The Lords of the Congregation (Scots : Lairds o the Congregatioun), originally styling themselves the Faithful, [1] were a group of Protestant Scottish nobles who in the mid-16th century favoured a reformation of the Catholic church according to Protestant principles and a Scottish-English alliance.
In December 1557 a group of Scottish lords opposed the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin of France (who became King Francis II of France from 1559 to 1560). The group signed the 'First Band' or Covenant to work to make Scotland Protestant. [2] The initial members were the Earl of Argyll, his brother Colin Campbell, the Earl of Glencairn, the Earl of Morton, and John Erskine of Dun, though others, such as William Douglas of Whittinghame quickly followed.
Following religious riots in Perth, the Lords gained support and provided military help to John Knox in opposing the troops of Mary of Guise, who was the Regent of Scotland. They wrote letters to the French commanders, Henri Cleutin, and to Mary of Guise outlining their case on 22 May. The letter for Mary of Guise was placed on the cushion of her seat in the Chapel Royal of Stirling Castle. She found it and tucked it discretely into the pocket of her gown. [3]
In June, at Cupar Muir, in Fife, the Lords fielded enough military strength to face off a French and Scottish army jointly led by the Duke of Châtelherault (who as Regent had supported the French match) and by Henri Cleutin the French king's lieutenant. [4] By July 1559 the Lords of the Congregation had taken Edinburgh. As Edinburgh Castle held out against them, the Lords withdrew under the terms of the truce of the Articles of Leith (25 July 1559). In September, Châtelherault, now joined by his son, the Earl of Arran, changed sides and became leader of the Congregation Lords.
Mary of Guise, who had earlier offered a degree of religious tolerance, maintained that their motives were secular in part. Queen Mary and King Francis wrote to her in November 1559, declaring that the lords were acting maliciously under the name and cloak of religion. [5] French re-inforcements pushed the Lords and their Protestant army back to Stirling and Fife.
By the Treaty of Berwick in February 1560 the Lords brought in an English army to resist the French troops. The armed conflict now centred on the Siege of Leith. After the death of the Queen Regent in June and the conclusion of hostilities at Leith by the Treaty of Edinburgh in July, the Scottish Reformation took effect in the Parliament of Scotland in August 1560. [6]
William Kirkcaldy of Grange and John Knox gave a list of members of the Congregation who expelled the troops of Mary of Guise from Perth in June 1559 and moved on Edinburgh, including:
These were joined in Edinburgh in July 1559 by: Alexander Cunningham, Earl of Glencairn; the Earl of Morton; Lord Erskine; Robert, Lord Boyd; Lord Ochiltree; Hugh Campbell, Sheriff of Ayr; and the Laird of Calder.
Knox and Kirkcaldy gave the names of another six lords who had not yet declared their alliance in July 1559; William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal; the Earl of Athol; Lord Forbes; and James Douglas, Laird of Drumlanrig; the Laird of Lochinvar; and the Laird of Garlies. [7]
A list of the council for policy of the Lords of October 1559 includes; the former Regent Arran; his son the 3rd Earl of Arran; the Earl of Argyll; the Prior of St Andrews; the Earl of Glencairn; Lord Ruthven; Robert, 4th Lord Boyd; Lord Maxwell; Erskine of Dun; Wishart of Pitarrow; Henry Balnaves of Halhill; Kirkcaldy of Grange; and James Halyburton Provost of Dundee.
The congregation received guidance in religious matters from:
Several letters and bonds signed by the Lords set out and justify their aims. A letter sent to enlist the help of George Hay, Earl of Erroll, Hereditary Constable of Scotland, written 24 January 1560 focused on their secular goal to expel the French garrisons and justifies their request for English military support. The letter fell into French hands and would have been used against them;
We wrote ... how we were handled and suppressed by strangers and already invaded by fire and sword for the debating of the true ministry of God's word and liberty of this realm, which as we may see is now taken effect in the most cruel and ungodly manner by the fortifying of the principal port of this realm (Leith) and the intended fortification of St Andrews
And they have in their progress used such cruelty on those that gave them most credit and were assured by them that all others may take example, And yet they intend no less than to bring us, if God will permit them, to most wild slavery and bondage and to make plain conquest under a coloured authority to the utter extermination of us and our posterity
And because we saw them continue in their unjust persecution and our force is so small to resist their tyranny we thought good to seek support of our neighbours of England, which they have granted to us as may now be manifestly seen by the army already come by sea, and by the land host that will march on the day appointed. [9]
This letter was signed by James Hamilton the former Regent, Argyll, Glencairn, Rothes, Ruthven, Menteith and Boyd.
Mary of Guise, also called Mary of Lorraine, was Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. As the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked mid-16th-century Scotland, ruling the kingdom as queen regent on behalf of her daughter from 1554 until her death in 1560.
John Stewart, 4th Earl of Atholl, called the Fair, was a Scottish nobleman and courtier. He was favoured by Mary, Queen of Scots, but later turned against her.
James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Châtellerault, 2nd Earl of Arran, was a Scottish nobleman and head of the House of Hamilton. A great-grandson of King James II of Scotland, he was heir presumptive to the Scottish throne. Arran was Regent of Scotland during the minority of Mary, Queen of Scots from 1543 to 1554, when he lost the regency to Mary of Guise. At first pro-English and Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1543 and supported a pro-French policy. He reluctantly agreed to Mary's marriage to Francis, eldest son of King Henry II of France, and was rewarded by Henry by being made Duke of Châtellerault in 1549. During the Scottish Reformation, Châtellerault joined the Protestant Lords of the Congregation to oppose the regency of Mary of Guise, and lost his French dukedom as a result.
James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran (1537–1609) was a Scottish nobleman and soldier who opposed the French-dominated regency during the Scottish Reformation. He was the eldest son of James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault, sometime regent of Scotland. He was of royal descent, and at times was third or fourth in succession to the Scottish crown; several royal marriages were proposed for him, but he eventually never married. He went to France with Mary, Queen of Scots, where he commanded the Scots Guards. After returning to Scotland, he became a leader of the Protestant party against Mary and her French supporters. However, he went insane in 1562 and was confined for the rest of his life.
Alexander Cunningham, 5th Earl of Glencairn was a Scottish nobleman and Protestant reformer, prominent in the Scottish Reformation.
The Treaty of Berwick was negotiated on 27 February 1560 at Berwick-upon-Tweed. It was an agreement made by the representative of Queen Elizabeth I of England, the Duke of Norfolk, and the group of Scottish nobles known as the Scottish Lords of the Congregation. The purpose was to agree the terms under which an English fleet and army would come to Scotland to expel the French troops who were defending the Regency of Mary of Guise. The Lords were trying both to expel the French and to effect the Scottish Reformation, and this led to rioting and armed conflict.
Cupar Muir or Cuparmuir is a hamlet or small village situated just outside the town of Cupar, Fife. Lying around 25.5 miles (41 km) north of Edinburgh, it had a population of around 229 in 2011.
The Secret Bond was a document drawn up by Cardinal Beaton and signed at Linlithgow by a number of Scottish peers and lairds on 24 July 1543. They agreed to prevent the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to Prince Edward of England. The document is sometimes called the "Linlithgow Bond".
The siege of Leith ended a twelve-year encampment of French troops at Leith, the port near Edinburgh, Scotland. French troops arrived in Scotland by invitation in 1548. In 1560 the French soldiers opposed Scottish supporters of religious reformation, and an English army arrived to besiege the French garrison at Leith. The town was not taken by force and the French troops finally left peacefully under the terms of a treaty signed by Scotland, England and France.
Sir James MacGill, Lord Rankeillor of Nether Rankeillour, was a Scottish courtier and Senator of the College of Justice.
Henri Cleutin, seigneur d'Oisel et de Villeparisis, was the representative of France in Scotland from 1546 to 1560, a Gentleman of the Chamber of the King of France, and a diplomat in Rome 1564–1566 during the French Wars of Religion.
Jacques de la Brosse, cupbearer to the king, was a sixteenth-century French soldier and diplomat. He is remembered in Scotland for his missions in 1543 and 1560 in support of the Auld Alliance.
The Battle of Glasgow, 18 March 1560, was fought by supporters of the Scottish Reformation against French troops.
The Articles of Leith were the terms of truce drawn up between the Protestant Lords of the Congregation and Mary of Guise, Regent of Scotland and signed on 25 July 1559. This negotiation was a step in the conflict that led to the Scottish Reformation. Although its immediate effect was the withdrawal of Protestant forces from Edinburgh, subsequent disputes over the content and observance of the treaty fuelled the crisis in Scotland.
Andrew Stewart, 2nd Lord Ochiltree fought for the Scottish Reformation. His daughter married John Knox and he played a part in the defeat of Mary, Queen of Scots at the battle of Langside.
The siege of St Andrews Castle (1546–1547) followed the killing of Cardinal David Beaton by a group of Protestants at St Andrews Castle. They remained in the castle and were besieged by the Governor of Scotland, Regent Arran. However, over 18 months the Scottish besieging forces made little impact, and the Castle finally surrendered to a French naval force after artillery bombardment. The Protestant garrison, including the preacher John Knox, were taken to France and used as galley slaves.
Corbeyran de Cardaillac de Sarlabous was a 16th-century French soldier who served in Scotland as Captain of Dunbar Castle, and was Governor of Le Havre for twenty years. He was usually called Captain Sarlabous in Scottish and English letters of his time. A contemporary French writer calls him the "sieur de Sarlaboz." Sarlabous is a place in the Hautes-Pyrénées where Corbeyran held lands.
Patrick Lindsay, 6th Lord Lindsay of the Byres, (1521–1589), Scottish courtier and Confederate lord.
James Cockie was a goldsmith in Edinburgh. He helped mint coins in Edinburgh Castle during the Marian Civil War and was hanged as a counterfeiter on 3 August 1573.
Sir John Wishart of Pitarrow was a Scottish lawyer, courtier, comptroller of the exchequer, and rebel.