CHAPTER V.
THE JAMESES.
Return of the King (1)—state of the Highlands (2)—murder of James (3)—judicial reforms (4)—James II. (5)—Crichton and Livingstone (6)—the Douglases (7)—majority of James; fall of Douglas (8)—siege of Roxburgh (9)—James III. (10)—Orkney and Shetland (11)—relations with England (12)—revolt of the nobles (13)—battle of Sauchieburn (14)—Church matters (15)—James IV. (16)—English intrigues (17)—state of the Highlands (18)—differences with England (19)—battle of Flodden (20)—state of the Church (21)—James V. (22)—Albany's regency (23)—English interference (24)—the "Erection" (25)—fall of Angus (26)—internal affairs (27)—English war (28)—death of James; his character (29)—Mary (30)—treaties with England (31)—first English invasion (32)—second English invasion (33)—third English invasion; fight at Pinkie (34)—internal affairs (35)—Regency of Mary of Lorraine; first marriage of Mary Stewart (36)—social progress (37)—state of education and literature (38)—summary (39).
1. James I., 1424-1436. Return of the King.—In 1424 James came home and brought with him his English wife, Joan, daughter of the Earl of Somerset. As he had been taken in time of peace, a ransom could not decently be demanded, but the Scots were required to pay forty thousand pounds to defray the expenses of his eighteen years' maintenance and education. The King, now at last restored to his kingdom, let eight months pass quietly before taking vengeance on those who had so long kept him out of it. He spent this time in winning the confidence of the people and of the lesser barons. He then seized Albany, his two sons, and twenty-six other nobles at Perth, whither they had come to attend the Parliament. Albany and his two sons were tried before a jury of twenty-one peers, many of whom sat only to secure their own safety. They were found guilty of treason and put to death at Stirling. James himself presided at the trial, thereby reviving the ancient practice of the King's personal administration of justice.
2. The Highlands.—When James had thus got rid of his dangerous cousins, he turned his attention to the Highlands and Western Isles, which presented a strange mixture of Celtic and of feudal manners. They were ruled partly by Norman barons, and partly by native chiefs, and these barons or chiefs were both alike upheld by that personal devotion of their vassals which was the strong point of Celtic clanship. James summoned the chiefs to a parliament at Inverness in 1427. They obeyed the summons, and were at once seized and imprisoned. Three of them were hanged at that time. Several others shared the same fate at a later date. Others were imprisoned, and a small remnant only allowed to go away unhurt. Alexander, Lord of the Isles, was among these last, and the first use he made of his recovered liberty was to bring his islemen down on Inverness, which they destroyed. James hurried northward again and defeated him in Lochaber. Alexander gave himself up to the King's grace, and was confined in Tantalion Castle. But his kinsman, Donald Balloch, set himself at the head of the clans and they defeated the royal army. James determined to crush the Celts once and for ever. An additional tax was levied for the purpose, and James set out once more for the north. But the chiefs, who saw that the King was just then too strong for them, met him with proffers of homage and submission. Such submissions were, however, practically worthless. In the eyes of the Celts they were just as little binding as the parchment title-deeds by which the government sought to change their chiefs into feudal barons.
3. Murder of James.—The policy of James was to reduce the power of the baronage, and to balance it by strengthening the clergy and encouraging the commons. He made strict search into the titles by which the several nobles held their lands, and more especially into the actual state of the estates which had been held by the Crown in the time of Robert the First. He deprived the Earl of March of his earldom, on the ground that Albany, who had restored it to him, had not the power to confer upon him the estates which he had once forfeited by the transfer of his allegiance to England. James also took from Malise Grahame his earldom of Strathearn, which he had inherited through his mother, on the ground that it was a male fief. He therefore transferred it to the next male heir, Walter Stewart, Earl of Athole, grand-uncle of Grahame, the only surviving son of Robert the Second. These measures roused the dislike and distrust of the class they were aimed at, and a conspiracy was formed against the King. At its head was Sir Robert Grahame, uncle of Malise, who had been banished for denouncing the King's doings in Parliament. Through the connivance of the Earl of Athole, the High Chamberlain, the conspirators got entrance to the King's quarters, when he was keeping his Christmas in the monastery of the Black Friars at Perth, and there they treacherously murdered him, 1436. James left one son and five daughters. Margaret, the eldest, was married to the Dauphin, afterwards Louis the Eleventh of France.
4. Judicial Reforms.—James held many parliaments, and pretty nearly all are noteworthy for passing wise measures for the common good. In his first parliament, the "Committee of the Articles," which dated from the reign of David the Second, was acknowledged as an established part of the parliament. This committee was elected by the parliament at the beginning of its session, and nearly the whole power of the Estates was made over to the persons chosen to form it, who were called the Lords of the Articles. They consulted together and considered the Articles presented to them in parliament, which were then passed by the vote of the Estates and became law. This custom, by which the business of the whole parliament was left in the hands of a committee, was afterwards found to be the weakest point of the legislature, and paved the way for a great deal of bribery and corruption. Statute law in Scotland dates from this reign, as it was James who first caused a collection of statutes to be made, and separated those that were still in force from those that had fallen out of use. He also regulated weights and measures, and fixed a standard for the coinage, so that it should be of the same weight and fineness as the money in England. From his reign also dates the appointment of the office of Treasurer; the publication of the acts of parliament in the language spoken by the people; the first effort towards the representation of the lesser barons by commissaries; and an attempt to establish a supreme court of civil jurisdiction, which was to consist of the Chancellor and three other persons chosen by the Estates, and to sit three times a year. In order that the Scottish people might learn to compete with the English bowmen, James established schools in the different parishes for the practice of archery. In short, he strove in every way to make his people profit by what he had learnt and observed during his long exile in England. He was a patron of learning, and was himself a scholar and one of the earliest and best English poets. The longest of his poems is called the "King's Quhair" or book. In it he sang his love for his fair English bride in strains that prove him to have been a true poet. It is written in stanzas of seven lines each, a very favourite measure in those days, which was afterwards called the "roial rime" in memory of this poet-king.
5. James II., 1436-1460.—The young King, who was only six years old when his father was killed, was crowned at Holyrood, as Scone, the customary crowning-place, was too near the Highlands, where the conspirators had taken refuge, to be safe. He was then taken by his mother for greater security to Edinburgh Castle. The object of the murderers was to place on the throne the Earl of Athole, who, as being the son of the second marriage of Robert the Second, was looked on as the true heir by the party who held that the first marriage of that king was not valid. If this were their design, it was not seconded by the people, who were filled with sorrow and anger at the death of the King, who had made himself popular by all the good he had done for them. A hue-and-cry was raised after the murderers, who were taken and put to death with cruel tortures.
6. Crichton and Livingstone.—The first part of the reign was a struggle for the wardship of the King's person, which gave nearly royal power to whoever held it. The rivals for this honour were William Crichton, the Chancellor and governor of Edinburgh Castle; Alexander Livingstone, the governor of Stirling, the other great stronghold; and the Queen-mother. The Queen, who feared that Crichton would try to separate the young King from her if she stayed in Edinburgh, succeeded in getting herself and her child out of his hands by a stealthy flight to Stirling. But she soon found that they had only changed jailers, for Livingstone kept as strict a guard over the King as Crichton had done. A few years later she married Stewart, Lord of Lorn, after which she took no further part in public affairs. Her flight to Stirling gave Livingstone for a time the advantage in the possession of the King, till Crichton contrived to kidnap him back to Edinburgh. But as the rivals found that it would be more for the interest of each to act in concert with the other, they made an agreement, by which James was sent back to the custody of Livingstone.
7. The House of Douglas.—Archibald, Earl of Douglas, was at this time the most powerful baron in Scotland. Besides holding Galloway, Annandale, and other great estates in Scotland, he had inherited the Duchy of Touraine, which had been conferred on his father by the King of France for good service done against the English, and in his foreign duchy he possessed wealth and splendour beyond anything that the Scottish king could boast. The family still had a hold on the popular favour won for them by the Good Lord James. They had also some pretensions to the crown of Scotland, for Archibald, brother and heir of the Good Lord James, had married a sister of the Red Comyn, who was slain by Bruce. The Douglases therefore represented the claim of the Comyns, which, as we have seen, was better than that of Bruce. They were also descendants of Robert the Second, through Euphemia, one of the children of his second marriage, to whom those who looked on his first family as illegitimate held that the crown ought to have gone. Douglas had been chosen Lieutenant-Governor of the kingdom, and had ample power to quiet the rival parties had he chosen to exercise it. But he did not, and his nominal government was ended by his death in 1439. William, his son, who at seventeen succeeded to all this pride and power, kept up a state and retinue almost royal, and much violence and oppression were laid to his charge. Crichton and Livingstone agreed to compass his downfall, and for this end they invited him and his brother David to visit the King at Edinburgh. They came, were seized, and, after the form of a trial, were beheaded in the Castle-yard. The power of their house was thus broken for a time. The estates were divided; part went with the title to their grand-uncle James, the male heir, while Galloway went to their sister Margaret. But on the death of James they were re-united, for his son William married Margaret of Galloway, his cousin. He then went to court, to do his duty, as he said, to his sovereign, pretended that the King had chosen him Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, and got most of the power into his own hands. He and Livingstone joined, and tried to make Crichton give up the seals by besieging him in Edinburgh Castle; but he held out so well that they were forced to make terms with him. Douglas grew more proud and powerful every year. He was already lord of nearly all the southern country, and he joined in a bond with the great chiefs of the north,—the Lord of the Isles, who was now Earl of Ross, and Alexander, Earl of Crawford, the head of the house of Lindsay and representative of the fallen Earls of March. He held meetings of his vassals, to which he summoned all those who either were or, as he thought, ought to be his dependants. Nor did he scruple to put to death any who opposed him, in direct defiance of the King's commands. But as the Earl's retainers numbered 5,000, while the King had not so much as a bodyguard, his commands were not easily enforced. On one occasion the King sent Sir Patrick Gray to demand the release of his nephew, M'Lellan, tutor or guardian of the young Laird of Bunby, or Bomby, whom Douglas had put in ward because he failed to appear at one of the gatherings of his vassals. Douglas received him courteously, but said he could on no account hear the King's message till his visitor had dined. Meanwhile he had the prisoner brought out and beheaded. When he heard the King's order he feigned great respect for it, and, showing the body, said, "There lies your sister's son; he wants the head, but the body is at your service." Sir Patrick had to hide his anger as best he might till he had got safe out of his hands.
8. Majority of James. Fall of Douglas.—The King's majority was soon followed by the ruin of Livingstone. Douglas was too strong to be openly attacked. He was invited to Stirling and received in a friendly way. James remonstrated with him about the bonds, and urged him to break them off. Douglas refused. James in a fit of passion cried out, "If you will not break the bonds, this shall," and stabbed him. Sir Patrick Gray, who stood by, killed him with his pole-axe. They then threw the mangled body into the courtyard. This savage deed plunged the whole country into civil war. James, the brother and heir of the murdered Earl, openly defied the King; that is, he renounced his allegiance to him as a traitor and a perjured man. His cause was taken up by the parties to the bond, the Earls of Ross and Crawford. The King, who felt himself too weak to break the confederacy, was forced to turn to his own advantage the enmity among his nobles, and to pull down one house by building up another. This policy only changed the name of the rivals of the Crown, without getting rid of them, and it laid the foundation of the like troubles in future reigns. In the north James entrusted the conduct of the war to the head of the house of Gordon, whom he created Earl of Huntly, and whose lands lay between those of the banded Earls. In the south the Earl of Angus, the head of the Red Douglases as they were called, was made use of to overthrow the Black Douglases, the elder branch of the family. The question whether James Stewart or James Douglas should wear the crown was settled by a battle at Arkinholm, in Eskdale in 1454. Douglas was forsaken by many of his followers, and was defeated and fled to England. An act of forfeiture was passed against him and all his house, and, to prevent any one family again becoming so formidable, another act was passed, which made Galloway and certain other lordships and castles inalienable from the Crown. But, in spite of this, the greater part of the lands of the fallen Douglas went to his kinsman Angus. Many other families also, among them the Hamiltons, rose from the ruins of the Black Douglases. Sir James Hamilton, the head of the house, had been one of the adherents of the Earl, but he deserted to the royal side on the eve of the battle of Arkinholm.
9. Siege of Roxburgh.—As the strife which was at this time going on between the Yorkists and Lancastrians kept the English busy at home, there was comparative peace on the Border, broken only by an inroad from Percy and the banished Douglas. James took the part of Henry VI., and raised a large army with the intention of invading England in his favour. But there was no serious war, and James saw that there was now a good chance of winning back the towns which the English still held in Scotland. He therefore laid siege to Roxburgh, and was killed there by the bursting of a large cannon which he was watching with great interest. After his death the Queen urged on the siege, and Roxburgh was taken and destroyed. This siege is noteworthy as being among the first in which we hear of the use of artillery in Scotland. Another notable feature of it was the presence of the Lord of the Isles with an auxiliary force, for which service he was made one of the Wardens of the Border. James had married Mary, the daughter of the Duke of Gelders, and left four sons, the eldest only eight years old. The second university in Scotland was founded in this reign, at Glasgow, by Bishop Turnbull.
10. James III., 1460-1488.—During the first part of this reign, Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrews, had the chief part in the government. He died in 1466, and on his death the Boyds got hold of the King and of the chief power. These Boyds were originally simple lairds, but they strengthened themselves by bonds with more powerful families, won the King's favour and finally got possession of his person, by making him come with them, partly by persuasion, partly by force, from Stirling to Edinburgh. They then obtained an act of the Estates declaring that this step had been taken with the full consent and good pleasure of the King. The Lord Boyd was appointed guardian of his person and of the royal strongholds, his son Thomas was created Earl of Arran, and with the earldom the King's sister Mary was given him in marriage.
11. Annexation of Orkney and Shetland.—For many years the rent of the Western Isles had not been paid to the King of Norway. There were heavy arrears due to him which had been demanded in the last reign. It was now agreed to settle the matter peaceably by the marriage of James with Margaret, daughter of Christian of Norway, in 1469. Her dowry was the claim for the arrears and 60,000 florins, in security for which the Orkney and Shetland Isles were placed as pledges in the hands of the King of Scotland. These islands have never been redeemed by payment of the sum agreed on. Arran had been chiefly concerned in bringing about this marriage. During his absence at the court of Christian his enemies were busy in compassing his fall. His wife sent him timely warning of his danger, and he fled first to Denmark and finally to England, whither his father had also escaped. But Alexander, the younger son, was made the scapegoat for the sins of his kindred. He was seized, tried, and put to death for his share in kidnapping the King, which was now denounced as treason. The family estates were forfeited, and most of them were declared inalienable from the Crown.
12. Relations with England.—In the beginning of the reign, Edward the Fourth kept up a seeming show of friendliness, but he was secretly treating with Douglas and the Lord of the Isles to the effect that they should hold the two parts of Scotland as principalities dependent on England. The end of this underhand dealing was that John, son of the Lord of the Isles, invaded and wasted the district that was to be his principality, all the country north of the Scots Water. This led to the final breaking up of the lordship of the Isles, for he was called to account for his rebellion, and was required to resign the districts of Knapdale and Kintyre, the original Scottish kingdom; the sheriffdoms of Inverness and Nairn, and the earldom of Ross, which was vested in the Crown. In exchange for his proud but doubtful title of Lord of the Isles, he was made a peer of parliament. In 1474 a marriage was arranged between Edward's daughter Cecily and James the Prince of Scotland. It was broken off owing to a quarrel between the King and his brothers, Alexander Duke of Albany, and John Earl of Mar. They were much more popular than James, and, when Mar died suddenly in Craigmillar Castle, James was suspected of having poisoned him. Albany was arrested and confined in Edinburgh Castle on a charge of treasonable dealings with Edward. He escaped to France in hopes of getting Louis the Eleventh to take his part, but he found a more willing helper in Edward. An agreement was made that Edward should place Albany on the throne of Scotland, that he should hold it, and that he should marry the Lady Cecily. After divers threatening messages had been exchanged between the two governments, and many threatenings of attack had been made, a great Scottish army was mustered to invade England in good earnest.
13. Revolt of the Nobles.—The King had always been unpopular with his nobles. His love of money and of peaceable pursuits found little sympathy with them, and they could neither understand nor tolerate his fancy for making favourites of men whom they despised. The time had now come when they could take the law into their own hands. The army raised for the invasion of England was led by the King in person, and advanced as far as Lauder in Berwickshire. There the nobles met together, with old Angus at their head, to devise some way of getting rid of the most hated of these favourites. This was Robert Cochrane, a mason or architect, to whom the King had given the control of the artillery in this expedition. He had also conferred on him the revenues of the earldom of Mar, and Cochrane, going a step further, had assumed the title. While they were deliberating, the Lord Gray, so the story goes, quoted the old fable of the mice and the cat, meaning thereby that all their talk would come to nothing unless one of their number was bold enough to attack their enemy. On this Archibald Earl of Angus cried out, "Heed not, I'll bell the cat." This saying won him the nickname of "Bell the Cat." While they thus sat in council in the church, Cochrane himself knocked at the door and demanded admittance in the name of the King. The finery which he wore, the chain of massive gold thrown round his neck, the jewelled horn that dangled from it, the gilt helmet borne before him, still further heated the wrath of the lords. They seized him, and with many insults accused him of misguiding the King and the government. Meanwhile they had sent a band of armed men to the King's tent to secure Rogers, a musician, and the other favourites. They then hanged them all over Lauder Bridge. John Ramsay of Balmain was the only one of the favourites who was spared to the entreaties of the King. The triumphant barons then brought the King back to Edinburgh, 1482. Soon after this Albany came back, and demanded the release of his brother, and for a short time they lived together seemingly on good terms, while Albany really ruled. But before long he found it most prudent to return to England, and he showed his real designs by putting Dunbar Castle into the hands of the English.
14. Battle of Sauchieburn.—The King, who had not learned wisdom by the lesson of Lauder Bridge, grew more and more unpopular. A confederacy was formed, and a large army was raised by the lords south of the Forth. To give a show of justice to their doings, they placed James the Prince of Scotland at their head, professing to have deposed his father, and to have accepted him as their lawful king. North of the Scots Water the country was true to James, and there he collected a considerable force. The two armies met at Sauchieburn. The King, who was not brave, turned and fled at the first sign that the day was going against him. In his flight he was thrown from his horse and carried to a mill built on the Bannock Burn, where he was murdered by an unknown hand, 1488.
15. Church Matters.—In 1471 St. Andrews was raised to an Archbishopric. Pope Sextus the Fourth sent the pallium to Robert Graham the bishop, but this increase of dignity only proved a source of torment to him, for his suffragans, out of jealousy, accused him of all manner of heresies and crimes. He was deposed and degraded, and ended his days in confinement.
16. James IV., 1488-1513.—The first thing to be done after the affair of Sauchieburn was to find out what had become of the King, and, when his death was made sure of, an inquiry was set on foot as to the cause of it. The offices of state were transferred to the party in power, and an act of amnesty was passed, to take in all persons who had taken part with the late King in the struggle which the nobles pleased to call the late rebellion. Two ineffectual risings to avenge the murder of the King were made by the Lords Lennox and Forbes, and three years later, to pacify the clamours of the people, a reward of one hundred marks was offered for the discovery of the actual murderers.
17. English Intrigues.—Just at this time Henry the Seventh of England had his hands too busy at home to allow of his making open war upon Scotland, but he carried on secret schemes with Angus, Ramsay, and others for the capture of the King. James, on the other hand, upheld that Perkin Warbeck was really Richard, Duke of York, received him at his court as the son of King Edward, and gave him in marriage his kinswoman Lady Katharine Gordon. A force of French and Burgundians came to aid him, and an army crossed the Border, but it did nothing, as the rising which had been planned, and was to have been made at the same time in the north of England, did not take place. At last James got tired of Perkin, sent him off to Ireland, though with a princely escort, and renewed a truce with Henry, in 1497. The two kings were drawn still closer by the marriage of James with Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of Henry, in 1502.
18. State of the Highlands.—James paid frequent visits to Kintyre, the Isles, and Inverness, and took measures for the building of more castles and the maintenance of garrisons in those already built. This plan might have been successful in keeping the country quiet, if the Crown had been strong enough to carry it out. As it was not, James was forced to fall back on the old policy of turning the feuds of the chiefs to their own destruction, by empowering one to act against another. Again the Gordons got a great increase of power, for their head, the Earl of Huntly, was appointed sheriff of Inverness, Ross, and Caithness, with the condition that he should finish and maintain a fortress at Inverness. In the west the charge of keeping order was put into the hands of the Earl of Argyle, the chief of the Campbells. An attempt was also made to break up the Isles into sheriffdoms, and to impose upon the Highlanders the laws of the Lowlands. A commission was issued for the banishment of broken men, as those clansmen were called who had no representative chiefs, and an Act was passed which made the chiefs responsible for the execution of legal writs upon their clansmen. But the disaffected chiefs rallied round Donald Dhu, an illegitimate descendant of the last Lord of the Isles, and it took three years' fighting on the part of the King and of Huntly to reduce them. Donald was at last brought captive to Edinburgh, and the lordship of the Isles was finally broken up in 1504.
19. Differences with England.—In this reign Scotland first appears as a naval power, and this proved a new source of strife with England. One of the King of Scots' captains, Andrew Barton, bore letters of marque against the Portuguese, but the English accused him of taking English vessels also. He was attacked in time of truce by the Howards. He himself was killed in the action, and his ship, the Lion, was taken, and became the second ship in the English navy. James had also another cause of complaint against Henry the Eighth, for Henry refused to give up to his sister Margaret a legacy of jewels left to her by her father. When therefore England and France declared war, Scotland stood by her old ally, the bond between them was drawn closer, the right of citizenship in France was extended to the Scots, and Queen Anne of France made an appeal to the chivalrous feeling of James by choosing him as her knight, and calling on him for assistance. James therefore fitted out a fleet of twenty-three vessels. Among them was a very large ship called the Great Michael, which was looked on as a masterpiece of shipbuilding. This fleet was put under the command of James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, with orders to sail for France. Instead of doing this, he stormed Carrickfergus, and what became of the ships was never clearly made out.
20. Battle of Flodden.—James also determined to invade England. Though the cause was not popular, the King was, and a large army was soon mustered. The King himself led the host across the Border, and encamped on the Till, but, as he would not take the advice of Angus and others who knew more of border fighting than he did, he mismanaged the whole affair. He idled away the time till his own army began to disperse and the English had time to gather; then he let them cross the river unopposed, and finally left his strong position on the hill to meet them hand to hand in the plain. The result was an utter defeat, and the King, who was more eager to display his own valour than to act the part of the general in command, was slain in the thickest of the fight. Twelve earls and thirteen barons fell round him, and every noble house in Scotland left some of its name on the fatal field of Flodden Sept. 9, 1513. The death of James the Fourth was deeply mourned, for his reign had been peaceable and prosperous. He was popular with the nobles, because he kept them round him, and freely spent his father's savings; and with the commons, because of his rigorous maintenance of justice, his encouragement of commerce and agriculture, and his easy, kindly manners. James is described as middle-sized, handsome, and well-made. Besides Latin and several other foreign languages, he could speak the Irish or Gaelic, which was the native tongue of his western subjects. During his reign Scotland was more prosperous than it had been since the days of the last Alexander. Trade was flourishing and on the increase, and large quantities of wool, hides, and fish were exported to other countries.
21. Church Matters.—In 1492, at the petition of the Estates, the pallium was sent from Rome to Robert Blackadder, Bishop of Glasgow, with licence to bear the cross and all other archiepiscopal insignia. This led to bitter strife between the two Archbishops, who referred their disputes to the Pope, to the great wrath of the Estates, who denounced and forbade all such appeals to Rome. The burning of Reseby had not put a stop to the spreading of Wickliffe's doctrines, for we find thirty persons accused of the Lollard heresy by Blackadder. Two great steps towards the advancement of learning were made in this reign: the one was the foundation of a third University at Aberdeen, on the model of the University of Paris, by Elphinstone, the good Bishop of Aberdeen; the other was the introduction of the art of printing, by means of which knowledge could be extended to the people. The first press was set up by Walter Chapman, under the patronage of the King.
22. James V., 1513-1542.—The news of the defeat at Flodden spread grief and terror through the country. The citizens of Edinburgh built a wall round their city, but its strength was not tried, for the English army dispersed instead of advancing. The Estates met at Perth, and the Queen-mother was appointed Regent, for the King was an infant only two years old. But within a year the Queen married Archibald, the young Earl of Angus, and the Estates then transferred the regency to John, Duke of Albany, High Admiral of France, son of the brother of James the Third. Peace was made with England, Scotland being taken in as the ally of France in a treaty between that country and England.
23. Albany's Regency.—Albany's government was at first very unpopular, for the national jealousy was roused by the number of his French followers. The Queen at first refused to give up the King, but she was besieged in Stirling Castle and obliged to yield. The country was distracted by the brawls of the two great factions, the Hamiltons and the Douglases. The Earl of Arran was the head of the former, Angus of the latter. The Governor put them down with the help of the French: Angus was seized and transported to France; his wife fled to England, where he contrived to join her before long. The Lord Home and his brother, two of the few survivors of Flodden, and the most powerful of the Angus faction, were seized at Edinburgh and beheaded, after the mere form of a trial. But Albany went back to France after he had been about a year in Scotland; and as he left a Frenchman, Anthony de la Bastie, Warden of the Border, and placed the strongholds in the hands of the French also, the Scots grew more jealous and turbulent than before. De la Bastie fell a victim to the national hatred of foreigners. He was killed in a border raid by one of the Homes, in revenge for the death of his kinsman, the Lord Home. The Celts in the west re-asserted their independence, and the feud between the Hamiltons and the Douglases broke out worse than ever. They brought their brawls into the very streets of the capital. The Hamiltons laid a plan for attacking the Douglases, and making Angus prisoner. Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, fearing that his kinsmen might get the worst of it, appealed to James Beaton, the primate, to stop it. Beaton solemnly declared on his conscience that he knew nothing of the matter; and to give weight to his words, laid his hand on his heart, and in so doing struck the breastplate which he always wore. On this, Douglas, who heard the ring of the armour, told him that he heard his conscience "clattering," that is, telling tales. In the fight that followed, Angus so thoroughly routed his foes that the fray was called "Clear the Causeway," and after it he held the city with an armed force. Thus five years passed, and the Regent, who had nominally gone back to France for a few months only, was still absent, and it took a great deal of urging and threatening from the Estates to bring him back to his trust.
24. English Interference.—It was now nine years since Flodden, and, as there had been peace with England during that time, the country had somewhat recovered her strength. When therefore Henry began to meddle in the affairs of Scotland, to require that Albany should be dismissed, and that the French connexion should be broken off, the Estates refused and prepared for war. As the greater part of the English force was in France, the northern counties of England were comparatively unprotected, and it was just the time for striking an effective blow there. Instead of doing this, Albany came to terms with Lord Dacre, the English Warden, and the large army that had gathered round him melted away without doing anything. But the truce was not renewed. Dacre stormed Jedburgh, and the Scots mustered again. This time their numbers were increased by the presence of some French auxiliaries whom Albany had brought back from France, to which he had paid a second visit. Again the army was brought to the Border without being led any further. By this time the Scots were thoroughly disgusted with Albany, and he with them; and shortly after this second fruitless expedition, he sailed for France and took the Frenchmen with him, 1524.
25. "Erection" of the King.—No sooner was Albany gone than Henry, through his subtle chancellor Wolsey, tried to make the Scots break with France. Margaret, the Queen-mother, was the great upholder of the English interest; James Beaton, Archbishop of St. Andrews and Chancellor, was the leader of the French party. Wolsey tried hard to get hold of Beaton on various pretexts, but Beaton was too cunning for him, and held himself apart in his own strong castle of St. Andrews, where he kept up dealings with France. But the English party were for a time the stronger, and, by the advice of Henry, James, who was now twelve years old, was set up to rule in his own name, and took his place at the head of the parliament, August 1524. The only change made by this step, called the erection, was that Albany's nominal government was done away with, and the French influence much weakened. Still Henry's interference was not liked, and the capture of Francis the First at Pavia turned the tide of popular feeling back to the old allies of France. Since the erection, Arran had been the nominal head of the government, but in 1526 the King, who was now fourteen, was considered old enough to choose his own guardians. He chose the Earls of Errol, Argyle, and Angus, and an agreement was made that each in succession was to have the care of the King for three months. Angus's turn came first, but at the end of it he refused to give up his charge, and for two years he tyrannized over both the King and his subjects, and successfully resisted all attempts at a rescue.
26. Fall of Angus.—James at last contrived to make his escape by riding in the night, disguised as a groom, from Falkland to Stirling Castle, 1528. Now that he was at last safely out of the hands of the Douglases, he set to work to crush them utterly. It was made treason for any who bore that name to come within six miles of the King, and an act of forfeiture was passed against them. Angus had many adherents; but as all those nobles who hoped for a share of his lands took part with the King, they proved too strong for him, and he was at last obliged to give in, and to flee for refuge to England. Thus the overthrow of the Red Douglases was as thorough as had been that of the elder branch, on whose ruin they had risen.
27. Internal Affairs.—James began his reign by executing summary justice on the lawless and turbulent part of his subjects. The Borderers were now nearly as troublesome as the Highlanders. They dwelt in the debateable ground between England and Scotland, and preyed on either country with the greatest impartiality. Certain families, as the Kerrs, Armstrongs, and Scotts, had a sort of monopoly of this wholesale thieving; and as they had taken to the clan system of the Celts, each robber chief in his peel tower could count, not only on the unquestioning service, but also on the personal devotion of every man in his following. John Armstrong had made himself famous among them by his daring deeds. For this renown James made him pay dear; for judging that he, the most notorious offender, would make the most telling example of the force of justice, he had him seized and hanged like a common thief. New means were tried for quieting the disturbances in the Western Highlands and Isles. Argyle was deprived of his lieutenancy, and the government was in future to deal directly with the chiefs for the collection of taxes and of the feudal dues. Three persons were put to death in this reign for conspiracy and treason, all of whom were more or less connected with the banished Angus. These were the Lady Glammis, his sister; the Master of Forbes, his brother-in-law; and James Hamilton, the illegitimate brother of Arran, who was accused of being in league with him.
28. English War.—Though the need of a reform in the Church was felt and openly discussed in parliament, and the shortcomings of the clergy were unsparingly ridiculed by the popular poets, still neither the King nor the people were inclined to break off from Rome, as Henry the Eighth had done. But Henry was most anxious that his nephew should follow his example, and a meeting between them at York was agreed on. But James, doubtful of Henry's good faith, did not keep tryst. Henry was furious; he brought up again the old claim of supremacy over Scotland, and to enforce the claim he sent an army to invade Scotland. James prepared to avenge this attack; but when his army got as far as the Border, the nobles refused to go further, and a body of ten thousand men who had passed the Esk were surprised and scattered by Dacre, while they were contending about the chief command.
29. Death and Character of James.—The King meanwhile was waiting in Caerlaverock Castle. At the same time that he heard of the shameful defeat of his army at Solway Moss, the news was brought that a daughter was born to him. This child was heir to the throne, for his two sons had died in infancy. James thought that the birth of a girl at this time was an ill omen for Scotland. He murmured, "It came wi' a lass, and it'll gang wi' a lass." By this he meant that, as it was by Marjory Bruce that the crown had first passed into the Stewart family, so with this infant it would pass from it. Eight days later he died of grief and disappointment, December 14, 1542. James is the first King of Scots of whom we have a portrait. He was handsome, but had red hair, which won him the nickname of the "Red Tod," or red fox. He was not liked by the nobles, but the commons loved him well. His habit of going about in disguise familiarly among the people, endeared him to them, and led him into many amusing adventures. James was twice married, first to Magdalen, daughter of Francis the First, King of France; secondly, to Mary, daughter of the Duke of Guise, widow of the Duke of Longueville. In character and policy James was something like James the First. Like him, he strove to curb the power of the nobles, and to win for the Crown something more than mere nominal power, by making reforms which were much needed in the administration of justice. He worked out his ancestor's idea of a supreme court of justice by founding the Court of Session, or College of Justice. This court consisted first of thirteen, afterwards of fifteen, members, half of whom were clerks, and who acted both as judge and jury. As the members of this court were chosen from the parliament, it had the power of parliament, and was supreme in all civil cases, there being no appeal beyond it. James was not only a patron of letters, but himself a poet, one of the few royal poets whose writings will bear comparison with those of meaner birth. "Christ's Kirk on the Green," and the "Gaberlunzie Man," are the titles of two poems that are ascribed to him, but on no very certain proof. They are both descriptions of scenes from peasant life. If indeed they were written by him, the choice of the subjects and the way in which they are treated show how well he knew the condition of his people. They, in loving remembrance of the favour he had always shown them, gave him the title of "King of the Commons, and the People's Poet."
30. Mary, 1542-1554. Arran's Regency.—James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, next heir to the throne by his descent from James the Second, was chosen Regent, but, as it was the Scotch custom that the nearest of kin on the mother's side should have the care of the minor, the infant Queen was left in charge of her mother, Mary of Lorraine. The defeat at Solway Moss, and the death of the King, had left the people nearly as dispirited and defenceless as they had been after Flodden, and Henry the Eighth determined to get the kingdom into his power by marrying Mary to his son Edward, Prince of Wales.
31. Treaties with England.—To carry out his plans the better, he sent Angus back to Scotland, and with him the Lords Cassilis and Glencairn, and several other nobles, all pledged to do their best to place the Queen and the strongholds in the hands of Henry. These nobles were called by the English the Assured Scots, because Henry thought he could be sure of their help, but they were either unable or unwilling to give him the aid for which he had hoped. It was not till July in the next year that two treaties were drawn up at London: the one for the English alliance; the other agreeing to the English marriage of the Queen. But there was a strong national party, much set against any dealings with England; and, though the treaties were approved at one meeting of the Estates, it was plain that they would be thrown out at the next. The Regent tried to break them off, and Henry, greatly enraged, made ready for war, and seized some Scotch ships which had been driven by stress of weather into English ports. This was reason enough for the rejection of the treaties by the Estates. Shortly after, the "Assured Scots" changed sides and made a bond with the Regent; but Henry got a new supporter in Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox, who, as he wished to marry Margaret Douglas, daughter of Angus, Henry's niece and ward, was eager to do anything to win Henry's favour.
32. First English Invasion.—War was declared at Edinburgh by an English herald, May 1, 1544, and an English army under Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, was sent by sea and landed at Granton. He was bidden to destroy Edinburgh and as many other towns and villages as he conveniently could, and he carried out his orders to the letter. He sacked and burned Leith, a wealthy trading town, set fire to Edinburgh, though no resistance had been made to him there, robbed the burghs on the coast of Fife, and then marched south to the Border, burning, slaying, spoiling, and leaving a wasted land behind him. The only resistance he met with was near the Border, where a division of his army which had been sent to Melrose to break open the tombs of the ancestors of Angus was routed at Ancrum by Angus himself and some of the Border lords. At the news of this success six hundred Borderers from the Scottish side, who had been fighting in the service of the English Wardens, changed sides and attacked their former brothers in arms. The rest of the nation then took heart, and a large force was mustered and brought to the Border, but did nothing.
33. Second English Invasion.—Before the traces of his former ravages had disappeared, just when the next harvest was ready for the sickle, Hertford appeared again at the head of a motley host, swelled by half-savage Irish and by foreign hirelings, and repeated the wild work of the year before. The invaders attacked and plundered the religious houses. The ruins of Kelso, Melrose, Dryburgh, Roxburgh, and Coldingham still bear witness to their zeal in carrying out the orders of their master. Towns, manors, churches, and between two and three hundred villages were left in ashes behind them. All this misery was wantonly inflicted without winning for Henry a foot of ground or a single new subject.
34. Third English Invasion. Battle of Pinkie.—Two years passed, and again the sorely scourged country was visited by its old enemy. Hertford, now Duke of Somerset and Protector of England during the minority of Edward the Sixth, thought by one well-aimed blow to wrest from the people their proud boast, the national independence. Two armies, the one led by himself and the other sent by sea, met at Musselburgh and threatened the capital. The Regent had mustered a large force to resist them, and the two hosts faced each other on opposite banks of the Esk. But the Scots very foolishly left their strong position and forced the English to a battle, in which they were again defeated with great slaughter, at Pinkie, September 10, 1547. After the battle Somerset went back to England, and took the greater part of his army with him. As most of the strongholds were now in the hands of the English, it was thought best to send the Queen to France that she might be out of harm's way. The French sent six thousand men to help in driving out the English, a work that was not ended till 1550, when a short peace followed the nine years of cruel war. If we consider the difference of the times and the advance of civilization, the fiercest raids of Malcolm and of Wallace may be favourably compared with the misery wrought by Hertford in these three savage and unprovoked attacks.
35. Internal Affairs.—The overthrow of the monasteries, the seizure of their revenues, and the other changes in religious matters carried out by Henry the Eighth in England, had been approved by a large party in Scotland. They were eager to begin the same work there, for the Church, by her abuse of power and by her persecution of all who differed from her, was fast losing her hold upon the people. The first outbreak of the popular feeling was the murder of Cardinal David Beaton, the Primate, the leader of the French party in the state and the chief mover of religious persecution. In revenge for the burning of George Wishart in 1545, for preaching what was called heresy, sixteen of Wishart's followers murdered Beaton in his own Castle of St. Andrews, which they had entered by a stratagem, and which they held for fourteen months, setting at defiance all the Regent's efforts to retake it. It was only with the help of the French that they were at last obliged to give in, and were sent to the French galleys. Among them was John Knox, who twelve years later became famous as the apostle of the Reformation among his countrymen. On the death of Beaton, Arran made his own ambitious brother John Archbishop of St. Andrews, in the room of the murdered Cardinal. The castle was destroyed.
36. Regency of Mary of Lorraine. First Marriage of Mary Stewart.—In 1554, Arran, who had been created Duke of Chatelherault by the French king, went back to France, and Mary of Lorraine became Regent. The league with France was drawn still closer by the marriage of the Queen with Francis the Dauphin. Francis became King of France in 1559. The crown-matrimonial of Scotland was then granted to him, so that the two countries were for a short time united under one crown. On the strength of this the French began to give themselves airs of superiority which the Scots could ill bear from strangers, and before long they became well-nigh as unpopular as the English had been. The Regent was unconsciously doing her best to foster this feeling of dislike by placing foreigners in offices of trust, above all by making Frenchmen keepers of the strongholds. But there was another influence now at work, the desire of religious reform, which wrought a change in the national life greater than any that had been felt since the time of the first Robert.
37. Social Progress.—The intercourse with the French which arose from the close alliance of Scotland with France, influenced the social development of the nation throughout this period more strongly than during any other time either before or after it. The members of the National Council when they met in parliament were not, as in England, divided into lords and commons; the representatives of the three Estates, the Barons, the Clergy, and the Commons, assembled in one chamber, as was the French custom. All the tenants holding direct from the Crown were required to present themselves at these assemblies; but James the First released the lesser barons from this attendance, which they felt to be rather an irksome duty than a privilege, by allowing them to send commissaries in their stead. These commissaries, with the deputies from the cities and burghs, formed the Third Estate. The supreme court of justice, the Court of Session, established by James the Fifth, was formed on the model of the Parliament of Paris. The Universities were founded in the fifteenth century, at St. Andrews, at Glasgow, and at Aberdeen. Of these, Aberdeen was an exact imitation of the University of Paris. The architecture of this period, both domestic and ecclesiastical, is in many respects like the French. Melrose Abbey, and the palaces of Falkland and of Stirling, which were very richly ornamented, were built in the time of the Jameses. The houses of the nobles were also built in imitation of the French style. There are no remains of burgh domestic architecture older than the sixteenth century. Many French words also found their way into the Lowland Scotch, as the language of the Lothians came to be called. By this time there was so much difference between this dialect and that spoken at the English court, that the people who spoke the one could scarcely understand the other. The foreign trade of Scotland was most prosperous during the reign of James the Fourth. Fish, wools, and hides were the principal exports. By this time coal, which is first mentioned towards the end of the thirteenth century, was in general use. There were also lead and iron mines; and gold was found, though not in any large quantities. Of this native gold James the Fourth struck some beautiful coins, which were called bonnet pieces, because they bore the image of the King wearing a bonnet. The state of the people at this time was one of almost serf-like dependence on their lords. But great as the power of the nobles was, there were no forest or game laws in Scotland, nor did they enjoy any privilege of peerage. An offender against the law, if he could be brought to justice, had to "thole an assize," like any peasant, however high his rank might be.
38. Education and Literature.—In early times all the education that was within the reach of the people had been offered to them by the Church. Schools were founded and maintained in several towns by the great monasteries, and there was provision made for the education of the choristers attached to the several cathedral churches. In later times there were Grammar Schools founded by the burgh corporations. In 1496 an Act was passed requiring all "barons and freeholders" to keep their sons at these schools until they should be "competently founded," and have "perfect Latin," under pain of a fine of twenty pounds. A book, purporting to be the History of Scotland, was written in Latin by Hector Boece, the first Principal of the University of Aberdeen. The greater part of this book is purely imaginary. The Latin "Scotichronicon" of Fordun, was continued by Walter Bower, Abbot of Inchcolm, down to the middle of the fifteenth century. Besides the two kings James the First and Fifth, there were other notable poets in Scotland in the middle of the fifteenth century. Blind Harry, the Minstrel, then did for Wallace what about a century before Barbour had done for Bruce, by putting together all the popular stories of his deeds in a spirit-stirring poem that bears his hero's name. William Dunbar, a friar of the order of St. Francis, wrote a poem called The Thistle and the Rose, to celebrate the marriage of James the Fourth with Margaret Tudor. This, and the Golden Terge, and the Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins, are the best among his writings. Gawin Douglas, afterwards Bishop of Dunkeld, the son of that Earl of Angus who was nicknamed Bell-the-Cat, also wrote several poems in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Those best known are King Hart, the Palace of Honour, and a translation of Virgil's Æneid. Some years after Douglas wrote, Sir David Lyndesay, the companion of James the Fifth's childhood, and the mourner of his untimely death, directed many clever satires against the abuses in the Church, the vices of the clergy, and the follies of the court. The Dreme, the Satire of the Three Estates, and the Monarchy, are his best poems.
39. Summary.—During this period, which extends over more than a century, the country made little progress either socially or politically. Of the five kings, all bearing the same name, who in turn wore the crown, four died violent deaths; and of these four, two were treacherously murdered by their own subjects. Most of them came to the throne in childhood; not one attained old age. Their reigns were chiefly passed in struggles to put down their lawless and turbulent nobles, who in each succeeding minority waxed more powerful and more independent. In the reigns of James the Second and of James the Fifth, this contest between the Crown and the Baronage took the form of a struggle between the House of Stewart and the House of Douglas. In both cases the King compassed the fall of his rival only by placing a dangerous amount of power in the hands of the other nobles. The foreign policy of Scotland under the Jameses was very simple. It consisted in maintaining a close alliance with France and a constant quarrel with England. But the French never gave the Scots any real help, and the English were so much taken up at home with the Civil Wars of the Roses that they made no serious attacks on the independence of Scotland. Though during this period there were four long minorities, there was no attempt made to break the regular line of succession. This was due partly to the attachment of the people to the royal line, and partly to the weakness of the royal authority, for the King had so little real power that the great nobles did not think the crown worth taking. The reign of James the Fourth was the most peaceful and prosperous, but James the First did the most for the welfare of the people.