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. In Fife, Angus which were to become, as the Gude and Godlie Ballattis, the march- and the Mearns there are also few signs of active protestantism; ing songs of the Scottish Reformation. If activities such as these may although the choice of St Andrews as the execution site of a heretic have promoted a local spirit of hostility towards at least certain about 1533 is said to have been made in order that sympathisers in sections of the church, there was still little sign of those active Angus might see the fire, there is no contemporary evidence to heresies which were later to characterise Dundee society. Indeed the support this interpretation. Curiously, there is a similar account of only indications of overt unrest were a command to the bailies of the deaths of two other heretics in 1534. said to have been burnt Dundee and Perth in 1536 to seek out two men suspected of hanging somewhere between Edinburgh and Leith 'to the intent that the an image of St Francis and a letter of rehabilitation granted in 1539 to inhabitants of Fife, seeing the fire, might be stricken with terrour and a burgess who had abjured his heresies.7 feare.'5 Active protestantism, if it was evident at all, seems to have The situation in Edinburgh, with its sea-port of Leith, presents a been confined to a few lairds of Angus and Fife and to the seaports of slightly different picture. There can be found the first clear evidence Dundee and St Andrews. of an urban populace embracing protestant doctrine at an early At St Andrews, indeed, the university and its constituent colleges period. In 1532 'ane greit abjuration of the favouraris of Mertene were certainly deeply involved in a religious ferment which intensi- Lutar' took place at the abbey of Holyrood, but whether these fied after the death of Patrick Hamilton, and Hamilton's teachings in Lutheran supporters were all local persons is unknown. As Scotland's the district may have had a marked effect among the educated classes busiest port facing northern continental Europe, Leith was an obvious with whom he associated. Thus the feast of the faculty of arts, point of entry for the new religious opinions; and it is significant that intended to symbolise love and friendship, was abandoned from amongst those accused in 1534 of professing reforming beliefs were a 1534 onwards on the grounds that the sung mass and customary sea-skipper and a ship-wright from Leith, a town to which others in procession offended some members of the university. Of the indi- the list of accused also belonged. Among the inhabitants of Edinburgh vidual colleges there, St Salvator's was orthodox, but St Leonard's similarly arraigned in 1534 was the master of the burgh grammar was more than suspect; the new doctrines were being taught, some- school who, with the provost of the collegiate church of Roslin, was times in secret but at other times openly, to those who 'drank of St one of the most prominent, and certainly one of those best situated, Leonard's well'. However, while some of the students who favoured to propagate reforming opinions. Yet the total number of heretics heretical opinions chose to leave Scotland, others who were less named in 1534 is only eight, and although a contemporary account committed remained; many of them holding to no more than a policy declares that 'sindrie utheris baith men and wemen' appeared and of reform from within the church/' If in 1536 the preaching of a recanted, their number was clearly very small; the action taken Dominican friar from the town's convent had reached a wide audience, against them may have effectively curbed their activities for the time there is still no sign of any popular reaction. Indeed, he himself was being. A similar pattern reappears a little later in 1539, with a forced to flee to England. handful of burgesses 'having their goods restored to them' on re- Before his flight the friar had also preached at Dundee, and cantation; only one burgess who had been specifically accused of there—almost alone in Scotland at this time—protestantism may be 'having and using of certane Inglis (i.e. heretical) bukis', and whose said to have possessed some popular appeal. Criticism of the existing property within the burgh was forfeited in consequence, apparently order was certainly to the fore among the Dundee friars, and in 1528 remained steadfast in his novel beliefs. The burning of five convicted one of them preached there against the licentious lives of the bishops heretics in 1539 must have reinforced the message, for Edinburgh and against the abuse of cursing. In the following decade the weak- remained quiescent in religious matters for at least another nesses of the Roman church were most scathingly indicted by the decade.H 12 ANTECEDENTS TO REFORM

Heresy Trials The five heretics who were executed in Edinburgh were actually all drawn from central Scotland. Two were Blackfriars, one of whom had written a morality play on Christ's passion which was per- formed in Stirling: another was a canon regular of the abbey of Inchcolm, who had apparently brought some of his younger fellow canons round to his way of thinking 'but the old bottells would not receave the new wine'. As vicar of Dollar in Clackmannanshire, a The Impact of Reform church appropriated to his abbey, and in close proximity to Stirling, his chief crime had lain in preaching every Sunday to his parishioners The executions of 1539 might indeed have proved salutary and from the Old and New Testament in English. The remaining two decisive if political events in both England and Scotland had not accused were, respectively, a burgh priest of Stirling and the brother dictated otherwise. James V demonstrated in that year in no un- of a local laird. No opportunity was apparently provided for the certain manner that his willingness to allow criticism of the church recanting of these five, who were accused as teachers of heresies and either in verse, satire or plain speech, which had characterised the as having been present at the wedding of the vicar of another Clack- earlier years of his reign, was at an end. An act of 1541 against heresy mannanshire parish, Tullibody. Nine others who were arraigned, and iconoclasm underlined the point and, until James' death in the including the scholar George Buchanan who had attacked the Fran- following year, there is little indication of renewed protestant activity. ciscans in two poems, fled the country. These trials were apparently Only then with the seizure of political initiative by the governor, the occasioned by signs of rising local dissatisfaction with the church Earl of Arran, were circumstances again propitious for those who among both the friars of Stirling and the canons of the abbey of favoured religious change to demonstrate their strength. They were Cambuskenneth where, in 1538, the master of the novices who had aided in 1543, as part of Arran's pro-English policies, by an act 'embraced the truth' fled to England, and was followed by one of his authorising the possession of the scriptures in the vernacular, and fellow canons and a Greyfriar. However, as at Edinburgh, the punish- protestants—to an unknown extent—increased in numbers. It is ment meted out to those who remained appears to have had a misleading, however, to accept the attacks on religious houses within salutary effect and there is little sign of religious unrest in Stirling for certain burghs which occurred later that year, and were sparked off by Arran's radical tendencies, as attempts to reshape and refurbish the many years thereafter.9 Over the rest of the country there is little indication that heretical church. Economic, every bit as much as religious, motivation lay opinions were held. Even where there is evidence it is notable that behind these riots and the opportunity also seems to have been seized the nature of the heresies was limited. The agitation was mainly upon to work off old scores. Once again the national significance of against images, pretended miracles, the abuse of excommunication, these outbreaks can only be assessed by an examination of the financial rapacity and the immoral lives of churchmen. On the more localities in which they took place, and that in turn allows for a more positive side, the use of the scriptures in the vernacular was being accurate estimate of protestant numbers at this juncture in the move- advocated but it is not clear how far the Lutheran doctrine of justifi- ment for reformation.10 cation by faith touched even those accused of heresy. In short, in 1539 protestantism still remained an ill-defined doctrine to all but a Urban Riots few believers who were unevenly distributed throughout the country; Of the riots which took place in 1543, those in the towns of Dundee even if in distinct localities they possessed a coherence within their and Perth were the most serious. Indeed Perth had hitherto exhibited own community, these heretics had little or no contact with one little interest in the new doctrines and although the bailies of the another and were uncertain of the goals for which they were striving. town, in conjunction with those of Dundee, had been ordered to search for two iconoclasts in 1536, the attack on the Blackfriars' Monastery seven years later has no apparent antecedents. And the religious motivation behind even this act can be questioned, since the mob's act of defiance in stealing the friars' 'kettle' (containing their dinner) from the fire and parading it through the burgh may point towards an economic cause. Nevertheless, a definable group of 13 14 THE IMPACT OF REFORM THE IMPACT OF REFORM 15 heretics had now appeared within the burgh and early in the follow- situation in which moderation was felt to be the wisest course of ing year several of the inhabitants were accused. As a result four men action. The mood within the burgh certainly remained unchanged. were hanged and a woman drowned for acts which included inter- In 1544 George Wishart's preaching there appears to have met with rupting a friar in the pulpit; 'hanging up the image of St Francis on general approval; he came to Dundee again in the following year a cord, nailing of a rammes homes to his head, and a cowes rump to when with a plague then raging within the town, there was an even his taile, and for eating of goose on Allhallow even', and 'holding greater welcome for him. If continued sympathy for the reformed an assemblie and conventioun . . . conferring and disputing there cause remained in being thereafter there is little indication of further upon holie scripture'. The background of this group, which apparently growth in reforming opinion for another decade after the mid 1540s.13 contained others who only saved themselves by flight, is significant: Much the same pattern emerges in the countryside around Dundee it included a flesher, a maltman, a merchant and a skinner, and it was in Angus and also in the Mearns. In 1544 a Blackfriar who had from this social grouping that further support for the new faith was 'fruitfullie preached Christjesus to the comfort of manie' in this area, to stem. If there was further public reforming activity, we have little died either by accident or by design in trying to escape from the or no evidence of it: the adherents of the new cause, with the castle of St Andrews in which he had been imprisoned for apparently exception of one who was accused in 1547 of breaking an image of St having ignored a monition against his preaching in the parish church Magdalene within the chapel of Leny in Perthshire, remain anony- of Glamis. This monition emerged from a general inquisition held mous until the very eve of the Reformation. It is difficult to escape throughout the district at this time, which resulted also in the trial of the conclusion that the repressive measures of 1544 had the desired two other priests who were apparently acquitted. In 1545 Wishart effect in Perth and its surrounds." himself returned to his home town of Montrose, 'to salute the Further north in Aberdeen the position was much the same; church there' with his preaching during his ministrations in Dundee. preaching by two Blackfriars and an attack on the Dominican Friary Montrose, a sea-port, was certainly open to the incoming of prot- in 1544 were followed a few months later by the imprisonment of estant opinions, but undoubtedly the chief influence in the promo- two burgesses for hanging an image of St Francis. In the same year a tion of reformed principles there was John Erskine, laird of Dun pardon was issued to a large group of local landowners for holding who was provost of the town. Through his influence too neighbour- heretical opinions and reading forbidden books. It is clear from the ing landowners may have been won over to the protestant cause. composition of this group that protestantism had spread beyond the But, as in Dundee, support was to be latent rather than active for burgh, and in 1547 the bishop of Aberdeen complained that heresy another ten years.14 was 'thriving greatly'. Nevertheless, this prefaced a period of religious In the neighbouring county of Fife the religious emergency of peace in this quarter, apparently undisturbed until the eve of the 1543/4 had been characterised by the sacking of the abbey of Lin- Reformation. This experience, broken only by the appearance in dores and the temporary expulsion of the monks, and was to extend 1550 of a chaplain in Orkney who abjured unorthodox 'oppynionis' until 1547 owing to the consequences of the murder of the arch- concerning the faith,was to be shared by the entire north of Scotland bishop of St Andrews, Cardinal Beaton, in 1546. The extent to in which the prevalence of Gaelic in many areas, including the isles, which even Beaton's death can be viewed as a religious protest is constituted a further barrier to the advance of protestant doctrine.12 questionable for although it was justified as an act of retaliation for the conviction and execution of George Wishart as a heretic earlier George Wishart the same year, the true motivation was possibly political and per- sonal, and perhaps largely inspired by Henry VIII of England. How- It was in Dundee where the town's two friaries were attacked and ever, the seizure and holding of the castle of St Andrews by the sacked by a mob in 1543, that the populace showed themselves to be murderers for over a year allowed protestants to preach openly in the receptive to those who taught the use of the scriptures in the ver- surrounding area. These protestants included John Knox who by nacular; religious motives may have played a larger part in the riots then had emerged as a follower of Wishart and had joined the here than at Perth. The carrying away of chalices, vestments and the 'castilians' in April 1547, and the episode constitutes a touch-stone Eucharist from the Blackfriars' Monastery and the proposal to attack by which protestant strength can be assessed. Unfortunately, most the abbey of Arbroath point in this direction, and may support the of the evidence which leads to this conclusion comes from the not contemporary charge that 'ane greit heresie' raged in Dundee at this unbiased pen of Knox himself. The new doctrine, as he relates it, was time. The lack of stringent action against any of the inhabitants— 'well liked by the people' and, following his own (Knox's) call to there was no indictment until ten years later—may also point to a the ministry, 'a great number of the town, openly professed, by 16 THE IMPACT OF REFORM THE IMPACT OF REFORM 17 participation of the Lord's Table'. Nevertheless, even in Knox's sistent in its attitude to reform. Thus in 1543, when the use of the account, the existence of opposition is clearly evident. The principal English New Testament was authorised by the governor, a Franciscan of St Leonard's college was on Knox's admission able to undermine friar preached against its introduction and provoked a riot. If this the initial teaching and if similar success did not attend his encounters outbreak indicates a popular sympathy for reform in the town, the with Knox, we only have Knox's word for this; furthermore the bailies of the burgh nevertheless supplied the friar with money, a counter-attack mounted by representatives of the priory and univer- horse and a 'pair of hose and doublet' when he went to face trial for sity in preaching in the parish church each Sunday shows a response an action which apparently had their support. The parish church of which may have checked any move towards protestant ascendency. Ayr continued to be maintained by the Dean of Guild, and the Any hope of an ecclesiastical revolution came to an end with the fall breaking of images in 1544-45 seems not to have been occasioned by of the castle to the French in 1547 and for over a decade there is little iconoclasm but rather by accident when the town's guns were drawn further evidence of vigorous protestant activity in the town.15 out of the church (in which they were stored). The town paid for the South of the Forth all was quiet, even in 1543. In Edinburgh the removal of the broken figures.18 Iconoclasm was to the fore, how- burgesses rallied to thwart an attack, which was largely politically ever, in 1545 when George Wishart visited Ayrshire to preach to inspired, on the Blackfriars' Monastery; there it was said that only a 'divers gentlemen of Kyle', but the general weakness of support for handful 'careyd the name of professioun and knowledge'. Even him is shown by the fact that he had to preach at the market cross at Knox admits that at this time the burgh was 'for the most part Ayr. He was also debarred from entry to the church of Mauchline, drowned in superstitioun', and in 1543 a protestant preacher was on the authority of the Sheriff of Ayr and by a group of local physically threatened by a hostile congregation.16 In 1545 George landowners who feared that 'an ornate tabarnacle' might be de- Wishart preached in Leith but reaction seems to have been slight. stroyed.'1' Wishart appears to have restricted his other preaching to Nor was support forthcoming in the surrounding Lothians. When the church of Galston and to private houses. Thus, even in Kyle at Wishart was apprehended at Ormiston in East Lothian he had been this time, opinion on religious matters was clearly divided and, deserted by all but three of the local lairds who had initially be- although one influential figure, Alexander, fourth Earl of Glencaim, friended him. While in the period before his arrest Wishart had seems to have fully embraced the protestant cause, the number of preached with some success at Inveresk and Tranent, his attempt to committed lairds may have been few. attract a congregation at Haddington was almost wholly fruitless This period was a critical one in the battle against heresy, demon- owing to counter political pressure by the local magnate Patrick strating the maximum effort by the authorities to curb protestant Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. Following Wishart's death little further activities. The execution of Wishart in 1546 was followed by injunc- interest appears to have been evinced in protestant teaching, and tions that names were to be given in of 'heretiks that ar relapsis or Knox refers to Haddington with such apparent contempt that it haldis apynionis aganis the Sacrament of the Alter'. Fears that parts would seem that the inhabitants were not enthusiastic for the new of the realm were 'infectit with that pestilencious heresies of Luther, doctrine. Elsewhere in the south-east and in the Borders, there is the his sect and followaris' grew not unnaturally after the murder of same hint that protestant opinions were gaining favour, although Cardinal Beaton in May 1546. In the following month the privy active dissent was noticeably absent. Proximity to England was an council was apprehensive 'that evill disparit personis will invaid, obvious factor in this respect and the 'newe appynyonis of England' destroy, cast doun, and, withhald abbays, abbay places, kirkis, and the 'ill wynd towartes haly Kirk' exhibited in 1544 were thought alswele paroche kirkis as utheris religious places'. However, with sufficiently dangerous in the following year to require the rigours of the recapture of St Andrews' castle in July 1547 these fears largely the law. Three years later, however, reforming ideas were still vanished, and events in most parts of the country seemed to justify prevalent and the fact that 'part of the legis has tayn new apoynzionis Beaton's optimistic opinion shortly before his death that 'the her- of the scriptur and has don again the law and ordinance of haly Kirk' etical opinions which formerly flourished have been almost was being advanced as a reason why the cause of 'Inglis men is extinguished.'20 fawvorit'. Little of this was translated into action, however; and, despite the reports, religious conservatism seems to have remained The Example of England the norm.17 This verdict also holds good for most of the west coast during this Even the conversion of England to protestantism following the period with Kyle in Ayrshire proving the exception to the general accession of Edward VI in 1547 was of doubtful advantage to the rule. Even there support was mixed and Ayr itself far from con- cause of reform in Scotland. Areas of the country adjacent to the 18 THE IMPACT OF REFORM THE IMPACT OF REFORM 19 Border increased in their protestant leanings but the impact of re- Lothian and accused of having usurped 'the office of preacher having form elsewhere appears to have been limited. Indeed, so long as no lawful calling thereto' came from Fail in Kyle, there is no evidence England provided a safe haven for reformers, no crusade in Scotland to suggest that his preaching in the east was part of any missionary was forthcoming. Nevertheless, the arrival in England of John Knox, endeavour. Indeed Wallace, who was burnt for his presumption, following his release in February 1549 from the French galleys to appears to have been mainly occupied as tutor to the children of the which he had been condemned after the fall of the castle of St laird of Ormiston, a laird banished for his support of Wishart.22 Andrews, and who became thereafter minister at Berwick-upon- Taking a general view, it is clear that, although a provincial Tweed and Newcastle, allowed a number of Border Scots to hear council of the Scottish church felt it necessary to pass various statutes him preach at both these centres. If Knox's own concern appears to in 1549 against heresy and persons who had in their possession 'any have been chiefly to support the Church of England and to counter books of rhymes or popular songs containing calumnies and slanders the disputes which threatened its unity, some relative increase in defamatory of churchmen and church institutions', if suitable rem- protestant strength in Scotland may have taken place as a result of his edies for the ills of the church could be found, it was still not influence in the south in the period before 1553. With the accession of unrealistic to maintain that 'complete unity in the ecclesiastical estate' Mary Tudor in that year, and with Knox's flight to the continent, the might be preserved. Only the Earl of Glencairn amongst the nobility extension of this influence was jeopardised. The growing commit- seems firmly committed to protestantism at this point and, if he ment of the Border lairds towards England was also threatened by carried with him those lairds of Kyle who shared fellow feelings this change. While political considerations may not always have with lairds in Angus, Fife and Lothian, they still constituted a tiny been uppermost—as is demonstrated in Roxburghshire in 1553 minority of sympathisers. If the frequent mention of these lairds in when the two young lairds of Cessford and Ferniehurst brought an complaints laid against them before the privy council reveals the Augustinian canon of St Andrews to Kelso 'be the sonc raysing in the mobilisation of an active force against the established church, the fact mornyng . . . and maid ane sermond'—they always loomed large.21 that these same figures appear time and time again can also be used to Thus the changes in England may have dictated a reappraisal of demonstrate the limited nature of that support. Moreover, if the political and religious affiliations within Scotland and these were to movement exhibits strength in the attacks on the existing church remain undisturbed until the accession of Elizabeth in 1558. Despite structure it also reveals little by way of a more positive attempt to promising beginnings there is, therefore, little indication that either replace it. If some priests followed the example of one laird's house- the south-east or the Borders were actively protestant during the hold chaplain, who read scripture in English to the family and 1540s and earlier 1550s. servants, and likewise exhibited their sympathies with the reforming Kyle in Ayrshire, as previously noted, almost alone continued its cause, devotion to the mass, as distinct from opposition to the open loyalty to the new opinions. Support for the cause may even church as an institution whose wealth might be assailed, was still have grown in the 155()s as both political and economic motivations evident.23 If in this period the church had been able to promote began to dictate a shift from traditional allegiances. An alliance with organisational reform in terms of the conciliar statutes of 1549 and England rather than with France may have appealed on economic 1552, with or without the doctrinal reform (facilitating a break from grounds to Ayrshire merchants while many lairds, influenced by Rome) envisaged by Archbishop Hamilton in his vernacular Cat- events south of the Border, may have been moved in the same echism of 1552, but had left the church essentially 'catholic', then direction not only by political considerations but also by the oppor- protestantism might have remained attractive to only a small minority. tunity which opposition to the established church gave for the However, the church, partially through lack of leadership and largely seizure and secularisation of ecclesiastical property. Attacks on re- because reform would have called a halt to that escalating process ligious houses, parish churches and chapels became more frequent in by which the revenues of the church were secularised, did little or Ayrshire and extended at times into the neighbouring shires of Lanark nothing. All ranks of churchmen, ably abetted by the laity, failed to and Renfrew. This is, at least, the substance of a charge made in 1550 achieve reform. against one laird who had helped a heretic canon of Glenluce escape from Houston Castle, and was accused in company of another of John Knox and Mary of Guise stealing Eucharistic chalices and ornaments of the mass and breaking The accession of Mary Tudor to the throne of England in 1553, choral stalls and glazed windows during the period between 1545 and 1548. Such overt action did little to advance the protestant and the seizure of political power by the Queen Mother, Mary of cause. Although Adam Wallace who was seized at Winton in East Guise, from the Earl of Arran and the Hamiltons when she became 20 THE IMPACT OF REFORM THE IMPACT OF REFORM 21 regent in April 1554, brought to an end until the very eve of the until after the death of the Queen Regent whom he had hitherto Reformation the limited attempts at doctrinal and organisational supported. These contacts, strengthened by a fleering visit to Archi- reform. If in theory this made a protestant solution more feasible, the bald, fourth Earl of Argyll, who thereafter maintained a protestant continued weakness of that movement in the localities was still only preacher as his private chaplain, were to be perhaps the most signifi- too evident. Indeed it is hard not to accept that the following anony- cant outcome of Knox's teaching in this area. Although he returned mous account of the immediate pre-Reformation period is exaggerated: to Edinburgh itself from time to time and on one occasion 'continued 'The greatest fervencie appeared in the Mearns and Angus and Kyle, in doctrine in the bishop of Dunkeld's great lodging for ten days', the and Fyffe or Lothian; but cheifly the faithfull in Dundie exceeded all most eminent of his listeners, William Keith, fourth Earl Marischal, the rest in zeall and boldnes, preferring the true religion to all things was less than enthusiastic about reformed principles even after the temporall. But in Edenburgh their meeting was but in privat houses'. Reformation had been achieved. There are few indications of a wide- spread or popular support and, without Glencairn's protection, the It literally records the only areas of protestant strength; and even opportunity to preach may not have arisen. Nevertheless, the after- within these districts local variations are clearly evident.24 math of his visit can be seen in the complaint of the Queen Regent in Of the areas mentioned by this writer, Edinburgh seems to him September 1556 to the provost of Edinburgh, bailies and council that: the most suspect. However, his interpretation of the position in 'thair is certane odious balletis and rymes laitlie sett furth be sum ewill Lothian may be questioned for, although certain lairds were favour- inclinit personis of youre toun quha has alssua tane doun diveris imagis ably disposed to reform, others were not and it is significant that and contempnandlk brokin the samyn'. Knox himself made no effort to extend his preaching beyond the confines of the Edinburgh area. Even there, indeed, his impact is A further monition specifically refers to the breaking of images, but questionable. 'The professors of Edinburgh' who held 'their privat even before this Knox and Willock had returned to the continent. conventiouns ... in the feilds in sommer, in houses in winter' were Their departure seems to have had the effect of quietening the few in number in 1555. In that year William Harlaw, originally a situation, and it was not until Willock's return in 1558 that there tailor in the burgh, who had preached as a deacon in the Church of were again signs in Edinburgh of ecclesiastical unrest.25 England and is described as 'not verie learned' although 'his doctrine The most fruitful response to Knox's visits elsewhere during his was plaine and sound', returned as a teacher to the Edinburgh prot- brief stay in 1555-56 was in Kyle. He received a warm welcome from estants. So too did John Willock who had fled his friary in Ayr in 1535. the lairds there in the first three months of 1556. Most of his contacts The protestant group, it has been claimed, was 'neither few, nor of were, however, still among established reformers, yet the major meaner sort'—but while the latter part of this statement may have purpose of his visit must have been to extend the cause of reform. been true, the first is undoubtedly open to question since the group How far he could claim to have had any success in this cannot be originally comprising two separate entities, even after their union by easily assessed. Although Knox himself claimed great triumphs, Erskine of Dun, could still meet in a single private house. Other communion was celebrated only in private houses and he made no teachers also preached to this Edinburgh congregation, which had its attempt to preach in churches, nor indeed did he preach to the own elders and deacons, but as the visit of John Knox in 1555-56 masses. While this may have been prudent, in view of the authorities' demonstrated, it clearly lacked popular support. Knox's exhortations concern about his preaching even though they were at first uncertain had to be carried out secretly, and he quickly discovered that even that the culprit was Knox, it only demonstrates again that the amongst those professing protestantism some made 'small scruple to movement in Kyle, even at this late date, was still not a popular one go to the mass, or to communicate with the abused sacraments in the but very much restricted in this area to a few influential nobles. The papistical manner'. When after a month's absence Knox returned to principal among these was Glencaim, and their following among Lothian, he resided not in the capital, but at Calder house at Mid- the local lairds who, as they became increasingly involved in the Calder, some miles away, where he stayed for the winter of 1555-56 struggle against French political intrusion into Scotland, decided to drawing there 'divers from Edinburgh'. Amongst those who visited couple secular and political aims with religious beliefs. him there were Lord James Stewart and Archibald, Lord Lome, heir A similar picture to this is to be found in Angus and the Meams to the earldom of Argyll— both were to be prominent leaders in the when, on two occasions, Knox visited John Erskine of Dun. To Dun, army of the congregation which finally effected the work ot Reforma- which lay midway between two burghs with protestant leanings, tion, but neither was fully committed at this juncture. Another Brechin and Montrose, 'resorted the principal men of that country to prominent visitor, John, Lord Erskine, was not to join the reformers hear him preach', although Knox himself apparently (and perhaps sur- 22 THE IMPACT OF REFORM THE IMPACT OF REFORM 23 prisingly) made no attempt to visit Dundee which had so enthusi- France if she died without heirs, and this added to the political sup- astically received earlier preachers. Early in the following year (1556) port for the party which had also embraced church reform. he revisited Dun and 'ministred the communioun at the request of The volatile political situation created by these events continued the gentlemen of the countrie about, speciallie of the Mernes'. There- throughout 1558. Encouraged by these developments and by the after the lairds appear to have been active in converting others to their accession of Elizabeth in England, protestant preachers again took views, and in doing so apparently (like their counterparts in Ayrshire) up their cause in the Scottish localities. In several towns protestant went outside the confines of their own district. Nevertheless, neither sympathisers began to form themselves into more highly- organised in Kyle nor in the Mearns was their pressure consistently main- groups, appointing elders and deacons from their own number to tained. Indeed Knox's seemingly premature return to the continent ensure that a proper order among the new protestant congregations in July 1556 may have been occasioned by despondency at his might be maintained. According to one commentator 'God also lack of success, if he was despondent, then he was not unjustified. blessed this weake beginning, that within few moneths the face of a In October 1557, when he was at Dieppe and prepared to return to church was erected in sundrie places'.27 In the next year things Scotland to initiate further religious reform, he received a letter moved more rapidly still. In the course of 1559, commencing with from a friend who had spoken with: the 'Beggars' Summons' which ordered the friars to quit their houses 'all those that had seemed most frank and fervent in the mater; and that in in favour of the poor by 12 May, the movement became more none did he find such boldness and constancie as was requisite for such an notably militant. The arrival of Knox from the continent on 2 May interprise, but that some did . . . repent that ever anie such thing was followed the public and open acceptance of reformed principles at moved". Perth and Dundee, and coincided with a determined effort by the Despite the fact that the initial signatories to Knox's invitation had Queen Regent to deal with the new militancy. Other burghs sub- included a landowner from the Mearns and one from Ayrshire, sequently joined them and provided those townsmen who, combin- opinion had apparently shifted in both districts. The same situation ing with the nobility, lairds and their supporters, formed the so- may also have obtained in neighbouring Fife, a county which seems called 'army of the congregation'. The very title they chose revealed to have been relatively unaffected and had remained unvisited by their commitment to the protestant cause. Nevertheless, it is clear Knox. Not until the appearance of a fresh wave of preachers in the that the immediate interest of the lairds who led this army was following year, when 'manie in Angus and Fife beganne openlie to political and, in the marching and countermarching which charac- renounce their idolatrie', did protestant expectations in these and in terised the ensuing skirmishes between them and the forces of the other parts of the country again rise.26 But why did matters change Queen Regent, the principal stress was always laid on the struggle in 1558; there seems to be little doubt that this was politically against French domination. For a time the arrival of reinforcements inspired. from France made the final outcome uncertain, but it is notable that the fear of continued French supremacy induced even pro-Catholic The Crisis of 1558-1560 nobles to join the congregation and also led to an appeal for effective military intervention by the English. Elizabeth was finally to respond, The impending marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin as she was requested, in March 1560; and this was quickly followed Francis, eldest son of the French King Henry II, increased fears that by the death of the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, in June. These two Scotland would be even more effectively dominated by the Queen factors proved to be decisive. A campaign which the congregation Regent and her French advisors and would become an appendage of and their protestant supporters in Scotland could never have won by France. Thus many nobles and lairds were prompted to align them- their own efforts was successful. The treaty of Edinburgh between selves with the pro-English reforming party who, in December 1557, France and England in July 1560 guaranteed the end of French had drawn up the 'First Band', a pledge to work for the recognition influence in Scotland and, in the parliament which followed, the of a reformed church. This had initially attracted few new supporters, victorious lords honoured their commitment to their protestant the Earl of Morton being the only influential figure to join the allies by accepting on 17 August a reformed Confession of Faith. To signatories who had invited Knox to return earlier in the year. By what extent political reasons engineered the acceptance of the new early 1558, however, there was increasing support from the lords protestant faith must remain debateable. What is certain is that, even and barons who proceeded to draw up proposals for reformed in those burghs which supported the congregation, there must have worship. The marriage of Mary on 24 April 1558 was accompanied been only small bands of protestant sympathisers before the by a well-known 'secret' assignation of her kingdom to the king of achievement of military and political success. THE PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY 25 When not occupied in Dundee, Methven moved around the sur- rounding countryside and in the summer of 1558 preached 'in sindrie gentlemens places in Angus and also in Fyfe'. Thus he administered the sacrament in the parish church of Lundie eight miles distant from Dundee, and also at Cupar in Fife, ten miles away. His activities in Fife undoubtedly met with some popular response and may have The Protestant Ascendancy occasioned the burning for heresy of Walter Myln, an aged priest who, refusing to say mass, had left his parish of Lunan in Angus in Of eight burghs—Edinburgh, St Andrews, Dundee, Perth, Brechin, the early 1540s. Myln's execution at St Andrews in 1558 may Montrose, Stirling and Ayr—listed by Knox as committed to his indeed have fostered sympathy for the protestants and aided the cause neither Perth nor Stirling demonstrate any overt protestant growth of reforming opinion in the town; yet, according to Knox, activity until shortly before Easter 1559 when Perth is said to have the protestant lords could not look to St Andrews for friendly 'embraced the gospel'. They finally accepted the order of Common support as late as June 1559 since 'the toun at that time had not given Prayers in May (Perth) and June (Stirling) of that year, and demon- profession of Christ'. Only after the arrival of the lords in the burgh strated their zeal more practically by destroying their friaries. The and after a sermon by Knox did the provost and bailies, as did the earlier policy of conciliation towards protestants by the Queen Regent, commonalty for the most part, 'agree to remove all the monuments Mary of Guise, may partially explain the absence of visible prot- of idolatry'. The phraseology used by Knox here suggests a far from estantism in either of these towns until this time. At all events neither unanimous decision in the matter by the populace and, although the seems to have been greatly favoured by protestant preachers until reformed church at St Andrews was quickly established thereafter, Knox delivered his famous inflammatory sermon at Perth in May this burgh follows the pattern established at Perth and Stirling rather 1559, and he himself was to describe the inhabitants of that burgh as than that at Dundee and at Ayr.30 'young and rude in Christ', confirming that the burgh was not In Dundee and Ayr overt protestantism is found which can be actively protestant before this date. The burgh of Montrose, no attributed to the support of the lairds in the surrounding hinterland. doubt subject to pressure from the laird of Dun and his associates, And in Kyle even more than in Angus the process of spreading conformed during 1559: yet while Montrose, and its neighbour protestant beliefs may have been maintained after Knox's departure Brechin, may have been open to the persuasion of the preachers who in 1556, either by itinerant preachers drawn from the household were active in Angus and the Meams from 1558 onwards, con- chaplains of families with reforming tendencies or by priests (hold- temporary accounts are curiously silent about both towns. In Brechin ing church benefices) who had sufficient protestant sympathies to the cathedral clergy at least—of whom only one conformed and identify themselves with the new beliefs. In Ayr itself the council served in the reformed church—must have provided an active oppo- began to identify more and more closely with the reform move- sition to the reformers—and this may explain why Brechin is not ment, and in May 1558 accepted into their jurisdiction Sir Robert included with Montrose among those who had 'received the Evangel' Leggat, curate of the neighbouring burgh of Prestwick, who had in May 1559.2" marked protestant sympathies and who assumed thereafter the duties At Dundee, it was reported that 'the faithfull. . . exceeded all the of vicar and curate of Ayr. For a period, co-existence appears to have rest in zeall and boldnes', a revival brought about after the arrival in been possible: in an account of 1558 payments to the town's friaries the burgh in 1558 of John Willock and Paul Methven. Largely appear side by side with a payment for the minister's chamber rent through Methven's efforts, it is said, 'the toun of Dundie beganne to and, incidentally, indicate that the curate was already acting as a erect the face of a reformed church publiclie, in which the word was reformed minister. The final step was not, however, taken until May preached openlie, and the sacraments truelie ministered'. Neverthe- 1559 when the burgh accounts reveal the 'ane prechour' had been less, burgesses shuttled him 'frome ane nighbour to another' and he brought from Edinburgh—John Willock, who was denounced by was forced to leave the town for a while in May 1559 after being the regent on 10 May for his actions but to no avail. On the day denounced by the Regent for preaching at Easter and administering following his denunciation, the organ loft of the church was closed, the sacraments to several of the 'leiges of the burgh'. By this date and some days later the bailies and dean of guild of the burgh however, the commitment of the inhabitants was assured, and 'dischargit the schaplandis (chaplains) of the said kirk and their Dundonians were to play a prominent part in the final outcome of service'. Before the year was out Knox's colleague at Geneva, the Reformation movement.29 Christopher Goodman, had been appointed minister at Ayr while in 24 26 THE PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY THE PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY 27

November 1559 an assistant minister and schoolmaster was ap- The mass was restored in St Giles, and it was not until 1 April 1560 pointed to 'say and reid the commoun prayeris and minister the that the gospel (in the eyes of the reformers) was truly preached again sacrament in the minister's absence'. The intervention of the prot- in Edinburgh, in what undoubtedly remained an hostile atmosphere.32 estant nobles and lairds had thus been decisive in Ayr. Apparently Such hostility to the precedings of 1559-60 was certainly not this was so also at Dalmellington in the same county, where a restricted to Edinburgh. At Aberdeen in 1559 the cathedral chapter minister seems to have been acting by November 1559. Both in thought it necessary to proceed against heretics in the diocese and in respect of the events which followed, and in the support given to the particular against those involved in the burning of the parish church 'congregations of the West country', the Ayrshire lairds played a of Edit and in the casting down of images:33 otherwise there was dominant role—and an all important part in deciding the final out- little or no sign of reforming zeal, the presence of the powerful Earl of come of the Scottish Reformation. Nevertheless, although Knox Huntly—nephew of the bishop of the diocese—ensuring that re- may have been justified in describing Kyle as 'a receptacle of Gods formed principles had few active adherents. In the burgh of Aberdeen servants of old', it is clear that many Ayrshire inhabitants in the in which both the university and the cathedral chapter remained county as a whole remained true to their old faith.31 committed to the old faith little support for reformed principles was forthcoming; when the destruction of the friaries in early 1560 was reported, it was also said to have been achieved by 'certain strangers'. Hostility to Change If 'some neighbours and indwellers of the town' assisted in this process, their motives appear to have been economic rather than religious. External considerations led to the acceptance of a reformed This attachment to the old church is equally evident in Edinburgh minister later that year, but his task in an area where protestantism which, although claimed for the faithful by Knox in September had many implacable opponents could not have been an easy one.34 1559, was then far from being committed to his cause. There had In other burghs the religious sympathies of the inhabitants were, been evidence of discontent with the existing church in the preceding equally clearly, with the existing order. In 1557 and 1558 the bailies year: a statue of the patron saint of the burgh, St Giles, was stolen and of Peebles were still endeavouring to ensure that the chaplains in the afterwards burnt, followed by a similar incident on St Giles' day parish and collegiate church of St Andrew would 'mak continewall when another statue of the saint, borrowed from the Greyfriars by and dailie residence, quairthrow they may be compellit to conforme the burgh authorities for a religious procession through the town, to the erectioun and fundatiounes made thairupone'. On the very eve was torn down and eventually thrown into a sewer. These incidents of the Reformation in March 1559 the bailies and burgesses demon- doubtless demonstrate that at least the brethren were growing more strated where their loyalties still lay when they intervened to prevent bold and probably also increasing in strength. But they were still a preacher from using 'any new novationes of common prayeris or numerically weak; and although John Willock, from his sick bed, is preching' and declared that they would not 'assist to him nor none of reported as having taught some of the nobility, barons and gentle- his sect nor opinioun'. When the local lairds joined the Lords of the men of the district, it is also noted that several of these 'fell backe Congregation, the Peebles council reversed this judgement, a change after'. Knox preached in St Giles' Church on 29 June 1559 and was clearly dictated by political rather than religious considerations. subsequently elected as minister to the burgh. Yet he decided to The course of affairs at Peebles was repeated throughout southern leave when military support for the reformers dwindled, and it was Scotland. Although the recommitment of the Church of England to left to John Willock to celebrate public communion in the church protestantism in 1558 presented a fresh opportunity to revive sym- after the departure of the protestant forces from the town on 26 July. pathy in the border districts, the reformers claimed little support in Even after a brief reoccupation of the town, the protestant army was those areas. Not until September 1559 could Knox report that again forced to retire. On this occasion, indeed, the true feeling of 'Christ Jesus is begunne to be preached upon the south borders ... in many of the inhabitants was revealed since the protestant army was Jedburgh and Kelso'. If in the period of the Reformation more berated by the Edinburgh citizens, much to Knox's despair. Indeed support was to be forthcoming from this quarter, political con- Knox wrote that: siderations were again as important as any commitment to the The sword of dolour passed through our hearts, so were the cogitations protestant ideal. This is amply demonstrated by the careers of the and determinations of many hearts then revealed. For we would never two young lairds Ferniehurst and Cessford, who had brought a have believed that our natural country men and women could have wished preacher to Kelso in 1553: Femiehurst emerged as a staunch sup- our destruction so unmercifully, and have so rejoiced in our adversity. porter of the Queen Regent and her daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, 28 THE PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY THE PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY 29 and continued to embrace Catholicism; Cessford, now diametrically elusion: the greatest strength of protestant support, with the excep- opposed in political attitudes to his one-time friend, supported the tion of Kyle, was confined to a closely demarcated area on the east protestant cause.35 coast. Beyond these areas the reformers were clearly numerically weak. Yet political considerations were to favour this militant minority and enable them to achieve their religious goal. The Contribution of the Lairds

Elsewhere in Scotland the determining factor in any area in promot- ing the reformed faith was the attitude of the local lairds. Indeed even in burghs which showed some readiness to accept reform, pressure from without the town was necessary before most, if not all, of their councils finally decided in favour of protestantism. Where a neighbouring laird who favoured the protestant cause was also provost, as at Montrosc and St Andrews, this may have been decisive: it was clearly decisive at Perth where Lord Ruthven was provost of the burgh and committed both himself and the citizens to advance the Reformation. The view that the success of the Scottish Reformation depended on popular urban support, so often stressed by historians, must therefore be questioned. In most burghs support for protestantism stemmed initially from a small minority of the populace and they were only permitted to seize the initiative and win over their fellow citizens through the intervention of the local lairds. If this interpretation is correct, the distribution of the reforming lairds throughout the country should allow us to judge the likely support in the various localities for the protestant cause. A ready- made guide exists in the list of about one hundred lairds who attended the Reformation Parliament of 1560, although it should be stressed that the list is defective and not all of those present were supporters of the new ecclesiastical regime.-1'1 Nevertheless, the pat- tern produced by plotting the holdings of these lairds reveals that the great majority came from a few well defined areas in which protestantism had already been clearly evident. Kyle in Ayrshire, Lothian, Perthshire, Fife, Kinross, Angus and the Mearns provide almost half the number. The southern counties of Berwick, Rox- burgh, Dumfries and Kirkcudbright, which may of course have been greatly affected by the new relationship with England, consti- tuted almost a fifth of the group. Of the other Lowland counties, Renfrew, Stirling and Peebles were poorly represented, given the ultimate support for change in the burgh of Peebles. Lanarkshire, on the other hand, where protestant sympathies had not been very evident before 1560, supplied at least five members—although this was still not many in relation to the size of the county. The rest of the country provided only a handful: Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Inverness-shire, Moray and Ross-shire produced fewer reforming lairds than Kyle. The evidence, therefore, confirms the earlier con- THE SURVIVAL Of CATHOLICISM 31 as distinct from readers, were only to appear at Girvan in 1590, Maybole in 1595 and Kirkmichael as late as 1601. Recusancy may not have been the only factor causing delay, but it was certainly a powerful one. In 1563, for example, several Kennedy lairds helped to organise a public celebration of the Easter mass at Maybole and Kirkoswald, with two monks of Crossraguel taking part, and pro- vide an instance of a more general attempt to revive Catholic for- tunes on the west coast. We know that mass was still being cele- The Survival of Catholicism brated at Eglinton in 1571 and that Gilbert Kennedy of Crossraguel was maintaining Catholic sacraments and baptising children in that The emergent protestant congregations had to build upon the area as late as 1587, attesting to an Ayrshire which was very far advantages gained during the political upheavals of 1559-60. They from being fervidly Protestant.18 were able to do this in time, and protestantism was to be effectively In Fife, Catholicism lacked champions with the status of the embraced by the vast majority of the Scottish people. Nevertheless, reforming families in Ayrshire, yet individuals were not to be easily for over a decade, religious issues hung precariously in the balance. browbeaten there into an easy acceptance of religious change—the There is considerable evidence to support a Jesuit claim in 1562 that kirk session register of St Andrews contains many spirited en- 'a large number of the ordinary common people indeed are still counters between resolute catholics and their protestant opponents. Catholics'. Acts of parliament in 1560 indicated that 'notwithstand- Declarations by citizens of St Andrews such as 'God give Knox be ing the reformation already maid . . . yit notheless thair is sum of hangct' and 'The Divell burn up the kirk or (i.e. before) I come into the Papis kirk that stubburnlie perserveris in their wickit idolatrie'; it' are only a few of the many recorded signs of resistance to the and as late as 1573 the General Assembly, in a plea reminiscent of Reformation in this area.34 pre-Reformation enactments to the same end, enjoined that: In Angus and the Mearns there was a similar situation. The The multitude of hereticall books bought in this countrey shall be burnt; influence of the lairds in favour of protestantism appears to have and that proclamation be sett out in strait manner, that none bring home been fairly conclusive, although the absence of early kirk session hereticall books, nor press to sell them.37 registers makes it impossible to assess the incidence of recusancy in the same way as is possible for Fife. Few of the pre-Reformation clergy who held benefices are reported as conforming and as serving Protestant Areas in the reformed church, but if this was so it is in marked contrast to The extent to which such general comments truly reflect support the pattern in some other areas of Scotland. The schoolmaster at for the Catholic church can, once again, be best determined by a Arbroath was accused in 1563 of'infecting the youth committed to close look at the localities. Turning first to those areas in which his charge' and in the following year an aspirant to the ministry protestantism was at its strongest during the pre-Reformation incurred disfavour by claiming 'there was a mid-way betwixt period, even Ayrshire continued to demonstrate a remarkable papistrie and our religion'. Religious questioning was no more degree of loyalty to the old faith. The Earl of Glencairn may have encouraged by the reformed church than by its predecessor, and the openly promoted the advance of reformed principles but two other magistrates of Dundee, indeed, threatened those who indulged in prominent Ayrshire nobles, the Earls of Cassillis and Eglinton, did public debate on such issues with the permanent loss of burgess their best to maintain the mass. The abbot of Crossraguel, Quintin rights. Kennedy, with many of his family, likewise protected Catholics in Towns, more effectively than rural parishes, could curb dissidents Ayrshire, especially in the southern part of the county known as among their ranks but even in 'protestant' burghs the support given Carrick; in the northern part, Cunningham, the Montgomery to the new church by magistrates was sometimes in question. family with Eglinton at its head, acted in a similar fashion. Simi- 'Papistical magistrates' were still giving cause for concern in the larly, the parishioners of four Ayrshire parishes—Maybole, Girvan, General Assembly of 1591. Jesuits were thought to be at work in Kirkoswald and Dailly—were all accused of continued loyalty to Perth in 1587 and the continued allegiance to Catholicism of at least the old church in 1560. At Dailly, it was said, 'the masse is openly some of its inhabitants throws further suspicion on the extent of said and maintained', and no protestant minister was to be appointed the burgh's 'conversion' to protestantism in 1559. In the rural areas there until 1575: in other churches in the Kennedy country, ministers, of Perthshire the preservation of catholic belief is even more strongly 30 32 THE SURVIVAL OF CATHOLICISM THE SURVIVAL OF CATHOLICISM 33 attested. In 1564, a priest was accused of drawing 'of the pepill to with one of its 'parishioners' who claimed 'my hart gevis me to the the chapel of Tulebarnc (Tullibardine) fra ther parroche kyrk'. Five mess and thairfor I can nocht come to the commonion'. The catholic years later four priests of the diocese of Dunblane, which was schoolteachers of the burgh and neighbouring Leith also remained almost entirely contained within Perthshire, were condemned to active—with one, William Robertson, defying all efforts of the death but were subsequently reprieved and 'bund to the mercat crose magistrates to dislodge him: no doubt the protection of the Queen with their vestments and chalices in derisioun'. The county con- was an important clement in this, for a Leith schoolmaster was less tained a large number of recalcitrants, indeed, earlier monitions fortunate when in 1572 he was 'accusit for saying of masse . . . was against priests who said mass at the chapel of Foss near Dull, and also condemnit be an assyse and thairaftir hangit'. Before the deposition at Logyrait clearly had little effect and were destined to be fairly of the Queen in 1567 active Catholicism was very evident among the ineffectual until after 1573 when stricter measures came into force Edinburgh populace: and in March 1565 as many inhabitants of the after parliament passed an act of conformity. Nevertheless, as late burgh were reported to have been present at a mass as those who as 1580 it could be reported that many papists were dwelling in attended the protcstant service.42 Dunblane.40 A Reformed Ministry Recusant Areas With recusancy so prevalent in areas which had clear protestant If recusancy presented a problem even in areas in which protestant sympathies (of however a limited kind) before the Reformation, ascendancy had been fairly quickly established after the Reforma- the situation elsewhere could hardly be other than inimical to tion, it might be expected to have presented an even greater problem religious change. Nevertheless, in at least two areas—Galloway and in those localities where support for the reformers had been initially Orkney—in which hostility was at first evident, the bishops con- weaker. This was indeed the case in the Lothians and south-eastern formed and remained to serve their dioceses in the reformed church: Scotland, with Edinburgh in particular continuing to show favour their conversion induced a substantial percentage of the clergy to to the old faith. In Berwickshire the mass still flourished for at least follow their example and this in turn may have led to a more a decade after parliament had abolished it in 1560. At Fishwick, for general conformity. In Galloway some difficulty was experienced instance, in 1563 a priest said mass every Sunday; and the same was in 1560 with the Prior of Whithorn and his servants in Cruggleton; true ot Nenthorn and of Greenlaw which had a catholic patron. As and Whithorn, with its catholic patron, was to be a trouble spot for late as 1569, in fact, the mass was still being celebrated in a large many years to follow. Despite that, however, the example of Bishop number of Berwickshire parish churches; and the incumbent priests, Alexander Gordon promoted a reformed ministry which was some of whom had at length paid lip-service to conformity and already some thirty strong by 1561. In Galloway at least the service in the reformed church, were summoned in that year to reformed church quickly took root.41 appear before the privy council. There was recusancy in East Lothian Similarly, in Orkney and Shetland Bishop Adam Bothwell be- too. The priest of Garvald near Haddington appeared among those came a protestant and remained to supervise the establishment of a summoned before the council in 1569 when it was also alleged that reformed ministry in the diocese. Initial resistance was clearly the parishioners of nearby Whitekirk had 'never heard the word evident, expressed by a demonstration at Birsay in Orkney led by twice preached, nor received the sacraments, since the Reforma- one of the local lairds who was accompanied by 'a great nowmer of tion'. The influence of a local catholic, Lord Seton who maintained commonis'. The demonstrators proceeded to a chapel near which a catholic chaplain in his house, may have encouraged recusancy in the bishop himself was lying sick, and obliged a priest to say 'masse this area—and we find, as late as 1593 a schoolmaster at Haddington and marye certaine pairis in the auld maner'. However, once enacting a play for his scholars 'in derisioun of the kirk'.41 restored to health and assisted by some reformed clergy from out- If recusancy appears to have been less common in Midlothian side the diocese, Bothwell entered into the task of reformation so and West Lothian, in Edinburgh itself catholic allegiance was en- vigorously that by 1567 nearly every church in this diocese had a couraged and strengthened by the presence of Mary, Queen of protcstant incumbent.44 Scots, who had returned to her kingdom in 1561. The Queen's The provision of a reformed ministry in these distant dioceses chapel at Holyrood could be described, indeed, as 'nothing less was not to be paralleled in other outlying areas. Much of the Western than a Catholic parish kirk': within it children were baptised and Highlands and Islands were to lack ministers for more than half a the Queen's presence encouraged many who would have agreed century after the Reformation, the first appointments to Hebridean 34 THE SURVIVAL OF CATHOLICISM THE SURVIVAL OF CATHOLICISM 35

parishes not coming until 1609; even then language difficulties protestant incumbents was certainly not unknown. Jesuit activity meant that reformed ministers were few in number and Catholicism in this area was widespread and it helped to sustain a Catholicism lingered on, after the death of priests (who could not be replaced), which was never to be entirely eradicated. In the burgh of Aber- in the form of half-remembered beliefs and practices. Pilgrimages deen dissidents could be more effectively countered, and the initial by sea to Ireland may have maintained the faith more fully in a few reaction of many of the inhabitants to the enforced religious changes islands, and in 1615 it was reported of Islay (where the Macdonalds may have been summed up in 1575 by a local stalwart who in- had very close connections with northern Ireland) 'that the religioun formed the kirk session that so sharp was the 'prick on her conscience' that the cuntrie pepill has heir amongst them is Popishe'. But that she 'culd nocht be fulle of the present religioune now in Scot- memories could not endure for ever, religious belief was left to land'. wither away. Thereafter, with a few possible exceptions, the ecclesi- This sentiment would have found much support in parts of Rox- astical affiliation of the inhabitants of these areas was to be deter- burghshire where recusancy was still a particular problem in 1569; mined by intermittent missionary activity, by both catholics and also in Renfrewshire where in 1563 six beneficed clergy took part in protestants, during the course of the seventeenth and early- plans for the public celebration of mass. The area around Paisley in eighteenth centuries.45 Renfrewshire, whose minister was released from his duties in 1578 Over much of the rest of Scotland, where protestantism had been because of his parishioners 'contempt of discipline', was a region in little evident in the pre-Reformation period, the success of the which hostility to the reformed church was particularly violent— reformed church was to rest on determined missionary activity. In on one occasion a recusant there declared that his minister and all 1562 it was reported to the General Assembly that 'the north countrie other heretics should be 'hangit' and in 1597 the minister of Loch- for the most part was destitute of ministers'. In the same year a winnoch rode into Paisley, to be confronted by a group of catholic commissioner was sent to Moray to preach and 'if it sail chance that sympathisers who came with ale and other provisions and 'powrit he sail find anie qualified persons', he was to take steps to have them drink in the mairis mouth and thereafter dansit and sange Saule appointed to the ministry; nevertheless, a year later the need to Masse for the minister's deid mcir'. However, it was in Dumfries- form a reformed church in 'Murray, Banf and the countrcis adjacent' shire, parts of which were destitute of a reformed ministry for was still being debated before the Assembly who were faced with a many years after the Reformation, and in adjacent Kirkcudbright- similar problem in Inverness, Ross and Caithness. In Caithness, shire, that Catholicism was to make one of its more determined the presence of a third reformed bishop, Robert Stewart, who was stands. In this area the influence of members of the Maxwell family granted a commission to plant churches in his diocese in June 1563, ensured not only continuance of belief but also continuity of un- speeded up the process of establishing protestant worship and resulted reformed service for many decades. The abbot of New Abbey, and in eleven reformed clergy being established by 1567. Elsewhere it the schoolmaster of Dumfries who was also minister at Caerlaverock, was a slow and uphill task. Time, nevertheless, was on the side of were central figures in systematic resistance to change. Both were the reformers, and the long delays may have done much to allay charged in 1579 with 'enticing the people to papistry', and the opposition; a more decisive and early protcstant attack on long schoolmaster in particular with corrupting the youth with erroneous cherished beliefs would otherwise probably have stimulated a doctrine. The high altar still stood in the New Abbey at that date sharper reaction in defence of older practices.46 and mass was regularly celebrated; if such open disregard for the In areas somewhat less distant from protestant strongpoints in Reformation was successfully countered thereafter, older beliefs still central Scotland, where the reformed church was more active in the died hard and as late as 1601 almost fifty burgesses of Dumfries, years following the Reformation, resistance was certainly more including one of the bailies, a notary and the schoolmaster of the spirited. In Aberdeenshire the presence of the Earl of Huntly and burgh, were accused of attending the mass and having 'allurit many various other influential members of the Gordon family actively ignorant and simple people to shaik of the trew religioun'.47 encouraged catholics to maintain their beliefs. For a decade after the The preservation of catholic worship in this area, paralleled to a Reformation the 'trew religioun' made little headway in this area lesser extent in Abcrdeenshirc and Cunningham in Ayrshire, was and in 1570 the church's commissioner at Aberdeen asked to be exceptional. Elsewhere failures in leadership among the ranks of relieved of his duties since 'there was no obedience in these parts the former hierarchy, and the consequent lack of organisation, and the ministers were not answered'. The problem was not easily meant that Catholicism—despite its considerable initial survival— solved. In 1588 it was asserted that ministers in various Aberdeen- was left to wither away. Jesuit activity came too late to change the shire parishes had been deprived, and physical violence against situation significantly; and the old faith was upheld in the last resort 36 THE SURVIVAL OF CATHOLICISM only by a handful of important families and their immediate asso- ciates who were socially and economically strong enough to retain household chaplains. In the course of a century the wheel had turned full circle. The genesis of protestantism in the earlier sixteenth century had lain in the hands of lairds who had utilised their chaplains to propagate the reformed faith. The influence of such lairds had in turn extended to several of the burghs in which protestant sympathies were awakened Notes on the Text by itinerant preachers. Without the combination of political and economic factors, however, and especially without the growing References, unless otherwise stated, are standardised to conform to the 'List of resentment at and fear of French domination, this group could not Abbreviated Titles of the Printed Sources of Scottish History to 1560' in Scottish Historical Review, vol. xlii (October, 1963) in which full bibliographical details of have aroused the majority of the nobility. As it was, protestantism these works will be found. triumphed politically; and, although in most localities the com- mitted protcstant believers remained for long in a decided minority, 1. St Andrew's Copiale, 136, 383-4, 460; Acts Par!. Scot., ii, 7, 295; Facultatis Artium time and changing political circumstances allowed that minority to Unii'crsitatis Sanctiaiulrte (St Andrew's Aaa) (Scottish History Society, 1964), i, 11. 2. Acts Pan. Scot., ii, 341-2, 370-1. win increasing support by a mixture of persecution and admonition 3. Irvine Muniments, 157; Glasgow Rental, i, no, 539; Ayr Friars Chrs., passim. (assisted by the increasing pressures of social conformity). On the 4. Pitcaim, Trials, i, 287, 335; St Andrew's Formulare, ii, 59; D. Shaw, 'John Willock' catholic side, both before and after the Reformation, a distinct lack in Reformation and Revolution (Edinburgh, 1967), 46. of concern by the papacy and most of the Scottish hierarchy for the 5. Aberdeen Council Register, i, 110; Pitcairn, Trials, i, 221; Calderwood, History, welfare of those who sought to retain their Catholicism accounts, in i, 107. 6. St Andrew's Ada, i, Ivii-lviii, lix-lxi. part at least, for the reduction of the number of its believers to an 7. Calderwood, History, i, 142-3; Pitcairn, Trials, i, 252, 286. insignificant minority by the beginning of the seventeenth century. 8. Diurnal of Occurrents, 15; Pitcairn, Trials, i, 217, 252. These conclusions are likely to be modified or qualified only by 9. Calderwood, History, i, 124 127; Pitcairn, Trials, i, 216. the future publication of well-researched regional and local studies. 10. Acts Part. Scot., li, 370-1, 415, 425. 11. Fittis, Ecclesiastical Annals of Perth (Perth, 1885), 189; Calderwood, History, Such studies are required for our better understanding of the genesis, i, 171-2; Pitcairn, Trials, i, 335. development and outcome of a movement in which individual per- 12. Aberdeen Council Register, i, 206, 211-12; Diurnal of Occurrents, 29; Aberdeen sonalities and individual conscience were both very deeply involved. Registrum, ii, 317; RSS, iii, no. 820. The accumulation of numerous individual decisions, which eventu- 13. Maxwell, The History of Old Dundee (Edinburgh, 1884), 395. ally constituted patterns of acceptance or resistance to reformed 14. Calderwood, History, i', 176, 190; St Andrew's Rentale, 200. 15. Calderwood, History, i, 226; Knox, History, i, 93, Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, principles, were made and were immediately effective in the locali- xvii, pt. ii, no. 128. ties, and it is from there and there alone that a final verdict on the 16. Hamilton Papers, ii, 15; Pitcairn, Trials, i, 330; Calderwood, History, i, 156; nature of the Scottish Reformation can emerge. Knox, Histor}', ed. Dickinson, i, 43; Moir Bryce, 'Burgh Records of Edinburgh', in Old Edinburgh BK., iii, 56. 17. Mary of Lorraine Correspondence, 68-9, 132-3, 240-1. 18. Ayr Burgh Accounts, 90, 96-97. 19. Knox, History, i, 61. 20. Reg. Privy Council, i, 28-29, 61, 63. 21. Mary of Lorraine Correspondence, 368. 22. Pitcairn, Trials, i, *352-3. 23. Patrick, Statutes, 84, 127; Sanderson, 'Aspects of the Church in Scottish Society', 95. 24. Wodrow Society Miscellany, i, 54. 25. Calderwood, History, i, 303-4; Knox, History, i, 120-2; Robertson, Concilia, ii, 295; Edinburgh Burgh Records, 1528-1557, 251-2. 26. Knox, 'History, i, 121; Calderwood, History, i, 307, 320, 333. 27. Calderwood, History, i, 333. 28. Knox, Works, vi, 78; Knox, History, i, 160, 163; C. Haws, 'Scottish Clergy at the Reformation' (Glasgow Ph.D. thesis). 29. Calderwood, History, i, 333, 347; Pitcairn, Trials, i, 406-7. 37 38 NOTES ON THE TEXT

30. Wodrow Miscellany, i, 54; Knox, History, i, 181-2; Pitscottic, Historic, ii, 137. 31. Sanderson. 'Aspects of the Church in Scottish Society', 93; Ayr Burgh Accounts, 128, 130; Ayr Burgh Court Book (MS B6/12/3 Scottish Record Office), fos. 23v, 56v; W. Motherwell, Memorabilia of Glasgow (Glasgow, 1835), 3-4, 7-8, 13-14, I'itcairn, Trials, i, 407; Knox, History, i, 48, 178. 32. Calderwood, History, i, 343; Knox, History, i, 264-5. 33. Spaldiny Miscellany, iv, 57-58. 34. Aberdeen Council Register, 315, 326; Maclennan, The Reformation' in the Burgh of Aberdeen', 128ft. Bibliographical Note 35. Peebles Charters, 242, 253, 258, 263; Knox, Works, vi, 78. 36. Acts Parl. Scot, ii, 525-6. The best general account of the antecedents of the Scottish Reformation is 37. Papal>al Negotiations with Mary Queen of Scots (Scottish History Society, 1901), 137; provided in Gordon Donaldson, Scotland James V to James I7//(Edinburgh, Act.'.« Parl. Scot., ii, 534-5; Acts and Proceedings of The General Assemblies oj the Kirk 1965). Religious issues are dealt with by the same author in The Scottish of Scotland from the year MDLX (Bannatyne Club, 1839-45), i, 6. Reformation (Cambridge, 1960) and the political side of this movement is 38. Pitcairn, trials, i, 30. 39. Register of the Kirk Session Register of St Andrew's (Scottish History Society best covered in Maurice Lee, James Stewart, Earl of Moray (New York, 1889-9(1)'i, 36, 126-7. 1953). D. H. Fleming, The Reformation in Scotland (London, 1910) dis- 40. Ibid., 226; Acts and Proceedings of General Assemblies, i, 40; ii, 451. cusses with great scholarship the characteristics and consequences of the 41. Ibid., i, 40, 163. movement with a protestant bias for which a corrective exists in Essays on 42. Sanderson, 'Catholic Recusancy in Scotland', 88; Buik oj the Kirk of the Canagait the Scottish Reformation 1513-1625 ed. D. McRoberts (Glasgow, 1962). 1564-1567 (Scottish Record Society, 1961), 38; Diurnal of Occurrents, 301; Papal Among the many biographies of John Knox and his part in the making of Negotiations with Queen Mary Queen of Scots, 520-1. the Scottish Reformation those by W. Stanford Reid (Trumpeter of Cod, 43. Acts and Proceedings of General Assemblies, i, 6; Donaldson, 'Galloway Clergy at New York, 1974), P. Hume Brown (London, 1895), Lord Eustace Percy the Reformation' 38ff. 44. Donaldson, 'Adam Bothwell and the Reformation in Orkney' 85ff. (London, 1937) and Jasper Ridley (Oxford, 1962) possess merit, although 45. C. Giblin, The Irish Franciscan Mission to Scotland, 1619-1646 (Dublin, 1964). the latter demonstrates a rather uneven acquaintance with Scottish affairs. 46. Acts and Proceedings of General Assemblies, i, 27, 34; Haws, Scottish Clergy at the Lollardy in Scotland is dealt with in J. A. F. Thomson, The Later Lollards Reformation i, 200-12. (Oxford, 1965) and by T. M. A. Macnab, The Beginnings of Lollardy in 47. Reg. Privy Council, iii, 209; Acts and Proceedings of General Assemblies, ii, 429, Scotland' in Records of the Scottish Church History Society, xi, 254-60. There Reg. Privy Council, iv, 312, 326-7. are few satisfactory regional studies of the growth of protestantism in pre- Refbrmation Scotland, an exception being Margaret H. B. Sanderson's study of Ayrshire, 'Some Aspects of the Church in Scottish Society in the Era of the Reformation', in Records of the Scottish Church History Society, xvii, 81-98. In the absence of satisfactory secondary studies the information contained in this pamphlet on the spread of protestant opinion is mainly drawn from the most important contemporary source—John Knox's History of the Reformation in Scotland ed. W. C. Dickinson, 2 vols., (Edinburgh 1949). Knox derived much of his material from Foxe's Book of Martyrs (London, 1877), and the pre-Reformation information contained in both was in turn utilised by the seventeenth century historian David Calderwood in his History of the Church of Scotland, ed. T. Thomson and D. Laing, 8 vols., (Wodrow Society 1842-9). However, Calderwood contains some additional material derived from other, now lost, con- temporary sources. As both Calderwood and Knox were strongly partisan they are unlikely to have minimised protestant advance in the pre- Reformation period and to this extent they must be considered as unreliable guides in any assessment of pro-Catholic feeling. References for the evi- dence for the pre-Reformation situation derived from either of these sources, other than direct quotations, have not been specifically cited. Otherwise appropriate references are provided in the footnotes. More attention has been paid to the various localities in the post- Reformation period. On the survival of Catholicism in general W. Forbes Leith, Narratives of Scottish Catholics under Mary Stuart and James VI (London, 39 40 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

1889) is invaluable and studies relating to this theme are included in Essays on the Scottish Reformation. But the best account in relation to specific regions IAN B. COWAN is Reader in is Margaret H. B. Sanderson, 'Catholic Recusancy in Scotland in the six- Scottish History at the University of teenth century' in limes Review, xxi, 87-107, to which the present writer Glasgow. A graduate of the acknowledges a deep debt of gratitude and to which reference should be University of Edinburgh at which he made for all post-Reformation documentation which is otherwise un- commenced his teaching career, he specified. Several studies dealing with the establishment of protestantism subsequently lectured at Newbattle in the localities are of great significance. Gordon Donaldson 'Bishop Adam Abbey College before moving to Bothwell and the Reformation in Orkney' in Records of the Scottish Church Glasgow in 1962. He was president History Society, xiii, 85-100, and 'The Galloway Clergy at the Reformation' of the Scottish Church History in Dumfriesshire and Galloway Antiquarian Society Transactions, 3rd series, Society from 1971 to 1974 and is xxx, 38-60, deal with two outlying dioceses; and three central bishoprics currently treasurer of the Scottish are examined in Charles Haws, 'The Diocese of Aberdeen and the History Society and secretary of the Reformation' in Innes Review, xxii, 72-84; 'The Diocese of St Andrew's at Local History Committee of the the Reformation' in Records of Scottish Church History Society, xvii, 115-32 Historical Association. At Glasgow and John Todd, 'Prc-Reformation Cure of Souls in Dunblane Diocese' in his interest has centred on the Innes Review, xxvi, 27-42. The development of protestantism in an urban Vatican archives and the context is dealt with by Bruce Maclennan, The Reformation in the Burgh comprehensive collection on of Aberdeen' in Northern Scotland, ii, 119-44. microfilm of entries relating to Scotland from that source.

Part of this research is incorporated in two books, the Parishes of Medieval Scotland and a new edition (with D. E. Easson) of Medieval Religious Houses—Scotland. Other writings include numerous contributions to learned journals while his interest in sixteenth and seventeenth-century Scotland is reflected in two further books. The Linigma of Mary Stuart and The Scottish Covenanters, 1660-1688.