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of the learned and holy Bishop Elphinstone with the approval of
Alexander VI. (1495) and of James IV. Owing to the close connexion
with France many of the Scottish ecclesiastics pursued their studies
at Paris.

The Church in Scotland was comparatively wealthy at the beginning of
the Reformation movement, though it should be remembered that out of
its resources it was obliged to maintain the schools, hospitals, and
institutes of charity. Still the wealth of the Church in Scotland
instead of being a source of strength was in reality a source of
weakness, and in the end it proved to be one of the main causes of its
overthrow. It excited the cupidity of the hungry nobles, and made them
anxious to share in the plunder of religious houses, particularly
after the example had been set across the border by Henry VIII.'s
attack on the English monasteries. But before any steps were taken to
bring about the forcible seizure of the ecclesiastical property the
rulers and lords of Scotland adopted other means of controlling the
wealth of the Church and of the monasteries. Members of the royal
family or sons of the nobles were introduced into the bishoprics
irrespective of their merits, and were induced to enrich their
relatives by bestowing on them portions of the diocesan property. Many
others of a similar class were appointed as commendatory abbots of
religious houses solely for the purpose of controlling the revenue of
these establishments. In some cases those so appointed were only
children, in nearly all cases they were laymen, and in no case did
they do anything for the maintenance of discipline, for the
cultivation of a good religious spirit, or for the promotion of the
wishes of the founders and endowers of the monastic institutions. What
was true of the monasteries was equally true of the convents, in many
of which discipline was completely relaxed. Several attempts were made
to bring about a reformation, but on account of the exemptions and
special privileges claimed by the religious houses, such attempts were
doomed to failure, whether they were made by the bishops or by the
regular superiors. Nothing less than a papal visitation, in which the
visitors could have relied upon the full power of the Church and
State, would have sufficed to put an end to the evil, and
unfortunately no such step was taken in time to avert the calamity.

As elsewhere, so too in Scotland, it was no uncommon thing to find one
man holding several benefices to which the care of souls was attached,
notwithstanding all the canons that had been passed against such a
glaring abuse. The clergy, following the example of so many of their
superiors, showed themselves entirely unworthy of their position. Many
of them were quite negligent about preaching and instructing their
flock, completely regardless of clerical celibacy, and oftentimes they
devoted more attention to their farms and to their cattle than to
their religious obligations. One has only to refer to the decrees of
the diocesan synods held by Archbishop Forman of St. Andrew's (1515-
22),[3] to the national synods of 1549-1552, and to the letter of
Cardinal Sermoneta to the Pope in 1557[4] to see how grievous were the
abuses flourishing in all departments of the Church in Scotland at the
time when the very existence of Catholicism in the kingdom was
trembling in the balance. The root of all this evil was the
destruction of the independence of the Church, and its complete
subjugation to the crown and to the lords. As a result, when the
crisis came and when most of the lords went over to the party of Knox,
they found but little resistance from their unworthy relatives, whom
they had introduced into positions of trust, not that they might
promote religion, but that they might live by it, and in the end
betray it.

It was during the reign of James V. (1513-42) that the religious
revolution began on the Continent and in England. Henry VIII. of
England was his uncle, and he left no stone unturned to detach his
nephew from his alliance with France and from his submission to Rome;
but despite Henry's endeavours James V. refused to join in Henry's
attacks on the Pope, or to listen to the proposals for a closer union
with England. The Scottish Parliament held in 1525 forbade the
introduction of Lutheran books into the kingdom or the preaching of
Luther's doctrine, and a papal envoy was dispatched to the Scottish
court to exhort the king to stand firm in the defence of the Church.
The reply of James V. was reassuring. Soon however the new heresy
began to make its appearance in the kingdom. Patrick Hamilton,
commendatory abbot of Ferne and closely related to some of the most