PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY THIRD SERIES VOLUME XXXVI TWO MISSIONS OF JACQUES DE LA BROSSE 1942 FACSIMILE OF LAST FOLIO OF MS. FRAN^AIS 17330, BIBLIOTHTQUE NATIONALE, SHOWING SIGNATURES OF DE LA BROSSE AND OF MANAGE. TWO MISSIONS OF JACQUES DE LA BROSSE AN ACCOUNT OF THE AFFAIRS OF SCOTLAND IN THE YEAR 1543 AND THE JOURNAL OF THE SIEGE OF LEITH, 1560 Edited by GLADYS DICKINSON, B.A., L.fesL. EDINBURGH Printed at the University Press by T. and A. Constable Ltd. for the Scottish History Society 1942 Printed in Great Britain CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS X1 INTRODUCTION TO THE DISCOURS. 3 DISCOURS 16 INTRODUCTION TO THE JOURNAL ... 51 JOURNAL 56 INDEX 181 PREFACE The two documents here printed deal with the diplomatic and military missions of Jacques de la Brosse to Scotland in 1543 and 1560.1 The first document, Discours des affaires du Royaume descosse, is printed from MSS. fonds fran9ais No. 17890, folios 29-34, in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. A second version of the Discours also appears in the same collection, in MSS. fonds fran9ais No. 17330, folios 1-7 ; but a comparison of the two manuscripts clearly indicates that the version in No. 17330, with its alterations, erasures, and additions, is merely a rough draft of that in No. 17890. The Discours is a report, written jointly by the two envoys, La Brosse and Menage.2 The style of the final version suggests the work of the lawyer Menage ; and if that is so, the additions to the draft, which are in a different hand, may be the work of the soldier La Brosse. Be that as it may (and the inference is conjectural only), the additions and corrections to the draft are of interest and importance. They have accordingly been printed in full in the notes to the text. In this way it is possible to see how the amended version of the Discours took shape. This method of presenting our document (as opposed 1 In the title to the Discours he describes himself as ‘ seigneur de la Brosse, eschansson du Roy ’—i.e. ‘ cupbearer.’ The Diurnal of Occurrents (p. 28) calls him ‘ Mr Cowpar. ’ For a useful biography of La Brosse, see Jules de la Brosse, Histoire d’un capitaine bourbonnais au XVIe siicle, Jacques de 2la Brosse. (Paris, 1929.) In the title to the Discours he describes himself as ‘ docteur es droictz, seigneur de Caigny, conseiller du Roy.’ viii JACQUES DE LA BROSSE to the alternative method of printing the draft in an appendix), while making one comparison easy has made others more difficult. Had the notes been further extended to include, for comparative purposes, references to other contemporary accounts, they would have become over- burdened. Accordingly, in the editing of the Discours the more important comparative notes have been included in the Introduction, which provides a brief survey of the historical background of the ambassadors’ report. Our second document, the Journal, by an unidentified author, is printed from Memoires et documents, Angleterre, reg. 15, folios 154-182, in the Archives of the Foreign Office, Paris. The mistakes and corrections made in the text show that it is a copy only ; the original Journal has not been discovered. Father Pollen, in his Introduction to Papal Negotiations with Mary Queen of Scots,1 con- jectures that the originals of the documents in this Register, dealing chiefly with the affairs of Mary of Lorraine, may have been brought to France when the body of the Regent was transferred there after the Treaty of Edinburgh in June 1560. This would certainly be one explanation of the fact that all the copies in the Register are written in a French hand on French paper. In the same place, Father Pollen mentions, in particular, a diary of the fighting around Leith, and concludes : ‘ The whole manu- script deserves to be printed.’ This diary—our Journal—is now printed for the first time. In the case of the Journal, however, where we have only the one manuscript, it has been possible to provide a full critical apparatus in the notes to the text, giving references there to other contemporary accounts both Scottish and English. There was thus no necessity to 1 Scottish History Society, First Series, vol. xxxvii. (1901), p. cxxxviii. PREFACE ix include in the Introduction to the Journal any account of the background of the events it records, and this latter Introduction is therefore appreciably shorter than that provided for the Discours. It may be that in editing our two documents in this way there emerges an apparent lack of balance between the two Introductions ; but it seemed the best method of securing our main purpose—to enable the reader to appreciate with greater ease the true value of each document. In both documents some of the corrupt forms of place- names and personal names could not be identified with certainty. Where they could be identified, the modern equivalent has been given in square brackets in the text. Notes on unusual French words and on textual difficulties have been added in small type at the foot of the page and continued where necessary on the page opposite. Finally, I would like to express my indebtedness to Mr. H. M. Paton, Curator of the Historical Department, H.M. General Register House, Edinburgh, to Mr. J. Beveridge, Editor of the Register of the Privy Seal, and to my brother, Dr. W. Croft Dickinson, for much help willingly accorded in various aspects of my work. G. DICKINSON. St. Andrews, October 1941. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A.P.S. Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland. (Record edition.) Accts. Treas. Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland. Cameron . The Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine, 1542-1560. (Scottish History Society.) C.F.E. Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, Elizabeth. Vol. ii. 1559-1560; vol. iii. 1560-1561. Diurnal . Diurnal of Occurrents in Scotland, 1513- 1575. (Bannatyne Club.) Henry VIII. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. 1509-1547. Holinshed . Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. 1577 edition. Knox, Hist. Ref. History of the Reformation in Scotland, in Works, vols. i. and ii. (Wodrow Society.) Leslie . The Historic of Scotland. (Scottish Text Society.) Paris . Negociations sous Francois I. (Documents inedits sur 1’histoire de France (lere serie).) Pitscottie . Historie and Cronicles of Scotland. (Scottish Text Society.) Rymer . Foedera. 1712 edition, folio. S.H.R. Scottish Historical Review. Spanish Calendar. Calendar of State Papers, Spanish. Stow . The Annales of England. 1605 edition. Teulet . Relations politiques de la France et de VEspagne avec VEcosse, au xvie siecle. 1862 edition. DISCOURS DES AFFAIRES DU ROYAUME DESCOSSE AN ACCOUNT OF THE AFFAIRS OF SCOTLAND IN THE YEAR 1543 BY JACQUES DE LA BROSSE AND JACQUES MANAGE A INTRODUCTION TO THE DISCOURS The interest and value of the Discours des affaires du Royaume descosse lies in its account of the state of Scotland, social, military and political, in the autumn of 1543. With the rout of Solway Moss and the death of James v. Scotland faced a crisis. A lost battle and the beginning of a long minority found the country at the mercy of the English forces; in the words of Sir George Douglas, Scot- land seemed almost theirs ‘ for the taking.’ Fortunately inclement weather saved Scotland from serious invasion, but it could not save her from dangers nearer home. While over the Border, at Alnwick, the English army lay inactive, at home the question of the regency was actively pursued. Indications of the difficulties ahead were at once apparent. The first move came from Beaton, who produced a will, purporting to have been made by the late king, and stated that he had been appointed Regent, with James, Earl of Moray, George, Earl of Huntly, and Archibald, Earl of Argyll.1 But even as Beaton proposed to take over the government, other forces quickly manifested themselves. Beaton was set aside ; on the 3rd of January Arran was proclaimed Governor; on the 20th of the same month Beaton was imprisoned ; and on the 13th of March Arran’s appointment as Governor was confirmed by Parliament.2 Henry vm. now sent back to Scotland the prisoners 1 See Andrew Lang, ‘ The Cardinal and the King’s Will,’ in S.H.R., vol. iii. (1906) ; and Knox, Hist. Ref., i. p. 93 ; also Leshe, ii. p. 264. a A.P.S., ii. pp. 411, 413. See also Pitscottie, ii. p. 5 ; Knox, Hist. Ref., i. p. 95 ; and Henry VIII., xvm. i. 273, 281. 4 JACQUES DE LA BROSSE taken at Solway Moss so that they could support his project of an early marriage between Prince Edward and the infant Mary. More than that, certain of them had signed secret articles binding themselves, in the event of Mary’s death, to help Henry to take over the govern- ment of Scotland.1 Arran was in favour of the marriage. There was a strong, or at any rate an urgent English party, now reinforced by the arrival of Henry’s envoy, Sadler, who reached Edinburgh on the 18th of March,2 after the meeting of the Estates which had considered, amongst other matters, the proposed marriage between Henry vm.’s son and Mary. Ambassadors were chosen to go to England to discuss the marriage and to present the Scottish conditions.3 All this was anathema to Beaton, still in prison, charged with having forged the King’s will, of having appropriated royal revenues and pensions received from France, and of having been in communication with the French for the purpose of procuring help against the English and those who were favourable to them in Scotland.4 No proof was brought forward in support of these accusations, though no one could doubt that the Cardinal’s policy had been demonstrably opposite to that of the English party.