Chapter XVII: Book 36: ; Lord Lindsay’s Lives of the Lindsays, Volume I., (2)

Immediately after the death of the king, Cardinal Beaton made an attempt to obtain the chief position in the government of the kingdom. He was to be the head of the Council and the guardian of the infant princess, associated with the Earls of Arran, Huntly, Moray, and Argyle; and a proclamation was issued at Edinburgh commanding the people to obey the Cardinal and the above earls. But early in January, 1543, the Earl of Arran was named as Governor of the kingdom, and recognised as next heir to the throne; and his appointment was confirmed by parliament in March the same year.

When Henry VIII. heard of the events in Scotland, he assumed that Providence had given him a great opportunity, and at once formed the idea of arranging for a marriage between the infant queen and his son. Matrimonial projects were all-absorbing matters with him, and if his exploits in this region of activity were not always attended with honour and glory, he certainly never lost his relish for the pursuit. His high sense of justice, his love of truth, no less than the unspotted purity of his motives, suggested to him that the banished Earl of Angus, and the Scottish nobles taken at Solway Moss might be made useful agents for the accomplishment of his scheme in Scotland! Henry proposed to the Earl of Angus and the captive nobles that they should enter into an agreement with him, to do their utmost to promote the marriage project, and to deliver the infant queen into his hands to be kept in England. They agreed to this, and also to recognise Henry as lord superior of Scotland; they promised to exert their influence to procure for him the government of the kingdom, and to deliver all the national fortresses into his hands. This bond between Henry and the Scottish prisoners was drawn up with great formality and minuteness, yet, with all his adroitness in taking advantage of the circumstances in which the Scotch nobles were placed, he gained very little by it.¹

¹ Sadler’s _State Papers_, Volume ♦I., pages 69, 74‒75, 81, 97;
_State Papers_, Henry VIII., Volume V., pages 239‒241.

♦ missing Volume number “I.” inserted

Arran was not a man of great talents, and yielded too much to the promises and bullying of Henry VIII. The Solway prisoners, on being released, had promised to do great service for Henry when they returned to Scotland; and the banished Earl of Angus, and Sir George Douglas, had undertaken to procure the government of the kingdom for him and to place the Crown on his head. But the performances of these Lords greatly disappointed the expectation of this ambitious and vain-glorious king. In short, his despotic demands were unreasonable and impracticable; for he demanded that the Cardinal should be seized and delivered into his hands; that the infant Queen should be betrothed to his son, and also delivered into his hands; and in truth he wanted possession of the kingdom of Scotland, although the means which he used to attain his end, were even more despicable than any which had been employed by any of his predecessors. In order to secure the support and confidence of the Governor Arran, in April 1543, Henry offered to give his daughter, Elizabeth, in marriage to Arran’s son. This he imagined would certainly secure the Governor to his interest. He said: “For we have a daughter called Lady Elizabeth, endowed with virtue and qualities agreeable with her status ... if we shall see him sincerely to go through with us in all things, to condescend to a marriage to be celebrated between his son and our daughter, if he shall think it for his favour and advancement to desire the same, and thereby to take his son conjoined with our daughter, as our son-in-law, being content according to that status to bring up and nourish him in our court with us.... And what honour, what reputation, what worldly glory, it shall be to him otherwise, for his son to marry a King of England’s daughter, and to be nourished up thereafter in a King of England’s Court, we doubt not he can consider.” But the one important condition in this proposal was that Arran’s son must live in England. Henry was playing with Arran, for he had no intention of giving his daughter in marriage to Arran’s son. He continued to clamour for the capture and imprisonment of the Cardinal, and to scold the released prisoners and the Earl of Angus that they had done next to nothing in advancing his designs in Scotland. After much underhand dealing and corruption, on the 6th of June, with difficulty the conditions of the treaty of marriage between the infant Queen and Henry’s son, and the treaty of peace, were agreed to by the Regent and a party of the nobles. In this transaction the Earls of Huntly, Argyle, and Moray, had no part. Shortly after, Henry proposed to give the Regent Arran the whole of Scotland beyond the Tay, but the offer was coldly received. On the 25th of August, the treaties were ratified at Holyrood by the Regent, in name of the Queen and the three Estates, in presence of a portion of the nobles, but the Cardinal and his party were absent. These treaties, however, were never ratified by Henry himself; and it is evident that he did not intend to carry his purpose into effect by treaty, but hoped shortly to take possession of the young Queen and the best part of her kingdom, unclogged by special conditions.

The general feeling of the Scots was decidedly opposed to the interference and domineering spirit of Henry VIII. The Regent and a section of the nobles lent their support to his schemes for a time, but at last a coalition was formed against him, and then the Regent sailed under the canvas of the Cardinal. While Henry professed a desire for peace, he was actively preparing for an invasion of Scotland. The course of events had turned against him, his friends were falling off; and so keen was the feeling against his schemes amongst the citizens of Edinburgh that they threatened to lay violent hands on Sadler, the English Ambassador. Henry himself, in his bullying tone, addressed a letter to them, in which he scolded them thus:――“We have thought good to admonish you to beware and eschew that outrage, whereby ye might provoke our extreme displeasure and indignation, and to forbear that attempt, not only for the detestation of it in all men’s ears, but also for fear of the revenge of our sword to extend to that town and commonalty, and all such people as shall by any means come into our hands, to the extermination of you to the third and fourth generation.” The ambassador found refuge in Angus’ Castle of Tantallon. Parliament met at Edinburgh, and on the 11th December 1543, the treaties of marriage and peace between the two kingdoms were declared to have been violated by the seizure and detention of Scottish ships by the English, and were therefore annulled.¹

¹ Hamilton, _Papers_, Volumes I., II.; _Acts of the Parliaments
of Scotland_, Volume II., page 432.

Henry then prepared to invade Scotland. It was indeed hard that the Scots could not see his many virtues; it was harder still that they could not believe in his benign purposes, nor appreciate the many acts of condescension which he had shown towards them; he had suffered them long, but his forbearance was at last exhausted, and he must let them feel the weight of his wrath. On the 10th of April, 1544, he issued instructions through his Privy Council to the Earl of Hertford, the leader of the inroads into Scotland; and these instructions were marked by a ferocity of spirit, a fiendish malignity, and a barbarity unmatched in the annals of Europe. Hertford was ordered in Henry’s name to make an inroad into Scotland: “There to put all to fire and sword, to burn Edinburgh town, to raze and destroy when you have sacked and gotten what you can out of it, as there may remain for ever a perpetual memory of the vengeance of God lighted upon it, for their falsehood and disloyalty.... Sack Holyrood House, and as many towns and villages about Edinburgh as ye conveniently can. Sack Leith, and burn and subvert it, and all the rest, putting man, woman, and child to fire and sword without exception where any resistance shall be made against you. And this done, pass over to Fife land, and extend like extremities and destructions in all towns and villages whereunto ye may conveniently reach, not forgetting among all the rest, so to spoil and turn upside down the Cardinal’s town of St. Andrews, as that the upper stone may be the nether, and not one stick stand by another, sparing no creature alive within the same, especially such as either in friendship or blood are allied to the Cardinal; and the accomplishment of all this shall be most acceptable to the majesty and honour of the King.”¹

¹ Hamilton, _Papers_, Volume II., pages 325‒327. Compare _State
Papers_, Henry VIII., Volume V., pages 350‒352, 371‒374.

The Earl of Hertford followed out his instructions pretty fully, he led two expeditions into Scotland, the great one in May 1544, and the other in September, and both were marked by the mere wanton destruction of life and property. Towns and villages one after another were sacked and burned, and wherever the English forces marched, death, desolation, and woe proclaimed the wrath of Henry VIII. The monasteries of Melrose, Kelso, Holyrood, Jedburgh, Dryburgh, and other religious houses, were committed to the flames and laid in ruins.¹

¹ _State Papers_, Henry VIII., Volume V., pages 521‒525;
Morton’s _Monastic Annals of Teviotdale_, pages 36, 100, 243,
301; _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland_,
Volume I., page 271, _et seq._

In the reports of the progress of the expedition of May, Hertford gave detailed descriptions of the burning and sacking of Edinburgh, Holyrood, Leith, and many other towns and villages. When the army was encamped at Leith, he said, “The town of Leith we found to be of good substance and riches, at the least of Xᵐᵉ li., as we suppose, whereof there was a great store of grain of all kinds; finding also within the haven two fair ships of the late Scottish King’s, called the ‘Salmon’ and ‘Unicorn,’ for which I, the lord admirall have taken such order, that by the suffrance of God, the same shall arrive to your majesty with the rest of your navy.” From the same place he wrote: “We have daily sent forth both horsemen and footmen, as well by sea as by land, which have devastated the country hereabout, and within six miles of Stirling, in such sort as there shall not only remain a perpetual memory of our being here, but also, we trust, I, the Earl of Hertford, have so accomplished the charge committed to me by your highness in that behalf, as the enemies shall neither be able to recover this damage while we live, nor yet to assemble any power this year in these parts of the realm, whatsoever aid be sent to them out of France or Denmark to annoy your majesty’s subjects, or to make any invasion into your realm of England.”¹

¹ Hamilton, _Papers_, Volume II., pages 360‒371.

Henry VIII. evidently had engendered in himself a remorseless enmity against the Scots; and there was one man whom he detested more than the rest, and pursued with a venomous malignity. This was Cardinal Beaton, the most talented and strongest adherent of Catholicism in Scotland, and a politician, according to the standard of the times, of consummate ability. The Cardinal had worked hard against the policy of Henry, and had defeated it. Since the death of James V. Henry had marked out the Cardinal, and had employed every means to insnare and crush him, but Beaton was well aware of his venomous designs against him. Henry lent his influence to a plot against the Cardinal’s life, and at last promised a reward to the other conspirators who were concocting a scheme to murder him. As early as 1543 Henry had approved of the plot, and in the event of its being successful, that is, if the Cardinal was killed, and his murderers forced to flee to England, then he bound himself to protect them from all the consequences of their act.¹ But despite all the efforts of Henry and of those whom he employed the Cardinal eluded the machinations of his mortal enemies for several years.

¹ _State Papers_, Henry VIII., Volume V., pages 242‒243,
377, 449‒458, 467, 470‒472, 512; _Statutes of the Scottish
Church_, Volume I., page 142. There is a pretty full account
of the plot against the cardinal in an appendix to the fifth
volume of Tytler’s _History of Scotland_, pages 453‒470.

While these events were passing and ruffling the surface of society, the reformed opinions were gradually spreading amongst the people. The contradictory and vacillating policy of the Regent was well adapted to weaken the authority of the old religious creed. In March 1543, Parliament passed an act authorising all men to have and to read the Old and New Testament in the common speech of the country, English or Scottish. This liberty, however, was only enjoyed for a short time, and it is doubtful if any edition of the Scriptures was printed in Scotland during the brief interval in which the act was allowed to remain in force.¹ The Regent Arran, in a few months after the passing of this act, dismissed the two reformed preachers whom he had retained in his family, and the Cardinal soon obtained a complete ascendency. Those affected by the new opinions began to manifest their feeling by attacking and defacing the houses of the Black and Grey Friars in Dundee. About the same time attempts were made to mar the building of the Black Friars at Edinburgh, a movement which was repelled by the citizens; and these outbursts of heretical feeling quickly received a sharp check. A parliament which met at Edinburgh passed an act declaring――“How there is great murmour because the heretics more and more rise and spread within the realm, sowing their damnable opinions contrary to the faith and laws of the holy Church and the acts and constitutions of the kingdom.” Therefore all the prelates and ordinaries were exhorted, each within their own diocese, to inquire after all such heretical persons, and to proceed against them according to the laws of the Church, and the Regent promised to be always ready to do everything therein that belonged to his office.²

¹ _Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland_, Volume II., pages 415,
425; Craufurd’s _Officers of State_, pages 77, 438.

² _Diurnal of Occurrents_, _Acts of the Parliaments of
Scotland_, Volume II., page 443.

The year 1544 began very ominously for the so-called heretics. The Cardinal was then master of the situation in Scotland, and he was not the man to let his opportunity slip. About the end of January he held a court at Perth, and many suspected persons were summoned before it and accused of heresy. A number of them were banished, but four men, James Hunter, a flesher, William Anderson, a maltman, James Randlson, a skinner, Robert Lamb, a burgess of Perth, and his wife, were all condemned. The four men were hanged, and the helpless woman, Lamb’s wife, who had a child at her breast, was drowned; she gave her infant to the attendants, her hands and feet were then bound, and she was thrown into a deep pool of water where her sufferings were ended.¹ This was the only instance of a woman being put to death for religious opinions in Scotland before the Reformation.

¹ Knox, Volume I., pages 117‒118, 523‒527.

George Wishart returned to Scotland in the end of the year 1544. He was a popular preacher, and was supported by the Earls of Cassillis and Glencairn, the Lairds of Brunston, Ormiston, and Calder. These men were deeply in the confidence of Henry VIII., and were plotting the murder of Cardinal Beaton; but whether George Wishart was concerned in this plot, is a disputed point. The evidence, however, on which it has been attempted to show that he was implicated in the plots against the Cardinal’s life, certainly does not approach to the requisite standard. The only evidence connecting Wishart, the martyr, with the plot against the Cardinal’s life rests on the fact that a Scotsman named Wishart conveyed letters from Crichton of Brunston to Henry VIII., and it is only conjectured that this individual was Wishart, the preacher of the reformed doctrines. There are some presumptive circumstances which seem to point to him, such as his known association with the Laird of Brunston and others of the conspirators. But even if this conjecture were true, it would not amount to much, as people in these days did not view the murder of an enemy of their faith in the light in which we do, on the contrary, they thought it was rendering a service to God to cut off an able opposer of the truth.¹ Wishart preached in Montrose, Dundee, Ayr, Perth, and in other parts of the country. He delivered his sermons with much vehemence, boldly attacking the errors of the Church and declaiming against the profligacy of the clergy. Knox first appears in history in company with Wishart.²

¹ Knox, Volume I., pages 125‒138, 534‒537.

² Buchanan, Book XV., chapter 32; Knox, Volume I., pages
125‒137.

In the beginning of the year 1546, Wishart was in Lothian, and preached in Haddington, where John Knox accompanied him. On the 16th of January he was apprehended at Ormiston, in East Lothian, by the Earl of Bothwell, and conveyed first to Edinburgh, and shortly after to St. Andrews. He was tried on the 28th of February, condemned, and executed on the 11th of March. When the fire was prepared, he was led from the castle to the stake imploring mercy of his Saviour and commending his soul to Him. He then addressed the people, beseeching them not to be offended with the word of God, for the profession of which he was suffering. He said――“For the word’s sake, and the true gospel which was given me by the grace of God, I suffer this day by men, not sorrowfully but with a glad heart and mind. For this cause I was sent, that I should suffer this fire for Christ’s sake. Consider and behold my visage, ye shall not see me change my colour. This grim fire I fear not, and so I pray you for to do if that any persecution come to you for the word’s sake and not to fear them that slay the body and afterwards have no power to slay the soul. Some have said of me that I taught that the soul of man should sleep until the last day, but I know surely, and my faith is such, that my soul shall sup with my Saviour this night ere it be six hours, for whom I suffer this.” He then prayed for those who had accused him, saying――“I beseech thee, Father of Heaven, to forgive them that through ignorance or an evil mind have forged lies upon me; I forgive them with all my heart; I beseech Christ to forgive those who have condemned me to death this day.” And finally to the people he said――“I beseech you, brethren and sisters, to exhort your bishops to learn the word of God, that at least they may be ashamed to do evil and learn to do good: and if they will not convert themselves and turn from their wicked ways the wrath of God shall swiftly overtake them.” He was then hanged, and his remains burned to ashes.¹

¹ Knox, Volume I., pages 137‒171; Fox’s _Acts and Monuments_,
pages 632‒♦667; _Register of the Privy Council_, Volume I.,
page 20. Wishart produced an English translation of the
Swiss Confession of Faith, which was printed after his death.

♦ “267” replaced with “667”

The burning of Wishart aroused a deep feeling in the popular mind, and many began to say that they would not suffer the life of innocent men to be taken away. As the Regent had declined to authorise the execution of Wishart, all the odium of the deed rested upon the Cardinal, so that his enemies increased in number and bitterness. Indeed Beaton had been endeavouring to strengthen his position by the old custom of entering into bonds of man-rent with many of the nobles; he was secure on the side of France, and the faction of the Scottish nobles opposed to his line of policy had been almost put out of reckoning. Soon after the death of Wishart the Cardinal passed through Angus, and attended the marriage of one of his natural daughters at Finhaven Castle. When he was thus enjoying himself, news came that Henry VIII. was again preparing to invade Scotland. He hurried back to St. Andrews to put his castle into a state of defence, as he dreaded that it would be attacked. At that moment his enemies in Scotland were maturing their scheme to murder him, and the folds of the plot were fast closing around their victim.¹

¹ Knox, Volume I., pages 147‒174; Lord Lindsay’s _Lives of
the Lindsays_, Volume I., page 201; Tytler’s _History of
Scotland_, Volume V., pages 456‒470.

The Cardinal was living securely in his own Castle of St. Andrews, which a number of workmen were engaged in repairing. Early on the morning of the 29th May, 1546, Norman Lesley, the Master of Rothes, and two others, slipped into the castle; these were followed by James Melville and other three, who asked an interview with the Cardinal; immediately after them the Laird of Grange came up with eight armed men. The suspicion of the porter at the gate was now roused, but he was instantly stabbed and thrown into the ditch. Thus in a few minutes the party were within the walls of the castle; and with surprising alacrity its few defenders, and the workmen on the ramparts were led out, and all the gates guarded. The unusual noise had aroused the Cardinal from his bed, and he was ascending the stair of the castle when his enemies came upon him and ruthlessly murdered him. Meanwhile the alarm was given in the city, the common bell was rung, and the citizens, with their provost at their head, rushed in confusion to the castle, and loudly called for the Cardinal; but they were too late, and to show them that the work was done, the murderers exposed the body of the Cardinal over the castle wall. The conspirators, only sixteen in number, kept possession of the castle.¹

¹ _State Papers_, Henry VIII., Volume V., pages 560‒561.
Spottiswood.

Thus perished Cardinal Beaton by the hands of a set of cruel and hired assassins. The Cardinal was the ablest champion of Catholicism in Scotland; and John Hamilton, a brother of the Regent, who succeeded to the primacy, was much inferior in energy and talents to his predecessor. According to the laws of the Church, Beaton’s moral character was extremely defective; but then amongst the clerical dignitaries of the period, the laws of purity and chastity were utterly disregarded, while the morals of the Cardinal were just those of his day. He has been often blamed for persecuting the adherents of the reformed opinions, but when compared with his contemporaries, it appears that the number of persons put to death by him was not great; and there is no evidence that he was naturally cruel. That he was much respected and even loved by many of the citizens of St. Andrews, seems evident. That the men who put him to death were not actuated by religious motives has long ago been clearly proved.¹ The feelings, sentiments, and ideas of those who originated, sustained, and continued the Reformation, were of a very different character from those which animated the mercenary and greedy plotters who cut short the life of Cardinal Beaton.

¹ Hosack’s _Queen Mary_, Volume I., page 13. When the citizens
of St. Andrews came running to the castle, Knox says they
cried――“What have ye done with my Lord Cardinal? Where is
my Lord Cardinal? Have ye slain my Lord Cardinal? Let us see
my Lord Cardinal!” And when they were told that he was no
more, they cried more eagerly――“We shall never depart till
we see him!” Then his body was shown over the wall “to the
faithless multitude, who would not believe before it saw.”
Works, Volume I., page 178.