登陆注册
14812400000237

第237章

In December 1559 and January 1560, an armed force was dispatched to the north, and Admiral Winter was commanded to blockade the Forth against a French fleet. A little later a formal agreement was concluded between the Duke of Norfolk representing Elizabeth, and Lord James Stuart the commissioner for the Congregation. At first it was proposed to act in common for "the maintenance of the Christian religion," but as these words might have given rise to serious complications on the Continent, it was decided that an alliance should be concluded for the defence of the ancient rights and liberties of Scotland. An English army of eight thousand men marched into Scotland, and the English fleet blockaded the fortress of Leith which was the key to the capital. Owing to the Huguenot risings in France the assistance that had been promised could not be sent, but nevertheless the invaders were thrown back in their first assault. In June 1560, however, Mary of Guise, worn out by the anxieties and cares of her difficult office, passed away, and three weeks later the garrison was obliged to surrender. English and French plenipotentiaries met to arrange the terms of peace. It was agreed that the French soldiers, with the exception of about one hundred and twenty men, should be drafted from Scotland, that no foreigners should be promoted to any office in the kingdom, that until the arrival of the king and queen the country should be governed by a council of twelve, seven of whom were to be selected by Mary and Francis and five by the Parliament, that the entire question of religion should be submitted to a Scottish Parliament convoked to meet on the 1st August (1560), and that, in the meantime, a kind of religious truce should be observed by both sides.

It was agreed, furthermore, that the spiritual peers should hold their seats in Parliament as before, and that they should not be disturbed in their ecclesiastical possessions.

The successful invasion of Scotland by the English troops had turned the scales in favour of the lords of the Congregation. They were now masters in Scotland, but, had the bishops and clergy been zealous men worthy of their sacred office, the cause of the old Church in Scotland would not have been even then hopeless. While Knox and his friends were straining every nerve to consolidate their work by the appointment of preachers and superintendents for the rising congregation, many of the Catholic bishops and abbots, several of whom were allied by blood and friendship with the lay lords, either contented themselves with doing nothing, or went over to the enemies of the Church for the sake of securing for themselves and their descendants the ecclesiastical property that they administered. The Archbishop of St. Andrew's and Primate of Scotland was the brother of the Earl of Arran. Though a convinced Catholic himself, he was not the man either to make a struggle or to inspire confidence at such a crisis. Archbishop Beaton of Glasgow had fled already from the kingdom; the Bishop of Argyll, another illegitimate scion of the house of Hamilton, was a Protestant or was soon to become one; Adam Bothwell,[19] whom the Pope had appointed the previous year to the See of Orkney on the petition of the king and queen of Scotland, could not be trusted, as his subsequent conduct showed; Alexander Gordon, who claimed to be Bishop of Galloway, though he was never consecrated, had gone over openly to the enemies of the Church, as had also the provincial of the Dominicans, the sub-prior of the chapter of St.

Andrew's, and John Rowe a former agent of the Scottish bishops at the Roman Court. With men such as these to guard the interests of Catholicism in Scotland there could be little doubt about the result.

In August 1560 the Parliament met at Edinburgh. In addition to the lay lords and representatives of the lesser nobles and of the cities, there were present a number of bishops and abbots. Amongst these latter it is interesting and instructive to note the presence of Lord James Stuart, the bastard brother of the queen and one of the leaders of the Congregation, as prior of St. Andrew's, of Lord James Hamilton son of the Earl of Arran and a follower of Knox as abbot of Arbroath, of John Stuart abbot of Coldingham, of the son of the Duke of Argyll as bishop-elect of Brechin, together with a number of other laymen, who, though holding high office in the Church, were determined to promote the new movement for the sake of the property that they hoped to obtain. The discussion opened under the presidency of Maitland, Lord of Lethington, the Scottish Cecil, a double dealer who was even more dangerous than an open enemy. A petition was presented immediately on the part of Knox and his friends that doctrines such as Transubstantiation, the sacrificial character of the Mass, Purgatory, prayers for the dead, meritorious works, etc., which had been forced upon the people by the clergy should be rejected. A confession of faith was drafted and submitted to the assembly. The Primate and the Catholic bishops present protested against the discussion of such a document on the ground that according to the terms of the Treaty of 1560 the religious question should have been submitted previously to the king and queen, and also because the treaty had never been confirmed owing to the fact that the French commissioners had exceeded their instructions. It was no doubt for this reason that a large number of the ecclesiastical and lay lords who were strongly Catholic had refused to attend the Parliament. Indeed the supporters of the old religion, relying on the help of the queen, seemed to think that any religious settlement made by Parliament was of no importance. Their refusal to discuss the confession of faith was taken, however, as a sign of their inability to refute it, and the confession was passed with but few dissentients. Later on (24th August) three other acts were formulated with the object of uprooting Catholicism in Scotland.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 36天纪念日

    36天纪念日

    一个从乡下来的“熊孩子”打着恶搞心态、想混完成自己最后三年的初中学业。不料却遇上群同龄妖孽大哥!扰乱了他们原先的计划、为了不让这宝贵的机会流失掉,大哥们只好收他为小弟来培养争取这来之不易的机会,而“他”的恶搞天赋却误打误撞的为“大哥们”赢取了重大利润,从此引发出了各种难以想象的事情、他此生所追求的平凡生活却离他越来越远...此文暂停所有的人物剧情全都会搬到【炮灰养成】
  • 杀生丸的成长史

    杀生丸的成长史

    伴着痛苦转世重生,遇见前世恋人的转世,两人实力巨大,性格也南辕北辙,记忆和力量复苏以后,两人是否还能在一起呢?
  • 相思谋:妃常难娶

    相思谋:妃常难娶

    某日某王府张灯结彩,婚礼进行时,突然不知从哪冒出来一个小孩,对着新郎道:“爹爹,今天您的大婚之喜,娘亲让我来还一样东西。”说完提着手中的玉佩在新郎面前晃悠。此话一出,一府宾客哗然,然当大家看清这小孩与新郎如一个模子刻出来的面容时,顿时石化。此时某屋顶,一个绝色女子不耐烦的声音响起:“儿子,事情办完了我们走,别在那磨矶,耽误时间。”新郎一看屋顶上的女子,当下怒火攻心,扔下新娘就往女子所在的方向扑去,吼道:“女人,你给本王站住。”一场爱与被爱的追逐正式开始、、、、、、、
  • 医病简要

    医病简要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 悠莉宠物店灬

    悠莉宠物店灬

    你,有朋友,有亲人,有学业和娱乐,而它,只有你。
  • 笑忘心

    笑忘心

    我敲下的每一个文字都是我心中的山水,你若能读懂,我愿陪你一起修行!这是一本结合我自己的修行之路整理出来的书,请你多看几章,或许不经意间,你就找到了自己心中的山水。热血激情,一样也不会少!
  • 翻天谱

    翻天谱

    魂修与灵修纵横的世界,当人们能从灵兽身上获取各种强大的特殊能力后,这个世界变得精彩绝伦。废物?不能修炼?不!那是武原体质太强,世间的灵气不敢入体!自从武原继承了族谱,废物之名便是别人的。这神秘的族谱,不但记载着祖上的代代天骄,更有他们封印在其中的强大宝物!族谱在手,我便以此谱翻天!—ps:老书《极天圣典》已完本,新书《翻天谱》精彩来袭。
  • 每个爱情都危险

    每个爱情都危险

    爱情,让人做梦都念念不忘的东西。岁月有痕,游走在不经意的皱纹里。它能给人一双通透的眼睛,看穿一切虚伪,却不能将这虚伪打破!所以,我们学会了思考。可笑的是,我们越是长大,越会思考,却越是犯错。像个笑话,告诉你玫瑰有刺,还要去摘,等手被刺痛,才会明白越是美丽的东西越是危险。如同爱情。
  • 宫爵

    宫爵

    黄道十二宫,是人类文明的起始?还是贪婪的起点?一个不知父亲为何人的小子,为了治愈母亲的绝症,为了让妹妹永远开心,这两条最大的心愿,他不懈的努力着。可是突如其来的灾难让他如遭雷击,是谁?掳走了家人。是谁?我的父亲。阿道夫~伊诺,一个孝顺的孩子,在面临与全大陆为敌后,他将如何抉择?
  • 谁恋帝王

    谁恋帝王

    依照身在帝王侧,不知从此是良人。身不由己入后宫,面对受过情伤的帝王一见钟情,但又无意得知自己父亲死亡的秘密,是付出真心,还是掩埋爱情,夜半歌声,是谁缱绻难眠,又是谁低头流泪···