Historical preface: 1547-69

1547–69

Archbishop Dunbar died on 30th April, 1547, and on his death Alexander Gordon, second son of John, master of Huntly, and Jane, natural daughter of James IV., was elected to the see of Glasgow by the chapter. (fn. 1) He went to Rome to receive confirmation, but was never consecrated. His election was opposed by the earl of Arran, governor of the kingdom, on account of his having sided with the queen-dowager, and the archbishopric was conferred on James Beaton, abbot of Arbroath. (fn. 2)

In 1551 a seal of cause was granted by Andrew Hamilton of Ceuchtnock, provost, and the two bailies of that year, to the masons, coopers, slaters, sawyers, and quarriers dwelling within the burgh. This document, which is dated 14th October in that year, bears to have been issued on the supplication of the headsmen and masters of these crafts, and ratified and approved of articles similar to those contained in the seal of cause granted to the hammermen in 1536, (fn. 3) with the following additions:—that each freeman of the craft should pay to the altar of St. Thomas 20s. for his upset, and 10s. for each apprentice; that each craftsman should have only one apprentice at a time, and not license him before his term of apprenticeship had expired, and that there should be no interchange of apprentices; that each master should pay a penny weekly to the altar; that the deacon and kirk masters should have power to poind at their own hand and by their own officers for the duties and fines thereof unpaid; that every person who disobeyed his deacon in the execution of his office should pay a pound of wax to the altar, be thereafter punished by the magistrate with all rigour, pay a new upset, "recounsel" (renew) his oath and faith, and do the penance enjoined on him; and that apprentices should serve for seven years. (fn. 4)

It has been seen (fn. 5) that so early as the close of the thirteenth century a burghal court existed in Glasgow, and that sasine of lands within burgh was given in presence of the prepositi et ballivi. These officers were undoubtedly the magistrates, but there is nothing to show whether the prepositi were not the same individuals as the ballivi. The plural words are used, it will be observed, with reference both to provosts and bailies, and two persons are described as tunc prepositi, showing that the title, whether interpreted provosts or headmen, was held by both. Some burghs, even in the present day, have two or three bailies and no provost, and to these the term prepositi is still applicable. In the latter half of the fourteenth century, again, the bailies of Glasgow are recorded as having paid certain sums into exchequer. (fn. 6) But in December, 1453, bishop Turnbull granted various privileges to the university, and appointed transgressors against the assize of bread and ale to be reported to the "prepositus" or any of the bailies of the burgh. (fn. 7) This shows that about the middle of the fifteenth century one of the magistrates was recognised distinctively as the prepositus or provost by the ecclesiastical superior of the burgh. A year later, viz., in 1454, "Johne Steuart," is designed in a formal document," as the first provest that was in the cite of Glasgw," (fn. 8) and the title is subsequently recognised (1) in a document, dated 1460–1, whereby Simon Dalgleish appointed the provost, bailies, and councillors to be administrators of his mortification; (fn. 9) (2) in a decree of the lords auditors of causes and complaints, dated 1469, in favour of Andrew, bishop of Glasgow, and the provost, bailies, and community of the city; (fn. 10) (3) in a charter, dated 1476, by which James III. authorised bishop Laing and his successors to constitute within the city a "prepositus," bailies, and other officers to rule and govern it; (fn. 11) the authority thus expressly given was, however, involved in the more general power conferred three centuries earlier on bishop Joceline and his successors, to form the original burgh; (4) in a decree of the burgh court of the city in 1477–8–9, which sets forth that a head court of the burgh and city was held in the tolbooth by "Johne Stewart, provest," and two of the bailies; (fn. 12) and (5) in a letter, dated 1491–2, addressed by James IV. "to the proveist and baillies of the city," by which he granted them license to use and occupy their freedom as they had previously done. (fn. 13) Several subsequent deeds refer to the provost and bailies as patrons of religious and charitable foundations. It can scarcely be doubted that the selection by the bishop or archbishop of the person who was to hold office as provost would be carefully and formally made, but no document exists previous to 1574 to show how this was done. A notarial instrument, dated 3rd October, 1553, (fn. 14) gives, however, a minute and picturesque account of the procedure connected with the selection by the archbishop of the persons who were to be elected bailies. It sets forth that, on the Tuesday after Michaelmas (29th September) in that year, the provost, Andrew Hamilton of Cochnocht, with the other magistrates, appeared before him while he was talking with some of the canons in the inner flower garden of the archiepiscopal palace, and there and then engaged in a lengthened discussion as to the election of the bailies for the following year. At its conclusion, the magistrates presented to the archbishop a paper on which was written the names of eight of the worthiest and most eminent citizens, and asked him to state which two of these he willed to be appointed bailies. Having read over the names, he nominated Master John Hall and John Mure by pointing out their names with his finger. The provost and bailies then promised to elect the persons so named, using the customary words, "We shall do your lordship's will," and proceeded to the tolbooth where the election was completed. After the magistrates had left, the archbishop, addressing the canons who had been with him during the ceremony, said, "For the removal of all further contention respecting the nomination and election of councillors [bailies] of our city of Glasgow that shall happen to arise in time to come, we have thought it worth while to have all this business, which has passed just now between us and the provost and magistrates of our said city, confirmed by an instrument; and he asked an instrument." An instrument setting forth the above facts was accordingly prepared, and bears to have been "done on the 3rd day of October, 1553; witnesses the canons."

The anxiety thus expressed by archbishop Beaton to have the proceedings connected with the election of the bailies at this time recorded in a notarial instrument, "for the removal of all further contention," seems to indicate that questions had previously arisen between the magistrates and him. As to what these questions were, no information exists beyond what may be gathered from an abstract of a decree of the privy council, dated 10th December, 1554. From that document it appears that the archbishop had challenged the claim of the community to exercise certain liberties and privileges conferred on it by his predecessors, and in which the community had been "infeft by the king," and that he had been refused payment of certain duties claimed by him. Whatever the dispute was, however, the privy council sustained the defence of the community. (fn. 15)

A document known as a "rental," granted by Archbishop Beaton to Archibald Lyon, on 10th August, 1554, received Lyon as "rentaller" of a waulk or fulling mill in Newtoun, on the river Kelvin, and empowered him to change the mill into a wheat mill, subject to an obligation to grind all the wheat which the bishop consumed in his house, and to pay four merks yearly for his possession. (fn. 16) Fifteen years later, on 16th November, 1569, Lyon obtained from the bailie of the regality a decree against some of the bakers of Glasgow, finding them to have been in the wrong for stopping the free passage of the water from Lyon's mill by building up a dam to their own mill. (fn. 17) On 22nd January, 1577–8, a contract was entered into between the magistrates and council and Lyon, under which the latter conveyed to the burgh all the right he had in this mill, and the magistrates and council engaged to infeft him in their common town mill, mill land, and multures, which he again leased to the burgh for his lifetime, and after his death till the town mill was redeemed. They further engaged to pay him during his lifetime thirty bolls of unground malt and twenty bolls of meal, and after his death to pay to his heirs or assignees one hundred merks yearly till the town mill was redeemed by the payment of one thousand merks. (fn. 18) This transaction was recognised on 20th May, 1588, by Walter, commendator of Blantyre—who had meanwhile obtained from James VI. a charter conveying to him in feu the lands and barony of Glasgow and the city and burgh of regality of Glasgow—granting, as lord feu-farmer of the barony and lordship of Glasgow, a "rentall" bearing that the burgh was rentalled in the mill on Kelvin, in place of Lyon, subject to payment of four merks yearly. (fn. 19) But five months later, viz., on 9th November, 1588, the town obtained a permanent and indefeasible title to the mill, with the miller's house, yard, and piece called Schilhill belonging thereto, and the pertinents thereof, by a feu charter from Walter, the commendator, which stipulated for the yearly payment of a feu-duty of four merks and twelve pennies Scots. (fn. 20) Upon this charter the town were duly infeft on 20th March, 1588. (fn. 21)

Mr. George Crawfurd states that the society of bakers existed as an associated body before the reformation, but that its charters and documents were destroyed by the great fire which consumed a considerable part of the city in 1652. In 1556, however, the council passed an act in favour of the craft, which in the same year was separately assessed for a share of the tax imposed on the towns of Scotland in that year. (fn. 22) What the tax thus referred to was does not appear, unless it may have been to raise a sum of £666 13s. 4d., granted to the queen on 9th May of that year, and which, by her precept of 5th June, she directed the magistrates of Edinburgh to levy from the burghs. The stent roll prepared by them in virtue of this precept shows that, while Edinburgh had to contribute in Scots money £168 13s. 4d.; Dundee, £84 6s. 6d.; Aberdeen, £63; Perth, £49 10s.; Stirling, £16 16s. 10d.; and Montrose, £18 Glasgow was only required to pay £13 10s. (fn. 23)

A seal of cause granted by the town council, with consent of the archbishop, on 27th February, 1558–9, on the supplication of the cordiners and barkers, authorised these craftsmen to choose a deacon and kirkmasters annually; required every man of the craft, before setting up a booth in the town, to be made a freeman, and to pay to the altar of St. Ninian, (fn. 24) in the metropolitan church, £3 6s. 8d. Scots for "his upset;" required the sons of freemen in upsetting their booths of new to pay 6s. 8d., and each apprentice at his entry to pay 20s.; required every master to pay one penny weekly, and every servant, other than an apprentice, one halfpenny; required every man of the craft, free or unfree, who presented work or barked leather in the market, to pay one penny; subjected craftsmen absent after due warning from the four quarter accounts to payment of 4s.; prohibited freemen from taking an apprentice for a shorter period than seven years, or more than one apprentice during that period; prohibited craftsmen, whether freemen or not, by themselves or their servants, from "fetching" another freeman's stand in the market after it was laid or set according to custom; prohibited craftsmen, free or unfree, from presenting work in the market before 9 o'clock in the morning, from standing between another freeman and the cross under the penalty of a pound of wax, and from receiving upon his stand the work of an unfreeman; appointed the deacon and kirkmasters to examine both made work and barked leather, and to report to the oversman of the town such as was found insufficient, which was to be thereafter forfeited; prohibited every master craftsman from taking another man's servant or apprentice without the permission of the master with whom he had last served; subjected craftsmen who disobeyed the orders of the deacon or officers of the craft to payment of 20s. to the bailies for each offence; empowered the deacon to poind for these duties, and, failing payment, to close the defaulter's booth and window; and authorised the deacon, with the advice of the best and worthiest craftsmen, to make statutes for the craft. (fn. 25)

In 1550 the queen-dowager went to France to visit her daughter, and, while there, negotiations seem to have taken place with a view to her formal recognition and appointment as regent. To facilitate this, no doubt, the king of France invested the earl of Arran, first with the order of St. Michael, and afterwards with the duchy of Chatelherault, granting him at the same time, it is said, a pension of 30,000 livres. No act of the estates formally conferring the regency on the queen-dowager has been preserved. It would rather appear that the earl held the nominal regency till 1554; but the acts of indemnity passed by parliament in April, 1554, exempting Arran and his house from all responsibility for things done during his regency, and the establishment, de facto, of the queen-dowager as regent, indicate the completion of the transfer of the regency to Mary of Guise. (fn. 26) On 24th April, 1558, the young queen was married to the dauphin, and the death of the French king, on 10th July, 1559, placed her husband on the throne as Francis II.

As has been stated, the heritable bailieship of the regality of Glasgow was held by the Lennox family, (fn. 27) but that tenure was interrupted by the action of Mathew, the fourth earl. During the negotiations which took place with Henry VIII. as to the marriage of the young queen with his son, Prince Edward, the earl actively promoted the English alliance. His connection with the great French family of D'Aubigne, and his training and military service in France, might naturally have induced him to co-operate with the friends of that country in Scotland. But he had a personal object to serve by favouring the policy of the English King: he was anxious to marry the daughter of queen Margaret and the earl of Angus, and in the prosecution of that object the favour of her father—who was dependent upon the king—and still more of the king himself, seemed all important. He, therefore, gave his warm support to the English schemes, and, in return, secured the assent of Henry to a condition that, on the establishment of his supremacy in Scotland, the earl should be made governor. All this made Lennox so obnoxious in Scotland that he had to fly to England in 1544, and in the following year the Scottish parliament passed an act declaring him to have incurred the penalty of treason, and forfeiting his whole estates to the crown. (fn. 28) He remained in England till 1564. Under these circumstances, archbishop Dunbar, who had been superseded in the chancellorship by cardinal Beaton in the end of 1543, and had retired to his diocese, where he occupied himself with the duties of his office, appointed the earl of Arran, "protector and governor of Scotland," and his heirs, to be bailies and justices of all lands of the barony and regality, with full power to hold courts, &c.; but they were forbidden to appoint or remove officers without the consent of the archbishop or his successors. The letters of bailiary so granted were dated in 1545, (fn. 29) and twelve years afterwards, viz., on 6th February, 1557–8, the earl, then duke of Chatelherault, granted a bond of maintenance to the archbishop and his chapter, by which, in consideration of the favour he had to the Metropolitan Kirk, "quhair diverse of our forbearis lyis quhilkis brukit the said office of bailzerie for thair tyme, and als havand consideratioune of this perillous and dangerous tyme quhair detestabil heresies ryses and increasis in the diocy," and "beand of gud mynde and purpos, God willing, to repress thaim eftir our power," he undertook, by "the faith and truth in our bodies," to the archbishop, his successors, and chapter, to maintain and support them in all their good, honest, and lawful matters, and to defend them, the privileges of their kirk, their lands, servants, and tenants, against all persons in the realm save the queen and her royal successors. (fn. 30)

Notwithstanding the obligation thus granted, however, the duke, who had for a time remained neutral in the quarrel between the queen-regent and the lords of the congregation, was induced, about September, 1559, to join the congregation, and to act with them. Keith states that he proceeded to Glasgow and caused all the images and altars in the churches to be pulled down, and seized on the archbishop's castle. When the news of this action reached Edinburgh, where the queen-regent then was, the archbishop hastened, with some French soldiers, supported by lords Seaton, Semple, and Ross, to recover it, and the duke's party, hearing of their approach, left the town. The castle was then occupied by the archbishop and his friends, and the French soldiers went back to Edinburgh. The duke appears, however, to have speedily returned, and to have issued proclamations, in name of Francis and Mary, king and queen of Scots, hostile to the queen-regent. (fn. 31) In the end of January, 1559–60, the duke and his party concluded a treaty with Elizabeth, who, on the death of her sister Mary, on 17th November, 1558, had succeeded to the English throne. By this treaty the lords of the congregation were taken under her protection, and her troops, consisting of 2,000 horse and 6,000 foot, entered Scotland on 2nd April, 1560. Joined by the army of the congregation, consisting of nearly 8,000 men, and led by the duke, Argyle, Murray, and others, they proceeded to besiege Leith, which was surrendered on 6th July, under the provisions of the treaty of Edinburgh, the immediate objects of which were peace and the return to their own countries of the forces sent by England and France. Proclamation of the peace was made at Edinburgh on 8th July, and soon afterwards the French army, consisting of 4,000 men, were embarked in English ships for France; while, at the same time, the English forces began their march homeward. The queen-regent had died in the castle of Edinburgh on the 10th of June, and the party of the reformation were thus the practical masters of the country. The action of the reformers in demolishing churches and monasteries, and possibly the belief that he could better serve the cause of the church in France than in Scotland, induced archbishop Beaton to leave the country, taking with him the acts and records of his cathedral. He accompanied the French troops on their return, and deposited the documents connected with the see, as has already been stated, partly in the Scots College and partly in the Chartreuse of Paris. His departure was followed on 19th September by a decree of the court of session declaring his see to be vacant. The effect of this decree, however, was not to deprive him of the beneficial interest in the lands of the archbishopric, for the rental book of the diocese shows that for ten years after the Reformation he continued to enter vassals and otherwise transact the secular business of the see. (fn. 32)

In August, 1560, the Scottish estates convened, and on the 17th of the month approved of the Confession of Faith. On the 25th of the same month they revoked all acts authorising any form of belief or worship other than was set forth in that document, and also abjured the authority of the pope, who was designated bishop of Rome. The acts which thus recognised the change of religion never, however, received the royal assent. On 5th December in the same year, Francis of France died, and the young queen was left a widow. Under these circumstances her friends in Scotland earnestly desired that she should return to that country and assume the government. She accordingly embarked at Calais on 14th August, 1561, and arrived in Leith on the 19th of that month, having escaped the ships of war which queen Elizabeth had despatched to intercept her.

Three months after the queen's return, viz., in December, 1561, a general assembly of the church was held, and an unsuccessful attempt was made to get her to ratify the Book of Discipline. This book, which had been prepared by John Knox and four other ministers in the previous year, defined the constitution of the reformed church, its worship and discipline, and provided for the appropriation of the patrimony of the Romish church. It had been presented to the privy council, but had not received the approval of that body, and on 17th January, 1561–2, had been subscribed by thirty-three barons and prelates of the old church, who had professed reformed doctrine. Meanwhile the protestant preachers were in dire distress, aggravated, no doubt, by the fact that the rich benefices of the church were still either held by the Romish ecclesiastics, or enjoyed by the nobles, who had taken unauthorised possession of them. Under these circumstances, and after advising with the nobility and clergy, the privy council enacted that one-third of the ecclesiastical benefices should be bestowed on the ministers and applied to the support of the crown, the other two-thirds remaining with the beneficiaries. To ascertain the amount so applicable, all the beneficed clergy were ordered to produce their rent rolls, and lists were appointed to be prepared of the ministers, exhorters, and readers, that it might be seen what amount would be required for their maintenance. When these rent rolls were got in, a commission was appointed to modify the stipends, and Dr. Cunningham (fn. 33) estimates that £24,231 were applied to that object out of the £250,000 which must have formed the revenue of the Romish church. Meanwhile the privy council, by an act dated 15th February, 1561–2, ordered that all annuals, rents, and duties within towns, which belonged to chaplains, prebendaries, and friars, and also the rents of friars' lands, wherever situated, should be intromitted with by persons appointed by the crown, and employed for the support of such "hospitalities, schools, and other godly uses," as the queen, with advice of her council, might direct. This act then set forth that as nothing was more "commodious for the said hospitality" than the places of the friars then undemolished, as also for the "entertainment of schools, colleges, and other foresaid uses," the magistrates of Aberdeen, Elgin, Inverness, Glasgow, and other burghs in which the friars' places were not demolished, were ordained to maintain and uphold these places on the common good, and to use them for the common weal and service of the respective towns until final order was taken in regard to such matters, a_d that notwithstanding any gift, title, or interest given by the queen to any other persons. (fn. 34)

A notarial instrument under the hand of Henry Gibson, town-clerk, and dated 30th September, 1561, explains the procedure adopted by the magistrates and council in relation to the appointment of the magistrates of the burgh for the year after archbishop Beaton had left his see and gone to France. It sets forth that Robert Lindsay of Dunrod, provost, accompanied by a large number of the council and the community, proceeded on that day—which was the first Tuesday after Michaelmas—to the castle, and there declared, in the presence of the town-clerk and witnesses, that he, with the whole council and community, had, according to their old custom, convened in the tolbooth to choose leets of those who were to be proposed for the office of bailie during the following year, and had prepared a leet of nine persons, which, in obedience to a decree of the privy council and letters of four forms raised thereon at the instance of the archbishop, they were prepared to submit to him at his castle and mansion, in order that he, or some one duly authorised by him, might select two to bear office as bailies. But neither the archbishop nor any person authorised by him was there. Under these circumstances the provost, in like manner, passed to the metropolitan kirk, and at the choir door thereof sought for the archbishop, who, however, could not be found. The provost, accordingly, in name and on behalf of the community, protested solemnly that the absence of the archbishop, and of any person possessing authority from him, should not prejudice the interests of the town, but that the council and community should elect two persons to be bailies for the year then ensuing, so that the town and burgh might not be deprived of magistrates to administer justice between neighbour and neighbour; that they had done due diligence in searching for the archbishop, and were willing to obey the decree and royal letters passed thereupon; and that their choosing bailies should not prejudice the decree and letters or the archbishop's rights. (fn. 35)

The minutes of the town council prior to 1573–4 are not now extant; but this document shows that there had been friction between the archbishop and the magistrates and council as to the annual election of the bailies, that he had appealed to the privy council, and that it had decided in favour of his right to select the persons to be elected. Whether this decision was given in the suit referred to in the decreet of 10th December, 1554, already referred to, (fn. 36) does not appear. But though the provost and magistrates must have been well aware of the archbishop being in France, they doubtless desired to preserve evidence of the fact that the election of the bailies without his expressed consent was necessitated by his absence.

The condition of the university in 1563 is described in a letter by the queen, under her privy seal, dated 13th July of that year. Its schools and chambers are referred to as being only partially built, and the provision for its poor bursars and teachers as having ceased, "so that the same appeared rather to be the decay of a university than an established foundation." She, therefore, founded bursaries for five poor children, whom she directed to be called "bursars of Queen Mary's foundation," and to be appointed by her and her successors; and she granted to the college for their support the manse and "kirkroom" of the Friars Preachers within the city, thirteen acres of land beside the city, ten merks of yearly rent formerly due to these friars from tenements in the city, twenty merks yearly from the Netherton of Hamilton, ten bolls of meal yearly from certain lands in the Lennox, and ten merks yearly from the lands and lordship of Avondale. (fn. 37)

In 1564 the queen recalled Mathew, earl of Lennox, from England, where he had resided since 1544, and gave him a cordial reception at Holyrood, (fn. 38) and in December the forfeiture which parliament had pronounced against him in the latter year (fn. 39) was rescinded, and he was restored to his titles and estates. This restoration was preceded on 28th October by an ordinance of the privy council, in which, after referring to the feud which had existed between the duke of Chatelherault and the earl, the queen commanded both of these noblemen to avoid molesting or troubling each other under her majesty's highest displeasure. And with a view to the avoidance of future displeasure or grudge between them, the queen, understanding that the duke "hes presentlie in tak and assedation the bailierie and justiciary of Glasgow, quhilk of auld wes ane kyndlie possessioun to the said erle of Levenax hous, as he allegeis," therefore she ordained the duke "to renounce, resigne, and gif owir for himself and his aires the samyn and all uther rycht, titill of rycht, entres, or possessioun, that he hes or may pretend thairto, be ony maner of way, and demit the samyn frelie and simpliciter, to the effect that the archbishop of Glasgow may dispone thairupoun, nochtwithstanding ony titill maid" to the duke "or ony of his sons thairof of befoir." This commandment both the duke and the earl, "as guid and obedient subjectis, promeised, in presence of the counsel, to obey, fulfill, and faythfullie to accomplishe." (fn. 40) On 29th February, 1565, Darnley—the eldest son of the marriage between the earl of Lennox and the lady Margaret Douglas, daughter of Archibald, earl of Angus, and Margaret, widow of James IV.—came to Scotland, according to Balfour, to stay for three months, so as to be present at his father's restoration. But on proceeding to Edinburgh the queen fell in love with him, and applied for a papal dispensation to enable her to marry him, he being within the prohibited degree of relationship to her. She shortly afterwards knighted him, and created him lord of Ardmanoch, earl of Ross, and duke of Albany. (fn. 41)

The announcement of the queen's intention to marry Darnley was made to a convention of nobles held at Perth, from which, however, both the earls of Murray and Argyle absented themselves. The marriage was solemnised at Holyrood on the 29th of July, 1565, and on the following day Darnley was proclaimed king of the Scots during the subsistence of the marriage. (fn. 42) But, meanwhile, Murray, Argyle, and the duke of Chatelherault, with a number of other lords who were opposed to the marriage, had entered into a league to deprive the queen of the crown, and in prosecution of this design had taken up arms against her. One of her first acts, therefore, after her marriage, was to cause proclamation to be made of the intention of herself and her husband to proceed in person to suppress the rebellion, of which Chatelherault was put forward as the leader, and to appoint the inhabitants of Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire to meet them at Glasgow on 29th August, and to attend upon them for fifteen days, "for repressing dangers in the country." (fn. 43) Accompanied by her husband and his father, the duke of Lennox, the queen placed herself at the head of a body of horse, and proceeded to the neighbourhood of Glasgow to give battle to the rebels, but they speedily retreated, and she appears to have been in the city on the 5th of September, when a bond was entered into by the lords Cassillis, Eglintoun, Sempill, Ross, Sommervell, and a number of other noblemen and gentlemen, to render loyal obedience to their majesties and to the earl of Lennox as their lieutenant. (fn. 44) Of the suppression of this rebellion it is unnecessary here to speak. Notwithstanding the prominent part he had taken in it, the queen granted the duke a pardon on 1st December. He then left Scotland and returned to France.

On 19th June, 1566, a son, afterwards James VI., was born in the castle of Edinburgh; but before his birth the queen had ample evidence of the worthlessness of her husband, and despised and hated him. The baptism of the young prince took place in the castle of Stirling on 17th December; but although Darnley was in the castle at the time, he was not present at the ceremony. Shortly afterwards he was seized with a disease, which proved to be small-pox, and was removed to his father's house in Glasgow. (fn. 45) His enemies indulged the hope that his illness might be fatal, but when he began to recover they took action. A bond for his murder was prepared; and while Hepburn, earl of Bothwell, appears to have been the leader in the plot, there can be little doubt that Morton, Ruthven, and other persons took part in it. Meanwhile, on 10th January, 1566–7, the privy council granted commission to various persons to call all the burghs of the realm before them, and to appoint such taxation to be taken up in each as might be requisite for the sustentation of the ministry in it. And for relief of these burghs the annuals of altarages, chaplainries, and obits within them respectively, whenever these became vacant by the death of the possessors, or had become vacant since the queen's arrival in Scotland, and were not disponed to any person, were granted to these burghs. (fn. 46)

Whether the queen was cognizant of the plot against her husband's life is one of those questions which has since been keenly debated. If she was not, she was used to lure him to his destruction, and her subsequent infatuated conduct has given too much ground to her accusers for charging her with connivance. Despising and hating him, as she had abundant cause to do, she, nevertheless, on 22nd January, 1566–7, visited him on his sick bed, with every appearance of affection, and induced him to come to Edinburgh, where he arrived, not without apprehension of danger, on the 31st of the month. He was then lodged in the Kirk-of-Field, and was there foully murdered on the 10th of February. (fn. 47)

The last document in the present collection granted by the queen is a charter' under the great seal dated 16th March, 1566–7, by which she granted to the magistrates, councillors, and community of the city, the lands, houses, buildings, churches, chapels, yards, orchards, crofts, annual rents, profits, and emoluments, which belonged to any chaplainries, altarages, and prebends, founded in any church, chapel, or college within Glasgow by any patron; the manor places, orchards, lands, and revenues which formerly belonged to the Dominican or Preaching Friars, and to the Minorites or Franciscans of the city; (fn. 48) the lands, houses, and tenements within the city and its liberties, and all annual rents leviable from any house or lands within the city, granted to any chaplainries, altarages, churches, burials, or anniversaries within the kingdom; and all annual rents and other dues customary, or that could be demanded by any church outside of the city from the magistrates of the same out of the common good for celebrating suffrages. And the magistrates and council were taken bound to support the ministers, readers, and other ecclesiastical charges out of the annual rents, profits, and duties so conveyed; to build and repair the ruinous places; and to restore and apply the same to hospitality or such other similar lawful uses as to them, with the advice of the ministers and elders of the city, should seem fit. The charter further rescinded all alienations of church properties dishonestly made since the change of religion by prebendaries, chaplains, friars, and others, by which alienations the first purpose and will of the founders were infringed or altered, and converted to private uses. But it expressly declared that no injury should be done to the chaplains, prebendaries, and friars, who were in possession before the change of religion, and reserved to them the use of the fruits and duties so conveyed during their lives. (fn. 49) This last reservation probably rendered the grant of no great immediate value, and accordingly a few weeks later the privy council issued an act, dated 7th May, 1567, in which the magistrates and council were required to pay to the ministers of the burgh £80 Scots of their proper goods yearly; and for their relief they were authorised to impose a tax on the whole inhabitants according to their ability. The remainder of the stipends of the ministers and readers, and the other charges connected with the kirk, were appointed to be paid out of the readiest of the annuals of the burgh conveyed by the queen to the burgh for that object. (fn. 50)

On 15th May, 1567—only three months after her husband's murder— the queen was married to Bothwell, who was openly, and, without doubt, justly, accused of the murder; and her ill-omened marriage was speedily followed by her capture by the confederate lords at Carberry Hill, on 14th June; by her imprisonment in Lochleven Castle on 16th June; by her enforced abdication, in favour of her son, on 24th July; and by her appointment of Murray, who was then in France, to be regent during the minority of the prince. On the 29th of July, the infant prince, then only a year old, was solemnly crowned as king—the earl of Morton, as sponsor for the child, taking an oath which had been framed for the occasion. Murray arrived in Scotland from France on 11th August, and, after an interview with the queen at Lochleven on the 15th and 16th of the same month, returned to Edinburgh, and was inaugurated as regent in the tolbooth on the 22nd of that month. On the 15th of December a parliament assembled, under the regent's summons, and, on 20th December, formally ratified all the proceedings connected with the queen's abdication, the coronation of the prince, and the regent's appointment, declaring that the prince's title was as effectual as if his mother at the time of his coronation "had been departed out of this mortal life." (fn. 51) On the same day, also, all patrons of provostries, or prebendaries of colleges, altarages, or chaplainries, were empowered in all time thereafter to present the livings of which they were patrons to a bursar, to be named by them, to study virtue and letters within any of the Scottish universities for such period as the patron might arrange with the principal and ministers of the university. (fn. 52)

On 11th March, 1567–8, the regent and a number of the nobility came to Glasgow to hold justice aires for the adjacent sheriffdoms; (fn. 53) and he was still there when, on the 2nd of May, 1568, the queen made her escape from Lochleven castle. On landing on the western shore of the lake, she was received by lord Seton, with a small body of horse, and conveyed to his castle of Niddry, near Linlithgow, where she passed the night, and proceeded on the following day to Hamilton. There, in the course of a few days, she found herself at the head of an army of 6,000 men. (fn. 54) On receipt of the intelligence of the queen's escape, the regent issued a proclamation requiring all the king's lieges to join him, "weill bodin in feir of weir," for preservation of the king's person and authority, and establishing of justice and quietness within the realm. (fn. 55) In response to this summons, he was joined by about 4,500 men, and with this force he resolved to attack the queen's forces on their passage from Hamilton to Dunbarton. The encounter took place at Langside, in the immediate vicinity of the city. The queen's army was under the command of Argyle; but that of the regent, who was himself an experienced soldier, included not only Morton, Semple, Home, and Lindsay, but also Kirkcaldy of Grange, who, as Burton observes, was a leader of European renown. The battle lasted but for three-quarters of an hour, and resulted in decisive defeat to the cause of the queen. "It settled," says Burton, "the fate of Scotland, affected the future of England, and had its influence over all Europe." (fn. 56) Against the advice of her most trusty councillors, she determined to throw herself on the hospitality and protection of Elizabeth, and, passing into England on the 16th of May, 1568, entered upon a captivity which was terminated only by her execution, on 8th February, 1587, under a warrant signed by Elizabeth's own hand. So closes the story of this beautiful, accomplished, and heroic queen—sadly erring, no doubt, but grievously betrayed and wronged—and the lapse of three hundred years has scarcely dimmed the halo of romance which invests almost every incident of her life.

After defeating the queen's forces at Langside, the regent returned to Glasgow, and, after a solemn thanksgiving service in the cathedral, received the hospitalities of the town council. (fn. 57)

In May of this year the regent appears to have committed the castle of Glasgow to sir John Stewart of Mynto, and to have assigned to him annually, for keeping the same, five chalders of malt, five chalders of meal, two chalders of horse corn, and two hundred merks money of the first and readiest fruits of the bishopric—the third thereof being first paid to the ministers. This appointment Stewart retained till November, 1573. (fn. 58)

On 5th June, 1568, a precept, under the privy seal, was issued to the lords of council and session, and to the collectors appointed for the ministers, in which, after referring to the queen's grant for the ministry and hospitality, and to its inadequacy to sustain the ministers by reason of the prebendaries, who were in possession of the several benefices, being empowered to uplift and enjoy, during their lifetime, the emoluments of the subjects thereby conveyed, the king, with the consent of the regent, and with the advice and consent of the privy council, assigned to the magistrates and council the thirds, with the surplus and omitted fruits not given up in the rental, of all altarages founded within the cathedral, and of all other kirks, chaplainries, and colleges within the city and its freedom, wheresoever the fruits thereof were within the realm. And the magistrates and council were empowered, by themselves and their collectors, to uplift the thirds of these altarages and chaplainries, with the surplus and omitted fruits for the crop and year 1567, and yearly thereafter till further order was taken; and to apply the same to the sustentation of their ministers and the ministry present and being for the time, conform to the discretion of the superintendents and assembly of the kirk. But the precept provided that the then possessors of the altarages and others should not uplift the two-thirds of the annual rents and other fruits until they first made payment of the remaining third, or found caution therefor. And the magistrates, council, and community were taken bound to sustain the ministers of the city for the time sufficiently, in accordance with the order of the kirk or superintendents for the period specified in the precept, and to apply the surplus in sustaining the readers, poor, and other good uses, with the advice of the ministers and elders of the city. (fn. 59)

Towards the end of 1568–9 the duke of Chatelherault returned to Scotland. He had for some time been resident in France, but had been present a few weeks earlier at the conferences which took place in Westminster between the representatives of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, and carried north with him a commission from Queen Mary as her lieutenantgeneral. He was accompanied by lord Herries, one of Mary's ablest and most faithful adherents, and the regent seems to have been desirous to bring them over to his side. With that object he invited them to a conference, which took place in Glasgow on 13th March. It was attended by the regent and a number of his adherents, and, on the part of the duke, by the earl of Cassillis, lord Herries, the abbot of Kilwinning, and other members of the queen's party. To this meeting the regent submitted proposals on the basis of the duke and his party acknowledging the king and his authority, and being admitted to their own place in council as hereditary councillors of the realm. These proposals were set forth in "heads of communing," and a subsequent meeting was appointed to take place at Edinburgh on 10th April "to conclude an agreement in friendly manner." (fn. 60) On the same day a number of noblemen and gentlemen granted bonds to the king acknowledging his authority and that of the regent. (fn. 61) The second meeting, thus arranged to be held on 10th April, was attended by the duke as well as by lord Herries, and the regent produced a paper acknowledging the king's authority, and called on them to subscribe it. This, however, they refused to do, and both were committed prisoners to the castle of Edinburgh, where they remained—lord Herries till 31st March, and the duke till 20th April, 1570. (fn. 62) On 16th August in the same year the privy council, in respect of archbishop Beaton's failure to appear before them and answer to such things as might be laid to his charge, ordained him to be denounced rebel and put to the horn, and all his movable goods to be escheated and brought to the king's use. (fn. 63)

In 1569 two seals of cause were granted by sir John Stewart of Minto, provost, and the bailies and council—the one on 27th April to the coopers resident in the burgh and city, whereby, on the supplication of the deacon, headsman, and masters of that craft, they ratified and approved a number of articles corresponding to those in the seal of cause granted to the hammermen in 1536, (fn. 64) and to a number of other articles corresponding to those in the seal of cause granted to the masons in 1551. (fn. 65) The payments imposed by these articles were appointed to be applied to the common charges of the craft and the relief of its decayed brethren, and not to the upkeep of the altar, as was provided in the earlier documents. An increased upset of £6 on the entry of each unfreeman's son, and £4 on the entry of each freeman's son, was ordered to be substituted for the dinner and banquet previously in use to be made. (fn. 66) The other seal of cause was granted on 27th June to the cordiners and barkers, on the supplication of the craft, and ratified all the provisions contained in their former seal of cause of 1558; (fn. 67) but amended to the effect of increasing the payments of entry-money of freemen and apprentices, and making these and the fines applicable to the common charges of the craft and the relief of decayed brethren. This document further provided that each "outen-towns child," before admission to serve under a master, should pay 20s. to the box; and that any freeman who employed a servant who had left his master and served in another craft should pay a new upset to the box; and that the last entered freeman of the craft should act as its officer till another entered. (fn. 68)

On 1st August, 1569, the regent and privy council resolved to adopt strong measures to recover Dunbarton Castle, which was held by John, lord Fleming, the archbishop of St. Andrews, and others, for the queen. They, therefore, called out levies to assist in the enterprise, and required the burghs of Glasgow, Ayr, and Irvine, to convene at Dunbarton, and contribute towards the furnishing of a ship or pinnace, with fifty-nine hagbutters and suitable "munition and provision," to be in the river opposite the castle for three months after 8th August, and prevent any stores from reaching it by sea. (fn. 69) On the 29th of the same month Glasgow and the other places mentioned were ordered not to allow their fishing or other boats to approach within a considerable distance of the castle. (fn. 70) On the 31st of August a monthly taxation for three months was imposed on the western districts to defray the expenses of the siege and that over and above the hagbutters which the towns were required to provide, (fn. 71) and this order was, on 23rd November, extended over the following month. (fn. 72)