Lords of the Congregation
The Lords of the Congregation (
Historical events
In December 1557 a group of Scottish lords opposed the
Following religious riots in
In June, at
Mary of Guise, who had earlier offered a degree of religious tolerance, maintained that their motives were secular in part. Queen Mary and King Francis wrote to her in November 1559, declaring that the lords were acting maliciously under the name and cloak of religion.[5] French re-inforcements pushed the Lords and their Protestant army back to Stirling and Fife.
By the Treaty of Berwick in February 1560 the Lords brought in an English army to resist the French troops. The armed conflict now centred on the Siege of Leith. After the death of the Queen Regent in June and the conclusion of hostilities at Leith by the Treaty of Edinburgh in July, the Scottish Reformation took effect in the Parliament of Scotland in August 1560.[6]
Personnel
William Kirkcaldy of Grange and John Knox gave a list of members of the Congregation who expelled the troops of Mary of Guise from Perth in June 1559 and moved on Edinburgh, including:
- Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll
- Regent Moray
- Andrew Leslie, 5th Earl of Rothes
- John Graham, 4th Earl of Menteith
- Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven
- James Ogilvy, 5th Lord Ogilvy of Airlie
- David, 2nd Lord Drummond
- Patrick Lindsay, Master of Lindsay
- William Douglas, Laird of Lochleven
- John Wishart, Laird of Pitarro
- William Murray, Laird of Tullibardine
- Colin Campbell, Laird of Glenorchy.
These were joined in Edinburgh in July 1559 by:
Knox and Kirkcaldy gave the names of another six lords who had not yet declared their alliance in July 1559; William Keith, 4th
A list of the council for policy of the Lords of October 1559 includes; the former Regent Arran; his son the 3rd Earl of Arran; the Earl of Argyll; the Prior of St Andrews; the Earl of Glencairn; Lord Ruthven; Robert, 4th Lord Boyd; Lord Maxwell; Erskine of Dun; Wishart of Pitarrow;
The congregation received guidance in religious matters from:
- Alexander Gordon, Bishop of Galloway
- John Knox
- Master Christopher Goodman of England
- John Willock.[8]
Manifesto and rhetoric
Several letters and bonds signed by the Lords set out and justify their aims. A letter sent to enlist the help of George Hay, Earl of Erroll, Hereditary Constable of Scotland, written 24 January 1560 focused on their secular goal to expel the French garrisons and justifies their request for English military support. The letter fell into French hands and would have been used against them;
We wrote ... how we were handled and suppressed by strangers and already invaded by fire and sword for the debating of the true ministry of God's word and liberty of this realm, which as we may see is now taken effect in the most cruel and ungodly manner by the fortifying of the principal port of this realm (Leith) and the intended fortification of St Andrews
And they have in their progress used such cruelty on those that gave them most credit and were assured by them that all others may take example, And yet they intend no less than to bring us, if God will permit them, to most wild slavery and bondage and to make plain conquest under a coloured authority to the utter extermination of us and our posterity
And because we saw them continue in their unjust persecution and our force is so small to resist their tyranny we thought good to seek support of our neighbours of England, which they have granted to us as may now be manifestly seen by the army already come by sea, and by the land host that will march on the day appointed.[9]
This letter was signed by James Hamilton the former Regent, Argyll, Glencairn, Rothes, Ruthven, Menteith and Boyd.
References
- ^ T. C. Smout, A History of the Scottish People, 1560–1830 (Collins, 1969), p. 53.
- ^ Tom Steel, Scotland's Story (HarperCollins 1984), p. 79.
- ^ David Laing, Works of John Knox: History of the Reformation, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1846), pp. 228–229.
- ^ Pamela Ritchie, Mary of Guise in Scotland, 1548–1560: A Political Career (East Linton, Tuckwell Press, 2002): Eric Durot, « Le Crépuscule de l'Auld Alliance. La légitimité du pouvoir en question entre France, Angleterre et Écosse (1558–1561) », Histoire, Économie & Société, 2007, pp. 3–46: Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, History of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1814), pp. 536–545.
- ^ Michaud & Poujalat (ed.), Michaud, Joseph Fr (1839). Nouvelle Collection pour servir a l'histoire de France., vol. 6 (1839), 451–453, Blois, November 1559.
- ^ Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1814), pp. 525–535.
- ^ Joseph Bain, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 219–220.
- ^ Clifford, Arthur ed., Sadler State Papers, vol. 1 (Constable: Edinburgh, 1809), p. 210, Randall to Ralph Sadler and James Croft, 22 October 1559
- ^ Gladys Dickinson, 'Report by De La Brosse and D'Oysel', Miscellany of The Scottish History Society, 9 (SHS, 1958), p. 96 here modernised: the French copyists in 1560 took care to preserve the original spelling.