9. Leanings Towards Reform
J H Merle d’Aubigné
In spite of the executions, the Romish party was not yet satisfied. “These cruel beasts,” says Knox, “did intend nothing but murder in all quarters of the realm.” Many of King James V’s courtiers, his associates in dissipation and in the pay of the priests, instigated him to persecute.
Archbishop James Beaton died in the autumn of 1539. By his last will he left his archbishopric of St Andrews to his nephew David, who became primate of Scotland when confirmed by the King. Henry VIII was induced by these changes to take fresh steps at the beginning of 1540 to gain over his nephew, the Scottish King. Henry sent him presents and friendly messages, which James received in the warmest manner. Henry, however, meant to get to the main point, and Thomas Eure, one of his envoys, strove to discover the King of Scotland’s purposes about the Bishop of Rome and the Reformation. One of the councillors, Ballenden, replied with great politeness: “The King of Scots himself . . . was greatly given to the reformation of the misdemeanours of bishops, religious persons and priests within the realm”.
James gave even then some proofs of this disposition. On 6 January 1540 a grand feast and dramatic performance was given in the palace of Linlithgow, to exhibit the presumption of the bishops, the iniquities of the spiritual courts and the evil ways of the priests. The King, the Queen, and all the councillors spiritual and temporal were present. James then had the Archbishop of Glasgow called to him, as well as the other bishops. “I exhort you,” the King
13Quoted in Buchanan, Justification, p 471. Buchanan pays tribute to Henry Balnaves’ Treatise on Justification as “still one of the best in our language”. It can be found in David Laing, ed, The Works of John Knox, vol 3, pp 431-542. Balnaves was, along with Knox, taken prisoner at the castle of St Andrews by the French.
1Abridged from The History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vol 6. Last month’s chapter gave an account of the trial and martyrdom of, among others, Dean Thomas Forrest and an 18-year-old lad from Ayr.
told them, “to reform your fashions and manners of living. If you do not, I will send six of the proudest of you unto my uncle of England, and after he has put them in order, I will do the same with the rest if they will not amend.” The Archbishop answered in consternation, “One word of your grace’s mouth shall suffice them to be at commandment”. Ballenden, in confirmation of these new intentions of James, said to Thomas Eure, “The King is fully minded to expel all spiritual men from having any authority by office under his grace”.
James’ convictions were not very deep, and his own life did not give him the right to criticise the bishops’ lives. The Cardinal was sure of persuading him to change his mind. Other men have been called great or just; Beaton deserved to be called a persecutor. History inflicts this term on him as a disgrace, but he seems to have aspired to it as a glory. Beaton assembled at St Andrews the prelates and nobles who enjoyed his confidence. An elevated seat was provided for him in the cathedral. Proud to see beneath him that illustrious and brilliant assembly, David Beaton began to speak. He set forth with warm feeling the dangers to which the multiplication of heretics was exposing the Roman faith; the audacity with which they avowed their opinions, even at court, where they found too much support – alluding to the drama with which James had been so struck.
Then, to show the significance of his words, he announced that he had cited before the assembly Sir John Borthwick, brother of the provost of Linlithgow, who probably had a hand in the drama. “This heretic gives out”, he said, “that the Pope has no more authority than other bishops, that his indulgences have no effect other than to deceive the people, that the religious orders ought to be abolished, that all ecclesiastics are at liberty to marry, and in short, that the Scots, blinded by their clergy, do not profess the true faith. He reads and circulates the New Testament in English and divers treatises of Melanchthon, Oecolampadius and Erasmus, and refuses to submit to the see of Rome.”
Instead of going to St Andrews, Borthwick set out in all haste for England, where he was well received by Henry VIII. But although Beaton could not send the lamb to the slaughter, he could at least take possession of the fleece. On May 28 confiscation of Sir John’s property was pronounced and his effigy burnt at St Andrews. The fire did him no great harm, but it served to give a certain point to the Cardinal’s speech.
Under the Cardinal’s influence, the King had again returned to the side of Rome. This prince, so thoughtless, violent and unprincipled, changed his opinion at a word from those about him. Money he wanted, and he would have received it from one party as readily as another, but the priests were more persevering and more skilful in finding it. Sir James Hamilton, the royal
treasurer, had at that time received large sums from the Cardinal; and the King, won by that argument, pronounced himself against the friends of the Reformation with the passion he had before shown towards the prelates.
The King then invested Hamilton with functions resembling those of an inquisitor, charging him “to seize all persons suspected of heresy and to inflict on them, after judgement, such penalties as they have deserved”. In his zeal he exclaimed, “Not a man of that sort shall find any mercy at my hands, not even my own son, if it were proved that he was in the number of the guilty”. This declaration alarmed many. It was plain that an inquisitorial court was to be set up, and Hamilton was already preparing everything for that end. But he was suddenly thrown into the prison in which he meant to confine the friends of the Reformation. Accused, either justly or unjustly, of conspiring against the King’s life, he was arrested, and James had him put to death in August 1540.
James spoke of his son. He had indeed a son, born on 22 May 1540, and so not old enough to excite any fears about what he called heresy. The boy’s baptism took place on May 28, and on the next day the King left “to visit the isles”. The Cardinal and other prelates resolved to take advantage of his absence. The King, they saw, was in ill humour with the nobles, and all those who were suspected in the matter of doctrine must be got rid of. But one discreet man, James Kirkcaldy of Grange, the Lord Treasurer, had been told about this project and made it known to the King. James was enraged at this intrigue hatched in his absence and turned about once more.
The Cardinal, attended by many bishops, came to Holyrood Palace to greet the King and presented to him a paper with the names of nobles suspected of heresy. He dwelt even on the gain which would flow to the crown from getting rid of them. James replied sharply: “Get to your charges and reform your own lives; be no instruments of discord between my nobility and me, or else I vow to God I shall reform you by sharp whingers2 if ever I hear such motion of you again”. The prelates, astounded at this rebuke, withdrew in confusion and gave up their scheme for a time.
A second son was born to James in April 1541, and this event both heightened his joy and increased his pride. His happiness, however, was frequently disturbed. Certain men were incessantly endeavouring to deceive him. Informers denounced to him one or other of his earls, his barons and other subjects, as bent on taking his life, and this threw him into a state of great alarm. James had yet other causes of uneasiness. His nights were disturbed, gloomy and sleepless. Hamilton’s death, which he had hastily ordered on mere suspicion, frequently gave him bitter pain. That unfortunate lord had done for the prince
2A whinger was a short sword.
all that he had wished; and the latter now asked himself whether he had done well to deprive himself of so devoted a secretary. Perhaps he was innocent. It was in this state of mind that a message reached him from Stirling that his son Arthur had just died: Shortly after, another message came from St Andrews to tell him that his son James was dead. His heart was broken; his mind was disordered. He shut himself up, and the only person he would see was his mother.
Meanwhile the doctrine of the Reformation made progress and, if only liberty were granted it, its triumph in Scotland appeared to be at hand. Many of the common people, both in the country districts and in the towns, held meetings more or less secretly at which they heard the Word read and even explained. By 1540 many eminent men had received the evangelical doctrine. The Earls of Errol and of Glencairn, Lords Ruthven and Kilmaurs and their children, Sir David Lyndsay, and a large number of other influential persons appeared to be attached to the gospel by genuine conviction.
Henry VIII tried to take advantage of this situation and induce the King of Scotland to make his country independent of Rome. All the endeavours of the English envoy proved futile. At bottom, the end which Beaton was pursuing was the ruin of Henry VIII. In order to attain it, he was ambitious to be appointed legate a latere, which would give him extraordinary powers in Scotland, powers which he actually obtained. He did everything to promote the alliance against England previously projected by the Pope. Henry, alarmed at this news, had his ambassadors promise James that, if he would go to York to confer with his uncle, the meeting would have highly-favourable consequences for him. The nobles of Scotland, the priests’ natural enemies, urged the King to agree to the interview. Arrangements were made for James to meet the King of England on 15 January 1542 in York. Never was Scotland nearer a reform after the fashion of Henry VIII.
No one understood this better than Beaton. What he feared most was that the power of the Romish hierarchy would be abolished and the gospel put in its place. For the first time in his life, the Cardinal had been surpassed in cleverness and influence. He did not, however, lose courage, but applied himself energetically, with all the adherents of his party, to the task. They sowed hatred between the King and the nobles. They employed all imaginable means to dissuade him from the fatal meeting. At first they sought to alarm him. James replied that he had given his word, and that to absent himself from the meeting would lead to war with England, which he did not have the means to carry on. The Cardinal was amazed at this independence of the King, for he was not accustomed to it.
Discerning more and more clearly the greatness of their peril, his bishops
and he agreed that there was but one way of inducing James to renounce his purpose. As this prince was always in need of money, they sought to gain him by gifts of large sums. They told him: “If war should break out, the clergy will give you 30 000 crowns per annum, and you will be able to get 100 000 more by confiscating the property of heretics . . . Will you spare these wicked people? Do they not read the Old and New Testaments? Are they not in rebellion against the authority of the Pope and against the King’s majesty? Have they not, by new and detestable errors, troubled the churches, destroyed piety, and overthrown institutions established for many centuries? They refuse all obedience and respect to the priests whom God has consecrated. But there must be no delay.” James yielded. He sent Sir James Learmont, one of the officers of his court, to offer his excuses to his uncle. Of all James’ proceedings this was the most perilous.
Henry was beside himself with anger; he immediately authorised invasions of the Scottish Borders. But after English troops fled during a small skirmish, James tried to make peace. Persecution ceased in Scotland, and liberty of conscience was more liberally granted.
In November, discouraged by the unwillingness of the Scottish nobles to advance into England, James convoked a council at Holyrood Palace. But in his rage against the nobles, he summoned only the bishops, the priests and their partisans. They persuaded themselves that the moment had come for them to make an end of their enemies in Scotland. The only trouble they took was to deprive the innocent of all means of clearing themselves. They thought that it would for the moment suffice to accuse some noble of heresy, and to call as witnesses certain men of infamous character in their own pay.
With one accord, therefore, they all strove to inflame the King against the Reformation and its friends. They drew up a list containing the names of about 100 nobles whom they wished to remove; among them were men who were well disposed towards the Word of God. This fact shows what progress the Reformation had made in Scotland. To be sure, the majority of these suspects were not decided evangelical Christians, but they had leanings that way. Once already James had refused to accept such a list, but now he accepted it at once, and expressed regret to the prelates that he had so long set their counsels aside. The outcome was an attempted invasion of England which ended in the total rout of James’ army at the Battle of Solway Moss.
On 8 December 1542, James V’s Queen gave birth to the girl who would become Mary Queen of Scots. But, six days later, at the age of 32, he died. For lack of solid principles he was incessantly tossed to and fro between the nobles and the priests, and whichever party was more adroit easily took the upper hand. He sinned much, but perhaps he was still more sinned against.