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nominations to ecclesiastical benefices, an interference that was
responsible for having even children who were too young to hold an
apple in their hands appointed to the charge of populous parishes, in
order that the relatives of these children might grow rich on the
revenues, and was it not the very men who were guilty of such conduct
who were loudest in their denunciation of the Church? On the nobles he
laid the blame for oppressing the Church, for introducing unworthy
ecclesiastics into offices of trust, for depriving the poor of
instruction and education, and for promoting thereby heresy and
revolution.

As the year (1559) advanced the state of affairs in Scotland became
daily more alarming. Preachers were everywhere at work under the
protection of the lords. The regent and the French authorities, who
had shown a fatal apathy in their dealings with Scottish heretics,
began to wake up to the political danger involved in such a movement.
A French agent, M. Béthencourt,[18] arrived in Scotland in April 1559,
and, whether it was due to his advice or not, the regent forbade the
preachers to continue their disturbances. On their refusal to submit
she summoned them to appear at Stirling for trial (10th May).
Encouraged by the return of Knox who had landed at Leith early in the
same month, and by the armed forces placed at their disposal by some
of their principal patrons, they refused to attend and were outlawed.
A number of the reforming lords immediately took possession of Perth,
and destroyed several Catholic churches in the city. When news of this
rising reached the regent she assembled her forces and marched against
Perth, but as neither side was anxious for civil war at the time, a
truce was agreed upon, and the forces of the regent were allowed to
occupy the town. From Perth the reforming lords retreated to St.
Andrew's, where they burned and destroyed the altars, pictures,
statues, and even the sacred vessels used for religious worship. The
abbey church of Scone, in which a long line of Scottish kings had been
crowned, was destroyed; Perth and Stirling were seized, and before the
end of June 1559 Edinburgh was in the hands of the lords of the
Congregation. The regent issued an appeal in the name of the king and
queen of Scotland calling upon all loyal subjects to defend the
government against the revolutionary Congregation, but her unfortunate
preference for French soldiers and officials gave the Protestant lords
the advantage of enabling them to pose as patriots engaged in the
defence of their country against foreigners. They were forced,
however, to capitulate and to surrender Edinburgh to the regent (26th
July).

Early in this same month (1559) Henry II. of France died, and was
succeeded by Francis II., the husband of Mary Queen of Scots.
Elizabeth and her advisers were alarmed at the prospect that opened
before them. Mary Queen of Scots, as the nearest legitimate heir to
the English throne, was a dangerous neighbour, especially at a time
when England was thrown into confusion by a new religious revolution,
and when English Catholics might rally to her standard with the
blessing of the Pope and of the Kings of France and Spain. Even though
the Queen of Scotland did not resort to extremes, the very existence
of a Catholic kingdom in Scotland, united by bonds of friendship and
interest to France, constituted a grave danger for England; whereas if
Scotland could be induced to accept the Protestant religion and to
throw in its lot with its southern neighbour, the enemies of England
on the Continent might rage in vain. The rebellion of the lords of the
Congregation was, therefore, very welcome to Elizabeth and to Cecil.
It gave them an opportunity of interfering in Scottish affairs, not,
indeed, in the untactful manner in which Henry VIII. had interfered,
but as the apparent defenders of Scottish independence against a
French protectorate. On this occasion Scottish patriotism was to be
made subservient to English political aims and at the same time to
Protestant interests.

The lords of the Congregation, realising that without assistance they
could never hope to overcome the regent, turned to England for
support. Their petitions were welcomed by Cecil and the leading
counsellors of Elizabeth, but the queen herself distrusted Knox, and
disliked allying herself with open rebels. To give the movement an
appearance of constitutionalism the young Earl of Arran, who had been
brought to France and who had secretly embraced Calvinism, was induced
to make his escape into England. As a near claimant to the Scottish
throne he was welcomed at the English court, and was led to believe
that if he acted prudently he might become the husband of Elizabeth,
and the king of a united England and Scotland. He was dispatched into