Chapter II: Summary (3)

[297] MS. Harleian, 1224, art. 25, translated from the French by J. O. Halliwell. Letters of the Kings of England, vol. i. p. 267.

[298] MS. Harleian, 1224, art. 25, translated from the French by J. O. Halliwell. Letters of the Kings of England, vol. i. p. 267.

[299] The letter is dated January 31, and must have been written in 1521–2. Original Letters, edited by Sir H. Ellis. Third Series, vol. i. p. 299.

[300] Letter of Henry VIII. to John, Duke of Albany. Cott. MSS., edited by J. O. Halliwell. Letters of Kings of England.

[301] Lesley, p. 117.

[302] Bishop Lesley, Hist. of Scotland, p. 122.

[303] Lindsay of Pitscottie. He, or his editors, have displaced Angus’ forced sojourn in France, but the circumstances are correct, since Angus was never sent there but once by Albany.

[304] Bishop Lesley’s History of Scotland, p. 118.

[305] Ibid. 191.

[306] Dispatches of Lord Dacre to Wolsey. Cott. MS., Cal. B. vi. f. 270.

[307] State Papers, vol. iv. Queen Margaret to Cardinal Wolsey, Dec. 26, 1522.

[308] State Papers, vol. iv. Queen Margaret to Cardinal Wolsey, Dec. 26, 1522.

[309] Mackenzie’s Lives. It likewise occurs in the State Papers. It seems a small circumstance, but it is a most important link in the life of Margaret Tudor.

[310] This note seems to be written in 1523, in March or early in April of that year.

[311] He was, as well as his namesake the other Gavin (of the house of Douglas), a poet of great estimation in his day.

[312] To walk or run alone. We render, as far as possible, our extracts from Sir David Lindsay into modern orthography, in hopes that our southern readers may admire him as much as we do.

[313] Cupbearer.

[314] The Complaint of the Papingo was written in 1529. Sir David Lindsay employed the leisure with which Queen Margaret had most ungratefully furnished him, by composing a series of naïve and charming reminiscences of the young King’s infancy and youth, which awoke all James’s affections, and caused the recall of his early friend to public life, by crowning him Lion King-at-arms in 1530.--Tytler’s Life of Sir David Lindsay.

[315] Sir David Lindsay’s Dream, written for the instruction of the young King.

[316] Of high genius.

[317] Julius Cæsar.

[318] Pompey.

[319] Cole MSS. British Museum.

[320] State Papers, published by Commission, 1836, vol. iv. p. 4. Margaret to Surrey.

[321] Of such ingratitude James’s letters, when he arrived at years of real discretion, entirely acquit him.

[322] State Papers, &c.

[323] Pinkerton, vol. ii. p. 480.

[324] State Papers, published by Commission, 1836. Vol. iv. p. 4.

[325] Ibid.

[326] Cott. MS., Calig. B. i. fol. 302. Printed by Sir H. Ellis in the original orthography. Historical Letters, vol. i. p. 204. First series, Sept. 1523.

[327] Ibid.

[328] It seems that, on the 25th of September, Lord Dacre had sent his kinsman, Walter Strickland, of Sizergh Castle, and his three hundred Kendal men, to attack the stronghold of Kerr of Fernihirst with artillery. To the surprise of all parties, after a desperate onslaught, Strickland and his “men of Kent-dale bold” were repulsed. On the whole, the Scots had the best of it in the desultory warfare of that day. Then, at night, the English camp was terribly discomfited by the invasion of some spiritual adversary, on whose inbreak they had not calculated. The mischief done, although gravely attributed to the foul fiend, was most likely effected by some clever rogues of Border horse-boys; for, as soon as it was dark, the whole of the horses of the English army broke loose into their camp, and, mad with terror, charged their masters; who, taking them for the Scottish cavalry, shot at them with their arrows and guns. They shot away a hundred sheaves of arrows in this strange combat. Fifty of the English steeds committed _felo-de-se_ by galloping over a steep precipice, and more than two hundred and fifty thought fit to rush into the flames of Jedburgh, where they were caught by Scotchwomen, who, according to the proverb of “an ill wind that blows nobody good,” were seeking what they could find in the conflagration. They did not expect the horses of their enemies, but they were glad of all they could get, and led them away, though some “be right evil burnt” says Lord Surrey. “I think there is lost above eight hundred horses. I dare not write,” he adds sarcastically, “the wonders Lord Dacre and all his company do say they saw that night, of sprites and fearful sights; and universally all their company say plainly that the devil was that night among them six times.”[329]

Notwithstanding the earnestness of the Queen’s messages, urging the invasion of her adopted country. Lord Dacre camped but one night in Scotland, and then, according to the above document, he met with a strange reception. Assuredly that night was signalized by a combat unheard of in the annals of warfare, of an army against its own horses. It has been a fashion in history to decry Albany and his regency; but those who can appreciate his difficulties, from the divisions he encountered in the country, the formidable enemy he had on its Borders, and, worse than all, the treacherous espionage of Queen Margaret, who betrayed the most important proceedings of his council to the English, must allow Albany to have been a very great man, even to have preserved the Scottish monarchy for his young kinsman. The fact was, that he not only gave the English a warm reception when they crossed his frontier, but more frequently invaded them.]

[329] Cott. MS., B. ii. fol. 29. Printed by Sir H. Ellis. Historical Letters, vol. i. p. 217. First series.

[330] State Paper Commission, printed 1836, vol. iv. p. 310.

[331] She means Flodden by “the field.”

[332] Richard de la Pole, called the Knight of the White Rose, was Margaret’s near relative, the youngest and bravest of the semi-royal family of Suffolk, on whom the crown of England had been entailed by his uncle Richard III. He was first cousin to Margaret’s mother, Elizabeth of York.

[333] Cott. MS., Calig. B. i. p. 117.

[334] State Papers, vol. iv. p. 56.

[335] Cott. MS., Calig. B. vi. f. 315.

[336] The letter is dated Stirling, on St. Catherine’s Eve, being Nov. 24, 1523.

[337] Pinkerton. He speaks without any certain authority; but the death of the Duchess of Albany is mentioned in the Memoirs of Martin du Bellay as occurring about that time.

[338] Pinkerton.

[339] State Papers.

[340] Cott. MS., B. xi. f. 246. Printed in the original orthography, Ellis’s Letters, first series, vol. i. p. 241.

[341] Cott. MS., B. xi. f. 246.

[342] Dacre to Wolsey, State Papers, vol. iv. p. 83.

[343] Margaret to Henry VIII. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 81.

[344] See Historical Letters, edited by Sir H. Ellis. Second Series. Martin du Bellay, Brantôme, and all the French chroniclers of that era, speak with admiration of Albany’s personal conduct at this terrible juncture for France.

[345] State Papers.--Letter of Queen Margaret to the English Council, vol. iv. p. 118. At Edinburgh, Aug. 31, 1524.

[346] Cott. MS., Calig. B. vi. fol. 402.

[347] Cott. MS., Calig. B. vi. fol. 402.

[348] Perfect Occurrents, p. 9.

[349] State Papers, vol. iv. p. 148. Norfolk to Wolsey, Sept. 1524.

[350] State Papers, vol. iv. p. 148. Norfolk to Wolsey, Sept. 1524.

[351] Norfolk to Wolsey, Barnard Castle, Sept. 14, 1524. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 126.

[352] Wolsey to Norfolk, State Papers, vol. iv. p. 155.

[353] State Papers, vol. iv. pp. 157, 158. Arran to Henry VIII., Oct. 3, 1524.

[354] State Papers, vol. iv. p. 168. Margaret to Norfolk, Oct. 6, 1524.

[355] Wolsey to Norfolk, vol. iv. p. 181, Oct. 10, 1524.

[356] The Complaint, by Sir David Lindsay.

[357] The guard of two hundred men which Henry VIII. paid to be about his nephew James V., with no good purpose.

[358] _Pluck the craw._ Perhaps synonymous to being pigeoned by gamblers.

[359] Boast.

[360] Mock.

[361] Preceptor: he was afterward Archbishop of Glasgow.

[362] Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 208–9.

[363] State Papers, ibid. p. 209. Magnus to Wolsey, Nov. 2, 1524.

[364] State Papers, vol. iv. p. 209. Magnus to Wolsey.

[365] State Papers, vol. iv. p. 213. Magnus to Wolsey.

[366] Ibid.

[367] State Papers, vol. iv. p. 213. Magnus to Wolsey.

[368] Ibid.

[369] Ibid. p. 217.

[370] Cottonian MS., Calig. B. vi. p. 372. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 217, note.

[371] Magnus to Norfolk, State Papers, vol. iv. p. 228.

[372] November 4. Magnus and Radclyffe to Angus. State Papers.

[373] Wolsey to Norfolk, State Papers, vol. iv. p. 219.

[374] Ibid. 220.

[375] Ibid. 221.

[376] Norfolk to Wolsey, State Papers, vol. iv. p. 226, November 5, 1524.

[377] Ibid.

[378] Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 239, November 10. Sometimes Magnus holds the pen, sometimes Radclyffe, in the same letter, which they indicate by the words of, “I, Thomas Magnus,” or “I, Roger Radclyffe.” The person they call by the odd appellation of “Hob-a-Barton” is no other than Queen Margaret’s old servant, Robin Barton, comptroller of her household, often mentioned in her previous adventures.

[379] Magnus to Wolsey, Edinburgh, Nov. 10, 1524. Illustrations of Scottish History, p. 102--Maitland Club.

[380] Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers, vol. v. Nov. 26, 1524.

[381] Ibid.

[382] Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers, vol. v. Nov. 26, 1524.

[383] Ibid.

[384] Margaret to Wolsey, Nov. 28. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 264.

[385] Angus to Wolsey, Nov. 28, State Papers, vol. iv. p. 265.

[386] Magnus to Wolsey, Nov. 27. State Papers, p. 270.

[387] State Papers, p. 272. Norfolk to Wolsey.

[388] Lesley’s History, p. 130.

[389] Ibid.

[390] Magnus to Wolsey, Dec. 27. State Papers, p. 278.

[391] Documents relative to the history of Scotland in the archives of France.

[392] Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 307.

[393] Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 307. Jan. 24, 1524–5.

[394] The Earl of Cassilis, Scotch ambassador about James V.’s marriage with Mary Tudor, came home to Edinburgh from London, Jan. 8, 1524–5, therefore the scene between Harry and Groselles must have taken place between that date and Jan. 24, the date of Magnus’s letter edited by our learned friend Mr. Stevenson. Illustrations of Scottish History, p. 125–131. Maitland Club. Mr. Stevenson quotes the French envoy’s name as “Courcelles.”

[395] Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 278.

[396] Ibid. p. 331.

[397] Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 334.

[398] State Papers, p. 339. Magnus to Wolsey, March 9.

[399] Ibid. p. 348, March 31, 1525.

[400] Magnus to Wolsey, March 31, 1525. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 349, 350.

[401] Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers, April 16, 1525.

[402] Angus to Henry VIII., Edinburgh, June 8, 1525. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 378.

[403] Magnus to Wolsey, June 23, 1525. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 385.

[404] Dr. Magnus to Wolsey, State Papers, published by Commission, 1830, vol. i. p. 385, August 9, 1523.

[405] Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 400.

[406] Magnus to Wolsey, January 11, 1525. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 432.

[407] Angus to Magnus, January 20, 1525–6. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 438.

[408] State Papers, vol. iv. p. 403.

[409] Lennox disputed the legality of Arran’s divorces and marriages.

[410] September 4, 1526. Letter of Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers.

[411] September 13, 1526. Letter of Magnus to Wolsey. State Papers.

[412] Pinkerton, Appendix, vol. ii. Dec. 1526.

[413] Quoted by Warton as an ode in the Scots dialect by Stuart, for the New Year of 1527.

[414] State Papers, vol. v. Jan. 1526–7.

[415] Mackenzie’s Lives. vol. ii. p. 572.

[416] Ibid.

[417] State Papers, vol. iv. p. 490; April.

[418] Lettre de M. de Turenne au Duc d’Albany, en Archives du Royaume de France. Printed in Pièces et Documens Inédits, relatifs à l’Histoire d’Ecosse--unpublished.

[419] Correspondence of Dr. Magnus with Wolsey. Cottonian MS., March 6, 1526–7.

[420] Magnus to Wolsey, Calig. B. iii. p. 301.

[421] Lord Herbert of Cherbury alone mentions Margaret’s proceedings, but with great caution, though he wrote as late as the reign of James I.

[422] Pièces et Documens Inédits, relatifs à l’Histoire d’Ecosse--in the Archives of the Kingdom of France.

[423] Pièces et Documens Inédits, relatifs à l’Histoire d’Ecosse--in the Archives of the Kingdom of France.

[424] Lesley’s Hist. p. 140.

[425] Mackenzie’s Lives, vol. ii. p. 572, and State Papers. Magnus’s Letters, vol. v.

[426] Lindsay of Pitscottie, p. 329.

[427] Buchanan, p. 158, book xiv. Lesley, p. 139. Lindsay says September was the month.

[428] Godscroft, p. 257.

[429] Ibid. p. 256.

[430] Topographical History of Scotland, by S. Lewis, vol. ii.

[431] Letter of Henry VIII. Halliwell’s Letters of the Kings of England, vol. ii. p. 276.

[432] State Papers, vol. v. Letter of William Lord Dacre.

[433] Ibid. Lord Eure to Wolsey, vol. iv., Sept. 1528.

[434] Margaret to Magnus. State Papers, vol. iv. p. 533. Edinburgh, Nov. 21.

[435] Lindsay of Pitscottie.

[436] So written.

[437] State Papers, vol. v., June, 1532.

[438] Ibid. Newark near Ettrick.

[439] State Papers, vol. v. p. 2.

[440] Margaret to Henry VIII., Dec. 12, 1534. State Papers, vol. v. p. 10.

[441] Margaret to Henry VIII., Dec. 12, 1534. State Papers, vol. v. p. 12.

[442] State Papers, vol. v. p. 12.

[443] State Papers, vol. v. p. 13.

[444] Ibid. p. 20.

[445] Ibid. p. 30.

[446] Lord William Howard to Henry VIII. State Papers, April 25, 1536, vol. v. p. 41.

[447] Afterward celebrated in history as the Regent Murray.

[448] State Papers, vol. v. p. 41.

[449] Ibid. p. 43.

[450] Howard and Barlow, May 13. State Papers, vol. v. p. 47.

[451] Ibid. p. 48.

[452] State Papers, vol. v. p. 48.

[453] Howard’s Letter, State Papers, vol. v. p. 48.

[454] State Papers. Ibid. p. 52.

[455] State Papers, vol. v. p. 53.

[456] Ibid. p. 59.

[457] See Life of Magdalene, Queen of James V.

[458] State Papers, vol. v. 59.

[459] State Papers, vol. v. p. 50.

[460] Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Life of Henry VIII. Perfect History, vol. ii. p. 201. Lord Herbert is very correct in his history, having submitted to the guidance of the State Papers. He has evidently seen a few letters which have escaped modern editors. This might well be, as he wrote more than two centuries earlier.

[461] Henry VIII. to Margaret (Queen-mother of Scotland), edited by J. O. Halliwell, in letters of the Kings of England, vol. i. p. 275.

[462] State Papers, vol. v. p. 62. December, 1536.

[463] Scott’s “History of the Gowries.” Sir James Mackintosh’s England.

[464] State Papers, vol. v. p. 63.

[465] Rothesay Herald.

[466] State Papers, vol. v. p. 77. Cromwell to Queen Margaret, May 14, 1537.

[467] Pinkerton, vol. ii. p. 351.

[468] See the ensuing biography, Life of Magdalene of France.

[469] Cott. MS. Calig. B. i.

[470] State Papers, vol. v. June 7, 1537.

[471] State Papers, vol. v. June 7, 1537. It seems this envoy was the famous David Beton, afterward Cardinal, who was thus personally acquainted with Henry VIII.

[472] State Papers, vol. v. June 7, 1537.

[473] State Papers, vol. v. p. 103.

[474] The date has been questioned as a mistake, but more than one instance occurs in history similar, as some of Queen Elizabeth’s dispatches to Fotheringay; likewise the speed with which the news of that monarch’s death reached her successor.

[475] State Papers, vol. v. p. 120. Dated Oct. 14, 1537.

[476] Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Perfect Hist. vol. ii. p. 212.

[477] State Papers, vol. v. p. 119. Dundee, Oct. 16.

[478] Ibid. p. 126. Dec. 1, 1537.

[479] State Papers, vol. v. p. 127.

[480] Ibid.

[481] Ibid. p. 181.

[482] March 29, 1540–41, State Papers. Pinkerton’s Appendix, vol. ii. p. 499.

[483] State Papers, Royal letters.

[484] State Papers, vol. v. Nov. 1541.

[485] Ibid. Letter of Harry Ray. All historians place Queen Margaret’s death a year earlier; but this letter from the State Papers is decisive. Bishop Lesley falls into the mistake of the others.

[486] Fleming and Mercer’s MS. Chronicle, in Scott’s Lives of the Gowries.

[487] Burnet asserts the contrary; but, his errors being systematic, he and truth are seldom on the same side. The species of claim insinuated by the Ruthvens is thus expressed by one of their partisans, in the seventeenth century, quoted in Scott’s History of the Gowries:

“King James slew Gowrie without fear or shame,
His brothers closely keepit in the Tower;
And while they lived ne’er slept a quiet hour.
Queen Margaret’s grandson _nigher in degree_,
“Was Gowrie’s ruin, and King James’s plea.”

They were not descended from Margaret Tudor in any degree, either near or far, but only from Jeane Douglas, the daughter of her divorced husband Angus, by Lady Janet Stuart, his concealed wife; that lady being aunt to the unfortunate Lord Darnley, gave a nearness in blood to James VI., which he acknowledged to his own infinite trouble. Those historians who can find no motives for the attacks of the Ruthvens on Mary, Queen of Scots, and her son, will do well (if their object is indeed truth) to examine closely their mysterious alliances with the royal family. For if Darnley and his race were destroyed, and Queen Margaret’s divorce acted upon, Ruthven’s wife and children had claims on the great personal wealth of Archibald, Earl of Angus, to say nothing of his earldom, which was a disputed point.

[488] Chronicles of France and Bretagne.

[489] Chronicle l’Histoire de France, par Humbert Vellay, vol. iv. p. 292.

[490] Journal of Louisa of Savoy, printed in Gnichenou’s History of Savoy, tome v. Prennes, p. 461.

[491] Chronicle l’Histoire de France. Humbert Vellay.

[492] See Life of Anne Boleyn, vol. iv. Lives of the Queens of England.

[493] Inventory of Jewels, &c., pertaining to King James V., taken in November, 1542, Book of the Royal Wardrobe and Jewel House of Scotland, edited by Thomas Thomson, Esq.

[494] Royal Genealogies of France. Mezeray’s Hist. France. Les Vies des Dames Illustres de France.

[495] Les Vies des Dames Illustres de France.

[496] Tableaux Génealogiques de la Maison Royale de France. Par P. Lappe, p. 45. Other authorities date the death of Claude, October 26, 1524.

[497] Bacon’s Life of Francis I.

[498] Archives of the Kingdom of France, J. 965.

[499] Archives of the Kingdom of France, J. 965.

[500] Brantôme, Mezeray.

[501] Inedited Pieces relative to the History of Scotland in the Archives of France.

[502] Brantôme.

[503] Buchanan.

[504] Bacon’s Life and Times of Francis I.

[505] Brantôme. Du Bellay. Varillas. Robertson’s Charles V. Bacon’s Francis I.

[506] Lives of the Queens of England, vol. iv.

[507] Diurnal of Occurrents, in the charter-chest of Sir John Maxwell of Polloc, Bart. Printed for the Bannatyne Club.

[508] Bibliothèque du Roi, Collection Dupuy, dated Lyons the 23d day of June, 1533. From the privately printed copy of Pièces et Documents Inédits, Relatifs a l’Histoire d’Ecosse.

[509] Buchanan. Lindsay of Pitscottie.

[510] Lindsay of Pitscottie.

[511] Buchanan.

[512] Buchanan.

[513] Ibid. Tytler.

[514] This document, which is in Latin, is dated the 29th day of March, 1535, and is preserved in the archives of the kingdom of France, sealed with the Great Seal of that realm, in yellow wax.

[515] This fact is certified by a document in the Archives of the kingdom of France, dated January --, 1536, by which James V., King of Scotland, acknowledges to having “received from the treasurers of his Majesty Francis I. of France the sum of a hundred thousand livres, in twenty thousand gold crowns of the sun, as the first installment on the hundred thousand crowns promised to him by the King on the occasion of his marriage with Marie de Bourbon, daughter of the Duc de Vendôme.”

[516] Lindsay of Pitscottie. Diurnal of Occurrents. Lesley’s History of James V.

[517] Lindsay of Pitscottie. Buchanan.

[518] Ibid.

[519] Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 21. Printed for the Bannatyne Club.

[520] Lindsay of Pitscottie.

[521] My grateful acknowledgments are due to Alexander Macdonald, Esq., for the loan of his transcript of that highly curious document lately discovered by him among the Royal Exchequer records in the Register House, Edinburgh.

[522] Compotus of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, by courteous permission from Mr. Macdonald’s MSS. note-book.

[523] Copies of these letters, written in the old Scotch dialect and orthography of the period, are in the Cott. Coll., Calig. B. iii. 293, British Museum.

[524] Anthony Bourbon (the brother of Mary of Vendôme), who became titular King of Navarre by his marriage with Jeanne d’Albret, the daughter of Magdalene’s aunt, Margaret de Valois, was the father of the renowned Henry IV. of France by that marriage.

[525] Lindsay of Pitscottie.

[526] Chronicle of Drummond of Hawthornden.

[527] Buchanan.

[528] This fortress, furnished with artillery by France, was still kept for the Duke of Albany by a French garrison. Pinkerton, vol. ii. p. 339.

[529] MSS. Cotton., Caligula, B. iii. 293.

[530] Ibid.

[531] Lindsay of Pitscottie.

[532] Ibid.

[533] Ibid.

[534] Lindsay of Pitscottie’s Chronicle.

[535] Ibid.

[536] Only a quaint obsolete term for illness, literally _mal-ease_.

[537] See the previously quoted letter to Sir George Douglas, dated October 22.

[538] Wardrobe Book of Scotland.

[539] Historie of Scotland, by Lesley, Bishop of Ross. Printed for the Bannatyne Club.

[540] Mezeray. History of France, vol. ii. p. 526.

[541] Chronicles of Scotland by Lindsay of Pitscottie.

[542] Drummond of Hawthornden. Lesley.

[543] Perhaps the second Margaret of Valois was inferior to her sister in delicate and fragile beauty; but she bears a high character for virtue and learning among royal ladies. Margaret was the only one of the daughters of Francis I. who survived him. She was married at thirty-five to Philibert Emmanuel, Prince of Savoy.

[544] There is a beautiful copy of the articles of marriage, between James V. of Scotland and Madame Magdalene of France, in Latin, preserved in the Advocates’ Library in Edinburgh.

[545] Chronicles of Scotland. James V.

[546] The spy to whom we are indebted for the inimical anecdotes of James’s adventures in France, urges the Douglases to solicit Henry VIII.’s most effectual letters for their pardon and recall to Scotland, to be delivered to James V. on the day of his bridal, which, adds he, “is to be on St. Katherine’s day, if all promises are kept; nevertheless the letters of Henry VIII. should be with the King of France (who was to be the pleader in the case) the evening before the marriage. Cause the writings ye shall send me to be delivered in Depe (Dieppe) to George Hume.”

These directions could never be complied with, for some English person captured the dispatches while overhauling the Scotch messenger’s budget either by sea or land, and the copies remain in the Cottonian Collection with this significant endorsement--“_The trew coppys of the Scottysh lettres, taken of lait from a Scott, good as I thinke to be seyn (seen)._”

[547] Francis I. had contrived, it seems, to pacify the Duc de Vendôme for the slight his daughter had received, probably by pleading the uncontrollable love of his own girl to the King of Scotland, and the pre-contract, which, under those circumstances, would have prevented a lawful marriage between that Prince and any other lady. Moreover, he had been so obliging as to provide another consort of suitable rank for the Lady Mary of Vendôme, if she would have been content to espouse him; her truant lover, the King of Scots, had offered to bestow her upon him at the altar. But she indignantly declined all matrimonial overtures, and declared her preference of a convent.

[548] Registres du Parlement, 1536. Bibliothèque du Roi, Collection Dupuy, tome 325. Printed in Pièces et Documents Inédits relatifs à l’Histoire d’Ecosse. Unpublished.

[549] Ibid.

[550] Which formerly decorated the gallery of the Luxembourg Palace, and was purchased by the late Earl of Elgin in Paris, soon after the Revolution.

[551] Encyclopædia Britannica, Art. Scotland.

[552] The well-known tradition related by Sir Walter Scott has evident reference to this historical incident. “He (James V.) told some French nobles who were his guests on one occasion, that they should see served up, after dinner, the fruits of his country. They did not expect any very rich dessert, from the gray and cold aspect of the hills, but were agreeably surprised at the appearance of a charger full of his beautiful gold coins, called his Bonnet pieces, from his effigy struck thereon in the berret cap he usually wore. The coinage was considered to be of the brightest and purest gold ever seen in North Britain, and assuredly a more noble head and profile was never impressed on coin or medal than the likeness of James in his ordinary garb.”

[553] Records of the French Parliament, Dupuy Collection, Bibl. du Roi.

[554] Lord Treasurer’s Accounts, Register House, Edinburgh.

[555] Chronicles of Scotland, James V.

[556] Mezeray’s Hist. of France, vol. ii. p. 526.

[557] Encyclopædia Britannica, Hist. Scotland.

[558] Lindsay of Pitscottie. Lesley. Balfour.

[559] Lindsay of Pitscottie’s Chronicle, James V. These extracts are collected from separate editions and the MSS. in the College at Edinburgh.

[560] Balfour’s Annals of Scotland, vol. i. p. 266–7.

[561] Annals of Scotland.

[562] Lindsay of Pitscottie.

[563] MS. Archives du Royaume de France, Tr. des Ch. ii. 679, No. 50.

[564] Tr. des Ch. J. 679, No. 52. In the Hotel de Soubise, Paris.

[565] Tr. des Ch. J. 965, I. In the Hotel de Soubise, Paris.

[566] Ibid.

[567] MS. in the Archives of the Kingdom of France, J. 966. 5 Paquet.

[568] Ibid. J. 967. 2 Paquet.

[569] Lesley’s History of Scotland.

[570] Archives of the Kingdom of France.

[571] Norfolk to Cromwell, dated Bridlington, May 18, 1537. State Papers.

[572] Norfolk to Cromwell, dated Bridlington, May 18, 1537. State Papers.

[573] Miscellaneous Letters in the Chapter House, vol. viii. f. 67.

[574] Ibid.

[575] Clifford to Henry VIII. State Papers, vol. v. p. 879.

[576] Lesley.

[577] Lindsay of Pitscottie.

[578] Lesley.

[579] Ray’s Dispatches to the Duke of Norfolk. State Papers.

[580] Discussion in Lord Hailes’s Annals of Scotland.

[581] MS. Hotel de Soubise, J. 967. Third Paquet.

[582] Habiliment.

[583] Namely, presents to propitiate her.

[584] The royal colors of France, in honor of Magdalene’s paternal bearings.

[585] Being set up.

[586] Lettres des Rois, Reines, et autres Personnages des Cours de France et de l’Angleterre. Edited by M. Brequing, p. 66.

[587] Lettres des Rois, Reines, et autres Personnages des Cours de France et de l’Angleterre. Edited by M. Brequing, p. 191.

[588] Gaillard, vol. i. book viii. c. 3.

[589] Communicated, by gracious permission, by Mr. Atkinson, librarian to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia.

[590] Compotus of Kirkaldy of Grange.--“Moneys expended on Lord James, now Prior of St. Andrews, and the Lady Jane, his sister. Part of these were for making ane _canabé_ to the Lady Jane, with nine ells of yellow, nine ells of green, and nine ells of red serge.” The French call a sofa _canapé_; but this article of furniture must not be thus considered, since charges occur for a knob to the head of the said _canabé_.

[591] Brantôme, Lives of the Princesses of France of his times, p. 302, 303.

[592] Ellis’s Letters, First Series, vol. ii. p. 108–9.

[593] Lindsay of Pitscottie. Lesley. Buchanan.

[594] Lesley’s Hist. of Scotland--James Fyft. Printed for the Bannatyne Club.

[595] Vies des Femmes Illustres.

[596] Buchanan, Hist. Scotland. Drummond of Hawthornden.

[597] The following entry in the Treasurer’s Accounts, the 21st day of August, 1537, “Item, to Master George Balquhanan at the King’s command ... xx lib.” certifies that the royal widower did not omit to reward the learned poet. Again, in July, 1538, upon the occasion of the commemoration services on the anniversary of Queen Magdalene’s death, Master George Balquhanan received a gown of Paris black, lined with black satin, &c., also £20 at the King’s commands; so that, considering the relative value of money in that century, he was much more nobly guerdoned for his pains than he would have found himself, belike, in the present day. It is, however, to be noted that the said Master George Buchanan was a courtier at that time, having been preferred, for his singular erudition, and, Knox adds, “his honest behavior,” to the place of tutor to the King’s illegitimate children, whom the great Reformer designates by a coarser name. While engaged in this office, Buchanan was the recipient of gowns, hose, bonnets, doublets, and various other gear from the royal wardrobe-stores, as early as February 16, 1536.--Treasurer’s Accounts in the Royal Record Office at Edinburgh, cited by David Laing, Esq. in his learned edition of the Works of John Knox, vol. i. p. 71.

[598] Meaning grafted.

[599] Or shall be.

[600] _Bright_, of course--a favorite term formerly; something like “_inclyta_” in reference to females.

[601] I am indebted to the research of that courteous and learned antiquarian, John Riddel, Esq., of the Faculty of Advocates, for the communication of the above and many other curious transcripts of inedited documents illustrative of the Queen of Scotland and their courts, for which grateful acknowledgments are due.

[602] By the same gentleman.

[603] Royal Wardrobe-Book of Scotland, edited by Thomas Thomson, Esq. of Shrub Hill, Leith.

[604] Arnott’s History of Edinburgh, 255.

[605] Ibid.

[606] Pinkerton, vol. ii. p. 347. Pinkerton, as well as our eminent cotemporary, Mr. Tytler, considers that James V. was really conspired against in this plot. See also Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials.

[607] Annals of Scotland, vol. i.

[608] The martlet is the heraldic sign of the fifth son, who, in the good old times, was landless, and therefore figured by a bird of passage.

[609] Brantôme, in his Life of Claud’s elder brother, Antoine, Duc de Lorraine, gives a somewhat different version of this heroic episode in the history of the father of Mary of Lorraine.

[610] More than one among the following list of brothers was closely linked with the fortunes of their sister Mary and her descendants. Francis, the well-known Balafré, born 1519, was consequently four years younger than Mary; Charles, afterward the celebrated Cardinal of Lorraine, and spiritual peer of France under the title of Duke of Rheims, born Feb. 17, 1524; Claud, Duke of Aumale, 1525; Louis of Lorraine, Cardinal of Guise, and Archbishop of Sens, born Oct. 1527; Francis (2) of Lorraine, Grand-prior of Malta, and _general_ (admiral) of the galleys of France, born April 18, 1535; René Duke d’Elbœuf; Pierre and Philip, who died in infancy; Louise, born Jan. 1520, married Du Leroy, Prince of Chimay; Renée, Abbess of Rheims, born Sept. 22, 1522; Antoinette of Lorraine, Abbess of Farmoustier, born August 31, 1531.--MOREIRI.

[611] Vatout.

[612] The elder Cardinal of Lorraine, Jean, brother of Claud, Duke de Guise, commenced this most evil family practice. An unexampled number of the abbeys and dignities of the Church being centered in his own person, the Benedictine historian slyly observes, “that the mere calling over the roll of his titles seemed like summoning together a great council of the Church, although, to the shame and woe of that Church, one rich and powerful man answered to every designation.” A clear idea of this worldly rapacity of the cadets of Guise casts light on the difficulties the female sovereigns of their house had to stem, and on their motives as ultra-partisans of their Church.--_L’Art de Vérifier les Dates._

[613] Le Laboneur says, in his Memoires de Castlenau, tome ii. p. 655, “Louis XII, was greatly attached to the family of Dunois. He considered the debt of gratitude was immense, which not only France but his own line owed to their heroic founder, whom he called the ‘restorer of France,’ and supporter of the house of Orleans.” Francis I. confirmed all his predecessor had given to the representatives of Dunois, and added the dukedom of Longueville to their domains in 1505, with the hereditary dignity of Grand Chamberlain of France. The line of Dunois, and its representative, walked in processions with the princes of the blood, being recognized as princes of the house of Orleans.

[614] This fact is certified by the preliminary articles of Mary’s second marriage with James V. of Scotland. Printed from the original document in the Archives du Royaume de France, in Pieces and Documents relative to the History of Scotland, for the use of the Bannatyne Club.

[615] Letter of Jeanne, Queen of Navarre, to Marie of Lorraine.

[616] Moreiri.

[617] Dispatches of Chatillon, Bibl. du Roi.

[618] Wharton to Cromwell, October 4, 1537. State Papers, vol. v. p. 112.

[619] Ibid.

[620] MSS. Dispatches of M. de Chatillon, Bibl. du Roi, Paris.

[621] Chatillon’s Dispatches.

[622] Ibid.

[623] Chatillon’s Dispatches.

[624] Moreiri, vol. vi. p. 152.

[625] Chronicle of Drummond of Hawthornden.

[626] State Papers of France.

[627] Preserved in the Archives du Royaume de France (Tresors des Chartes, J. 680, r. 78). Printed in the original French, in an unpublished volume, for the use of the Bannatyne Club, of which I have been favored with the use by that distinguished antiquary, T. Thomson, Esq., of Shrub Hill, Leith.

[628] MS. J. 965, 1. Archives du Royaume de France.

[629] Compotum Davidis, Sancti Andreæ Archiepiscopi, &c., in Regno Franciæ, kindly communicated by Alexander Macdonald, Esq.

[630] This group forms the subject of the vignette on the title-page of the present volume of our royal biographies, the noble possessor having courteously allowed it to be copied and engraved for that purpose, for which our acknowledgments are gratefully offered, as well as for the like privilege accorded by his Lordship in regard to the portrait of Queen Magdalene, from the companion picture. Both these fine historical pieces originally decorated the royal gallery of the Luxembourg, and were purchased, after the Revolution at Paris, by that celebrated connoisseur in the fine arts, the late Earl of Elgin.

[631] Lindsay of Pitscottie. State Papers of France.

[632] Chronicles of Scotland, p. 375.

[633] See Tragedy of the Cardinal, Poems of David Lindsay, p. 254.

[634] Buchanan’s Hist. of Scotland. Diurnal of Occurrents. Balfour says she landed at Crail, June 19. Annals of Scotland.

[635] Royal Records in the General Register House, kindly communicated by Alexander Macdonald, Esq.

[636] Lesley, Hist. of Scotland, James Fyft. Buchanan.

[637] The reader who is unacquainted with the local scene described, is referred to the learned and most interesting History of St. Andrews, by the Rev. C. Lyon, for full particulars.

[638] Ellis’s Letters, first series, vol. i. p. 109.

[639] Ellis’s Letters, first series, vol. i. p. 107.

[640] Ibid.

[641] State Paper Office.

[642] State Papers.

[643] Compotus of St. Andrews.

[644] Many noble virtues also does this loyal cotemporary impute to his late lord, without mentioning one of his failings. These unhappily produced results of the most fatal kind. The following fact, related without comment, by Balfour, speaks volumes, and tells more against the sovereign than all the vituperations of Knox: “King James this year (1536) likewise gives to his four base sons the abbeys and priories of Melrose, Kelso, Coldinghame, and Holyrood House.” The eldest of those illegitimate scions of royalty was but eight years old. Did the most formidable schismatic ever inflict so deadly a wound on any Church as imposing such incumbents on her offices and lands? Lesley, as a bishop of the Church whose downfall the vices of this monarch were thus preparing, would probably have drawn the inference, if he had not fettered his pen by dedicating his History of Scotland to James’s royal daughter, Queen Mary, who had too much cause to rue her father’s early immoralities.

[645] Lives of the Lindsays, by Lord Lindsay.

[646] Knox’s History of the Reformation, edited by David Laing, Esq., vol. i. p. 60.

[647] Lindsay of Pitscottie.

[648] Treasury Accounts of Scotland, Register House MSS.

[649] Royal Records in the Register House, Edinburgh.

[650] Compotus, Kirkaldy of Grange, favor of A. Macdonald.

[651] Compotus of Kirkaldy of Grange.

[652] Original preserved in the State Paper Office, Westminster.

[653] State Papers, vol. v. p. 177. Norfolk to the English Council, May 25, the current date being 1540. But we are forced to abide by the date of the royal James’s letter herewith, if indeed a poet may be trusted with a date.

[654] The Compotus likewise bears date May 25, 1540. As the second boy was born in April the succeeding year, it must refer to the eldest.

[655] Compotus.

[656] Each ell cost 5_s._

[657] State Papers, vol. v.; date very uncertain.

[658] Compotus.

[659] George Chalmers undeniably proves that this poem is not by James I., the royal author of the Quair, and Peebles at the Play, but by James V. Falkland Palace, he shows, did not belong to the Kings of Scotland until the reign of James II.

[660] Slender.

[661] Gillian, or Juliana.

[662] George Chalmers’ Poetic Remains of the Kings of Scotland, p. 146.

[663] Sibbald. The dance called _brawl_ in England and Scotland is _branle_ in France.

[664] State Papers, vol. v. Wharton’s Letter.

[665] The year before the Queen’s miners arrived, there-was “gold of the mine” in James V.’s treasury, according to the following entry,--“Delivered by the King’s command 36 crowns of weight, 4 ounces to mix with gold of the mynd ‘to make jantylwoman’s chaffrons with.’--Royal Compotus, April, 1539.” Chevrons were ornaments similar to the fronts of Anne Boleyn caps. It is probable that the successful execution of the gold frontlets gave the Queen the idea of obtaining sufficient Scotch gold for a new crown.

[666] It is to the learning and intelligence of our kind friend, Mr. A. Macdonald of the Register House, that the world is indebted for this curious feature in the scanty history of our early British statistics. Thanks are due to him for having dug this gold from the dim and dark mine of his rich Scottish records.

[667] Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 22. Printed for the Bannatyne Club, from the original MSS. in possession of Sir John Maxwell, Bart. of Polloc.

[668] Ibid. It is to be noted that the accountant always spells mine _mynd_; but the sense, as any reader may perceive from the above quotation, clearly indicates the right substantive.

[669] Diurnal of Occurrents.

[670] Ibid.

[671] Mons Meg receives some coats of red paint, and warlike stores are provided for the Salamander (Francis I.’s gift) and other vessels used by the royal surveyor for his famous coasting voyages.

[672] Compotus.

[673] State Papers, vol. v. Letter of Queen Margaret, Sept. 5, 1539.

[674] Compotus.

[675] From a small scarce tract, containing extracts from the Balcarras Papers, Register Office.

[676] In consequence of coincident dates in the royal Compotus, we venture to place this letter, which is the third according to the learned editor’s arrangement, as the first.

[677] Compotus. Her entry at Dundee was Sept. 1, 1539.

[678] Pinkerton.

[679] Compotus of Kirkaldy of Grange, treasurer.

[680] Compotus of Kirkaldy of Grange, treasurer.

[681] The services of this lady are not very intelligible, whether _pettis_ may be translated into the modern English _pets_ or whether both _pettis_ and _pets_ are derived from the French _petits_. Whatsoever they might be--whether kittens, lambs, birds, or dogs--they required care and nourishment.

[682] Sadler Papers, edited by Sir Walter Scott, vol. i. p. 12.

[683] Sadler’s State Papers, vol. i. p. 22.

[684] Sadler’s State Papers, Embassy to Scotland in 1540, vol. i. p. 10.

[685] Sadler’s State Papers.

[686] Sadler’s State Papers. Embassy to Scotland, vol. i. p. 42.

[687] Sadler’s State Papers.

[688] Ibid.

[689] Lindsay of Pitscottie, p. 237, old edit.

[690] Border Histories.

[691] Mackenzie.

[692] See the preceding Life of Margaret Tudor, where he is never very long absent from the scene.

[693] Thus Sir James Hamilton is always called by his cotemporaries in State Papers and letters.

[694] Spottiswoode’s Ecclesiastical History, 71. Likewise Buchanan, Mackenzie, and Knox.

[695] Lindsay of Pitscottie. Chronicles of Scotland, p. 391.

[696] Lesley.

[697] State Papers, vol. v. Margaret’s letter has been classed as pertaining to 1541. The editor of the State Papers gives a notation that it belongs to May, 1540.

[698] Founded by the King’s tutor, Bishop Gavin Dunbar.

[699] Some particulars of the reception of James and Mary will be found in the publications of the Spalding Club, from the MSS. records of the town.

[700] Compotus, December, 1540.

[701] Repeated instances occur, besides the above, of the supporters of Scotland being two unicorns, likewise that there was a royal plate stamp to signify the proper purity of gold and silver, called “the unicorn stamp,” often mentioned in the Compotus. It appears to have been similar in its use to the famous lion stamp impressed at Goldsmiths’ Hall, London.

[702] Register Office, Edinburgh. Balcarres Papers, from French original.

[703] “_Et touschant le schois de ma merre_” has been supposed to be “touching the choice of my mother,” and to refer to one or other of Margaret Tudor’s numerous spouses. But the word is evidently _chose_ or _choses_, for in the right use of French plurals the royal James was not particular; he alludes by that word to some of his deceased mother’s personal effects.

[704] _Foudroyé_ or _foudrouyant_ is the French word. The sense of the sentence proves that it means violent displeasure.

[705] Buchanan. Pitscottie.

[706] Lesley, Tytler, Knox, Pitscottie.

[707] Knox’s Hist. of the Reformation, edited by D. Laing, vol. i. p. 80.

[708] A contemptuous term of reproach derived from the word _javel_ or _jifell_, jail, and literally meaning jail-birds.--Glossary appended to Knox’s History of the Reformation, edited by D. Laing, Esq.

[709] Knox’s History of the Reformation. Laing’s Edition. Vol. i. p. 83.

[710] Knox. Tytler.

[711] According to Knox, this document was found in the King’s pocket after his death; but it is scarcely probable that the wily premier, Cardinal Beton, took no more care of his royal master’s private papers than to allow one that so deeply committed himself to fall into the hands of those whose vengeance it was calculated to provoke.

[712] Mackenzie’s Lives, vol. ii. p. 592.

[713] There are allusions to this superstition in the State Papers, vol. v.

[714] Original in French--edited from the Balcarres Papers, Register Office, Edinburgh.

[715] Oliver Sinclair was not a young favorite, but an old attached servant of the Crown. We find his name as a gentleman of the bedchamber when James V. was an infant. That he was a cotemporary of Sir David Lindsay will be allowed by those who have read the State Papers, where he is represented as employed in matters of the highest trust in Queen Margaret’s stormy regency.

[716] Knox’s Hist. Ref. Tytler.

[717] Knox’s History of the Reformation, vol. i. p. 90.

[718] Knox’s History of the Reformation, vol. i. p. 90.

Transcriber’s Notes:

1. Obvious printers’ punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.

2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the original.

3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.

4. Where appropriate, the original spelling has been retained.

5. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. or X^{xx}.

6. Italics are shown as _xxx_.