Eric Stair-Kerr - Scotland Under James IV

8/8/2019 Eric Stair-Kerr - Scotland Under James IV

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SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IV.


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SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IV


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SCOTLANDUNDER JAMES IV

BYERIC STAIR-KERR, M.A.

PAISLEY: ALEXANDER GARDNERgoblishtt bg Appointment to the late HJtittn Victoria1911


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LONDON:SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT ft CO., LMD.

DR78*4

5

IT ALCXAMDBR CARDMU, fAUUTT.


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PREFACEIN this little book my object has been toafford a glimpse of pre-Reformation Scot-land during one of the few prosperousperiods of its history. I have endeavouredto show that Scotland was not such a poorand backward country as we have sometimesbeen asked to believe, and that its positionin European affairs was an important one,considering its situation, its size and itspopulation. If it be thought that I havetaken too favourable a view of the characterof James, I would emphasise what has beenrecorded in the text, that he quickly wonover to his side the party opposed to himat the beginning of the reign, that heenforced obedience to the law throughoutthe Highlands and Lowlands, that hepractically created a navy, that he was soadvanced and broad-minded as to dismiss


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6 PREFACEEnglish prisoners free of ransom and torefuse to punish heretics, and that a raregift in the Stewart race he always knewthe temper of his people.Such a wide and important subject as the

poetry of the reign has received inadequatetreatment. Yet in fairness to the othersections of the book greater scope couldnot be given to the literature, which, afterall, is dealt with fully in works devotedsolely to the subject. Henryson has beenincluded among the poets of James IV. 'stime, for although many of his works weredoubtless written in the previous reign, it isnearly certain that some of his poems werecomposed after the accession of James IV.

ERIC STAIR-KERK.LORRAINE,

NAPIER ROAD,EDINBURGH, May, 1911.


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CONTENTSCHAPTER PAGE

I. INTRODUCTORY 9II. THE KING - 17

III. THE TOWNS, THE COUNTRY ANDTHE PEOPLE - 36

IV. THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 69V. THE NAVY - - 97VI THE POETS 113

VII. CONCLUSION - 134APPENDIX 145INDEX ------ 151


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SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVCHAPTEE IINTRODUCTORY

A LTHOUGH a deep romantic interestbelongs to all the Royal Stewarts of

Scotland the history of the reigns of thethree early Jameses makes sad and per-plexing reading. The difficulties which eachwas called upon to face when he took upthe reigns of office were more than sufficientexcuse for the ill-success which followed theirefforts to bring the country into order. Thefirst of the name was a man of indomitablespirit, who returned from a long captivity inEngland to find his kingdom in a state oflawless confusion. The only course whichseemed open to him was to rule with a rod


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10 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVof iron. " If God give me but a dog's life,"said James, " I will make the key keepthe castle and the bracken bush the cow ; "a resolution which he relentlessly tried tocarry into effect. The task was beyond hispowers, however ; the upper classes had beentoo long

accustomed to do without the law ;so the murder by Sir Robert Graham, inthe monastery at Perth, put an end to thebeneficial though rigorous rule of the King.Although it is perhaps hardly fair to James II.to say that his efforts were unsuccessful, itmust be admitted that he did not solve theproblem of the overpowerful noble. Hisgreat enemies, the Douglases, were indeedcrushed before the end of the reign, butother dangerous houses rose to take theirplace, and the struggle with his feudalbarons prevented the King from givingattention to the lesser feuds and outrageswhich were encouraged by the weakness oftheCrown. James III., though less active andiiui>etuou8 than his father and grandfather,was not an absolute weakling. Although


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INTRODUCTORY 11devoted to art and music he had some ofthe martial spirit of his race, as was shownby his anxiety to help Louis XI. by leadingan army against Charles the Bold of Bur-gundy, and by his willingness to marchinto England when the nobles stoppedhis progress at Lauder Bridge. Yet theadministration of the third James was notof a sort that was suited to the Scotland ofthe day. His lines being cast in unpleasantplaces, he doubtless feared to rule with aheavy hand and so bring upon himself hisgrandfather's fate. But his quiet, art-lovingtemperament was instrumental in bringingabout his fall at the battle of Sauchieburn,where his son committed the great trespassof his life by taking up arms with theinsurgents.Was Scotland, then, under these threeJameses, in a backward condition comparedwith other countries ? It cannot truly besaid that it was. England, during thisperiod, was rent asunder by the Wars ofthe Roses ; the throne, if not threatened by


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12 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVa Douglas, was in the power of a kingmaker.The people grew accustomed to cruelty andbloodshed, for the uppermost idea in theminds of Lancastrian and Yorkist partisanswas revenge for kinsfolk slain by the oppositefaction. If it be said that the Wars of theRoses concerned mainly the upper classes,and that the burghers and labouring peoplecarried on their work as usual, the samemay be urged of the Scottish contestbetween the King and his nobles. More-over, before these dynastic wars broke out,south-eastern England was seriously dis-turbed by the rebellion of Jack Cade, aconsiderable part of whose army was com-posed of men of the peasant class. NowScotland was one of the few countries inEurope in which a revolt of the peasantrynever took place. Serfdom was practicallydead by the middle of the fifteenth century,and the influence of the clan system boundhigh and low together into family groups, sothat quarrels arose between powerful tribesand not between social classes. France,


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INTRODUCTORY 13again, was not at this time in the enjoymentof peace and prosperity. In the middle ofthe fifteenth century the nobles formed thePraguerie conspiracy which threatened tooverthrow the monarchy, while two or threedecades later the War of the Public Wealagain attempted to strip the King of hispower. France was utterly demoralised,and although by the end of Louis XL'sreign the monarchy had recovered its posi-tion, it was not until the following centurythat the peasant class was relieved of theoutrageous tyranny of cruel nobles andadventurers. Nor was Italy in a happierpolitical state, although in the Renaissancemovement it was the recognised leader ofEurope. The petty principalities and re-publics were at continual war with oneanother, while the Popes, ever striving forthe extension of their temporal dominionsand even sanctioning the use of the assassin'sknife, instead of furthering the cause ofpeace in the peninsula, were the most activefomenters of strife. The land of the new


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14 ^OTI.\M> rVDKK .1 \\IKS IVlearning was strangely conspicuous for thedegradation of political morals.The troublous times through which other

countries were passing, however, does notalter the fact that the position of the ScottishKing was one of supreme difficulty. It isto the credit of James IV. that, although hewas aware of the fatal result of his great-grandfather's strong rule and of the similarlyfatal termination to the different course pur-sued by his father, he nevertheless fearlesslyapplied himself to the dangerous task, havingcomplete confidence in his own ability torule. On the death of James III. at, orrather after, the battle of Sauchieburn,the people were left divided into two hos-tile factions. The loyal supporters of theslaughtered monarch, however, not beingthe dominant party, were placed by theirunscrupulous opponents one of whom wasthe youthful James in the strange positionof rebels ; but the young King's personalityand influence soon healed the breach betweenthe factions, so that, although small risings


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INTRODUCTORY 15occurred in the west and north, his father'sadherents were reconciled to their newmaster before he had been two years uponthe throne. The submission of the oldKing's supporters is to be accounted for insome measure by their observing the sincereand ever-increasing remorse expressed bythe young sovereign for his late unfilialconduct. At last the Crown was triumphant,and the " new monarchy " which was es-tablished in England and France seemedto be settled in Scotland as well. Thekingship north of the Tweed, however, wasbased mainly on relations of mutual goodwillbetween Crown and subjects, and not onreluctant acquiescence in the rule of mightwhich was noticeable in the reigns ofEdward IV. and Henry VII. of Englandand especially in that of Louis XI. ofFrance. But the Scottish " new monarchy "was not so enduring as that which hadtaken root further south. The end ismarked by the year 1513, when the fabricwhich the activity and perseverance of


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16 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVJames had erected fell with him on aSeptember afternoon. Flodden did notbreak the spirit of the people, but thenational disaster, though manfully borne,set the shadow back upon the dial ofScottish history.


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CHAPTER IITHE KING

FN order to understand the history ofScotland during the reign of James IV.

it is necessary to be acquainted with thecharacter of the monarch who ruled thecountry from 1488 to 1513, a quarter of acentury remarkable for the development ofcommerce, the improved administration ofjustice, the appearance of distinguishedpoets, and the rise of Scotland to a pro-minent place among the nations of Europe.The prosperous condition of the country wasdue in no small measure to the personalexertions of the King, who was a man well-fitted to occupy the throne at the time oftransition from the medieval to the modernworld.James was called upon to reign when in

only his sixteenth year. He had entered


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18 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVwith boyish recklessness into the rebellionwhich caused his father's death, but remorsefor his action on that occasion haunted himthroughout the rest of his life. He there-fore sought consolation in religion, and waszealous in making frequent pilgrimages tosuch distant shrines as St Ninian's atWhithorn and St Duthac's at Tain. Hewas a man of moods, however, religiousgloom soon giving place to merry revels orgallantries. For James was unable to resista woman's charms. He was of more thanmedium height, with a strong athletic frame.He excelled in horsemanship and all knightlyexercises. Nor was he lacking in intellectualattainments. Pedro de Ayala, the Spanishambassador at Edinburgh, wrote thus toFerdinand and Isabella concerning the Kingof Scots : " His knowledge of languages iswonderful. He is well read in the Bibleand in some other devout books. He is agood historian. He has read many Latinand French histories, and has profited bythem as he has a very good memory. He


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THE KING 19never cuts his hair or his beard. It becomeshim very well. He fears God and observesall the precepts of the Church." 1

Although the King always asked adviceof his counsellors, he never acted contraryto his own convictions. Once his mind wasmade up he lost no time in resolutelycarrying out his plans. His love of gaietyand his passion for the chase did not preventJames from attending to the duties of theState. He was a hard worker, ever strivingto rule for the advancement of the peopleof whom he was proud. He consequentlyreaped the reward of his efforts by gainingthe affection of all ranks of his subjects.James showed tact in dealing with hisnobles. He did not fear them and arousetheir opposition, as his father had done, nordid he show that harsh severity whichappeared in his ancestor James I. Pleasedwith their magnificence, he welcomed themto his brilliant court, where their restless'Ayala to Ferdinand and Isabella in Calendar of State

Papers (Spanish), I. pp. 168, et seq.


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20 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVenergy found an outlet in the tourna-ments of chivalry in which the King de-lighted.James had many virtues, but he was not

without serious faults. In his younger dayshis morals were loose, as were those ofnearly all princes of his time, though Ayalaasserts that his love intrigues with theirrelatives were favoured by the nobles inorder to keep him under their control. Heshowed little consideration for the welfareof the Church when, as is elsewhere shown,he made his brother, who was under thelegitimate age, Archbishop of St. Andrews,as well as Commendator of Holyrood, Dun-fermline and Arbroath. This arrangementwas profitable to the King, for he receivedthe Prince's estates when the benefices weregiven over to the royal prelate. Still worsewas it when James, after his brother's death,placed his illegitimate son, when only a boy,in the archiepiscopal See ; for although theyouth grew up to be worthy of his office,the trafficking in benefices could not fail to


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THE KING 21have an evil effect upon the religious life ofthe land.The early years of the reign were occupied

in crushing rebellions in the north and west.James IV. was the first Stewart sovereignwho made a serious attempt to reduce theHighlands to order. The King took severaljourneys into the mountain fastnesses of theclans, compelling the chiefs to obey theroyal authority. The Lordship of the Isleswas forfeited to the Crown, castles weregarrisoned to overawe disaffected districts,and justice was administered by the Earlsof Huntly and Argyll, the former acting asSheriff in Dingwall and the latter in thesame capacity at Tarbert. Troublesomethough the Highlands were, and anxiousas he was for the establishment of peacethroughout the country, home affairs didnot occupy all the King's attention. Heinterested himself in Perkin Warbeck's at-tempt to win the crown of Henry VII., andhe seems to have believed in the impostor'sclaim to be Richard, son of Edward IV.


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THE KING 23the agreement being largely due to theinstrumentality of Pedro de Ayala. Thedeparture of Perkin from Scotland madeHenry VII. particularly desirous of beingat peace with his northern neighbour. Oneof his principal schemes of foreign policywas the overthrow of the Franco-Scottishalliance which had so often hampered themovements of the English Kings. Hetherefore urged the marriage of his daughterMargaret with James, but the Scot had nointention of severing the French connection,and when he was ultimately united to theEnglish Princess in 1503 he made it clearthat the marriage tie had not dissolved theancient union.Another monarch who was desirous of

peace within Britain was Ferdinand theCatholic of Spain. He was jealous of theFrench ascendency in Italy, and wishedEngland to be free from trouble at homethat she might direct her energies abroadto offer opposition to France. It was forthe promotion of Ferdinand's schemes that


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24 SCOTLAND INhi l: JAMES IVPedro de Ayala, in 1496, visited the Scottishcourt. The ambassador promised Jamesthe hand of Ferdinand's daughter ; but thepromise of a Spanish marriage could neverbe fulfilled, for the only princess availablewas betrothed to Arthur, son of Henry VII.Neither England nor Spain, however, couldalienate the old companions in war, and in1508 Bernard Stewart, Lord of Aubigny,arrived in Edinburgh for the special purposeof renewing the league between Scotlandand France. This half-foreign Scot was aStewart of Darnley who had inheritedestates in France. In generalship he out-shone liis warlike ancestors, while his highcharacter and courtesy caused him to bestyled Le CJievalier sans reproche. He hadled the French auxiliaries of Richmond atthe battle of Bosworth Field, and he hadearned a world-wide reputation in the Italianwars of Charles VIII. and Louis XII. ofFrance. Soon after his arrival in the landof his fathers this hero unfortunately tookill and died.


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SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVJames's determined action at this juncturestayed the hand of Maximilian. The fre-quent mention of the King of Scots in thecorrespondence of the potentates of Europe,in England, France, Italy and Spain, showsthat James was a person worth consideringin their diplomatic actions. The ScottishKing had a burning desire to become oneof the leading figures in European affairs ;but, although he succeeded in making hisinfluence felt, the geographical position aswell as the size of his country preventedhim from reaching the height of his am-bition.When Henry VIII., in 1509, succeeded to

the English crown relations became strainedbetween the countries on either side of theTweed. The state of affairs on the Con-tinent was partly responsible for this. TheFrench were dominant in Italy as the resultof the League ofCambray, by means ofwhichLouis, Ferdinand, Maximilian and the Popehad robbed Venice of a large portion ofher territory. Pope Julius II., fearing the


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THE KING 27power of Louis XII., turned against his lateally, and formed the Holy League withHenry VIII., Ferdinand, and Maximilian,hoping to be able to drive the French fromItaly. Complications were now arising whichled to fatal Flodden. James could not re-main inactive whilst his ally was beingattacked on all sides. Henry VIII. realisedthis, and sent ambassadors to urge the Kingof Scots to keep the peace. But James wasno longer anxious to be on friendly termswith England. Henry had detained part ofMargaret's promised dowry, and had failedto give James satisfaction for the death ofAndrew Barton, the Scottish sea-captain,who was slain in an engagement with SirEdward Howard. On the Borders hos-tilities had been ripening for some time, asthe result of the murder of Sir Robert Ker,Warden of the Middle Marches, by threeEnglish Borderers. The Scottish King,however, was not at all eager for war. Hesent Andrew Forman, Bishop of Moray, tobring about the reconciliation of Louis XII.


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SCOTLAND UNDER JAMKS IVand the Pope. Julius II., in return, dis-patched a messenger to Scotland with aview to drawing the King into the HolyLeague. Another ambassador, De LaMotte, arrived in Edinburgh from Franceand exhorted James to open war withEngland.James should not be too harshly censured

for plunging his country into war. It wasnot an act of headstrong folly in order togratify

his desire for knightly adventure.True, the older counsellors, whose sageadvice had often been of assistance to theirsovereign in the past, pointed out the pos-sible grave consequences of breaking thepeace that had proved so beneficial toScotland. But the Ring was aware thathostilities could not be much longer delayed.France must be assisted by a Scottish attackupon England ; for should the Leaguers besuccessful in crushing the ancient ally, whathope had Scotland for the future ? Hisletters to the King of Denmark show thatJames was fully aware of the danger from


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THE KING 29his brother-in-law. 1 Up to the last he waswilling to remain at peace if England wouldagree to refrain from attacking France.Henry crossed the Channel, however, andthe French Queen is said, by Lindsay ofPitscottie, to have appealed to the ScottishKing's chivalrous spirit, by sending him aring and beseeching him for her sake tomarch three feet into English ground.James was now determined on an invasion

of England. His devoted subjects fromHighlands, Lowlands, and Borders met onthe Burgh Muir of Edinburgh in August,1513. Meanwhile the foundry in EdinburghCastle was busy day and night, under RobertBorthwick's superintendence, casting gunsfor the approaching expedition. The vastarray moved towards the Border, and cap-tured the strong fortresses on the Englishside of the Tweed. Buchanan maintains,and Pitscottie believes, that James neglectedhis duties by dallying with Dame Heron atFord. This story, however, seems to have

1 Epistolce Regum Scotorum, I. p. 171.


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30 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVoriginated in the fact that negotiations tookplace between that lady, the King andSurrey with regard to saving the castle ;and it is noteworthy that Ford, or thegreater part of it, was demolished beforethe Scots advanced to Flodden. 1 Buchanan'sstatement that while James tarried withHeron's wife, the greater part of the armydeserted for lack of provisions, must beuntrue, for the Bishop of Durham, writingto Wolsey not many days after the battle,says that the victors refreshed themselveswith the " abundance of victuals, wines ofall sorts, bread, beer and ale," which theyfound in the Scottish camp. 1The King received a challenge from the

Earl of Surrey to join battle on Friday the9th of September. The offer was acceptedby the chivalrous James, whose army layencamped on Flodden Hill. Surrey, realisingthe strength of the enemy's position, made a

1 See Appendix A.Gregory Smith. Tk* Day, of Jam* IV.. p. 171.


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THE KING 31detour, and placed himself between the Kingand Scotland. On the appointed day theScots descended from the ridge and occupiedBranxton Hill. Here in the late afternoonthe desperate struggle began. Not untildarkness made fighting impossible did thecombatants disengage. But night fell on aslaughtered King surrounded by the bodiesof his devoted nobles. 1 Pedro de Ayala hadsaid of James, "He is not a good captain,for he begins to fight before he has givenhis orders." This criticism was borne outby the King's behaviour at Flodden. Seeingthe fury of the battle he could not holdhimself in check to direct the operationsof his companies, but dismounted with hisbody-guard and rushed into the fight. Heprobably knew that the day was lost beforehe was cut down, but he fought his waygallantly to within a lance's length of Surrey,when he received his fatal wound at thehands of the English billmen.

1 See Appendix B.


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32 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVThus, in the full vigour of his manhood,

when only forty years of age, died RingJames IV., the most popular monarch thathad occupied the throne since the days ofthe great King Robert I. When the Battleof Bannockburn was fought and won nearlytwo hundred years earlier Bruce was thesame age as was his descendant when theBattle of Flodden was lost. For long hispeople refused to believe that their sovereignhad been slain by the English, their devotionprompting the belief that he had survivedthe conflict and would some day reappearin their midst. Many were of opinion thatthe King had gone abroad to carry outhis cherished projects of leading a Crusadeagainst the Infidels and making a pilgrimageto the Holy Land. George Buchanan men-tions that one of James's servants told himhe had observed his master, after the fight,crossing the Tweed on horseback. The Kingwas never afterwards seen, however, and asnight fell before the battle was concluded,darkness must have made it almost impos-


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THE KING 35afterwards to Richmond and London. Thecorpse was wrapped in a sheet of lead andsent to the monastery of Sheen, in Surrey,where it lay uninterred and neglected untilafter the Reformation.


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CHAPTER IIITHE TOWNS, THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLET^EW, if any, sixteenth century houses

remain in the Scottish burghs to givemodern citizens an idea of the appearancepresented by the towns when James IV.came to the throne. The villages of thisOperiod were mostly constructed of wood, butin the larger towns buildings of stone hadsuperseded the ancient timber dwellings.Ayala writes in 1498 " The houses aregood, all built of hewn stone, and providedwith excellent doors, glass windows, and agreat number of chimneys. All the furni-ture that is used in Italy, Spain, and France,is to be found in their dwellings. It hasnot been bought in modern times only, butinherited from preceding ages." Edinburghand Perth seem to have been the only towns


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 37in Scotland which enjoyed the protection ofwalls, 1 and at the beginning of the sixteenthcentury the mural bounds of the capitalwere not sufficiently extensive to embracethe entire population. Even the Borderburghs were not girt round by walls. Whensurprised by an English attack the inhabi-tants retreated into their bastel-houses,which were strongly fortified dwellings, andallowed the less substantial buildings to begiven to the flames. Edinburgh was by farthe largest town in Scotland, though itspopulation is thought not to have exceededtwenty-one thousand souls. 2 In the time ofJames L, Perth was regarded as the capitalof the kingdom, but during the reigns of hisson and grandson Edinburgh and Stirlingcame more to the front, particularly theformer, where the Parliaments were nearlyalways held. It was under James IV.,however, that the capital was definitelyfixed for the future. The government be-

Appendix D.2.Mackintosh, History of Civilisation in Scotland, I. p. 413.


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S8 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVcame centralised in Edinburgh ; in it theDaily Council was appointed to sit ; theaccounts ceased to be audited at Stirlingand Linlithgow ; Holyrood became the prin-cipal royal palace. By this time the houseshad spread southward from the castle ridgeand occupied the ground which the FloddenWall soon afterwards enclosed. The tradeof the town had suffered during the un-settled years of the fifteenth century, butunder James IV. an improvement set in,and by the end of the reign there werecorporations of masons, weavers, coopers,butchers, hammermen and barbers. Theestablishment of a printing-press in Edin-burgh was due to the enterprise of the King,who was anxious that books should bepublished in his realm like those which forsome years past had been issuing from thepresses of Caxton and De Worde. WalterChepman and Andrew Myllar, burgesses ofEdinburgh, were the persons authorised byroyal charter in 1507 to have the monopolyof the trade, and accordingly they set up


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 39the first printing-press in Scotland in theSou'gait at that time a comparatively newextension of the town, now known as theCowgate.Chepman was a wealthy merchant who

had prospered as a trader in wood, woolsand cloths. He undertook the new businessof printing at the suggestion of King Jamesand of Bishop Elphinstone, whose service-book, called The Aberdeen Breviary, wasready for publication. Chepman's richesand his knowledge of business made himwell qualified for the enterprise, but Myllar,his partner, was the more practical printerof the two, for he had learned the artabroad, most probably at Rouen. Notmany months after the granting of thelicence small works were issued by theEdinburgh press, but the first portion ofThe Aberdeen Breviary, being a somewhatelaborate book, did not appear until 1509,being followed by the second volume in1510. 1

1 Dickson, Introduction of Printing into Scotland, passim.


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40 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVThe other larger burghs, such as Aber-

deen, Dundee, and Perth, enjoyed consider-able commercial prosperity ; but the smallertowns were hampered by being under thepower of the neighbouring barons, who wereable to get themselves elected to the magis-tracy. To amend this grievance, an Act ofParliament was passed in 1503, orderingthat all provosts and bailies be changedevery year, and that none have jurisdictionwithin a burgh unless they be residentmerchants. Although this law was notuniversally observed it was of assistance inenabling the people of the towns to freethemselves from the necessity of taking partin the quarrels of the nobles. In pre-Refor-mation Scotland St. Andrews was a place ofimportance on account of the metropolitandignity of its cathedral, and also because ofits numerous religious houses and its cele-brated University. The rival city ofGlasgowwas, in James IV.'s reign, not much morethan a village, being under the authority ofits Archbishop, and depending for its fame


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 41upon the great cathedral ; for the Universitywas not at the first a flourishing institution,and the neighbouring burghs of Rutherglen,Renfrew and Paisley, prevented the epis-copal municipality from monopolising thetrade of the district.The keen commercial rivalry between ad-

jacent towns sometimes led to a disturbanceof the peace, as in the case of Renfrew andPaisley, where a royal proclamation wasnecessary to bring the jealous burghers toorder. Paisley was looked upon with favourby James IV., who frequently paid a visitto the Abbey in the course of his pilgrimagesto and from Whithorn. On the town beingraised by the King to the dignity of a Burghof Barony, with the Abbot as superior, theinhabitants at once prepared to erect amarket cross ; but before the building wasfinished, a band of Renfrew youths, inrevenge for a former insult to their RoyalBurgh, entered Paisley by night and clearedaway the stones. The feud would probablyhave been carried on with bloodshed had not


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42 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVthe Ring, on hearing the Abbot's complaint,ordered the Earl of Lennox to proclaim atRenfrew Cross the privileges which hadbeen granted to Paisley. 1The townspeople of Scotland were parti-

cular as to dress; both men and women tooka pride in arraying themselves in costlyvestments. An act was passed in James II.'sreign with a view to checking this extra-vagance. Only magistrates were allowed towear silk clothes, and the women were notto appear in fur-lined gowns except on holydays. Only on these festal occasions werelabourers permitted to attire themselves inbrighter colours than grey and white, whilethe cloth of the kerchiefs worn by theirwives was not to exceed the price of fortypence the ell. James II.'s legislation mayhave curtailed the expenditure on dress, butthe people did not cease to take an interestin clothes, for Ayala states that Scottishwomen whose head-dress he considers thehandsomest in the world are much better

'Fraser, Tk* Lmmtur, II. p. 140.


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 43attired than those in England, and theapparel of the Scotsmen who met MargaretTudor at Lamberton Kirk was rich enoughto arouse the admiration and wonder of thePrincess's English attendants. 1

Records of the traffic carried on betweenthe Netherlands and Scotland have beenpreserved in the ledger of Andrew Haly-burton, who was the Conservator of Scottishprivileges at Middelburg. He acted as anagent for his countrymen at home, sellingfor a commission the products of Scotlandhides, wool, salt-fish, and salmon and send-ing back commodities of every description toprelates and distinguished laymen as well asto the merchants of the principal Scottishtowns. Halyburton's Ledger covers theyears from 1492 to 1503, and among otherthings entered as being shipped to Scotlandare feather-beds, pillows, silk, linen, differentkinds of wine, jewellery, tombstones, andcarts and wheel-barrows for the Bishop ofAberdeen, who was at this time superin-

1 Hall's History, p. 498.


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44 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVtending the building of his new college, andwho sent also for gunpowder, which wasdoubtless to be used for blasting purposes.The Conservator visited Edinburgh everyyear, or sent a procurator in his stead, tosettle his accounts and to arrange for furtherorders. Halyburton was a man of wealthand influence, and by means of his importantposition at Middelburg he kept Scotland intouch with all the trading centres of theContinent. l

In James IV.'s reign the kingdom ofScotland presented long stretches of morassand barren ground, but large tracts of thelow-lying districts were cultivated, and thehillsides afforded good pasturage for sheep.In the Lowlands there was a striking absenceof trees, but the Highlands were probablymore thickly wooded than they are at thepresent day. The want of timber was noticedin James I.'s reign by yEneas Sylvius, after-wards Pope Pius II., who wrote that thecountry was destitute of trees. Other visit-

1 Halyburton ' Ltdytr, pauim.


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 45ors to Scotland also remarked on the wood-lessness of the land. There was some timberin the Lowlands, however, in James IV.'stime, as beams for ships were brought fromthe Borders and from the Torwood, which stillcontained trees and had not become a merename. 1 Pitscottie, describing the building ofthe Great Michael, writes that she " waistitall the wodis in Fyfe except Falkland wode,by 2 all the tymmer that was gottin out ofNoraway." The cultivation of the lands wasfor the most part due to the industry of themonks ; for monasteries were usually plantedin the midst of desertly regions, where theybecame the centres of ever-increasing oases.Particular attention was paid to the scienceof husbandry by the clergy of the Cistercianorder, their principal houses in Scotlandbeing Melrose, Newbattle, Dundrennan, andKinloss. The clergy, however, were notthe only agriculturists in the country, forfarming was carried on to a certain extentby the tenants of most of the Lowland

1 Treasurer's Accounts, passim. J By = besides.


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46 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVlairds; and in James II. 's reign a fine often shillings was imposed by Parliamentupon all barons who had not sown wheat,pease, and beans in their domains. LordDacre, writing to the English Council afterthe Battle of Flodden, throws some lightupon the state of cultivation in the troubledBorder country. " For the water of Laddel,"he says, "being twelve miles in length, with-in the Middle March of Scotland, whereuponwas one hundred ploughs ; the water ofLudder in the same marches, being six milesin length, whereupon was forty ploughs ;the two towns of Carlanriggs, with thedomains of the same, whereupon was fortyploughs; the water of Euse, being eightmiles in length, whereupon was seven scoreploughs ; the head of the water of Teviot,from Branxholm up unto Euse Doors, beingeight miles in length, whereupon was four-score ploughs; the water of Borthwick,being in length eight miles, whereupon wasotie hundred ploughs ; and the water of Ale,from Askrige to Elmatour, whereupon was


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 47fifty ploughs, lies all and every of themwaste now, and no corn sown upon none ofthe said grounds."

l

The Border country, therefore, was agri-cultural as well as pastoral, and the March-men's interests were not confined entirely towar and cattle-lifting. It is in James IV.'stime, however, that mosstrooping takes itsrise ; for, although Scottish hosts had madepredatory raids into England since the daysof Douglas and Randolph, the small groupsof reivers who rode forth at night to drivecattle from their neighbours' lands or fromthe Northumberland fells, make their ap-pearance at the beginning of the sixteenthcentury. 2 The kings of both countries beingdesirous of punishing the Border freebooters,a joint expedition was made to the Marchesby King James and Lord Dacre in 1504.Courts were held at Lochmaben, Dumfries,and Canonbie, which tried and hanged theboldest of the marauders, and brought about

1 Pinkerton's History, II. p. 462.2 Douglas, History of the Border Counties, p. 243.


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48 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVthe submission of the Jardine and Armstrongclans. James, however, took care to bestowgifts upon the law-abiding chiefs, thus show-ing his Border subjects that while punishingthe evil he did not forget to recompense thegood.The efforts of the King to maintain order

in the southern shires were, on the whole,successful, but the fear of the law did notprevent the powerful chiefs from occasionallyreviving old -standing family feuds. TheGalloway clans were often turbulent, and aquarrel between the Maxwells and theCrichtons came to a head in 1508, re-sulting in considerable loss of life. LordCrichton of Sanquhar had been made Sheriffof Nithsdale, and, in pursuance

of his duties,held a court in the town of Dumfries. LordMaxwell, however, considering himself thesuperior of the burgh, and jealous of theinfluence of his rival in lower Nithsdale,rode into the town at the head of an armedband and accompanied by several gentlemenof the district. Having received word of


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 49the approach of his adversary, Sanquhardrew up the Crichtons on the White Sandsof Dumfries, where a sanguinary encountertook place, ending in the defeat of theSheriff's party, who were driven out of thetown. Sanquhar managed to escape withhis life to the high grounds of Upper Niths-dale, but many of his kinsmen and followerswere left dead on the sands and streets ofDumfries. 1 Although Maxwell was immedi-ately summoned by the King to answer forthis outrage, no punishment seems to havebeen administered to the haughty Borderbaron. 2The Highlanders were taught in this reign

to observe the laws of the land. Even thechiefs who were

speciallyfavoured by theKing did not escape punishment for their

misdeeds. The greatest of the northernlairds at the beginning of the sixteenthcentury was Allan Macrory Macdonald ofClanranald. This warrior was a personal

1 M'Dowall, History of Dumfries, p. 188.J Treasurer's Accounts, IV. p. 139.


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60 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVfriend of the King, and on him James reliedfor maintaining order in the territory overwhich he held sway. So powerful was thechief of Clanranald that at one time TheMackintosh of Mackintosh, Macleod of Mac-leod, and Mackay of Strathnaver were hiscaptives in the stronghold of Castletirrim.Allan's great prosperity, however, temptedhim to disregard the authority of hissovereign, whom he highly offended bymaking a raid into the district of Atholl.A court was held at Blair, at which theKing was present, and, as a warning to law-less Highland clans, the erring chief wasexecuted in 1509. 1 His son Ranald, forsome unrecorded misdemeanour, suffereddeath in the presence of the King atPerth a few months before the Battle ofFlodden.*

James's desire to terminate the feuds ofthe clans manifested itself very early in hisreign, when he dealt harshly with a member

Tkt MaeAmaldt of ClmnMoU, p. 19.7KA. p. IS.


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 51of the powerful house of Drummond. Therehad long been enmity between that familyand the Hurrays, and in 1490 one of thesons of Lord Drummond raised the warriorsof the clan to prevent the Murrays fromlevying teinds on his father's estates. Onthe approach of the Drummonds, who wereaided by the Campbells of Dunstaffnage, theMurrays sought refuge in the church ofMonzievaird in Strathearn, where theywould have been left unmolested had not anarrow from within the building killed one ofthe Campbell clansmen. The retreatingHighlanders at once made a rush on thechurch, and, setting fire to the roof ofthatch, burned the edifice with its unhappyrefugees. The King could not allow theguilty to go unpunished, so young DavidDrummond, as leader in the outrage, wasbrought to trial and condemned to death. 1None of the chiefs were too far north to

be out of reach of the sovereign's stronghand. Kenneth Og Mackenzie of Kintail1 Exchequer Rolls, X. pp. I., li.


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SCOTLAND UNDEB JAMES IVand Farquhar Mackintosh of Mackintosh,having in some way incurred the displeasureof the King, were imprisoned in the Castleof Edinburgh in 1495. Two years later theadventurous Highlanders managed to escapefrom the fortress on the rock, hut the Lairdof Buchanan put a stop to their flight asthey made their way through Stirlingshireto their fastnesses in the north. The chiefof Kintail was slain on the spot, and Mac-kintosh had the mortification of findinghimself again within the walls of the royalcastle. 1 In spite of these harsh measures,however, James continued to be popularwith the clans. His courage, sportsmanship,and affable manners won their affection whenhe visited their mountain homes, while hisability to converse in the Gaelic tonguelearned perhaps from a Highland nurseflattered the pride of his susceptible Celticsubject*.The tall, square peel - towers, many ofwhich are still standing, were the hornet of'Gregory, tfirfory / (JU W*t*r H^Umidt, p. .


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 53the Scottish lairds in the days of James IV.The fifteenth century saw the erection of agreat number of these fortified dwellings,though in subsequent years additions havebeen made to many of the original keeps.The seats of the great nobles were moremagnificent structures, and such castles asRoslin, Crichton, and Tantallon still retainsome of their former splendour even in theirstate of decay. The royal residences wereStirling Castle, and the Palaces of Holyrood,Falkland, and Linlithgow. Holyrood Abbeyhad been a favourite abode of the ScottishKings for many generations before thePalace was built. James IV., however,feeling that the conventual establishmentwas not well suited for the residence ofthe Court, erected the building which hasoften been supposed to owe its origin toJames V. It was in this new palace thatyoung Queen Margaret Tudor was enter-tained when she arrived in Scotland in1503, but memories of her and her gallanthusband have been obscured by the stirring


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 55The garden of Glenluce Abbey, with itsorchard, together extending to twelve acresScots, was considered one of the sights ofthe south-western portion of the kingdom.Ayala says that in Scotland " there are allkinds of garden fruits to be found which acold country can produce."As there was a scarcity of wood in the

country south of the Highland line, peatwas the fuel used throughout the greaterpart of Scotland ; but coal was consumed inthe central districts, where it had beenworked since the beginning of the thirteenthcentury. The outcrop of carboniferous strataon the shores of the Firth of Forth attractedattention at a very early period, and by theend of the fifteenth century, coal-pits werenumerous in Lothian and Fife. Mining forlead was carried on in Islay, and on a largerscale in the Lowther Hills, where James TV.kept workmen employed at Crawford Muirand Wanlockhead. l Silver was also foundin these hills, but gold was very rare, though

1 Treasurer's Accounts, passim.


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0- SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVan attempt was made to work it in thisreign by a Dane who came to Scotland forthe purpose. The foreigner, however, soondiscontinued his labours, the precious metalbeing too scarce to render the enterpriseprofitable. 1The roads in Scotland, as in other countries

at this time, were of a rough and " unmade"character. Passengers for the most parttravelled on horseback ; carriages were un-known. The highways were beaten trackswhich had been in use for ages; theytraversed the up-lying grounds as far aspossible in order to avoid the morasses of theplains, and consequently they encounteredmany steep declivities in passing from ridgeto ridge. The roads, however, were not sobad as to render wheeled traffic impossible.In the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer,frequent mention is made of carts passingfrom Edinburgh to Stirling and Linlithgow ;and an entry of June, 1512, records that tencarts were sent from Leith into Galloway,

cmd Pmptn (Henry VIII.), I. p. 98.


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 57to bring two large guns from Threave Castleto Edinburgh. The cannon that were takento Flodden were accompanied by a largestaff of men, whose business it was to levelthe rough parts of the road, and to assistthe oxen in pulling the guns on the hillyportions of the way.

There was no lack of variety in therecreations of the period. The King andhis nobles delighted in jousts and tourneys,in hunting, hawking, archery, bowls, and agame called the

" cache," which seems tohave resembled racquets or fives. Jamescompeted with his knights in the lists, andpresented richly ornamented weapons tothose who proved victorious in the mimicencounters. The jousts which were held inhonour of his marriage were the most costlyentertainments arranged by the King; andthey continued for many weeks, attractingto the northern Court adventurous Con-tinental warriors, who were opposed in thelists by bold English knights, as well as bythe chivalry of Scotland. When the King


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SCOTLAND I M>< K JAMES IVat Stirling the tournaments were held

in the park to the south of the castle rock.At Edinburgh the tilting-yard was at thenorth-west base of the Calton Hill, andsometimes in a meadow to the west of theGrassmarket, Games were not indulged inl.v the nobility alone; the ancient pastimesof football and golf were played by all, fromthe highest to the lowest. So popular,indeed, had these recreations become that,in spite of the fact that the King and hisLords participated in these sports, an Act !*Parliament was passed in 1491, ordering' that in na place of the Realme there beused fute-ball, golfe, or uther sik unprofit-able sportes," and that archery be practisedinstead in every parish for the sake of thedefence of the kingdom. This was notthe first time that an attempt had beenmade to compel the people to relinquish

r favourite games, for in 1457 a simi-lar decree was issued, ordering that the" fute-ball and golfe be utterly crieddowne," and fourteen years later these


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 59sports were again denounced by JamesIII.'s Parliament.

In the year 1491 the King and hiscounsellors seem to have been seriouslyconcerned about the defence of the realm ;for the same Parliament that prohibitedgames and ordered the use of archery, com-manded the sheriffs and bailies of the king-dom to hold weapon-showings four times inthe year. Gentlemen were to be armedaccording to their means to the satisfactionof the royal officials, while yeomen betweenthe years of sixteen and sixty were to showbows and arrows, " sword, buckler, knife,speare, or ane gude axe instead of ane bow."The burgesses also, armed in like manner,were required to attend the quarterlygathering. To improve the breed of horsesfor purposes of war James introduced stal-lions and mares from Spain.The indoor amusements of James IV. were

chietly playing at cards and listening tomusic. His Majesty's skill with the cards,however, does not seem to have been equal


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SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVto his prowess in out-of-door exercises, asthe faithful accounts of his Treasurer bearwitness to heavy and frequent losses, some-times amounting to forty pounds in onenight. The indulgence of his musical tastewas also a drain upon King James's purse,for besides maintaining in his palaces acompany of pipers, trumpeters, Highlandharpers and fiddlers, he lavished moneyupon all the wandering minstrels who foundtheir way to his court. When paying visitsto his favourite shrines, also, the royal pil-grim was met at the various towns throughwhich he passed by singing men and maidens,who received generous payment for theirvocal entertainments.The houses of the better classes were fur-

nished in accordance with the standards ofthe day, but that carpets were not in usein the beginning of the sixteenth centuryis seen by references in the Treasurer'saccounts to "rushes" for the royal chamberfloors. Tapestry was displayed in theapartments of the rich, while others em-


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 61ployed worsted hangings for the decorationof their walls. Dining-tables, composed ofboards laid on tressels, were easily lengthenedto meet the arrival of unexpected guests,and could quickly be removed to leave thehall free for various entertainments. Beforerising from a meal the company was servedwith water, for the cleansing of the fingerswas a necessity in the days before eatingwith forks was the fashion. 1The long winter nights at Holyrood and

Stirling must have passed quickly enough ;for cards or dice would come as a changefrom listening to musicians and ballad-singers, and the Court was frequently enter-tained by the performances of dancers andcomedians. In the monasteries the tediumof the winter evenings was relieved bymystery plays, which were dramatic repre-sentations of scenes from Holy Scripture orfrom the lives of miracle-working saints ;and the acting in these religious displayswas done by the monks themselves. Enter-

1 Agnew, The Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway, I. p. 312.


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H SO'M \\l) UNDER JAMES IVt linment was provided for the gentry intheir castles and towers by the travellingsingers of ballads, who carried round thenews of the countryside and were welcomedas much for the gossip which they broughtas for their songs and tales of chivalry. Inthe houses of the nobles, as well as at theCourt, fools and jesters were maintained,who were expected to provide their lordswith continual amusement. The cottages ofthe peasantry were not visited by minstrels;the country people relied upon each otherfor entertainment. On the dark winternights the Highlanders went on ceilidhthat is, the inhabitants of each glen wouldgather in some central house, where Gaelicsongs would be sung and strange legendswould be told around a fire of peat. Thecottagers of the south doubtless passed theirevenings in similar social gatherings.

Ale was the chief beverage of the countryat this time, but different sorts of wine wereindulged in by the members of the wealthierclasses. Whisky, afterwards to be so closely


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 63associated with Scotland, was, in James IV.'sreign, scarcely known beyond the walls ofthe religious houses, where the monks wereacquainted with the secret of distillation.Outside the monasteries it was sometimesused as a medicine, while the King and thefraudulent Abbot of Tungland employed itin their alchemical experiments. 1

The general happiness which seems tohave prevailed throughout the land whileJames IV. occupied the throne was cloudedat intervals by visitations of the plague.The dreaded scourge called grandgore spreadso rapidly in Edinburgh, in 1497, that thecouncillors of the capital were seriouslyalarmed, and ordered " that all manner ofpersons being within the freedom of thisburgh, who are infected of the same con-tagious plague, called the Grandgore, de-void, rid, and pass furth of this town, andcompeer upon the sands of Leith, at tenhours before noon, and there shall haveand find boats ready in the harbour, ordered

1 Treasurer's Accounts, passim.


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64 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVto them by the officers of this burgh, readilyfurnished, with victuals, to have them tothe Inch, 1 and there to remain till Godprovide for their health. And that allother persons who take upon them to healthe said contagious infirmity, and take thecare thereof, that they devoid and pass withthem ; so that none of those persons whotake the cure upon them, use the same curewithin this burgh." 1 Even in country dis-tricts, where the air was pure and thehouses were not closely crowded together,the pestilence swept away multitudes ofpeople. The parishes of Currie and Hailesand other parts of Midlothian were smittenin 1498 ; and in the year 1500 the plagueagain ravaged the land, breaking out thistime as far north as Aberdeen, and in thediocese of Dunkeld, which on previous occa-sions had been strangely immune, owing, itwas thought, to the special intervention ofSt. Columba. Bishop Brown visited the

Inchkcith.


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 65homes of many of the sick folk, while hischancellor carried holy water, into which abone of the saint had been dipped, through-out the plague-stricken region. 1 In 1513the pest once more appeared in the vicinityof Edinburgh, causing the town councillorsto forbid any person from the infectedvillage of Dean, on the Water of Leith,from coming within the burgh.King James's realm was not a country

which foreigners often visited. On theContinent, indeed, it was generally sup-posed that Scotland and England wereseparate islands. But the natives of thenorthern kingdom were not altogether un-accustomed to strangers ; for, besides theFrenchmen who assisted in the wars andwho came on messages of State, Dutchmenand Spaniards arrived in Scotland to workin the royal dockyards, and merchants fromthe Low Countries frequently sailed withtheir wares to Leith. In 1505, however, awandering tribe of uncouth aliens appeared

1 Lives of the Bishops of Dunkeld.


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SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVwithin the borders of the land. This wasa race hitherto unknown in Scotland, thenorthern branch of the Gypsy family, whichhad already made its way into most of thecountries of Europe, and had probably passedthrough England, although no reference tothe event is to be found. The King grantedmoney to the wanderers, who informed himthat their pilgrimage was undertaken byorder of the Pope, and James sent a letterto his uncle, King John, requesting him toshow kindness to the

"Earl of LittleEgypt" and his company, who intended to

pass into Denmark. Probably all theGypsies did not cross the sea with theirleader, and doubtless other members of thewandering tribe found their way to Scotlandin the beginning of the sixteenth century,for some of them danced before KingJames V. at Holyrood, and that monarchauthorised the "Earl of Little Egypt" toexercise justice upon his folk, although inthe following year the privilege was revoked.In later days harsh statutes were passed for


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TOWNS, COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 67the suppression of the Gypsies, but theysurvived the persecutions, and were finallyallowed to settle at Yetholm, on the Borders.

The King, like his son and successor,James V. , liked to mingle with the peasantryof his country. He frequently disguisedhimself and travelled through the land,listening to complaints regarding his govern-ment and afterwards striving to remedy thegrievances. He is said to have ridden oncefrom Stirling, unattended, to the shrine ofSt. Duthac's at Tain, and to have returnedin safety to his castle, proud of the orderli-ness that prevailed throughout the land.The reign of the law in Highland and Low-land Scotland was due much more to thecharacter of James than to the power of theThree Estates, which were the Barons, theChurch and the Koyal Burghs. The nobles,prelates and burgesses sat in one chamber,and issued many beneficial laws ; but thework was really done by the judicial andlegislative committees the Lords Auditoursand the Lords of the Articles. A strong


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CHAPTER IVTHE CHURCH AND EDUCATION

HHHE history of the Scottish Church inthe reign of James IY. presents anunfavourable picture of the religious life ofthe time. The story, however, is not allmelancholy reading. In spite of the laxmorals of the majority of the clergy, of theappropriation of benefices by the King forhis brother and son, and of the decline inthe building of cathedrals and abbeys, high-minded churchmen were to be found whoperformed their duties faithfully, and to theclergy is due the advancement of education,which was intended to strengthen the powerof the Church, but which was destined tobring about its fall. The religious situationwas critical. Men had begun to lose faithin a priesthood that seemed to have for-gotten its sacred calling, and heresy was


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70 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVspringing up. Printed books were broughtby merchants to Scottish ports, introducingthe new doctrines from the Continent. Onthe other hand, the King's numerous giftsto the Church and his pious pilgrimages tothe shrines of the saints added weight tothe authority of the orthodox ecclesiastics.Half a century was to elapse after theBattle of Flodden before the old religionwas abolished by Act of Parliament.The Scottish Church was divided into

thirteen dioceses : St. Andrews, Glasgow,Dunkeld, Dunblane, Brechin, Aberdeen,Moray, Ross, Caithness, Argyll, The Isles,Galloway, and Orkney. Up till 1468,Orkney and Shetland were Danish posses-sions, though under the feudal rule of theScottish family of St. Clair. In that year,however, James III. married Margaret,daughter of Christian of Denmark, andreceived the northern islands as a pledgefor the dowry of his bride. The changethus made brought the Church in Orkneyunder a new jurisdiction. Previously the


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THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 71prelates of St. Magnus at Kirkwall hadbeen appointed by the Archbishops ofTrondhjem ; but now, in spite of oppositionfrom Norway, the diocese of Orkney cameunder the control of St. Andrews.The Church in Scotland, though far from

Rome, was for long immediately dependenton the Holy See, though the Archbishops ofYork frequently claimed Superiority overthe Scottish prelates. In 1472, however,Patrick Graham, the eccentric Bishop ofSt. Andrews, travelled to Rome and ob-tained the erection of his See to the metro-politan rank. When James IV. ascendedthe throne, the primate was William Shevez,a clever but rather unscrupulous ecclesiastic,who endeavoured to make himself master ofScotland by urging the superiority of thespiritual over the temporal power. TheKing, however, young though he was, wouldnot consent to be a puppet in the hands of aprelate. He resolved to check the power ofShevez by erecting Glasgow to the status ofan archbishopric, making it and its suffragan


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THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 73have been influenced by the fact that hehimself was one of the canons of St. Mungo's,and he was doubtless anxious to justify hisdesire to have Glasgow raised to the archi-episcopal rank, for St. Andrews Cathedralwas a good deal larger than Glasgow, andElgin, with its double aisles and French -liketowers and western portals, must surelyhave been the most beautiful edifice thatScotland has ever possessed. These threegreat churches were fit for comparison withthe English or Continental cathedrals, butin some of the other dioceses of Scotlandmuch less pretentious buildings were madeto serve as bishops' seats. The cathedralon the Isle of Lismore was a small, plainstructure, which was not even kept inrepair. Indeed, so ruinous had it becomethat James IV. wrote to Pope Julius II.,in 1512, mentioning the dilapidated condi-tion of the church and its out-of-the-waysituation, and asking permission to transferthe See of Argyll to Saddel in Kintyre. 1

1 Letters and Papers of Henry VIII., I. p. 348.6


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74 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVThe change was never effected, but the factthat Lasmore Cathedral was in such a stateof disrepair is interesting as showing thateven before the Reformation churches wereallowed to fall to decay.

In 1492 a papal bull arrived promotingRobert Blackadder to the dignity of arch-bishop, and giving him jurisdiction overDunkeld, Dunblane, Galloway and Argyll,as well as his own diocese of Glasgow. Notlong afterwards Dunkeld and Dunblane weremade over to the province of St. Andrews.The refusal of William Shevez to acknow-ledge the independence of Glasgow ledto an unseemly struggle for supremacybetween the two archbishops, which re-sulted in their laying their case beforethe Court of Rome. James, however, de-cided the matter at home by threateningto stop the ecclesiastical rents, and finallydeclared St. Andrews to be the premiermetropolitan See. Blackadder was one ofthe prominent ecclesiastics of the reigns of


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THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 75James III. and James IV. He had heldthe important position of Abbot of Jedburghand was afterwards elevated to the mitreof Aberdeen. On a vacancy occurring atGlasgow in 1483, he was elected to fill thatSee, where he showed his interest in theimprovement of the cathedral by erectingthe organ screen and founding the beautifultransept, known as Blackadder's Crypt.When the See was raised to the metro-politan dignity, the proud prelate occupieda still higher position and was in greatfavour at Court. He was the principalofficial in the Abbey Church of Holyroodat the King's marriage service, at whichthe Archbishop of York and the Bishop ofDurham were present, as was also theBishop of Moray, who became the chiefmessenger to foreign Courts after Black-adder had died on a pilgrimage to Jerusalemin 1508. The first

Archbishopof Glasgowwas known in Venice, in Rome and in

Spain ; indeed, Ferdinand and Isabella used


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76 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVtheir influence to endeavour to procure forhim a cardinal's hat. 1The Archbishop, however, had not long en-

joyed his high office when trouble appearedin his province. The doctrines of theChurch were being freely criticised by afearless band of people called the Lollardsof Kyle, whose influence was strong inthe valley of the River Ayr. The Arch-bishop of Glasgow determined to take pro-ceedings to prevent the spread of heresy.Thirty accused persons were brought beforethe King in 1494, while Blackadder con-ducted the prosecution. The names ofthe most important of these Lollards aregiven by Knox as follows : George Camp-bell of Cessnock, Adam Reid ofBarskimming,John Campbell of Newmills, Andrew Shawof Polkemmit, Lady Polkellie and LadyStair. It is little wonder that their articlesof faith alarmed orthodox churchmen, forthe heresies which led to their accusationwere those which the Protestants were

1 Caltndar of StaU Paptrt (Spanish), I. p. 09.


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THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 77afterwards to endorse. Among other articlespreserved by Knox, the following occur :That the relics of saints are not to be wor-shipped. That after the consecration in theMass there remains bread : and that there isnot the natural body of Christ. That tithesought not to be given to ecclesiastical men.That every faithful man or woman is apriest. That the Pope deceives the peopleby his bulls and indulgences. That theMass profiteth not the souls that are inpurgatory. That the excommunication ofthe Kirk is not to be feared. That thePope forgives not sins but only God. Thatwe should not pray to the glorious VirginMary but to God only. That the Pope isthe head of the Kirk of Antichrist.The King had no desire to be a persecutor,

and he did not see the danger which wasthreatening the Church. The clever repliesof Reid of Barskimming and the levity withwhich James treated the proceedings com-pletely frustrated the Archbishop's effortsto have the heretics condemned.


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THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 79and answer for his conduct in disputingthe authority of a servant of the King. 1Vaus reluctantly journeyed to the capital,where he received from the Lords of theCouncil, with the approval of the offendedsovereign, a strongly-worded rebuke, suffi-cient to deter him from repeating hisoffence. 2

Although the King showed religious zealin visiting holy shrines and in wearing aniron chain round his waist to atone for hisshare in his father's death, he seemed to losesight of the sacredness of the priesthood,and looked upon Church livings as appro-priate sources of revenue for his relatives.When Shevez died in 1497 James appointedhis brother, the Duke of Ross, when onlyabout twenty years of age, to the Arch-bishopric of St. Andrews. On the death ofthe young prelate seven years later the Seewas kept vacant for Alexander Stewart, theKing's illegitimate son, who, though still a

1 The Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway, I. p. 298.*Acta Dominorum Concilii, p. 362.


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80 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVminor in 1505, was in that year createdArchbishop. Young as he was, however,the new primate became probably the mostenlightened man in Scotland. His educa-tion was superintended at home by PatrickPanter, afterwards Abbot ofCambuskenneth,the King's scholarly secretary. The cleverLatinist, however, was not the greatesttutor under whose care James's promisingson was placed. The young man travelledto Padua, where he studied with the fore-most teachers of the University, then at theheight of its fame. There he met the greatErasmus, with whom he passed on to Siena,delighting his master with his eagernessto acquire all kinds of useful knowledge.Vicars-general were appointed to fulfil thearchiepiscopal functions until Stewart re-turned to Scotland in 1510. The youthfularchbishop did not long adorn the metro-politan See. With other prominent church-men he obeyed the King's summons to war,and fell by his father's side in the terriblecarnage at Flodden. During the few years


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THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 81of his primacy Stewart had endeavoured toreform the Church, which he saw was fallingaway from virtuous exercises. Alarmed atthe growing indolence of the monks and atthe luxury into which the friars had fallen,he had exerted his influence to arouse theclergy to a sense of their great responsibility.At this time there were about one hundredand fifty monasteries in Scotland, as well assome twenty convents for nuns. A few ofthese religious houses such as Kinloss,where Abbot Crystall strove to maintain thebest traditions of the Cistercians containedhard-working, scholarly monks, who adheredto the strict rules of the founders of theirorders ; but to the great majority of theabbeys and priories wealth had broughtlethargy, lax discipline and immorality.Archbishop Stewart's premature death pre-vented the development of his schemes ofimprovement ; but the clergy were so fargone in corruption that it is unlikely thatsuch reform could have been accomplished aswould have placed the Church in a strong


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82 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVenough position to face successfully thestorm of the Reformation.

The pre-Reformation clergy did not insistupon Sunday being observed with thatstrictness which was urged by the laterjPresbyterians. Crops were reaped on thefirst day of the week, and pedlars sold theirwares in the porches of the churches. Menalways went armed to divine service, atthe conclusion of which they played footballand golf or adjourned to the bow-butts inaccordance with the law. King James,however, remarked Ayala, never rode onSundays, even to Mass. But to the con-scientious priests a decline in church attend-ance was causing grave anxiety. Yet few,it would seem, took any steps to quickenthe religious interests of the people ; thoughit is to the credit of Bishop Brown of Dun-keld that he sent friars skilled in the Gaelictongue into the mountainous parts of hisdiocese to preach to the ignorant High-landers, whose spiritual wants had beenfor long almost entirely neglected.


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THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 83When Pedro de Ayala wrote to his

sovereigns in 1498 that the prelates inScotland were very much revered, he pro-bably had in his mind the Bishops ofDunkeld and Aberdeen. The saintly char-acters of Brown and Elphinstone could notfail to compel respect, and they would bethe prelates with whom the Spanish am-bassador would most frequently come intocontact. But the Archbishop of Glasgowalso must have been familiar to Ayala, and,although he was a man of austere disposi-tion, his ability as a statesman and hisdiligence in ecclesiastical affairs must havecommanded esteem. A change, however,was about to take place in the attitude ofthe people towards the higher clergy. Thetrafficking in benefices grew much worseafter the death of King James. Thecountry became disgusted with the worldli-ness of prelates who did not scruple totake up arms to fight for the Sees ofSt. Andrews and Dunkeld. Bishops wereno longer held in veneration by the middle


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84 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVof the sixteenth century. Songs and balladspanned from mouth to mouth, jesting at theirgreed and profligacy. So strong had thefeeling against them become that CardinalBeaton's murder, in 1546, was approved bythe majority of the nation. His nephew,James Beaton of Glasgow, fled for refugeto France in 1560 ; and not many yearslater John Hamilton of St. Andrews washanged in his episcopal vestments at Stirling.The reverence which prelates had for manyages inspired, passed in half a century intosuch abhorence that the Scottish nationnever afterwards had faith in the Episcopalform of Church government.The medieval Church was an educational

as well as a religious institution. Not onlywithin the monasteries was teaching carriedon ; the cathedrals and abbeys had thecontrol of schools which were outside thecloister's walls, and in places that were farremoved from any religious house it was theduty of the parish priest to instruct theyouth of the district. The study of music


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86 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVThe Church of St Giles at Edinburgh hadthe largest staff of clergy a provost, acurate, sixteen prebendaries, a sacristan, abeadle and four choristers being employedwithin the building. These institutionshelped to keep the Church in touch witheducation at a time when the schools withinthe abbeys were ceasing to satisfy thedemands of the new learning, and whenthose outside the walls were graduallypassing into the control of the burghswhich so often grew up in the neighbour-hood of great religious houses. In theseChurch schools the boys were taught Latinas a living language, for not only were theinstructors prohibited from using the verna-cular, but the pupils were obliged to answerquestions in the classical tongue.The Scottish nobles at the end of the

fifteenth century were men of little or noeducation. They looked upon the schoolsas mere seminaries for priests, and consideredit beneath their dignity to acquire monkishlearning. King James IV. did his best to


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THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 87destroy the prejudice that prevailed. Hewelcomed poets and musicians to his Court,and showed his rude barons that his delightin learning in no way diminished his love ofknightly exercises. More than the King'sexample, however, was required to promotethe cause of education. An Act of Parlia-ment was accordingly passed in 1496, com-pelling all freeholders to send their sons toschool, to be instructed with a view to theirbecoming local magistrates. This Act, whichis memorable as showing that education wasnow regarded as being necessary to laymenas well as to priests, is framed in the fol-lowing words : " It is statute and ordainedthrough all the realm, that all barons andfreeholders that are of substance, put theireldest sons and heirs to the schools from thetime they be six or nine years of age, and toremain at the grammar schools till they becompetently founded and have perfect Latin :and thereafter to remain three years at theschools of art and law, so that they mayhave knowledge and understanding of the


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88 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVlaws; through the which justice may remainuniversally through all the realm, so thatthey that are Sheriffs or Judges ordinaryunder the King's Highness may have know-ledge to do justice, that the poor peopleshould have no need to seek our SovereignLord's principal auditors for each smallinjury. And what baron or freeholder ofsubstance that holds not his son at theschools, as said is, having no lawful excuse,but fails herein, from knowledge that maybe gotten, he shall pay to the King the sumof twenty pounds."The schools of art and law mentioned

in the statute are the Universities of St.Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen, althoughthe last was but newly founded and had notyet erected its college buildings. AberdeenUniversity is indebted for its origin asmuch to the enterprise of the Bishop ofSt. Machar's as to the King's enthusiasmfor the spread of education. Indeed, thethree institutions for the higher branchesof learning all owed their foundation to


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THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 89bishops ; and thus at three cathedral citiesUniversities were established, different fromthe great seats of learning in England, forCambridge was never the headquarters ofa diocese, and not until 1546 was Oxfordcreated a bishopric. William Elphinstonepresided over the diocese of Aberdeenthroughout the reign of James IV. Hehad been educated at the infant Universityof Glasgow, and afterwards spent someyears in study at Paris and Orleans. Onhis return to Scotland he was made OfficialGeneral of the diocese of Glasgow, and in1474 was elected Rector of the University.Four years later he was raised to the highjudicial position of Official of Lothian, a postwhich gave him prominence in the meetingsof the Estates, and after being Bishop ofRoss for two years he was transferred toAberdeen in 1483. Elphinstone was a far-seeing statesman, a patriot and a man ofwide culture, whose moral character stoodhigh in an age of clerical licentiousness.Being favoured with the friendship and


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90 SCdl \\D UNDER JAMES IVconfidence of his sovereign, be was able tomake bis influence felt in the governance ofthe kingdom, and it is probable that theeducation act of 1496 had its origin inthe mind of the "Good Bishop." It wasElphinstone's desire that a papal bull shouldbe obtained for the erection of a Universityin his diocese. The King therefore wrote toRodrigo Borgia, who was reigning as PopeAlexander VI., urging the necessity ofestablishing

a seat of learning for theeducation of the people who were too farnorth to take advantage of St. Andrewsor Glasgow. Alexander VI. accordinglyissued a bull in 1495 for the foundation ofa Studium Generate in Old Aberdeen, toteach " theology and canon and civil law,and medicine and the liberal arts." In1506 King's College was built and wasdedicated to the Virgin Mary. The Bishopof Aberdeen was appointed Chancellor of thenew foundation, its first Principal being thecelebrated friend of Erasmus, Hector Boece,who had studied and taught at Paris, and


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THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 91who afterwards wrote in Latin the Lives ofthe Bishops of Mortlach and Aberdeen andthe History of Scotland. Theology wasthe premier faculty at Aberdeen, and theinstructor in medicine was the only memberof the teaching staff who was not an ecclesi-astic. On this account the mediciner wasnot obliged to take his share with theothers in saying masses for the souls of thefounders. The Principal received a salaryof forty merks, the Doctor of Pontifical Lawwas allowed thirty merks, the same sumwas given to the Doctor of Civil Law, whilethe Doctor of Medicine received ten merksless. The thirteen scholars who were ad-mitted because their parents were poor weresupplied with conveniences for study andwere given rooms in the college building. 1Under the guidance of Elphinstone andBoece the new University flourished fromthe outset, the generous Bishop of Aber-deen expending large sums upon his collegeduring his lifetime and bequeathing to it at

1 Fasti Aberdonenses, pp. 8, 9.


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THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION 93came to reside within its walls, and joinedwith the humbler scholars at lectures andat meals, and at- the games which, in thestatutes of the founders, were sanctioned totake place once a week. These wealthieryouths were bound to conform to all therules of the institution ; they were forbiddento wear gay clothes, to carry weapons, andto frequent the streets of the town. To thekeen young minds at St. Leonard's, however,study revealed the errors of the Church.The college soon became a stronghold ofheresy instead of a bulwark of the Catholicfaith. As learning ceased to be a monopolyof the priests their influence steadily de-clined. The younger members of the upperclasses some of whom had drunk at St.Leonard's well began to be affected by thespirit of unorthodoxy. They looked withdisapproval on the worldliness of the Church,which was neglecting its small thatchedparish churches and was spending its vastwealth on the maintenance of idle monks insumptuous abbeys and priories ; and they


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94 SCOT I ,\\D UNDER JAMES IVwere alarmed at the extent to which bene-fices were used for the profit of favouritesof the King. It was not until the follow-ing reign, however, that the Reformationstruggle began ; though if James IV. hadsurvived the Battle of Flodden he mighthave renounced the rule of Leo X., as hisbrother-in-law of England not many yearslater repudiated the authority of anotherMedici Pope.

For although the King had been a dutifulson of the Church he ended his days undersentence of excommunication. James hadbeen on friendly terms with Innocent VIII.and Alexander VI., nor did he quarrel withJulius II. who had presented him with anornamented hat and sword and had madehim " Protector of the Christian Religion "

until shortly before the death of thatPontiff. The Holy League against France,formed in 1511, was the cause of estrange-ment between them ; for although amicablerelations continued to exist throughoutanother year, James was ultimately placed


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'" SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVof the Pope did not prevent the royalprelate of St. Andrews, with the Bishops ofthe Isles and Caithness and the Abbots ofKilwinning and Inchaffray, from followingthe standard of the Ring and dying on thefield of battle in conflict with the Holy See.


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CHAPTER VTHE NAVY

TT cannot be said that in the history ofScotland the navy plays an important

part. For one short period only was Scot-land's honour maintained on the seas, butthat brief season of naval prosperity wascovered by the reign of James IV., who wasthe first King since Robert the Bruce tobestow any attention upon the building ofa fleet.At the time of James's accession theworld was showing increased interest in

matters pertaining to the sea. The leadtaken by Portugal in geographical dis-covery was being followed by Spain andEngland. In 1486 Bartholomew Diaz hadrounded the Cape of Good Hope, and afterJames had been four years on the throneChristopher Columbus reached the West


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98 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVIndian Islands, leaving the mainland ofAmerica to be discovered by John Cabotof Bristol in 1497. The activity whichother nations were displaying at sea showedJames that attention would require to bedevoted to the navy in order to keep Scot-land abreast of the times.

Trade with Flanders had been carried onfor centuries, but ships belonging to Scottishmerchants were often plundered by Englishprivateers, and these attacks had beengrowing more frequent. Fortunately, how-ever, the King had at his command aredoubtable sea-captain in Sir AndrewWood of Largo, who possessed two mer-chant vessels which could be used as men-of-war. Wood had done good serviceagainst foreign pirates during the previousreign. His loyalty to James III. madeit difficult for him to acknowledge therebellious prince as his sovereign, but theyoung Ring soon won Sir Andrew to hisside and made him one of his most trustedfriends and counsellors. The year after


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THE NAVY 99James IV. ascended the throne five Englishships entered the Firth of Forth and ravagedthe shores of Lothian and Fife. The Kingcould not allow the enemy to return toEngland unpunished. He ordered SirAndrew Wood to give chase to the piratesand to strike a blow for the honour of thecountry. The fearless Scot set forth inpursuit with only his two vessels, theFlower and the Yellow Carvel, and cameupon the hostile ships at anchor near Dun-bar. A desperate encounter ensued, whichresulted in the triumph of Sir AndrewWood, who captured all the English vesselsand brought them into the port of Leith.Enraged at this disgrace, King Henry VII.sent north three men-of-war, under thecommand of Stephen Bull, to interceptWood on a return voyage from Flanders.The Englishman lay in wait at the mouthof the Firth of Forth until Wood's twoships came in sight. Soon a stern strugglebegan, grappling-irons being thrown to drawthe combatants together, so that the fight


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100 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVpartook of the character of an engagementon dry land. The battle, being undecidedat nightfall, was renewed with fury nextday. The ships had drifted with the tideacross St. Andrews Bay, but by the timethe Firth of Tay was reached the Soots hadovercome their opponents, and Sir AndrewWood had again the satisfaction of leadingEnglish vessels captive. The bodies ofthose who had fallen in the fight wereburied at Dundee ; the prisoners were con-ducted to the King, who generously praisedtheir valour and dismissed them free ofransom. 1

Sir Andrew Wood did not always get hisown way. In 1493 the Forest of Stocket,near Aberdeen, was granted to him by theKing, who was apparently unaware that theburghers of the northern town possessed acharter of Robert the Bruce, giving themthe forest in feu. Wood was not allowed toenter into possession of the property, for the

1 Pftscottfe (Scottish Text Society). I. pp. W6 * ttg.Buchanan, Book XIII.


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THE NAVY 101citizens of Aberdeen were ready to take uparms in defence of their rights, and broughtthe case before the Privy Council. Theproceedings resulted in the triumph of theburghers, for, on the charter being produced,the only course open to the Council was togive a decision in favour of Aberdeen. 1

It was with a view to preventing thedevastations of Dutch and English piratesthat James, in 1491, granted Inchgarvie inthe Firth of Forth to John Dundas ofDundas, with permission to build a fort onthe rocky islet and levy duty on passingships. The King did not live to see thefort completed, however, for the buildingoperations seem to have been interruptedby the death of the Laird in 1495, andnot until after the Battle of Flodden wasthe fortification finished. 2 In his frequentsailings on the Firth James had observedthe natural advantages afforded by thestrait and islet at Queensferry for making

1 Fraser, Historical Aberdeen, pp. 20, 21.2 Selected Papers of Dundas of Dundas, p. Ixxiii.


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102 SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IVSt. Margaret's Hope a place of refuge forScottish ships.The success which attended the exploits

of Wood increased the King's desire topossess a powerful navy. He accordinglygave orders for ships of twenty tons to bebuilt in all the sea-coast towns and that allable-bodied vagrants should be impressedinto the naval service. Foreign artisanscame to Scotland in great numbers to assistin the building of the fleet, and so muchtimber was used in the construction of thevessels that the Scottish forests becameexhausted, and James was obliged to sendabroad to the woods of Norway and France. 1In 1506 he wrote to Louis XII. informinghim of the progress that was being made, atthe same time announcing th

Eric Stair-Kerr - Scotland Under James IV

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