Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/520

Rh 1516-1534. Arran, who succeeded to the office of warden, was sent for that purpose. The absence of a supreme authority gave free scope to the licence of the nobles. A serious rising in the Highlands to support the claim of Macdonald of Lochalsh to the lordship of the Isles lasted for several years, till the death of the claimant and the vigour of the earl of Argyll, the head of a house now rising into pre-eminence, led to its suppression. The chief dis- turbances arose from the ambition of Angus : Archibald, his uncle, was chosen provost of Edinburgh ; his brother William seized the priory of Coldingham ; his uncle Gavin, though he failed to secure the primacy, retained the see of Dunkeld. Angus was supported by the earls of Crawford, Erroll, and Glamis, by Forrnan, archbishop of St Andrews, and most of the other bishops, except James Beaton, arch- bishop of Glasgow and chancellor. The English warden, Dacre, was also on his side and tried by intrigue and bribery to foment dissension and prevent Albany's return. The opposite faction was headed by Arran, Lennox, Eglin- ton, Cassilis, Semple, the bishop of Galloway, and the chancellor. Scotland was thus divided between an English party, strongest in the east, and a French party, chiefly in the west. Their disputes reached a crisis in a street fight in Edinburgh, which got the name of "Cleanse the Causeway " (30th April 1520), in which Angus drove Arran out of the town and seized the castle. Sir Patrick Hamilton, a brother of Arran, was slain by Angus, an injury never forgiven. Meantime Margaret quarrelled with her husband, and, though there was a temporary reconciliation, mutual accusations of infidelity were too well grounded to permit of its being permanent. Next year Albany returned and the queen, who had been in secret correspondence with him, entrusted him with the custody of the young king. Henry VIII. again requested the Scottish parliament to expel Albany ; but they again refused, and Angus made terms with Albany on condition that he should himself withdraw to France. War was now declared between England and Scotland (1522) ; but, although Albany advanced with a large army as far as Carlisle, he was persuaded by Dacre to a month's truce and soon after went back to France, leaving the king in charge of a regency of which Beaton, Arran, Huntly, and Argyll were the leaders. Albany returned in the following year and again with a large force invaded England, but failed to take Wark, while Surrey, the English commander, ravaged the border. This failure lost Albany his credit with the Scots. In 1524 he went to France on condition that if he did not come back before 31st August his regency should end. He never returned, and during his absence Margaret carried off her son from Stirling to Edinburgh, where, although only a boy of twelve, he was declared king. Angus made an agreement with Wolsey to support the English interest ; and at a parliament in Edinburgh Albany's regency was declared at an end (12th February 1525), and Angus and Beaton obtained possession of the king's person and governed in his name. The queen, who had now openly broken with her brother, in vain appealed to France and Albany. The French were occupied with the war against the emperor ; but she obtained from James Beaton, now archbishop of St Andrews, a divorce from Angus and married Henry Stuart, son of Lord Avondale, creating him Lord Methven. For three years Angus retained the supreme power and filled all offices with his adherents. Beaton, with whom he quarrelled, was required to resign that of chancellor, and Angus nominated himself as his successor. The indignant nobles made unsuccessful attempts to seize the person of the king, who at last, on 23d May 1528, effected his escape from Falkland, riding at night to Stirling, where he was welcomed by the governor. Before parliament met a pro- clamation forbade any Douglas to remain in the capital.

A new ministry was appointed with Gavin Duubar, now archbishop of Glasgow, who had been the king's tutor, chancellor; Cameron, abbot of Holyrood, as treasurer; and the bishop of Dunkeld as privy seal. The Douglases were attainted and their estates divided amongst the nobles of the opposite faction. A truce was made with England for five years. During the minority and duress of James the Scottish nobility became accustomed to bribes either from England or France. The French, to which the higher clergy belonged, were in the ascendant at the court of the young king, who naturally felt ill-will towards the Douglases and leant on Albany, and after a time on Cardinal David Beaton, bishop of Mirepoix in France and nephew of the archbishop of St Andrews, whom he afterwards succeeded. Beaton was the Wolsey of Scotland ; but James V. was not Henry VIII., and the ambition of the great prelate was baffled, not by the king, but by the nation. Three months before the king's escape Patrick HAMILTON (q.v.), abbot of Ferae, was burnt for heresy at St Andrews. James, only seventeen when he gained his independence (1528), showed, like other Stuarts, activity in government, and the fourteen years of his actual rule, while not marked by outstanding events, were a period of renewed order and prosperity. He first turned to the borders, where constant wars with England had bred a race of lawless freebooters. By the severity of his measures he succeeded in doing what Angus and his predecessors had in vain tried to do. The borders continued till the union to trouble the ministers of the law ; but the clans who lived by plunder and blackmail were first really broken by the expedition of James V. But it was not only borderers who required to be taught that a king was again on the throne : Argyll, who had sought to make himself independent, was deprived of his lieutenancy and imprisoned ; Bothwell, the father of Mary's husband, was beheaded for the favour he showed the borderers ; and the estates of the earl of Crawford were forfeited. James made a progress through the Highlands and was sumptuously entertained by the earl of Athole. While criminal justice was strictly enforced, a step was at last taken to organize a central civil court (15th May 1532), which had been a settled plan of the kings since James I. The College of Justice or Court of Session was founded in Edinburgh by the influence of Albany with the pope, funds being got from the bishops' revenues for the payment of the judges. Of the fifteen judges eight, including the president, were to be clergy, and the barons were conciliated by the anomalous office of extraordinary lords. 1 The relations between James and Henry VIII. continued His hostile and there were mutual raids till peace was concluded marriage in 1534. Henry was then at the critical point of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon and anxious to secure an ally. France and Spain were also competing for the favour of the Scottish monarch, and Charles V. proposed a marriage with Mary of Portugal. But he had already indicated a preference for a French alliance, selecting Mary, daughter of the due de Vendome. The pope addressed James as defender of the faith, a title Henry VIII. had forfeited. The clergy by Beaton's advice granted him a large allowance out of their revenues. These inducements and the influence of Beaton and Dunbar, the two arch- bishops, kept James firm in his attachment to the old church, in spite of the temptation which Henry held out in its endowments and of the satires in which Sir David 1 There were already signs of the small beginning of the profession of lay lawyers who were to play an important part in Scottish affairs in the 17th and 18th centuries. The establishment of a settled system of justice, independent alike of the baronial and ecclesiastical courts, was a much needed reform ; but the latter still retained their consis- torial jurisdiction. initial formation