The Works of John Knox Volume I Part 49

[443] In Vautr. edit. "into the foule sea;" in MS. G, "fowsie;" that is, the _fosse_, or ditch, which extended round the Castle, except towards the sea.

[444] In MS. G, these three words are omitted.

[445] In Vautr. edit. "the wicked gate;" in MS. G, "wickit yet."

[446] Norman Lesley, Master of Rothes, usually considered as having been the princ.i.p.al actor in the Cardinal's slaughter, was the eldest son of George third Earl of Rothes. In June 1537, there was furnished a gown of black satin, lined with black velvet, a doublet of black velvet, hose of Paris black, a black bonnet, &c., "to Normond Leslie."--(Treasurer's Accounts.) And in August that year, at the King's command, the Treasurer paid him 40. In December 1539, dresses being also furnished to him, shews that he held some situation at Court. After his forfeiture, he entered the service of the King of France, and died of his wounds, in the year 1554, as will be related in a subsequent note.

[447] In Vautr edit. "James Melvin;" in MS. G, "Melvell."

[448] In the summons of treason, he is styled Peter Carmichael of Balmadie. How long this "stout gentleman" survived, is uncertain; but he appears to have been succeeded by his brother. A charter of confirmation under the Great Seal was pa.s.sed, "_quondam Petro Carmichaell de Balmadie_, Euphemiae Wymes ejus conjugi, et quondam Jacobo Carmichaell de Balmadie suo fratri," of the lands of Kirkdrone, Easter Drone, Balmadie, and Quhelphill, in the s.h.i.+res of Perth and Lanark, 13th December 1593.

The next in succession seems to have been David, who died before 1646: David Carmichael of Balmadie, on the 14th November 1646, having been served heir of his father, David Carmichael of Balmadie. Two years later, in another service, he is styled "Dom. David Carmichael de Balmadie miles."--(Retours, Fife, No. 575, 747; Perth, 557, 575.) The lands of Balmadie are in the lords.h.i.+p and regality of Abernethy.

[449] In the summons of treason, he is called James Melville elder. See footnote, where Knox makes mention of his death, in France, under the year 1549.

[450] Knox must certainly be held responsible for this marginal note, which has given rise to so much abuse. But after all, this phrase, "_the G.o.dly fact and words_," applies to the _manner_ of putting Beaton to death, as a just punishment inflicted on a persecutor of G.o.d's saints, rather than an express commendation of the act itself.

[451] David Beaton was a younger son of John Beaton of Balfour, in Fife.

He was born in 1494, and his name occurs in the Registers of the University of St. Andrews in 1509, and of Glasgow, in 1511. He afterwards went to France, where he studied the Civil and Canon Law. His first preferment was the Rectors.h.i.+p of Campsie, in 1519, when he was designed "Clericus S. Andreae Diocesis;" and in that year he was made Resident for Scotland in the Court of France. In 1523, his uncle, James Beaton, being made Primate of St. Andrews, resigned in his favour the Commendatory of Arbroath, or Aberbrothock, reserving to himself, during life, the half of its revenues. David Beaton sat, as Abbot of Arbroath, in the Parliament 1525. He was afterwards employed in public services abroad. In December 1537, he was consecrated Bishop of Mirepoix in Languedoc. The King of France contributed to Beaton's advancement to the Cardinalate, to which he was promoted by the t.i.tle of "Sti. Stephani in Monte Coelio." In the same month he was made Coadjutor of St. Andrews, and declared future successor to his uncle, James Beaton.--(Keith's Catalogue of Bishops, p. 37; Senators of the College of Justice, p. 71.) In a letter, dated 29th March 1539, "the Abbot of Arbroath, now Bushope of Sanct Andrewes," is mentioned, his uncle having died in the beginning of 1539. On the 13th December 1543, the Cardinal Archbishop was created Lord High Chancellor. He was a.s.sa.s.sinated upon Sat.u.r.day the 29th of May 1546.

[452] Sir James Leirmonth of Dairsye: see note 439. He had filled the office of Master of the Household in the reign of James the Fifth, (Holinshed's Chronicle, p. 448, edit. 1577,) and not Treasurer, as previously stated at page 102, and in Tytler's Scotland, vol. v. p. 270, when mentioned as one of the Commissioners sent to England in March 1543, to treat of the marriage of the infant Princess with Edward the Sixth.

[453] These words, "How miserably," &c., are scored, as if deleted, and are omitted in all the other copies.

[454] In Vautr. edit. "a corner;" in MS. G, "a neuk."

[455] The following paragraph is given by Foxe, in connexion with his account of Wishart's martyrdom, as mentioned in note 434:--

"A note of the just punishment of G.o.d upon the cruell Cardinall Archbyshop of Saint Andrewes, named Beaton.

"It was not long after the Martyrdome of the blessed man of G.o.d, M.

George Wischeart aforesayd, who was put to death by David Beaton, the bloudy Archbyshop and Cardinall of Scotland, as is above specified, an.

1546, the first day of March, but the sayd Dauid Beaton, Archbyshop of S. Andrewes, by the just revenge of G.o.d's mighty judgement, was slayen within his own Castle of S. Andrewes, by the handes of one Lech [Leslie]

and other gentlemen; who, by the Lord styrred vp, brake in sodeinly into his Castle upon him, and in his bed murthered him the same yeare, the last day of May, crying out, 'Alas, alas, slay me not, I am a Priest.'

And so lyke a butcher he lyved, and like a butcher he dyed, and lay 7 monethes and more unburyed, and at last, like a carion, buryed in a dunghill. An. 1546, Maij ult. _Ex historia impressa._"--(Foxe, edit.

1576, p. 1235.) Sir David Lyndesay thus alludes to the Cardinal's fate, in his poem ent.i.tled "The Tragedie of the umquhyle maist reverend Father David, be the mercy of G.o.d, Cardinal, and Archebischop of Sanct Androis," &c.,--

"Quhen every man had judgit as him list, They salt.i.t me, syne closit me in ane kist.

I lay unburyit sevin monethis, and more Or I was borne, to closter, kirk, or queir, In are midding, quhilk pane bene to deplore, Without suffrage of chanoun, monk, or freir; All proud Prelatis at me may lessonis leir, Quhilk rang so lang, and so triumphantlye, Syne in the dust doung doun so dolefullye."

Foxe's statement respecting the Cardinal's burial, is evidently incorrect. Sir James Balfour, in his MS. Account of the Bishops of St.

Andrews, says of Cardinal Beaton, that "His corpse, after he had lyne salted in the bottom of the Sea-tower, within the Castell, was nine months thereafter taken from thence, and obscurely interred in the Convent of the Black Friars of St. Andrews, in anno 1547." Holinshed, in some measure, reconciles these apparent contradictions: After referring to what Knox has called "the coloured Appointment," (see p. 183,) entered into by the Governor, in the view of having his son released, it is added, "_They delivered also the dead bodye of the Cardinall_, after it had layne buried in a dunghill, within the Castell, ever sithence the daye which they slew him."--(Chron. of Scotland, p. 466, edit. 1577.) This must have been either in December 1546, or in January 1546-7, immediately after the Governor had raised the siege of the Castle.

[456] In Vautr. edit. "merily."

[457] John Hamilton: See note 331. Immediately after the quotation in the previous note, Foxe continues: "After this David Beaton, succeeded John Hamelton, Archbyshop of S. Andrewes, an. 1549; who to the extent that he would in no wayes appeare inferiour to his predecessour in augmentyng the number of the holy Martyrs of G.o.d, in the next yeare following called a certaine poore man to judgement, whose name was Adam Wallace. The order and maner of whose story here foloweth." (See note 611.)

[458] In Vautr. edit. and the later MSS., "dolorous to the Queen's daughter."

[459] George Douglas was a natural son of Archibald Earl of Angus. To qualify him for preferment in the Church, a letter of legitimation was pa.s.sed under the Great Seal, 14th March 1542-3. On the death of Cardinal Beaton, in the contest for his several preferments, the Abbacy of Arberbrothick, (now Arbroath,) had been conferred on Douglas by the Governor. Hume of G.o.dscroft, alluding to his t.i.tle of Postulate of Aberbrothock, says, he "not only did postulate it, but apprehended it also, and used it as his own."--(Hist. of the House of Douglas and Angus, vol. ii. p. 63, edit. 1743.) Yet James Beaton obtained possession of the Abbacy, and retained it till 1551, when he was raised to the See of Glasgow. In the Treasurer's Accounts for November 1549, we find that "Maister James Betoun, Postulat of Aberbrothock," was ordered to find surety "to underly the lawis, for tressonable intercommunyng with Schir Jhonn Dudlie Inglisman, sumtyme Capitane of the Fort of Brochty;" and persons were sent "to Aberbrothok to requyre the place thairof to be gevin oure to my Lord Governouris Grace, becaus Maister James Betoun wes at the horne."--Douglas took an active share in devising the murder of Rizzio, in 1566. Upon the death of Patrick Hepburn, Bishop of Moray, Douglas became his successor, and was consecrated 5th February 1573-4.

Keith says he was Bishop of Moray for sixteen years; and that he was buried in the church of Holyroodhouse.

[460] The summons of treason against the conspirators in the Castle of St. Andrews, is contained in the Acts of Parliament. It was pa.s.sed under the Great Seal on the 10th of June 1546, and it cited them to compear before the Parliament on the 30th of July, within the City of Edinburgh.

On the 29th of July the Parliament met, and continued the summons until the 4th of August. On the same day, were "Letters direct to Fyf, chargeing all maner of man that nane of thame tak upone hande to molest, trouble, or mak onye impediment to Normound Leslie or his complicies, that thai may frelie c.u.m to Edinburgh to the Parliament and allege thair defensis, and frelie to pas and repas," &c.--(Treasurer's Accounts.) Some overtures to Parliament for their remission having proved abortive, the persons referred to were declared guilty of high treason, and their lands and goods forfeited. The chief persons mentioned in the summons were--Norman Lesley, Fear of Rothes; Peter Carmichael of Balmadie; James Kirkaldy of the Grange; William Kirkaldy, his eldest son; David Kirkaldy, his brother; John, Patrick, and George Kirkaldy, brothers to the said James Kirkaldy of the Grange; John Leslie of Parkhill; Alexander Inglis; James Melville elder; John Melville, b.a.s.t.a.r.d son to the Laird of Raith; Alexander Melville; David Balfour, son to the Laird of Mountquhanny; William Guthrie; Sir John Auchinleck, Chaplain; and Sir John Young, Chaplain.--(Acta Parl. Scot. vol. ii. pp. 467, 468.)

[461] Pitscottie, after stating that the conspirators at the end of six days were put to the horn, thus proceeds in his narrative:--"So they keipit still the Castle of Sanct Andros, and furnished it with all neccssar; and all sie as suspected thamselffis guiltie of the said slauchter, past into the said Castle for thair defence, to witt, the Laird of Grange, Maister Hendrie Prymros, [err. for Balnaves,] the Laird of Pitmillie, the old persone George Leslie, Sir Johne Auchinleck, _with many utheris, who wer nocht at the slauchter_, but suspected thamselffis to be borne at evill will; thairfoir they lap in to the Castle, and remained thair the s.p.a.ce of halfe ane yeir, and would not obey the authoritie, nor yitt hear of no appoyntment nor offerris which was offerred unto thame be the authoritie. But still malignant aganis the Queine and Governour, thinked thamselffis strong enough againes thame both; and send thair messingeris to Ingland to seik support; but quhat they gott, I cannot tell."--(Dalyell's edit. p. 435.) Spotiswood is much more concise. He says, "Diverse persons, upon the news of the Cardinal's death, came and joyned with those that had killed him, especially Maister Henry Balnaves, the Melvilles of the house of Raith, and some gentlemen of Fife, to the number of seven score persons, who all entered into the Castle the day after the slaughter, and abode there during the term of the first siege. John Rough, he that had attended the Governour as Chaplain in the beginning of his regiment, came also thither, and became their preacher."--(History, p. 84.)

[462] James Lord Hamilton, afterwards third Earl of Arran, and eldest son of the Governor, was kept as a hostage in the Castle of St. Andrews at the time of the Cardinal's slaughter. He was retained by the conspirators as a pledge for their own advantage. In the event of his being delivered to the English, the Parliament, on the 14th of August 1546, pa.s.sed an Act, excluding Lord Hamilton from all right of succession to the family estates and the Crown, (being then regarded as presumptive heir to the Crown,) during the time of his captivity.

[463] This was George Durie. George, Abbot of Dunfermline, was present at the sentence against Patrick Hamilton in February 1527-8, yet it appears that his kinsman, James Beaton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, was actually Commemdator. Durie, however, who was Archdeacon of St. Andrews, styles himself Abbot in 1530, and continued to act as subordinate to Beaton during the Primate's Life. Beaton died in 1539; and Durie's appointment to the Abbacy of Dunfermline was confirmed by James the Fifth. He was nominated an Extraordinary Lord of Session, 2d July 1541.

Durie continued to act as Commendator, or Abbot, till 1560, when he went to France, and died on the 27th January 1560-61: his successor on the bench took his seat on the 12th November that year. According to Dempster, two years after his death he was canonized by the Church of Rome.--(Senators of the College of Justice, p. 67; Keith's Hist. vol. i.

p. 331; Registrum de Dunfermlyn, p. xvi.)

[464] Montquhanie is in the parish of Kilmany, and was the seat of Sir Michael Balfour.

[465] "Nor by the law," omitted in Vautr. edit.

[466] In Vautr. edit. "enjoy."

[467] In MS. G, and other copies, "Arran:" see note 462.

[468] In Vautr. edit. "_esperance_", here and elsewhere, is rendered "hope."

[469] See note 474.

[470] Pasche, or Easter. In 1547, this festival fell on the 10th of April. Thus it was upwards of ten months after the Cardinal's death before Knox took shelter in the Castle of St. Andrews. As this notice fixes the duration of Knox's abode within the Castle to less than four months, we may suppose that his vocation to the ministry, by John Rough, was in the end of May, or early in June 1547. The Castle had been besieged by the Governor, without any success, from the end of August till December 1546. But the French fleet, to a.s.sist the Governor in its reduction, arrived in June 1547, and the Castle being again invested both by sea and land, and receiving no expected aid from England, the besieged were forced to capitulate on the last of July that year.

[471] Hugh Douglas of Long-Niddry, in the parish of Gladsmuir, East-Lothian, about four miles from Tranent. (See Patten's Expedition, sig. D ii. for a notice of his wife, when the English came "to Lang Nuddrey.") The mansion-house of Long-Niddry "is now known only by a circular mound, rising a few feet above the ground, containing the subterraneous vaults which were connected with the building."--(Stat.

Acc. Haddington, p. 184.) Near it is the ruinous Chapel which still bears the name of John Knox's Kirk. Hugh Douglas, the father of Knox's pupils, Francis and George, was a cadet of the Dougla.s.ses of Dalkeith.

He must have died before the year 1567; as his son, Francis Douglas of Langnudry, is named as third in the line of succession to James Earl of Morton, failing his lawful male issue, in the deed of ratification, dated 19th April 1567.--(Acta Parl. Scot. vol. ii. p. 564.)

[472] Alexander c.o.c.kburn, Knox's pupil, according to the inscription on a brazen tablet, erected to his memory in the aisle of the old Church of Ormiston, was born in the year 1535-6.--(Collection of Epitaphs, &c., p.

342, Glasgow, 1834, 12mo; Stat. Acc. Haddington, p. 179.) The following is the inscription alluded to, as still extant at Ormiston:--

"Hic conditur Mag. ALEXANDER c.o.c.kBURN, Primogenitus Joannis Domini Ormiston et Alisonae Sandilands, ex preclara familia Calder, qui natus 13 Januarij 1535: Post insignem Linguarum Professionem, Obiit anno aetatis suae 28, cal. Sept."

As c.o.c.kburn was born in 1535-6, he must have died in 1564. The tablet referred to also contains Buchanan's lines. _Omnia quae longa_, &c., celebrating his learning, and lamenting his premature fate. Dempster likewise quotes these lines and another elegy on his death, by Buchanan.

(Opera, vol. ii. pp. 106, 120,) and says, that Alexander c.o.c.kburn, who had spent several years abroad, published various works, of which he had only seen three, the t.i.tles of which he specifies; but he mistakes the date of his death, in placing it in 1572, and his age, as 25.--(Hist.

Eccles. p. 182.)

[473] In MS. G, "in c.u.mpany."

[474] John Rough is said to have been born in 1510. It must have been previous to that date, as his name, "Johannes Rouch," occurs in the second cla.s.s or division of persons who were Incorporated in St.

Leonard's College, in the year 1521. He entered a monastery at Stirling, when only seventeen years of age. The reputation he had acquired as a preacher, induced the Governor to procure a dispensation for him to leave the monastery, and become one of his chaplains. In the Treasurer's Accounts, February 1512-3, he is called "Maister Johnne Ra, Chaplane to my Lord Governour," upon occasion of receaving "ane goun, doublet, hoiss, and bonet." Foxe mentions that Rough visited Rome twice, and was very much shocked with what he witnessed in that city, which he had been taught to regard as the fountain of sanct.i.ty. He entered the Castle of St. Andrews, as Knox states, soon after the Cardinal's slaughter; but he retired to England before the capitulation in 1547. (See Calderwood's account of him, vol. i. p. 251.) He continued to preach till the death of Edward the Sixth; when he crossed to Narden in Friesland. But having come over to London, he was informed against to Bishop Bonner, by whose orders he was committed to the flames at Smithfield, on the 22d of December 1557. "An account of his examination, and two of his letters, (says Dr. M'Crie,) breathing the true spirit of a Christian Martyr, may be seen in Foxe, p. 1840-41."--(Life of Knox, vol. i. pp. 51, 52, 67.) Rough's fate is thus commemorated, in a rare poetical tract by Thomas Bryce, ent.i.tled "A Compendeous Register in Metre, conteigning the names and pacient suffryngs of the Membres of Jesus Christ; and the tormented and cruelly burned within England, since the death of our famous Kyng of immortal memory, Edwarde the Sixte," &c. London, 1559, 8vo.

DECEMBER [1557.]

When Jhon Roughe, a minister weke, And Margaret Mering, with corage died, Because Christ onely they did seeke, With fier of force they must bee fried; When these in Smithfield were put to death, We wishte for our Elizabeth.