Regional Aspects of the Scottish Reformation
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Regional Aspects of the I Scottish Reformation Ian B. Cowan *y.,•;•- -• GENERAL SERIES 92 The Reformation in Scotland was a comparatively late development and activated every bit as much by political as by religious causes. Regional Aspects Nevertheless, the commitment of the Scots to Protestantism—an issue of European importance—has seldom of the been questioned even by Scottish historians. Yet the strength of and Scottish Reformation support for reform can only be assessed by an examination of the regional and local roots of the movement. The conclusions which emerge not only modify many former assumptions as to the respective- strength of the Protestant and IAN 13. COWAN Catholic parties in sixteenth-century Scotland; but also underline the importance of the lairds in the resolution of the conflict. The Historical Association aims to develop public interest in history and to advance its study and teaching at all levels. Membership is open to all. The series, of which Regional Aspects of the Scottish Reformation is part, consists of essays on a wide range of subjects of general historical interest and members automatically receive a copy of these pamphlets as published. Further information is available from the Secretary. The Historical Association 59a Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4JH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Contents We are grateful to the Glasgow University Library for permission to reproduce the illustration on the outside front cover. It is a view of Reformation Perspectives, page 5 Perth, showing St. John's Kirk, taken from John Slezer's Theatrum Antecedents to Reform, page 7 Smtiae (London, 1693). The maps on LUTHERANISM pages 4 and 9 are by Ray Martin. HERESY TRIALS The Impact of Reform, page 13 URBAN RIOTS GEORGE WISHART THE EXAMPLE OF ENGLAND JOHN KNOX AND MARY OF GUISE THE CRISIS OF 1558-1560 The Protestant Ascendancy, page 24 HOSTILITY TO CHANGE THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE LAIRDS The Survival of Catholicism, page 30 PROTESTANT AREAS RECUSANT AREAS A REFORMED MINISTRY Notes on the Text, page 37 The publication of a pamphlet by the Historical Association does not Bibliographical Note, page 39 necessarily imply the Association's official approbation of the opinion's expressed therein. ©The Historical Association, 1978 Printed in Great Britain by Hart-Talbot Printers Ltd., Saffron Walden. THE COUNTIES OF SCOTLAND 2 Orkney 13 Angus 24 Midlothian 3 Caithness 14 Kincardine 25 East Lothian 4 Sutherland 15 Dunbarton 26 Ayr 5 Ross & Cromarty 16 Stirling 27 Wigtown 6 Inverness 17 Clackmannan 28 Kirkcudbright 7 Nairn 18 Kinross 29 Dumfries Reformation Perspectives 8 Moray 19 Fife 30 Peebles 9 Banff ',.' 20 Bute 31 Selkirk 10 Aberdeen , 21 Renfrew 32 Roxburgh In recent years studies of the Scottish Reformation have undergone a 11 Argyll , . 22 Lanark 33 Berwick marked change. Religion is seldom advanced as the sole mainspring of the events of 1560 and explanations have been increasingly sought in political and economic terms. On the political side growing opposition to French influence within Scotland was brought to a head in 1558 by the marriage of the Dauphin Francis and Mary Queen of Scots. Thereafter the principal objective of the nobility, quite irrespective of religious affiliation, was the end of the French alliance. But when in turn this led them to take up arms against their queen, they sought to avoid being classed as rebels by inviting the exiled John Knox to return to Scotland and, by coupling his cause to theirs, adopted a new and 'godly'justification for their deeds as Lords of the Congregation of Christ Jesus. Knox, on his part, by accepting this alliance was able successfully to attach the aspirations of the militant protestant party to that of the politically motivated lords. The genu- ine commitment of these lords to protestantism must, however, remain doubtful. Some were genuinely protcstant and may have taken to arms for this reason, but the great majority only found it politically expedient to be so, while economic gain may have moti- vated a few more. The part played by the desire to redistribute the wealth of the Church remains, however, a matter of debate; for while it is undoubtedly true that the secularisation of Church property was well under way in Scotland long before the events of 1559-60, and could arguably have continued without a change of faith, the promoters of such a change may have been looking for an accelera- tion of the process in the hope of securing tenure and title to those lands which they had already acquired. If the balance between economic and political causes is uncertain, it is clear that with a few notable exceptions (such as the Earls of Argyll, Glencairn and Morton, Lord James Stewart and other Lords such as Erskine, Ochiltree and Ruthven) these factors were para- mount among the nobility for whom religious commitment was always a lesser consideration. In the case of the lairds this balance may nave been somewhat different as a not insignificant proportion of this class appear to have found protestant doctrine to their liking. There is no way of knowing whether the appeal was solely religious or whether the promise that they would be able to take part ANTECEDENTS TO REFORM I 0 10 20 30 40 50 miles legal conviction and sentence. Indeed, only four persons—beginning with Patrick Hamilton in 1528—suffered burning as heretics before seven others, convicted in 1539, met the same fate—although several PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC more fled the country rather than face their accusers. It is clear that STRONGHOLDS before 1539 the growth of protestantism was far from a major problem and even Knox who would surely have dwelt on it in his History of the Reformation in Scotland could find little evidence of it.2 An examination of the situation in the various localities bears out this conclusion. In few areas are there any signs of active discontent with the church or of more positive attempts to present an alterna- tive. In Ayrshire some of the 'Lollards' accused in 1494 appear themselves as conformists in the early sixteenth century, while relations and dependants of other defendants were also loyal to the existing church. On the other hand, the breaking into the chapel of Dundonald in 1511 and the subsequent ransacking of a chest of its books and ornaments may appear to confirm the continuance of the beliefs expressed in 1494, but closer examination reveals that it was prompted by anti-clericalism or even by secular greed, rather than by positive moves towards church reform. After 1511 there is little sign of further religious discontent for almost twenty years. Dona- tions made to local churches, and in particular to the friaries of Ayr, seem to suggest that for a time religious agitation was unknown, and would not be revived until after the Lutheran upheavals.3 The sea-port of Ayr constituted an obvious gateway into western Scotland for Lutheran and later for Calvinist literature, although how far the new religious ideas were actually circulated cannot be assessed. While Ayr provided the focal point for unrest, its leaders Tullibardine came not from the inhabitants of the burgh but from lairds in the D*bl surrounding locality, one of whom in 1533 was accused before the archbishop of Glasgow of having decapitated a statue in the Observan- tine Friary at Ayr. Others were clearly involved in this incident and the citation demanding their appearance before the archbishop con- tains the general accusation that certain parishioners of some churches had 'sowed Lutheran errors, asserted them both in private and public, and that some of them read the New Testament in English Maybolefc Ixylc-" , and other writings containing heretical opinions'. The accused laird irkoswald*** * ^~ J • \n saved himself by recanting, but four years later in 1537 there arc pay- Girvan* I \l k ments for 'serening of the heretiks in the West land' and a summons ' Dailly Crossraguel V Galloway i .Dumfries laverock of the men of Ayr to appear before the lords of council on matters Glenluce Mew Abbey' arising from the forfeiture of goods of those who had been 'convict of ^ruggleton heresy'. The problem was thus not easily ended. Nevertheless the departure in 1539 from the Observantinc Friary, within which trouble "•Whi thorn had evidently arisen, of a friar named John Willock (who was later to become a superintendent within the reformed church) may indicate that traditional support for the church was stronger there at this juncture than the zeal for reform. Information from elsewhere in the 10 ANTECEDENTS TO REFORM ANTECEDENTS TO REFORM west supports this view. Although a Franciscan friar and a layman brothers Wedderburn, sons of a Dundee merchant. James Wedder- were burnt as heretics in Glasgow in 1539, there still is little positive burn, for all that he had received religious instruction from one of the evidence for any widespread heresy in those parts of Scotland, barely Blackfriars of the town, used his dramatic and poetic talents to write twenty years before the revolt of 1559-60.4 comedies and tragedies 'where he nipped the abuses and superstition On the east coast the position seems not to have been markedly of the time' and some of these plays were acted in the burgh. In 1540 different.Although it was reported in Aberdeenshire in 1525 that he was forced to flee to Dieppe. His brother John was a priest in 'syndry strangcaris and otheris . has bukis of that heretik Luthyr, Dundee before becoming a convert to reformed opinions: he too fled, and favoris his arrorys and fals opinionys,' there is little evidence of this time to Germany where he likewise used his poetic gifts to the unrest until 1539 when 'two menne of Abirdene' were imprisoned full by turning 'manie bawde songs and rymes in godly rymes' for helping one of the convicted heretics of that year.