The Early History of the Scottish Union Question / Bi-Centenary Edition

by George W. T. Omond

Then, to enforce the treaty of marriage, came the invasion of Scotland, when Edinburgh was burned to the ground, when the port of Leith and the picturesque castles of Roslyn and Craigmillar were in flames, when the abbeys of Melrose and Dryburgh were laid in ruins, and when the villages and farms of the lowlands were devastated by the English soldiery. But the violence of Henry was in vain; and during his reign the Scottish people hated England as they had never hated her before.[5]

The project of uniting the kingdoms by a royal marriage was not abandoned on the death of Henry; and in the first year of Edward the Sixth, the battle of Pinkie, the last great battle between England and Scotland, was fought. But the Protector Somerset soon found that the Scots, though defeated, were as determined as ever to resist the English connection, and that the Scottish Parliament had at last resolved that their young queen should be betrothed to the Dauphin, and sent forthwith to France, to be educated at the French Court. This resolution, so fateful to Mary Stuart, then a child of only six, altered the views and policy of Somerset. In the name of the English Council he issued a remarkable proclamation, in which he proposed that the Crowns should be united, and that the kingdoms should become one. “We invite you,” it was said, “to amity and equality, because, as we inhabit in the same island, there is no people so like one another in manners, customs, and language.” There was to be freedom and equality of trade between England and Scotland. The subjects of both kingdoms were to be allowed to intermarry. If the Scots wished it, the name of England would be abolished, and “the indifferent old name of Britains” taken again. “If we two,” the proclamation declared, “being made one by amity, be most able to defend us against all nations; and, having the sea for the wall, mutual love for garrison, and God for defence, should make so noble and well-agreeing a monarchy, that neither in peace we may be ashamed, nor in war afraid of any worldly or foreign power; why should not you be as desirous of the same, and have as much cause to rejoice at it as we?”[6] But these overtures were too late; the Queen of Scots was sent to France: and when, two years later, peace was proclaimed, Scotland remained unconquered and independent.

The treaty of peace declared that the boundaries of the two countries were to be the same as they had been before the outbreak of war between Henry the Eighth and James the Fifth of Scotland. An attempt was made to deal with that portion of waste land upon the western borders which had been, for so long, a harbour of refuge for the outlaws of both kingdoms, and which was known as the Debateable Ground.[7] It was to be divided by march stones; and ditches and enclosures were to be made for the purpose of hindering the flight of marauders. The English were to relinquish all lands and houses which they had seized; and those fishings on the river Tweed which the Scots had possessed before the war were to be given back to them.[8]

Never in the history of this island, except afterwards during the reign of Anne, was the Scottish question so troublesome to England as during the second half of the sixteenth century. The immense additions which, of late years, have been made to our sources of information have not changed, to any great extent, the aspect of the long familiar picture, nor caused us to relinquish the old opinions regarding the characters and motives of those who held in their hands the tangled threads of international policy during the fifty years which preceded the Union of the Crowns. To use the Scots for the purpose of weakening England had long been the policy of France; and when war between Spain and France broke out in 1555, and an English army was to be sent to the assistance of Spain, the French Court hoped that an army from Scotland would march across the Tweed. Mary of Guise assembled the Scottish nobles, and proposed that they should seize the opportunity of taking vengeance for all the wrongs which their country had suffered since the fatal day of Flodden. But the proposals of the Queen Regent were not received with favour. She had been so foolish as to confer several important offices of State on Frenchmen; and these appointments had given great offence. During the late war the Scots had resented the manner in which their allies had behaved on several occasions, and had seen them depart with feelings of intense relief.[9] Moreover, the spread of the Protestant opinions in Scotland had naturally led many of the people to suspect the motives of a Catholic power. The Queen Regent, indeed, succeeded in bringing England and Scotland to the verge of another contest; but, in the long-run, the Scots refused to encounter the risks of war for the purpose of assisting the ambition of France.

The marriage of Mary and the Dauphin involved the renewal of friendly intercourse with France; but the terms on which the Scottish Parliament agreed to this alliance provided for the complete independence of Scotland.[10] The crown matrimonial of Scotland was conferred upon the Dauphin; but the oath of fidelity which the Scottish ambassadors took to the heir of France, as King of Scotland, was framed so as to exclude any allegiance beyond that which the subjects of Scotland had hitherto acknowledged as due to their native princes.[11]

It had never been possible for England, under any circumstances, to be indifferent to the affairs of Scotland; and the relations of the two kingdoms were now more complicated than ever. But it was not until after the death of Mary of England that the results of the French marriage became fully visible. “War with France; the French king bestriding the realm, having one foot in Calais and the other in Scotland; steadfast enemies, but no steadfast friends.”[12] Thus stood England at the close of the year 1558. The Dauphin and Mary proclaimed themselves King and Queen of England as well as Scotland; and the arms of England were quartered with the arms of France and Scotland on their plate and household furniture. This was an open assertion of the illegitimacy of Elizabeth and a challenge to England. But, in the meantime, peace was preserved. The Treaty of Cambray, which terminated the struggle between France and Spain, and to which England and Scotland were parties, left the claims of Elizabeth and Mary untouched; and, on the ground that “the plenipotentiaries for Scotland have not sufficient knowledge of the state of affairs depending between the Crowns of England and Scotland,” it was decided that English and Scottish commissioners should afterwards meet and decide on “certain articles respecting the peace and concord of the two kingdoms.”[13]

These commissioners met; and the result was the treaty of Upsetlington.[14] A fresh attempt was made to frame rules for curbing the lawless spirit of the Borderers; and it was also agreed that the limits of the two kingdoms should be the same as they had been before the accession of Elizabeth, that the town of Berwick should not be molested by the Scots, that the English garrisons should not trouble their neighbours on the other side of the boundary line, and that great caution should be observed in granting passports to the subjects of either kingdom.[15]

Meanwhile the Protestant opinions had been steadily gaining ground in Scotland. The Congregation, as the reformers were called, and their leaders, known as the Lords of the Congregation, had hitherto been on good terms with Mary of Guise. Without their assistance the Dauphin would not have obtained the title of King of Scotland; and she had, therefore, not interfered with the progress of the new beliefs. But soon after the Treaty of Cambray, Monsieur de Bettancourt arrived in Edinburgh, charged with a message from Henry of France. The New Learning was to be suppressed on the continent of Europe and in England; and the Queen Regent was expected to join France, Spain, and the Holy Father at Rome, in the league which they had formed for that purpose. Scotland was the stepping-stone to England. If the ascendency of France and the Catholic Faith was once secured in that country, the heretic Elizabeth would be driven from the throne which she had usurped. Therefore the Regent must no longer remain inactive. Against her will, so far as we can judge, Mary of Guise entered on the disastrous contest. A proclamation was issued, commanding all men to go to mass, to use the confessional, and to conform, in all respects, to the Church of Rome. The Lords of the Congregation remonstrated; but the Regent refused to give way.[16] At this crisis Knox returned to Scotland from Geneva. A week after his arrival he preached at Perth; and after his sermon the religious houses of the Black and Grey Friars, and the Carthusian Monastery, were laid in ruins. From Perth the excitement spread over all the country. The Protestants flew to arms in numbers. The Regent mustered her forces, and it was evident that a desperate struggle was at hand.

At first the Lords of the Congregation carried everything before them. But they knew that, before long, the Regent would have an army of well-trained French soldiers under her command; and it was vain to suppose that religious fervour could prevail against military discipline. Help must be found in some quarter; and a correspondence was opened with the Court of England. James, third Earl of Arran, was, after his father, the Duke of Chatelherault, heir-presumptive to the throne of Scotland.[17] A marriage between him and Elizabeth might, it was suggested, settle the Scottish question. A majority of the Scots were Protestant; and in the turmoil of the civil war which had now begun, Mary of Scotland might, with the help of England, be dethroned by her own subjects, against whom she had allowed a foreign army to be sent. If Arran and Elizabeth were married, the Crowns of England and Scotland would then be united; and thus the schemes of France would be frustrated. There can be little doubt that all this was understood between the Congregation and their friends in England, though it was not openly expressed. Cecil encouraged the idea, probably with the assent of Elizabeth; and the Lords of the Congregation implored her to come to the rescue, and carry out that union of the realms for which so many wise men had long laboured in vain.[18]