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MARY, one of the daughters of
Lord Fleming who founded Biggar Kirk, and lost his life at Pinkie, was, when
a child, selected to be a playmate of Mary, the young Scottish Queen, and to
be trained up with her in all the branches of learning common at the period.
She thus formed one of the Queen’s four Marys; the others being, Mary,
daughter of Lord Livingstone; Mary, daughter of Lord Seton; and Mary,
daughter of Beton, Laird of Creich. The unsettled state of the country
rendering it necessary that the Queen should live in places of security, she
successively occupied several castles, and spent some time on the lone but
pleasant isle of Inchmahon in the lake of Monteith. After the Battle of
Pinkie, the Scottish people were more averse than ever to the marriage of
the Queen with Edward of England, and becoming apprehensive that no place in
their country might afford her adequate protection, they resolved to send
her to France. Lady Fleming, the widow of Lord Malcolm, and the Queen’s
aunt, was appointed to accompany her in the capacity of governess. The
Queen, attended by Lady Fleming and her four Marys, accordingly set sail for
France in a French galley, commanded by Monsieur de Villegaignon, in the
month of July 1548, when the Queen was in the sixth year of her age. When
they had almost reached their destination, a violent storm arose, which
lasted several days, and caused the youthful voyagers to suffer severely
from sea-sickness. Lady Fleming repeatedly implored the captain to allow the
Queen and her companions to land, and repose themselves a short time on
shore; but his instructions being peremptory against any such step, he
resisted all her solicitations, and at length, in a fit of ill humour, told
her that she must either go to the place appointed for disembarkation, or be
engulphed in the stormy ocean.
Lady Fleming was much
respected and caressed at the French court. The attentions paid to her gave
a handle to the English ambassador to make an attempt to injure her
reputation, by alleging, in a letter which he sent to the English court,
that an improper intimacy existed between her and the French king. The story
appears to have been a mere fabrication, got up for the purpose of
gratifying certain parties in England. It is certain, however, that Henry,
King of France, held Lady Fleming in very high estimation. As a proof of
this, we may a quote a letter which he wrote regarding her to the Queen
Dowager of Scotland:—
'Madame my Good Sister,
'I believe that you think
enough of the care, pains, and great vigilance that my cousin, the Lady
Fleming, constantly takes about the person of our little daughter, the Queen
of Scotland. The really good, virtuous, and hoqourable manner in which Bhe
performs her duties therein, makes it only reasonable that you and I should
have her, and the children of her family, in perpetual remembrance on this
account. She has been lamenting to me that one of her sons is a prisoner in
England, and I desire to lend a helping hand, as far as possible, to obtain
his deliverance; yet, situated as I am, it is not quite easy to accomplish
that wish. It appears to me, Madame my good sister, that you ought to write
and request, as you have the means of doing so, to have him exchanged for
some English prisoner. In doing thin, you will perform a good work for a
person who merits it. Praying God, Madam,’ etc.
Lady Fleming continued to
superintend the education of the young Queen for several years, when she was
at length superseded by Madame Parois, a bigoted devotee of the Romish
Church, whom Cardinal Lorraine, the Queen’s unde, is said to have selected
as a person well qualified to instil into the mind of the Queen those
extreme popish opinions which, in Germany, in England, and in Scotland, were
now actively and successfully assailed, and which the ultra-Romish party,
therefore, felt all the more anxious to defend and maintain. The services of
Lady Fleming being no longer required about the person of the Queen, she
returned to her own country in 1555, and most likely took up her residence
at Boghall Castle, as assigned to her by her husband. Her daughter Mary,
however, remained with the Queen as one of her maids of honour, and no doubt
was present at all those amusements and festivities in which it is said the
Queen so largely participated, during her abode in France. She would be one
of her bridesmaids on the occasion of her marriage to the Dauphin, and she
would be called on to condole with her when that young monarch was laid in a
premature grave. She accompanied her back to Scotland, and heard her take
that affectionate farewell of France which has been so pathetically
described by many historians, and which has furnished a theme of inspiration
to not a few gifted sons of song. She was afterwards a witness of some of
those scenes in the life of her royal mistress, which have invested her
history with a romantic interest beyond that of any monarch that ever
lived,— such as her warlike displays, her progresses through her dominions,
her interviews with Knox, her marriage to Damley, the murder of Rizzio, the
birth of a son in Edinburgh Castle, the loss of her husband by violence,
etc.' Mary Fleming was one of the ladies seated in an outer chamber of the
Palace of Holyrood, gorgeously apparelled, in 1563, whom Knox addressed
after one of his stormy interviews with the Queen. ‘ O fair ladies,’ said
John, ‘how plesing were this lyfe of yours, if it sould evir abyde, and then
in the end that we mycht pas to heiven with all this gay gear. Bot fie upon
that knave Death, that will come quhidder we will or not, and quhen he hes
laid on his areist the foull wormes will be busie with this flesch, be it
nevir so fair and so tender. And the silly saull sail be so feabill, that it
can nyther cary with it gold, gamisching, targating, pearll, nor precious
stones.'
In a court which Knox was
fond of describing as utterly dissolute, and at which, as he maintained,
fiddling, flinging, and dallying with dames formed* the constant pastimes,
it is not to be expected that the Queen’s Marys would escape his reproach.
Accordingly, in his ‘History of the Reformation in Scotland,’ after
referring to several wicked practices which, he alleged, prevailed at
Holyrood, he states, that ‘ Schame hastit manage betwix Johne Sempill;
called the Danser, and Marie Levingstoun, sumamed the Lustie;’ and he then
strikes a blow at the whole of the Marys and the dancers. ‘What bruit,’ says
he, ‘the Maries and the rest of the dawnsers of the court had the ballats of
the age did witness, which we for modesties sake omitt.’ We are disposed to
take this sweeping denunciation with considerable limitation. Knox was
incensed against Queen Mary because she gave her subjects toleration with
regard to their religious opinions, and because she would not renounce the
faith in which she had been brought up, and become an active promoter of the
principles of the Reformation. He was evidently at bottom a hilarious sort
of man; but in the discharge of his duties as a minister of the Gospel, he
considered himself warranted to express a strong dislike of all harmless
amusements, and to attempt the imposition of the most grave and depressing
austerities, particularly on the young Queen and her courtiers. Freedom to
practise popish rites, and the sound of music and dancing, were regarded by
him as utter abominations; and hence, throughout his ‘ History,’ he hurls
against them his severest denunciations.
One of the amusements at that
time practised at the Scottish court, was the cutting of a cake in which a
bean had been concealed, and the distributing of it among the company
present. The person who found the bean was denominated the Queen or King of
the Bean, according as it might fall into the hands of a lady or a
gentleman. The amusement of cutting the cake took place on the 5th of
January, being the eve of Epiphany, and no doubt had its origin in
connection with the ceremonies observed at the celebration of this Romish
festival. On the day following, a banquet was served up in honour of the
person to whose lot the bean had fallen; and, at this entertainment, the
holder of the bean was saluted as King or Queen, and called on to act the
part of a sovereign. On the 5th of January 1563 the bean fell into the hands
of Mary Fleming; and Thomas Randolph, in a letter addressed a few days
afterwards to Lord Robert Dudley, in the style of euphuism then in rogue,
thus describes the success, the appearance, and effect of the mock
Queen:—‘The ladies and gentlewomen,' says he, ‘ are all in health and merrie,
which your Lordship should have seen, if you had been here upon Tuesday, at
the great solemnity and royall estate of the Queen of the Beene. Fortune was
so favourable to faire Fleyming, that, if shee could have seen to have
judged of her vertue and beauty, as blindly shee went to work and chose her
at adventure, shee wold sooner have made her a Queen for ever, than for one
only day to exalt her so high and the nixt to leave her in the state shee
found her. Ther lacked only for so noble a hart a worthie realme to endue
that which—That day yt was to be seen, by her princely pomp, how fite a
match she wold be, wer she to contend ether with Venus in beauty, Minerva in
witt, or Juno in worldly wealth, haveing the two former by nature, and of
the third so much as is contained in this realme at her command and free
disposition. The treasure of Solomon, I trowe, was not to be compared unto
that which that day hanged upon her back. Happy was yt unto this realme that
her raigne endured no longer. Two such sights in one state, in soe good
accord, I beleeve was never seen, as to behold two worthie Queens possess,
without envie, one kingdom both upon a day. I leave the rest unto your
Lordship to be judged of. My pen stag-gereth, my hand faileth farther to
wryt. Ther praises surmount whatsomever may be thought of them. The Queen of
the Been was that *day in a gowne of cloath of silver; her head, her neck,
her shoulders, the rest of her whole body, so besett with stones, that more
in our whole jewell house wer not to be found.’ Mary Fleming was married at
Stirling to Sir William Maitland, the celebrated Secretary of Queen Mary, on
the 6th of January 1567, exactly four years after she had played with so
much eclat the part of Queen of the Bean.
James Lord Fleming, who
succeeded his father, who fell at Pinkie, was a nobleman of distinguished
abilities, and took a prominent part in the public transactions of the
period in which he lived. In September 1550, along with the Earls of Huntly,
Sutherland, Marischal, Cassillis, and other noblemen, he accompanied Mary of
Lorraine, the Queen Dowager, in a visit which she paid to her native country
of France. They sailed from Leith, and landed at Dieppe, in Normandy, in the
middle of October. They then proceeded to Rouen, where the French court was,
and after spending some time there in mirth and jollity, they paid a visit
to Paris, and participated in the gaiety and festivities that then
characterized the French capital. The ostensible object of the Queen Dowager
was to see her daughter, then receiving her education in France; but her
principal design in reality was to prevail on the French king to exert his
influence to secure for her the office of Regent of Scotland. The King
promised that he would do so, provided the Earl of Arran, at the time
Regent, would voluntarily resign his office. The Queen Dowager at length
left France, and landing at Portsmouth on the 2d of November 1551, repaired
to London, and had an interview with King Edward VI. at Whitehall. After her
return to Scotland, she set herself industriously to obtain the great object
of her ambition, the Regency of the kingdom. Her efforts being crowned with
success, she was, in 1554, exalted to the office of chief ruler of the
ancient realm of Scotland, and thus, as Knox says, had (a croun put upoun
hir Heid, als seimlie a sicht, gif men had eyes, as to put a Saidill upoun
the Back of ane unrewlie Cow.1 As Lord Fleming stood high in the estimation
of the Queen Dowager, he was, by letters patent under the Great Seal,
appointed to the office of Lord Chamberlain of the kingdom, which had
formerly been held by his father. He was also, on the death of Patrick, Earl
of Bothwell, chosen Guardian and Lieutenant of the East and Middle Marches
on the Border, with the power of justiciary within the limits of his
jurisdiction.
Lord Fleming was one of the
Commissioners appointed by the Scottish Parliament, on the 18th December
1557, to be present at the marriage of Queen Mary with the Dauphin of
France. His chief colleagues in this embassy were, Beaton, Archbishop of
Glasgow; Reid, Bishop of Orkney; James Stewart, Prior of St Andrews,
afterwards Earl of Murray; the Earls of Cassillis and Rothes; Lord Seton;
the Provosts of Edinburgh and Montrose; and Mr Erskine of Dun. To defray
their expenses, a tax of L. 15,000 Scots was imposed on the burghs and the
estates of the clergy and nobles. They set sail on the 8th February, and
encountered extremely stormy weather; the consequence of which was, that one
of the vessels that carried the rich apparel, in which they intended to make
an imposing appearance at the French court, was lost off St Abb’s head, and
another foundered in the roadstead off Boulogne, and all on board perished,
except the Earl of Rothes and the Bishop of Orkney, who were picked up by a
French fishing-boat, while the other ships were separated from each other,
and arrived at different French harbours. The Commissioners, before leaving
Scotland, had been carefully instructed to give no sanction to the marriage
unless they obtained the most ample guarantees that the independence of the
country would be maintained, and its laws and liberty secured. Before their
arrival, Henry, King of France, had obtained the signature of Queen Mary to
a document, conferring on him and his heirs the crown of Scotland, and her
right to that of England in case of her decease without lineal succession;
and to another, transferring to him the revenues of her kingdom in payment
of one million of gold crowns, or any greater sum that might be expended on
her board and education in France or in defence of her kingdom. The
Commissioners readily agreed that the arms of France and Scotland should be
borne by the Queen and her husband, on separate shields, surmounted by the
French crown; that their eldest son should be sovereign of both realms; and
that, in the event of their having only daughters, the eldest, who would be
prevented by the Salic law from being sovereign of France, should, on her
mother’s death, succeed to the throne of Scotland; but, on being summoned
before the French Council after the celebration of the marriage, and
required to swear fealty to the Dauphin, and confer on him the emblems of
royalty, they peremptorily refused, and asserted that they would not go a
step beyond the instructions which they had received from their own
Parliament. The French king, finding that they were inflexibly bent on
adhering to their resolution, detained them several weeks amid the gaieties
and festivities of the French capital; and on dismissing them, expressed a
hope that they would at least support a proposal, which he intended to lay
before the Estates of Scotland, to confer the crown-matrimonial of Scotland
on the Dauphin. Their young Queen also preferred the same request; and after
promising to give the subject a careful consideration, they took leave of
the French court, and in a short time arrived at Dieppe. At this town the
Bishop of Orkney died suddenly; and in a day or two afterwards, the Earls of
Rothes and Cassillis, and several other members of the embassy, were also
laid in the grave. Lord Fleming, alarmed at the sudden mortality among his
colleagues, drew up his Last Will and Testament, which is still preserved in
the archives of the family. To his brother John he left his ‘chapel graith,’
his silver plate, the furniture of Cumbernauld House, etc.; and, among all
his bequests, it is interesting to note the following: ‘Item to ye poore men
of ye Westraw of Byggar one chalder of meilL’ He also enjoined on his
brother to ‘set forthward ye proffet of ye Kirk of Byggar to beild ye
prest’s chalmers and ye provest’s house, and desyn of ye kirk, and also ye
said Ihone to set up my fadyr’s toum.’ Having executed this deed, and
dreading infection, he hastened back to Paris; but, after all, he was seized
with the same distemper, and died on the 18th December 1558, in the 24th
year of his age. As no infectious disorder prevailed at the time, the
general impression in Scotland was, that he and his colleagues died from the
effects of poison, which had been administered to them in consequence of
their refusal to comply with the ambitious designs of the French court.
Lord Fleming was married at
an early age to Barbara, a daughter of the Duke of Chatelherault. On the
14th December 1558, he conferred on her a charter of part of the barony of
Lenzie; and on the 21st December of the year following, he executed another
charter in her favour, constituting her liferenter of the lands of Kildowan
and Auchtermony. He left by this lady an only child—a daughter. Father
Baillie, who wrote a work on the events of that period, eays that John Knox,
the Reformer, after the death of his first wife, in 1561, paid his addresses
to Lady Fleming. Baillie’s words are,—
‘Having laid aside al feir of
tbe panis of hel, and regarding na thing the honestie of the warld, as ane
bund sklave of the Devil, being kendellit with ane unquenshible lust and
ambition, he durst be sua bauld to enterpryse the sute of marriage with the
maist honorabil ladie, my ladie Fleming, my Lord Duke’s eldest dochter, to
the end, that his seid being of the blude royal, and gydit be thair father's
sperit, might have aspyrit to the crown. And becaus he receavit ane refusal,
it is notoiiouslie knawn how deidlie he hated the hail hous of the Hamiltons/
What truth there may be in that statement, it would not be very easy now to
discover; but it is certain that Knox was anxious to ally himself in
marriage with a family of the nobility. He accordingly made suit to Margaret
Stewart, a daughter of Lord Ochiltree, who was connected with the royal
family, and being accepted, he was married to that lady in March 1564.
John Fleming, the second son
of Lord Malcolm, succeeded, on his brother’s death, to the title and
estates. On the 17th May 1564, he married Elizabeth, only daughter and
heiress of Robert, Master of Ross, who was killed at Pinkie. The marriage,
instead of being celebrated at the Castles of Biggar or Cumbernauld, took
place in presence of Queen Mary and her court at Holyrood. From an account
of the festivities which took place on this occasion, it would seem that
they were celebrated in the Royal Park, at the lower end of the valley,
between Arthur Seat and Salisbury Crags, a place at that time covered with
water. Here the Queen, with her nobles, and foreign ambassadors, forgot for
a time the cares and troubles of her unruly kingdom, and gave herself up to
mirth and jollity. As Robert Chambers says, ‘The incident is so pleasantly
picturesque, and associates Mary so agreeably with one of her subjects, that
it is gratifying to reflect on Lord Fleming proving a steady friend
throughout her subsequent troubles.’
On the 1st of August 1565,
the Queen and Parliament conferred on Lord Fleming the office of Lord
Chamberlain, an office that had been held by three of his immediate
predecessors. In 1567 he received a grant of a third of the profits and
rents of the Priory of Whithorn, as a compensation, in part, for services
which he had rendered to the Queen, and for the losses which he had
sustained by depredations committed by marauders from the borders. About the
same time he was appointed Governor of Dumbarton Castle, and ‘ Justiciar ’
within the bounds of the Upper Ward of Clydesdale.
Lord Fleming was one of the
nobles who were in the Palace of Holyrood on the night of the 9th of March
1566, when a body of armed men, headed by Darnley, Morton, Ruthven, and
others, rushed into the Palace, and in the Queen’s presence assassinated
David Rizzio, her foreign secretary and favourite musician. This outrage
naturally caused a great uproar in the Palace. The attendants on the Queen
were taken quite by surprise, and finding themselves utterly incompetent to
contend against the assailing force, they escaped by the back windows, and
some of them did not stop till they reached the Castle of Crichton. The
persons connected with the Biggar district who were implicated in this foul
conspiracy, were William Tweedie of Drummelzier, Adam Tweedie of Dreva, John
Brown of Coultermains, and Richard Muirhead of Crawford. These persons,
along with the other conspirators, were summoned on the 19th March following
to compear personally before the King and Queen, and the Lords of the Secret
Council, to answer such things as would be laid to their charge. Their
names, however, do not appear in the list of those who were put to the horn
for their participation in this outrage. It is not unlikely that they
submitted themselves to the Council, and were sentenced to some slight
punishment.
On the 19th of April 1567,
Lord Fleming, along with other noblemen, subscribed a bond, acquitting the
Earl of Bothwell of the murder of Lord Damley, recommending him as a fit and
proper person to be elevated to the honour of being the Queen's husband, and
pledging himself to stand up in defence of this unseemly and unnatural
connection. The subscription of this bond was extorted by Bothwell from Lord
Fleming and the other nobles, whom he had invited to an entertainment, and
whom, it is said, he overawed, by surrounding them with a strong body of his
retainers. Armed with this document, Bothwell seized the Queen at Cramond,
and carried her off to the strong Castle of Dunbar. In a few days afterwards
they appeared publicly in the streets of Edinburgh; and Bothwell, having
obtained a divorce from his wife, was married to the Queen, on the 15th df
May, by the Bishop of Orkney. Lord Fleming was present at this ill-starred
solemnity, at which, as the author of the (Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents,'
says, ‘ there was neither pleasure nor pastime as was wont.'
It has long been a subject of
disputation, whether Mary was accessory to the murder of her husband Damley;
but scarcely any doubt was ever entertained, that the chief actor in this
foul transaction was BothwelL He was, no doubt, acquitted of the charge by
an ‘ assise;’ but this was effected by surrounding the court with armed men,
and preventing any person from giving evidence against him, by a dread of
personal violence. The Queen, therefore, by marrying Bothwell, lost the
sympathy and respect of a great portion of her subjects. A report was
spread, that Bothwell, having now obtained an entire control over the Queen,
entertained the design of seizing the person of her only son James, a child
of two years of age, and most likely of putting him to death also. Many of
the nbbles, therefore, flew to arms, to protect the young Prince, to thwart
the treacherous schemes of Bothwell, and rescue the Queen from the fangs of
her bloodstained paramour. Mary summoned her subjects to rally to her
standard, and having assembled a considerable force, she left Dunbar and
advanced towards Edinburgh. The confederated lords with an equal number of
retainers marched from the capital to Musselburgh, and learned, on reaching
that town, that the Queen’s army had taken possession of the neighbouring
height of Carberry. They therefore made a detour by Wallyford, and ascended
the hill until they came nearly in contact with the Queen's troops. The
Queen, with her usual boldness and impetuosity, insisted on bringing the
matters in dispute at once to the arbitration of the sword; but her friends
by no means possessed the same ardour for the combat as herself. They
counselled delay until the expected reinforcements from Clydesdale, under
the command of the Haxniltons, should arrive. The Queen then proposed that
she should go and meet them, promising that she would immediately return;
but this design was opposed. It is likely that these reinforcements were at
the very time on their way to join the Queen. The opposing forces came face
to face on Carberry Hill on the 15th of June; and on the day preceding, the
following letter was sent by Lord John Hamilton to Lord Fleming, at his
Castle of Boghall:—
‘My Lord,—Efter maist h&rtie
commendatioune ze sail understand that I reeavit ane writtin fra the quenis
Maistie, daitdt at Dunbar, the xiij of this instant of Junij, that hir grace
is reddy to cum fordwart this morning toward Haldingtoun, and therfore
desiris me and my friendis to be in redi-ness, quhen it sail pleise hir to
charge us to merche fordwart. Heirfoir I haif thocht goid to send this berar,
knawing that zour lordship sould be togidder this nicht, in to Beggar, to
knaw zour dyet, and thinkis goid, safand better counsell, that we joyne us
togidder or we cum to hir Maiestie, baith for zour surete and ouris. And we
intend quhen we marche, to pass be Pentlandhilla or neir therhie, and gif ze
please to appoint ony place be that way, we being chargit to cum fordwart,
we wald be glad to meit zou ther, as ye sail appoint; and the rest referris
to zour advertisment with the berar; and sa committis zour lordship to the
protectioune of God, this Saterday at vij houris afoirnoune the xiiij of
Junij 1567.
Zour Lordship’s loving friend
at power,
Jhone Hamilton.’
From a statement made in an
old document, it would seem that Fleming and his Biggar retainers actually
reached Carberry, but the whole of the Clydesdale forces did not arrive in
time; and the Queen was thus induced^ to dismiss Bothwell, and surrender
herself to the confederated lords. She was conducted with every mark of
indignity and disrespect to Edinburgh, and next day, in violation of the
conditions on which she had surrendered, she was placed in confinement in
Lochleven Castle. Lords Fleming and Hamilton, after the Queen’s surrender,
withdrew their forces to Hamilton to watch the progress of events.
After the surrender of the
Queen at . Carberry, the Earl of Bothwell fled to the north of Scotland It
would seem from a letter of Sir Nicholas Throkmorton to Queen Elizabeth,
dated 18th July 1567, that he had been joined there by Lords Fleming and
Seton. The likelihood is, that they had been despatched from Hamilton to
hold a conference with him, and learn his designs. It is evident from the
following extract from the letter, that their stay with him was short, and
that, to their credit, they left him to his fate:—'Bodwell doethe still
remaine in the northe partyes, bot the Lordis Seaton and Flemynge, which
have ben there, have utterlye abandoned hym, and doe repayre hetherwardes.’
The party opposed to the
Queen saw that it would be of importance to gain the countenance and oo-operation
of the leaders of the Protestant Church, now in the ascendancy in Scotland,
as thereby they were likely to secure the favour of the great body of the
people. They, therefore, took an active part in the prooeedings of the
General Assembly which met at Edinburgh in the month of June, and which was
presided over by the celebrated George Buchanan, Principal of St Leonards
College, St Andrews. Through their influence, letters were addressed to Lord
Fleming and a number of noblemen belonging to the other faction, calling
upon them to come to Edinburgh to engage in the important work of
establishing the principles of true religion in the Church, defining the
just rules of ecclesiastical government, and providing a suitable
maintenance for the clergy and the poor, A commission, consisting of John
Knox, John Douglas, John Row, and John Craig, was appointed to wait upon
these lords in person; but Lord Fleming was too zealous a Roman Catholic,
and too much devoted to the cause of the Queen, to comply with any such
proposal, even though he had entertained no apprehension of danger in
appearing in Edinburgh, which was then entirely in the hands of his
opponents.
Morton, Ruthven, Grange, and
the other barons leagued against the Queen, soon found that all their
ostentatious zeal for the Protestant faith would not be sufficient to
support their popularity. Their treacherous and cruel treatment of the Queen
was beginning to rouse the indignation of the people, and the charge of
rebellion both at home and abroad was constantly rung in their ears. They
considered that, in order to extenuate their conduct, it would be necessary
to make the Queen still more accessory to her own humiliation. They
therefore despatched Lord Lindsay, a man of stem and rough manners, to
Lochleven, to induce the Queen, by persuasion, or if necessary by force, to
abdicate the throne, to invest her infant son James with the sovereign
power, and to appoint her brother, the Earl of Murray, Regent of the kingdom
during the young King’s minority. The Queen was forced, from a dread of
personal violence, to adhibit her name to the degrading documents, which
stript her of her crown. Steps were immediately taken to have the young
Prince crowned. Sir James Melville was despatched to Hamilton, where Lords
Hamilton,
Fleming, Boyd, and other
friends of the Queen were still assembled, to invite them to be present at
the coronation, which was to take place on the 29th of July. They were, of
course, astonished to hear of the Queen's abdication, and could scarcely
believe that it had occurred; but, after some consultation, John Hamilton,
Archbishop of St Andrews, in reply to Sir James Melville, said, 'We ar
beholden to the noble men wha has sent yon with that frendly and discret
commissioun, and following ther desyre ar redy to concure with them, gif
they mak us sufficient securitie of that quhilk ye have said in ther name.
In sa doing they gif us occasion to supose the best of all ther proceadings
past and to com; sa that gif they had maid us foir-sean of ther first
enterpryse to the punishment of the mourtheris we suld have tone plane pairt
with them. And wheras now we ar heir eonvenit, it is not till persew or
offend any of them, bot to be vpon our awen gardis, vnderstanding of sa gret
a concourse of noblemen, barrons, bourroues, and vthrs subiects. Not being
maid privy to ther enterpryse, we thocht meit to draw us togither till we
mycht se whertu thingis wald turn.’
The confederated lords at
Hamilton not having received satisfactory assurance of protection, and not
approving of the business to be transacted, did not attend the coronation of
the infant Prince at Stirling. In the Castle of Dumbarton, held for the
Queen by Lord Fleming, they entered into a bond for the purpose of restoring
the Queen to liberty. The document to which they appended their names
commences by stating that they had no freedom of access to her Majesty for
transacting their lawful business; and therefore they bind themselves to use
all diligence, and to adopt all reasonable means to set her at liberty, upon
such conditions as may be consistent with her honour, the advantage of her
kingdom, and the security of her subjects. In the event of the refusal of
the noblemen who had her in custody to open her prison-doors, they declared
that they would employ themselves, their kin and friends, their servants and
partakers, and their bodies and lives, to put her Highness at liberty, as
well as to procure the punishment of the murderer of the King her husband,
and the safe preservation of the Prince her son. They also issued a
proclamation from the same place, calling upon all good subjects to be ready
on nine hours’ warning to take arms for the delivery of the Queen.
Queen Mary, by the aid of
William Douglas, a boy of fifteen or sixteen years of age, was at length
enabled, on Sunday the 2d May 1568, to escape from Lochleven. She was
received, on landing from the boat that conveyed her ashore, by Lord Seton
and a party of his retainers, and conveyed to Niddrie Castle, and next day
to Hamilton. Intelligence of her escape soon spread far and wide, and
brought large accessions to her ranks, so that in the course of a day or two
her troops amounted to 6000 men. A bond was drawn up and signed by nine
earls, nine bishops, eighteen lords, twelve abbots and priors, and about a
hundred other barons, pledging themselves to protect the Queen and restore
her to her rights. Lord Fleming, of course, was among the number of those
who signed this bond. Mary’s desire was to go with Lord Fleming to the
strong Castle of Dumbarton, where she could remain in safety till she saw
whether the nation in general would declare in favour of her restoration, or
whether it would be necessary for her to abandon her kingdom, and retire
once more to France. The Hamiltons being amdous to gain an ascendancy in the
management of public affairs, thought that the presence of the Queen was
necessary to the accomplishment of their designs, and therefore they
detained her several days in the Castle of Draffen. The Earl of Murray had
assembled a force of 4000 men at Glasgow, and a request was sent to him by
the lords at Hamilton to agree to repone the Queen to her former status at
the head of the government; but as he refused to do this, it was resolved to
conduct the Queen in a sort of warlike procession to the Castle of Dumbarton
on the 13th of May, under the direction of the Duke of Argyle, who had been
appointed commander-in-chief of the Queen's forces. The Earl of Murray no
sooner learned that the Queen’s army was on its march towards Dumbarton,
than he crossed the Clyde, and took possession of the little village of
Langside, where he advantageously stationed his hagbutters among the
cottages, hedges, and gardens that skirted the narrow road along which the
Queen’s forces were to pass. The Queen’s vanguard, 2000 strong, commanded by
Lord Claud Hamilton, soon advanced to dispute the passage, and were received
by a murderous fire, which they were unable to return with any effect.
Though thrown into a state of some confusion by the shower of balls to which
they were exposed, yet being confident in the superiority of their numbers,
they continued to press up the rising ground on which the village is
situated. At this juncture they were charged by Murray’s advanced division,
consisting chiefly of border pikemen, and then the combat was carried on
with the greatest obstinacy and fury. The shock of spears was tremendous;
and these weapons from either side were so closely interlaced, that pistols
and broken shafts flung on them were prevented from falling to the ground. 1
Linked in the serried phalanx tight’ the combat raged, till the right wing
of the Regent’s army, consisting of the barons of Renfrew, began to give
way. Kirkcaldy of Grange, to retrieve this disaster, immediately brought up
Lochleven, Lindsay, Balfour, and their retainers, and charged the victorious
detachment of the Queen’s troops with such fury, that they were driven back
in their turn. The Regent seized this juncture to make an onset with his
main body, and the effect of it was such, that the whole opposing force was
chased in irretrievable rout and confusion from the field.
Lord Fleming himself took no
part in the battle. Along with Lords Herries and Livingstone and a small
guard, he stood by the Queen's side at a thorn-tree, not far distant from
Cathcart Castle, and watched the progress of the fight with breathless
anxiety and suspense. When that small party saw that their hopes were
blasted and their designs frustrated by the victory of the Regent, they lost
no time in placing the Queen on horseback, and conveying her by a circuitous
route through Ayrshire, Nithsdale, and Galloway, to the Abbey of Dundrennan.
Mary, in a letter written to her uncle, the Cardinal Lorraine, during this
journey, which lasted two days, states, ‘ I have suffered injuries,
calumnies, hunger, cold, and heat; flying, without knowing whither,
fourscore and twelve miles, without once pausing to alight; and then lay on
the hard ground, having only sour milk to drink, and oatmeal to eat, without
bread, passing three nights with the owls.1 In the Abbey of Dundrennan she
sat in council with her friends for the last time; and here she intimated
her intention to proceed to England, and throw herself on the protection of
Queen Elizabeth. Lord Fleming, Lord Herries, the Archbishop of St Andrews,
and others who were present, implored her to abandon this design, and to put
no faith in the specious promises and pretences of the English Queen.
Finding her deaf to their remonstrances, they prevailed on her to sign an
instrument exonerating them from all approval of, or complicity in, the step
on which she had resolved. A boat was then procured, and the Queen,
accompanied by Lords Fleming, Boyd, Livingstone, and others, amounting in
all to sixteen persons, crossed the Solway Firth, and landed at Workington,
a small town on the coast of Cumberland. She there surrendered herself to
the English . Deputy Warden, named Lowther, who assigned her a residence in
the Castle of Carlisle, till such time as he should receive instructions
from Elizabeth regarding her further disposaL Lords Fleming and Herries
hastened up to the English court, with the view of entering into
arrangements for the Queen's proper accommodation; but their mission was
unsuccessful, and Mary was shortly afterwards removed to Bolton Castle in
Yorkshire, where she was placed in the strictest confinement. Here, however,
she found means to carry on a correspondence with her friends in Scotland,
and, among others, with Lord Fleming. In a letter, dated ‘Off Bowtoune, the
27th of September 1568,’ and addressed to the Archbishop of St Andrews, she
says, ‘ We haif vritten in ciphere to my Lord Flemyng, quha will mak zou
participant therof.’ We cannot find, however, that any of her letters to
Lord Fleming have been preserved.
Lord John Fleming, after
returning from London, was despatched by Queen Mary to the French court, to
explain the late events in her history, to vindicate her character, and ask
for advice and assistance. On the 24th of August 1568, most likely before
his return from France, he and his relative, John Fleming of Boghall, were
summoned to present them&elves before Parliament and answer for their late
conduct in supporting the Queen. Haying failed to appear, their estates were
liable to be forfeited; but at the request of the Regent, who in this case
is said to have acted on the advice of Queen Elizabeth, it was agreed that
the sentence of forfeiture should for a short time be suspended, in order
that they might have a fair opportunity to acknowledge their faults, and be
reconciled to Queen Mary’s successor, her son James. ,
The Regent Murray, in order
to justify his conduct in taking up arms against the Queen, publicly charged
her with being accessory to the death of her husband Darnley. On this
account, Queen Elizabeth refused to hold an interview with her until she
could exonerate herself from this charge. Elizabeth's object was to obtain a
plea to be constituted judge in a cause so important as a dispute between
the Queen of Scotland and her subjects. She had no right to put the Scottish
Queen on her trial for this or any other offence; but Mary, confident in her
innocence, and acting under due protest, accepted the tribunal.
Commissioners from both sides were thereupon appointed to meet at York in
October 1568, and thither Mary sent Lords Fleming and Herries, the Bishop of
Ross, and other able friends, to act in her defence. It was on this occasion
that the Earl of Murray, in order to give a tangible proof of Queen Mary's
guilt, produced the famous letters and sonnets which, it was alleged, had
passed between the Queen and Bothwell, and had been taken from a servant of
that nobleman's called Dalgleish. The investigation was carried on for five
months; and Elizabeth, in the end, dismissed the Commissioners, declaring
that the criminal charge against Queen Mary had not been proved.
Lord Fleming, after this
period, took up his abode in Dumbarton Castle, of which he still continued
to be Governor. The Master of Graham was several times sent to the Castle
for the purpose of persuading him to surrender it to the Regent; but he
obstinately persisted in rejecting all overtures on the subject. The Regent,
therefore, invested it with a considerable force, and as any attempt to
carry it by assault was considered hopeless, the siege was turned into a
blockade; and on the 18th of November 1569, ‘ sentence of foxrfaltour wes
pronouncit aganis Lord John Fleming, and John Fleming of Bog-hall, for the
keiping and halding the Castel of Dumbartane aganis the Kingis majestie.’
This sentence was confirmed by the Scottish Parliament in 1571; and the Act
then passed, among other things, states, ‘ And thairfoir decemis and ordanis
all and sundrie ye landis, guidis, movable and vnmovable, alsweill landis as
offices, and vther thingis quhatsomever pertening to thame and euerye ane of
thame, to be confiscate to our sourane lord, and to remane in propertie w*
his heynes for ewir. And thair persones to underlye ye panes of tressone
extreme and just puncisment distinatt of ye lawes of yis Realme. Quhilk dome
wes pronouncit be ye mowth of Andro Lindsay, dempstar of ye said Parliament'
The estate of Biggar, and the other estates of Lord Fleming, by this
sentence were transferred to the Crown, and were held by it for eight years.
The garrison of Dumbarton
began, ere long, to be straitened for want of provisions; but early on the
morning of the 15th December, the Laird of Borg, taking advantage of the
darkness that prevailed, and the want of vigilance on the part of the
blockading force, sue-ceeded in conveying into the Castle several ‘ky’ and 'laides
of meill,’ greatly to the satisfaction of the Governor and his men, but
vastly to the displeasure of the Regent, who sharply rebuked his captains
and men of war that they ‘ tholit the said fumischings to pas to ye Castel.1
The Regent made various efforts to induce Lord Fleming to surrender the
Castle during the month of January 1569-70; but intelligence having reached
his Lordship that Thomas Fleming, a brother of the Laird of Boghall, had
arrived in Lochryan from France, with two large ships laden with provisions
and military stores for the use of the garrison, he refused to hold any
further parley on the subject The Regent, baffled in obtaining the object of
his desire, left Dumbarton, and, in a few days afterwards, was shot at
Linlithgow by Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh. The besiegers, so soon as they
received intelligence of the Regent's death, broke up the blockade and
retired to Stirling. In a few days afterwards, Thomas Fleming arrived at
Dumbarton with his ships, and transferred the whole stores to the fortress
without molestation. The Earl of Argyle, several of the Hamiltons, and other
adherents of the Queen, repaired to the Castle, and held a conference with
Lord Fleming on the posture of public affairs, consequent on the death of
the Regent.
Queen Elizabeth, at the
instigation of the Sling’s faction, sent an army at this juncture into
Scotland, under the command of Sir William Dury, which, during the spring of
1570, committed great havoc in Clydesdale on the estates of the adherents of
the Queen. The devastation at Hamilton was such as had hardly ever been
paralleled in Scotland before, and the ruthless soldiery ‘herrit all the
Monkland—my Lord Fleming's boundis, my Lord Livingstone's boundis, together
with al their puir tennantis and freindis, in sic maner that nae heart can
think theron bot the same must be dolorous.' Sir William, after perpetrating
these enormities, had the audacity to repair to Dumbarton in the month of
May, and request a parley with the Governor respecting the Archbishop of St
Andrews, who had taken refuge in the fortress. Lord Fleming, justly enraged
at the outrages which Sir William had committed, saluted him with a bullet
discharged from one of the great guns on the ramparts. This was considered a
grievous outrage by the King's party, and gave rise to a ballad, entitled ‘
The Tresson of Dumbartane,’ which' was printed in black letter, at
Edinburgh, by Robert Lekpreuik, in 1570. The first verse of it is as
follows:—
'In Mayis moneth, mening na
dispate,
Quhen luff axis dois thair dailie obseruance
To Venus Quene, the goddes of delyte,
The fyftene day, befell the samen chance.’
After the death of the Earl
of Murray, the Earl of Lennox was chosen Regent. This nobleman manifested
great anxiety to obtain possession of the Castle of Dumbarton, as a rumour
prevailed that Lord Fleming intended to deliver it to the French. He craved
assistance from England, in order that he might besiege it in due form; and
Queen Elizabeth sent an armament by sea, for the ostensible purpose of
furthering the designs of the Regent, but the real policy of that monarch
was to crush neither of the two factions into which Scotland was divided,
but allow them to weaken each other by continued quarrels and outrages. It
does not therefore appear that the English force ever invested the Castle.
Indeed, Elizabeth became of opinion that the Queen’s party had been rather
too much weakened already; and therefore her lieutenant, the Earl of Sussex,
caused the Regent to give an assurance that he> would, at least for a time,
abstain from inflicting any further outrages on his opponents. The Regent,
nevertheless, in violation of this compact, despatched a strong detachment
of men to Biggar, and, according to the testimony of Richard Bannatyne, the
secretary of John Knox, who wrote a Journal of the Transactions of Scotland
from 1570 to 1573, they committed great enormities; and as the estates of
Lord Fleming had been forfeited, they compelled the tenants in the Barony of
Biggar, as well as in Thankerton and Glenholm, to pay large contributions
under the name of the mails and rents of their lands. From Biggar they went
to Cumbernauld, and perpetrated similar outrages, besides destroying the
deer in the forest of that barony, and the quhit ky and bulHs of the said
forrest, to the gryt distructione of polecie and hinder of the commanweill.’ |
