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the Catholic Church in Scotland/, 1887 (tr. from the German, 2
Bde., 1883). Forbes-Leith, S.J., /Narratives of the Scottish
Catholics/, 1885. Id., /Memoirs of Scottish Catholics during the
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries/, 2 vols., 1909. Walsh,
/History of the Catholic Church in Scotland/, 1874. Grub, /An
Ecclesiastical History of Scotland/, 4 vols., 1861. Dawson, /The
Catholics of Scotland (1593-1852)/, 1890. Pollen, S.J., /Papal
Negotiations with Mary Queen of Scots (1561-67)/, 1901. Lang,
/Mystery of Mary Stuart/, 1901. /Catholic Tractates of the
Sixteenth Century/ (edited by Law, 1901). Theiner, /Vetera
Monumenta Hib. et Scotorum (1216-1547)/, 1864. /Works of John
Knox/, (edited by Laing), 1855-64. Herkless, /Cardinal Beaton/,
etc., 1891. Gordon, /Scoti-Chronicon/, 1867. Tytler, /History of
Scotland/, 1879.

In Scotland a long succession of infant kings and weak regents helped
to increase the power of the lords at the expense of the crown. The
king or regent had no standing army at his disposal, nor were the
resources of the royal treasury sufficient to allow the ruler to
invoke the assistance of foreign mercenaries. As a result the king was
dependent more or less on the lords, who were prepared to support him
if their own demands were conceded, or to form private confederations
or "bands" against him if they felt that they themselves were
aggrieved. Parliament, which included the spiritual and lay lords,
together with representatives of the lower nobility and of the cities,
did not play a very important part in the government of the country.
For years Scotland had been the close ally of France and the enemy of
England. Such an alliance was at once the best pledge for Scotland's
independence, and the best guarantee against England's successful
invasion of France.

To put an end to the controversies regarding the primatial rights
claimed by the Archbishop of York over the Scottish Church, Clement
III. issued a Bull in 1188 declaring the Church of Scotland subject
directly only to the Apostolic See.[1] A further step was taken by
Sixtus IV. in 1472, when St. Andrew's was erected into a metropolitan
See, under which were placed as suffragans the twelve dioceses,
Glasgow, Dunkeld, Aberdeen, Moray, Brechin, Dunblane, Ross, Caithness,
Candida Casa, Argyll, the Isles, and Orkney.[2] This measure was
resented by many of the bishops, but more especially by the Bishops of
Glasgow, who were unwilling to submit to the jurisdiction of St.
Andrew's even after it had been declared that the latter in virtue of
its office enjoyed primatial and legatine powers over Scotland (1487).
In the hope of putting an end to the controversy Glasgow was erected
into a metropolitan See with four suffragan dioceses, Dunkeld,
Dunblane, Galloway and Argyll (1492). The bishops of Scotland were
supposed to be elected by the chapters, but in reality the king or
regent enjoyed a decisive voice in the selection of candidates
especially during the greater part of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries.

As a result of this enslavement of the Church, men were appointed to
bishoprics without reference to their fitness for this sacred office,
and solely with the intention of providing themselves and their
relatives with a decent income. Thus for example, James, Duke of Ross,
brother of James IV., was appointed to the See of St. Andrew's at the
age of twenty-one, and he was succeeded by Alexander Stuart, the
illegitimate son of James IV., when he had reached only his ninth
year. What is true of St. Andrew's is almost equally true of many of
the other dioceses of Scotland, though it would be very wrong to
assume that all the bishops of Scotland during the latter half of the
fifteenth or the first half of the sixteenth centuries were unworthy
men.

The religious orders of men were well represented by the Benedictines,
Cistercians, Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, etc., while in
most of the large cities and towns flourishing convents had been
founded. The state of discipline in these various institutions varied
considerably according to circumstances, but although serious attempts
were made to introduce reforms especially in the houses of the
Cistercians, Franciscans, and Dominicans, it cannot be contended for a
moment that the Scottish monasteries and convents were free from the
gravest abuses. Possibly the erection of such a multitude of
collegiate churches in Scotland during the fifteenth century was due
to the sad condition of so many of the religious houses, but if it
was, the remedy was almost as bad as the disease. In connexion with
the monasteries, the chapters, and the collegiate churches, schools
were carried on with a fair amount of success, sufficient at least to
prepare students for the higher education given at the Universities of
St. Andrew's founded by Benedict XIII. (1410), of Glasgow, founded by
Nicholas V. (1451), and of Aberdeen established through the exertions