BEATON,
or BEATOUN, (CARDINAL) DAVID, who held the rectory of Campsie, the
abbacy of Aberbrothick, the bishopric of Mirepoix in France, the
cardinalship of St Stephen in Monte Caelio, and the chancellorship of
Scotland, and who was the chief of the Roman Catholic party in Scotland
in the earlier age of the reformation, was descended from an ancient
family in Fife, possessed of the barony of Balfour, and was born in the
year 1494. He was educated at the college of St Andrews, where he
completed his courses of polite literature and philosophy, but was sent
afterwards to the university of Paris, where he studied divinity for
several years. Entering into holy orders, he had the rectory of Campsie
and the abbacy of Aberbrothick bestowed upon him, by his uncle, James
Beaton, Archbishop of St Andrew�s, who retained one-half of the rents
of the abbacy to his own use. Possessing good abilities and a lively
fancy, David Beaton became a great favourite with James V., who, in
1519, sent him to reside as his ambassador at the court of France. He
returned to Scotland in 1525, and, still growing in the King�s favour,
was, in 1528, made lord privy seal.
In
the year 1533, he was again sent on a mission to the French court.
Beaton on this occasion was charged to refute certain calumnies which it
was supposed the English had circulated against his countrymen, to study
the preservation of the ancient league between the two nations, and to
conclude a treaty of marriage between James and Magdalene, the daughter
of Francis I. If unsuccessful in any of these points, he was furnished
with letters which he was to deliver to the parliament of Paris, and
depart immediately for Flanders, for the purpose of forming an alliance
with the emperor. In every part of his embassy, Beaton seems to have
succeeded to the utmost extent of his wishes, the marriage exempted,
which was delayed on account of the declining state of health in which
Magdalene then was. How long Beaton remained at the French court at this
time has not been ascertained; but it is certain that he was exceedingly
agreeable to Francis, who, perceiving his great abilities, and aware of
the influence he possessed over the mind of the Scottish King, used
every expedient to attach him to the interests of France, being afraid
of the predilection of James towards his uncle, Henry VIII, who also, he
was aware, was strengthening, by all the influence he possessed, his
interest at the Scottish court.
In
1536, finding a second embassy also unsuccessful, king James set sail
for France, and proceeded to the court, where he was most cordially
welcomed; and, unable to deny his suit, especially as it was exceedingly
agreeable to Magdalene herself, Francis consented to their union, which
was celebrated with great rejoicings on the 1st of January, 1537. On the
28th of May following, the royal pair landed in Scotland, being conveyed
by a French fleet. Magdalene was received by the Scottish nation with
the utmost cordiality; but she was already far gone in a decline, and
died on the 7th of July following, to the inexpressible grief of the
whole nation. It was on the death of this queen that mournings were
first worn in Scotland. James, however, in expectation of this event,
had fixed his attention upon Mary of Guise, widow of the Duke of
Longueville; and Beaton, who by this time had returned to Scotland, was
dispatched immediately to bring her over. On this occasion he was
appointed by the king of France bishop of Mirepoix, to which see he was
consecrated, December 5th, 1537. The following year, he was, at the
recommendation of the French king, elevated to the cardinalship by the
Pope, which was followed by a grant on the part of the French king for
services already done and for those which he might afterwards do to his
majesty, allowing his heirs to succeed him to his estate in France,
though the said heirs should be born and live within the kingdom of
Scotland, and though they should have no particular letter or act of
naturalization in that country. Notwithstanding of the obligations he
was thus laid under by the king of France, he returned to Scotland with
Mary of Guise, and shortly after obtained the entire management of the
diocese and primacy of St Andrews, under his uncle James Beaton, whom he
eventually succeeded in that office.
A
severe persecution was commenced at this time by the cardinal against
all who were suspected of favouring the reformed doctrines. Many were
forced to recant, and two persons, Norman Gourlay and David Straiton,
were burnt at the Rood of Greenside, near Edinburgh. The pope, as a
farther mark of his respect, and to quicken his zeal, declared Beaton Legatus
a latere; and he, to manifest his gratitude, brought to St Andrews
the earls of Huntley, Arran, Marischal, and Montrose, the lords of
Fleming, Lindsay, Erskine, and Seaton, Gavin archbishop of Glasgow
(chancellor), William bishop of Aberdeen, Henry bishop of Galloway, John
bishop of Brechin, and William bishop of Dumblane, the abbots of
Melrose, Dunfermline, Lindores, and Kinloss, with a multitude of priors,
deans, doctors of divinity, &c., all of whom being assembled in the
cathedral church, he harangued them from his chair of state on the
dangers that hung over the true catholic church from the proceedings of
king Henry in England, and particularly from the great increase of
heresy in Scotland, where it had long been spreading, and found
encouragement even in the court of the king. As he proceeded, he
denounced Sir John Borthwick, provost of Linlithgow, as one of the most
industrious incendiaries, and caused him to be cited before them for
maintaining that the Pope had no greater authority over Christians than
any other bishop or prelate�that indulgences granted by the pope were
of no force or effect, but devised to amuse the people and deceive poor
ignorant souls - that bishops, priests, and other clergymen, may
lawfully marry�that the heresies commonly called the heresies of
England and their new liturgy were to be commended by all good
Christians, and to be embraced by them�that the people of Scotland are
blinded by their clergy, and profess not the true faith�that churchmen
ought not to enjoy any temporalities�that the king ought to convert
the superfluous revenues of the church unto other pious uses�that the
church of Scotland ought to be reformed after the same manner as that of
England was�that the Canon law was of no force, being contrary to the
law of God�that the orders of friars and monks should be abolished, as
had been done in England�that he had openly called the pope a Simoniac,
because be had sold spiritual things�that he had read heretical books
and the New Testament in English, with treatises written by Melanchthon,
Ecolampadius, and other heretics, and that he not only read them himself
but distributed them among others�and lastly, that he openly disowned
the authority of the Roman see. These articles being read, and Sir John
neither appearing himself nor any person for him, he was set down as a
confessed heretic, and condemned as an heresiarch. His goods were
ordered to be confiscated and himself burnt in effigy, if he could not
be apprehended, and all manner of persons forbidden to entertain or
converse with him, under the pain of excommunication or forfeiture. This
sentence was passed against him on the 28th of May, and executed the
same day so far as was in the power of the court, his effigy being burnt
in the market place of St Andrews and two days after at Edinburgh. This
was supposed by many to be intended as a gratifying spectacle to Mary of
Guise, the new queen, who had only a short time before arrived from
France.
Sir
John Borthwick, in the meantime, being informed of these violent
proceedings, fled into England, where he was received with open arms by
Henry VIII., by whom he was sent on an embassy to the protestant princes
of Germany, for the purpose of forming with them a defensive league
against the pope. Johnston, in his Heroes of Scotland, says, that
"John Borthwick, a noble knight, was as much esteemed by king James
V. for his exemplar and amiable qualities, as he was detested by the
order of the priesthood on account of his true piety, for his unfeigned
profession of which he was condemned; and though absent, his effects
confiscated, and his effigy, after being subjected to various marks of
ignominy, burnt," as we have above related. "This
condemnation," Johnston adds, "he answered by a most learned
apology, which may yet be seen in the records of the martyrs, (Fox) and
having survived many years, at last died in peace in a good old
age."
While
these affairs were transacted, Henry, anxious to destroy that interest
which the French government had so long maintained in Scotland to the
prejudice of England, sent into that kingdom the bishop of St Davids
with some books written in the vulgar tongue upon the doctrines of
Christianity, which he recommended to his nephew carefully to peruse,
and to weigh well their contents. James, who was more addicted to his
amusements, than to the study of the doctrines and duties of
Christianity, gave the books to be perused by some of his courtiers who,
being attached to the clerical order, condemned them as heretical, and
congratulated the king upon having so fortunately escaped the
contamination of his royal eyes by such pestiferous writings. There
were, however, other matters proposed to the king by this embassy than
the books, though it was attempted by the clerical faction to persuade
the people that the books were all that was intended; for, shortly
after, the same bishop, accompanied by William Howard, brother of the
Duke of Norfolk, came to the king at Stirling so suddenly, that he was
not aware of their coming till they were announced as arrived in the
town. This no doubt was planned by Henry to prevent the intriguing of
the priests and the French faction beforehand. His offers were of a
nature so advantageous, that James acceded to them without any scruple,
and readily agreed to meet with his uncle Henry on an appointed day,
when they were to settle all matters in dependence between them for the
welfare of both kingdoms. Nothing could be more terrible to the clergy,
of which Beaton was now confessedly the head in Scotland, than the
agreement of the two kings; they saw in it nothing short of the loss of
all that was dear to them, their altars, their revenues, and of course
their influence, and they hastened to court from all quarters to weep
over their religion about to be betrayed by an unholy conference, which,
being impious in its purposes, could not fail, they said, to end in the
ruin of the kingdom. Having by these representations made a strong
impression upon the king, who was ignorant and superstitious, they then
bribed, by the promise of large sums of money, the courtiers who had the
most powerful influence over him, to dissuade him from the journey he
had promised to make into England, which they successfully did, and so
laid the foundation of a quarrel which ended in a war, the disastrous
issue of which, preying upon the mind of James, brought him to an
untimely end.
In
the whole of these transactions, Beaton, a zealous churchman and the
hired tool of France, was the chief actor, and knowing that the king was
both covetous and needy, he overcame his scruples, by persuading the
clergy to promise him a yearly subsidy of thirty thousand gold crowns,
and even their whole fortunes, if this should be thought necessary. As
he had no design, however, to be at any unnecessary expense himself, nor
meant to be burdensome to his brethren, he pointed out the estates of
those who rebelled against the authority of the Pope and the majesty of
the king as proper subjects for confiscation, whereby there might be
raised annually the sum of one hundred thousand crowns of gold. In order
to attain this object, he requested that, for himself and his brethren,
they might only be allowed to name, as they were precluded themselves
from sitting in judgment in criminal cases, a lord chief justice, before
whom, were he once appointed, there could be neither difficulty in
managing the process, nor delay in procuring judgment, since so many men
hesitated not to read the books of the New and Old Testaments, to
discuss and disown the power of the Pope, to condemn the ancient rites
of the church, and, instead of reverencing and obeying, dared to treat
with derisive contempt those individuals that had been consecrated to
God, and whose business it was to guide them in their spiritual
concerns. This wicked counsel, as it suited both the inclinations and
the necessities of the king, was quickly complied with, and they
nominated for this new court of inquisition a judge every way according
to their own hearts, James Hamilton, (a natural brother of the Earl of
Arran,) whom they had attached to their interests by large gifts, and
who was willing to be reconciled to the king, whom he had lately
offended, by any service, however cruel.
The
suspicions which the king entertained against his nobility from this
time forward were such as to paralyze his efforts whether for good or
evil. The inroads of the English, too, occupied his whole attention, and
the shameful overthrow of his army which had entered England by the
Solway, threw him into such a state of rage and distraction, that his
health sunk under it, and he died at Falkland on the 13th of December,
1542, leaving the kingdom, torn by faction, and utterly defenceless, to
his only surviving legitimate child, Mary, then no more than five days
old. The sudden demise of the king, while it quashed the old projects of
the Cardinal, only set him upon forming new ones still more daring and
dangerous. Formerly he had laboured to direct the movements of the king
by humouring his passions, flattering his vanity, and administering to
his vicious propensities. Now, from the infancy of the successor, the
death, the captivity, or the exile of the most influential part of the
nobility, and the distracted state of the nation in general, he
conceived that it would be easy for him to seize upon the government,
which he might now administer for the infant queen, solely to his own
mind. Accordingly, with the assistance of one Henry Balfour, a mercenary
priest, whom he suborned, he is said to have forged a will for the king,
in which he was himself nominated agent with three of the nobility as
his assessors or assistants. According to Knox, these were Argyle,
Huntley, and Murray; but Buchanan, whom we think a very sufficient
authority in this case, says that he also assumed as an assessor his
cousin by the mother�s side, the Earl of Arran, who was, after Mary,
the next heir to the crown, but was believed to be poorly qualified by
the humbler virtues of discharging the duties of a private life, and
still less fitted either by courage or capacity for directing the
government of a kingdom. Aware of the danger thai might arise from
delay, the cardinal lost not a moment in idle deliberation. The will
which he had forged he caused to be proclaimed at the cross of Edinburgh
on the Monday immediately succeeding the king�s death.
Arran,
the unambitious presumptive heir to the throne, would, had he been left
to himself, have peaceably acquiesced in the cardinal�s arrangements,
for he had the approbation of the queen mother, and, by presents and
promises, had made no inconsiderable party among the nobility. But his
friends, the Hamiltons, says Buchanan, more anxious for their owe
aggrandizement than for his honour, incessantly urged him not to let
such an occasion slip out of his hands, for they would rather have seen
the whole kingdom in flames than have been obliged to lead obscure lives
in private stations. Hatred, too, to the Cardinal, who, from his
persecuting and selfish spirit, was very generally detested, and the
disgrace of living in bondage to a priest, procured them many
associates. The near prospect which Arran now had of succeeding to the
crown, must also have enlisted a number of the more wary and calculating
politicians upon his side. But what was of still more consequence to
him, Henry of England who had carried all the principal prisoners taken
in the late battle to London, marched them in triumph through that
metropolis, and given them in charge to his principal nobility, no
sooner heard of the death of the king than he recalled the captives to
court, entertained them in the most friendly manner, and having taken a
promise from each of them that they would promote as far as possible,
without detriment to the public interests, or disgrace to themselves, a
marriage between his son and the young queen, he sent them back to
Scotland, where they arrived on the 1st of January, 1543. Along with the
prisoners the Earl of Angus and his brother were restored to their
country, after an exile of fifteen years, and all were received by the
nation with the most joyful gratulations.
It
was in vain that the Cardinal had already taken possession of the
regency. Arran, by the advice of the Laird of Grange, called an assembly
of the nobility, which finding the will upon which the Cardinal had
assumed the regency forged, set him aside and elected Arran in his
place. This was peculiarly grateful to a great proportion of the nobles,
three hundred of whom, with Arran at their head, were found in a
proscription list among the king�s papers, furnished to him by the
Cardinal. Arran, it was well known, was friendly to the reformers, and
his imbecility of mind being unknown, the greatest expectations were
formed from the moderation of his character. In the parliament that met
in the month of March following, public affairs put on a much more
promising appearance than could have been expected. The king of England,
instead of an army to waste or to subjugate the country, sent an
ambassador to negociate a marriage between the young queen and his son,
and a lasting peace upon the most advantageous terms. The Cardinal, who
saw in this alliance with protestant England the downfall of his church
in Scotland, opposed himself, with the whole weight of the clergy at his
back, and all the influence of the Queen dowager, to every thing
like pacific measures, and that with so much violence, that he was by
the general consent of the house shut up in a separate chamber, while
the votes were taken; after which every thing was settled in the most
amicable manner, and it was agreed that hostages should be sent into
England for the fulfilment of the stipulated articles.
The
Cardinal in the meantime was committed as a prisoner into the hands of
Lord Seton, who kept him first in Dalkeith, afterwards in Seton, and by
and bye, something being bestowed on Lord Seton and the old Laird of
Lethington, by way of compensation, he was suffered to resume his own
castle at St Andrews. In the great confusion and uncertainty in public
affairs that had prevailed for a number of years, trade had been at an
entire stand, and now that a lasting peace seemed to be established, the
merchants began to bestir themselves in all quarters; and a number of
vessels were sent to sea laden with the most valuable merchandise.
Edinburgh itself fitted out twelve, and the other towns on the eastern
coast in proportion to their wealth, all of them coasting the English
shores, and entering their harbours with the most undoubting confidence.
Restored, however, to liberty, the Cardinal, enraged at the opposition
he had encountered, and writhing under the disgrace of detected fraud,
strained every nerve to break up the arrangements that had been so
happily concluded. Seconded by the Queen-dowager, who, like him, hated
the Douglasses, and trembled for the established religion, any change in
which would necessarily involve a rupture of the ancient treaty with
France, he convoked, at St Andrews, soon after his return to that place,
an assembly of the clergy, to determine upon a certain sum of money to
be given by them in case their measures for the preservation of the
catholic church should involve the country in a war with England. The
whole of the bishops not being present, the meeting was adjourned to the
month of June; but the Cardinal had the address to prevail on those that
were present to give all their own money, their silver plate, and the
plate belonging to their churches, for the maintenance of such a war,
besides engaging to enter themselves into the army as volunteers, should
such a measure be thought necessary.
Aided
by this money, with which he wrought upon the avarice and the poverty of
the nobles and excited the clamours of the vulgar, who hated the very
name of an English alliance, the Cardinal soon found himself at the head
of a formidable party, which treated the English ambassador with the
greatest haughtiness, in the hope of forcing him out of the country
before the arrival of the day stipulated by the treaty with the regent
for the delivery of the hostages. The ambassador, however, braved every
insult till the day arrived, when he waited on the regent, and
complained in strong terms of the manner in which he had been used, and
the affronts that had been put, not upon himself only, but upon his
master, in contempt of the law of nature and of nations, but at the same
time demanded the fulfilment of the treaty and the immediate delivery of
the hostages that had been agreed upon. With respect to the affronts
complained of, the regent apologised, stating them to have been
committed without his knowledge, and he promised to make strict enquiry
after, and to punish the offenders. With regard to the hostages,
however, he was obliged to confess, that, through the intrigues of the
Cardinal, it was impossible for him to furnish them. The treaty being
thus broken off, the noblemen who had been captives only a few months
before, ought, according to agreement, to have gone back into England,
having left hostages to that effect. Wrought upon, however, by the
Cardinal and the clergy, they refused to redeem the faith they had
pledged, and abandoned the friends they had left behind them to their
fate. The only exception to this baseness was the Earl of Cassius, who
had left two brothers as hostages. Henry was so much pleased with this
solitary instance of good faith, that he set him free along with his
brothers, and sent him home loaded with gifts. He at the same time
seized upon all the Scottish vessels, a great number of which had been
lately fitted out, as we have stated, and were at this time in the
English harbours and road-steads, confiscated the merchandise, and made
the merchants and the mariners prisoners of war. This, while it added to
the domestic miseries of Scotland, served also to fan the flames of
dissension, which burned more fiercely than ever. The faction of the
Cardinal and the Queen-dowager, entirely devoted to France, now sent
ambassadors thither to state their case as utterly desperate, unless
they were supported from that country. In particular, they requested
that Matthew Earl of Lennox might be ordered home, in order that they
might set him up as a rival to the Hamiltons, who were already the
objects of his hatred, on account of their having waylaid and killed his
father at Linlithgow.
Arran
laboured to strengthen his party in the best manner he could; and for
this end resolved to possess himself of the infant Queen, who had
hitherto remained at Linlithgow in the charge of her mother the
Queen-dowager. The Cardinal, however, was too wary to be thus
circumvented, and assembling his faction, took possession of Linlithgow,
where he lived at free quarters upon the inhabitants, on pretence of
being a guard to the Queen. Lennox, in the meantime, arrived from
France, and was received by the regent with great kindness, each of them
dissembling the hatred he bore to the other, and having informed his
friends of the expectations he had been led to form he proceeded to join
the Queen at Linlithgow, accompanied by upwards of four thousand men.
Arran, who had assembled all his friends in and about Edinburgh for the
purpose of breaking through to the Queen, now found himself completely
in the back ground, having, by the imbecility of his character, entirely
lost the confidence of the people, and being threatened with a law-suit
by the friends of Lennox to deprive him of his estates, his father
having married his mother, Janet Beaton, an aunt of the Cardinal, while
his first wife, whom he had divorced, was still alive. He now thought of
nothing but making his peace with the Cardinal. To this the Cardinal was
not at all averse, as he wished to make Arran his tool rather than to
crush him entirely. Delegates of course were appointed by both parties,
who met at Kirkliston, a village about midway between Edinburgh and
Linlithgow, and agreed that the Queen should be carried to Stirling; the
Earl of Montrose, with the Lords Erskine, Lindsay, and Livingstone,
being nominated to take the superintendence of her education. Having
been put in possession of the infant Queen, these noblemen proceeded
with her direct to Stirling Castle, where she was solemnly inaugurated
with the usual ceremonies on the 9th of Sept. 1543. The feeble regent
soon followed, and before the Queen-mother and the principal nobility in
the church of the Franciscans at Stirling, solemnly abjured the
protestant doctrines, by time profession of which alone he had obtained
the favour of so large a portion of the nation, and for the protection
of which he had been especially called to the regency. In this manner
the Cardinal, through the cowardice of the regent, and the avarice of
his friends, obtained all that he intended by the forged will, and
enjoyed all the advantages of ruling, while all the odium that attended
it attached to the imbecile Arran, who was now as much hunted and
despised by his own party as he had formerly been venerated by them.
There was yet, however, one thing wanting to establish the power of the
Cardinal�the dismissal of Lennox, who, though he had been greatly
useful to them in humbling Arran, was now a serious obstacle in the way
of both the Cardinal and the Queen-mother. They accordingly wrote to the
king of France, entreating that, as Scotland had been restored to
tranquillity by his liberality and assistance, he would secure his own
good work and preserve the peace which he had procured, by recalling
Lennox, without which it was impossible it could be lasting.
Though
they were thus secretly labouring to undermine this nobleman, the
Queen-mother and the Cardinal seemed to study nothing so much as how
they might put honour upon him before the people, and in the most
effective manner contribute to his comfort. By a constant succession of
games and festivals, the court presented one unbroken scene of gaiety
and pleasure. Day after day was spent in tournaments, and night after
night in masquerades. In these festivities, of which he was naturally
fond, Lennox found a keen rival in James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who
had been banished by James V., but had returned after his decease, and
was now labouring to obtain the Queen-dowager in marriage by the same
arts that Lennox fancied himself to be so successfully employing. Both
these noblemen were remarkable for natural endowments, and in the gifts
of fortune they were nearly upon a level. Finding himself inferior,
however, in the sportive strife of arms, Bothwell withdrew from the
court in chagrin, leaving the field to his rival undisputed. Lennox, now
fancying that he had nothing more to do than to reap the harvest of fair
promises that had been so liberally held forth to him, pressed his suit
upon the Queen, but learned with astonishment that she had no intention
of taking him for a husband, and so far from granting him the regency,
she had agreed with the Cardinal to preserve it in the possession of his
mortal enemy Arran, whom they expected to be a more pliant tool to serve
their own personal views and purposes. Exasperated to the highest
degree, Lennox swore to be amply revenged, but uncertain as yet what
plan to pursue, departed for Dumbarton, where he was in the midst of his
vassals and friends. Here he received thirty thousand crowns, sent to
increase the strength of his party by the king of France, who had not
yet been informed of the real state of Scotland. Being ordered to
consult with the Queen-dowager and the Cardinal in the distribution of
this money, Lennox divided part of it among his friends, and part he
sent to the Queen. The Cardinal, who had expected to have been intrusted
with the greatest share of the money, under the influence of rage and
disappointment, persuaded the vacillating regent to raise an army and
march to Glasgow, where he might seize upon Lennox and the money at the
same time. Lennox, however, warned of their intentions, raised on the
instant among his vassals and friends upwards of ten thousand men, with
which he marched to Leith, and sent a message to the Cardinal at
Edinburgh, that he desired to save him the trouble of coming to fight
him at Glasgow, and would give him that pleasure any day in the fields
between Edinburgh and Leith.
This
was a new and unexpected mortification to the Cardinal, who, having
gained the regent, imagined he should have gained the whole party that
adhered to him; but the fact was, he had gained only the regent and his
immediate dependants, the great body of the people, who had originally
given him weight and influence, being now so thoroughly disgusted with
his conduct, that they had joined the standard, and now swelled the
ranks of his rival. The Cardinal, however, though professing the utmost
willingness to accept the challenge, delayed coming to action from day
to day under various pretexts, but in reality that he might have time to
seduce the adherents of his rival, and weary out the patience of his
followers, who, without pay and without magazines, he was well aware
could not be kept for any length of time together. Lennox, finding the
war thus protracted, and himself so completely unfurnished for
undertaking a siege, at the urgent entreaty of his friends, who for the
most part had provided secretly for themselves, made an agreement with
the regent, and, proceeding to Edinburgh, the two visited backwards and
forwards, as if all their ancient animosity had been forgotten. Lennox,
however, being advised of treachery, withdrew in the night secretly to
Glasgow, where he fortified, provisioned, and garrisoned the Bishop�s
castle, but retired himself to Dumbarton. Here he learned that the
Douglasses had agreed with the Hamiltons, and that, through the
influence of his enemies, the French king was totally estranged from
him. Archibald Douglas Earl of Angus, and Robert Maxwell, in the
meantime, came to Glasgow with the view of mediating between Lennox and
the Regent. The Regent, however, seized them both in a clandestine
manner by the way, and made them close prisoners in the castle of Cadzow.
While the two factions were thus harassing one another to the ruin of
their common country, Henry was demanding by letters satisfaction for
the breach of treaties and the insults that had been heaped upon him in
the person of his late ambassador. No notice being taken of these
letters, Henry ordered a large armament, which he had prepared to send
against the coast of France, to proceed directly to Leith, and to visit
Edinburgh and the adjacent country with all the miseries of war; and
with so much secrecy and celerity did this armament proceed, that the
first tidings heard of it in Scotland was its appearance in Leith roads.
Ten thousand men were disembarked on the 4th May, 1544, a little above
Leith, who took possession of that place without the smallest
opposition, the inhabitants being mostly abroad in the prosecution of
their business. The Regent and the Cardinal were both at the time in
Edinburgh, and, panic-stricken at the appearance of the enemy, and still
more at the hatred of the citizens, fled with the utmost precipitation
towards Stirling. The English, in the meantime, having landed their
baggage and artillery, marched in order of battle towards Edinburgh,
which they sacked and set on fire; then dispersing themselves over the
neighbouring country, they burnt towns, villages, and gentlemen�s
seats to the ground, and returning by Edinburgh to Leith, embarked
aboard their ships and set sail with a fair wind, carrying with them an
immense booty, and with the loss on their part of only a few
individuals.
The
Cardinal and his puppet the Regent, in the meantime, raised a small body
of forces in the north, with which, finding the English gone, they
marched against Lennox in the west, and laid siege to the castle of
Glasgow, which they battered with brass cannon for a number of days. A
truce was at last concluded for one day, during which the garrison were
tampered with, and, on a promise of safety, surrendered. They were,
however, put to death, with the exception of one or two individuals.
Lennox, now totally deserted by the French, and unable to cope with the
Cardinal, had no resource but to fly into England, where, through the
medium of his friends, he had been assured of a cordial reception.
Before leaving the country, however, he was determined to inflict signal
vengeance upon the Hamiltons. Having communicated with William Earl of
Glencairn upon the subject, a day was appointed on which they should
assemble with their vassals at Glasgow, whence they might make an
irruption into the territory of the Hamiltons, which lay in the
immediate neighbourhood. The Regent, informed of this design, with the
advice of the Cardinal, resolved to pre-occupy Glasgow. Glencairn,
however, did not wait the appointed day, but was already in the town,
and learning the approach of the Hamiltons marched out to give them
battle, aided by the citizens, who do not appear to have been friendly
to the Regent. The battle was stoutly contested, and for some time the
Hamiltons seemed to have the worst of it. In the end, however, they
gained a complete victory, the greater part of the Cuninghames being
slain, and among the rest two of the Earl�s sons. Nor was it a
bloodless victory to the Hamiltons, several of their chieftains being
slain; but the severest loss fell upon the citizens of Glasgow, whose
houses were cruelly plundered, and even their doors and window shutters
destroyed. The friends of Lennox refused to risk another engagement, but
they insisted that he should keep the impregnable fortress of Dumbarton,
where he might in safety await another revolution in the state of
parties, which they prognosticated would take place in a very short
time. Nothing, however, could divert him from his purpose; and,
committing the charge of the castle of Dumbarton to George Stirling, he
sailed for England, where he was honourably entertained by king Henry,
who settled a pension upon him, and gave him to wife his niece, Margaret
Douglas, a princess in the flower of her age, and celebrated for every
accomplishment becoming the female character. The Queen-dowager, aware
that the faction Lennox had thus left without a leader could not be
brought to submit to Arran, whose levity and imbecility of character
they were now perfectly acquainted with, nor to the Cardinal, whose
cruelty they both hated and feared, and dreading they might break out
into some more desperate insurrection, condescended to soothe them and
to take them under her particular protection. Arran was delighted to be
delivered from such a formidable rival upon any terms; and in the next
parliament, which met at Linlithgow, he succeeded in causing Lennox to
be declared a traitor, and in having his estates and those of his
friends confiscated, by which he realized considerable sums of money.
The
English, during these domestic broils, made a furious inroad into
Scotland, burned Jedburgh and Kelso, and laid waste the whole
circumjacent country. Thence proceeding to Coldingham, they fortified
the church and the church tower, in which they placed a garrison on
retiring to their own country. This garrison, from the love of plunder
as well as to prevent supplies for a besieging army, wasted the
neighbouring district to a wide extent. Turning their attention at last
to general interests, the Scottish government, at the head of which was
the Cardinal, the Queen-dowager, and the nominal Regent Arran, issued a
proclamation for the nobles and the more respectable of the commons to
assemble armed, and with provisions for eight days, to attend the
Regent. Eight thousand men were speedily assembled, and though it was
the depth of winter, they proceeded against the church and tower of
Coldingham without delay. When they had been before the place only one
day and one night, the Regent, informed that the English were advancing
from Berwick, took horse, and with a few attendants galloped in the
utmost haste to Dunbar. This inexplicable conduct threw the whole army
into confusion, and, but for the bravery of one man, Archibald Douglas
Earl of Angus, the whole of their tents, baggage, and artillery would
have been abandoned to the enemy. But although Angus and a few of his
friends, at the imminent hazard of their lives, saved the artillery and
brought it in safety to Dunbar, the conduct of the army in general, and
of the Regent in particular, was pusillanimous in the extreme. The
spirit of the nation sunk and the courage of the enemy rose in
proportion. Ralph Ivers, and Brian Latoun, the English commanders,
overran, without meeting with any opposition, the districts of Merse,
Teviotdale, and Lauderdale, and the Forth only seemed to limit their
victorious arms. Angus, who alone of all the Scottish nobility at this
time gave any indication of public spirit, indignant at the nation�s
disgrace and deeply affected with his own losses, for he had extensive
estates both in Merse and Teviotdale, made a vehement representation to
the Regent upon the folly of his conduct in allowing himself to be the
dupe of an ambitious but cowardly priest, who, like the rest of his
brethren, unwarlike abroad, was seditious at home, and, exempt from
danger, wished only the power of wasting the fruit of other men�s
labours upon his own voluptuousness. Always feeble and always
vacillating, the Regent was roused by these remonstrances to a momentary
exertion. An order was issued through the neighbouring counties for all
the nobles to attend him, wherever he should be, without loss of time,
and in company with Angus, he set out the very next day for the borders,
their whole retinue not exceeding three hundred horse. Arrived at
Melrose, they determined to wait for their reinforcements, having yet
been joined only by a few individuals from the Merse. The English, who
were at Jedburgh, to the number of five thousand men, having by their
scouts ascertained the situation and small number of their forces,
marched on the instant to surprise them, before their expected supplies
should come up. The Scots, however, apprized of their intentions,
withdrew to the neighbouring hills, whence, in perfect security, they
watched the movements of their enemies, who, disappointed in not finding
them, wandered about during the night in quest of such spoils as a
lately ravaged town could supply, and with the returning dawn marched
back to Jedburgh. The Scots now joined by Norman Lesly, a youth of great
promise, son to the Earl of Rothes, and three hundred men from Fife,
withdrew to the hills which overlook the village of Ancrum, where they
were joined by the Laird of Balcleuch, an active and experienced
commander, with a few of his vassals, who assured him that the remainder
would follow immediately. By the advice of Balcleuch, the troops were
dismounted, and the horses under the care of servants sent to an
adjoining hill. The army was formed in the hollow in the order of
battle. The English, as had been anticipated, seeing the horses going
over the hill, supposed the Scots to be in full retreat, and eager to
prevent their escape, rushed after them, and ere they were aware, fell
upon the Scottish spears. Taken by surprise, the English troops, though
they fought with great bravery, were thrown into disorder, and sustained
a signal defeat, losing in killed and captured upwards of thirteen
hundred men. The loss on the part of the Scots was two men killed and a
few wounded.
In
consequence of this victory, the Scots were freed from the incursions of
the English for the ensuing summer; but it was principally improved by
the Regent, with the advice of the Cardinal, for drawing closer the
cords of connexion with France. An ambassador was immediately despatched
to that country with the tidings�to report in strong terms the
treachery of Lennox, and to request reinforcements of men and money.
These could not at this time indeed well be spared, as an immediate
descent of the English was expected; yet, in the hopes of somewhat
distracting the measures of Henry, an auxiliary force of three thousand
foot and five hundred horse was ordered, under the command of James
Montgomery of Largo, who was also empowered to inquire into the
differences between Lennox and the Regent and Cardinal. Montgomery
arrived in Scotland on the 3d day of July, 1545, and having exhibited
his commission, and explained the purposes of his master, the king of
France, to the Scottish council, they were induced to issue an
order for an army of the better class, who might be able to support the
expenses of a campaign, to assemble on an early day. This order was
punctually complied with and on the day appointed, fifteen thousand
Scotsmen assembled at Haddington, who were marched directly to the
English border, and encamped in the neighbourhood of Werk castle. From
this camp they carried on their incursions into the neighbouring country
for about a day�s journey, carrying off every thing that they could
lay hold of. Having wasted in the course of ten days the country that
lay within their reach, and being destitute of artillery for carrying on
sieges, the army disbanded, and every man went to his own home.
Montgomery repaired to court, to inquire into the disputes with Lennox;
the English, in the meantime, by way of reprisals, wasting the Scottish
borders in every quarter. Montgomery, in the beginning of winter
returned home, leaving the Cardinal, though he blamed him as the sole
author of the dissentions between Lennox and the Regent, in the full
possession of all his authority.
Beaton
now supposed himself fully established in the civil as well as the
ecclesiastic management of the kingdom, and proceeded on a progress
through the different provinces for the purpose of quieting the
seditions, which, as he alleged, had arisen in various places, but in
reality to repress the protestants who, notwithstanding his having so
artfully identified the cause of the catholic religion with that of
national feeling, had still been rapidly increasing. Carrying his puppet
Arran along with him, as also the Earl of Argyle, Lord Justice-General,
Lord Borthwick, the Bishops of Orkney and Dunblane, &c. he came to
Perth, or, as it was then more commonly called, St Johnston, where
several persons were summoned before him for disputing upon the sense of
the Scriptures which, among all true catholics, was a crime to be
punished by the judge. Four unhappy men, accused of having eaten a goose
upon a Friday, were condemned to be hanged, which rigorous sentence was
put into execution. A woman, Helen Stark, for having refused to call
upon the Virgin for assistance in her labour, was drowned, although
again pregnant. A number of the burgesses of the city, convicted or
suspected (for in those days they were the same thing) of smaller
peccadilloes, were banished from the city. He also deposed the Lord
Ruthven from the provostry of the city, for being somewhat attached to
the new opinions, and bestowed the office upon the Laird of Kinfauns, a
relation to the Lord Gray, who was neither supposed to be averse to the
new religion, nor friendly to the Cardinal; but he hoped by this
arrangement to lay a foundation for a quarrel between these noblemen, by
which at least one of them would be cut off. This act of tyranny, by
which the citizens were deprived of their privilege of choosing their
own governor, was highly resented by them, as well as by the Lord
Ruthven, whose family had held the place so long that they almost
considered it to be hereditary in their family. The new provost Kinfauns
was urged by the Cardinal and his advisers to seize upon the government
of the city by force, but the Lord Ruthven, with the assistance of the
citizens, put him to the route, and slew sixty of his followers. That
Ruthven was victorious must have been a little mortifying to the
Cardinal; but as the victims were enemies of the church, the defeat was
the less to be lamented.
From
St Johnston the Cardinal proceeded to Dundee, in order to bring to
punishment the readers of the New Testament, which about this time began
to be taught to them in the original Greek, of which the Scottish
priesthood knew so little that they held it forth as a new book written
in a new language, invented by Martin Luther, and of such pernicious
qualities that, whoever had the misfortune to look into it became
infallably tainted with deadly heresy. Here, however, their proceedings
were interrupted by the approach of Lord Patrick Gray and the Earl of
Rothes. These noblemen being both friendly to the Reformation, the
Cardinal durst not admit them with their followers into a town that was
notorious for attachment to that cause above all the cities of the
kingdom; he therefore sent the Regent back to Perth, whither he himself
also accompanied him. Even in Perth, however, be durst not meet them
openly, and the Regent requiring them to enter separately, they
complied, and were both committed to prison. Rothes was soon dismissed,
but Gray, whom the Cardinal was chiefly afraid of, remained in
confinement a considerable time. The Cardinal having gone over as much
of Angus as he found convenient at the time, returned to St Andrews,
carrying along with him a black friar named John Rogers, who had been
preaching the reformed doctrine in Angus. This individual he committed
to the sea-tower of St Andrews, where, it is alleged, he caused him to
be privately murdered and thrown over the wall, giving out that he had
attempted to escape over it, and in the attempt fell and broke his neck.
He also brought along with him the Regent Arran, of whom, though he held
his son as a hostage, he was not without doubts, especially when he
reflected upon the inconstancy of his character, the native fierceness
of the nobility, and the number of them that were still unfriendly to
his own measures. He therefore entertained him, for twenty days
together, with all manner of shows and splendid entertainments, made him
many presents, and, promising him many more, set out with him to
Edinburgh, where he convened an assembly of the clergy to devise means
for putting a stop to the disorders that were so heavily complained of,
and which threatened the total ruin of the church. In this meeting it
was proposed to allay the public clamours by taking measures for
reforming the open profligacy of the priests, which was the chief source
of complaint. Their deliberations, however, were cut short by
intelligence that George Wishart, the most eminent preacher of the
reformed doctrines of his day, was residing with Cockburn of Ormiston,
only about seven miles from Edinburgh. They calculated that, if they
could cut out this individual, they should perform an action more
serviceable to the cause of the church, and also one of much easier
accomplishment, than reforming the lives of the priests. A troop of
horse were immediately sent off to secure him; but Cockburn, refusing to
deliver him, the Cardinal himself and the Regent followed, blocking up
every avenue to the house, so as to render the escape of the reformer
impossible. To prevent the effusion of blood, however, the Earl of
Bothwell was sent for, who pledged his faith to Cockburn, that he would
stand by Wishart, and that no harm should befall him; upon which he was
peaceably surrendered. Bothwell, however, wrought upon by the Cardinal,
and especially by the Queen-mother, with whom, Knox observes, "he
was then in the glanders," after some shuffling to save
appearances, delivered his prisoner up to the Cardinal, who imprisoned
him, first in the Castle of Edinburgh, and soon after carried him to St
Andrews, where he was brought before the ecclesiastical tribunal,
condemned for heresy, and most cruelly put to death, as the reader will
find related in another part of this work, under the article WISHART.
Wishart was a man mighty in the Scriptures, and few even of the martyrs
have displayed more of the meekness and humility that ought to
characterize the follower of Jesus Christ; but his knowledge of the
Scriptures availed him nothing, and the meek graces of his character,
like oil thrown upon flame, only heightened the rage and inflamed the
fury of his persecutors. Arran, pressed by his friends, and perhaps by
his own conscience, wrote to the Cardinal to stay the proceedings till
he should have time to inquire into the matter, and threatened him with
the guilt of innocent blood. But the warning was in vain, and the
innocent victim was only the more rapidly hurried to his end for fear of
a rescue.
This
act of tyranny and murder was extolled by the clergy and their
dependants as highly glorifying to God and honourable to the actor, who
was now regarded by them as one of the prime pillars of heaven, under
whose auspices the most glorious days might be expected. The people in
general felt far otherwise, and, irritated rather than terrified,
regarded the Cardinal as a monster of cruelty and lust, whom it would be
a meritorious action to destroy. Beaton was not ignorant of the hatred
and contempt in which he was held, nor of the devices that were forming
against him; but he supposed his power to be now so firmly established
as to be beyond the reach of faction, and he was determined by the most
prompt and decisive measures to be before-hand with his enemies. In the
mean time, he thought it prudent to strengthen his interest, which was
already great, by giving his daughter in marriage to the Master of
Crawford. For this purpose he proceeded to Angus, where the marriage was
celebrated with almost royal splendour, the bride receiving from her
father the Cardinal, no less than four thousand marks of dowry. From
these festivities he was suddenly recalled by intelligence that Henry of
England was collecting a great naval force, with which he intended to
annoy Scotland, and especially the coast of Fife. To provide against
such an exigency, the Cardinal summoned the nobility to attend him in a
tour round the coast, where he ordered fortifications to be made, and
garrisons placed in the most advantageous positions. In this tour he was
attended by the Master of Rothes, Norman Leslie, who had formerly been
one of his friends, but had of late, from some private grudge, become
cold towards him. Some altercation of course ensued, and they parted in
mortal enmity; the Cardinal determined secretly to take off, or to
imprison Norman, with his friends the Lairds of Grange, elder and
younger, Sir James Learmont, provost of St Andrews, and the Laird of
Raith, all whom be feared, and Norman resolved to slay the Cardinal, be
the consequences what they would.
The
Cardinal was in the meantime in great haste to repair and strengthen his
castle, upon which a large number of men were employed almost night and
day. The conspirators having lodged themselves secretly in St Andrews on
the night of May the twenty-eighth, 1546, were, ere the dawn of the next
morning, assembled to the number of ten or twelve persons in the
neighbourhood of the castle, and the gates being opened to let in the
workmen with their building materials, Kircaldy of Grange entered, and
with him six persons, who held a parley with the porter. Norman Leslie
and his company having then entered, passed to the middle of the court.
Lastly came John Leslie and four men with him, at whose appearance the
porter, suspecting some design, attempted to lift the drawbridge, but
was prevented by Leslie, who leaped upon it, seized the keys, and threw
the janitor himself headlong into the ditch. The place thus secured, the
workmen, to the number of a hundred, ran off the walls, and were put
forth at the wicket gate unhurt. Kircaldy then took charge of the privy
postern, the others going through the different chambers, from which
they ejected upwards of fifty persons, who were quietly permitted to
escape. The Cardinal, roused from his morning slumbers by the noise;
threw up his window and asked what it meant. Being answered that Norman
Leslie had taken his castle, he ran to the postern, but, finding it
secured, returned to his chamber, drew his two-handed sword, and ordered
his chamberlain to barricade the door. In the meantime, John Leslie
demanded admittance, but did not gain it till a chimneyful of burning
coals was brought to burn the door, when the Cardinal or his chamberlain
(it is not known which) threw it open. Beaton, who had in the mean time
hidden a box of gold under some coals in a corner of the room, now sat
down in a chair, crying, "I am a priest, I am a priest; you will
not slay me." But he was now in the hands of men to whom his
priestly character was no recommendation. John Leslie, according to his
vow, struck him twice with his dagger, and so did Peter Carmichael; but
James Melville, perceiving them to be in a passion, withdrew them,
saying, "This work and judgment of God, although it be secret,
ought to be gone about with gravity." Then admonishing the Cardinal
of his wicked life, particularly his shedding the blood of that eminent
preacher, Mr George Wishart, Melville struck him thrice through with a
stag sword, and he fell, exclaiming, "Fie, fie, I am a priest,
all�s gone!" Before this time the inhabitants of St Andrews were
apprized of what was going on, and began to throng around the castle,
exclaiming, "Have ye slain my Lord Cardinal? What have ye done with
my Lord Cardinal?� As they refused to depart till they saw him, his
dead body was slung out by the assassins at the same window from which
he had but a short time before witnessed the burning of Mr George
Wishart. Having no opportunity to bury the body, they afterwards salted
it, wrapped it in lead, and consigned it to the ground floor of the sea
tower, the very place where he was said to have caused Rogers, the
preaching friar to be murdered.
In
this manner fell Cardinal David Beaten, in the height of prosperity, and
in the prime of life, for he had only reached the fifty-second year of
his age. His death was deeply lamented by his own party, to whom it
proved an irreparable loss, and the authors of it were regarded by them
as sacrilegious assassins, but by numbers, who, on account of difference
in religion, were in dread of their lives from his cruelty, and by
others who were disgusted by his insufferable arrogance, they were
regarded as the restorers of their country�s liberties, and many did
not hesitate to hazard their lives and fortunes along with them.
Whatever opinion may be formed regarding the manner of his death, there
can be only one regarding its effects; the Protestant faith, which had
quailed before his persecuting arm, from this moment began to prosper in
the land. It is probable, as his enemies alone have been his historians,
that the traits of his character, and even the tone and bearing
of many of his actions, have been to some degree exaggerated; yet there
seems abundant proof of his sensuality, his cruelty, and his total
disregard of principle in his exertions for the preservation of the
Romish faith. Nothing, on the other hand, but that barbarism of the
times, which characterizes all Beaton�s policy, as well as his
actions, could extenuate the foul deed by which he was removed from the
world, or the unseemly sympathy which the reforming party in general
manifested towards its perpetrators. As a favourable view of his
character, and at the same time a fine specimen of old English
composition, we extract the following from the supplement to Dempster
:�
"It
frequently happens that the same great qualities of mind which enable a
man to distinguish himself by the splendour of his virtues, are so
overstrained or corrupted as to render him no less notorious for his
vices. Of this we have many instances in ancient writers, but none by
which it is more clearly displayed than in the character of the Cardinal
Archbishop of St Andrews, David Beaton, who, from his very childhood,
was extremely remarkable, and whose violent death had this in it
singular, that his enemies knew no way to remove him from his absolute
authority but that (of assassination). When he was but ten years of age,
he spoke with so much ease and gravity, with so much good sense, and
freedom from affectation, as surprised all who heard him. When he was
little more than twenty, he became known to the Duke of Albany, and to
the court of France, where he transacted affairs of the greatest
importance, at an age when others begin to become acquainted with them
only in books. Before he was thirty, he had merited the confidence of
the Regent, the attention of the French King, and the favour of his
master, so that they were all suitors to the court of Rome in his
behalf. He was soon after made Lord Privy-Seal, and appointed by act of
parliament to attend the young king, at his majesty�s own desire.
Before he attained the forty-fifth year of his age, he was Bishop of
Mirepoix in France, Cardinal of the Roman Church, Archbishop of St
Andrews, and Primate of Scotland, to which high dignities he added,
before he was fifty, those of Lord High Chancellor, and legate a latere.
His behaviour was so taking, that he never addicted himself to the
service of any prince or person, but he absolutely obtained their
confidence, and this power he had over the minds of others, he managed
with so much discretion, that his interest never weakened or decayed. He
was the favourite of the Regent, Duke of Albany, and of his pupil James
V. as long as they lived; and the French king and the governor of
Scotland equally regretted his loss. He was indefatigable in business,
and yet managed it with great ease. He understood the interests of the
courts of Rome, France, and Scotland, better than any man of his time,
and he was perfectly acquainted with the temper, influence, and weight
of all the nobility in his own country. In time of danger, he showed
great prudence and steadiness of mind, and in his highest prosperity,
discovered nothing of vanity or giddiness. He was a zealous churchman,
and thought severity the only weapon that could combat heresy. He loved
to live magnificently, though not profusely, for at the time of his
death he was rich, and yet had provided plentifully for his family. But
his vices were many, and his vices scandalous. He quarrelled with the
old Archbishop of Glasgow in his own city, and pushed this quarrel so
far that their men fought in the very church. His ambition was
boundless, for he took into his hands the entire management of the
affairs of the kingdom, civil and ecclesiastical, and treated the
English ambassador as if he had been a sovereign prince. He made no
scruple of sowing discord among his enemies, that he might reap security
from their disputes. His jealousy of the governor (Arran) was such, that
he kept his eldest son as a hostage in his house, under pretence of
taking care of his education. In point of chastity he was very
deficient; for, though we should set aside as calumnies many of those
things which his enemies have reported of his intrigues, yet the
posterity he left behind him plainly proves that he violated those vows
to gratify his passions, which he obliged others to hold sacred on the
penalty of their lives. In a word, had his probity been equal to his
parts, had his virtues come up to his abilities, his end had been less
fatal, and his memory without blemish. As it is, we ought to consider
him as an eminent instance of the frailty of the brightest human
faculties, and the instability of what the world calls fortune."
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