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1587, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringay. Her attitude to
the last was worthy of praise. She died a martyr for her religion, and
by her death she expiated fully the imprudences and waverings of her
youth. Elizabeth pretended to be horrified by the action of her
ministers. Her secretary was imprisoned and fined to prove to
Scotland, France, and Spain that the Queen of England had no
responsibility for the tragedy of Fotheringay.

Meanwhile how fared it with Catholicism in Scotland? The Regent Moray
returned from England early in 1569. Acting on the repeated requests
of the General Assembly he undertook new measures against the Catholic
Church. Catholic officials and professors were removed from Aberdeen
University; several priests were arrested and punished though the
regent was unwilling to inflict the death penalty, and many
distinguished clerics and laymen, including the Primate and Bishop
Leslie, were outlawed and their goods confiscated. The regent was not
destined however to enjoy long the fruits of his treachery against his
sister. In 1570, at the very time when he was plotting with the
English government to get the Queen of Scotland into his power, he was
shot in Linlithgow by one of the Hamiltons, the hereditary enemies of
his house.

On his death there were two strong parties in Scotland. The majority
of the nobles, including the Duke of Châtelherault, Argyll, Huntly,
Atholl, and even Kirkcaldy and Maitland of Lethington, two former
supporters of Moray, ranged themselves on the side of their imprisoned
queen, and might have succeeded in re-establishing her authority had
not Elizabeth espoused the cause of Morton, Mar, Glencairn and
Ruthven, backed as these were by Knox and the preachers. Two English
armies were dispatched into Scotland, and with the help of the English
forces the Earl of Lennox, Darnley's father, was appointed regent
(July 1570). It was not the first time that he had sought to destroy
the independence of his country by invoking the assistance of the
English, and as he had gone over to Protestantism he was determined to
throw himself into the arms of the Reformers. The castle of Dunbarton
was still in the possession of the queen's supporters. He laid siege
to it, and captured it in April 1571. Here he seized the Primate of
Scotland, and had him put to death after a summary trial. The chapter
met and elected Robert Hay, but he was never consecrated, and for more
than three hundred years St. Andrew's was without a Catholic bishop.
In September 1571 Lennox was slain, and the Earl of Mar was elected
regent. During his short reign he was unable to enforce his authority
in the country. Negotiations were opened with him by Cecil's agents to
induce him to undertake the execution of the Queen of Scotland, who
was to be sent back from England for the purpose, but his sudden death
in 1572 put an end to the scheme.

He was succeeded by the Earl of Morton, another of Elizabeth's agents.
At first Morton was not unfavourable to the Catholics owing to the
disputes that arose between himself and the preachers about the
re-establishment of the episcopal form of government, but later on he
adopted a policy of violent opposition to the old religion. Some of
the priests were put to death; others were arrested or banished; a
list of Catholics including Beaton the Archbishop of Glasgow, Leslie
Bishop of Ross, and Chisholm Bishop of Dunblane was drawn up for
proscription, and steps were taken to suppress Catholic holidays and
to remove from the churches everything that called to mind Catholic
devotions.

In 1578 the young king demanded Morton's resignation. A council of
twelve was appointed in his place, at the head of which stood the
Earls of Argyll and Atholl. Elizabeth was annoyed at the fall of her
minion, and took no pains to conceal her annoyance from the young
king. It looked as if friendly relations between the two courts might
be broken, and the Catholic party both at home and on the Continent
were filled with new hopes. In 1579 Esmé Stuart, Lord d'Aubigny, a
nephew of the former Earl of Lennox, arrived from France, where he had
been educated as a Catholic. He was welcomed at court by the king and
created Earl of Lennox. James fell completely under his sway, though
the preachers regarded d'Aubigny as a Catholic spy. Regardless of
Elizabeth's friendship, James was induced to open communications with
his mother, and when the Earl of Morton rose in rebellion against such
a policy he was arrested and put to death (1582). Though apparently
Lennox made profession of accepting the established religion in
Scotland, he was endeavouring secretly to bring about an understanding
between Mary and her son, to secure the release of the former from