The history of Scotland written in Latin by George Buchanan ; faithfully rendered into English.

IAMES the Vth, the CVIth King.

WHen Iames the Fourth was slain, he left his Wife Margaret and Two Sons behind him; the Eldest of which was not yet full two Years old. The Parliament, assembled at Sterlin, proclaim∣ed him King, according to the Custom of the Country, on the 24th day of February, and then they addressed themselves to settle the publick Affairs, in doing whereof they first perceived the great∣ness of their Loss. For those of the Nobility, who bore any thing of Authority and Wisdom before them, being slain, the major part of those, who survived, by reason of their youthful Age, or inca∣pacity of Mind, were unfit to meddle with Matters of State, es∣pecially in so troublesom a time; and they who were left alive, of the better sort, who had any thing of Prudence in them, by reason of their Ambitions and Covetousness, abhorred all Counsels tending to Peace. Alexander Hume, Lord Warden of all the Marches, had got a great Name, and a large Estate, in the King's Life-time; but when he was dead, he obtained an (almost) Regal Authority in the Countries bordering upon England. He, out of a wicked Am∣bition, did not restrain Robbers, that so he might more engage those bold and lewd Persons to him, thinking, thereby, to make way for his greater Puissance: but that Design was unhappy to him, and, in the end, pernicious. The Command of the Country, on this side the Forth, was committed to him; the Parts beyond, to Alexander Gordon, to keep those Seditious Provinces within the Bounds of their Duty: But the Name of Regent was in the Queen her self. For the King had left, in his Will, which he made before he went to fight, that, if he miscarried, as long as she remained a Widow, she should have

the Supream Power. This was contrary to the Law of the Land, and the first Example of any Woman, who ever had the Supream Rule in Scotland; yet the want of Men made it seem tolerable, especially to them, who were desirous of Peace and Quietness. But her Office continued not long; for before the end of the Spring she married Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, one of the prime young Men of Scotland for Lineage, Beauty, and Accomplish∣ments in all good Arts; and before the end of that Year, the Seeds of Discord were sown. They took their Rise from the Ecclesi∣astical Order; for, after the Nobles were slain, in all publick As∣semblies, a great part were of that sort of Men, and many of them did their own business amidst the publick Calamity, and got such Estates, that nothing did more hasten their Ruin, than that inordinate Power, which they afterwards as arrogantly used.

Alexander Stuart, Archbishop of St. Andrews, was slain at Flod∣den, and there were Three which strove for that Preferment, but upon different Interests. Gawin Douglas, upon the account of the Splendor of his Family, and his own Personal Worth and Learning, was nominated to the place by the Queen, and accordingly took Possession of the Castle of St. Andrews. Andrew Hepburn, Abbat of St. Andrews, before any Archbishop was nominated, gathered up the Revenues of the place, as a Sequestrator; and he, being a potent, factious, and subtile Man, was chosen by his Monks to the Vacancy (for he alleged, that the Power of electing an Arch∣bishop, by ancient Custom, was in Them) so that he drove out the Officers of Gawin, and placed a strong Garison in the Castle. Andrew Forman had obtained great Favour in the Courts both of Rome and France, by his former Services; so that, besides the Bi∣shoprick of Murray in Scotland, which he held from the beginning, Lewis the 12th of France, gave him the Archbishoprick of Bourges: And Pope Iulius had also dismissed him, loaden with many rich Preferments, for he bestowed on him the Archbishoprick of St. An∣drews, the two rich Abbies of Dumfermling, and Aberbrothock, and made him his Legate (à Latere, as they call him,) besides. But so great was the Power of the Hepburns at that time, that the Hume's being yet at Concord with them, no Man could be found that durst proclaim the Popes Bull, for the Election of Forman to that Dignity; until, at last, Alexander Humes was induced by great Promises, and, besides other Gifts, with the actual Donation of the Abby of Coldingham to David his younger Brother, to undertake the Cause, which seemed to be honest and just; and especially, because the Family of the Formans was in the Clanship, or Protection, of the Hume's; so that he caused the Popes Bull to be published at Edinburgh: And that was the Original of many Mischiefs which ensued; for Hepburn, being a Man of a lofty Spirit, from that day forward, studi∣ed day and night how to destroy the Family of the Hume's.

The Queen, whilst she sat at Helm, did this one thing Worthy to be remembred, that she wrote to her Brother, that he would not make War upon Scotland, in respect to her, and her young Children; and that he would not infest the Dominions of his Cousin by his Foreign Arms, which, of its own accord, was di∣vided

into so many Domestick Factions; but that he would rather defend them against the Wrongs of others, upon the account of his Age, and the Affinity betwixt them. Henry answered very No∣bly and Prince-like, That if the Scots desired Peace, they should have it; if War, he would make it upon them.

When the Queen, by reason of her Marriage, fell from her Regency, the Nobility was manifestly divided into two Facti∣ons; the Douglassian Party endeavoured, that the chief Power might reside in the Queen, and that This was the way to have Peace with England, which was not only advantagious, but even necessary, for them. The other Party, headed by Humes, preten∣ded an Umbrage of the Publick Good, and that it was against the old Laws of the Land, to choose a Woman to be Regent; as for the Queen, they would be studious of her Honour as far as they might so do by the Law, and as far as the Publick Safety would permit, and that a sufficient Proof had been given thereof, in regard that they hitherto submitted to her Government, (tho it were against the Law of their fore-Fathers) not by any legal Compulsion, but of mere good Will, and that they were ready to endure it longer, if any honest and equitable Pretence could be alleged for it. But seeing she, by her Marriage, had voluntarily deposed her self from that Dignity, she ought not to take it amiss, if they substituted another to enjoy that Office, which she had left; and which in∣deed, by the Law, she could not hold; for the Laws of Scotland do not permit Women to have the Supream Power, no not in times of Peace, much more in such troublesome days as Ours, wherein the powerfullest and the prudentest Man alive could hardly find Re∣medies for the many growing Evils of the Times.

Thus whilst each Faction strove pertinaciously about the Choice of a Regent, either out of wicked Ambition, or occult Envy, they passed over All there present, and inclined to choose Iohn, Duke of Albany, then living with good Repute in France; where∣upon William Elphinston, Bishop of Aberdeen, is reported to have burst forth into Tears, in bewailing the publick Misfortune; and his Speech affected many, especially when he came to that Point of reckoning up what Men were slain in the last Fight, and how few, like Them, were left behind, of whom none was thought fit to sit at the Helm of Government: He also told them, how empty the Exchequer was, and how it had been exhausted by the late King, and how great a Portion thereof was the Queen's Joynture, and how much necessarily must be expended on the Education of the King, and then how little part would remain to maintain pub∣lick Charges; and that, tho none were more fit for the place of Regency than the Queen, yet seeing Concord could not be had on other terms, she was forced to yeild to that Party, who were for calling Iohn, Duke of Albany, out of France, to take the Re∣gency upon him, tho he thought, that the publick Misery would be rather deferred than fully healed thereby. Alexander Hume was so violent for Albany, that he professed openly in the Assembly, that if they all refused, yet he himself would go alone, and bring him over into Scotland, to undertake the Government. It is

thought, he did this, not for the Love of his Country, or for any private Advantage to himself, but merely out of This respect, that, being an ambitious Man, and knowing that his Interest in the People was more upon the account of his Power, than out of any real Love, therefore, himself despairing of the place, he was afraid if the Queen should have it, the Douglasses, his Neighbours, would grow too great, and his Power would abate; for the Men of Lid∣disdale and Annandale had already withdrawn themselves, and had, by little and little, betook themselves to the Clanship of the Douglasses: And besides, he considered, that the Queen, by Assistanc•• from England, was easily able to obviate all his Designs; so that most Voices carried it for Iohn, and an Embassy was appointed (the chief whereof was Andrew Wood of the † Largs, (a famous Ca∣valeer in those days) to call him into Scotland for the Government, both upon the account of his own Virtue, and also by reason of his near Consanguinity with the King, for he was the Son of Alex∣ander, Brother to Iames the Third. He being thus called to the supream Government by the Scots; Francis, King of France, did not think that Office unsutable to his Interest, and therefore he fur∣nished him with Mony and a Retinue at his Departure. Before his Arrival, in regard there was no one Person to administer the Publick Government, there were many Murders and Rapines committed; and whilst the richer sort made up their private Clans and Factions, the poor desolate Vulgar were afflicted with all kind of Miseries. The chief Robber of those times was Mac∣Robert Stran, who committed Outrages all over Athol, and the Neighbouring Parts, at his Pleasure, having 800 Men, and some∣times more, under his Command. At length, when he was at his Uncles Iohn Creighton's, he was way-laid, apprehended, and put to Death: But there was more Mischief like to arise from the Fewd between Andrew Forman and Iohn Hepburn; yet, the Nature of them both, and the Discord, rather of their Manners than Minds, deferred the Mischief for a season, which then was just a breaking out. Iohn was profoundly covetous; and Andrew was as great a Despiser of Mony, and profuse in his Largesses. The De∣signs and Purposes of Andrew were open and manifest to the view of all; neither was there any need that he should conceal them, because his Vices were accounted Virtues by the Vulgar, and the simplicity of his Nature did Him as much Kindness among them, as the occult Craft of Hepburn, together with his malicious Dissi∣mulation, his implacable remembrance of Injuries, and his desire of Revenge, did Him. And therefore Forman, hearing as yet no certainty of the coming of the Duke of Albany, neither could he be put into Possession by Hume, seeing Hepburn resided at his Ca∣stle and Monastery, which he had strongly garison'd, which were at a great distance from those places in which the Power of the Hume's might be formidable, he determined, by his Friends, to try, whether he could, with Mony, either satisfy, or at least, in some degree, abate the Avarice of the Man; so that at last they came to an Agreement upon these Terms, That Forman should remit and forgive the Revenues of the last Year, which Iohn had ga∣thered

in, as a Sequestrator; that he should surrender up to him the Bishoprick of Murray, and that he should pay him yearly 3000 French Crowns out of his Ecclesiastical Revenues, to be divided amongst his Friends. And thus the Man's implacable Hate was a little abated, and Matters settled on that side.

Notes

• Iames the 5th, of about 2 years old, pro∣claimed King.
• The Ambition of Alexander Hume.
• Q. Margaret the first Fe∣male Regent, in Scotland.
• She loses her Regency by her Marriage.
• Three Com∣petitors for the Archbi∣shoprick of St. Andrews, Douglas, Hep∣burn and For∣man.
• Lying with∣in two Miles of Aymouth in the Merss, near the Scotish Sea.
• The Nobility divided about choosing a Re∣gent, in the room of Q. Margaret.
• Iohn Duke of Albany, then in France, cho∣sen Regent.
• †

  A little Town in Cu∣ningham, stand∣ing on the Firth of Clyd.