C A R D I N A L B E A T O N P RI EST AND P OLI TICIAN J O H N II E R K L E S S M I N I S T E R O F T A N N A D I C E W I T H A P R T R I ’ ' O A I I C O N T E N T S. C H A P . P A G E I T H E D E C L I N E O F T H E C A T II D L I C C H R H I N . U C S C O TL A N D , I I . T H E O L D A L L I A N C E A N D T H E O L D E N M IT Y , ’ I I I EA R L Y I N F LUE N C E S D N R E A T D N N C H A R A C TE R . , I V B EA T O N A N D P A TR I C K H A MI LTO N . , D I P L O MA C I ’ v. , ’ V I . T H E E X TI R P A TI O N C E I I ICR E S Y , V I I . R E EC R MA T IC N FR O M E N G LA N D , V II I S O L WA Y mo s s A N D IT S S E EL . Q U I X . F URT H E R I N TRI GUE S , x K N G A G A N S C A R N A L . I I T D I , X I P R O T E S TA N TI S M A N D W I S H A RT . , X I I T H E A SSA SSI N A TI O N O F B E A TO N . , T O N C A R D I N A L B E A . H A P T E R I C . T IIE D EC LI N E O F T H E C A T HO LI C C H UR C H IN S C O TLAND . THREE centuries and a half have passed since IVish art w the burning of George , the event hich has made the name of Cardinal Beaton the name most execrated in the ecclesiastical history ’ In w w a s of Scotland . Knox s ords , Beaton “ ” “ w V itio u s that bloody olf the Cardinal , a priest and w icked monster w hich neither minded ” God nor cared for man . As Knox has made hatred of Popery one of th e Virtues of Scottish Protestantism , this verdict on the character of ’ VVi sh art s destroyer is acceptable to those w h o “ hold that the blessed martyr of God w as a w saint ithout reproach . O L D ECLINE O F T H E CATHOLIC CHURCH . Beaton , moreover , having been the chief enemy of the Scottish Reformation , has been w a arded , in literature and tradition , an evil reputation , great in proportion to the cause w w hich he opposed . Even ere this reputa w w w as tion , ho ever , holly deserved , the man more than a destroyer of heretics , and more than an enemy of the Lutheran faith . B e at e n w as the representative and most not able man of Catholic Scotland of the sixteenth n w as ce tury , and by title , at the time of his death , Lord Chancellor of the kingdom , Arch w bishop of St Andre s , and Cardinal Legate in l In w ~ Scot and . the history of his country , hat ever his personal character may have been , he takes his place as the last great churchman and statesman before the Reformation , and almost the last politician to keep Scotland w ithin the circle of European interests . M odern research has often been able to dis of w credit the veracity tradition . Crom ell , by n the ge ius of Carlyle , appears no longer before the bar of history as the religious hypocrite w h o murdered his king ; but since even Judge Jeffreys has had his advocate , it may appear as if later w riters formed a Court of Appeal to reverse all generally accepted j udgments . w Literature itself, like tradition , has not al ays represented men and events as they appear in the light of an inquest into facts ; but against w the best literature , historical criticism is po er ’ less . Shakspere s M acbeth and Richard III . have established themselves in most minds secure against eviction by the M acbeth of the Chronicles and the Richard of the Histories . IVh e n w u , moreover , ritten history and literat re w are a contemporary ith their victim , greed in b e a censure , such condemnation may seem K 1o yond dispute . Thus and Sir David Lindsay , in their disparaging of Beaton , are apt to be accounted w itnesses w hose testimony w w is not to be traversed . These riters , ho ever , carried religious prej udice and personal hatred , the one into history , and the other into litera ture ; and w hatever be their position among w Scottish men of letters , they ere singularly unfitt e d for a calm and rational j udgment on ’ n the character of a religious oppone t . Knox s s o w th e R e history , in far as it is the ork of w as w w h o w former , ritten by one ould not lie ; but no narrative of events and controversies , ’ w i s in hich the narrator had a leader s share , 4 D F T E C H ~ CH ECLINE O H AT OLIC C UR . n above the suspicion of party bias . O the t other hand , the asser ions of Lindsay , in his Tragedy of the Cardinal , are not , in fairness , to be tested by the canons of literal accuracy . These tw o w riters are mainly responsible for the popular opinion and traditions regarding B e at e n but the modern student w h o can rise above sectarian feeling , and at the same time resist the fashion w hich aims at reversing accepted j udgments on men of the past , may , w ithout insult to the sincerity of Knox and the good faith of Lindsay , come to doubt the s e e traditions concerning Beaton , and to in him w h o w one , though a orldly ecclesiastic , w as the zealous guardian of his Church , and th e ablest Scottish statesman of his day . Beaton , as a leader in Church and State , had w w f no easy task in the ork of his t ofold o fice . The Catholic Church w a s suffering exposure under the light of the Renascence , and direct at tack from the forces of Protestantism . Henry VIII . , moved by anger against Rome , w a s seeking to spread in Scotland those reforms w hich he found convenient for a king in Eng w as an land . M oreover , Scotland still obj ect , h ad as it been in former times , of the cupidity of the King of England , and its independence D O F T H E SC SH F 5 ATE OTTI RE ORMATION . w as i so w as again in danger . Nor Scotland lated from European politics . The King of France and the Emperor Charles , each of them I in his j ealousy of Henry VII , sought her alliance ; and to them in turn she looked for aid against England . The memorable events of the first half of w m the sixteenth century ere any , and Euro pean history seemed then to be in haste : but these events can be fully understood only through a know ledge of antecedent facts ; and a nd in the history of Scotland , Beaton his times can become an intelligible volume only by reference to events and policies not con fi w ned ithin the limits of the century . There are three outstanding facts of this ki n d w hich thro w light on th e history of the period that marks the close of medieval Scotland , and on the policies of the leader in Church and State of that period . The decline of the Catholic - and Church , the ancient Scoto French alliance , — the long continued enmity betw een Scotland m and England , are the three i portant facts w a t hich demand examination the outset . The date of the Scottish Reformation is later than that of Germany or England ; but this i s largely to be explained by the Scottish policy 6 DECLINE OF T E CATHOLIC CHURCH . of Henry VIII . , and by the dominant influence i w h o h s . of Beaton , ruled the councils of nation In Germany the Reformation w as at first purely religious ; afterw ards it w as political as w ell as ’ T “ ar religious , if the Peasants is to be accounted part of the general Reformation movement . In England the first Reformation dates from ’ os Henry s search for a divorce court , since g ’ ’ ’7 pel light first daw n d from Bullen s eyes and amo ng the outw ard and visible signs of a change in the religion of the land w ere the ff erection of the sca old , the kindling of the fires for sacrifices , and the plunder of the I II r e v olu monasteries .