Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/519

Rh REFORMATION.] SCOTLAND 497 was Henry's Continental policy which in the end provoked the war. The struggle in Italy between Louis XII. and Pope Julius II. gave him an opportunity, and he allied him- self with the latter and invaded France. He attempted before leaving England to secure peace with Scotland by promising to redress its grievances. But James had re- newed the old alliance with France, and the only answer given to the first embassy in 1512 was an offer to mediate between France and England. In 1513 the message was, that if Henry passed to France war would not be declared without a herald being sent. The French queen (Anne of Brittany) had given James a ring with a substantial sub- sidy, and he had already made up his mind for war. Like Henry, he longed to win his spurs. Henry went to France in June, and soon after his arrival at the camp at Terouanne, the Scottish Lord Lyon brought the threatened declaration of war (llth August 1513). The grounds stated were the seizure of Scotsmen on the borders, the refusal of Margaret's legacy, and the death of Barton. N"o time was lost by James in carrying the declaration into effect ; but the war was disliked by the nation. The earl of Arran, sent with the fleet to aid the French, sailed instead, in defiance of orders, to Carrickfergus. James himself called out the whole land force contrary to the advice of his council, mustering at the Boroughmuir 100,000 men according to English accounts probably exaggerated, but doubtless as large an army as had been seen in Scotland. Crossing the border, he took Norham, Wark, and Ford. At the last of these castles the wife of Heron, the proprietor, then a prisoner in Scotland, beguiled James by her beauty, causing him to waste several days and betraying his movements to the enemy. In the conduct of the battle (9th September 1513) which followed he committed almost every fault a general could commit, neglecting to engage when the enemy were crossing the Till, allowing himself to be outflanked by Surrey, who got between him and the Scottish border, abandoning his strong position on the hill of Flodden, and finally exposing his own person on foot in the centre of the fight. Some Scottish writers claim that the battle was a divided success and that the total number of English killed was greater ; but Hall, an exact chronicler, says 12,000 Scots fell and only 1500 English, as appeared from the book of wages when the soldiers were paid. What made Flodden so great a disaster was the quality of the Scottish loss. The king himself, his son, the arch- bishop of St Andrews, two bishops, two abbots, twelve earls, and fourteen lords, besides many knights and gentle- men, were left on the field. There was scarcely a noble family which did not mourn some of its members. Surrey did not follow up his victory by invading Scot- land, since his object was gained : the diversion by the Scots in favour of France was at an end. Scotland was again left with an infant king, scarcely more than a year old. The character of James IV. was on the surface. An . excellent observer, the Spanish ambassador Ayala, notes ' his good looks and agreeable manners, his knowledge of languages and history, his respect for the service of the church and its priests, his liberality and courage, " even more than a king should have, not taking the least care of himself," his bad generalship, " beginning to fight before he had given his orders," and his wise statesmanship, deciding nothing without counsel, but acting according to his own judgment, which was generally right. The reign of James fell within the era of the revival of learning, and Scotland, though late, came within the circle of the intellectual which preceded the religious refor- mation. It was common for Scottish scholars to complete their education and sometimes to remain teaching in the universities of France. One of these, Elphinstone, bishop of Aberdeen, who founded its university, brought another, Hector Boece, the historian, to be first principal of King's 1512-1516 College, Aberdeen. James himself engaged Erasmus as tutor to his son, the future archbishop. Two other Scotsmen passed to Paris in -the beginning of the next reign, John Major and his pupil Buchanan, who brought back less of the critical but more of the Reforming spirit. These and other learned men neglected a reform as essential as any, the use of the mother-tongue in their writings, and the neglect has lessened their fame ; but it had its exponents in Dunbar, Henryson, Sir David Lyndsay, and Gavin Douglas. The printing press also found its way to Edin- burgh, and Chepman and Myllar published their first broad- sheets with works of Dunbar, Douglas, and the remains of the older poetry (see p. 540 sq. below). 7. The Reformation, its Antecedents and Consequences. James V. James V. (1513-42), scarcely eighteen months old when he succeeded, was at once crowned at Scone, where a par- liament met, chiefly attended by the clergy. The queen dowager was appointed regent, a secret message, however, being sent to John, duke of Albany, to come from France and assume the regency. The son of the exiled brother of James III., Albany had by his marriage to his cousin, the heiress of De la Tour d'Auvergne, become a great noble in France, where he held the office of high admiral, and neither he nor the French king, Louis XII., was willing that he should quit France. The Sieur de la Bastie came as his representative. The precipitate marriage of the queen, four months after the birth of a posthumous child, to the young earl of Angus, and a dispute as to the see of St Andrews, to which Margaret appointed Gavin Douglas the poet, her husband's kinsman, although Hepburn the prior had been chosen by the chapter, led the Scottish estates to renew their request that Albany should come to Scotland. He arrived at Dumbarton on 18th May 1515 and was at once appointed regent. The queen refused to give up her Regency son, but Albany besieged Stirling and forced her to sur- of render. Her new husband fled to France, and Margaret Albanv - first to Dacre, warden of the marches, and then to her brother's court, where she was joined by Angus. At Harbottle in Northumberland, on her journey south, she bore a daughter, Margaret Douglas, afterwards Lady Lennox, Darnley's mother. Henry VIII. asked the Scottish parliament to remove Albany from the regency, but was met with a decided refusal ; for, though a party of nobles, especially the border barons Lord Hume, the chamberlain, and his brother, were opposed to him, he was supported by the nation. The young duke of Ross, Margaret's younger son, having died suddenly, Albany procured a declaration from parliament that Ross's elder half-brother was illegitimate and himself next heir to the crown. Hume and his brother were seized and executed at Edinburgh (26th October 1516). These events aroused suspicion that Albany aimed at the crown ; but the suspicion appears to have been unfounded. His tastes were French ; hence he quickly tired of trying to govern Scotland, and in autumn obtained with difficulty leave of absence for four months. Before leaving he put Dumbarton, Dunbar, and Inchgarvie (in the Forth) in charge of French garrisons under De la Bastie, who held the post of warden of the marches ; but an interim regency was appointed. Margaret now returned to Scotland ; but she was not permitted to take part in the government. Shortly after his arrival in France Albany negotiated the treaty of Rouen (20th August) by which an alliance between France and Scotland was agreed on against England, and a promise given that the Scottish king should marry a daughter of Francis I., or if that failed another French princess. In September De la Bastie was murdered near Dunbar by Hume of Wedderburn with the connivance of Dacre. The perpe- trators were forfeited, but never brought to justice, although XXI. 63