He shut himself up, and the only person whom he would see was his mother. Unhappy father! unhappy king! The queen-dowager did all she could to console her son and her daughter-in-law. ‘I am never from them,’ she wrote to her brother, Henry VIII., May 12, 1541, ‘but ever in their company.’ It appears that by this large sorrow the natural affections were reawakened in the king. He wrote to his uncle that he desired to see good will and the most perfect friendship and peace prevail between them.[240]
PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION.
While James was thus taken up with his sorrows alone, the doctrine of the Reformation made progress, and, if only liberty were accorded to it, its triumph in Scotland appeared to be at hand. A great multitude of the common people, both in the country districts and in the towns, held meetings more or less secretly at which they heard the Holy Word read and even explained. By 1540 many eminent men had received the evangelical doctrine. The earls of Errol and of Glencairn, the Lords Ruthven and Kilmaurs and their children, Sir David Lyndsay, Sir James Sandilands, Melville of Raith, and a large number of other influential persons appeared to be attached to the Gospel by genuine conviction.
Henry VIII., when informed of this state of things, thought that he ought to avail himself of it for his own advantage. His favorite notion was to engage the King of Scotland to make his country independent of Rome, and as James was his nephew he did not despair of success. As long ago as 1535 he had sent Barlow to him with books against the authority of the pope. That measure failed. Next he had despatched Lord Howard to James, who was still unmarried, to offer to him the hand of his daughter Mary, and with her the prospect of the crown of England, if he would establish the royal supremacy in the Church. Another failure. In 1540 Henry had charged Sir Ralph Sadler to set before James the advantages which he would obtain from a Reformation, and to propose an interview with him. Sadler, in order to counteract beforehand the cardinal’s influence, communicated to the King of Scotland some letters from that prelate to the pope, which had been intercepted by the English, and from which it was manifest that Beatoun’s aim was to place the state in subjection to the Romish Church. The prince answered with a smile that the cardinal had already shown him those letters.[241]
All the endeavors of the English envoy had proved futile. At bottom, the end which Beatoun was pursuing was the ruin of Henry VIII.; and in order the more surely to attain it, he was ambitious to be appointed legate a latere, a dignity which would invest him in Scotland with the extraordinary powers which he did actually obtain. He did everything to conduct to a happy issue the alliance against England which had been previously projected by the pope. The English Council of the North wrote to Cromwell—‘We think that the cardinal of Scotland intendeth to take his journey towards Rome in Lent next coming, and we think it should appear by the schedule of instructions herein inclosed, which was taken on a ship lost at Bamborough, that the Scots intend some mystery with some of their allies.’[242] Henry, alarmed at this news, caused fresh entreaties to be pressed on his nephew. His ambassadors promised James that if he would go to York to confer with his uncle, the meeting would have the happiest consequences for him, and would afford him the most unanswerable proof of the love which Henry bore him.[243] It appears even that one of them, speaking of the feeble health of prince Edward, held before the eyes of James Stuart the brilliant prospect of the crown of England, leaving Mary and Elizabeth entirely out of sight. The nobles of Scotland, natural enemies of the priests, urged the king to agree to the interview with his uncle. Articles were drawn up at the beginning of December 1541, by the commissioners of Scotland and England. They purported that King James would meet his dear uncle, the King of England, on January 15, 1542, at the city of York, for the purpose of mutual communications tending to increase their cordial love, to draw closer the ties of blood, and to promote the prosperity of their kingdoms.[244] These articles raised Henry to the summit of his wishes, and he took measures immediately for imparting to this interview extraordinary solemnity and brilliancy. This conference of the two kings made a great noise in Scotland, and preparations were also made there. Henry VIII. set out and went to York full of hope. Uncle and nephew were at last to see each other, and to talk together, and every one saw that this meeting would have weighty consequences. Never was Scotland nearer having a reform after the fashion of Henry VIII.
PROJECTED INTERVIEW AT YORK.
No one understood this better than Beatoun. What he feared more than all besides was that the power of the Romish hierarchy would be abolished, and the Gospel be put in its place. The cardinal, for the first time in his life, had been anticipated, surpassed in cleverness and in influence. He did not however lose courage, but with all the adherents of his party applied himself to the task with all his soul. They sowed hatred between the king and the nobles. They employed all imaginable means to dissuade the king from the fatal meeting. At first they sought to alarm him. ‘By going to York,’ said the cardinal to him, ‘you will expose yourself to the suspicions of the emperor, you will make an enemy of your old ally the King of France, and you will bring down on yourself the disgrace of the pope. In short’ (and it was this which most terrified James), ‘you will expose yourself to the greatest dangers. This treacherous king will keep you prisoner in England as James I. was kept in former days.’ James replied that he had given his word, and that the king was awaiting him, that to absent himself from the rendezvous would lead to war with England, and that he had not the means of carrying it on. The cardinal was amazed at this independence of the king, for he was not accustomed to it. Discerning more and more clearly the greatness of the peril, his bishops and he agreed that there was but one means available for inducing James to renounce his purpose. As this prince was always in want of money, they sought to gain him by gifts of large sums.[245] This argument did not miss the mark. They then appealed to him anew and said—‘Sire, there is a good deal of money in Scotland, and it is easy to get possession of it. If war should break out, the clergy will give you thirty thousand crowns per annum, and you will be able to get a hundred thousand more by confiscating the property of heretics, if you will only authorize proceedings against them by a judge whom we will name to you and who is well qualified for the purpose. Will you spare this wicked people? Do they not read the Old and New Testaments? Are they not in rebellion against the authority of the pope and against the king’s majesty? Have they not, by new and detestable errors, troubled the churches, destroyed piety, and overthrown institutions established for many centuries? They refuse to the priests whom God has consecrated all obedience and respect. But there must be no delay.’ James yielded. He conceded to the bishops the inquisition which they claimed, and sent Sir James Learmont, one of the officers of his court, to offer his excuses to his uncle. Of all James’s proceedings this was the most perilous.
CHAPTER XI.
WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND—DEATH OF JAMES V.