Knox was buried on November 26 in the churchyard south of St. Giles. A flat stone, inscribed J. K., beside the equestrian statue of Charles II., is reported to mark his earthly resting-place. He died as he had lived, a poor man; a little money was owed to him; all his debts were paid. His widow, two years later, married Andrew Ker of Faldonside, so notorious for levelling a pistol at the Queen on the occasion of Riccio’s murder. Ker appears to have been intimate with the Reformer. Bannatyne speaks of a story of Lady Atholl’s witchcraft, told by a Mr. Lundie to Knox, at dinner, “at Falsyde.” This was a way of spelling Faldonside, [{274}] the name of Ker’s place, hard by the Tweed, within a mile of Abbotsford. Probably Ker and his wife sleep in the family burying-ground, the disused kirkyard of Lindean, near a little burn that murmurs under the broad burdock leaves on its way to join the Ettrick.
APPENDIX A: ALLEGED PERFIDY OF MARY OF GUISE
The Regent has usually been accused of precipitating, or causing the Revolution of 1559, by breaking a pledge given to the Protestants assembled at Perth (May 10-11, 1559). Knox’s “History” and a letter of his are the sources of this charge, and it is difficult to determine the amount of truth which it may contain.
Our earliest evidence on the matter is found in a letter to the English Privy Council, from Sir James Croft, commanding at Berwick. The letter, of May 19, is eight days later than the riots at Perth. It is not always accurately informed; Croft corrects one or two statements in later despatches, but the points corrected are not those with which we are here concerned. [{275a}] Neither in this nor in other English advices do I note any charge of ill faith brought against the Regent on this occasion. Croft says that, on Knox’s arrival, many nobles and a multitude of others repaired to Dundee to hear him and others preach. The Regent then summoned these preachers before her to Stirling, [{275b}] but as they had a “train” of 5000 or 6000, she “dismissed the appearance,” putting the preachers to the horn, and commanding the nobility to appear before her in Edinburgh. The “companies” then retired and wrecked monasteries at Perth. The Lords and they had previously sent Erskine of Dun to the Regent, offering to appear before her with only their household servants, to hear the preachers dispute with the clergy, if she would permit. The Regent, “taking displeasure with” Erskine of Dun, bade him begone out of her sight. He rode off (to Perth), and she had him put to the horn (as a fact, he was only fined in his recognisances as bail for one of the preachers). The riots followed his arrival in Perth.
Such is our earliest account; there is no mention of a promise broken by the Regent.
Knox himself wrote two separate and not always reconcilable accounts of the first revolutionary explosion; one in a letter of June 23 to Mrs. Locke, the other in a part of Book II. of his “History,” composed at some date before October 23, 1559. That portion of his “History” is an apologia for the proceedings of his party, and was apparently intended for contemporary publication. [{276a}]
This part of the “History,” therefore, as the work of an advocate, needs to be checked, when possible, by other authorities. We first examine Knox’s letter of June 23, 1559, to Mrs. Locke. He says that he arrived in Edinburgh on May 2, and, after resting for a day, went (on May 4) to the brethren assembled at Dundee. They all marched to Perth, meaning thence to accompany the preachers to their day of law at Stirling, May 10. But, lest the proceeding should seem rebellious, they sent a baron (Erskine of Dun, in fact) to the Regent, “with declaration of our minds.” The Regent and Council in reply, bade the multitude “stay, and not come to Stirling . . . and so should no extremity be used, but the summons should be continued” (deferred) “till further advisement. Which, being gladly granted of us, some of the brethren returned to their dwelling-places. But the Queen and her Council, nothing mindful of her and their promise, incontinent did call” (summon) “the preachers, and for lack of their appearance, did exile and put them and their assistants to the horn. . . . ” [{276b}]
It would be interesting to know who the Regent’s Council were on this occasion. The Reformer errs when he tells Mrs. Locke that the Regent outlawed “the assisters” of the preachers. Dr. M‘Crie publishes an extract from the “Justiciary Records” of May 10, in which Methuen, Christison, Harlaw, and Willock, and no others, are put to the horn, or outlawed, in absence, for breach of the Regent’s proclamations, and for causing “tumults and seditions.” No one else is put to the horn, but the sureties for the preachers’ appearance are fined. [{276c}]
In his “History,” Knox says that the Regent, when Erskine of Dun arrived at Stirling as an emissary of the brethren, “began to craft with him, soliciting him to stay the multitude, and the preachers also, with promise that she would take some better order.” Erskine wrote to the brethren, “to stay and not to come forward, showing what promise and hope he had of the Queen’s Grace’s favours.” Some urged that they should go forward till the summons was actually “discharged,” otherwise the preachers and their companions would be put to the horn. Others said that the Regent’s promises were “not to be suspected . . . and so did the whole multitude with their preachers stay. . . . The Queen, perceiving that the preachers did not appear, began to utter her malice, and notwithstanding any request made on the contrary, gave command to put them to the horn. . . .” Erskine then prudently withdrew, rode to Perth, and “did conceal nothing of the Queen’s craft and falsehood.” [{277a}]
In this version the Regent bears all the blame, nothing is said of the Council. “The whole multitude stay”—at Perth, or it may perhaps be meant that they do not come forward towards Stirling. The Regent’s promise is merely that she would “take some better order.” She does not here promise to postpone the summons, and refuses “any request made” to abstain from putting them to the horn. The account, therefore, is somewhat more vague than that in the letter to Mrs. Locke. Prof. Hume Brown puts it that the Regent “in her understanding with Erskine of Dun had publicly cancelled the summons of the preachers for the 10th of May,” which rather overstates the case perhaps. That she should “publicly cancel” or “discharge” the summons was what a part of the brethren desired, and did not get. [{277b}]