In England, on the death of Edward VI., Catholicism rejoiced in the
accession of Mary Tudor, which, by driving Scottish Protestant refugees
back into their own country, strengthened there the party of revolt
against the Church, while the queen-mother's preference of French over
Scottish advisers, and her small force of trained French soldiers in
garrisons, caused even the Scottish Catholics to hold France in fear and
suspicion. The French counsellors (1556) urged increased taxation for
purposes of national defence against England; but the nobles would rather
be invaded every year than tolerate a standing army in place of their old
irregular feudal levies. Their own independence of the Crown was dearer
to the nobles and gentry than safety from their old enemy. They might
have reflected that a standing army of Scots, officered by themselves,
would be a check on the French soldiers in garrison.
Perplexed and opposed by the great clan of Hamilton, whose chief, Arran,
was nearest heir to the crown, Mary of Guise was now anxious to
conciliate the Protestants, and there was a "blink," as the Covenanters
later said,--a lull in persecution.
After Knox's release from the French galleys in 1549, he had played, as
we saw, a considerable part in the affairs of the English Church, and in
the making of the second Prayer-Book of Edward VI., but had fled abroad
on the accession of Mary Tudor. From Dieppe he had sent a tract to
England, praying God to stir up some Phineas or Jehu to shed the blood of
"abominable idolaters,"--obviously of Mary of England and Philip of
Spain. On earlier occasions he had followed Calvin in deprecating such
sanguinary measures. The Scot, after a stormy period of quarrels with
Anglican refugees in Frankfort, moved to Geneva, where the city was under
a despotism of preachers and of Calvin. Here Knox found the model of
Church government which, in a form if possible more extreme, he later
planted in Scotland.
There, in 1549-52, the Church, under Archbishop Hamilton, Beaton's
successor, had been confessing her iniquities in Provincial Councils, and
attempting to purify herself on the lines of the tolerant and charitable
Catechism issued by the Archbishop in 1552. Apparently a _modus vivendi_
was being sought, and Protestants were inclined to think that they might
be "occasional conformists" and attend Mass without being false to their
convictions. But in this brief lull Knox came over to Scotland at the
end of harvest, in 1555. On this point of occasional conformity he was
fixed. The Mass was idolatry, and idolatry, by the law of God, was a
capital offence. Idolaters must be converted or exterminated; they were
no better than Amalekites.
This was the central rock of Knox's position: tolerance was impossible.
He remained in Scotland, preaching and administering the Sacrament in the
Genevan way, till June 1556. He associated with the future leaders of
the religious revolution: Erskine of Dun, Lord Lorne (in 1558, fifth Earl
of Argyll), James Stewart, bastard of James V., and lay Prior of St
Andrews, and of Macon in France; and the Earl of Glencairn. William
Maitland of Lethington, "the flower of the wits of Scotland," was to Knox
a less congenial acquaintance. Not till May 1556 was Knox summoned to
trial in Edinburgh, but he had a strong backing of the laity, as was the
custom in Scotland, where justice was overawed by armed gatherings, and
no trial was held. By July 1556 he was in France, on his way to Geneva.
The fruits of Knox's labours followed him, in March 1557, in the shape of
a letter, signed by Glencairn, Lorne, Lord Erskine, and James Stewart,
Mary's bastard brother. They prayed Knox to return. They were ready "to
jeopardy lives and goods in the forward setting of the glory of God."
This has all the air of risking civil war. Knox was not eager. It was
October before he reached Dieppe on his homeward way. Meanwhile there
had been hostilities between England and Scotland (as ally of France,
then at odds with Philip of Spain, consort King of England), and there
were Protestant tumults in Edinburgh. Knox had scruples as to raising
civil war by preaching at home. The Scottish nobles had no zeal for the
English war; but Knox, who received at Dieppe discouraging letters from
unknown correspondents, did not cross the sea. He remained at Dieppe,
preaching, till the spring of 1558.
In Knox's absence even James Stewart and Erskine of Dun agreed to hurry
on the marriage between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Francis, Dauphin of
France, a feeble boy, younger than herself. Their faces are pitiably
young as represented in their coronation medal.
While negotiations for the marriage were begun in October, on December 3,
1557, a godly "band" or covenant for mutual aid was signed by Argyll
(then near his death, in 1558); his son, Lorne; the Earl of Morton (son
of the traitor, Sir George Douglas); Glencairn; and Erskine of Dun, one
of the commissioners who were to visit France for the Royal marriage.
They vow to risk their lives against "the Congregation of Satan" (the
Church), and in defence of faithful Protestant preachers. They will
establish "the blessed Word of God and His Congregation," and henceforth
the Protestant party was commonly styled "The Congregation."
Parliament (November 29, 1557) had accepted the French marriage, all the
ancient liberties of Scotland being secured, and the right to the throne,
if Mary died without issue, being confirmed to the House of Hamilton, not
to the Dauphin. The marriage-contract (April 19, 1558) did ratify these
just demands; but, on April 4, Mary had been induced to sign them all
away to France, leaving Scotland and her own claims to the English crown
to the French king.
The marriage was celebrated on April 24, 1558. In that week the last
Protestant martyr, Walter Milne, an aged priest and a married man, was
burned for heresy at St Andrews. This only increased the zeal of the
Congregation.
Among the Protestant preachers then in Scotland, of whom Willock, an
Englishman, seems to have been the most reasonable, a certain Paul
Methuen, a baker, was prominent. He had been summoned (July 28) to stand
his trial for heresy, but his backing of friends was considerable, and
they came before Mary of Guise in armour and with a bullying demeanour.
She tried to temporise, and on September 3 a great riot broke out in
Edinburgh, the image of St Giles was broken, and the mob violently
assaulted a procession of priests. The country was seething with
discontent, and the death of Mary Tudor (November 17, 1558), with the
accession of the Protestant Elizabeth, encouraged the Congregation. Mary
of Guise made large concessions: only she desired that there should be no
public meetings in the capital. On January 1, 1559, church doors were
placarded with "The Beggars' Warning." The Beggars (really the Brethren
in their name) claimed the wealth of the religious orders. Threats were
pronounced, revolution was menaced at a given date, Whitsunday, and the
threats were fulfilled.
All this was the result of a plan, not of accident. Mary of Guise was
intending to visit France, not longing to burn heretics. But she fell
into the worst of health, and her recovery was doubted, in April 1559.
Willock and Methuen had been summoned to trial (February 2, 1559), for
their preachings were always apt to lead to violence on the part of their
hearers. The summons was again postponed in deference to renewed
menaces: a Convention had met at Edinburgh to seek for some remedy, and
the last Provincial Council of the Scottish Church (March 1559) had
considered vainly some proposals by moderate Catholics for internal
reform. {106}
Again the preachers were summoned to Stirling for May 10, but just a week
earlier Knox arrived in Scotland. The leader of the French Protestant
preachers, Morel, expressed to Calvin his fear that Knox "may fill
Scotland with his madness." Now was his opportunity: the Regent was weak
and ill; the Congregation was in great force; England was at least not
unfavourable to its cause. From Dundee Knox marched with many
gentlemen--unarmed, he says--accompanying the preachers to Perth: Erskine
of Dun went as an envoy to the Regent at Stirling; she is accused by Knox
of treacherous dealing (other contemporary Protestant evidence says
nothing of treachery); at all events, on May 10 the preachers were
outlawed for non-appearance to stand their trial. The Brethren, "the
whole multitude with their preachers," says Knox, who were in Perth were
infuriated, and, after a sermon from the Reformer, wrecked the church,
sacked the monasteries, and, says Knox, denounced death against any
priest who celebrated Mass (a circumstance usually ignored by our
historians), at the same time protesting, "We require nothing but liberty
of conscience"!
On May 31 a composition was made between the Regent and the insurgents,
whom Argyll and James Stewart promised to join if the Regent broke the
conditions. Henceforth the pretext that she had broken faith was made
whenever it seemed convenient, while the Congregation permitted itself a
godly liberty in construing the terms of treaties. A "band" was signed
for "the destruction of idolatry" by Argyll, James Stewart, Glencairn,
and others; and the Brethren scattered from Perth, breaking down altars
and "idols" on their way home. Mary of Guise had promised not to leave a
French garrison in Perth. She did leave some Scots in French pay, and on
this slim pretext of her treachery, Argyll and James Stewart proclaimed
the Regent perfidious, deserted her cause, and joined the crusade against
"idolatry."
NOTE.
It is far from my purpose to represent Mary of Guise as a kind of
stainless Una with a milk-white lamb. I am apt to believe that she
caused to be forged a letter, which she attributed to Arran. See my
'John Knox and the Reformation,' pp. 280, 281, where the evidence is
discussed. But the critical student of Knox's chapters on these events,
generally accepted as historical evidence, cannot but perceive his
personal hatred of Mary of Guise, whether shown in thinly veiled hints
that Cardinal Beaton was her paramour; or in charges of treacherous
breach of promise, which rest primarily on his word. Again, that "the
Brethren" wrecked the religious houses of Perth is what he reports to a
lady, Mrs Locke; that "the rascal multitude" was guilty is the tale he
tells "to all Europe" in his History. I have done my best to compare
Knox's stories with contemporary documents, including his own letters.
These documents throw a lurid light on his versions of events, as given
in this part of his History, which is merely a partisan pamphlet of
autumn 1559. The evidence is criticised in my 'John Knox and the
Reformation,' pp. 107-157 (1905). Unhappily the letter of Mary of Guise
to Henri II., after the outbreak at Perth, is missing from the archives
of France.