afterwards before the whole parliament. The protestant ministers
attended in the house to defend it, if attacked, and to give
satisfaction to the members respecting any point which might appear
dubious. Those who had objections to it were formally required to
state them. And the farther consideration of it was adjourned to
a subsequent day, that none might pretend that an undue advantage
had been taken of him, or that a matter of such importance had been
concluded precipitately. On the 17th of August, the parliament resumed
the subject, and, previous to the vote, the Confession was again read,
article by article.[475] The earl of Athole, and lords Somerville
and Borthwick, were the only persons of the temporal estate who voted
in the negative, assigning this as their reason, “We will beleve as
our forefatheris belevit.”[476] “The bischopis spak nothing.”[477]
After the vote establishing the Confession {331} of faith, the
earl Marischal rose, and declared, that the silence of the clergy
had confirmed him in his belief of the protestant doctrine; and he
protested, that if any of the ecclesiastical estate should afterwards
oppose the doctrine which had just been received, they should be
entitled to no credit; seeing, after full knowledge of it, and
ample time for deliberation, they had allowed it to pass without the
smallest opposition or contradiction.[478] On the 24th of August,
the parliament abolished the papal jurisdiction, prohibited, under
certain penalties, the celebration of mass, and rescinded all the laws
formerly made in support of the Roman catholic church, and against the
reformed faith.[479]
Thus did the reformed religion advance in Scotland, from small
beginnings, and amidst great opposition, until it attained a
parliamentary establishment. Besides the influence of heaven secretly
accompanying the labours of the preachers and confessors of the truth,
the serious and inquisitive reader will trace the wise arrangements
of providence in that concatenation of events which contributed to
its rise, preservation, and increase,――by overruling the caprice,
the ambition, the avarice, and the interested policy of princes and
cabinets, many of whom had nothing less in view than to favour that
cause, which they were so instrumental in promoting.
The breach of Henry VIII. of England with the {332} Roman see,
awakened the attention of the inhabitants of the northern part of
the island to a controversy which had formerly been carried on at
too great a distance to interest them, and led not a few to desire a
reformation more improved than the model which that monarch had held
out to them. The premature death of James V. of Scotland saved the
protestants from destruction. During the short period in which they
received the countenance of civil authority, at the commencement of
Arran’s administration, the seeds of the reformed doctrine were so
widely spread, and took such deep root, as to be able to resist the
violent measures which the regent, after his recantation, employed to
extirpate them. Those who were driven from the country by persecution
found an asylum in England, under the decidedly protestant government
of Edward VI. After his death, the alliance of England with Spain,
and of Scotland with France, the two great contending powers on
the continent, prevented that concert between the two courts which
might have proved fatal to the protestant religion in Britain. While
the cruelties of the English queen drove protestant preachers into
Scotland, the political schemes of the queen regent induced her to
favour them, and to connive at the propagation of their opinions. At
the critical moment when the latter had accomplished her favourite
designs, and was preparing to crush the Reformation, Elizabeth
ascended the throne of England, and was induced, by political no less
than religious considerations, to support the Scottish reformers. The
French court was {333} no less bent on suppressing them, and, having
lately concluded peace with Spain, was left at liberty to direct its
undivided attention to the accomplishment of that object; but at this
critical moment, those intestine dissensions, which continued so long
to desolate France, broke out, and forced its ministers to accede
to that treaty, which put an end to French influence, and the papal
religion, in Scotland.
{334}
{335}
NOTES
TO
VOLUME FIRST.
Note A, Footnote 2.
_Place of Knox’s Birth, and his Parentage._――Although the question
respecting Knox’s birth‑place is not of very great importance, I shall
state the authorities for the different opinions which are entertained
on the subject.
Beza, who was contemporary, and personally acquainted, with our
Reformer, designs him “Joannes Cnoxus, Scotus, Giffordiensis,”
evidently meaning that he was a native of the town of Gifford. Icones,
seu Imagines Illustrium Virorum, Ee. iij. an. 1580. Spotswood, who was
born in 1565, and could receive information from his father, and other
persons intimately acquainted with Knox, says that he was “born in
Gifford within Lothian.” History, p. 265, edit. 1677. David Buchanan,
in his Memoir of Knox, prefixed to the edition of his History, and
published in 1644, gives the same account; which has been followed in
the Life written by Matthew Crawfurd, and prefixed to the edition of
the History, 1732; and by Wodrow, in his MS. Collections, respecting
the Scottish Reformers, in Bibl. Coll. Glas. In a Genealogical Account
of the Knoxes, which is in the possession of the family of the late
Mr James Knox, minister of Scoon, the Reformer’s father is said to
have been a brother of the family of Ranferlie, and “proprietor of the
estate of Gifford.” Scott’s History of the Scottish Reformers, p. 94.
On the other hand, Archibald Hamilton, who was his countryman, as well
as his contemporary and acquaintance, says that Knox was born in the
town of Haddington: “Obscuris natus parentibus in Hadintona oppido
in Laudonia.” De Confusione Calvinianæ Sectæ apud Scotos Dialogus,
fol. 64, a. Parisiis, 1577. Another {336} Scotsman, who wrote in
that age, says that he was born near Haddington; “prope Haddintonam.”
Laingæus De vita, et moribus, atque rebus gestis Hæreticorum nostri
temporis, fol. 113, b. Parisiis, 1581. Dr Barclay, late minister
of Haddington, advanced an opinion which reconciles the two last
authorities, (although it is probable that he never saw either of
them,) by asserting that our Reformer was born in one of the suburbs
of Haddington, called the Giffordgate. Transactions of the Society of
Antiquaries in Scotland, p. 69, 70.
The testimony of Archibald Hamilton is not altogether without weight;
for, although he has retailed a number of gross falsehoods in the work
referred to, there does not appear to be any reason for supposing that
he would intentionally mislead his readers on such a circumstance as
the birth‑place of the Reformer. But I consider Spotswood’s statement
as going far to set aside Hamilton’s; for, as the archbishop could
scarcely be ignorant of it, and as he fixes Knox’s birth at a
different place, it is reasonable to suppose that he had good reasons
for varying from a preceding authority. The grounds of Dr Barclay’s
opinion are, that, according to the tradition of the place, the
Reformer was a native of Haddington; that the house in which he
was born is still pointed out in the Giffordgate; and that this
house, with some adjoining acres of land, belonged for a number of
generations to a family of the name of Knox, who claimed kindred with
the Reformer, and who lately sold the property to the earl of Wemyss.
I acknowledge that popular tradition may be allowed to determine
a point of this nature, provided it is not contradicted by other
evidence. In the present case, it is not altogether free from this
objection. As the sons of the Reformer died without issue, there is
no reason to think that the family which resided in the Giffordgate
was lineally descended from him. Still, however, the property might
have belonged to his elder brother, which is consistent with the
supposition of his being born in the house which tradition has
marked out. But I have lately been favoured with extracts from the
title‑deeds of that property, now in the possession of the earl
of Wemyss, extending from the year 1598 downwards, which are not
favourable to that supposition. On the 18th of February, 1598, William
Knox in {337} Moreham, and Elizabeth Schortes his wife, were infeft
in subjects in Nungate (of Haddington,) by virtue of a crown charter.
This charter contains no statement of the warrants on which it
proceeded, farther than that the lands formerly belonged to the Abbey
of Haddington, and were annexed to the crown. Having communicated the
names of the persons mentioned in the first charter and subsequent
deeds to the Reverend Mr Scott of Perth, with a request to be informed,
if any such names occur in the genealogy of the Knox family which
belonged to the late Mr Knox, minister of Scoon, I was favoured with
an answer, saying, that neither the name of William Knox at Moreham,
nor that of any other person answering to the description in my letter,
is to be found in that genealogy. But, farther, the charter expressly
states, that the lands in question belonged to the Abbey of Haddington,
and, as they must have been annexed to the crown subsequently to the
Reformation, they could not be the property of the family at the time
of our Reformer’s birth. The tradition of his having been born in the
Giffordgate is therefore supported merely by the possibility that his
parents might have resided in that house while it was the property
of the Abbey. In opposition to this, we have the authorities already
mentioned in support of the opinion that he was born in the village of
Gifford.
With respect to the _parentage_ of our Reformer, David Buchanan says
that his “father was a brother’s son of the house of Ranferlie.” Life,
prefixed to History of the Reformation, edit. 1644. In a conversation
with the earl of Bothwell, Knox gave the following account of his
ancestors: “My lord,” said he, “my great grandfather, gudeschir,
and father, have served your Lordchip’s predecessours, and some of
them have dyed under their standards; and this is a pairt of the
obligatioun of our Scottish kindness.” Historie of the Reformatioun,
p. 306, edit. 1732. Matthew Crawfurd says, that “these words seem to
import that Mr Knox’s predecessors were in some honourable station
under the earls of Bothwell, at that time the most powerful family
in East Lothian,” Life of the Author, p. ii. prefixed to Historie,
edit. 1732. The only thing which I would infer from his words is,
that his ancestors had settled in Lothian as early as the time of his
great‑grandfather. I do not wish to represent {338} the Reformer as
either of noble or of gentle birth, and cannot place much dependence
on the assertion in the preceding note, which makes his father
“proprietor of the estate of Gifford.” John Davidson, in the poem
written in commendation of him, says,
“First he descendit bot of lineage small,
As commonly God usis for to call
The sempill sort his summoundis til expres.”
At the same time, the statement given by some authors of the meanness
and poverty of his parents is not supported by good evidence, and can
in part be disproved. Dr Mackenzie says, the Reformer was “the son
of a poor countryman, as we are informed by those who knew him very
well: his parents, though in a mean condition, put their son to the
grammar‑school of Haddington; where, after he had learned his grammar,
he served for some time the laird of Langniddrie’s children, who being
sent by their parents to the university of St Andrews, he thereby
had occasion of learning his philosophy.” Lives of Scottish Writers,
vol. iii. p. 111. As his authorities for these assertions, the Doctor
has printed on the margin, “Dr Hamilton, Dr Bailie, and many others;”
popish writers, who, regardless of their own character, fabricated
or retailed such stories as they thought most discreditable to the
Reformer, many of which Mackenzie himself is obliged to pronounce
“ridiculous stories, that are altogether improbable,” p. 132.
“Dr Bailie” was Alexander Bailie, a Benedictine monk in the Scottish
monastery of Wirtsburgh; and, as he published the work to which
Mackenzie refers in the year 1628, it is ridiculous to talk of his
being well acquainted with either the Reformer or his father. Hamilton,
(the earliest authority,) instead of supporting Mackenzie’s assertions,
informs us, as far as his language is intelligible, that Knox was in
priest’s orders before he undertook the care of children: “quo victum
sibi pararet magis quam ut deo serviret (Simonis illius magi huc usque
sequutus vestigia) presbyter primum fieri de more, quamvis illiteratus,
tum in privatis ædibus puerorum in vulgaribus literis formandorum
curam capere coactus est.” De Confusione Calv. Sectæ, p. 64. The fact
is, that Knox entered into the family of {339} Langniddrie as tutor,
_after_ he had finished his education at the university; and so late
as 1547, he was employed in teaching the young men their grammar.
Historie, p. 67.
Note B, Footnote 6.
_Of Knox’s Academical Education._――I have been a good deal puzzled on
the subject of the academical studies of our Reformer. Depending on
the testimony of the earliest and most credible writers, I stated, in
the former editions of this work, that he studied, and took the degree
of Master of Arts, at St Andrews. After a minute examination, however,
I was unable to find his name in the records of that university. Still
I did not feel warranted to drop the account which I had given on
such respectable authority, and contented myself with mentioning
the unsuccessful result of my investigations. But when engaged in
examining the records of the university of Glasgow with a view to
another work, I accidentally met with evidence which convinces me that
the common statement is erroneous. Knox was educated at the university,
not of St Andrews, but of Glasgow.
In the “Annales Universitatis Glasguensis,” the name “Johannes Knox”
occurs among the _Incorporati_, or those who were matriculated, in the
year 1522. In coming to the conclusion that this was our Reformer,
I do not rest simply on his name occurring in the record. This
opinion is confirmed by the two following circumstances. 1. The time
answers to that at which he might be supposed to have entered the
university; for in 1522, he was seventeen years of age. 2. John Major
was at that time Principal of the university of Glasgow; and all
the ancient accounts agree that Knox studied under that celebrated
professor.――This circumstance may perhaps account for the mistake into
which the old writers have fallen on this subject. They appear to have
been ignorant of the fact that Major taught at that time in Glasgow;
and being informed that Knox studied under him, they concluded that he
did so at St Andrews, where that professor was known to have resided
for many years.
I take this opportunity of filling up a blank in the life of Major.
{340} Dempster, Dupin, and other writers, mention that, after being
made Doctor of Divinity in 1505, he taught for some years at Glasgow,
but that, owing to the confusions in his native country, he removed
from it to Paris. I will not take upon me to say that this account is
erroneous; but I have not been able to discover the name of Major in
the records of the university of Glasgow at that period. Upon Major’s
return from France, the above‑mentioned authors represent him as
going directly to St Andrews. But from the subsequent extracts it will
appear that he went first to Glasgow, and for several years held the
situation of Principal and Professor of Divinity in the university of
that city.
In the old Register, entitled “Annales Universitatis Glasguensis,” are
the following minutes relating to Major. The last of them contains the
matriculation of Knox.
“ELECTIO RECTORIS.
“Congregatione generali alme Universitatis Glasguen. Citatione previa,
&c. Die tertio mensis Novembris anno D{ni} millesimo quingentesimo
decimo octavo, &c.
“Eodem die――Incorporati sub dicto D{no} Rectore, Egregius vir Mag{r}
Johannes Majoris Doctor Parisiensis ac principalis regens Collegie et
pedagogii dicte Universitatis, Canonicusque Capelli regie, ac Vicarius
de Dunlop, &c.” (43 names follow.)
There is no further mention made of Major until 1521, when the
following minute is found:
“ELECTIO RECTORIS.
“Congregatione generali, &c. In festo sanctorum Marthirum Crispini et
Crispiniani, anno Dom{i} millesimo quingentesimo vicesimo primo. Pro
Electione novi Rectoris――In quaquidem Congregatione Electi fuerunt
tres Intrantes, viz. Mag{r} Mattheus Steward Decanus facultatis,
Johannes Majoris Theologie Professor, et nationis Albanie nullus
interfuit, et Will{mus} Crechtoun Canonicus Glasguensis――Qui remoti,
maturaque deliberatione prehabita, unanimi eorum consensu, Venerabilem
et egregium Virum Jacobum Steward Prepositum ecclesie Collegiate de
Dunbertane, absentem tanquam {341} presentem, in Rectorem eligerunt
et electum pronunciarunt. Qui postea inclinatus supplicationibus
suppositorum hujus modi onus in se acceptavit. Insuper in eadem
Congregatione electi fuerunt quatuor Deputati ad consulendum et
assistendum dicto D{no} rectori in omnibus et singulis causis per
ipsum tractandis, viz. Mag̃ri Johannes Majoris predictus, Willm̃s
Chrichtoun, Johannes Reid, Jacobus Neilsoun――Necnon Electus fuit
in bursarium discretus vir Mag{r} Mattheus Reid, Mag{r} schole
gramaticalis. Et in promotorem Mag{r} Andreas Smytht. Et in
Procuratorem Mag{r} Nicholaus Witherspuyne.
“Die xxiiij mensis Maij anno Dñi millesimo quingentesimo xxij.
“Congregatione generali Universitatis Glasguen. facta loco Capitulari
ecclesie metropolitane ejusdem die xxiiij mensis maij Anno Dñi
Millesimo quingentesimo xxij, per Venerabilem Virum Mgr̃m Jacobum
Steward Prepositum ecclie Collegiate de Dunbertane ac Rectorem dicte
Universitatis, Presentibus Ibidem Honorabilibus Viris, Magistris
Johanne Majore, theologie professore, thesaurario Capelle regie
Stirlingensis, Vicarioque de Dunlop, ac Principali regente dicte
Collegie, Johanne Doby Canonico Glasguensi ac prebendario de Ancrum,
Jacobo Neilson Vicario de Colmanel, Johanne Spruele Vicario de
Dundonald, Jacobo Lyndesay secundario regente, aliisque patribus,
Magistris, Studentibus, ac suppositis, inibi Congregatis――In quaquidem
Congregatione Idem Dñus Rector Exposuit et Declaravit, &c.
“ELECTIO RECTORIS.
“Congregatione generali alme Universitatis Glass. Citatione previa per
edictum publicum in Valvis ecclesie metripolitane affixum, Celebrata
loco Capitulari ejusdem, In festo Sanctorum Marthirum Crispini et
Crispiniani, Anno Dñi Millesimo quingentesimo Vicesimo secundo, Pro
electione novi Rectoris. In quaquidem Congregatione electi fuerunt
tres Intrantes, eoquod nullus nationis albanie extunc interfuit,
viz. Mg{r} Thomas leiss Canonicus Dunblanensis, Johannes Majoris
Principalis regens, et Johannes Reid Vicarius de Campsy――Qui remoti,
matura et digesta deliberatione prehabita, {342} unanimi eorum
Consensu, Venerabilem et egregium Virum Mgr̃m Jacobum Steward
Prepositum Ecclesie Collegiate de Dunbertane, absentem tanquam
presentem, in rectorem Continuarunt, eligerunt, et pronunciarunt――Qui
postea supplicationebus magistrorum inclinatus hujus modi onus en
se acceptavit. Insuper in eadem Congregatione electi fuerunt tres
Deputati ad assistendum et consulendum dicto Dño Rectori in omnibus
et singulis causis dicte Universitatis per eundem tractandis, viz.
Prescripti magistri, Johannes Majoris, Johannes Reid, et Mg̃r Mattheus
Steward Vicarius de Mayboile, Et Continuatus fuit in bursarium
Mg̃r Mattheus Reid. Necnon electus fuit in procuratorem et
promotorem Universitatis Mg̃r Nicholaus Vitherspuyne Vicarius de
Straithawane――Incorporati sub dicto Dño Rectore,
Andreas Cottis Alex{r} Dikke
Johannes hereot Adam Kyngorne
Nigellus Campbal Nigellus forguissone
Will{mus} Steward Johannes huntar
Johannes Hamyltoun Jacobus Mosman
Johannes Knox Dñus Johannes Keyne presbiter
Archibaldus Langsyd Patricius letryg Civis Glass.”
In the records of the university of Glasgow, Major is uniformly called
Joannes Majoris. It appears from Dr Lee’s extracts, published in the
second edition of Dr Irving’s Memoirs of Buchanan, (p. 373,) that
Major was incorporated into the university of St Andrews, on the 9th
of June 1523. He is there designed “Doctor Theologus Parisiensis, et
Thesaur{ius} Capellæ Regiæ;” and in an instrument of seisin, belonging
to that seminary, he is styled “Vicarius de Dunloppie Glasg.”――Some
may perhaps be inclined to suppose that Knox followed Major to St
Andrews, and attended his lectures, though not formally incorporated
into that university; and consequently that the old writers had some
foundation for their statement on this head. But if this was the case,
it is not very probable that the truth of it can be now ascertained. I
have only to add, that I cannot perceive, from the records of Glasgow,
that {343} Knox took any degree there, which confirms the doubt that I
have already expressed on that subject.
Note C, Footnote 12.
_Of the Early State of Grecian Literature in Scotland._――In this note
I shall throw together such facts as I have met with relating to the
introduction of the Greek language into Scotland, and the progress
which it made during the sixteenth century. They are scanty; but I
trust they will not be altogether unacceptable to those who take an
interest in the subject.
In the year 1522, Boece mentions George Dundas as a good Greek scholar.
He was master of the Knights of St John in Scotland, and had, most
probably, acquired the knowledge of the language on the Continent.
“Georgius Dundas grecas atq; latinas literas apprime doctus, equitum
Hierosolymitanorum intra Scotorum regnum magistratum multo sudore
(superatis emulis) postea adeptus.” Boetii Vitæ Episcop. Murth. et
Aberdon. fol. xxvii. b. It is reasonable to suppose that some other
individuals in the nation acquired it in the same way; but Boece makes
no mention of Greek among the branches taught at the universities
in his time, although he is minute in his details. Nor do I find any
other reference to the subject previous to the year 1534, when Erskine
of Dun brought a learned man from France, and employed him to teach
Greek in Montrose, as mentioned in that part of the Life to which
this note refers. At his school, George Wishart, the martyr, must
have obtained the knowledge of the language, and he seems to have been
assistant or successor to his master. The bishop of Brechin (William
Chisholm), hearing that Wishart taught the Greek New Testament in
Montrose, summoned him to appear before him on a charge of heresy,
upon which he fled the kingdom. This was in 1538. Petrie, part ii.
p. 182. It is likely that Knox was taught Greek by Wishart after the
return of the latter from England. Buchanan seems to have acquired the
language during his residence on the Continent. Epist. p. 25. Oper.
edit. Rudd.
Lesley says, that James V., during his progress through the
kingdom in 1540, came to Aberdeen, and among other entertainments
{344} which were given him, the students of the university “recited
orations in the Greek and Latin tongue, composed with the greatest
skill”――“Orationes in Greca Latinaque lingua, summo artificio
instructæ.” Leslæus de rebus gestis Scotorum, lib. ix. p. 430.
edit. 1675. When we consider the state of learning at that period in
Scotland, there is reason for suspecting that the bishop’s description
is highly coloured, yet as he entered that university a few years
after, we may conclude from it that some attention was at that time
paid to the study of Greek in Aberdeen. It might have been introduced
by Hector Boece, the learned principal of that university. If the king
was entertained with the great learning of the students of Aberdeen,
the English ambassador was no less diverted, in the very same year,
with the ignorance which our bishops discovered of the Greek tongue.
The ambassador, who was a scholar as well as a statesman, had
caused his men to wear on their sleeves the following Greek motto,
ΜΟΝΩ ΑΝΑΚΤΙ ΔΟΥΛΕΥΩ, “I serve the king only.” This the Scottish
bishops, whose knowledge did not extend beyond Latin, read MONACHULUS,
“a little monk,” and thereupon circulated the report that the
ambassador’s servants were monks, who had been taken out of the
monasteries lately suppressed in England. To counteract this report,
Sadler was obliged to furnish a translation of the inscription. “It
appeareth (says he) they are no good Grecians. And now the effect
of my words is known, and they be well laughed at for their learned
interpretation.” Sadler’s Letters, i. 48, 49. Edinburgh, 1809. In a
debate which occurred in the Parliament which met in 1543, individuals
among the nobility and other lay members discovered more knowledge of
Greek than all the ecclesiastical bench. Knox, Historie, 34.