The Regent possesses Edinburgh: Arran is proclaimed Traitor.
After our dolorous departure from Edinburgh, the fury and the rage of the French increased; for then neither man nor woman that professed Christ Jesus durst be seen within that town. The houses of the most honest men were given by the Queen to the Frenchmen for a part of their reward. The Earl Bothwell, by sound of trumpet, proclaimed the Earl of Arran traitor, with other despiteful words; and all this was done for the pleasure and at the suggestion of the Queen Regent, who then thought the battle was won, without fear of further resistance. Great practising she made towards obtaining the Castle of Edinburgh. The French made faggots and other preparations for assaulting the Castle, by force or by treason. But God wrought so potently with the Captain, the Lord Erskine, that neither did the Queen prevail by flattery, nor the French by treason.
French Reinforcements meet with Disaster at Sea.
With all diligence, intelligence was sent to the Duke of Guise, who was then virtual King of France, requiring him to use expedition, if he desired the full conquest of Scotland. He delayed no time, and sent away a new army with his brother, Marquis D'Elbœuf, and the Count de Martigues, promising that he himself should follow. But the righteous God, who in mercy looketh upon the affliction of those that unfeignedly sob unto Him, fought for us by His own outstretched arm. One night, upon the coast of Holland, eighteen ensigns of them were drowned, so that there only remained the ship in which were the two leaders with their ladies. These, violently driven back again to Dieppe, were compelled to confess that God fought for the defence of Scotland.
News from England: a waiting Game is played.
Robert Melvin, who had gone to London in company with the Secretary, a little before Christmas, now returned from England and brought certain Articles to be answered by us. Thereupon the Nobility convened at Stirling, and returned answer with diligence. The French, informed of this, marched to Linlithgow, spoiled the Duke's house, and wasted his lands of Kinneil; thereafter coming to Stirling, where they remained for some days. The Duke, and the Earls of Argyll and Glencairn, with their friends, moved on to Glasgow, the Earl of Arran and Lord James, to St. Andrews; for charge had been given to all the Protestant Nobility to conserve their forces until God should send them further support.
The French invade Fife.
The French laid their plans for assaulting Fife first; for it had stirred their great indignation. Their purpose was to have taken and fortified the town, the Abbey, and the Castle of St. Andrews. So they came to Culross, after that to Dunfermline, and then to Burntisland, where they began to fortify. But they soon had reason to desist and march to Kinghorn. For, when the Earl of Arran and the Lord James learned that the French had departed from Stirling, they departed also from St. Andrews, and began to assemble their forces at Cupar. They also sent their men of war to Kinghorn; and to them there resorted divers of the coast side, who were of mind to resist at the beginning, rather than when the French had destroyed a part of their towns. As the Lords had given express command that nothing should be hazarded until they themselves were present, the Lord Ruthven, a man of great experience, and inferior to few in stoutness, was dispatched to Kinghorn.
An Affair at Pettycur.
The men of war, and the rascal multitude, perceiving Frenchmen landing from certain boats which had come from Leith, determined to stop their coming ashore. Not considering the enemies that approached from Burntisland, they unadvisedly rushed down to the Pettycur, as the brae be-west Kinghorn is called, and at the sea-coast began skirmishing. They never took heed to the enemy that approached by land, until the horsemen charged down upon their backs, and the whole bands met them in the face. They were thus compelled to give back, with the loss of six or seven men killed, and some others taken prisoner. The reason why there was so small a loss in so great a danger was, next to the merciful providence of God, the sudden coming of the Lord Ruthven. Immediately after our men had given back, he and his company came to the head of the brae, and stayed the French footmen, while some of ours broke upon their horsemen, and so repulsed them that they did no further hurt to our footmen.