26. Mar's Regency.—John Erskine, Earl of Mar, governor of Stirling, was chosen Regent the very next day. As the Queen's party, who held Edinburgh, had held a rival parliament in her name in the Parliament House, it was clear that all efforts must be made to get the castle out of their hands. Mar therefore began the siege, and open war broke out. The West, the North, and the Border were for the Queen, the eastern Lowlands for the King; the latter looked to England for help, but got none; the former appealed to France with not much better success. After much useless bloodshed, a truce of two months was agreed on, August 1, 1572.
27. Tulchan Bishops.—Under Mar episcopacy was set up again. At least it was settled that the titles and dignities of bishops and archbishops were to stay as they were before the Reformation till the King's majority, but they were shorn of their old authority, and were to be subject to the General Assembly, which now managed all church matters. The people thought so little of them that they called them in mockery "Tulchan" bishops: the word "Tulchan" meaning a sham calf which it was the custom to place before a cow to make her give milk when the real calf had been taken from her. About this time there came the news of the massacre of all the Protestants in Paris, on St. Bartholomew's Day. This roused a general horror of Romanists and created a reaction in favour of Presbytery, for the Scots wished to be more like the French Protestants, who had no bishops. It also made many of the Queen's party go over to the other side.
Mar died after being little more than a year in office, and Morton, who had latterly directed everything, was chosen Regent in his place, November 24, 1572.
28. Death of Knox.—On the same day died John Knox, who for thirteen years had been the leader of religious reform in Scotland. He spent his life and his wonderful talents in striving for what he believed to be truth and sound doctrine. One of the finest traits in his character was his moral courage, which enabled him to speak the truth boldly to those who stood highest in rank or power. To this Morton himself bore witness, saying, as he looked on the dead body of Knox, "There lies he who never feared the face of man." His zeal sometimes led him to turn against the Romanists their own weapons of intolerance and persecution, but he lived in times when men had not yet found out that it was best to let one another alone in the matter of religion. In those days any one who had shown himself tolerant of the errors of others would have been looked on either as a hypocrite or as an unbeliever. But Knox was not so much opposed to bishops and to a set form of prayer as his followers afterwards became. He drew up a prayer-book for daily use called the Book of Common Order, which was pretty nearly a translation of the book of the church at Geneva, and was what he had himself used when ministering to the English Protestants who in the reign of Mary Tudor had taken refuge at Frankfort.
29. Taking of Edinburgh.—With the new year the war began again. Morton was now in possession of the town of Edinburgh, and he held a meeting of the Estates there. But the castle still held out, and it was only by bringing against it an English force of fifteen hundred men that Elizabeth had at last sent, that its defenders were reduced to such straits that they were compelled to surrender. Grange gave himself up to the English general and appealed to the English Queen. But she either could not or would not protect him. His gallant defence of the castle for Mary was looked on as treason against the government of James, which Elizabeth had in a manner acknowledged. He was given up into the hands of Morton, his bitter enemy, and hanged at Edinburgh, August 3, 1573, in spite of all the efforts of his many friends to save him. Brave, gallant, and unselfish, he was distinguished among a greedy generation by his contempt alike of money and of place. In this he was a great contrast to his companion, the clever, unprincipled, selfish Lethington, who died by his own hand.
30. Morton's Regency.—Morton had now got all his old enemies out of the way, but he soon made more; partly by his avarice, partly by the firmness with which he insisted that the crown property should be restored. He offended Argyle by making him give back some crown jewels that had come into his possession by his marriage with Murray's widow; and, by trying to stop a feud between him and Athole, he made enemies of them both. To make his power complete Morton longed to get the King into his own hands, but he was kept apart in Stirling, under the care of Erskine the Governor, and while there Morton had no more power over him than any of the other nobles. He tried to persuade James, who was now twelve years old, that he was old enough to rule alone, but Argyle and Athole, who were both in the castle at the time, found out his plan and outwitted him. A proclamation was suddenly issued by them, setting forth that the king would now take the government into his own hands, and would act by the advice of a council, March 4, 1578. A time of great confusion followed. Morton, who at first had seemed to lay down his power with a good grace, before long was up in arms, got into Stirling Castle, dispersed the new council, and again directed everything just as he pleased.
31. Fall of Morton.—About this time Esmé Stewart, Lord of Aubigny, and nephew of the late Earl of Lennox, came from France and became a great favourite with his cousin the king. Aubigny was stirred up by James Stewart of Ochiltree, another favourite, to do his utmost to turn the king against Morton, whom he already disliked. At length Ochiltree accused Morton before the Council of having been a party in the king's murder, and on this charge he was condemned and beheaded at Edinburgh. After his death the two favourites rose still higher. Aubigny was made Duke of Lennox, and Keeper of Dunbarton Castle; and a royal bodyguard was set up in order to give him the dignity of commander. Stewart, whose mother was a Hamilton, was raised to their Earldom of Arran.
32. Raid of Ruthven.—Certain of the old nobles, who were displeased and alarmed by the power exercised by these upstarts, bound themselves together to displace them both, and to get the King by a bond into their own power. The time they chose for carrying out their plan was when the King went on a hunting party into the Highlands. The Earl of Gowrie, one of the confederates, son of that Ruthven who had played the chief part in the murder of Rizzio, invited him to the castle of Ruthven. James went, and found himself a prisoner in the hands of the barons, August 22, 1581. They then made him declare that he was well pleased with what they had done, and was not under any restraint. Lennox was ordered to leave the kingdom, and after wandering about in poverty and distress till the end of the year, he went back to France, where he died before long. But before the Ruthven Lords had been a year in power, another change came. The king escaped disguised as a groom, rode to St. Andrews, where the nobles who were not in the bond gathered round him in such force that the Confederates were obliged to yield.
33. Fall of Gowrie.—At first James acted moderately and wisely, for he promised to pardon all those who had taken part in the Raid of Ruthven; but when Arran got back his old power over him he turned about and declared them all traitors, who must submit to his grace. Upon this most of them fled to England, but Gowrie submitted to the King and was pardoned. Arran had however determined on his fall, and Gowrie was so much insulted and slighted at Court that he made up his mind to leave the country. Just before he sailed, he heard that his old comrades had contrived another plot, and he delayed his setting out in order to have a share in it. Before anything was done, news of it got abroad, Gowrie was seized and, after a very unjust trial, beheaded at Stirling. The other conspirators made off to England again and were outlawed, and their estates were forfeited.
34. Fall of Arran.—Arran's triumph did not last long. A fray took place on the Border in which an Englishman, Lord Russell, was slain. Arran was accused of having been the chief cause in this affair, and he was ordered to withdraw from Court. Then the banished lords, thinking this a good opportunity for them to return, went northward, joined the Hamiltons and Maxwells on the Border, came to Stirling and made their way into the presence of the king, who was forced to seem pleased to see them, as they had eight thousand men to support them, November 4, 1585. A Parliament was called soon after, in which three important pieces of business were done. Gowrie's children were restored to the honours forfeited by the treason of their father; Arran was stripped of all his dignities, and a new league was made with England.