THE ELIZABETHAN SETTLEMENT IN CHURCH AND STATE
1558-1570
LEADING DATES
Reign of Elizabeth, 1558-1603
Accession of Elizabeth 1558
The Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity 1559
The Treaty of Edinburgh 1560
Mary Stuart lands in Scotland 1561
End of the Council of Trent 1563
Marriage of Mary and Darnley 1565
Murder of Darnley 1567
Escape of Mary into England 1568
The rising in the North 1569
Papal excommunication of Elizabeth 1570
1. =Elizabeth's Difficulties. 1558.=--Elizabeth, when she received
the news of her sister's death, was sitting under an oak in Hatfield
Park (see p. 423). "This," she exclaimed, "is the Lord's doing, and
it is marvellous in our eyes." Her life's work was to throw down all
that Mary had attempted to build up, and to build up all that Mary
had thrown down. It was no easy task that she had undertaken. The
great majority of her subjects would have been well pleased with a
return to the system of Henry VIII.--that is to say, with the
retention of the mass, together with its accompanying system of
doctrine, under the protection of the royal supremacy, in complete
disregard of the threats or warnings of the Pope. Elizabeth was
shrewd enough to see that this could not be. On the one hand, the
Protestants, few as they were, were too active and intelligent to be
suppressed, and, if Mary's burnings had been unavailing, it was not
likely that milder measures would succeed. On the other hand, the
experience of the reign of Edward VI. had shown that immutability in
doctrine and practice could only be secured by dependence upon the
immutable Papacy, and Elizabeth had made up her mind that she would
depend on no one but herself. She would no more place herself under
the Pope than she would place herself under a husband. She cared
nothing for theology, though her inclinations drew her to a more
elaborate ritual than that which the Protestants had to offer. She
was, however, intensely national, and was resolved to govern so that
England might be great and flourishing, especially as her own
greatness would depend upon her success. For this end she must
establish national unity in the Church, a unity which, as she was
well aware, could only be attained if large advances were made in
the direction of Protestantism. There must be as little persecution
as possible, but extreme opinions must be silenced, because there
was a danger lest those who came under their influence would stir up
civil war in order to make their own beliefs predominant. The first
object of Elizabeth's government was internal peace.
2. =The Act of Uniformity and Supremacy. 1559.=--Elizabeth marked
her intentions by choosing for her secretary Sir William Cecil, a
cautious supporter of Protestantism, the best and most faithful of
her advisers. As Convocation refused to hear of any change in the
Church services, she appointed a commission composed of divines of
Protestant tendencies, who recommended the adoption, with certain
alterations,[11] of the second Prayer Book of Edward VI. Elizabeth's
first Parliament, which met in =1559=, passed an Act of Uniformity
forbidding the use of any form of public prayer other than that of
the new Prayer Book. The same Parliament also passed a new Act of
Supremacy, in which the title of Supreme Head of the Church was
abandoned, but all the ancient jurisdiction of the Crown over
ecclesiastical persons was claimed. This Act imposed an oath in
which the queen was acknowledged to be the Supreme Governor of the
Realm 'as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things as
temporal'; but this oath, unlike that imposed by Henry VIII., was
only to be taken by persons holding office or taking a university
degree, whilst a refusal to swear was only followed by loss of
office or degree. The maintenance of the authority of any foreign
prince or prelate was to be followed by penalties increased upon a
repetition of the offence, and reaching to a traitor's death on the
third occasion.
[Footnote 11: The most noteworthy of these alterations was the
amalgamation of the forms used respectively in the two Prayer Books
of Edward VI. at the administration of the Communion (see p. 418).]
3. =The new Bishops and the Ceremonies. 1559-1564.=--All the bishops
except one refusing to accept the new order of things, new ones were
substituted for them, the old system of election by the chapters on
a royal _congé d'élire_ being restored (see pp. 391, 415). Matthew
Parker, a moderate man after Elizabeth's own heart, became
Archbishop of Canterbury. Very few of the old clergy who had said
mass in Mary's reign refused to use the new Prayer Book, and as
Elizabeth prudently winked at cases in which persons of importance
had mass said before them in private, she was able to hope that, by
leaving things to take their course, a new generation would grow up
which would be too strong for the lovers of the old ways. The main
difficulty of the bishops was with the Protestants. Many of those
who had been in exile had returned with a strengthened belief that
it was absolutely unchristian to adopt any vestments or other
ceremonies which had been used in the Papal Church, and which they,
therefore, contumeliously described as rags of Antichrist. A large
number even of the bishops sympathised with them, and opposed them
only on the ground that, though it would have been better if
surplices and square caps had been prohibited, still, as such
matters were indifferent, the queen ought to be obeyed in all things
indifferent. To Elizabeth refusal to wear the surplice was not only
an act of insubordination, but likely to give offence to lukewarm
supporters of the Church system which she had established, and had,
therefore, a tendency to set the nation by the ears. In Parker she
found a tower of strength. He was in every sense the successor of
Cranmer, with all Cranmer's strength but with none of Cranmer's
weakness. He fully grasped the principle that the Church of England
was to test its doctrines and practices by those of the Church of
the first six hundred years of Christianity, and he, therefore,
claimed for it catholicity, which he denied to the Church of Rome;
whilst he had all Cranmer's feeling for the maintenance of external
rites which did not directly imply the existence of beliefs
repudiated by the Church of England.
4. =Calvinism.=--The returning exiles had brought home ideas even
more distasteful to Elizabeth than the rejection of ceremonies. The
weak point of the Lutherans in Germany, and of the reformers in
England, had been their dependence upon the State. This dependence
made them share the blame which fell upon rulers who, like Henry
VIII., were bent on satisfying their passions, or, like
Northumberland, on appropriating the goods of others. Even Elizabeth
thought first of what was convenient for her government, and
secondly, if she thought at all, of the quest after truth and
purity. In Geneva the exiles had found a system in full working
order which appeared to satisfy the cravings of their minds. It had
been founded by a Frenchman, John Calvin, who in =1536= had
published _The Institution of the Christian Religion_, in which he
treated his subject with a logical coherence which impressed itself
on all Protestants who were in need of a definite creed. He had
soon afterwards been summoned to Geneva, to take charge of the
congregation there, and had made it what was extensively believed to
be, a model Church. With Calvin everything was rigid and defined,
and he organised as severely as he taught. He established a
discipline which was even more efficacious than his doctrine. His
Church proclaimed itself, as the Popes had proclaimed themselves, to
be independent of the State, and proposed to uphold truth and right
irrespective of the fancies and prejudices of kings. Bishops there
were to be none, and the ministers were to be elected by the
congregation. The congregation was also to elect lay-elders, whose
duty it was to enforce morality of the strictest kind; card-playing,
singing profane songs, and following after amusements on the
Sunday--or Sabbath as it was called in Geneva--being visited with
excommunication. The magistrates were expected to inflict temporal
penalties upon the offender. This Presbyterian system, as it was
called, spread to other countries, especially to countries like
France, where the Protestant congregations were persecuted by the
Government. In France a final step was taken in the Presbyterian
organisation. The scattered congregations elected representatives to
meet in synods or assemblies, and the French Government, in this
way, found itself confronted by an ecclesiastical representative
republic.
5. =Peace with France. 1559.=--It was this Calvinistic system which
was admired by many of the exiles returning to England, but which
Elizabeth detested as challenging her own authority. Her only chance
of resisting with success lay in her power of appealing to the
national instinct, and of drawing men to think more of unity and
peace at home than of that search after truth which inevitably
divides, because all human conceptions of truth are necessarily
imperfect, and are differently held by different minds. To do this
she must be able to show that she could maintain her independence of
foreign powers. Though her heart was set on the recovery of Calais,
she was obliged in =1559= to make peace with France, obtaining only
a vague promise that it might be restored at a future time. Shortly
afterwards peace was made between France and Spain at Câteau
Cambresis. Elizabeth was aware that, though neither Philip II. of
Spain nor Henry II. loved her, neither of them would allow the other
to interfere to her detriment. She was therefore able to play them
off one against the other. Her diplomacy was the diplomacy of her
time. Elizabeth like her contemporaries, lied whenever it suited her
to lie, and made promises which she never intended to perform. In
this spirit she treated the subject of her marriage. She at once
rejected Philip, who, though he was her brother-in-law, proposed to
marry her immediately after her accession, but when he suggested
other candidates for her hand, she listened without giving a decided
answer. It was convenient not to quarrel with Philip, but it would
be ruinous to accept a husband at his choice.
6. =The Reformation in Scotland. 1559.=--Philip was formidable to
Elizabeth because he might place himself at the head of the English
Catholics. Henry was formidable because the old alliance between
France and Scotland, confirmed by the recent marriage of the Dauphin
with Mary Stuart, made it easy for him to send French troops by way
of Scotland into England. Early in Elizabeth's reign, however,
events occurred in Scotland which threatened to sever the links
between that country and France. The Regent, Mary of Guise--mother
of the absent queen and sister of the Duke of Guise, the French
conqueror of Calais, and leader of the French Catholics--was hostile
to the Protestants not only by conviction, but because there had
long been a close alliance between the bishops and the Scottish
kings in their struggle with the turbulent nobles. The wealth of the
bishops, however, great according to the standard of so poor a
country, tempted the avarice of the nobles, and their profligacy,
openly displayed, offended all who cared for morality. In =1559= a
combination was formed amongst a large number of the nobles, known
as the Lords of the Congregation, to assail the bishops. John Knox,
the bravest and sternest of Calvinists, urged them on. The Regent
was powerless before them. The mass was suppressed, images
destroyed, and monasteries pulled down. Before long, however, the
flood seemed about to subside as rapidly as it rose. The forces of
the lords consisted of untrained peasants, who could not keep the
field when the labours of agriculture called them home, and rapidly
melted away. Then the Lords of the Congregation, fearing disaster,
called on Elizabeth for help.
7. =The Claims of Mary Stuart. 1559.=--Elizabeth was decided enough
when she could see her way clearly. When she did not she was timid
and hesitating, giving contradictory orders and making contradictory
promises. She detested Calvinism, and regarded rebellion as of evil
example. She especially abhorred Knox, because in her sister's reign
he had written a book against _The Monstrous Regimen of Women_,
disbelieving his assertion that she was herself an exception to the
rule that no woman was fit to govern. It is therefore almost certain
that she would have done nothing for the Lords of the Congregation
if France had done nothing for the Regent. Henry II., however, was
killed by an accidental lance-thrust which pierced his eye in a
tournament, and on the accession of his son as Francis II., Mary
Stuart, now queen of France, assumed the arms and style of queen of
England.[12] The life-long quarrel between Elizabeth and Mary could
hardly be staved off. Not only did they differ in religion, but
there was also between them an irreconcilable political antagonism
closely connected with their difference in religion. If the Papal
authority was all that Mary believed it to be, Elizabeth was a
bastard and a usurper. If the national Church of England had a right
to independent existence, and the national Parliament of England to
independent authority, Mary's challenge of Elizabeth's title was an
unjustifiable attack on a sovereignty acknowledged by the
constitutional authorities of the English nation.
[Footnote 12: Genealogy of the last Valois kings of France:--
Francis I.
1515-1547
|
Henry II. = Catherine de Medicis
1547-1559 |
|
+----------------+--------------+----------------+
| | | |
Francis II. Charles IX. Henry III. Francis, Duke
1559-1560 1560-1574 Duke of of Alençon,
Anjou, king afterwards
of France, Duke of Anjou
1574-1589]
8. =The Treaty of Edinburgh. 1560.=--In spite of Cecil's urgency
Elizabeth was slow to assist the Scottish rebels. For some months
Mary of Guise had been gathering French troops to her support, and
she at last had a foreign army at her command powerful enough to
make her mistress of Scotland, and to form the nucleus of a larger
force which might afterwards be sufficiently powerful to make her
mistress of England. This was more than Elizabeth could bear, and in
January =1560= she sent her fleet with troops to the help of the
Lords of the Congregation. The French retreated into Leith, where
they were besieged by the allied forces. In June the Regent died,
and in July Leith surrendered. By a treaty signed at Edinburgh the
French agreed to leave Scotland, and to acknowledge Elizabeth's
title to the English crown. In December Francis II. died, and as his
brother, who succeeded him as Charles IX., was too young to govern,
his mother, Catherine de Medicis, acted as regent. Catherine was
jealous of the Duke of Guise, and also of his niece, Mary Stuart,
the widow of her eldest son.[13] Mary, finding no longer a home in
France, was driven for refuge to her own unruly realm of Scotland.
[Footnote 13: Genealogy of the Guises:--
Claude, Duke of Guise
|
+------------+-----------+
| |
Francis, Duke Mary = James V.
of Guise, of Guise, | king of
killed at died in | Scotland
Dreux, 1563 1560 |
| |
+------------+--------------+ |
| | | |
Henry Charles, Louis, Cardinal Mary Stuart,
Duke of Guise, Duke of of Guise, Queen of Scots
murdered in 1588 Mayenne murdered in
1588]
9. =Scottish Presbyterianism. 1561.=--The Scots had not failed to
profit by the cessation of authority following on the death of Mary
of Guise. They disclaimed the authority of the Pope and made it
punishable to attend mass, the penalty for the third offence being
death. The English Reformation had been the work of the king and of
the clergy of the Renascence, and had, therefore, been carried on
under the form of law. The Scottish Reformation had been the
revolutionary work of the nobility and of the Calvinistic clergy. In
England the power of the State had been strengthened. In Scotland it
was weakened. Almost from the beginning the nobles who had taken
part in the revolution showed signs of disagreement. A few of them
were earnest Protestants, but there were more who cared only for
political or personal ends. "I have lived many years," said the aged
Lord Lindsay; "now that it hath pleased God to let me see this day
... I will say with Simeon, 'Now lettest Thou thy servant depart in
peace.' "Hey then!" said Maitland of Lethington sarcastically, when
he heard that the clergy claimed to govern the Church and own its
property in the place of the bishops, "we may all bear the barrow
now to build the house of the Lord." Knox organised the Church on a
democratic and Presbyterian basis with Church Courts composed of the
minister and lay elders in every parish, with representative
Presbyteries in every group of parishes, and with a representative
General Assembly for all Scotland. Like a prophet of old, Knox
bitterly denounced those who laid a finger on the Church's
discipline. The nobles let him do as he would as far as religion
was concerned, but they insisted on retaining nominal bishops, not
to rule the Church, but to hold the Church lands and pass the rents
over to themselves.
[Illustration: A 'milled' half-sovereign of Elizabeth, 1562-1568.]
10. =Mary and Elizabeth. 1561.=--In August =1561= Mary landed in
Scotland, having come by sea because Elizabeth refused to allow her
to pass through England unless she would renounce her claim to the
English crown. Mary would perhaps have yielded if Elizabeth would
have named her as her successor. Elizabeth would do nothing of the
kind. She had a special dislike to fixing on any one as her
successor. About this time she threw into prison Lady Catherine Grey
for committing the offence of marrying without her leave. Lady
Catherine was the next sister of Lady Jane Grey, and therefore
Elizabeth's heir if the will of Henry VIII. in favour of the Suffolk
line (see p. 410) was to be held binding. Elizabeth no doubt had a
political object in showing no favour to either of her expectant
heirs. By encouraging Catherine's hopes she would drive her Catholic
subjects to desperation. By encouraging Mary's she would drive her
Protestant subjects to desperation. Yet there was also strong
personal feeling to account for her conduct. She was resolved never
to marry, however much her resolution might cost her. Yet she too
was a very woman, hungry for manly companionship and care, and,
though a politician to the core, was saddened and soured by the
suppression of her womanly nature. To give herself a husband was to
give herself a master, yet she dallied with the offers made to her,
surely not from political craft alone. The thought of marriage,
abhorrent to her brain, was pleasant to her heart, and she could not
lightly speak the positive word of rejection. Even now, in the vain
thought that she might rule a subject, even if she became his wife,
she was toying with Lord Robert Dudley, the handsome and worthless
son of the base Northumberland. So far did she carry her flirtations
that tales against her fair fame were spread abroad, but marry him
she never did. Her treatment of the Lady Catherine was doubtless
caused far less by her fear of the claims of the Suffolk line than
by her reluctance to think of one so near to her as a happy wife,
and as years grew upon her she bore hardly on those around her who
refused to live in that state of maidenhood which she had inflicted
on herself.
11. =The French War. 1562-1564.=--Elizabeth and Mary were not merely
personal rivals. The deadly struggle on which they had entered was a
European one, and the success or failure of the Catholic or the
Protestant cause in some Continental country might determine the
future history of Britain. In =1562= a civil war broke out between
the French Protestants--or Huguenots,[14] as they were usually
called in France--and their Catholic fellow-subjects. The leaders of
the Huguenots obtained Elizabeth's aid by offering her Havre, which
she hoped to exchange for Calais. The Huguenots were, however,
defeated at the battle of Dreux, though Guise, who commanded the
Catholics, was in the moment of victory shot dead by an assassin. In
=1563= peace was patched up for a time between the French parties,
but Elizabeth refused to surrender Havre, till a plague broke out
amongst the English garrison, and drove the scanty remnants of it
back to England. In =1564= Elizabeth was forced to make peace
without recovering Calais. The war thus ended was the only one in
which she ever took part except when absolutely no alternative was
left to her.
[Footnote 14: Probably from _Eidgenossen_, the name of the Swiss
Confederates, because the first Protestants who appeared at Geneva
came from Switzerland, and no French-speaking mouth could pronounce
such a word as 'Eidgenossen.']
12. =End of the Council of Trent. 1563.=--If Rome was to be
victorious she must use other than carnal weapons. The main cause of
the growth of Protestantism had been the revolt of honest minds
against the profligacy of the Popes and the clergy. The Popes had
after a long time learnt the lesson, and were now as austerely moral
as Calvin himself. They had of late busied themselves with bringing
the doctrines of the Church into a coherent whole, in order that
they might be referred to with as much certainty as the
_Institution_ of Calvin was referred to by the Calvinist. This work
was accomplished by an ecclesiastical council sitting at Trent, and
composed mainly of Spanish and Italian prelates. The Council, having
completed its task, broke up in =1563=.
13. =The Jesuits.=--The main instruments of the Popes to win back
those who had broken loose from their authority were the members of
the Society of Jesus, usually known as Jesuits. The society was
founded in =1540= by Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish knight who, having
been incapacitated by a wound for a military career, had devoted
himself to the chivalry of religion. The members of the society
which he instituted were not, like the monks, to devote themselves
to setting an example of ascetic self-denial, nor, like the friars,
to combine asceticism with preaching or well-doing. Each Jesuit was
to give himself up to winning souls to the Church, whether from
heathenism or from heresy. With this end, the old soldier who
established the society placed it under more than military
discipline. The first virtue of the Jesuit was obedience. He was to
be in the hands of his superior as a stick in the hand of a man. He
was to do as he was bidden, unless he was convinced that he was
bidden to commit sin. What was hardest, perhaps, of all was that he
was not allowed to judge his own character in choosing his work. He
might think that he was admirably qualified to be a missionary in
China, but if his superior ordered him to teach boys in a school, a
schoolmaster he must become. He might believe himself to be a great
scholar and fitted by nature to impart his knowledge to the young,
but if his superior ordered him to go as a missionary to China, to
China he must go. Discipline voluntarily accepted is a great power
in the world, and this power the Jesuits possessed.
14. =The Danger from Scotland. 1561-1565.=--Whilst the opposing
forces of Calvinism and the reformed Papacy were laying the
foundations of a struggle which would split western Europe in twain,
Elizabeth was hampered in her efforts to avert a disruption of her
own realm by the necessity of watching the proceedings of the Queen
of Scots. If in Elizabeth the politician predominated over the
woman, in Mary the woman predominated over the politician. She was
keen of sight, strong in feeling, and capable of forming
far-reaching schemes, till the gust of passion swept over her and
ruined her plans and herself together. After her arrival in Scotland
she not only acknowledged the new Calvinistic establishment, but put
down with a strong hand the Earl of Huntly, who attempted to resist
it, whilst on the other hand she insisted, in defiance of Knox, on
the retention of the mass in her own chapel. It is possible that
there was in all this a settled design to await some favourable
opportunity, as she knew that there were many in Scotland who
cherished the old faith. It is possible, on the other hand, that she
thought for a time of making the best of her uneasy position, and
preferred to be met with smiles rather than with frowns. Knox,
however, took care that there should be frowns enough. There was no
tolerant thought in that stern heart of his, and he knew well that
Mary would in the end be found to be fighting for her creed and her
party. Her dancing and light gaiety he held to be profane. The mass,
he said, was idolatry, and according to Scripture the idolater must
die. There was in Scotland as yet no broad middle class on which
Mary could rely, and, feeling herself insulted both as a queen and
as a woman, she took up Knox's challenge. She had but the weapons of
craft with which to fight, but she used them admirably, and before
long, with her winning grace, she had the greater number of the
nobility at her feet.
15. =The Darnley Marriage. 1565.=--The sense of mental superiority
could not satisfy a woman such as Mary. Her life was a lonely one,
and it was soon known that she was on the look-out for a husband.
The choice of a husband by the ruler of Scotland could not be
indifferent to Elizabeth, and in =1564= Elizabeth offered to Mary
her own favourite Dudley, whom she created Earl of Leicester. Very
likely Elizabeth imagined that Leicester would be as pleasing to
Mary as he was to herself. Mary could only regard the proposal as an
insult. In =1565= she married her second cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord
Darnley.[15] Elizabeth was alarmed, taking the marriage as a sign
that Mary intended to defy her in everything, and urged the Scottish
malcontents, at whose head was Mary's illegitimate brother, the Earl
of Murray, to rebel. Mary chased them into England, where Elizabeth
protested loudly and falsely that she knew nothing of their
conspiracy.
[Footnote 15: Genealogy of Mary and Darnley:--
(1) James IV. = Margaret Tudor = (2) Archibald Douglas,
1488-1513 | | Earl of Angus
| +---------+
| |
Mary of Guise = James V. Matthew Stuart = Margaret Douglas
| 1513-1542 Earl of Lennox |
| |
| +-------------------+
| |
Francis II. = Mary = Henry Stuart,
King of 1542- | Lord Darnley
France 1567 |
|
James VI.
1567-1625]
16. =The Murder of Rizzio. 1566.=--Mary had taken a coarse-minded fool
for her husband, and had to suffer from him all the tyranny which a
heartless man has it in his power to inflict on a woman. Her heart
craved for affection, and Darnley, who plunged without scruple into
the most degrading vice, believed, or affected to believe, that his
wife had sacrificed her honour to David Rizzio, a cultivated Italian
who acted as her secretary, and carried on her correspondence with the
Continental powers. A league for the murder of Rizzio--such things
were common in Scotland--was formed between Darnley and the Protestant
lords. On March 9, =1566=, they burst into Mary's supper-room at
Holyrood. Rizzio clung to his patroness's robe, but was dragged off
and slain. Murray with his fellow-conspirators came back to Scotland.
Mary, however, with loving looks and words, won over the husband whom
she despised, broke up the confederacy, and drove most of the
confederates out of the country.
17. =The Murder of Darnley. 1567.=--On June 19, =1566=, Mary gave
birth to a son, afterwards James VI. of Scotland, and James I. of
England. His birth gave strength to the party in England which was
anxious to have Mary named heiress of the crown. Whatever little
chance there was of Elizabeth's consent being won was wrecked
through a catastrophe in which Mary became involved. Mary despised
her miserable husband as thoroughly as he deserved. He at least,
weak as water, could give her no help in her struggle with the
nobles. Her passionate heart found in the Earl of Bothwell one who
seemed likely to give her all that she needed--a strong will in a
strong body, and a brutal directness which might form a complement
to her own intellectual keenness. Mary and Bothwell were both
married, but Bothwell at least was not to be deterred by such an
obstacle as this. The evidence on Mary's conduct is conflicting, and
modern enquirers have not succeeded in coming to an agreement about
it. It is possible that she did not actually give her assent to the
evil deed which set her free; but it can hardly be doubted that she
at least willingly closed her eyes to the preparations made for her
husband's murder. Whatever the truth as to her own complicity may
be, it is certain that on February 10, =1567=, Darnley was blown up
by gunpowder at Kirk o' Field, a lonely house near Edinburgh, and
slain by Bothwell, or by Bothwell's orders, as he was attempting to
escape. Bothwell then obtained a divorce from his own wife, carried
Mary off--not, as was firmly believed at the time, against her
will--and married her.
18. =The Deposition and Flight of Mary. 1567-1568.=--Mary, in
gaining a husband, had lost Scotland. Her subjects rose against her
as an adulteress and a murderess. At Carberry Hill, on June 15,
=1567=, her own followers refused to defend her, and she was forced
to surrender, whilst Bothwell fled to Denmark, remaining in exile
for the rest of his life. Mary was imprisoned in a castle on an
island in Loch Leven, and on July 24 she was forced to abdicate in
favour of her son. Murray acted as regent in the infant's name. On
May 2, =1568=, Mary effected her escape, and rallied to her side the
family of the Hamiltons, which was all-powerful in Clydesdale. On
May 13 she was defeated by Murray at Langside, near Glasgow. Riding
hard for the Solway Firth, she threw herself into a boat, and found
herself safe in Cumberland. She at once appealed to Elizabeth,
asking not for protection only, but for an English army to replace
her on the throne of Scotland.
[Illustration: Silver-gilt standing cup made in London in 1569-70,
and given to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, by Archbishop
Parker.]
19. =Mary's Case before English Commissioners. 1568-1569.= Elizabeth
could hardly replace her rival in power, and was still less inclined
to set her at liberty, lest she should go to France, and bring with
her to Scotland another French army. After innumerable changes of
mind Elizabeth appointed a body of commissioners to consider the
case against Mary. Before them Murray produced certain letters
contained in a casket, and taken after Bothwell's flight. The casket
letters, as they are called, were alleged to be in Mary's
handwriting, and, if genuine, place out of doubt her guilty passion
for Bothwell, and her connivance in her husband's murder. They were
acknowledged by the commissioners, with the concurrence of certain
English lords who were politically partisans of Mary, to be in her
hand. Mary--either, as her adversaries allege, because she knew that
she was guilty, or as her supporters allege, because she was afraid
that she could not obtain justice--withdrew her advocates, and
pleaded with Elizabeth for a personal interview. This Elizabeth
refused to grant, but on the other hand she denied the right of the
Scots to depose their queen. Mary remained virtually a prisoner in
England. She was an interesting prisoner, and in spite of all her
faults there were many who saw in her claim to the English crown the
easiest means of re-establishing the old Church and the old
nobility.
20. =The Rising in the North. 1569.=--The old Church and the old
nobility were strongest in the North, where the Pilgrimage of Grace
had broken out in =1536= (see p. 397). The northern lords, the Earls
of Northumberland and Westmorland, longed to free Mary, to proclaim
her queen of England, and to depose Elizabeth. They were, however,
prepared to content themselves with driving Cecil from power, with
forcing Elizabeth to acknowledge Mary as her heir, and to withdraw
her support from Protestantism. Mary, according to this latter plan,
was to marry the Duke of Norfolk, the son of that Earl of Surrey who
had been executed in the last days of Henry VIII. (see p. 411). On
October 18 Elizabeth, suspecting that Norfolk was entangling himself
with the Queen of Scots, sent him to the Tower. Northumberland and
Westmorland hesitated what course to pursue, but a message from the
Queen requiring their presence at Court decided them, and they rose
in insurrection. On November 14, with the northern gentry and
yeomanry at their heels, they entered Durham Cathedral, tore in
pieces the English Bible and Prayer Book, and knelt in fervour of
devotion whilst mass was said for the last time in any one of the
old cathedrals of England. Elizabeth sent an army against the earls.
Both of them were timorous and unwarlike, and they fled to Scotland
before the year was ended, leaving their followers to the vengeance
of Elizabeth. Little mercy was shown to the insurgents, and cruel
executions followed this unwise attempt to check the progress of the
Reformation.
21. =The Papal Excommunication. 1570.=--Elizabeth, it seemed for all
her triumph over the earls, had a hard struggle still before her. In
January =1570= the regent Murray was assassinated by Hamilton of
Bothwellhaugh, and Mary's friends began again to raise their heads
in Scotland. In April Pope Pius V. excommunicated Elizabeth and
absolved her subjects from their allegiance. In May, a fanatic named
Felton affixed the Pope's bull of excommunication to the door of the
Bishop of London's house. Felton was eventually seized and executed,
but his deed was a challenge which Elizabeth would be compelled to
take up. Hitherto she had trusted to time to bring her subjects into
one way of thinking, knowing that the younger generation was likely
to be on her side. She had taken care to deal as lightly as possible
with those who shrank from abandoning the religion of their
childhood, and she had recently announced that they were free to
believe what they would if only they would accept her supremacy. The
Pope had now made it clear that he would not sanction this
compromise. Englishmen must choose between him and their queen. On
the side of the Pope it might be argued with truth that with
Elizabeth on the throne it would be impossible to maintain the Roman
Catholic faith and organisation. On the side of the queen it might
be argued that if the Papal claims were admitted it would be
impossible to maintain the authority of the national government. A
deadly conflict was imminent, in which the liberty of individuals
would suffer whichever side gained the upper hand. Nations, like
persons, cannot attend to more than one important matter at a time,
and the great question at issue in Elizabeth's reign was whether the
nation was to be independent of all foreign powers in ecclesiastical
as well as in civil affairs.