"... The Queen's Majesty, having sufficiently understood, as well by information sent from the nobility of Scotland, as by the manifest proceedings of the French, that they intend to conquer the realm of Scotland, suppress the liberties thereof, and unite the same unto the Crown of France perpetually, contrary to the laws of the same realm, and to the pacts, oaths, and promises of France; and being thereto most humbly and earnestly required by the said nobility, for and in name of the whole realm, shall accept the said realm of Scotland, the Duke of Chatelherault, Earl of Arran, being declared by Act of Parliament in Scotland to be heir-apparent to the Crown thereof, and the nobility and subjects thereof, unto Her Majesty's protection and maintenance, only for preservation of the same in their freedoms and liberties, and from conquest during the time that the marriage shall continue betwixt the Queen of Scots and the French King, and a year after. And, for expelling out of the same realm such as presently and apparently go about to practise the said conquest, Her Majesty shall with all speed send unto Scotland a convenient aid of men of war, on horse and foot, to join with the power[160] of Scotsmen; with artillery, munition, and all other instruments of war meet for the purpose, as well by sea as by land, not only to expel the present power of French within that realm, oppressing the same, but also to stop, as far as conveniently may be, all greater forces of French from entering therein for the like purpose. Her Majesty shall continue her aid to the said realm, nobility, and subjects of the same, unto the time that the French, being enemies to the said realm, are utterly expelled thence. Her Majesty shall never transact, compone, nor agree with the French, nor conclude any league with them, unless the Scots and the French shall be agreed; that the realm of Scotland may be left in due freedom by the French. Nor shall Her Majesty leave off the maintenance of the said nobility and subjects, whereby they might fall as a prey into their enemies' hands, as long as they shall acknowledge their Sovereign Lady and Queen, and shall indure[161] themselves to maintain the liberty of their country, and the estate of the Crown of Scotland. And, if any forts or strengths within the realm be won out of the hands of the French at this present time, or at any time hereafter, by Her Majesty's aid, the same shall be immediately demolished by the said Scotsmen, or delivered to the said Duke and his party foresaid, at their option and choice. Nor shall the power of England fortify within the ground of Scotland, being out of the bounds of England, but by the advice of the said Duke, nobility, and estates of Scotland.
"For which causes, and in respect of Her Majesty's most gentle clemency and liberal support, the said Duke, and all the nobility, as well such as be now joined, as such as shall hereafter join with him for defence of the liberty of that realm, shall, to the uttermost of their power, aid and support Her Majesty's arm against the French, and their partakers,[162] with horsemen and footmen, and with victuals, by land and by sea, and with all manner of other aid to the best of their power, and so shall continue during the time that Her Majesty's army shall remain in Scotland. They shall be enemy to all such Scotsmen and French as shall in anywise show themselves enemies to the realm of England in respect of the aiding and supporting of the said Duke and nobility in the delivery of the realm of Scotland from conquest. They shall never assent nor permit that the realm of Scotland shall be conquered, or otherwise knit to the Crown of France than it is at this present time only by the marriage of the Queen their Sovereign to the French King, and by the laws and liberties of the realm, as it ought to be....
"And, finally, the said Duke and the nobility joined with him certainly perceiving that the Queen's Majesty of England is thereunto moved only upon respect of princely honour and neighbourhood for the defence of the freedom of Scotland from conquest, and not of any other sinister intent, do by these presents testify and declare that neither they nor any of them mean by this count to withdraw any due obedience to their Sovereign Lady the Queen, or to withstand the French King, her husband and head, in any lawful thing that, during the marriage, shall not tend to the subversion and oppression of the just and ancient liberties of the said kingdom of Scotland; for preservation whereof, both for their Sovereign's honour, and for the continuance of the kingdom in ancient estate, they acknowledge themselves bound to spend their goods, lands, and lives...."
The Regent lays waste the Country.
Shortly after this contract was completed, our pledges were delivered to Master Winter, Admiral of the navy[163] that came to Scotland, a man of great honesty, so far as ever we could espy of him, and these were safely convoyed to Newcastle. Then the English began to assemble near the Border; and the French and Queen Regent, informed of this, began to destroy what they could in the towns and country about. The whole victuals they carried to Leith; the mills they broke; the sheep, oxen, and kine, yea, the horses of poor labourers, they made all to serve their tyranny. In the end, they left nothing undone which very enemies could have devised, except that they demolished not gentlemen's houses, and burnt not the town of Edinburgh: in this particular, God bridled their fury, to let His afflicted understand that He took care of them.
Before the coming of the land army, the French passed to Glasgow, and destroyed the country thereabout. The tyranny used by the Marquis upon a poor Scottish soldier is fearful to hear, and yet his act may not be omitted. They would give no silver to the poor men, and so they were slow to depart from the town; and, albeit the drum was beaten, the ensign could not be got. A poor craftsman, who had bought for his victuals a grey loaf and was eating a morsel of it, was putting the rest of it in his bosom. The tyrant came to him, and with the poor caitiff's own whinger first struck him in the breast, and afterwards cast it at him. The poor man staggering and falling, the merciless tyrant ran him through with his rapier, and thereafter commanded him to be hung over the stair. Lord, Thou wilt yet look, and recompense such tyranny; however contemptible the person was!
On the second of April, in the year of God 1560, the army by land entered Scotland. Its conduct was committed to the Lord Grey, who had in his company the Lord Scrope, Sir James Crofts, Sir Harry Percy, and Sir Francis Lake; many other captains and gentlemen having charge, some of footmen, some of horsemen. The army by land was estimated at ten thousand men. The Queen Regent and some others of her faction had passed to the Castle of Edinburgh. At Preston the English were met by the Duke's Grace, the Earl of Argyll (Huntly came not until the siege was confirmed), Lord James, the Earls of Glencairn and Monteith, Lords Ruthven, Boyd, and Ochiltree, and all the Protestant gentlemen of West Fife, Angus, and Mearns. For a few days the army was great.
The Siege of Leith: April 1560.
After two days' deliberation at Inveresk, the whole camp marched forward with ordnance and all preparation necessary for the siege, and came to Restalrig upon Palm Sunday evening. The French had put themselves in battle array upon the Links without Leith, and had sent forth their skirmishers. These, beginning before ten o'clock, continued skirmishing until after four o'clock in the afternoon, when some horsemen of Scotland and some of England charged upon them. But, because the principal captain of the horsemen of England was not present, the whole troop durst not charge, and so the overthrow and slaughter of the French was not so great as at one time it appeared to be. The great battle was once at the trot; but when the French perceived that the great force of the horsemen stood still, and charged not, they returned and gave some resource to their fellows that fled. Thus there fell in that defeat only about three hundred Frenchmen. God would not give the victory so suddenly, lest man should glory in his own strength. This small victory put both the English and Scots in too great security, as the issue declared.