The Secret Bond (also known as the Secret Band) was a document drawn up by Cardinal Beaton and signed at Linlithgow by a number of Scottish peers and lairds on 24 July 1543. [1] They agreed to prevent the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to Prince Edward of England. The document is sometimes called the "Linlithgow Bond". After an agreement was reached with the Governor of Scotland, Regent Arran, Mary moved from Linlithgow Palace to Stirling Castle. [2]
Following the death of James V of Scotland in December 1542, his infant daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, succeeded to the Scottish throne. A struggle for the Regency of Scotland between Cardinal Beaton and the Earl of Arran was won by the latter. [3] On 1 July 1543, Regent Arran entered into the Treaty of Greenwich with Henry VIII of England. [4] Under the treaty, Mary would marry Henry's son, Edward. The alliance and eventual union of the thrones of England and Scotland which the treaty envisaged was controversial in Scotland. Some thought the union might only enrich England. The treaty's Anglo-centric policy was resisted by many who preferred to continue the Auld Alliance with France. [5]
Mary remained with her mother Mary of Guise at Linlithgow Palace, where she had been born. She was nursed in Mary of Guise's own chamber. [6] Opponents of the marriage worried that she would be taken to England. After a rumour Mary would be taken to France, Regent Arran increased security at Linlithgow Palace. Shots were fired at the English ambassador Ralph Sadler. [7]
Mary of Guise seems to have been in control of the situation. She wrote to an ally, David Paniter, on 12 July, saying that she expected to agree with the Governor, Regent Arran, about a move to Stirling. After arriving at Stirling, Mary of Guise wrote to her mother, Antoinette of Bourbon, Duchess of Guise, in positive terms about the situation in Scotland. The Duchess replied that she rejoiced to hear that her daughter and the little queen were in good health and their long captivity was over. [8]
According to the Scottish chronicle writer Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, Cardinal Beaton and Mary of Guise persuaded the Earl of Argyll to raise an army of Highlandmen and men from the Mearns. The force assembled at Linlithgow to prevent Regent Arran taking Mary away. They stayed long enough to devastate the cornfields around the town, "thair oist in Linlythgow quha lay thair so lang that they distroyit the haill cornis around the towne bayth of pure and riche the space of ane myll round about" ― their host in Linlithgow who lay there so long that they destroyed the whole corns around the town both of the poor and rich the space of a mile round about. [9] This also appears in David Lindsay's poem, The Tragedie of Cardinal Beaton:
The Governour purposyng to subdew
I rasit ane oyst of mony bold Baroun
And maid ane raid quhilk Lythgow yit may rew;
For we distroyit ane myle about the town [10] [11]
Meanwhile, Arran's forces gathered in Edinburgh. The English diplomat in Edinburgh, Ralph Sadler, estimated that the Cardinal's party had as many as 5 or 6,000 men at Linlithgow, while Regent Arran's strength at Edinburgh was 7 or 8,000. [12]
On 24 July 1543, when Mary was to be moved from Linlithgow Palace to Stirling Castle, the leaders of the Scottish-French party signed a bond drawn up by Cardinal Beaton. [13] The notary who penned the original document was John Lauder. The signatories pledged themselves to resist the marriage and the realm being "swbdewit till our awld enymyis of Ingland" by the transport of Mary to England. The signatories included Beaton, a number of churchmen, and these lords and lairds: [14]
In England, William Parr collected conflicting intelligence reports and he heard on 22 July that Regent Arran and the opposition might fight a battle near Linlithgow, or that Arran might be persuaded to join their cause and change his policies. [16] Ralph Sadler wrote:
Surely, here is great appearance of much mischief and rebellion, for great preparation is on both parties; the Cardinal, the Earls of Argyll, Lennox, Huntly, with their friends, of one party, and the Governor [Regent Arran], the Earls of Angus, Cassilis, the Lord Maxwell, and their friends, of the other party. What will be the end, I cannot yet tell; but, if I should say my own phantasy, I think surely, when all is done, they will not fight, for all their brags. [17]
Meanwhile, Sadler was collecting signatures to another bond, Henry VIII's "secret device", an undertaking that some Scottish nobles would support the English marriage plan regardless of the Scottish politics of the moment. [18] He later wrote to Parr, explaining that he ought not to fully trust information from the spies he employed in Scotland. [19]
Around the time the secret bond was made, the two opposing factions met for talks. Pitscottie and George Buchanan say the mediation was made at Kirkliston. [20] [21] [22] Ralph Sadler described two meetings in the "middle waye betwene Edenburgh and Lythcoo". [23]
The two sides made an agreement at Kirkliston which was enacted on 25 July 1543 by a mass meeting for reconciliation in a field between Edinburgh and Linlithgow with "shaking of hands" and "friendly embracings". [24] This ceremony was described by Ralph Sadler in a letter to Henry VIII:
it was agreed that the said Cardinal and his complices, with the nombre of oone hundreth persons and th'erle of Anguysshe with such other barons as were nowe with the Governor [Regent Arran] with the like nombre of oone hundreth persons shulde mete altogither in the feeldes betwene this towne [Edinburgh] and Lythcoo, and so to talk famyliarly togither like freends ... there was shaking of hands one with another, freendlie embracings and familiar communications and verie good agreament amongst them [25]
On completion of this peace making, the Earls of Cassilis and Glencairn rode to Linlithgow Palace to order the household appointed for the queen by Regent Arran to stand down. Four governors or neutral lords previously appointed by Parliament (on 15 March) as Mary's keepers took charge at the Palace, and on the next day, 26 or 27 July, [26] Mary and her mother Mary of Guise moved from Linlithgow to the relative security of Stirling Castle. [27] The Earl of Lennox with foot and mounted soldiers, escorted Guise and her daughter to Stirling. Twenty four horses transported the luggage, including Mary's cradle, a great bed and the beds of the ladies in waiting, and nineteen horses carried the kitchen and baking equipment. [28]
Regent Arran's eldest son, James Hamilton, was sent to St Andrews Castle as the Regent's pledge or hostage to Cardinal Beaton under the terms of the agreements made at Kirkliston. [29] According to Ralph Sadler, the four keepers of Mary at Stirling Castle (Lords Erskine, Fleming, Livingston, and Ruthven) refused to allow Cardinal Beaton to stay in the castle with the queen. [30] An agreement was also made for Cardinal Beaton to have a say in a termly rotation of the four lords keeper of the queen. [31]
Ralph Sadler offered an explanation for the move to Stirling, explaining that the households of the four keepers could not all be accommodated at Linlithgow, because "the house of Lythcoo is so lytell". The remark may have intended to reassure Henry VIII that all was well with his plans. [32] As Marcus Merriman suggested, the move may instead indicate Regent Arran's waning hopes for Mary's English marriage. [33]
In August, Ralph Sadler obtained a copy of the "secret bond" or "band" made at Linlithgow from a Scottish spy and forwarded it to Henry VIII, drawing the king's attention to the signatories. [34] The significance was that some of those who signed had been captured at the battle of Solway Moss and made pledges to Henry VIII, or had previously made "assurances" of their support for English policy. [35] Sadler also showed the bond to Regent Arran, who said he was unaware of it. Sadler described the bond as Cardinal Beaton's sole work, his "only act and device". [36]
Sadler went to Stirling, and reported to Henry VIII that:
"(Mary of Guise) is very glad that she is at Stirling, and much she praised there about the house, and told me, "That her daughter did grow apace; and soon," she said, "she would be a woman, if she took of her mother;" who indeed, is of the largest stature of women. And therefore she caused also the child to be brought to me, to the intent I might see her, assuring your majesty, that she is a right fair and goodly child, as any that I have seen for her age. [37]
Mary was crowned at Stirling Castle on 9 September 1543. [38] By this time, Arran had changed his position, renouncing religious reform and pro-English policy, and was now aligned with the signatories of the Cardinal's secret bond. [39]
Henry VIII, understanding the reversal of Scottish policy, had, before the end of September 1543, made plans to invade Scotland and waste the countryside to the gates of Edinburgh. His advisors and military experts in the north of England argued against starting before winter, and suggested some cross-border raids. [40]
On 15 December 1543, the Parliament of Scotland rejected the Treaty of Greenwich and other treaties with England. [41] Scotland's rejection of the treaty and its pursuit of a French alliance led to the war known the Rough Wooing, Henry VIII's attempt to impose his matrimonial policy by force, which lasted until the Treaty of Norham in 1551. The first major action was the Burning of Edinburgh in May 1544. [42]
After the English invading army left Scotland, Arran's regency was challenged at a council meeting and convention in Stirling on 29 May 1544 which continued in June in the frater of the Grey Friars, [43] and for a time Mary of Guise was acknowledged as Regent by her allies. She began to mint four penny bawbees at Stirling with her insignia. Arran gained control of Edinburgh. Arran and Guise held rival parliaments in November, but she was forced to concede her claim to the regency to Arran. [44]
John Knox included a slightly different version of these events in his History of Reformation. He described Cardinal Beaton meeting his allies at Linlithgow, to "raise a party against the Governor, and against such as stood fast at (supported) the marriage and peace with England". He does not mention the negotiations or the reconciliation, and wrote that the Cardinal's party escorted Mary and her mother to Stirling, not the four lords chosen by Parliament. [45] John Lesley attributed the controversy at Linlithgow to the Earl of Lennox and also wrote that the Cardinal's party conveyed Mary to Stirling. [46] Mary's secretary Claude Nau emphasised the role of Lennox and described the enduring enmity of his family and the Hamiltons. [47] A brief summary in the chronicle A Diurnal of Remarkable Occurents may be more accurate. [48]
The conflict and the "secret band" were described by the historian David Hay Fleming who used contemporary letters first published in 1890 in the Hamilton Papers. [49] Douglas Hamer gave a summary in his notes on Lindsay's Tragedie of Cardinal Beaton. [50] Rosalind K. Marshall emphasises that Mary of Guise gained an advantage and increased power by the move to Stirling, especially because she was the owner of Stirling Castle. [51] John Guy gives Mary of Guise a more active and central role in these events. [52]
James V was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England. During his childhood Scotland was governed by regents, firstly by his mother until she remarried, and then by his first cousin once removed, John Stewart, Duke of Albany. James's personal rule began in 1528 when he finally escaped the custody of his stepfather, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. His first action was to exile Angus and confiscate the lands of the Douglases.
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.
The ruins of Linlithgow Palace are located in the town of Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland, 15 miles (24 km) west of Edinburgh. The palace was one of the principal residences of the monarchs of Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries. Although maintained after Scotland's monarchs left for England in 1603, the palace was little used, and was burned out in 1746. It is now a visitor attraction in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.
Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox was a leader of the Catholic nobility in Scotland. He was the paternal grandfather of King James VI of Scotland. He owned Temple Newsam in Yorkshire, England.
Sir Ralph Sadler or Sadleir PC, Knight banneret was an English statesman, who served Henry VIII as Privy Councillor, Secretary of State and ambassador to Scotland. Sadler went on to serve Edward VI. Having signed the device settling the crown on Jane Grey in 1553, he was obliged to retire to his estates during the reign of Mary I. Sadler was restored to royal favour during the reign of Elizabeth I, serving as a Privy Councillor and once again participating in Anglo-Scottish diplomacy. He was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in May 1568.
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.
Berwick Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary was an English office of arms created around 1460 for service on the Scottish Marches based at Berwick-upon-Tweed. In the 16th century there was also a Herald or Pursuivant based at Carlisle on the west border.
Robert Maxwell, 5th Lord Maxwell was a member of the Council of Regency (1536) of the Kingdom of Scotland, Regent of the Isle of Arran and like his father before him patriarch of the House of Maxwell/Clan Maxwell. A distinguished Scottish nobleman, politician, soldier and in 1513 Lord High Admiral, Lord Maxwell was a member of James V of Scotland's royal council and served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1524, 1527 and 1535. He was also an Extraordinary Lord of Session in 1533. In 1537, he was one of the ambassadors sent to the French Court to negotiate the marriage of James to Mary of Guise, whom he espoused as proxy for the King.
The Rough Wooing, also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following its break with the Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland, partly to break the Auld Alliance and prevent Scotland being used as a springboard for future invasion by France, partly to weaken Scotland, and partly to force the Scottish Parliament to confirm the existing marriage alliance between Mary, Queen of Scots, and the English heir apparent Edward, son of King Henry VIII, under the terms of the Treaty of Greenwich of July 1543. An invasion of France was also contemplated.
Sir Adam Otterburn of Auldhame and Redhall was a Scottish lawyer and diplomat. He was king's advocate to James V of Scotland and secretary to Mary of Guise and Regent Arran.
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 was fought on 16 March 1544, between Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and the Scottish Regent James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, and their adherents, during the minority of Mary, Queen of Scots. There was a second battle at Glasgow Muir in May 1544, known as the Battle of the Butts, between Arran and the Earl of Glencairn.
Hugh Somerville, 5th Lord Somerville was a lord of the Parliament of Scotland. He is sometimes reckoned to be the 4th Lord Somerville. He succeeded his brother, John Somerville, 4th Lord Somerville. Hugh and John were sons of William Somerville, Master of Somerville, and Marjory Montgomerie.
George Douglas of Pittendreich was a member of the powerful Red Douglas family who struggled for control of the young James V of Scotland in 1528. His second son became James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton and Regent of Scotland. Initially, George Douglas promoted the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and Prince Edward of England. After war was declared between England and Scotland he worked for peace and to increase the power of Mary of Guise, the widow of James V.
The Burning of Edinburgh in 1544 by an English army was the first major action of the war of the Rough Wooing. The Provost of Edinburgh was compelled to allow the English to sack Leith and Edinburgh, and the city was burnt on 7 May. However, the Scottish artillery within Edinburgh Castle harassed the English forces, who had neither the time nor the resources to besiege the Castle. The English fleet sailed away loaded with captured goods, and with two ships that had belonged to James V of Scotland.
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.
Alexander Crichton of Brunstane,, was a Scottish Protestant laird who advocated the murder of Cardinal David Beaton and supported the plan for the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and Prince Edward of England. In contemporary letters and documents Alexander is known by variant spellings of "Brunstane," his territorial designation. The original House of Brunstane was near Penicuik, and another Crichton estate at Gilberstoun near Portobello, Edinburgh later became known as Brunstane.
Marie Pieris, Lady Seton was a French lady in waiting at the Scottish court.
Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587), the daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise, was crowned as Queen of Scotland in the Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle on 9 September 1543.