In this period we see a continuation of the struggles of the clergy for
the independence of the kirk, and those of the king for a supremacy
over it; the merciless measures for repressing the Catholic faith,
and the desperate practices of the Catholics for relief; the weak
rule of the king in all administrative matters; and the efforts of
ambitious courtiers to gain an ascendency in his councils. The first
transactions of any note were those arising from the condemnation
and forfeiture of Stuart, Earl of Bothwell, an illegitimate cousin
of the king, and nephew by his mother to the noted Hepburn, Earl of
Bothwell, the murderer of Darnley. Conceiving himself to be simply a
victim of the jealousy of the Chancellor Maitland, this vivacious noble
was indisposed to submit to his doom; he thought, if he could reach
the king’s ear, he might regain lost power and place. His consequent
intrusions by night into the palace, and appearances at the head of
armed parties in the field, form a strange chapter in the history of
the period.
Our chronicle gives details of an unfortunate collision between the
houses of Huntly and Moray, which resulted in the barbarous slaughter
of the latter nobleman. The loss of public esteem which the king and
the chancellor sustained through their suspected concern in this
affair, and through the undoubted lenity which was shewn to the Earl
of Huntly, reduced the government to such a degree of weakness, that
it became necessary to give way somewhat to the demands of the clergy.
To obtain their support, the episcopal arrangements of 1584 were in a
great measure done away with (June 1592), and James himself passed a
glowing eulogium on the Presbyterian system.
Towards the end of this year, new troubles arose, in consequence of
the discovery of a treasonable correspondence between the Catholic
nobles, Huntly, Errol, and Angus, with the king of Spain. These chiefs,
finding themselves harassed beyond endurance by the now triumphant
Presbyterians, who would allow them no freedom for the exercise of
their religion, resorted to the desperate step of seeking assistance
from a foreign and a Catholic sovereign. Under the urgency of Elizabeth
and the kirk, James proceeded with vigour against these nobles, whose
force he easily dispelled, and whom he prosecuted to forfeiture, but
without meaning to effect their entire destruction. As a set-off to
this procedure, he demanded that Elizabeth should cease to harbour and
support his enemy the Earl of Bothwell. The English queen answered
this with all smoothness, but in secret conspired with certain persons
in Scotland for re-instating Bothwell in power. The unruly earl
obtained by this means a temporary mastery over James (July, August
1593). The king, having contrived by craft and some share of resolution
to emancipate himself, once more resumed his authority. In February
1593-4, while the queen lay in confinement after her first child, James
mustered some forces, and met the Bothwell faction in the field. The
rebels were overthrown, and Bothwell fell into a low and despicable
state.
The general lawlessness of the country at this period, and the
frightful atrocities which were almost daily committed, make some
appearance in the chronicle. Amidst the universal broils, the
Presbyterian clergy formed a virtuous element, zealous for an
improvement of manners and the advance of the ‘evangel,’ but equally
so in using means to force their own convictions upon others, and
often interfering with matters which did not properly fall within
their province. The rashness of the synod of Fife in excommunicating
the papist lords (September 1593), and the freedom of speech which
the members used in discussing and railing at the king’s slackness
regarding the putting down of popery, gave James great disgust. He
spoke sharply of their ‘proud enterprises,’ and declared he should
re-erect the estate of bishops, for the purpose of correcting the
insolence of the Presbyterian clergy, and suppressing the liberties
which they were abusing.
The Catholic lords, being driven to extremities, collected their
vassals and appeared in the field. A royal host under the youthful
Earl of Argyle was sent to meet them, and in a bloody fight which took
place at Glenlivet on the 3d of October 1594, they gained a victory.
This, however, only made it necessary for the king to proceed in person
with a larger host against them. He spent many weeks in the north,
destroying their castles and harassing their vassalage, yet in his
heart was far from coming up to that standard of severity against the
ancient faith which would have conciliated the Presbyterian ministers.
After a little time, the papist nobles yielded to pass into exile. The
Earl of Bothwell, finding his case desperate, also left his native
country, and, as it proved, for ever. He died in obscurity abroad.
A singular riot in Edinburgh in December 1596, of which an account
is given in the chronicle, led to a reaction in favour of the king
against the ultra-zealous Presbyterians. James was enabled to acquire
considerable influence in the church-courts, to obtain seats in
parliament for certain ministers, as representing the ancient bishops,
and to secure a peaceable restoration for the popish lords. His
brightening prospects of the English succession added to his power
within Scotland, and the latter years of his Scottish reign were marked
by comparatively few events of importance.
The most remarkable was the mysterious Gowrie Conspiracy (August 5,
1600). The young Earl of Gowrie and his brother Alexander Ruthven,
sons of the Gowrie who suffered in 1584, appeared to have formed a plan
to entrap the king, and by the possession of his person, to work out
some project for placing themselves at the head of affairs. James was
induced to visit their house at Perth by a tempting story about a man
who knew of a concealed treasure. After dinner, he was conducted by
Alexander Ruthven into a solitary room at the end of a long gallery,
and put into the hands of an armed man. At the same time a false alarm
was given to his attendants, that he had left the house, and was riding
homeward. While they were hurrying to their horses in the court-yard,
the king had a struggle with Ruthven, who first attempted to bind,
and then to poniard him. With great difficulty, and not without the
exercise of considerable presence of mind, he succeeded in giving an
alarm to his attendants; one of whom, named John Ramsay, rushed to
his rescue, and slew the two brothers on the spot. The death of the
conspirators, and the very folly of their alleged plot, caused the
tale of the king’s preservation to be received at the time, by a few
persons, as an obscure and doubtful matter; and in this light it is
still regarded by some; but a dispassionate estimate of probabilities
will, we think, make the affair appear as a true, though foolish scheme
of two hot-headed young men, animated partly by ambition, and partly
by a feeling of revenge. Their bodies were dealt with as those of
traitors on the same day (November 19) on which the king’s second son,
afterwards Charles I., first saw the light.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: 1590-1.