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THE contending forces
did not long remain facing each other at St. Andrews. The Queen
Regent marched by Stirling to Edinburgh and then to Dunbar, which
she made her headquarters for the time being. The Protestants made
Edinburgh their objective, and on the way relieved. Perth, which was
held by the Queen Regent. It was after its relief that the Abbey and
Palace of Scone were burned down. This was not the work of the
"rascal multitude," but of certain of the Protestants of Dundee and
Perth. The leaders of the Reformation, Knox included, did everything
in their power to restrain the mob, but without effect. It must have
been in reference to this that Knox shortly afterwards wrote the
following letter to Cecil, incidentally deploring, and at the same
time apologising for the violence that accompanied the new movement:
"The common bruit I doubt not carrieth unto you the troubles that be
lately here risen for the controversy in religion. The truth is that
many of the nobility, the most part of barons, and gentlemen, with
many towns and one city, have put to their hands to remove Idolatry
and the monuments of the same. The Reformation is somewhat violent
because the adversaries be stubborn."
On arriving at
Edinburgh the Protestants found the churches already "purified" of
all their images and "monuments of idolatry." The Congregation were
only thirteen hundred in number, and the majority of the citizens
were against them, but in a very short time their strength was
augmented to six thousand by the appearance of the Earl of Glencairn.
This nobleman was a great tower of strength to the Protestant party.
He aided it not only by his ability and prudence but also by the
powerful influence which he exercised over the Western Counties.
there was now no retreat possible for either party. The Protestants
had gone too far to hope for anything by yielding; they had staked
their lives on the issue, and should they fail they could only hope
for banishment or death. There was but one course open to the Queen
Regent. Her government had been disowned, and she could only secure
peace by conquering her opponents. To become a Protestant was beyond
the range of possibility for a daughter of the House of Guise. She
knew that she had . much to hope from delay, and that prolonged
inactivity would be fatal to her opponents. She accordingly began to
spread defection among their ranks by encouraging the report that
the Lord James was aiming at the throne and that they were engaged
in a rebellion.
The Congregation
could not long hold together, because those who formed it were only
soldiers for the hour, and no active service being demanded of them
they retired in great numbers to their own homes. Were it not for
Knox it is not at all unlikely that the Protestant party would at
this time have entirely broken up, but he held them together, and,
being now minister of Edinburgh, he preached discourses which kept
steadily before them the great cause for which they were fighting,
and kindled their enthusiasm on its behalf. The Queen Regent,
hearing of the thinning of the ranks of the Congregation by
dispersion, marched on Leith, which opened its gates after the
firing of a single shot. The Protestants looked to Lord Erskine, the
Governor of the Castle, for support, but he had pledged himself to
the Regent, and threatened to fire on them and the city unless they
came to terms. They had no option, and an agreement was come to by
which they should surrender Holyrood Palace and quit Edinburgh
within twenty-four hours. The Protestants, on the other hand, were
to be permitted full liberty of worship, no French garrison was to
be admitted within the city, which was to be left to its own
discretion in the matter of religion. The ban of outlawry against
their preachers was also withdrawn, so that they practically gained
all that they in the meantime were contending for. The Congregation
left Edinburgh on the 0-6th of July, Knox accompanying them, and
shortly after they left they entered into another bond; pledging
each other not to be cajoled by the Queen Regent into a desertion of
the Protestant cause.
Willock was left
behind to represent Knox as minister of Edinburgh, and he earned the
praise of his colleague by his staunch adherence to the Reformed
religion and his vigorous defence of the same by his preaching in
St. Giles'. No special record of the order of service at this time
in use is left us, although Kirkcaldy of Grange, in the letter to
Sir Henry Percy to which reference has already been made, states
that the Service Book which was followed was the Second Prayer Book
of Edward vi. This book never attained to an assured position in the
Church, nor did it continue long in use, for Knox would have none of
it, but it served its purpose for the time being in giving guidance
to the preacher and forming a basis of union for the people.
Willock's was no easy task, for the majority of the citizens of
Edinburgh were still Catholics, and the French soldiers delighted to
disturb his service by marching up and down the floor of St. Giles'
and jeering at his preaching.
No sooner had the
Congregation reached Stirling than they made plans for gaining the
support of England. Knox, we have seen, had discussed this matter
earlier with his friend Kirkcaldy of Grange. It was a weary
business, and its chief advocate, Knox, had to stand many a gibe at
the slowness of the negotiations, and was told that they would no
doubt be brought to 'a conclusion when it would be too late. The
interest of England in a union with the Congregation was becoming
every day clearer, and the sudden death of Henry ii. brought home to
Elizabeth and her Council the desirability, if not the necessity, of
coming to terms with the Protestant party. It was the policy of
France, even before Henry's death, to get possession of Scotland;
and France's supremacy being secured over the Northern country, the
next step would be to extend that supremacy over the Southern as
well. The accession to the French throne of Francis ii. increased
England's danger still more, for his young Queen was the niece of
the Guises, whose voice was now all powerful in the Councils of the
French Government. Strong Catholics, they wished to see a revival of
the old religion in Scotland and in England. Their niece was not
only Queen of France, but Queen of Scotland as well, and, regarding
Elizabeth as illegitimate, they wished to press Mary's claims as the
next heir to the English throne.
Elizabeth and her
Secretary Cecil understood all this perfectly well, but two
difficulties stood in their way. The first was that peace reigned
between France and England, and the second that they were not
assured of a complete breach between the Protestants and the Queen
Regent. The old feuds between Scotland and England were not as yet
altogether healed, and at any moment a hatred of the "old enemy"
might stir the Scotch to acts of hostility. Besides, Elizabeth was
very loth to abet subjects in their revolt against their sovereign,
for in doing so she might be cutting a stick with which to break her
own back.
The Congregation,
having determined to open negotiations with England, looked upon
Knox, who was at this time acting as their Secretary, as the man who
should take the first step. We have referred to his qualifications
for this task, although diplomacy cannot be regarded as one of them.
He was bold in speech, and, when occasion demanded, sufficiently
prudent in action, but his methods were too direct and open to suit
the wily men who guided the policy of Elizabeth. Throgmorton, the
English Ambassador at Paris, pressed on Cecil the claims of Knox,
and wrote saying that notwithstanding his authorship of The First
Blast: "Yet forasmuch as he is now in Scotland in as great credit as
ever man was there, with such as may be able to serve the Queen's
Majesty's term, it were well done not to use him otherwise in mine
opinion than may be for the advancement of the Queen's Majesty's
service." Knox wrote to Cecil expressing a desire to see him, so
that they might come to an understanding face to face. But
Elizabeth's Secretary was in no mood to endanger the relations of
France and England by granting an interview to the one man in
Scotland who was making the government of that country impossible;
besides the Secretary knew full well that to grant Knox's request
would be to incur the implacable wrath of his own mistress, for
there was no man so much detested by Elizabeth as the Reformer. She
had little love for his Calvinism and less for his Puritanism;
besides he had committed the unpardonable sin of writing The First
Blast. The authorship of that book she would never forgive him.
It shows Knox's courage that he took pen in hand and wrote direct to
Elizabeth herself, one of the most extraordinary letters that ever
he produced. It was on the 20th of July that he concocted this
famous production, for it must have been a laborious task. Taking
the high ground of a Servant of Jesus Christ and a preacher of His
Holy Evangel, he discharged his conscience towards her, reminding
her how she "had declined from Christ in the day of His battle for
fear of her life," and while expressing attachment to Elizabeth's
own person, and the sincerest regard for her many virtues, he would
not recede one inch from his old position in regarding the regiment
or rule of a woman as "repugnant to nature, contumilie to God, and
contrarious to His Revealed Word." Elizabeth's power to help Knox in
the present crisis did not affect that opinion one bit, but still as
one or two women, notably Deborah, had in. the providence of God
been raised up to do Him special service, so God had raised up
Elizabeth from "the dust to rule above His people for the comfort of
His Kirk."
This letter was
enclosed in his epistle to Cecil, and the Secretary, who was a
prudent man, wisely omitted to deliver it. The Lords of the
Congregation also wrote at the same time on their own behalf. They
despatched two letters, one to Elizabeth and another to Cecil. 'Y'he
latter they knew to be a friend of the Reformation, and they opened
their heart and mind to him with singular frankness. They proposed
to form a lasting union with England to "the praise of God's glory
and the comfort of the faithful in both realms," and they hinted
that unless the Regent came to their way of thinking, that complete
breach between her and them, which Cecil desired, would take place.
Their letter to the Queen had less of religion in it and more of
politics; they knew that she valued her crown more than her Bible,
so they hinted at what might happen to England if their venture
failed. "If in this battle," they say, "we shall be overthrown, we
fear that our ruin shall be but the entrance to a greater cruelty."
Elizabeth knew this as well as they did, and in due time she came to
their succour.
Although Knox failed
in the end to induce Cecil to grant him an interview, he journeyed
to England with that object. He was to have met the Secretary at his
country house at Stamford, but the Reformer did not get farther than
Berwick. Here he met Sir James Crofts, the Governor of that town,
and submitted to him the proposals of the Congregation. If England
took up their cause, they would form a mutual league against the
French. Their reasons for desiring such a league were two, the
Reform of Religion and the restoration of their ancient laws and
liberties. Sir James Crofts, it is alleged, believing Knox to be
unsuited for the mission which he was now attempting to discharge,
advised him to return home, saying, "I think it not expedient that
in such rarety of preachers ye be any long time absent from the
Lords." But the fact is that Crofts himself was suspected of playing
false to his country, and in any case it was the desire of Cecil
that Knox at this time should not venture far into England.
He returned to
Stirling with some difficulty about the 6th of August, for the
Regent, hearing of his mission, had given orders to seize him.
Cecil's reply to the Congregation was not very satisfactory. He
advised the Lords to follow the practice of the English nobility and
enrich themselves at the expense of the Church. The time was not yet
ripe for acting on that advice; in due course they would take it to
heart with a vengeance. Cecil, however, was better than his word,
for ere long Sadler was entrusted by Elizabeth with three thousand
pounds to distribute as he thought best in the interests of England.
Knox at this time was
touring the country, preaching everywhere, and spreading the
doctrines of the Reformed religion all over the land. So far carnal
weapons had not availed him and his friends to any appreciable
extent. His own voice, as the English Ambassador afterwards
remarked, put more courage into them than "five hundred trumpets
continually blustering in their ears"; and thus in a letter to Mrs.
Locke, of date 2nd of September, he writes: "We do nothing but go
about Jericho blowing with trumpets as God giveth strength, hoping
victory by His power alone." St. Andrews was at this time his
headquarters, and from it he sallied forth, sounding this same
trumpet of the Evangel and rousing all who heard it to fresh
activity in the cause of the Reformed Faith.
Consternation befell
the Congregation on the announcement that a thousand French soldiers
had landed in Leith; and being accompanied by their wives and
children it looked as if they intended to stay. The feeling among
Scotsmen now ran very high. The popular antipathy against the Regent
and her French allies was roused, and the clamour was so loud and
disaffection so widespread, that in self-defence she published a
Manifesto laying her case before the world. She likened herself to
"a small bird which being pursued will provide some nest, so her
Grace could do no less than provide some sure retreat for herself
and her company." This sentence is very well turned, but her nest
must have been of very considerable dimensions and of extraordinary
formation, for it was strongly fortified, and contained three
thousand French soldiers armed to the teeth. The Congregation, most
likely by the pen of Knox, replied to this Manifesto, and the
sufferings which the poor realm of Scotland was enduring at the
hands of the Regent are described in the strongest and most vivid
terms. Taxes had been increased, the coinage debased, Frenchmen
promoted over the heads of Scotsmen, and the country was being
overrun by foreign soldiers, who sacked "the barnyards newly
gathered, the granaries replenished, the houses garnished, and by
force put the just posssesors and ancient inhabitants therefrom to
shift for themselves." The Congregation in this Manifesto appealed
to the patriotism of the nation, and tried to rouse their countrymen
to a sense of the danger that was now more than imminent.
The Protestant party
was strengthened at this time by the adhesion of the Earl of Arran.
This young man was the heir of the House of Hamilton, and, after
Mary, stood next to the throne. He was instrumental also in winning
over his father, the Duke. This considerably added to the prestige
of the Congregation in the eyes of Elizabeth, and would no doubt
also have its influence upon the country at large. Arran's future
was very different from what most men expected. At this time no
bounds could be placed to the possibilities of his career. Not only
the Scotch but even the English throne was believed to be within his
reach; the latter by his marriage with Elizabeth herself. The Regent
fortified Leith; the Congregation protested. Eight hundred more
Frenchmen landed in the country, action must be immediate, so the
Protestants determined to march on Edinburgh. |
