A Short History of Scotland
From the 15th century to the Union of Parliaments in 1707
by Shaun Gaffney
Introduction and Bylaws
Interpretive
Clothing
Scottish Culture
History
Music and Dance
Military Life
Language
Bibliography, Sources
and Library Materials
For the whole of the 15th century and the first half of the 16th, the main theme of Scottish history was the continuous struggle between the crown and the barons. The Stuart kings suffered from a fundamental weakness in that they were merely a noble house raised to the throne. At the beginning of this period the great nobles were very powerful, owning vast tracts of land which they ruled as petty kings, supported by hereditary grants of judicial and fiscal privilege made to their ancestors by the crown. The kings could only hope to destroy these too-powerful subjects by invoking the help of rival nobles. The result was that the destruction of one noble house was accompanied by the rise of another house equally as threatening to the monarchy. The Scottish Parliament, which took shape in the 14th century, was mainly a feudal assembly and the Scottish Commons were incapable of giving to the crown even the modest measure of support offered by their English counterparts to their own kings.
The first three Kings James of Scotland all met their end by violence, two by murder, one in battle. James IV (reigned 1488-1513) was the first of his name to gain the upper hand on his nobles and reduce most of the country to obedience. He temporarily increased royal revenue from crown lands by substituting permanent ownership for short leases, in exchange for a fixed annual payment called a feu-duty. But continued inflation soon reduced the advantages of the new system. (Most of the population existed at or just above subsistence level. That is, they produced just enough food to keep themselves alive. Therefore, even a small inflation rate could have enormous effects) He also developed the practice of diverting to the crown a substantial share of the revenues of the church, which owned almost half the wealth of Scotland. He negotiated with European states and signed a treaty of perpetual peace with England in 1502. His marriage in 1503 to Margaret Tudor, elder daughter of Henry VII of England, was destined to bring about the union of the two kingdoms of Scotland and England in 1603. Reverting to the traditional alliance with France, James IV invaded England with a large army, only to be completely routed and killed at Flodden in 1513.
Reformation: Mary Queen of Scots
James V (1513-42) came to the crown as a minor, and factional fighting between the nobles continued until he was old enough to establish his personal government. The burning of Patrick Hamilton as a heretic in that same year made the Reformation a live issue for Scotland. It was closely linked with the main problem of the reign, relations with England. James V was a conservative on both questions. Declining Henry VIII's invitation to join with him against the Pope, he adhered to the alliance with France. His half-hearted invasion of England led to another military disaster at Solway Moss in 1552. He died a few days after he received news of the birth of a daughter to his second wife, Mary of Guise.
This infant princess was to become Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1567). Sent to France when only five to preserve her from the English, she grew up a French woman and was married to the French heir, Dauphin Francis, who became King Francis II in 1559. At this time, James V's widow, Mary of Guise, governed Scotland as regent, and French garrisons had been established in Scotland. National resentment at Catholic foreign rule reinforced the nascent Protestant leanings of some of the nobles and many middle-class townspeople. Riots occurred and churches were destroyed. John Knox thundered against "The monstrous regiment (government) of women," secured the backing of an English fleet and army and, after the death of Mary of Guise in 1560, forced the French garrison at Leith to surrender. The Treaty of Edinburgh that year virtually ended the Franco-Scottish alliance and pointed the way to close association with the old "enemy", England. Also in 1560, the Scottish parliament Papal supremacy over the church and forbade the celebration of the Catholic mass in Scotland.
The question of what was to be substituted for the old church was a basic issue in Scotland for over 100 years. Although the Reformation Parliament adopted a "Confession of Faith”, Queen Mary, who returned to Scotland in 1561 after the death of her French husband, never accepted it. Most of the dignitaries and priest of the old church held office until they died or resigned, and the monasteries were not dissolved as they were in England. The reformers found great difficulty obtaining control of sufficient resources to set up the new church on a national basis. There were no funds to carry out the far-reaching plans for hospitals, poor relief, and a national system of education, as set out in the First Book of Discipline in 1561. Presbyteries, synods, and a General Assembly composed of ministers and elders were established, and the new constitution of the church was approved by parliament in 1592. The effective reign of Mary Queen of Scots, from 1561 on, was short and inglorious. John Knox and his associates were implacably hostile to a Roman Catholic Queen, and she showed no flair for government. Her approach to politics was to try to play one faction of nobles against another. Her marriage to Lord Darnley (Henry Stuart), a possible successor to the English throne, made Elizabeth I of England suspicious of her intentions. When Darnley was found murdered in 1567, Queen Mary was believed to have been involved. Mary then wed James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, a step that cost her both Catholic and Protestant support. While a prisoner in Lochleven Castle, she was compelled to abdicate in favor of her infant son, James VI (reigned 1567-1625), later James I of England.
She escaped imprisonment, only to be defeated by the forces of the regent, her half-brother, the Earl of Moray, in 1568. Politically bankrupt, she crossed into England, but the civil war she started did not end until 1573.
James VI: The Union of the Crowns
During James VI's minority, Scotland was governed once again by regents, and factious strife followed civil war. Esme Stuart, created Duke of Lennox in 1581 by James VI, tried to restore French influence and managed to bring about the execution of the Anglophile regent, James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, in 1581. Lennox's opponents, however, seized the young king, locked him up in Ruthven Castle, and governed the country in his name from 1582 to 1583.
By this time James VI was old enough, at age 17, to take over the government. Escaping from Ruthven Castle, he soon got rid of the Ruthven lords. His ambition was to become King of England as great-great-grandson of Henry VIII and the legitimate successor to Elizabeth I. This meant that although he flirted from time to time with the continental Catholic powers, his policy had to be basically Protestant and Anglophile. Even the execution of Mary, his mother, in 1587, did not seriously impair the good relations between England and Scotland. James reaped the rewards of his complaisance. On Elizabeth's death in 1603, he was recognized as the rightful King of England, thus uniting the crowns of Scotland and England.
James VI had firm ideas about royal prerogative. Even before 1603, he had worked to strengthen the reputation and power of the monarchy. Knowing bishops to be useful in securing state control of the church, James succeeded in reestablishing the office of bishop, though shorn of many of its original powers. The ancient constitution of the Scottish parliament made bishops especially useful to the king, owing to their role in electing the Lords of the Articles - the committee of parliament often entrusted with the actual lawmaking powers.
James' removal to London greatly strengthened the monarchy. No longer was he personally in danger from lawless nobles and Calvinist fanatics. Backed by the greater resources of England, he sat in London and governed Scotland with his pen. Both Parliament and the General Assembly could be packed with favorable members, and the Scots' Privy Council could be relied upon to carry out the king's wishes. Only once did James revisit his native country, but he continued to take an active interest in its government. The union of 1603 brought Scotland and England together at the Royal level, but James would have liked to bring the countries themselves closer together. His rather half-hearted efforts were resisted in both countries, and it was only in ecclesiastical affairs the James made much progress. The Five Articles of Perth, in 1618, strengthened the position of the Scottish bishops and enforced on the Scots a more ritualistic form of church service and sacraments.
Scotland and the English Civil War
James VI knew when to stop, but his successor, Charles I (reigned 1625-1649), was unfamiliar with his Scottish subjects and set out to complete what his father had begun. A book of canons, which altered church doctrine, was published in 1635. Changes in ritual were enforced by the issue, in 1637, of a service book, similar to the English Book of Common Prayer, which had not been sanctioned by either Parliament or the General Assembly. The use of this new form of service at the High Kirk of Edinburgh led to disturbances in the church, followed by rioting in the streets. Since other steps taken by Charles I had also alienated most of the Scottish nobles, all classes joined to sign the national covenant in 1638, which professed loyalty to the king, but bound its signatories to resist these innovations in religion. Charles responded by draining the realm of taxes to pay for a large army. Twice Charles tried to reduce Scotland by force in the First and Second Bishops' Wars (1639-1641), but the Scots' army defeated him, smashed his army, and advanced into northern England.
This disaster brought to an end Charles' eleven years of tyranny in England, and made possible the work of the English "Long Parliament". When the civil war began in England, the Scots Presbyterians naturally sympathized with the opponents of the king. In exchange for a promise to establish the Presbyterian system of church government in Scotland, England and Ireland, the Scots, by the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, agreed to give active support to the English Parliament and its Presbyterian majority. Scots regiments fought against their king, especially at Marston Moor, in 1644, but James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, a former covenantor, changed sides and raised a Highland army to fight for Charles I. The Presbyterian forces were strong enough to defeat Montrose at Philipbaugh in 1645, but by this time it was clear that control of the English Parliament was passing from the Presbyterians to the independents, who hated Presbytery as much as Episcopacy and would never carry out the bargain of 1643. After his final defeat in England, Charles I offered to establish Presbyterianism in Scotland. A Scots army then invaded England, only to be routed at Preston in 1648. When the English Parliament executed Charles I in 1649, the Scots proclaimed his son, Charles II, as king. This new threat to Puritan ascendency was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell's victory at Dunbar in 1650 and at Worcester in 1651. Cromwell sought to conciliate the Scots by offering them an incorporating union with England with some representation in the London Parliament and freedom to trade with English colonies. This did not survive long enough to prove its value, but did serve as a precedent for the future.
Revolution of 1688
The restoration of 1660 brought back the old system in Scotland much more completely than in England. Parliament was again controlled by the king through the Lords of the Articles and the Privy Council. The Episcopalian system was re-imposed and maintained in spite of armed protests of Presbyterian extremists at Rullion Green in 1666 and at Drumclog in 1679. Captive Covenantors were often punished by transportation to the Americas. In 1687, however, Charles II's successor James VII of Scotland and II of England (1685-88) offered toleration. Many were prepared to accept this, but others refused to share a toleration equally granted to Catholics.
Scotland accepted the Revolution of 1688 as it had accepted the Restoration - without having done anything effectual to bring it about. Whereas in England, the Restoration was conservative, in Scotland, it was really revolutionary. The Scottish Parliament was freed from the Lords of the Articles and became a sovereign lawmaking assembly in 1690. Even more revolutionary was the establishment of the Church of Scotland as a Presbyterian national organization. The General Assembly met in 1690 for the first time since 1653. This turn of events was due largely to the refusal of most of the Episcopalian clergy to take the oaths of allegiance to William and Mary, which convinced William that he must depend upon the Presbyterians.
Need for Union
In some ways the most important result of the Revolution was the union of the Scottish and English Parliaments in 1707. As long as the king governed Scotland and kept control of the Scottish Parliament, no one in England felt any need for closer union. Once the Scottish Parliament had escaped royal control, however, William III (1689-1702) found himself expected to serve two masters. By adopting the Darien Scheme of colonizing the Panama area in America against the will of Spain, the Parliament threatened to ruin his foreign policy, which required good relations with Spain. When, under Queen Anne, England engaged in the War of Spanish Succession, while Scotland continued to sympathize with England's enemy, France, political and strategic arguments for complete union became overwhelming from the English point of view. The Scots would have preferred a federal style of union, which England would not accept. Forced to choose between England and France, they thought the interests of the Presbyterian Church were safer with Protestants, through Episcopalian England, than with Catholic France. Also, the bribe of free trade with English colonies tempted Scots merchants, though they realized that economic union with England would be the ruin of some Scottish industries protected by tariffs. What Scotland felt most was the loss of its Parliament. The Scots did, however, retain their legal system and their Church.
Sources
Brown, Peter H. History of Scotland. 3 Vols. (Reprint, Octagon, 1971)
Dickinson, Wm. Croft and George S Pryde. A New History of Scotland. (Nelson, 1961-62).
Linklater, Eric. Survival of Scotland. (Doubleday, 1968)
Mitcheson, Rosalind. A History of Scotland. (Methuen, 1970).
Rait, Sir Robert, and George S. Pryde. Scotland. 2nd Ed. (Praeger, 1954).