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THE
COUNTER REFORMATION
IN SCOTUND
BV
J. H. POLLEN, S.J.
L
GIFT or
JANE K.-SATHER
Digitized by the Internet Archive
. in 2008 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/counterreformatiOOpollrich
THE COUNTER-REFORMATION
IN SCOTLAND
The
Counter- Reformation
in Scotland
With Special Reference to the Revival of 1 585 to 1 595
A paper T^ead before the Catholic Students' Guild
of the University of Glasgow, 21st February,
1 920. Rewritten and Enlarged
By
JOHN HUNGERFORD POLLEN,
ti
Editor of Pa/>a/ Negotiations with Queen Mary
LONDON
SANDS & CO.
15, King Street, Covent Garden
AND Edinburgh
1 92 1
^
w
flibil ©betat
Georgius Canonicus Mullan
Censor Deputatus
Jmprimatur
^ Henricus G. Graham
Juxil: Sti: Md: et Edinburgh
4760S0
CONTENTS
I. Introductory Ideas i
The Want of a Counter-Reformation History for
Scotland, 1-5. Sources, 6-8.
II. The Commencement, 1533- 1560 ... 9
Scotland's long Resistance to the Reformation,
Followed by the complete fall of the Old
Church, 8-1 1. Inaccessibility of the Country,
11-12. Scotland the Pivot, 12. The French
in Scotland, 13. Fall of the Old Church, 14.
III. iMARY Stuart, i 561- 1587 15
Without Missionary Proclivities, her Policy was
most Helpful, 15-16. Scotland still the Pivot,
17. Estimates by de Gouda, 18-21. By Hay,
22-26. Her Achievement for Catholicism at
Holyrood, 27-30.
IV. The Advent of the Counter-Reformation^
1 580- 1 584 31
Coming of Watts and Holt, 32. King James
favours Catholics, 32. Influence of Lennox,
33. Holt and Mendoza, 34-35. Crichton and
Lennox make plans, 35-36, which fail entirely,
37-40. Holt's dangers and successes, and call
for Missionaries, 40-42. James and his Catholic
Favourites, 42-47.
viii. CONTENTS
V. The Counter-Reformation in Scotland,
1584-1589 48
Mission of Gordon and Crichlon, 49. Crichton in
the Tower, 50. David Graham, Laird of
Fintray, 51. Gordon at work in Scotland,
51-52. Disputes with Geo. Hay, 53, 57, 58.
Mission of Edmund Hay and John Dury,
53, 54. Raid of Stirling, 55. Numerous
Converts, 59. Abp. Beaton's letter, 60. Mis-
sion of R. Abercromby and W. Ogilvy, of W.
Murdoch and G. Dury, 62. Noble Converts,
63-64.
VI. The Term ob' the Revival, i 589-1597 . . 65
Change of James's policy, 65. Master of Gray, 66.
Lord Maxwell, prisoner, 68. Huntly's want of
principle, 69-70. Glenlivet and the Flight of
Catholics, 71. Catholic Earls leave Scotland,
72. They submit to the Kirk, 73.
VI L The Sequel, 1597- 1653 75
Humbler aims, 75. Restoration of bishops, 76.
Scottish Colleges, tj. Catholics houses sur-
vive through brave ladies, 77. Stuart policy
liable to changes, 78.
The Counter-Reformation in
Scotland
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY IDEAS
While Scotland is noted in history for her
romantic struggles, her noble love of liberty
and independence, the history of the catholic
Scots in particular reflects in full the grand
characteristics of the national heroism. No
clan, nor family, no kirk, nor religious confes-
sion, no region, county, or town, has striven
for freedom with greater perseverance, or a
more indomitable endurance than they.
Nor have historians been wanting to their
cause. James F. Gordon, Walsh, Bellesheim,
Forbes-Leith, Barrett and Kinloch — to men-
tion only such moderns as are constantly in
'^ -i SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
■' '' '(to* haads^^are names honourably familiar ;
and there are many more still, not of our
faith, whose fairness and generosity are
universally praised. Would that we had more
of them ! Would that we had more assistance
in the series of excellent texts now being
brought out with government assistance.
But as yet we have no history specially
devoted to the Scottish Counter-Reformation.
Whether ancient or modern, whether catholic
or protestant, all our writers on this period
treat miscellaneously and chronicle-wise of all
occurrences with equal care, as of so many by-
gone events. None dwell in particular on this
one line of action and re-action, subordinating
or passing over, if need be, all that is off that
line. On the contrary our writers are all, one
may say, too narrowly Scottish in this respect.
They pass over many foreign events and
persons, the Council of Trent for instance,
and the reigns of certain popes, because they
do not advert to the influence which those
events and persons exerted on the Scottish
Counter-Reformation .
Yet soberly considered the history of that
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 8
movement is of conspicuous importance both
for catholic and for protestant. It is im-
possible to write a history of the nation fairly,
and yet to neglect a party, which was once in
a great majority, and has never been extin-
guished. It is impossible to appreciate the
true character of a movement like the Refor-
mation, if all accounts are omitted of the
counter-movements by which the course of the
reformation was conditioned, counter-poised
or off -set. Again, as it is impossible to under-
stand Scotland's Reformation, without know-
ledge of the Reform in Germany, England and
France, so it is impossible to grasp the
meaning or direction of her Counter-Reforma-
tion without information about popes and
catholic powers, in France, Spain and else-
where.
Moreover, by commencing with a look
abroad we shall more easily obtain some
certainty as to the beginning and the end of
the movement, as to the objects it had in view,
and as to its methods. Whereas if one follows
a narrowly national line, these points are very
likely indeed to be obscured, partly because of
4 SCOTTISH COUNTER.REFORMATION
the relative smallness of the Scottish scale,
partly because of the conflicting testimonies
which are characteristic of those controversial
days.
The European Counter-Reformation then
may be considered as a movement which con-
tinued and carried forward into catholic
channels the vigorous driving forces germin-
ated by the renaissance. Many of these
forces were indeed absorbed by the wars of
that combative age, or by the protestant
Reformation. But much of the energy re-
mained among the catholics, and so far as it
entered the spiritual life, it gave birth to
the Counter-Reformation. Its first begin-
nings may be traced to Italy and Spain more
or less simultaneous with Luther's rebellion.
As a world-power it came into view at the
close of the Council of Trent in 1563, and it
continued to flourish greatly during the reigns
of the next three popes, all of whom were
notable reformers, viz. St. Pius V, 1565-72,
Gregory XIII, 1572-1585, and Sixtus V,
1585-1590. During this time there was great
activity in education, especially among the
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 5
clergy, which was now not only begun at a
younger age, but was also more systematic,
disciplined and religious. There was also a
notable increase of missionary zeal, which had
led quite early to the wonderful successes of
St. Francis Xavier in the far East, and to
remarkable religious progress both in Europe
and in America. Finally there was also much
literary activity.
It must be our task to see whether and to
what extent this wide movement influenced
Scotland ; or rather, as the time at our disposal
is very short, we had better confine ourselves
to some brief and characteristic part of that
counter-movement. I propose therefore to
reduce all preliminaries, and all consequences
to such bare statements as cannot be dispensed
with, and to make use of the historical method,
that is to cite historical evidence, only in
regard to the short period of catholic revival in
Scotland between 1585 and 1589, when as is
universally acknowledged the reaction reached
its greatest height, and also, alas ! received a
fateful blow. Another advantage of this
restriction will be that we shall thereby avail
e SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
ourselves of some of the most interesting
sources available for the history of Scottish
catholics.
As to these sources, one can tell instinc-
tively that they are not likely to be found
among the state-papers at a time when the
state was hotly occupied in persecuting and
maligning the luckless papists. When anti-
catholic fanaticism burnt fiercely in kirk,
parliament and law-court, their records are
not likely to give a veridical description of
catholic aims, spirit and teaching. The ex-
cellent Scottish Calendars therefore, and other
materials of the same character will help of
course for dates, and colourless details, but for
the true, the inner history of the Counter-
Reformation they must consrtantly be read in
a sense contrary to the sound of their words.
Catholic records could not be preserved in
Scotland between 1558 and 1758, and during
that time we must look abroad for information
concerning catholic Scots. Thus in a sense
one may say that the Vatican Archives, the
Castle of Simancas, or the Archives des
Affaires Etrangeres at Paris are more truly
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 7
the national catholic archives of Scotland than
those of Edinburgh or London. In the
seventeenth century, when Scottish seminaries
for catholic Scots had been firmly established
abroad the preservation of national catholic
records by Scotsmen began again, and some of
these records were carried back by the clergy
to Scotland, when the flames of the French
Revolution made them forsake their refuges
on the continent. Immense losses, alas,
accompanied this transfer; but the residue is
now safe at Blairs College, Aberdeen.
The government collection of transcripts
from the Vatican is now open to students in
the London Record Office ; and government
Calendars are doing good work for the
Spanish and Roman papers, though for those
who seek finality, the original collections must
still be visited. The French government are
bringing out new catalogues of their papers,
which should be of great advantage, but the
French Revolution has worked dire destruc-
tion on the papers of the previous regime.
Of private archives those at Blairs have been
already mentioned, and a report upon them
8 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
will be found in the Historical MSS, Commis-
sion, Those of the Jesuits are more ample
still, and extend to a remoter past. But the
revolutions of the last century have scattered
them far and wide ; they are not easy of access.
On the other hand many useful publications
have now been made from them, and a series of
pieces, of especial value for Scotland, will be
found in Father W. Forbes-Leith's Narratives
of Scottish Catholics, Edinburgh, 1885.
There are other original Scottish letters at
Stony hurst College, and I have described
many sources of this class in my Papal Negoti-
ations with Queen Mary, Edinburgh, 1901.
CHAPTER II
THE COMMENCEMENT
1533-1560
Though Scotland owed her Reformation
primarily to England, and yet received it
secundum modum recipientis (as the school-
men would have said) that is in the Scottish,
not in the English manner, her preliminary
resistance was strong and prolonged. It lasted
for more than a quarter of a century, and was
marked by many a gallant and ' victorious
fight, though also, alas ! by some sad defeats.
The reason why her Church eventually fell so
suddenly and so completely was unquestion-
ably the irregular state of her higher clergy,
both secular and regular. The crown and the
temporal lords had succeeded in obtaining a
10 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
far greater influence over the appoint-
ments to benefices than was right, and they
had gravely abused their opportunity. They
had introduced their own friends and ad-
herents, and even their illegitimate children,
to the best and most influential posts, with
scandalous frequency and to the great
weakening of the Church. Nevertheless there
were always plenty of good bishops and some
of great capacity and merit, men like David
Beaton, William Elphinstone and Robert
Reid. Without the Hberal and vigorous
support of English gold and English arms, the
enemies of the old Church would not have
triumphed.
When, however, the fall did come, there
were, alas ! , few countries where the regular
clergy disappeared so quickly, few episcopates
which made such weak resistance. At the last
moment indeed an excellent catechism had
been issued by Archbishop Hamilton, and wise
resolutions were framed by the last Synods of
Edinburgh. These were worthy measures of
counter-reform, but they should have been
taken much earlier, the education of the poorer
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 11
class should have been improved, the printing
press should have been established. As it was
the strong measures which were taken occa,-
sionally, of burning some heretical teacher, or
some loads of heretical books imported from
England, produced violent reactions, which
could not be dealt with by the out-of-date,
primitive machinery then at hand.
Learned men might have been called in
from abroad. There had been Jesuits
(Fathers Broet and Salmeron) in Scotland as
far back as 15.42. They were on their way to
Ireland, having been sent by Pope Paul III, to
preach a revival, as we might say. But on
arriving there they found by experience that
Henry's fury was such as to make their plans
quite impracticable, as they had already been
told in Scotland. So they returned, though
with difficulty. It took nearly three years
from the time the invitation was sent from
Ireland, for the Fathers to go and return on
foot. How extraordinary the length of time
which it took for countries like Ireland and
Scotland to communicate with Rome, when
the Tudors blocked all the direct roads, and
12 SCOTTISH COUNTER.REFORMATION
preyed freely with their sea-rovers on all
shipping within reach! This circumstance
must be kept in mind throughout all that
follows. In thinking of the missionaries of
those days it is necessary to remember that so
far as time and difficulty in travelling were
concerned, they were far more distant from
their head-quarters at Rome than we are now
from Japan or Australia.
From the mission of Fathers Broet and
Salmeron we see one yet more important
point. It was early realised that Scotland was
as it were the pivot on which, humanly speak-
ing, the fortunes of the Counter-Reformation
must turn throughout these islands. For to
the outward eye, Ireland seemed at first to
have fallen away from the unity of the Church
as completely as England had done. Never-
theless so little headway had the Counter-Re-
formation made in Rome before the con-
clusion of the Council of Trent, that no
further harbingers of that reformation were
sent to Scotland at the time when they might
have effected most.
As the protestants depended at first entirely
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 18
on English aid, so it was natural that the de-
fenders of hereditary Scottish liberty should
call in the French to keep the balance against
their hereditary foe. To use a very modern
idiom, a coalition government between French
and Scots was organised, which maintained
Scotland's independence for a quarter of a
century. Nevertheless English gold and
English influence kept winning more and more
among the factious and avaricious nobles,
while the reformers were also aided by their
English co-religionists. Indeed even the
persecutions of Mary Tudor helped the
reformers in Scotland by driving sympathisers
from England into their arms. Mary of
Guise's excessive zeal for France led her
unwisely to draw Scotland into an unwilling
war with England, just as Mary Tudor of
England, in her extreme love for Phihp of
Spain, had drawn her country into war with
France, when that country declared against
Spain. In this war Scotland won no credit,
and her coalition government went down
greatly in popularity. Then the Lords of the
Congregation rose in arms and the EngUsh
14 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
sent a strong army and navy to back them up.
The coaUtion government failed, Mary of
Guise died, the French, after a most gallant
and honourable struggle, were forced to retire.
The treaty of Edinburgh (6 July, 1560) in
effect established protestantism in Scotland.
The fall of the ancient Church seemed
complete and final throughout the towns and
populous districts. There was a scramble for
Church property and it was soon squandered.
The bishops retired into private life, only the
Archbishop of Glasgow succeeded in escaping
to France. Though the country itself had not
as yet abandoned its old allegiance, practically
all the leading men of the ancient Faith had
fallen off, and no cathohc representatives
asserted themselves in the parliament which
was at once summoned to confirm the change
of religion.
CHAPTER III
MARY STUART
1561-1587
In the midst of this turmoil, who should arrive
from France but Queen Mary Stuart, on the
19th of August, 1561, before she had reached
her nineteenth year. Young, handsome and
unaided ; trained in polite culture, open and
affable to all, the impression which she made
was immediate and most favourable, except
upon the zealots for the new religion and on
their English patrons, whose hostility never
abated. She had come from a court which
was on the one hand sincerely catholic, but on
the other politique in the bad sense, and to a
discreditable degree. It was the ally of
German heretics, and sometimes even of
Turkish invaders, and did not scruple to use
Huguenot ministers and troops, even in
16 SCOTTISH COUNTER.REFORMATION
France. The Counter-Reformation had little
hold there, and Mary Stuart was so far
probably unacquainted with it; at all events
she discovered no missionary proclivities at all,
and took the presence of protestants about
her quite as a matter of course. Her power
lay in her gracious, womanly nature, receptive
indeed and responsive, but also intelligent,
cultured, quick, pure, and generous. She had
the royal gift of appealing instinctively to the
loyalty of her subjects, and hardly ever in vain.
Her queenly statecraft lay in using and
trusting the best men she could find, irrespec-
tive of their creed. In spite of Elizabeth and
of Knox, she was warmly welcomed, and her
proclamation, pledging herself not to disturb
religion as she had found it, was accepted as
satisfactory by both sides.
While she frequently, and (as the sequel
showed) truly, declared herself ready rather to
die than to forsake the Catholic Faith ; the
above pledge, which was also faithfully
observed by her, shows that she did not con-
sider herself a missionary. She was neither a
cleric nor a preacher, but a catholic poUtician.
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 17
Pacification was the object for which she
worked, and even from the point of view of a
cathoHc missionary peace was a matter of
prime necessity.
Even after her fall and imprisonment, when
her power was so much restricted, her policy
endured. It was only near the close of her life
that she even in passing asked for priests to be
sent to Scotland ; a matter well within the
terms of her pledges.
The result of this policy was that, though
she was not understood to be a protagonist of
the Counter-Reformation (except of course by
the extremists) she did succeed in maintaining
for Scotland that position towards catholicity
which the kingdom had occupied before, as we
have heard. Scotland was still the pivot,
round which the fortunes of Catholicism in
these islands revolved. If freedom or even
toleration could have been won there, it would
have followed not only in England, but in Ire-
land and in Wales. To the outward eye Scot-
tish Catholicism seemed hopelessly destroyed,
and in effect it never rose again. But in reality
it was still far from dead, and to hopeful souls
B
18 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
it might yet seem that all could still be re-
stored. The whole of Christendom then
appeared to be in uncertainty. No catholic
country seemed quite safe; but at the same
time no protestant country seemed finally
wedded to protestantism.
I may here illustrate these phases of Mary
Stuart's religious position from two accounts
written by representatives of the Counter-
Reformation, both Jesuits sent by the Pope to
visit her. The first of these, Father Nicholas de
Gouda, Dutch by birth, was sent by Pope Pius
IV, in 1562, to ask her to send an envoy and
the bishops of her realm to the Council of
Trent. His report, which is of value to all
students of the period, has been printed
several times. He had his interview on the
24th of July, 1562, but the need for semi-
secrecy was so great that the meeting had to
be timed for the protestant sermon-hour, when
the frenzied enthusiasts would be occupied
with their service. Mary received the papal
message with the utmost respect, and renewed
her resolution, rather to die than to forsake
her faith. But for the moment her answer was
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 19
to point out her inability to execute the pope's
wishes, or any of the good suggestions made by
the envoy. De Gouda was deeply impressed
by her goodness and def encelessness ; but he
also perceived her real danger.
In truth she was not so powerless as she
seemed to be, for she had extraordinary gifts
of courage and diplomatic skill, which might
have enabled her to out-ride the worst storms.
The really weak point was instability arising
from her position, her advisers and her sex.
Every man at her court was either an
apostate from her religion, or at best a time-
server to such apostates. She reigned, but the
protestant party ruled, with English arms and
money behind them. They obsessed all
avenues of information, they held all the
means of communication, all outlets of
administration. As queen she was bound by
her position to trust them. What security
under such circumstances could be based on a
girl of twenty, with her marriage problems
before her; mobile, affectionate, impression-
able, and, as a Stuart, with the family weak-
ness towards favouritism .f* De Gouda 's very
20 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
reasonable conclusion was, ** There is no mis-
taking the imminent peril of this good lady's
position."
But if Mary in spite of the above mis-
fortunes was still the pivot on which the
fortunes of Catholicism depended, it will be
easy to imagine how gloomy the prospect was
in other directions. Though de Gouda did not
despair of the eventual resurrection of the
Church, nor of the introduction of the full
Counter-Reformation programme, a catholic
king, good catholic bishops, councillors and
colleges, and a Spanish alliance, his report on
the bishops, to whom he had been specially
sent, was very hopeless. So far from going to
Trent, not one of them would at first answer
his letters, or give him an interview. Henry
Sinclair, Bishop of Ross, now become a judge
in the temporal courts, was positively vexed
at being asked. Eventually one bishop saw
him in disguise, and three sent answers, but all
declined the pope's invitation. No index can
better point to the weak spot in the old
Scottish Church, than this faint-hearted
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 21
answer of the episcopate to the summons to
Trent.
The rest of de Gouda's picture is dark in
every detail. Let one suffice. *' One day,
close to the place where I was then lodged,
three priests publicly abjured the catholic
faith. At another time while I was there,
one of the superintendents, a leading man
amongst them, a doctor of theology and a
monk, then about seventy years of age, was
openly married. This was done to enforce by
example, as he had often done by word, their
doctrine of the unlawfulness of the vow of
chastity, which they are perpetually trum-
peting from the pulpit. They also use
wonderful cunning in their attempts to lead
the poor people astray."
On the 3rd of October, 1562, de Gouda
managed, though with difficulty, to leave
Scotland, and with him went six young Scots,
destined to be the future leaders of the
Counter-Reformation in Scotland. The first
of these was Edmund Hay, of the Megginch
family, afterwards Earls of Kinnoul. He
22 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
and his cousin William Crichton, had been de
Gouda's guides and assistants throughout, and
they had now gathered kindred spirits, James
Gordon, fifth son of the fourth Earl of
Gordon, James Tyrie, Robert Abercromby,
and William Murdoch. They were soon fol-
lowed by others, until about a score of young
men had become members of the Society of
Jesus, and their young blood, courage and
religious earnestness gave in time a new
character to the old contest.
Edmund Hay was the first to complete his
sacerdotal training and to return. He had
already taken his Bachelorship in Arts, and
after four years in the Roman college he
returned, a priest, first to Innsbruck, then to
Paris, where his influence at once began to
be felt. A new pope was now on the throne,
Saint Pius V, a great man and a great saint ;
yet not so good a diplomatist as his predeces-
sor, Pius IV. Intensely thorough, he was
ready to help Mary in every way he could,
even by money, if she would rid herself of
those protestant lords in her council who had
so frequently been disloyal to her. The
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 28
envoy sent to treat with her of this matter,
late in 1566, was WilHam Chisholm II, who,
having fled to France, had lately been made
Bishop of Dunblane ; and Edmund Hay was
his companion.
Meantime much had happened in the four
years since Hay*s departure. The develop-
ments, which de Gouda had foreseen were far
advanced, and would soon reach their climax.
Mary had with victorious energy chosen and
wedded a young catholic of the blood royal,
Henry Stuart Lord Darnley. The protes-
tants had rebelled, but she had driven them
out of the country. She had shown how
unexpectedly strong she was, but the insta-
bility of her position was soon to become
even more evident.
The result of a new secret confederacy
among the protestant nobles was, that her
faithful servant Rizzio was suddenly torn
from her side in the midst of her palace of
Holy rood, and dirked by her nobles at her
very door, while she was kept in restraint. Full
of courage and initiative, she soon escaped
from their hands, turned victoriously on the
24 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
rebel lords, and swept them once more from
the country.
But these violent oscillations were her ruin.
Lean upon some one she must ; and having
none about her who could advise her accord-
ing to her conscience, her affectionate im-
pulses went out more and more towards
protestants of vigour, who were the reverse
of trustworthy. This was, of course, the
exact opposite to the policy which Pope Pius
V wished her to espouse, which Chisholm
and Hay had come to urge.
They had to await their interview until
the baby James had been baptised, for Mary
was too preoccupied about this to attend to
anything else. The baptism was performed
on the 17th of December, 1566, with all
catholic rites and ceremonies, and (happy
omen, as it seemed ! ) EHzabeth too had sent
her representative to honour the occasion. It
was the greatest and most significant catholic
celebration of Mary's reign, the presage, she
would fondly hope, of a felicitous issue to her
conciliatory policy.
After this, on the I4th of January, 1567,
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 25
she had her interview with the papal mes-
sengers, and it would be deeply interesting to
know how they discharged their commission
and what the queen answered. But all that
we learn is that she refused the pope's terms.
That she was, broadly speaking, right in this,
seems fairly clear. In her weak state his
uncompromising proposals were impracticable,
whatever their theoretical merits under more
usual circumstances. No doubt there was a
mean somewhere between the strong measures
recommended by Rome, and the weak,
unwise favouritism which was eventually
Mary's undoing. Yet to hit that mean at a
moment's notice was more than either Mary
or the two envoys could achieve.
Having accomplished their mission they
prepared to leave — when Edinburgh was
shaken by a sudden explosion. Darnley had
been assassinated, and ugly rumours soon
began to be circulated by Mary's religious
opponents, as to her precognizance of the
crime. The envoys heard these stories as
everyone else did, and they would have
considered the evidence on the spot and from
26 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
both sides. The bishop's eventual judgment
we do not know, nor the exact words of
Father Hay ; but on the whole he was
adverse. Though this is very far indeed from
confirming all that Buchanan has written
against the queen, its force cannot be gainsaid.
He seems to have thought that the calamitous
conclusion of Mary's reign, the collapse of all
her attempts at reform, were preceded by
some serious transgression of hers at this
point. Father Roche Mamerot, her chaplain,
also gave an adverse verdict, but he expressly
restricted it to her marriage with Bothwell
(Papal Negotiations, p. 520).
Hardly had Hay returned to France than
the catastrophe ensued. Mary was deposed,
and condemned to imprisonment, which lasted
till her death, except for one moment at
Langside. All the advantages she had pre-
served or contrived for the ancient faith were
lost, while the reformed kirk became stronger
than ever, receiving in the following December
a new and firmer legal establishment. The
advantages which Mary had afforded to the
Scottish catholics were on the one hand
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 27
neither striking nor numerous, but on the
other distinctly effective. Her greatest bene-
faction was her royal good example, the force
of which every one felt and noted, which
animated many to greater courage and in-
dependence. She insisted on freedom of
worship in her own chapel of Holyrood and
this led to some striking results.
On the last Easter of her reign, 1567, the
communicants at Holyrood had numbered no
less than 12,606. Father Roche Mamerot,
O.P., Mary's chaplain (from whom we learn
this, after his enforced flight in July) had had
their names registered, an indication that he
then hoped for some security in his work of
restoration. For the previous year, 1566, we
have a letter of Father Edmund Hay, who
says that the number was 9,000, '' with many
more in other parts of the kingdom." Thus
there is quite convincing evidence that the
fortunes of Catholicism were progressively
improving during Mary's reign, though her
actual assistance was, not only within the
letter of the new laws, but in its manner also
peaceful and reassuring. Possibly she did
28 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
little more than protect here and there some
priest or catholic from injury or death. She
built no school, no chapel, she gave no letters
of protection to missionaries, she patronised
no disputations. Probably she was even
sometimes carried by her fanatical ministers,
whose informations and measures she had no
means of controlling, into unjust acts, injurious
to her co-reHgionists. The overwhelming and
destruction of the Earl of Huntly, and of his
feudal power seems to be a case in point.
For despite his foibles he was the leader of
the Scottish catholics, and the queen openly
consented to his being crushed.
Still, all things considered, her policy was in
general excellent. She fostered peace and
patience, which were what Scotland most of
all needed, to curb the fury of the religious
zealots, and the quarrelsomeness of the nobles.
It would be hard to say which of these two
vices was the most injurious at this crisis.
But though her pohcy was excellent in this one
respect, yet it cannot be described as a policy
of religious revival. Such a revival might
have grown up under it, and we see that it
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 29
actually began, though Mary did not actively
encourage it.
Even after her dov^nfall, her influence
continued, and when imprisoned in England
(1568 to 1587) her power rather increased.
The Conferences at York, though meant to
defame her character, were in practice regarded
as a public absolution from the guilt of any
demonstrable crime. The longer, the more
strictly she was imprisoned, the more clear it
seemed that her suffering was due to her
firmness in religion. Very little laxity of
principle would have won for her freedom and
power. Her years of constancy awoke the
veneration, and enkindled the courage of
catholics in England no less than in Scotland.
Her position grew ever stronger, until
Walsingham by his agents succeeded in
entangling her in the Babington Plot, and so
managed to take her life. Her magnificent
courage, contrasted with the fanaticism of her
opponents, convinced thousands that she had
died the death of a martyr.
Thus her death cut two ways. On the one
hand it encouraged her co-religionists to
80 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
constancy, and it strongly excited all loyal
Scots to seek revenge on the vile and un-
worthy machinations of the English court.
But on the other hand the only royal upholder
of Catholicism was gone. In those days of
exaggerated loyalty, which verged upon
king-worship, such a loss was most grave.
After her execution there was a really strong
rally in her favour, swords were drawn,
English government troops were attacked.
But this fervour was not lasting ; no one took
Mary's place, the fortunes of Catholicism
declined more and more.
CHAPTER IV
THE ADVENT OF THE COUNTER-REFORMATION
1580—1584
As the Reformation in Scotland owed more
to the EngUsh Reformation than to any
other influence, and yet developed after its
own manner : so also in this section we see
a close co-operation between the Counter-
Reformation in England and that in Scotland,
leading to a purely Scotch development.
In England the Counter-Reformation
proper began with the return of the
Seminary-priests in 1574, and reached
maturity in 1580,-1581, with the preaching of
two well-known Jesuit missionaries, Father
Campion, who was ere long martyred, and
Father Persons. The latter as head of the
mission was naturally anxious to find out new
82 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
mission-fields, and also any possible shelter to
which his men might retire during the
barbarous persecution raised against them.
So he sent first Mr. William Watts, a secular
priest, and soon after Father WilKam Holt,
S.J., to inspect and report. Arriving at
Seton (as it seems) they soon found friends,
and scope for missionary activity. Moreover,
the political outlook suddenly grew extra-
ordinarily bright.
At the end of the year 1581, James was
still only fifteen years of age. Though brought
up in severe presbyterianism, his first instinct
when he became his own master was to recede
from its gloomy traditions, and to tend to-
wards the creed of his imprisoned mother.
Though James never became a catholic, he
was distinctly on the Romeward movement
during the years 1579 to 1584. He confided
in catholic favourites, he entertained an un-
feigned admiration for his cousin, the Duke of
Guise, the champion of French Catholicism
and bugbear of British protestants. He even
wrote in friendly terms to the pope. This
genuinely pro-Roman position of the king is
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 88
a principal cause of the catholic move-
ments we have to study in this section from
1580 to 1584. Its influence can be traced for
ten years later still.
The young king began by raising to power
Esme Stuart, a cousin educated in France,
who was now made Duke of Lennox. More
striking still, the king had James Douglas,
Earl of Morton, the former regent and a
champion of protestantism, condemned and
executed, on the 2nd of June, 1581, for conni-
vance at the murder of Darnley. This blow
at the ascendancy of protestantism at once
made its predominance uncertain, and all eyes
were turned towards the new Duke of
Lennox. Brought up as a catholic, he was no
doubt desirous of reinstating the ancient faith ;
but he had at first weakly yielded to the kirk,
and in effect he never really recovered from
this apostasy. For the present, however, he
had opportunities, more favourable than would
ever occur again, for receiving foreign aid to
throw off the presbyterian yoke, as James
had given him the control of Dumbarton, and
other important fortresses,
c
84 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
As it was of the greatest importance that
Father Persons should be correctly informed
about the tendencies of these significant
transactions, and as letters were most insecure,
Father Holt made the toilsome and dangerous
journey to London, perhaps on foot. On
arriving at the place from which he had
started, he found that Father Persons had
meanwhile retired abroad, and that his present
host was none other than Don Bernardino de
Mendoza, the Spanish Ambassador.
According to too many protestant writers
Mendoza was a political mischief-maker,
though in reality (while always of course
earnest in his country's interests) more
conservative and high-principled than the
politicians of either England or Scotland,
though this is not the same thing as saying
that his tendencies always represented the high-
est inspirations of the Counter-Reformation.
On this occasion his advice seems to have
been both religious and moderate. His letters
preserve various little details about religion, as
for instance that Holt could only hear of six
priests then at work in Scotland, also that he
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 85
had administered communion to no less than
a hundred persons at Christmas. While it
was an untoward circumstance that the
persecution prevented Holt from meeting a
religious or ecclesiastical adviser, Mendoza,
not only sent on Holt's reports, but gave him
such cautious, good advice as he could, and
then speeded him back to Scotland. When
however the missionary again reached Seton,
he found that the whole situation had once
more advanced with unexpected rapidity.
In the first place a Scottish Jesuit had
arrived there from Rome. This was Father
William Crichton, of whom we have already
heard in connection with de Gouda. Since
then he had come to the fore as an able
superior of several colleges, and even as
Provincial of Southern France. He had
received his mission orders from the pope
himself, who had warmly encouraged him.
Then coming North he had conversed with
other ardent spirits, indeed he had passed the
years of early manhood in proximity to the
Wars of Religion, and was much influenced
by the enthusiasms then in vogue.
86 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
While what I have said affords abundant
testimony to Crichton's warm generosity and
energy, I have unfortunately to qualify this
praise with a caution as to his prudence.
Perfervidum Scotorum genus, said Buchanan
about the Scots of his day. Though coolness
is nowadays a national asset, when a Scot
does grow warm, is he not still inclined to
take fire ? At all events Crichton was prone
to do so, when the interests of his king or
country were in question ; and when he met
the Duke of Lennox his enthusiasm passed
all bounds.
Finding the duke burning with indignation
against the Congregation and the English
party, Crichton added flames to the fire by
describing the pope's good will, the zeal of
the Duke of Guise, and of the catholics on
the continent. Lennox at once drew up a
scheme for raising an army against the domin-
ant faction, if sufficient foreign aid were forth-
coming, and he pledged himself for the con-
version of the boy-king, and for the re-estab-
lishment of Catholicism in Scotland. At this
moment Holt arrived, and, though he was
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 87
much less enthusiastic than Crichton, he too
contributed to the ardour of Lennox by
showing how his plans coincided with the
wishes and intentions of Spain (7th March,
1582.)
Having obtained Lennox's plans, Crichton,
alas, gave up the spiritual mission on which
he had come, returned to Paris, where he
found himself supported by the papal
nuncio, the Archbishop of Glasgow, and Dr.
Allen (20th May, 1582), and so he passed on
to Rome. Here he laid the plans before
Pope Gregory, who being, as we have said, of
a sanguine temperament took up the idea
with crusading fervour the first moment he
heard of it (28th May), and entirely approved
of Crichton's whole transaction (11th June).
He recognized, however, that the enterprise
was altogether beyond his strength.
Before any effective agreement could be
made, or resolution taken, the home situation
again changed completely. The boy-king
was seized by the protestant lords at Ruthven
Castle (23rd August, 1582) ; Lennox could
only save himself by leaving the country, and
88 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
soon after died ; so the whole plan fell to the
ground before anything was settled, before
the public learnt a word about it. It is only
recent archive discoveries which have brought
the details of the story to light. For the
moment all that survived of the project was
the idea of associating Mary with James on
the throne of Scotland.
What are we to think about the design?
The warm approval of the pope — and of the
Catholic leaders in Paris is important for
this reason, that it shows what catholic
opinion was in catholic countries. It shows
that, however wrong theoretically Crichton
may have been in his acts, in his keenness to
serve the catholic interests of his king and of
his queen, and for his general view of the
circumstances, he was excusable from the
blame which should normally be his.
But according to our more complete and
after-the-event knowledge, the final verdict
must be adverse. It was a mete dream to
think that forces could be gathered in France,
Italy and Spain and converged upon Scotland,
and this with sufficient secrecy to avoid
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 89
exciting to fury the very suspicious protes-
tants in England, Scotland, France and
Flanders. They would have assembled much
superior forces on interior lines — and exter-
minated all catholics who resisted them. The
blame for the momentary acceptance of that
dream in Paris and Rome must rest primarily
on Crichton, for it was through him, and re-
lying on his prudence, that the matter was
credited and negotiated. Philip of Spain and
Mary Stuart were, more or less, sympathetic,
but owing to their circumstances, and to the
shortness of the time, gave no consent.
Mendoza was opposed to it.
Bad dreams are not always easy to shake
off. AVhen in July, 1583, James recovered his
liberty there was again a proposal to renew
the " Enterprise," but Philip of Spain was
now clear as to its impracticability, and it
was not afterwards entertained seriously by
the Holy See or by any catholic power. But
still there were moments when the unwearying
Scots returned to the idea in 1592 and 1594,
about which we shall hear more later. Suffice
it here to repeat, what has been said before*
40 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
that fighting fever was then abnormally
strong among all parties in Scotland. Though
that fever was most detrimental to the
Counter-Reformation, we must not be as-
tonished if catholic clerics were sometimes
infatuated by a passion so widely prevalent,
which public opinion condoned or even
honoured in protestant ministers.
But we have been anticipating, and must
return to Father Holt whom we left alone or
almost alone in Scotland in March, 1582. He
appears to have been befriended by George
Lord Seton, and his fourth son Alexander,
the future Lord Dunfermline, wrote in
November of that year that Holt had afforded
them "the greatest consolation and satis-
faction," and about the same time Dr. Allen
says that Holt was " well fitted for his post,
and a distinguished missionary."
In March, 1583, he was kidnapped by agents
of the English ambassador, Bowes, who in the
usual high-handed Tudor way declared he
must send the Englishman to the English
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 41
tyrants in London. But if there was one
thing which the Scots of that day resented,
it was the infraction of the laws of hospitality
to strangers and refugees. So James inter-
fered energetically, and Holt was allowed to
escape in July.
This imprisonment no doubt brought to
Father Holt several advantages. His extant
examinations testified to his sound missionary
work, and also showed that he could keep the
secrets which religion and honour demanded.
King James granted him a letter of safe-
conduct early in 1584 He won the acquain-
tance and the respect of those whom he would
most of all wish to influence, and we soon
find him intimate with the catholicising party
at court. He wrote in March, 1584, that he
knew no less than seven of the king's most
favoured nobles to be catholics or near the
Church. They were the Earls of Huntly,
Crawford, Montrose and Morton (Lord
Maxwell), with Lords Herries, Home and
Gray, and as they were nearly all members of
the Privy Council their power was con-
siderable. In April he reported that, "the
42 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
king having quarrelled with the ministers, a
great part of the country has abandoned them,
and has begun to ask for Catholic Preacherb."
In consequence of these favourable reports,
sent by Father Holt, new efforts were made
by the Jesuits to assist the Scottish Catholics,
and we stand at the very eve of the revival,
but the circumstances are so abnormal, and
so liable to misconception, the developments
of the situation will be so unexpected that
some further features of the situation must
still be elucidated.
It would be a mistake then to think that
Scotland in 1584 showed exteriorly any
evident signs of the coming change, or that
Father Holt's ministrations had produced any
widespread impression. In appearance the
revolution in religion was still in full strength ;
open opposition did not exist ; if the anti-
catholic fanatics had many an alarm and
suspicion, one can see now that these were
empty fears, the offspring of their own
malevolence.
SCOTTISH COUNTER.REFORMATION 48
It was true, however, that the enemies of the
extremists were more numerous than before,
and the mislike of EngUsh dictation keener.
The old nationaUst ideas were reviving ; there
was more tendency towards the old French
alliance ; Mary's supporters were more united ;
the nobiHty were growing more friendly to
the catholic side. Yet all these circumstances
would not have given the Counter-Reform-
ation its opportunity, if it had not been for a
passing phase in King James's development
during his youthful days.
James was a strange mixture of strength
and weakness, his motives sometimes high,
sometimes low ; his words sometimes deceitful,
sometimes wise. The sixteenth century
allowed him, as it allowed to all rulers, almost
unrestricted power ; but his curious tempera-
ment and unready character often counteracted
his own efficiency in the most inexplicable
manner. Misguided favouritism repeatedly
led him to give the reins to absolutely worth-
less creatures. If he did not submit to them,
as he often did, with deceitful subservience,
they might capture him and treat him like a
44 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
puppet, until he was freed by some rival
faction. He much resented the power of the
kirk ; but, in order to curb the factious nobles,
he was drawn at the end of our period to give
to it more and more power. Yet all the time
in his heart he wanted to set up an episcopacy
of his own devising. In 1584 he took some
measure to restore the revenues of the Sees of
Glasgow, of Dunkeld and of Ross, still held by
catholics, but the details of this are obscure.
Though brought up in presbyterianism, he
undoubtedly seemed to be near the Church,
before the protestant Lords seized him at
Ruthven Castle, and forced him back into
contrary professions and policy. When he
regained liberty he still seemed concerned for
Catholicism and again took to catholic
favourites, of whom George V, Earl of
Huntly, was probably the most influential for
the good of the Church, while Patrick, Master
of Gray, was certainly the most powerful for
evil, though there were others not far behind
him. It will be worth while to say something
of the circumstances which developed such a
type as Gray.
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 45
Though Lord Gray, Patrick's father, as we
have heard above, ranked as a catholic, the
son attended the University of St. Andrews
in its protestant days, but afterwards passing
to France sided, and probably sincerely, with
the advanced catholics of the Duke of Guise's
party. On his return he soon won a firm
hold on James's confidence in 1583 ; but by
the middle of next year he seemed to have
become the insidious foe of the catholics
indoctrinating James with factious enmity
against Archbishop Beaton and with false
tales against the Jesuits. Later on, after
Mary had been sentenced to death, James
sent him to negotiate for her deliverance, and
he then set the crown on his treacheries by
making sure of her execution.
The Earl of Huntly was a friend of a far
higher type, yet he also (as well as too many
others of his class) had a sadly weak side. At
heart he probably never swerved far from the
dictates of the faith, but in act he was not
above tergiversation, when the pressure was
very strong. He is believed to have sub-
mitted to the kirk and foresworn his creed,
46 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
not less than four times. Alexander Seton,
future chancellor and Earl of Dunfermline,
was even worse, and he did not retrieve his
lapses so effectively. Let us have much
sympathy with these men, considering the
grievous pressure to which they were subjected.
King James, who had early accustomed himself
to be unprincipled in the matter of tests, was
later on relentless in forcing catholics to
follow his bad example. But though the
waverers might save their goods by sub-
mission, nothing could make their infidelity as
though it had not been. We shall see that
faithlessness of this sort proved the most
lamentable of all the trials and misfortunes
which the Counter-Reformation had to pass
through.
Such then was the gloomy background
against which we shall see the labours of the
new missionaries. A king not altogether bad,
but one from whom early promise of good
was fast evaporating, who was soon to
entertain no higher aim than the succession
to the English crown at any cost. The
nobles again had much to commend them,
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 47
but they had not been trained to stability in
their faith, nor established by the long and
full practice of their religion. They were
also contaminated by handling church-spoils,
and were a prey to quarrelsomeness and
perpetual feuds. Of the people the majority
still aspired to their ancient religion and its
liberties, but for nearly a generation they had
been victims of all the evils which assail a
flock without shepherds, and they were con-
fused and cowed by the fall of their former
leaders.
CHAPTER V
THE COUNTER-REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND
1584-1589
We have heard Father Holt's stirring
message in April, 1584, summoning fresh
missionaries to Scotland. By May, a similar
message had been sent on by Father Crichton,
then at Rouen. Crichton trusted much to
King James's decision in bringing Gowry to
trial, and in breaking with the ministers.
Many Scottish (exiles) he said were returning,
also a priest from the Scottish College, then
at Pont-d-Musson. He also advised that
Scottish friars should be dispensed to go
about without their religious habits, and that
the pope should allow a small pension to
maintain the poor priests. The poverty of
the Scottish catholics at this time was
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 49
extreme, and for years to come it will be a
matter of frequent comment.
The Archbishop of Glasgow wrote to the
pope with the same objects as Crichton, 25th
June, 1584, asking for four Jesuit missionaries,
Fathers Hay, Gordon, Tyrie and Crichton. And
while urging the pope to allow them some
money support, he adds that the Scotch cath-
olics were not so much in want of domestic
chaplains as of missionaries. This indicates
that a certain number of old priests must still
have been exercising their functions ; the
archbishop further says that he has just sent
in Dr. James Cheyne, a secular priest
(presumably the person whom Father Crichton
mentioned above, as connected with the
Scottish college then at Pont-a-Musson). The
archbishop concludes by assuring the pope,
"there is hope that a harvest will quickly
follow by the grace of God, to His Glory and
to the consolation of your Holiness ; a con-
summation for which we have laboured with
prayers and tears for many years."
The outcome of these letters was that
Fathers James Gordon and William Crichton
50 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
started for Scotland late in August, 1584.
But a grave misfortune overtook their party,
which had been joined by Patrick Adie,
chaplain of the Bishop of Ross. They were
detained on suspicion by the Dutch, then at
Ostend, Gordon succeeded in evading their
hands ; but Crichton and Adie were un-
warrantably handed over to Elizabeth, who,
with the usual Tudor violence, kept them for
over two years untried in the Tower, until at
last the French Ambassador, as it seems,
negotiated their release in 1.587.
Father Gordon, however, made good his
landing in Scotland about the beginning of
October, 1584. But danger soon arose. The
sailors, or some of the fanatical party inter-
preting the sailors' yarns, declared that there
had been no less than thirteen Jesuits on
board, with a large store of chalices and vest-
ments for mass-mongering, but that all had
been landed in England except Father
Gordon. Gross exaggeration (especially about
landing Jesuits and mass furniture) was one of
the characteristics of anti-catholic rumours in
those days, and in this case it may all have
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 51
developed out of Father Crichton's arrest.
Father Gordon, however, escaped and took
shelter at Fintray, whose laird, David Graham,
was one of the staunchest catholic laymen of
that day. He was a nephew of Archbishop
Beaton, and Father Holt was already his
guest. Father Edmund Hay, who wrote the
above details from Paris on the 29th of
October, 1584. continues :
" This story of the chalices so enraged the
ministers, who quite believed it, that they did
all they could in their sermons to induce the
people to credit the story, adding that the
king had already been subverted by our
Fathers, and heard Mass every day. This was
crafty as well as malicious, for their object
was to bring James into detestation with the
nobles and with the heretical populace, and
once more to turn the united violence of the
sect against the throne.
"The unfortunate prince was obliged to
meet this trick with another, and published a
proclamation forbidding any Jesuit to enter
the kingdom in future, requiring also Father
Gordon to quit Scotland within a month,
52 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
and meanwhile not to come within ten miles
of the court. . . . Fintray writes that Father
Gordon has nothing to fear, and will soon be
set at liberty by the Earl [of Huntly*s] in-
fluence " (Forbes-Leith, p. 200).
The sentence about James was of course
written in the spirit of purest loyalty, and
may have been absolutely true. But the king
was changing as his favourites changed ; and
when in time he had altered his mind, then
sentiments such as those given above might
and would be considered as constructive
treason. We see that the situation was full
of subtle danger.
Father Gordon was soon practically at
liberty, and his preaching and teaching, set
off by the calumnies of his enemies, made his
presence felt far and wide. As Fintray has
just told us the influence of the Earl of
Huntly, who was almost a king north of
Aberdeen, naturally contributed much to his
uncle the Jesuit's success, and the influence
was then all the more effective because of
King James's favour to the young nobleman.
SCOTTISH COUNTER.REFORMATION 53
Father Gordon, moreover, as a disputant, had
no rival in Scotland.
About the close of 1585, he held a dis-
putation with George Hay, who ranked as the
intellectual champion of the presbyterian cause,
and in 1588 he defended the catholic creed
before King James himself. After these
conflicts no one dared face the redoubtable
Jesuit, though he made several elaborate
challenges, the avoidance of which produced
the fruits of victory on the Father's side.
At first the intention had been, that Fathers
Hay and Tyrie should follow Father Gordon,
as soon as the latter had settled down to work.
But he himself, on his arrival, advised more
delay, and thought it would embarrass James
less, if instead of Scotch some English Fathers
were sent. Eventually, however, he agreed,
that Fathers Edmund Hay and John Dury
should come.
These two Jesuits arrived at Aberdeen in
the guise of servants to Robert Bruce of
Binnie, an adherent of Archbishop Beaton.
They landed about the 1st of August, 1585,
and betook themselves to the Dowager Lady
54 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
Seton, Isabel, daughter of Sir William
Hamilton of Sanquhar. Bruce made his way
to court, for he was bearer of letters from the
Duke of Guise, and there he met Peter Hay
of Megginch, Father Edmund's elder brother,
and grandfather of the future Earl of Kinnoul.
Bruce informed Peter of his brother's arrival,
and this led to their meeting for two days
probably at Megginch, in Perthshire.
Meantime Elizabeth had already heard of
the advent of the two Jesuits, and she wrote
through Walsingham a still extant letter,
demanding the banishment of the leathers.
Her envoy in Scotland, Edward Wotton, was
also diligently plotting against them. Wot-
ton's spy, the Irishman MacGeogan, however,
could not locate them, though another called
Collingwood declared they were at Kinneil
with the unpopular Earl of Arran, a very
improbable suggestion. King James, however,
is said by Wotton to have charged the Master
of Gray to arrest them, an indication how far
the latter had forsaken his catholic friends.
Indeed he had already in July, given to the
English Ambassador a letter from Father
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 55
Persons to Father Holt which he had inter-
cepted. It seems that a royal proclamation,
similar to that issued against Father Gordon,
was also issued against the new-comers.
These persecuting measures indicate clearly-
enough the jealousy and violence of the Tudor
officials, and the immense need for prudence
on the part of the missionaries. This time at
least the latter made good their retirement to
the northern parts, where Catholicism was
freer. Wotton reported unwillingly, on the
15th of September, that the Jesuits make a
great stir in the North. They say mass
openly, and lead great numbers of people to
visit chapels and relics here and there, to the
great scandal of all honest men [i.e. of all
fanatics] in this realm; and notiiing is done
for their apprehension.
Meanwhile one of those violent struggles
between favourites, which are so characteristic
of King James's reign, took place at Stirling at
the end of October, 1585, when the Earl of
Arran and Colonel Stewart were violently
deposed from power, giving way to a com-
posite party which included many more ex-
56 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
treme protestants. But this did not materially
affect the position of the Earl of Huntly, and,
in spite of many threats, the Jesuit mission
continued to prosper.
Father Edmund was apparently then at
Megginch, and he there reconciled to the
Church on her death-bed the wife of a
nephew, who is not named ; Father Holt, who
was there too, assisted at the last rites.
Whatever consolation Father Edmund may
have felt at this conversion, his heart was at
the same time stricken by finding that his
youngest brother had by now gone over
entirely to the dominant religion. His elder
brother Peter was also in some danger
from the hostihty of the unscrupulous Master
of Gray, and Father Edmund, urging counsels
of peace, persuaded Peter to retire for a time
to France. The father then went north to
Fintray in Aberdeenshire to David Graham,
that strong catholic of whom we have already
heard. Here the Jesuit was able to minister
the sacraments on a wider scale to the
catholics of the neighbourhood, and he made
so much impression on David's father, who
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 57
had lapsed into heresy, that before he died,
which was four months later, he was reconciled
to the Church. Thence the missionary went
to Aberdeen itself, where Father James
Gordon was to dispute with the quondam
priest, George Hay, mentioned above.
Some details of this debate may be here
added from Father Crichton's memoirs which,
however, were written many years later :
**In the north of Scotland, at the request
of a number of noblemen, a day was appointed
for Father Gordon to hold a public dissertation
on matters of faith with Mr. George Hay, the
most learned of the ministers, a man of good
birth, fairly versed in Greek and Latin liter-
ature, and holding the first place among their
preachers. He admitted that the Fathers of
the first five centuries held what was true,
but when he proceeded to defend the opinions
of his sect by garbled quotations contained in
the writings of their doctors. Father Gordon
protested that the ancient writers did not
maintain such sentiments. The minister,
sending to his own house, which was at some
leagues distance, procured a whole horse-load
58 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
of books, and amongst them the writings of
the ancient doctors. By means of these in
the presence of a great concourse of nobles
and ladies, Father Gordon vanquished the
minister by bringing forward complete
sentences, and not isolated phrases, from the
ancient writers to whom the minister had
appealed."
**This occurrence made a great noise and
produced much effect, for a large number of
persons returned in consequence to the
religion of their fathers and others were
encouraged to persevere therein. Among the
former was Francis Hay, Earl of Errol,
Master of the Horse."
About the same time as the dispute with
Hay, Father James Tyrie sent to Rome on
the 3 1st of September some news which had
lately reached Paris :
" We have had a visit from an Irish Bishop,
who has been some time in Scotland, and
with Fathers Hay and Gordon. He was
entrusted by them with letters, which he
eventually threw into the sea when in peril
from enemies. From letters by Robert
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 59
Bruce and others, I extract these particulars.
Fathers Hay and Gordon are m the North of
Scotland with the Earl of Huntly ; Fathers
Holt and Dury are in the West with the
Earl of Morton i.e. [Lord Maxwell at
Dumfries]. The number of Catholics in-
creases rapidly every day, and the Irish
Bishop assures me that during the short time
he remained in Scotland, he administered the
sacrament of confirmation to at least ten
thousand persons."
'* The Queen of England has written to
King James, strongly urging him to take
some measures against the Fathers of our
Society; and the King, whose Ministers of
State are all in favour of Elizabeth, has
published a proclamation, requiring us all to
leave the kingdom within one month, and
forbidding any one, on pain of death, to
receive us into their houses" (Forbes-Leith,
p. 206).
This Irish Bishop was Edmund MacGauran,
Bishop of Ardagh, and a martyr later on. His
large figure for the number of catholics con-
verted, or restored to the practice of their
60 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
religion, is confirmed not only by Wotton,
as quoted above, but also by several catholic
contemporaries.
On the last day of March, 1586, the Arch-
bishop of Glasgow wrote to Queen Mary :
'* The Earl of Morton, alias Maxwell, has
been a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle for
having had mass said openly at Dumfries,
New Abbey, and Lincluden, for the feast
of Christmas. A large number of people, and
also of the nobility of England as well as of
Scotland were present."
" Many of the nobles and others since the
arrival of the Jesuit fathers in Scotland, have
been reconciled to the Church, both in the
North and in the West, and I feel sure that
when Lord Claude Hamilton arrives, the
number will increase. . . . There are four
Jesuits of your nation, and some English.
The two principals are Fathers Edmund Hay
and James Gordon, uncle of the Earl of
Huntly. I have given them as an alms one
hundred crowns-of-the-sun, from the residue
of your pension for your scholars. The said
Earl of Huntly favours them as far as he can,
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 61
and is always the most affectionate subject
and servant of your Majesty " (Record Office,
Scotland, M,Q.S. 17. 31).
After March, 1586, we have fewer letters
announcing progress from Scotland, though
there are references to such letters for the
next three years, that is till the beginning of
1589. The revival lasted all that time, and
apparently grew stronger for a while after the
execution of Queen Mary Stuart. Father
Hay reported on the 2nd of February, 1587 :
** It cannot be expressed how great a change
of mind has come over Scotland during the
last half year," and in the following May
similar news is repeated. But on both
occasions the very great need of money
among the catholics is emphasised. The
fathers can hardly live, much less organise,
the weakness of their party from this point of
view is deplorable. Queen Mary's death has
put an end to her pension, which was so often
charitably employed for the support of priests
and students.
Meantime the staff of Scottish missionaries
was kept up. Fathers Robert Abercromby
62 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
and William Ogilvy were sent in 1586, and
Father Holt was somewhat ostentatiously
withdrawn, in order if possible to pacify the
ever-suspicious ministers. Father Crichton,
who had been freed from the Tower in the
spring, came at the close of 1587, in company
with Father Alexander MacQuhirrie. But
then the very hard life began to tell. Father
John Dury died (apparently 20 October, 1587),
and Father William Ogilvy not very long
after. Father William Murdoch and Father
George Dury came probably in 1588, but
Fathers Hay and Crichton had to be with-
drawn, partly for health's sake, partly because
of the jealousies which they had incurred in
making converts to the Church and the like.
The success of the missionaries was mostly
obtained in the North and West, in districts
where the reformation had not yet taken deep
root. It appears that they never obtained a
footing in any of the larger towns, except
perhaps at Dumfries, where Father John Dury
is said to have made numerous converts, while
Lord Maxwell was Baillie of the Western
Marches. Many of the Border chiefs in this
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 68
neighbourhood were counted among the
catholics. Father Crichton, for instance,
enumerates the Earls of Angus and CassiUs,
Lords Maxwell, Herries, Semple and Crich-
ton. But in the North the Earls of Huntly
and Errol, having Highland forces under
their control, were stronger still.
From one point of view, therefore, the
catholics still formed a strong party. In
reality, however, when compared with the
protestants, who had the English behind
them, they were by far the weaker side.
Their strength lay chiefly in the hold which
the Church still had on the educated, and on
the gentle class. According to papers per-
pared a little later by Lord Burghley and
by Father Crichton, the proportion of the
catholics to the protestants of the upper class
was one-third according to the protestant,
but two-thirds according to the catholic
authority. In either case the catholic figure
is very considerable.
Protestant authorities affirm this quite
clearly. A relation of The State of Scotland^
1586, declares that "The religious [i.e. the
64 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
protestants] part follow England. The num-
ber seemeth not great, specially after so long
preaching the gospel, and the use of disci-
pline" {Grampian Club, 1873, Ap. p. 51).
Archibald Douglas, James's ambassador in
London, declared to Lord Burghley on the
14th of November, 1587, that Scotland was
in the power of '' a Prince grieved in mind,
and a number of nobility almost equally
divided anent their religion into protestants
and papists, with a number of indifferent
religion, that did sometime profess their
obedience to the authority of the queen, the
king's mother. They being now joined to
the papists, make that party both greater in
number of nobility, and stronger in force"
(Hatfield Calendar, iii, 295). Archibald
Douglas's reflections and suggestions for *' the
imprisoning of the bodies" of the catholics,
and for exciting the protestants " to set apart
their revenging mind" (i.e. to keep their
fanaticism uncontaminated and unrelaxed),
are important, but too long for insertion here.
CHAPTER VI
THE TERM OF THE REVIVAL
1589-1597
We now come to the less grateful part of our
task, the passing of the short revival period,
and the renewal of bitter persecution. We
begin with a brief indication of the underlying
causes.
1. The first, as before, was the changing posi-
tion of the king in regard to the catholics.
If he had once been not far from accepting
their religion, that mood was now past, and in
the years now under consideration he was to
ally himself with the kirk in order to master
his unruly nobles. He was to sanction and to
use the protestant hatred of catholics in order
to obtain his political ends. This change w^as
largely due to his favourites. As catholic or
catholicising favourites had been one of the
66 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
chief reasons for the period of toleration, so
the mischievous influence of politiques like the
Master of Gray and of others now gave a
constantly increasingly downward tendency to
the king's relations with his catholic subjects.
His unbalanced and often selfish craving to
succeed to the English throne was also being
constantly played upon for baser ends both by
Elizabeth's diplomatists and by Scottish pro-
testants and politicians. Christianos ad hones
was the cry which enunciated the vile device
of the pagan emperors, when they wished to
placate or hoodwink the cruel mobs of Rome.
James now learned the fatal lesson, that if he
gave up the papists, and let the fanatics perse-
cute them, the zealots would in return tolerate
his episcopacy and support his aspirations to
the English throne.
2. England itself was perhaps the worst
enemy of the ancient faith; ever alert, ever
active in suggesrting and supporting measures
to weaken and defeat the catholic party. Her
diplomatists, her soldiers, and her money were
strenuously employed in this task. Elizabeth,
indeed, sometimes caused James acute annoy-
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 67
ance by restricting the moneys which had been
promised, but a substantial supply was never
quite cut off.
3. The revival period of three to four years
had been far too short to estabUsh among the
catholics the firmness of principle required by
their trying circumstances. Numbers had
been converted from an attendance at the
state church, which was against their con-
sciences. But to ensure continuance in this
abstention in the face of oppressive laws, and
under heavy penalties, with examples of
tergiversation all round them, and the con-
sciousness of having yielded before — under
such circumstances the breathing space was
far too brief.
Turning from generalities to particular
events we easily recognize the efforts made by
England to meet the Spanish Armada in 1588,
as preludes of misfortune for Catholic Scot-
land. What the Scots needed was peace, what
Walsingham and Burghley most desired was
an outburst of protestant fanaticism. After
the Armada had passed, after the victory had
been celebrated, a methodical attack was made
68 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
on the English cathohcs. London was
drenched with blood, and a hecatomb of
martyrs, the largest in our history, was
butchered before the excited feelings were
allowed to cool.
Long before the Armada sailed, flying
reports had been circulated injurious to the
catholics, not of England only but also of
Scotland, and thereby caused the first
important stroke against them. In April and
May, 1588, James, supported by English
money and English artillery, was induced to
take violent measures against Lord Maxwell
and the catholics of the Western Border.
This was nominally because of unproved in-
tentions to help Spain, but in reality because
the borderers had recently shown readiness to
rise in revenge for the execution of Mary
Queen of Scots.
In July, 1588, Father Gordon held a pubilc
disputation in the presence of the king, in
which both sides claimed the victory, as so
often happens in such cases. But if many
catholics were encouraged by the debate, as
has been affirmed by several contemporaries,
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 69
their cause soon suffered a very serious loss;
for the Earl of Huntly, much pressed by King
James, subscribed to the presbyterian kirk.
The unworthy motives which actuated him,
however, were confessed next year, when the
earl declared to his catholic friends that he
had only conformed in order to maintain him-
self, until he could more effectively win public
liberty.
This miserable want of principle in Huntly,
joined with other serious faults and defici-
encies, was one of the principal causes of the
arrest and close of the revival. It was not
from their choice, but only out of necessity,
that the catholics found themselves compelled
to depend on royal favourites; and as things
stood, the earl's fall inevitably opened wide
the door for persecution. We have not the
defence of the earl, and we must always re-
member that our information about him often
comes from witnesses maddened by fanaticism,
or influenced by base propaganda. Yet it
seems probable that both Huntly and the
nobles of his party were sometimes both im-
prudent and ill-informed. Especially do they
70 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
seem so in their attempted correspondence
with Spain in 1589, and again in 1592-93,
when Spain had really neither the mind, the
means, nor the men to help. Still it is not
improbable that on such points more excuses
will be found when more documents are forth-
coming. There is, however, very little chance
of any revision of the strong condemnation
which we must surely pass upon his forward-
ness in faction fighting, on his slaughter of the
young Earl of Moray, and on other acts of
war which darken Huntly's name at this
period. Peace was what the Church most of
all required ; no sacrifice, save that of principle,
was too great for its preservation.
The climax was reached in 1594, when
Huntly, supported by the missionaries, and
aided by a small subsidy from the pope,
defeated the much stronger protestant army
advancing to attack him, at Glenlivet (4th
November, 1594). But no defeat could have
been more disastrous than this victory, which
as is now clear was fought, so far as the cath-
olics were concerned, on quite mistaken
grounds. It was worse than a defeat, because
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 71
without another blow being struck the victors
had to flee in consternation at the sight of the
forces which imediately arose to avenge that
victory. The contest had also been undertaken
on erroneous grounds. The catholics, strange
though it sounds at first, believed in good faith
that James was still on their side, still at heart,
as he had been ten years earlier, not far from
the catholic faith, and still preferring the
fideUty of the catholic party. Father Crichton
twice affirms this was the explanation of
Father Gordon's journey to Rome, and ob-
taining the pope's assistance (Forbes-Leith,
p. 281, and Crichton's MS. notes, in MS.
Scotia, fol. 280).
One partial explanation of this state of
mind may be found in the enigmatic behaviour
the double voice of the king on the religious
question. His preference for catholic
favourites and alliances, his readiness to go as
far as he dared in defying protestant opinion
and English exhortations was obvious to all.
The more fanatical members of the kirk had
often declared the prince to be a papist in
disguise ; and it was an axiom of that contro-
72 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
versial time, that one might make the utmost
of any hostile concession. There was also
the old, ill-balanced loyalty to the king and to
the tribal chief, always so powerful in regard
to a Stuart and to a Gordon.
The surprising victory of Glenlivet was
therefore in truth a still more memorable
victory for the kirk, for King James now
allied himself in arms with the zealots, and at
their combination the catholics could do
nothing but fly and abandon every fastness.
The protestants destroyed every building
where mass had been offered, but James would
not allow them to exterminate the earls, who
had in times past served him faithfully, and
who even now had done no worse than men of
the new faith had done before unchecked.
Still the alliance between kirk and crown con-
tinued, though with loud and frequent
grumbling on either side, and resulted in the
ever-increasing impoverishment and degrada-
tion of the old faith. In 1595, the three earls
were constrained to retire from Scotland,
though Father Gordon is related to have done
his best to dissuade this, in a sermon said to
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 78
have been delivered in the ruined cathedral of
Elgin before day had dawned.
On the 25th of June, 1597, came the climax.
The three catholic Earls of Huntly, of Angus,
and of Errol, again submitted to the kirk, but
now in public and with the most degrading
solemnity; after which they were restored to
their estates. Let us not be harsh towards
these men. They were suffering under duress,
which was intentionally greater than the
average man could bear. Not only did all
return to the Catholic Church before their
deaths, but all lived long enough to do much
in later years to compensate for their weak-
ness at this crisis.
Still the evil results of their example in 1597
were deplorable. All over the country the
rehgious tyrants became animated and con-
firmed in the use of violence. The cath-
olics everywhere vacillated, and many fell.
'* Almost all have wavered," wrote Father
Gordon, ** most have trodden in the footsteps
of the earls, and have now renounced their
faith, or at least attended p)'otestant service.
Our few fathers (three in all) had to fly for
74 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
their lives ; though up to this time they had
found themselves secure in the North under
the protection of the earls."
CHAPTER VII
THE SEQUEL
1597-1658
With this reverse the period of revival and
expansion ceases, and the Counter-Reforma-
tion enters on a new phase. Its followers were
no longer a party which aspired to heal the
wounds of the kingdom ; their corporate aim
was now to preserve the good seed against a
possible return of peace in the future. This,
then, is a new, a subsequent period, no longer
my proper object. Still a few remarks about
it will be necessary, in order to indicate how
the eventual way out was found :
1. Though the revival period here ceases,
this does not mean that the Counter-
Reformation was dead. It was indeed less
sanguine, less missionary, less venturesome
than before ; but its object, that of healing the
76 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
wounds caused by the Reformation, was not
given up; and until some regular form of
governing the scattered flock could be
achieved, the chief injury caused by the
Reformation remained still unhealed. This
injury was at last remedied in 1653, by the
return to episcopal government in Scotland,
which up to that time had had the Pope as its
episcopal pastor, for he is not only Bishop of
Rome, but also the Apostolic bishop of every
land.
2. The year 1653, therefore, is the true term
of the Counter-Reformation. The introduction
of missionaries from the Jesuit order, who
were followed by the Fransiscans and other
regulars, was an important advance towards
that term, and the regular supply of Seminary
priests was possibly a measure of even greater
importance. The Scottish clergy colleges on
the continent had not risen to much efficiency
during the years we have been considering.
They had almost all originated in some tiny
mediaeval hospice of the Scottish nation ; but
they were so small and so poor that they could
so far train priests only by twos and threes at a
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 77
time. But in the seventeenth century some
energetic Jesuits were put at the head of the
colleges of Douai of Rome and of Madrid,
while the Secular clergy directed that of Paris
with excellent effect. The earnest begging
and good management of their respective
rectors developed all these houses into useful
training grounds for the clergy, the Seminary
at Madrid being in time wisely combined with
Douai. Thus a succession of pastors was
maintained, and the colleges may be con-
sidered to have taken the place of the nobles as
the chief protectors of religion.
3. We have already mentioned the extreme
violence to which the heads of noble catholic
houses were subject, a violence deliberately
graded so as to be unbearable by ordinary
men, before which therefore many ordinary
men would and did fail. Yet the noble house
might, and not rarely did, remain catholic.
How did that happen ? Because the ladies in
their less obtrusive spheres often remained
catholic, and ensured the constancy of the
rising generation, which must otherwise have
failed. Unfortunately we hear too little of
78 SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION
their names, Queen Anne of Denmark, Lady
Huntly, Helen Lady Seton, Lady Livingston
are often mentioned in contemporary letters,
but except about the queen, details are very
scarce.
4. Finally, the tyranny of the Stuarts
differed from that of the kirk in being human
rather than formal or fanatical. The latter
was stereotyped and unbending, the former
variable, and not incapable of making excep-
tions, or even a complete revolution. When
for instance James VI and I, at the end of his
reign, wished to marry his son Charles to a
catholic princess, an entire change of rule was
made, and a welcome period of peace for
catholics ensued. There was another peace
period during part of the reign of Charles.
It was by utilising these breathing spaces to
the full, and practising the sternest patience
during the prolonged periods of suffering, that
the representatives of once catholic Scotland
eventually survived until the age of liberty
dawned. But the difficulties of that protracted
combat were extraordinary. Indeed it may
well be questioned whether so small a minority
SCOTTISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 79
of catholics in any other country in Europe
have maintained for so many years, through
such insupportable storms, a corporate religi-
ous life — with all the minutiae used by the
Catholic Church in doctrine, in education, in
liturgy, in discipline — all their distinctive
practices being banned, some under the pain
of death.
The End
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