||i| BSillJi i«Pisii : ■ ! ifeH i:!: Itfil^Iilliil TO mi IKI. ORliiSlltil :IS4^^:i5€ E I ,E ^ 11111 a '■ ji nwra P5 Cofiils lb is to [' i o.c icto - < OF SCOTLAND r ' ^P'NB PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY THIRD SERIES VOLUME X THE SCOTTISH CORRESPONDENCE OF MARY OF LORRAINE 1927 * THE SCOTTISH CORRESPONDENCE OF MARY OF LORRAINE INCLUDING SOME THREE HUNDRED LETTERS FROM 20th FEBRUARY 1542-3 TO 15th MAY 1560 Edited by ANNIE I. CAMERON, M.A.(Glas.), Ph.D. (Edin.) EDINBURGH Printed at the University Press by T. and A. Constable Ltd. for the Scottish History Society 1927 Printed in Great Britain CONTENTS INTRODUCTION vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .... xxvi THE SCOTTISH CORRESPONDENCE OF MARY OF LORRAINE 1 INDEX . 449 INTRODUCTION The Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine, pre- served in the Register House at Edinburgh, includes some three hundred letters, dating from 20th February 1542-3 to 15th May 1560. It does not pretend to be a complete and rounded history of the period : rather, it is a quarry in which all kinds of historical investigators may find rich seams. The Correspondence, indeed, touches upon all aspects of the national life during critical and formative years of Scottish history. The unity in the midst of this diversity of interests is supplied by the central figure of Mary of Lorraine. Not all the letters are addressed to her, but, directly or indirectly, they all have a bearing upon her fortunes, and through her upon the destiny of the nation.1 The curtain rises upon a gloomy situation, and one, moreover, that was of international significance. Pro- fessor Hannay has shown that it ‘ was in part created by the turn of European politics. Francis I. declared war upon Charles v. in 1542, and, while he would have pre- ferred the active support of England, he was determined to preserve, if possible, at least her neutrality. The Scots, on their part, looked with apprehension upon negotia- tions which might leave Henry vm. free to mature his plans of conquest. Cardinal Beaton failed to secure French aid in a Scottish war against England : he failed even to bring about an understanding between Francis and Henry which would secure his own country : and Except Nos. CCXCVIII-CCCI. viii CORRESPONDENCE OF MARY OF LORRAINE finally he was induced to believe that war was preferable to a peace which might be rudely broken when Henry saw his opportunity.’ 1 These brave hopes soon went out in gloom. Hard upon the disaster of Solway Moss followed the death of James v., bequeathing to his infant daughter a kingdom divided against itself and a heritage of strife. Scotland, rent by heresy and unrest, seemed likely to fall an easy prey to the snares of England. The Corre- spondence, which shows how this fate was avoided, like- wise indicates a strange cycle in the affairs of history—• an intermingling, as it were, of destiny and human agency. It is seen that Scotland escaped from the nets of England only to be enmeshed in the toils of France, until, in the end, she cut the strangling bond with the help of an English knife. Politically, the cycle was complete. The Auld Alliance had died a violent death, and in its place there was born a new friendship between the auld enemies. Nationalism and religion were the two pillars of the bridge that spanned the gulf between the sister kingdoms. The Correspond- ence traces an ecclesiastical, no less than a political, cycle of events. As far as England was concerned, it was nationalism, identified with the Protestant succession, that forced the hand of Elizabeth to support the Scots insurgents. In Scotland, at the beginning of the period, the Roman Church was identified with the cause of inde- pendence : at the end of the period the movement of the Reformation swept away the barriers of opposition on the flood tide of patriotism. Nationalism, indeed, is the dominant note struck by the Correspondence. It was perhaps inevitable that politics should crowd the canvas to the exclusion of 1 Papal Legate in Scotland, S.H.R. xi. 2. INTRODUCTION ix religious matters. Mary of Lorraine was primarily inter- ested in securing her own position, and her correspondence kept this definite, practical purpose in view. It largely ceased when she cut herself adrift from Scottish influences, —at the very time ‘ during the which the Evangell of Jesus Christ begane wonderouslye to flouriss ’ 1 and the professors of the Reformation to wax greater in confidence and strength. Hints are not wanting, however, that the Auld Kirk was moribund. Although there is no reference to the immor- ality and inefficiency of the priesthood, yet there are many indications that the interests of the prelates were mainly secular. John Hepburn, rector of Dairy, for example, was no distinguished scholar. It was not in the cure of souls that he had acquired his great ‘ experians of lauburis and cumiris of this wairild.’ [No. CCX.] In the game of politics scant regard was paid to the spiritual welfare of the Christian flock. The vexed question of Glasgow is the most flagrant case, but not the only example, of how the disposal of benefices had become matter of expediency. Over the succession to Aberdeen there arose ‘ sum discence betuix Huntly Ergile and George Douglas; for George sayis . thai suld have devisit his slauchtir at the consecrac- cioun of the bischop of Abirdene.’ [No. CXXIX.] The solemnity of episcopal ‘ consecraccioun ’ was lost to sight in the bitterness of party and family rivalries. It is significant that in the end a pension to a Hamilton was charged upon the fruits of the see. Churchmen them- selves recognised this as ‘ plaine symony,’ 2 but, although they stigmatised the practice, they were unable, or un- willing, to remedy an evil of which they themselves 1 2 Knox, History, i. 256. Catechism af Archbishop Hamilton ; edited by T. G. Law, 99. X CORRESPONDENCE OF MARY OF LORRAINE enjoyed the fruits for a season. The noble families looked upon the Church as an endowment for their sons. Alexander Gordon, for one, was perfectly frank in acknowledging that he sought ecclesiastical preferment for the sake of a ‘ suir lyffyng.’ [No. CLXIL] The sons of Lord Erskine were less buffeted about than the brother of Huntly in the pursuit of emoluments. The case of Thomas and John, successive commendators of Dryburgh, illustrates the tendency for Church lands to become hereditary in the possession of territorial mag- nates. It was only putting the seal upon established fact when the estates were erected into a temporal barony after the Reformation. [No. CLV.] In much the same way the Stewarts of Death secured the monastic lands of Inchcolm. [No. CLIL] The destitution of the Church was here the opportunity of the magnate. This was one more result of the English devastations, which had also deprived the commendator of Coldingham of all ‘ proffett of my benefice in Scotland sen the begynnyng of the weiris.’ [No. CCXXXIIL] But, quite apart from the scourging of fire and sword, the ecclesiastical fabric was in decay. In 1558 the Bishop of Aberdeen, on the ground that his own living was ‘ under grite pensione,’ sought to hold the priory of Monymusk ‘ quhilk is ane sobir benefice, the place and religion therof distroyit, for releif of my benefice.’ [No. CCLXXVL] When the organic body of the Church had become thus effete, it is little wonder that it had lost its spiritual hold upon men. Ecclesiastical censures, for example, had notoriously become a commercial commodity, devoid of all efficacy. The Governor was able to raise ‘ ane cursing ’ on Huntly, his political opponent, ‘ bot my lord wes in- formyt that syk lettres wes to cum and hes gottin ane absolucione fra my lord cardinall in aventuyr of the samyn.’ [No. XVII.] INTRODUCTION xi In this connection Methven makes some pregnant observations upon the unhappy state of ‘ haly kirk.’ By 1545 heresy had become so prevalent that ‘ it is now dowtsum to punes be the law as the sammyn requiris.’ [No. XCVIII.] In 1548 he stated what Mr. John Campbell had hinted four years earlier, that the ‘ new apoynzionis of the scriptour ’ were drawing Scotsmen into friendship with England, and into two-fold rebellion against ‘ the auttorite,’ and against ‘ the law and ordinance of haly kirk.’ [Nos. LII, CLXXII.] On th^ more positive side, the activity and energy of the reformers themselves is illustrated when they brought a canon of St. Andrews ‘ til Celso be the sone raysing in the mornying . and maid ane sermond.’ [No. CCXLIX.] The cumulative effect of the evidence therefore goes to show that the Auld Kirk was grievously sick. A refor- mation of some kind was imperative, although the actual form and nature of that reformation were moulded by other circumstances. It was also, for example, a social movement inspired by the ‘ pepill ’ as well as by the ‘ gentillmen.’ This fact in itself suggests that the Commons must have been pro- gressive and energetic in spite of the ravages of war and domestic factions. The scattered evidence of the Corre- spondence bears out this estimate of the burgesses and the lesser lairds. The town of Edinburgh refused to ‘ condiscend to sic unresonable desyreis ’ as would content ‘ the kingis majestic of Ingland ... to grant ws restitu- tioun of cure shippis and gudis.’ [No. XXVIII.] After the outbreak of war with the Emperor in 1544, the merchants of Dundee and Edinburgh were clamorous ‘ for delivering of the sadis presoneris [apprehended in Flanders] and thair gudis.’ [No. LXXIL] There was, indeed, no social barrier between wealthy merchants and impecunious nobles.