The history of Mary, Queen of Scots

Front matter

Mary

QijeenofSgot

1 tV tfi > <. <,M

Chapter I

INTRODUCnON. PAOB

Scotland before the reign of Marv Stuart — Wars with England for the maintenance of her independence — Conflicts of her Kings and Barons — Her condition at the death of James V. and accession of Mary Stuart. , ,1

Chapter II

PROM THE ACCESSION OF MART STTJART TO HER RETURN FROM FRANCE INTO SCOTLAND.

Minority of Mary Stuart — War with England — Mary is sent to France — Regency of Mary of Lorraine — ^Marriage of Mary Stuart — Her pretensions to thew;22ULjoLiagland — Origin and progress of Protestantisni in Scotland —Treaty of Berwick — Death of the Regent — Treaty of Edinburgh — Mary Stuart becomes a widow, and returns to Scotland. . , .14

CHAPTER HI.

FROM mart's return INTO SCOTLAND TO HER MARRIAGE WITH DARNLET.

Policy £ursue^JbyJkLai:jL.St]iart — Concessions to the Protestant party. — Lord ' James Sfu'art appointed Prime Minister — Disgrace of the Hamiltons — Rebellion of the Earl of Huntly — Negotiations for the Queen's second marriage. —Her rupture with Murray — His conspiracy — Marriage of the Queen to Lord Darnley. ,.•.... 63

Chapter IV

FROM mart's MARRIAGE "WITH DARNLET TO THE MURDER OP RICCIO.

^f"*' prftdnfPrl.in Englnnd by Mary'fr •^^rriflg" — Negotiations for the marriage of Elizabeth — Coolness between Elizabeth and Mary — Murray's revolt, defeat, and flight into England — Influence of Riccio — Attempts to restore Catholicism in Scotland — Darnley's jealousy of Riccio — Conspiracy against Riccio — League between Darnley and Murray — Murder of Riccio — First captivity of the Queen. , • , , . . 101

CONTENTSt

Chapter V

1W)M THB ASSASSDTATION OF RICOTO TO MABY's MARRIAGE WITH BOTHWELL.

PAOB

Mary's reconciliation with Darnley — Pardon of Murray and the other exiles —Punishment of Kiccio's murderers — Birth of the Prince Royal of Scotland — Mary's aversion to Damley — Her attachment to Bothwell — Her illness — Plots against Darnley's life — His alarm and illness — Pardon of Riccio's murderers — Murder of Darnley — Public indignation — ^Trial and acquittal of Both well — ^H is marriage with the Queen. • • • , 13J

Chapter VI

FROM mart's marriage WITH BOTHWELL TO HER PLIGHT INTO ENGLAND.

League of the nobility against Mary and Bothwell — Applications to Queen Elizab_eJ.h„for_ assistance — Attack of Borthwlck Castle — Mary's flight to 1) unbar — Entry oT^ the confederates into Edinburgh — Mary levies an anny —Her defeat at Carbeny Hill — Her separation from Bothwell — She yields to the confederates, is led captive to Edinburgh, and finally imprisoned in Lochleven — Government of the Lords of the Secret Council — Arrest and confessions of Bothwell's accomplices — Deposition of the Queen — Coronation of James VL — Murray is appointed Regent — Cra^ufit-JOiLQuafin Elizabeth — Behaviour of Murray — Convocation of Parliament — Flight and fate of Bothwell — Mary escapes from Lochleven, and collects an army at Hamilton Castle — Battle of Langside — Defeat of the Queen's army — Her flight into England. ••...••.. 17^

CHAPTER VH.

PROM MARY Stuart's arrival in England to the return op

MURRAY TO SCOTLAND.

Arrival of Maiy Stuart on the English frontier — Her detention at Carlisle — Piaiia.fif_Elizabeth — Mission of JNIiddlemore — His propositions are rejected by Mary Stuart — Hej:Lappeal to tJie„ Eiiiifies^ofLthe Continent — She accepts f}}(> flrhitrafinn nf glizaLpth — Suspension of hostilities in Scotland — Conference at York — Position, character, and wishes of the Duke of Norfolk — His secret negotiations with Lethington and Murray — Transfer of the Conference from York to Westminster — 4^cusation nf JMary St.iiart, — Her defence — Rupture of the Conference — Murray returns to Scotland. , 225

CHAPTER Vin.

PROM Murray's return to Scotland to the execution of the

duke of NORFOLK.

^flryV fffni-tifl to jpstpre hpr -garty Ui.ScQtland — Murray's activity and energy — Proposed marriage of Mary to the Duke of Norfolk — Negotiations on the subject — League of the nobility against Cecil — He joins Norfolk's party —

CONTENTS. XI

PAUlt

SecveJLintrigucsof Norfolk .in Scotlansl— Convention at Perth — Alarm and anger of^Eliza^etTi— Horfoik and his friends retire to their estates— Arrest " of NorfoHj-^Catholic insurrection in the North of England — Defeat of the Insurgents — Assassination of Murray — Insurrection of Mary Stuart's party in Scotland — Invasion of the English border — The Earl of Lennox appointed Regent — N£gQtiaiion§,.for Marj> liberation ; they are broken otf — Conspiracy.if M?^ fttnart and the Duke of Norfolk — Mission of Rodolfi — Discovery of the conspiracy in England — Trial and condemnation of Norfolk — His execution and Maay's distress. • • • • • 263

CHAPTER IX.

FROM THE EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF NORFOLK TILL THE FOKMATIOS OF THE PROTESTANT LEAGUE.

Ajlifl.':"/?? hftiWPPn Fng^''"^ '^nd Fn^^^ — f^tata of parties In Scotland — Assassination of Lennox — The Earl of Mar appointed Regent — Massacre of St, Bartholomew — Its,,eSfictswi Elizabeth^^policy — Killegrew is sent into Scotland — Death of Maran3'Kio'?^^^^^^Horton appointed Regent — Treaty of Perth — Resistance of the Castilians — Capture of Edinburgh Castle — Death of Lethington — Execution of Grange — Position of Mary Stuart — Morton resigns the Regency— Destruction of the house of Hamilton — Esme' Stewart an'ives in Scotland, and becomes the King's favourite— Judgment and execution of Morton — CatholiiLJCQflspij:acy.foJt BestoratioQ — Raid of Ruthven — FlighrofLennox — Deliverance of James "VI.— J'ears of Eliza- .beth--^He£--npac>tiati«ft»-w4tfe- Maty Bttmrt — Projected expedition against" England — Elizabeth's rupture with the King of Spain — Formation of a Protestant League to protect the life of Elizabeth — Mary Stuart offers to join it — Leicester is sent to the Netherlands with an army — League to oppose a Catholic invasion of Great Britain. • • • , 322

CHAPTER X.

FROM THE FORMATION OF THE PROTESTANT LEAGL'E TO THE FRUSTRATION

OF babington's conspiracy.

Severity of Mary Stuart's treatment — Her complaints against her son — Her residence at Tutbury and Chartley — New schemes of the Catholic party on the Continent — Projected assassination of Elizabeth — Babington enters into the conspiracy — Maiy Stuart's ignorance of the plan for Elizabeth's murder — Walsingham's efforts to involve Mary Stuart — Proceedings of Philip II. — Letters of Babington to Mary — They are communicated to Walsingham — Arrest of Babington and his friends — Mary is transferred to Texall — Trial and execution of Babington and his accomplices — Mary Stuart's death is resolved upon. ....,,,, 373

Xll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XI.

FBOM THE FRUSTRATION OF BABINGTON's CONSPIRACY TO THE DEATH

OF MARY STUART. pagh

^jgliib^Ft'""f^ "^ th.*? F/Pg^^'-*^^ P''''^y Council — Appointment of a High Court of Justice — Transference of Mary Stuart to Fotheringay Castle — Mary refuses to appear before the Court — She at last resolves to defend herself — Her accusation and defence — Her discussion with Burghley — Her condemnation — Elizabeth hesitates to execute the sentence — Intervention of the Kings of France and Scotland to save Mary's life — Elizabeth signs her death-warrant — Paulet refuses to put Mary Stuart to death clandestinely — Mary's execution. ••.•••••• 401

CHAPTER XII, CONCLUSION.

Effect produced by Mary Stuart's execntion — Elizabeth's pretended indignation — Anger of the Kings of France and Scotland — Ehzabeth pacifies them — Philip II. resolves to avenge Mary's death — ^His preparations to invade England — The Invincible Armada — Its defeat — Triumph of Protestantism in Great Britain — Summary of Mary Stuart's life and character. , , 442

EN&B^VEID BY JOSEPH BROWN, i'ltCM _A PC J^-T;fcCAI T ±'U B J .i Slll-:i)

HISTORY

OP

Introduction

Scotland before the Reign of Mary Stuart — Wars with England for the Maintenance of her Independence — Conflicts of her Kings and Barons — Her Condition at the Death of James V. and Accession of Mary Stuart.

Until the time when England and Scotland were united together under the name of Great Britain, no country in Europe was more disturbed by foreign invasion and domestic warfare than Scotland. Under none of her national Kings did she undergo so many revolutions, or present a series of such tragical catastrophes as under Mary Stuart. This Queen, whose life was a tissue of misfortunes from beginning to end, was scarcely six days old when siie was called to the throne. Compelled ere long to fly her kingdom, she married the heir to the crown of France, who died when she was eighteen years of age. Left a widow in early youth, she returned into Scotland, where the Protestant revolution had just taken place, and where she found the ancient untractableness of the feudal barons augmented by all the fanaticism which is inspired by a sudden change in religious belief. In a very short time, she was imprisoned, deposed, and proscribed ; and, in order to escape from the violence of her subjects, she fell into the power of her neighbours, who kept her in captivity for nineteen years, and finally beheaded her upon tlie scaffold.

In relating, after so many others, her touching and tragical history, I shall endeavour to depict its occurrences in all their reality, and to leave no uncertainty as to their true causes. To the documents which have recently been employed or discovered, I shall add others, hitherto unpublished. Thus provided with more complete materials than any of my predecessors, I shall, perhaps, be able to shed some new light upon the obscurer points of the subject. Free from all prepossession on either side, I shall be neither the apologist nor the traducer of this lovely Queen, who possesses a host of passionate admirers even at the present day. I shall not judge Mary Stuart as she would be judged by a Catholic or a Protestant, a Scotchman or an Englishman. With the calm impartiality of history, I shall strive to show how far her misfortunes were merited, and how far they were the result of necessity, by giving such an explanation of her position and conduct, as shall be devoid at once of indulgence and of harshness. In the first place, however, it is indispensably necessary briefly to describe the political state of Scotland, and the spirit of the Presbyterian revolution, both of which exercised great influence upon the destiny of Mary Stuart.

Situated at the northern extremity of the island of Britain, with a surface diversified by mountains, lakes, and plains ; cold, poor, and warlike ; Scotland had uniformly succeeded in defending herself against the different conquerors who had successively occupied the southern portion of the island. In ancient times, she had escaped from the Roman yoke ; from the arms of the Saxons, Angles, and Danes, at the period of the Germanic invasions ; and from the dominion of the Anglo-Normans, during the feudal period. Her rude and intrepid inhabitants were divided into clans, governed by the head of the family or tribe, whom his followers served with fidelity, and for whom they would willingly sacrifice their lives. All the members of the same clan bore the same name ; and between clan and clan were entertained, for injuries inflicted, and murders committed, those hereditary feelings of vengeance, those deadly hatreds, which form one of tlie principal characteristics of that primitive state of society in which the family constitutes the only bond of association. A remnant of the ancient Gallic race, they possessed an enterprising character, a quarrelsome disposition, indomitable courage, changeful tastes, and almost equally changeless manners. At the time of Mary Stuart, they still retained the language, the costume, the organization, and, to some extent, the arms of the Celtic tribes.

During the period which elapsed from the end of the eleventh century, until nearly the end of the thirteenth, their national Kings had admitted, or allowed to penetrate into the Lowlands of Scotlands, some fugitive Saxons and adventurous Normans, who had established themselves there less as conquerors than as colonists. At about the same time, the feudal system of the Germanic nations was introduced, beside the patriarchal system of the Gallic tribes, which had continued to prevail among the

Grampian Mountains in the north, and the Cheviot Hills in the south, as well as tiiroughout the marsliy lands which divided Scotland from England. From this period, there existed in this small kingdom two peoples, two languages, two states of society, two forms of organization. The old Celtic race kept to the mountainous country ; the Germanic race of the Anglo-Saxons and Normans occupied the plains. The wild Highlanders, as they were called, spoke Gaelic ; the armed colonists of the Lowlands spoke English. The former continued to live in clans, the latter under the institutions of feudalism ; and while the first recognized no bond but that of family relationship, the others acknowledged all the political and territorial framework of a military society.

War, so to speak, was of permanent existence in Scotland, where very few towns were built, but which literally bristled with fortresses, into which the inhabitants of the country used to retire whenever a private feud broke out. To tiie quarrels, which were of continual occurrence between clan and clan, as well as between the Highlanders and Lowlanders, were added foreign wars of no mean importance. The Anglo-Norman Khigs, who had invaded Ireland and conquered Wales, aspired to become the masters of Scotland also. Tiiey would thus have reduced under their sway all that portion of the British L4es in which the Gallic race still maintained its independence. Several times had they entered into Scotland victoriously, and even seemed to have completely established themselves therein under Edward I. and Edward III., in spite of the heroic efforts of Wallace, and the obstinate resistance of Robert Bruce. In all probability they would, at this period, have annexed Scotland to England, if they had not been compelled, to employ all their forces in the defence or aggrandisement of their possessions on the Continent. I'he long wars which they waged against the Kings of France, for more than a century, prevented them from completing the conquest of Ireland, and consolidating that of Scotland. Thus we find, that in 1357, when David II. was restored to the throne so gloriously founded by his father Robert Bruce, the national independence of Scotland had been placed beyond dispute, and was no longer menaced by the Kings of England.

France had largely contributed to insure this great result. Exposed to the continual attacks of the same enemy, she had contracted an alliance with Scotland, which lasted from the thirteenth century until the end of the sixteenth, and was of equal advantage to both countries, as it enabled each in turn te get rid of the English. This alliance was carefully maintained by the Kings of France, who sent assistance to the Scotch when they were in peril, and received support from the Scotch in their own wars ; who surrounded themselves by a Scottish guard, gave titles and lands to several members of the important houses of Stuart, Douglas, and Hamilton ; and opened their court as an asylum or a school to those of the Scottish nobility who came to the Continent in search of refuge or education. It lasted until the end of the sixteenth century, and exercised no slight influence upon the destiny of Mary Stuart, by rendering her a French-woman by her birth, her education, her first marriage, and her manners; and by originating that spirit of insurrection among the high aristocracy of Scotland, which reached so inordinate a height during the minority and absence of this princess.

The five kings who preceded Mary Stuart upon the throne, in obedience to the general tendency which prompted every State to a concentration of authority, had vainly endeavoured to subject this formidable nobility to the monarchical sway. A political struggle had then commenced between them and the great barons, which took the place of the national conflict between the Scotch and English. The great barons, many of whom were at once heads of clans and feudal lords, had considerable forces at their disposal. The chieftain of the Black Douglas clan alone, wJio held the Scottish marches in the south, had from one thousand to fifteen hundred horsemen as his ordinary escort, and could at any time bring an army of forty thousand men into the field. The Kings, on the contrary, possessed neither permanent troops, nor financial resources. Their strength consisted entirely in the royal title, which was not, however, always respected ; and their principal means of action was the fleeting and changeable attachment of the great families, whom they employed as checks upon each other. Notwithstanding this limited power, the daring dynasty of the Stuarts, who had succeeded, by marriage, to the throne of Robert Bruce, laboured almost incessantly, from 1423 until 1542, to diminish the influence and humble the pride of the high aristocracy.

This difficult task was commenced by James I. On his return to Scotland, after twenty years of captivity in England, he took the English government for his model, and endeavoured to establish it in his own country. In order to overawe all resistance, he made an expedition into the Highlands, and seized no fewer than forty chiefs of clans. He next attacked several of the great lords who ruled over their possessions as absolute sovereigns, — thus striking a heavy blow at the two aristocraciea whose existence hampered the exercise of the royal authority. He also interdicted the confederations of the barons ; divided the Parliament of Scotland, which had previously formed a single House in which the nobility predominated, into two Houses ; provided for the more vigorous administration of justice, by bringing under its cognizance, at assizes held four times a year throughout the kingdom, those disputes which it had been customary to settle by an appeal to arms ; and resumed from their unlawful or rebellious possessors those counties and domains which they had either usurped from the crown or employed in opposition to its interests. But the nobles, alarmed at his innovations and severity, arrested further proceedings by an assassination. A plot was formed against him, and the conspirators, having surprised him at Perth, murdered him on the night of the 20th of February, 1436.

All the changes which he had introduced into the State disappeared during the minority of his son, James II. ; who, however, resumed his father's plans as soon as he became of age. The Earl of Douglas, the most powerful baron of the south, had made a league with the Earl of Crawford, who possessed great influence in the east, and with the Earl of Ross, who was equally strong in the north. James II., having failed to induce him to renounce this confederation, stabbed him with his own hand in Stirling Castle, whither he had come in reliance upon a safe conduct. After this act of treason and violence, an implacable war arose between the Stuarts and Douglases, who marched against each other at the head of equal forces. The two armies, each cor)sisting of forty thousand men, met on the banks of the river Esk. Either the Stuarts must crush the Douglases, or the Douglases dispossess the Stuarts. The Stuarts gained the victory, in consequence of the dread felt by the nobility of the power of that haughty and ambitious house, which, if it had been victorious, would have threatened them with a more formidable yoke than that of the reigning family. James of Douglas, abandoned by a portion of his troops, was defeated, dispossessed, and banished. With him fell the branch of the Black Douglases ; and their possessions were divided between the Red Douglases of the Angus branch, the Hamiltons in the west, and the Scotts of Buccleuch in the south, — three families which rose upon the ruins of the conquered clan, but none of which ever obtained the same importance.

The enterprising James II. did not long survive this success,

Q HISTORY OF

which rendered him very formidable to his nobility. He was killed in 1460, at twenty -nine years of age, by the bursting- of a cannon at the siege of Roxburgh. This fate probably saved him from one similar to that which his father had experienced, and which vas reserved for his son. James III., left a minor, continued the work of his two predecessors as soon as he became old enough to govern. But he acted without discernment and energy. Surrounded by ministers and favourites sprung from the lower ranks of the people, he delegated his authority to persons who endangered, instead of increasing it. Instead of dividing the nobility, he united them against himself, and displayed as much timidity as incapacity in meeting their attacks. In 1482, the Scottish barons deprived him of his vulgar favourites, whom they hanged upon the bridge of Lauder; and in 1488, they gave him battle at Sauchie, and slew him in his flight.

Alarmed or admonished by their unhappy fate, James IV. did not follow the footsteps of his ancestors. He made terms with the Scottish nobility, whom they had attacked, and effected a reconciliation witli the Kings of England, whom they had warred against. He then took advantage of this internal tranquillity and external peace to strengthen his kingdom and extend its civilization. He had married the daughter of the politic Henry VII. of England, who had just brought to a conclusion the violent civil wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster, and who readily perceived the advantages which would accrue to his insecurely established sovereignty from such an alliance. The Tudors, whose dynasty was founded by Henry VII., entertained new views with regard to Scotland. They had no intention to incorporate it violently with, or subject it feudally to, England, as the Plantagenets had previously attempted to do. But they were anxious to bring it into alliance with England by marriages and treaties, and thus to withdraw it from that connection with France, which, for two centuries, had so powerfully contributed to frustrate the plans of their predecessors, both at home and on the Continent. To effect the political assimilation of the two countries, and thus prepare the way for their territorial junction — such was the plan which Henry VII. inaugurated by the marriage of his daughter Margaret with James IV., and by a treaty of alliance offensive and defensive, which was the first wound inflicted on the ancient union of Scotland and France. But Henry VIII., who possessed neither the skilful dexterity nor the politic foresight of his father, soon thwarted his intentions. In 1513, he compelled James IV. to form a fresh alliance with

MAET, QUEEN OF SCOTS. 7

France, and to take up arms a^-ainst him. The war had, it is true, an issue fatal to the King and nobility of Scotland, who, for once, acted in concert. James IV. was totally defeated. He fell on the battle-field of Flodden, with ten thousand of his troops, among whom were two bishops, two mitred abbots, twelve earls, thirteen lords, five eldest sons of peers, and many nobles of inferior rank. The kingdom fell into the greatest disorder under his young successor, James V., who was under two years of age when he ascended the throne.

During the long minority of James V., the great families of Scotland contended furiously with each other for the supreme authority, and combats between their different factions were of frequent occurrence, even in the streets, of Edinburgh. The Hamiltons and Red Douglases, however, possessed most influence in the country. The chieftain of the former was the Earl of Arran, the nearest iieir to the crown after the Stuarts ; while the latter obeyed the Earl of Angus, who had married the widow of James IV., and the sister of Henry VIII. The family of the Hamiltons was, in general, faithful to the French policy ; while that of the Douglases supported, and strove to extend, English influence throughout the country. After many years of opposition, the two factions entered into a league at the expense of the monarch. The young prince was kept under such strict tutelage that he resembled an actual captive. This led him to conceive an implacable hatred for the Scottish nobility ; and to the systematic project for its humiliation which had been pursued by his predecessors, he added an earnest desire to be revenged upon it. As soon as he had succeeded in shaking off the yoke of the Earl of Angus, who governed in his name, he marched against him, and compelled him to seek refuge in England, where this chieftain of the Red Douglases lived an exile during the lifetime of James V.

The impetuous James V. displayed more boldness than his forefathers had shown in restoring the general authority of the crown, and reducing the anarchical power of the nobility. He humbled the Red Douglases as effectually as his great-grandfether, James II. had humbled the elder branch of the family. He next made an expedition to the southern frontier of his kingdom, where the warlike clans of the Hepburns, Homes, Scotts, and Kers, were living in complete insubordination ; took their castles, seized their chieftains, and punished their disobedience. He succeeded in inspiring universal dread of his authority and rigour ; punished the murders, which were of constant occurrence among his rude and hot-headed subjects ;

visited with severe penalties the house-burning and cattle stealing, which had become a common practice in the country ; improved its judicial institutions, favoured mental cultivation, gave a stimulus to various kinds of trade, and rendered the internal peace of the nation so secure that it was said on every hand, that ' the furze-buslies kept the cows.*

All these changes were, however, ephemeral. Effected only on the surface of Scottish society, they were not allowed time to penetrate to its depths. Henry VIII. contributed largely to prevent this. This headstrong and imperious prince was desirous that the King, his nephew, should adopt all ids plans, both political and religious. When he seceded from the Church of Rome, he urged James V. to introduce into his kitjgdom, the same change of religious faith which he had just accomplished in his own. He perceived that it was impossible for Scotland to remain Catholic, at the time when England was becoming Protestant, without resuming those continental alliances which his father and himself had been so anxious to break off, and without giving rise to fresh causes of enmity which would renew and aggravate the ancient hostility of the two nations. He, therefore, made most tempting proposals to his nephew, and offered him his eldest daughter in marriage.

James V. hesitated for a moment.* The extreme corruption of

1 He felt great aversion towards the Archbishop of St. Andrews, James Beton, or Beaton, son of the laird of Balfour. Ample evidence of this is supplied by an instruction of James V., inserted by M. Teulet in the two volumes of Pieces et documents inedits relatifs a I'histoire d'Ecosse au XVI. siecle, tires des archives et bibliotheques de Fi-ance, recently published by the Bannatyne Club. In this instruction, which was prepared for the agents sent by James V. to the Pope, this prince states that during his minority, the Archbishop abused his power in order to enrich himself and his relations ; and that, though sprung from a small and poor family, he had married his niece to the chieftain of the Hamiltons, the Earl of Arran, cousin to the King, and the nearest heir to the throne. He adds: — * Quant nous sommes veneus k I'aige que nostre auctorite estoit entre nous mains, ledict archevesque, portant impatientement d'estre boute hors de ce gouvernement et auctorite oil il estoit paravant, par la richesse et soubstance qu'il avoit amasse et accumele' cidevant par I'usage de nostre auctorite' et tuelles aultres subtiles raoyens, solicitoit et convenoit (re'unissoit) unge grand ptirte des seigneures, barons et subjectes, et est venu, en mani^re de guerre, luy-mames en persoune avecques eux, et nous a asseige apreraent et activelment par unge pi6ce de temps, dedans nostre chastiau d' Edinburgh, et nous tenoit la-dedans, jusques k ce que, pour la sauvete' de nostre vie et pour e'viter grandes dangiers et pe'ricules, nous estions forces et compelles, contre nostre intention et voloir, de mettre nostre person, auctorite' et gouvernement de nostre royalme en ses mains et aucunes aultres ses colleges, estant avec luy par son solistation, a I'fevre desquelles le Comte d' Angus, son frdre et oncle, estiont principaulx, lesquelles sont et ont este' par longe temps nous (nos) rebelles e'vecques (avec) nous (nos) enemys d'Engleterre, lesquelles the Scottish clergy, who united to the laxity then universally charged against churchmen, the gross habits and violent manners of the Scottish nobility, made the King incline towards a reformation.

The immense property possessed by the clergy also tempted him. He even permitted the poet, Sir David Lindsay, and Dr. George Buchanan, to publish satires a«^ainst the monks and priests, which obtained a large share of public favour. But he quickly changed his mind. He saw, or it was explained to him, that by humiliating the clergy he would strengthen the nobility, and that the property of the former of these bodies could not be taken from it, without passing, in great measure to the second. To act thus, would be to thwart the projects of his predecessors, and to disavow his own previous actions, — to abandon the plan which had been pursued for more than a century with regard to the nobility, in order to adopt one diametrically opposed to it. James V. further consided that the clergy, in whose ranks resided nearly all the talent in the kingdom, and who supplied the majority of men competent to exercise high civil functions, would, by their disappearance, plunge Scotland in ignorance, and deprive him of all counterpoise to the parliamentary, as well as territorial, influence of the feudal aristocracy. The primate Beaton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, and the other bishops, furnished him with another reason for leaving them alone, by offering him in the name of the clergy, an annual subsidy of fifty thousand crowns out of the rents of the Kirk,^ which was destined to satisfy his covetousness, and aid him to defend himself against Henry YIII., if that prince became discontented and declared war.