paris to be present, bringing behalf. with them as many as three hundred letters from Mary to different noblemen and gentlemen. All eyes were now turned towards her. The Catholic party sent Leslie, afterwards Bishop of Ross, to Mary, to invite her to land at Aberdeen, where they would join her with twenty thousand men and march on Edinburgh; while the Protestants sent Lord James Stuart to bid her come to them in the name of the Parliament which had passed the Confession of Faith. the Scots Parlia Some observations may well be offered at this juncture Powers of on the powers and action of the Scots Parliament from the time of the War of Independence to the Reformation. ment. Scottish historians admit the superiority of the practice of the present British Parliament on all points in which it differs from the practice of the Scots Estates anterior to the Reformation. Yet the Scots Estates were notable in one important respect: they would not admit the irresponsibility of the sovereign. James III. was expressly censured by them, and they endeavoured to dethrone him. The Estates also kept in their own hands the power of making peace and declaring war. They gave 1 Scots MSS. Rolls House. |